Let's carry on roaring!

Hi there!

Well, what a fantastic start we had to the last half term of the school year! The children worked so hard and got so involved in the work on shape and model making that we didn’t even get round to doing any work on dinosaurs. Some children brought in some books to share with the rest of the class. This is great! I shall also read them over the weekend and swat up a little more. I feel like I’m learning a foreign language with some of the names.

Here are some websites you may wish to visit with your child to familiarise them the different kinds of dinosaurs.

http://www.kidsdinos.com/dinosaurs-for-children.php
http://research.calacademy.org/research/library/biodiv/biblio/dinokids.htm - this website has lots of links to other good dino websites!

Communication, Language and Literacy
As we did not get to make a start on our planned writing activities last week (not to say the children DIDN’T write at all!) we will definitely be doing them this week.
By the end of those three week, the children:
MUST be able to write a sentence independently with a full stop.
SHOULD be able to write a sentence independently with a capital letter and a full stop.
COULD write a series of sentences with developing consistency in the use of punctuation.

Here are some websites that you could use but nothing beats pencil and paper.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/penguinsonice.shtml - this is a lovely website. The children must type in their sentence and then watch the penguin write it in the ice.
CHALLENGE! You can also use the same website to develop their understanding of other punctuation such as exclamation and question marks. Yes, we do those in Foundation Stage so why not have a go!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/cap_letters_stops/eng/Introduction/default.htm - another good site to focus on development of the capital letters and full stops. It should now be clear why we have focused on the letter names as well as the letter sounds. This way the children know what the upper case letter represents.
CHALLENGE! Have a go at the main teaching session one where you need to identify the faults in the punctuation and correct them.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=16 - Click and drag the prepared tabs to create a sentence.
CHALLENGE! Why not get some pictures from a magazine and write your own sentences to match what you can see happening.

Phonics
This week will again be used to ensure that the children have retained their ability to read and spell words containing the spelling patterns taught last half term. For your information here is a list of the ones we have covered.
Ai, ee, oo, or, ar, oa, igh, ur, ow, oi and ear.

Please refer back to previous blog entries for websites to support these. Alternatively you may wish to be word detectives and locate words in books and magazines which contain the spelling patterns. I will be assessing the children’s ability to read and spell words containing the spelling patterns. Watch out in your child’s diary for details on the spelling patterns they know and need to concentrate on.

Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
Now that shape is well and truly in the bag, we will move onto measure and the use of comparative language. By the end of the week, the children:
MUST be able to use the language long and short, heavy and light;
SHOULD be able to compare the weights and lengths of two objects and describe them using the correct comparative language;
COULD be able to order up to three objects according to weight and length.

http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ - select the Kindergarten and the Year 1 activities for length and mass.

This is a good website to use but nothing beats measuring for real. Compare the lengths of trousers in the home, spoons, etc. Compare the weight of different objects out of the larder. This makes the concepts real.

Homework
You may have noticed that we have not sent out handwriting homework. We would like to focus on the reading and spelling of the high frequency words more now and develop the children's ability to write them correctly with independence. Please practice these with your child up to three times a week. Thanks.

I think that is all for this week apart from to ask for any more junk modelling resources. The children have done some brilliant models but we are quickly running out of materials. Thanks.

Short and sweet but nevertheless and action packed week for us all.

Have a good one!

Best Wishes
The Foundation Stage team xxx