Friday, November 07, 2008

Chester Zoo Here We Come!!

Hi there!

How exciting is this week? The children are eagerly awaiting their visit to Chester Zoo and the staff can’t wait to get cracking on the activities to follow. You should have received a letter with details regarding the day in your child’s book bag on Friday. Many thanks to all of you who volunteered to accompany us. I’m just sorry we couldn’t have everyone who offered coming with us. Perhaps on our next adventure!

So what’s on the agenda for this week?

Monday will see the preparation for the visit to the zoo. We will be looking at a book about animals and their babies. You may wish to discuss the names of some familiar animals and what their baby names are called e.g cat and kitten, dog and puppy. The children will look at the similarities between animals and humans. They will complete sequencing activities involving pictures from baby to grandparent. To support this you may wish to dig out some of those childhood photographs to share with your child so they can see how you have changed and grown. Don’t worry I too will share my baby photographs with the children!!

Tuesday will be our fantastic visit to the zoo. We are armed with cameras, etc to record our visit to enable us to complete associated activities back at school.

Wednesday through to Friday is going to be just amazing! The children will learn about model making. They will be using the junk materials to work as a team to construct a model of their favourite animal from the zoo. This is a team building activity as well as an opportunity to teach the children about joining materials using masking tape, glue guns and cellotape. Please, please, please continue to clutter your homes with collections of junk materials for our model making as after this week the children will be asked to apply their new skills independently when we make rockets.

Communication, Language and Literacy
By the end of this week, the children:


MUST be able to provide the sound for the letters m, i, d and n in response to seeing the letter symbol;


SHOULD be able to orally segment (sound out) the words containing the letters;


COULD be able to segment, blend and write the words containing the letters.
The children are coming along nicely with their letter recognition and this week we will begin to teach the letters Gg, Oo, Cc and Kk. Again please make use of the websites below to support letter recognition. I would highly recommend the phonic fighter one for the boys!
http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/activities.htm - The children are to try to hear the initial sounds in words.http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html - Look at the letter shown and then select the picture that begins with that letter.http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/H/hoobs/activities/interactiveActivities.jsp?id=letters - This is an amazing website focusing on the initial sounds. Hours of fun why you do your ironing I think!http://www.little-g.com/shockwave/beginning.html - the children are to focus on the initial sounds of the picture shown and then identify a picture with the same initial sound.http://www.ictgames.com/phonemeFlop_v4.html - a good website for getting the children to identify the letters of the alphabet.http://www.starfall.com/ - this is a great all-rounder. Remember to encourage your child to use the letters they are unsure of. I will stick this information in your child’s diary this week.http://www.ictgames.com/phonic_fighter4.html - I love this game!http://www.channel4.com/learning/microsites/H/hoobs/activities/interactiveActivities.jsp?id=letters - activities 12 and 13 are good for helping with identifying the initial letters.http://www.ictgames.com/soundBingo.htmlhttp://www.ictgames.com/letterlifter.html

NEW!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/words/dg2.shtml

Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
We will be continuing with the unit of work on more and less we started last week. Although we were going to only concentrate on MORE last week we have been amazed at how they have picked up the concept of LESS. So we will work on both of them together this week. Here is a reminder of the learning objectives and appropriate websites you may wish to look at.
By the end of this week, the children:

MUST be able to identify which set has MORE or LESS
SHOULD be able to find one more or one less than a given number to
6

COULD be able to find one more or one less than a given number to 10
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/counting/random%20count.html - with this website, you will need to work with your child. They will need to firstly count the fish (they are moveable into a line) and then find one more and one less. http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/20050208/Mathematicaldev/Earlyyears/Number/Numberrhymes/Introduction/default.htm - this website is great for developing the children’s understanding of one less. As one speckled frog jumps into the pool, there is one less!http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/kidsonly/findout/counting/index.htm - these are great for those counting rhymes that involve one less each time.

Here I Am
We move into our final week on Invitations. The children will be having a ball for Golden Time just like in the story Cinderella. The girls need to come as a princess and the boys as princes. Over the course of the week they will write invitations inviting someone to the ball. I’m sure we will have lots of fun!


Handwriting homework
Please can I just remind everyone that homework does need to be back in school on a Friday with the library book. As there are so many children we need to mark them and prepare the homework and change books for the following Monday. If they are late then unfortunately, your child’s hard work will not be marked and they will not have the opportunity to change their library book which would be a shame. Many thanks in anticipation of your support.

Parents’ evening
The last few parent/teacher interviews will be held this week. I’ve really enjoyed having a chat with you all and may I pass on thanks on behalf of all the team for you support in the transition of your child into school. Here’s to a successful year.

Christmas Production
You will have received a letter regarding your child’s costume for the production. If you have any questions please pop in and see one of the team. BEWARE tights fly out of the shops at this time of year so get in early. Widnes market is usually a safe bet! You may have heard your child singing the songs we have learned already. Believe me you are in for a real treat! You will also be recieving the tickets for the productions. Please be aware that without a ticket there is no admittance so please keep them safe.

I think that’s all for this week.

Have a good one!

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxxxx

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