Let's get ready for Year 1

Hola!

Welcome to this week’s blog.

Last week we enjoyed learning lots of Spanish thanks to Mrs Higgins’ talents. So much so that we have decided to continue learning some more this week. As part of the Here I Am topic on ‘Differences’, the children will learn about how we are different from each other. In doing so they will review the different parts of the body and learn how to describe people in Spanish.

Communication, Language and Literacy
This week we begin our transition unit, which will continue when the children move into Year One. Linked also with the Here I Am topic ‘Differences’, the children will write about what they look like and then compare themselves with a friend. This will also form the basis of their final writing assessment piece to be passed up to their next teacher. The focus will be on:
Writing a sentence complete with a full stop and capital letter;
Making use of connectives such as ‘and’ to join two sentences to make them longer;
Spelling words using their phonic knowledge;
Using ambitious vocabulary to make descriptions.

The writing assessment will be levelled and form the starting point for their next teacher. I will be setting targets as a result of the piece of writing.

High Frequency Words
The children are coming along nicely with these and we urge you continue doing them every night. Let’s try and make sure all children can read and spell the Reception words by the end of the next three weeks.

Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
This week we return to looking at subtraction. The children do have a great understanding of addition but are getting subtraction and addition mixed up when using the symbols ‘+’ and ‘-‘. When the children move into Year One they will have a weekly number bonds test to develop their mental recall. For the next three weeks we will be focusing on addition and subtraction, preparing the children for this. Here are some websites that the children can play on to support their understanding.
http://www.ictgames.com/save_the_whale_v4.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/chi.shtml

Topic
We will continue to work on our dinosaur sculpture. The basic construction has been made and the chicken wire is almost covered. Then we will be able to tile it in the style of Gaudi.

Last week the children created some amazing art in the style of the Spanish artist Miro. I hope to post it on the blog at some point this week.

Parents’ Evening
Letters for parents’ evening went out on Friday. Please complete your slip and return it to me as soon as possible. You may have noticed that there are fewer choices than normal and therefore I ask that you make as many choices as possible. Due to childcare I am unable to go beyond the 5.10 appointment time. The parents’ evening is shorter than normal but it is to enable you to see how your child has done in comparison to national data as well as enabling me to discussion targets for next year.

Classes for next year
We are in the process of sorting these and you will be informed as soon as they are finalised. Please do not worry. We usually get it spot on!

Sport’s Day
Please remember that sports day is on 8th July with the 10th July being the reserve if it rains. PE bags will be sent home on Friday to allow them to be washed and ironed for the event. We can’t have them looking scruffy can we?

Book fair
Monday is the final day of the book fair. Many thanks to those who have purchased from the fair as we benefit from the commission.

I think that is all for this week.

Have a good one!
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xx