And we're off!!!

Welcome to our very own blogspot! This will be updated every weekend for you to find out information about what your child will be doing in school from Monday to Friday, as well as great websites to keep your child occupied whilst learning too. Please make sure that you check it at least once a week as additional information can be posted on here as well.

We hope that your child has had a great first two days at school. We have been thrilled with them all!! We have already begun to assess your children since they walked through the door. The children are not even aware we are doing it as we have such a strong play based curriculum. Basically, your child’s first week in school is used to settle them in to the routines and ensure they feel safe and secure. In addition to this, we work with the children to find out what they are able to do. This then enables us to plan for exciting learning experiences which are relevant and challenging to what the children need.

Reading
Your child will have received their reading diary, six words to learn and a book to share with you. The reading book will be changed on a Monday and a Thursday. Please could we ask that you make a comment in the diary each time you read with your child?

CALLING ALL DADS!!!
Research states that boys learn to read more easily when they are taught by their dads.

So…what else is on for this week?

Getting to know you, getting to learn all about you…
Can’t you tell I’m a fan of the musicals? Don’t you just love The King and I? This week the children will play lots of games that will encourage them to learn each others names.

Time to start getting physical
On Wednesday we will attempt our very first PE lesson. This is an occasion that causes amusement amongst many of the staff. I can’t understand why. Perhaps trousers on back to front, shoes without socks and shoes on the wrong feet are a give away? On a more serious note, PE times are often the most unsettling of experiences for children when they start school so please be assured that anxiety about PE is common (even for me).

I therefore send an SOS out to you as parents. Please try to make your child as independent as possible when dressing and undressing. As a parent of a four year old I know how tempting it can be to fasten a few buttons, put on the odd sock or tuck in the shirt. As part of their learning and development, children in the Foundation Stage need to dress and undress themselves independently. Aaghh…TIES!! Don’t worry we do the children’s ties and top buttons for them.

Faces
The children will begin to learn about the different features of a face this week as a precursor to the work we will be starting next week. I have a song that they can learn to the tune of ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ which teaches them the parts of the face. We do have to be careful when pointing to the nostrils though!!

Click, click, clickety, click!
Not only are we doing PE this week, but we are venturing into ‘The Land of the Giants’ (the juniors) to work on the computers in the ICT suite. The children will be working on developing their mouse skills by clicking and dragging. Here are some great websites you can use to support your child. The use of these websites and the computer in general will help your child as we use the computers a lot in school.
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/mouseskills/ted.html
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/mouseskills/joiner.html

The Domestics
Please could you ensure that your child has their book bag everyday, in addition to a water bottle and a snack, both of which will need labelling. TOP TIP!! Why not print off labels on the computer to stick on snacks?

Our next set of children will start on Thursday this week. Please could we ask you, as ‘old hats’ to settle your child as quickly as possible to allow the morning process to be as unsettling for the new children. Thanks.

Finally, if you have any questions then please feel free to pop in and see any member of the team.

Have a great week!

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx