On your marks, get set, go!

Week beginning 18th June 2007

Once again I was being dangerously optimistic, or should I say unrealistic regarding the amount of work I planned for last week? Needless to say we gave it a go yet did not manage to have Fifi's package delivered. I'm sure it will this week.

Just a few things before I forget. On Friday, we will be having an Operation Sports Day! This is when we check the children's PE kits and if their pumps fit. We do seem to have a bit of a mystery on our hands, as a one-legged monster (who likes PE) seems to be taking one PE pump out of people's bags. Friday we will have an amnesty on all pumps!

You will also be recieving a letter regarding parents' evening times after the school reports have been sent out. As many of you are new to the school, I always hold a short parent interview with you to explain the report, the jargon and the implications for the future. This is a lovely way to end the school year. As always, please be as flexible with the choices you make for the days and times to allow me to accommodate most preferences. On the day you receive your child's report, the name of your child's next teacher will be given also. Please be assured that decisions regarding class organisation are not taken lightly. We love your children nearly as much as you do and want the very best for them. All I can say is 'trust us'.

Communication, Language and Literacy
This week we are reviewing our work on traditional stories. We are going to begin this week with Jack and the Beanstalk. Traditional stories are fantastic and I am sure you remember them being read to you as a child. Sadly, more and more children are not having experience of these stories early on in their lives. Therefore, we are on a mission! You could support your child by reading as many traditional stories as possible with them. The stories do have common themes: the triump of good over evil/bad, a goodie and a baddie, the significance of the number 3, in the original versions(not disney) Cinderella goes to the ball three times. When sharing the stories with your child perhaps you could talk about these features. The children will be sequencing pictures of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, matching captions to the pictures to support their reading, and some children will be retelling the story using the pictures as a guide both orally and in their writing. Drama will feature strongly over the next few weeks as the traditional stories often lead to some amusing role-plays, with most children wanting to be the baddie!

If you would like to have a look at some traditional stories on the internet, try the following websites: http://www.topmarks.co.uk/stories/gingerbread1.htm http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/english/story_telling/index.htm However, nothing can beat a visit to the local library.

Last week's websites on phonics and high frequency words are still needed. So keep on surfing!

Mathematical Development
We are taking the opportunity to complete our final assessments on the Foundation Stage profile before sending the scores into the Authority. The children have done amazingly well and we would just like to just check those last few points. Therefore, this week, we will be looking at problem solving. For example:
If two people get on a bus and three more get on. How many are on the bus now?
If there are ten jelly babies and I eat eight. How many are left?
How can I share ten sweets fairly between two children?

We will also be checking on the children's understanding of comparative langauge, longer, shorter, heavier and lighter etc.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World
The children will be completing a number of review tasks linked to the topics that have already been taught. This is to enable us to collect more evidence of the children's attainment in this area of learning before submitting the results to the Local Education Authourity. We will be mainly focusing on exploring differences and similarities between materials and living things, identifying likes and dislikes about the natural environment, asking questions about why things happen and how things work, and identifying uses of technology in everyday life as well as learning how to programme an electronic toy. Sounds fab!!

Creative Development
You may have noticed but this is my favourite area of learning! This week the children will be making the animal masks they created last week. I can't wait as some of the designs are spectacular.


Physical Development
We will be preparing for Sports day this week. The children perform a running race, a balancing race and an egg and spoon race. We have a great time! The children will need a sunhat, suncream and a drinks bottle for their own protection and safety. For all those competetive fathers out there, there will be a parent's race so get down to david lloyd. You may just have time!

Just in case you may need to book off work, or you have misplaced the holiday list, the Sports day for the infants is on Tuesday 3rd July in the afternoon. If it should rain on this day then it will the next day at the same time.

Short (like me) and sweet (erm...) this week!

Take care and I'll see you soon

Best wishes Jayne Narraway x