Friday 10th January- Happy New Year! 

Happy New Year to everyone, and what a wonderful start back to school we have had!

The children seemed to have grown over the two weeks not at school and it reminds us just how quickly the Foundation year goes!

This half term’s big question is: What can we explore today?

Currently we are exploring polar regions, we have our very own Antarctica in class and the children have loved exploring it. The weather has kindly helped us with our exploration and we have been looking closely at all the ice in our playground. We even completed an experiment to see if we blow bubbles onto the ice will the bubble freeze!!

In English this week we have started to read the story The Emperor’s Egg. The children loved this book, and they learnt it well by using our class story map. We also watched a compilation of Happy Feet the film. The children made connections about what we read in our book. The children have used their oracy and sequencing skills to retell the story in their books.

As we discovered that daddy emperor penguins have a very important job in keeping the egg warm and safe on their feet for 2 months, so we decided to see if we could be an emperor penguin. We had a go at balancing an ‘egg’ on our feet and waddle- it was so tricky! Although Janet was a pro!

In math’s this week we have explored zero, subitise to 5 and count back from 5. Miss Hughes has challenged the children every day to a math’s activity and the children have beat her every day, they are the best mathematicians!

In phonics the children have started level 3 this week we explored phonemes j/v/w/and x. The children have come back to school with such enthusiasm for their phonics and have been so excited to learn level 3!  

The children have also: made arctic scenes, drawn penguins, tried to make igloos from Lego, played read and find, and so much more!

Have a wonderful weekend

The Foundation Team

Friday 22nd November

Some of this week’s exploring and learning:

The children have had great fun exploring instructions on how to toast a marshmallow this week. They have been exploring using fab vocabulary to start the sentence such as, get/let/hold/check. The most exciting part of our instructions is that today we got to toast marshmallows with Mr. Liddement! It was an amazing experience at school! The children were using words such as magnificent, delicious, crackling and wonderful!

The children have been subitising this week (saying an amount without counting) to three and some even beyond to five! The children really are working so hard!

In phonics this week we have revisited and reviewed writing the letters g/o/c/and k/. Alongside oral blending practice, their reading is progressing amazingly!

In outdoor learning with Mrs Gregory the children made tree sprites, and they were superb! They also had the chance to learn how to fly a kite just like Kit and Sam in phonics!!

The children have also learnt how to draw a robot toy, made their favourite toys from plasticine, designed some amazing toys using their imagination and so much more!

We wish you all a wonderful and restful weekend

The Foundation Team 

Friday 15th November

Some of this week’s exploring and learning:

We started the week with Remembrance Day, The children explore what Remembrance day is. We explored information that told us why was wear poppies and why we observe a silence. The children observed a one minute silence in class at 11am and then we discussed how we felt and what we thought about it. The children were amazing at understanding this thoughtful day. All of our activities were based on Remembrance Day and the children created some wonderful work.

The children have been working so hard in phonics this week. Its really important that the children can hold their pencil with a strong grip and that they are able to form their letters correctly. Therefore, we have continued to practice our letter formation this week and the children have been writing letters i/n/m and d/.

In maths this week the children have been linking number symbols with the cardinal value. We have explored this through lots of fun activities and the children keep heling miss Hughes to problem solve when she finds it a bit tricky!!

On Thursday we had our disco and it was so much fun, it was great to see the children attend after school in their disco clothes and dance away. The adults had great fun too!

Today Mr Hewitt came to school and introduced our special artwork that the whole school will be taking part in. The children then had a very important job of colouring their own named fish to be a part of this wonderful artwork. This artwork will be displayed in our school hall, pictures to follow on completion.

Today was also Children in Need Day and we explored this using stories and pictures so that the children have a great understanding of what this day means. All of our activities today were based on Children in Need.

Its been a very busy week and I’m sure the children are very tired so we wish you all a lovely, relaxed weekend.

The Foundation Team

Friday 8th November

We have had a wonderful first week back and the children have come back to school full of positive energy after their half term rest.

This week has been a busy week exploring and learning about special celebrations such as Diwali and Firework Night.

On Tuesday we had a fire work celebration day. The children explored why we celebrate firework night. All of our learning tasks were based on fireworks. In outdoor learning ,Mrs Gregory and Janet made a bonfire for the children to explore. The children used a steel to start a spark and then sat around a perimeter and watched the fire that Mrs Gregory started. The children loved this experience and were using such brilliant vocabulary.

Today we had Diwali day. Maya from our local shop sent us some beautiful pictures of her Diwali outfit. She looked beautiful. The children explored what Diwali is and how Hindu people celebrate. All of our activities today were all about Diwali and the children learnt so much and achieved some great work tasks.

In phonics, the foundation children have started level from the beginning, with a strong focus on writing the letters using the correct formation. Writing the letters using correct formation benefits the children as they enter into year 1 and beyond as when they begin to join letters the letter formation makes a big difference.

The children have been writing s/a/t/ and p this week. Lots of practice would be great at home. Writing in shaving foam, sand, salt or using water on paint brushes is a great way to practice letter formation at home in a fun way. Please refer to the phonics sheets previously sent for the correct letter formation.

In maths the children have worked hard at representing numbers 1, 2 and 3. They have used many different ways to represent the numbers and have progressed so well.

Our BIG question this half term is: What shall I play with today?

Therefore, the children have also been exploring toys from the past and making pictures of toys they would lie to play with. They have been drawing their most favourite toys from home, been practicing writing their name and so much more!  

Have a lovely weekend 

The Foundation Team 

Thursday 24th October -Half Term!

WOW! It is the end of our first half term! It has been a very long half term, being eight weeks and we can see that the children are all very tired! However, they have been AMAZING and their first half term at full time school has been wonderful.

The children have all progressed in their own way so much and we are beyond proud of their achievements!

This week the children have been assessed in phonics as we reached the end of level 2. The children are progressing well. Each year we revisit level 2 so that we can ensure writing progression and application as well as reading.

The children have been working towards a ‘pumpkin day’ this week and have been making wonderful choices and working hard. They have been using their phonics to write characters and items they remember from our poems. They have been recognizing, matching and making numbers to 10. The children have been working with Mr.  Liddement this week to create obstacle courses and construction walls. The problem solving has been amazing!

In outdoor learning the children were set a challenge with Mrs Gregory. Mrs Gregroy made two areas with rope, she then showed the children a stick, their first job was to find a bigger stick and put it in one of the areas roped out. My goodness did the children find big sticks we even had a log! Then the children had to compare Mrs Gregory’s stick and find smaller ones. The outdoor learning session is a great session where the children learn so many skills in the natural environment.

The children have also been making autumnal pictures, cutting, sticking, painting and drawing. They have been practicing their name writing and so much more!

We wish you all a wonderful half term break and we look forward to seeing all the children on Monday 4^th November

Foundation team 

Friday 18th October

Some of this week’s learning in Foundation class:

The foundation children have worked so hard this week, and we have seen some lovely wow moments!

This week the children have explored so many wonderful learning opportunities!

In outdoor learning this week Mrs Gregory set up an amazing nature hunt for the children. They worked in pairs with pictures, and they had to explore the forest area and find the items to match. The children found pine needles, apples, berries, bark and much more. The children used wonderful vocabulary to explore these items, and it was a wonderful session!

In maths this week the children have been learning to count on to 20 and back from 20 verbally! We use a lot of songs to help us with our learning and the children love to join in and sing when they are learning.

On Wednesday Miss Hughes found a big stick insect on Miss Bolgers class door. We took this opportunity to bring ‘Stam’ ( his new name) into class and explore him. We learnt all about stick insects by researching and we even held him , if we felt comfortable to do so! He tickled!!

In English we continued to explore rhyming words and the children were amazing at matching rhyming words and pictures in one of the activities. We then listened to another Edward Lear poem called The Jumblies’ this poem was a long poem but the children loved the adventure within the poem and enjoyed acting out sailing in the sea in a sieve!  

In Phonics we explored diagraphs: ll/ss/ff/ and s saying /z/. The children were soooooo amazing with their phonics this week that they actually 'blew Janets socks off'!!!!!! 

The children have also been practicing their writing, making owl and pussy cat masks , using foil to make boats to float on the water just like the owl and pussy cat and so much more!

Next week is a four day week as we break up for half term on Thursday 24^th at 3:15pm

Have a lovely weekend

The Foundation Team