Are we sitting comfortably...?

By the title of this week’s blog, you should be able to guess what is happening in school this week...yes, it’s Bookweek!

On Friday, the Book Fair arrived in school and the children had the opportunity to browse through the books which are available. I am sure they came out at home time with a long list of the books that they would love! By buying a book for your child at the Book fair, you could really give their enthusiasm for reading a boost. If they get to choose a book they can keep, they will try so hard with their reading skills. It may even encourage them to want to read even more, which would be fantastic!

The book fair will be open every evening during this week, from 3.00-3.45pm and there are plenty of books which are appropriate for our children. Why not choose a book together and use it as a bedtime story each night this week? For every book that is purchased at the fair, the school earns commission, enabling us to add to our school stocks.

Friday is a busy day this week, with lots to remember! We have asked that the whole school come dressed as a character from a book. The children do not have to wear uniform on that day, but please remember that they may need a warm jumper to put on over the top of their costumes for playtimes.

The costume needn't be complicated nor expensive. It would also support the development of your child’s fine motor skills, if they help you make some props for their costumes from any 'junk' materials that you may have at home...

· a cardboard tube - sword - how else can the handsome prince cut down the vines to rescue the princess?
· a cereal box - cut up, this could become a shield, a crown; a wand
· foil - this can cover any of the above props, to transform anyone into a fairy godmother

Also on Friday, the Friends of St Vincent’s are holding a cake sale at 3pm in the hall. This is a great opportunity to have a cake and browse the book fair! In order for this to be a success, they have asked for cake donations to be sent into school on Friday morning. If you do send in a container from, could we ask that you label it with your name so that it may be returned to you. Thanks.

Communication, Language and Literacy

The children will be listening to a different story every day this week as part of our book week activities. Why not try to be letter and sound detectives at home this week and play a game of ‘I spy’ with the letters and sounds in their home reader. The children will love the competitive nature of this and will want to beat your score! See if your child can show you the movement associated with each sound, which is taught in class.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to name and sound the letters learned so far
SHOULD be able to use all the letters taught so far to blend and segment when reading and writing.
COULD be able to read and write captions containing words with these letters.

NEW - http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/flags.html this is a brilliant game. Choose the vowel you want to have in the middle of the words and then put the flags on the sandcastles to make the word said by the computer.
NEW http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/teddybearPicnic_v2.html - a good website for matching lower case and upper case letters.
http://www.starfall.com/ - The children are doing well with their letter sound and name recognition so why not try out the vowels at the bottom of the page to help them use them in words.
http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html - this game is great for helping your child to blend sounds together. You can select the pattern (choose those with the letters we have been working on) and then the children have to read the word and click on the tick if it is a real word.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=cvcmaker - This again is a great website for blending three letter words together.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/learn_y4/main.asp?lesson_path=year_4/word_machine_c-v-c/&lesson_file=lesson.swf&language=eng - This helps the children see how three letter words are made up of a consonant, a vowel and then a consonant.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/crank/game.shtml - If your child is experiencing difficulties listening to the middle sound then this is a great game for them.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine - a great site for blending again. Look at the picture in the machine and click on the correct word to match it.

Problem-solving, reasoning and numeracy

The focus for this week will mainly be on the use of comparative language. When comparing size we use the language big and small. When specifically talking about height we use tall and short. Many children confuse tall and big. Any support you can give towards this is really appreciated. Thanks.

Maybe you could get your child to help to organise the kitchen cupboards after shopping this week. Ask them to put the tallest objects at the back and the shortest objects at the front. See if they can suggest a reason why they should do this.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to identify objects that are tall and short.
SHOULD be able to order up to three objects in order of height saying which is the tallest, which is taller and which is shorter/shortest.
COULD be able to compare the heights of a range of objects and use other language to compare and describe the size.

Here are some websites to support you:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/numbers/index.shtml - This is a good website for reviewing addition and subtraction even though we are not working on it directly at the moment.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/big_small/eng/Introduction/default.htm - looks at big and small.
http://www.little-g.com/shockwave/apple.html - a lovely website introducing small, medium and large’
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/docs/shortesttotallest.doc - print out and order at home.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/sizeordering.swfhttp://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=compare-order7 - fab!

Here I Am

We move on to our new topic of Communion this week with the children.

By the end of the week, they children will:

Recognise that being together makes people happy
Reflect on the things they do that makes other people happy
Respect and appreciate that being with others brings them happiness

Maybe you could have a look through any photographs which you have at home, of any family celebrations you have been to. Talk with your child about how they felt when they were there and maybe they can identify how the people there made them feel.

Well, it looks like another busy week in Foundation Stage! Look forward to seeing you at the bookfair !

Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx