Stop and read!
To encourage a love of reading Foundation 2 take part in ‘stop and read’ time every day. At ‘stop and read’ time the children can choose to sit on either rainbow or sunshine carpet – the children really enjoy having this choice and find it exciting sitting on a different carpet!
To choose the books read at ‘stop and read’ the children vote for the book they would like to listen to. Each child can place a lego brick alongside the book they would prefer. The tallest tower wins. We talk about the front cover and how it can give us an idea about the book. We also talk about the blurb at the back of the book and how it can give us a clue about the book and help us decide if we would like to listen to the story.
If your child has a book at home they would like to put on the voting table for ‘stop and read’ please bring it in to school – it would be great to share their favourite stories!
Zipping up our coats!
Our outside area is open in all weathers and at the moment, there’s certainly no playing out without a coat. It’s just too cold and wet!
Please encourage your child to practise zipping up their coats independently. We’ll be looking out for children that can fasten their zips and we’ll give out challenge cubes to those who achieve it.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…lunch!
We all enjoyed a delicious Christmas lunch today prepared by our wonderful kitchen staff. The lunchtimes supervisors did a fantastic job (especially Mrs Pennock) decorating the hall too. Thank you!
An alternative story
The children have enjoyed re-telling the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt.’ We have drawn story maps to help us re-tell the story. We have also thought of our own story actions to sequence the story.
Then, we decided to be authors ourselves and change the story. The children decided to change what we were going on a hunt for. We then thought of alternative words for the word big – to make our story more exciting. Here are some examples of the children’s alternative stories.
“We’re going on a dinosaur hunt. We’re going to catch a ginormous one!”
“We’re going on a snake hunt. We’re going to catch a slithering, long one!”
“We’re going on a monster hunt. We’re going to catch a humungous one!”
The children then drew their own alternative story and used the story actions to retell their stories to their friends.
Challenge – 3 bricks
Can your child re-tell their alternative story? Can they use the actions to help them or draw a story map? Please email photos or videos.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Next week, our Literacy focus will be the story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. If you have a copy, we’d like you to share it together this weekend. If you don’t have a copy of the book, perhaps you could visit the library or enjoy watching the story read by Michael Rosen online. He’s a brilliant story teller!
Home-link – 3 challenge cubes
Please email pictures and quotes from your child listening to, retelling or re-enacting the story. Please let us know what their favourite part is and why. This will support us in our assessment by providing evidence towards the Speaking and Reading strands of the EYFS.
Introduces a story line or narrative into their play.
Uses vocabulary and forms of speech that are increasingly influenced by their experiences of books.
Let’s talk numbers!
In Foundation 2, we focus on numbers to twenty throughout the year to get a depth of understanding of what the numbers really mean. For example:
During the past couple of weeks we have been focusing on the number 3.
Finding 3
The children have been finding 3 by looking at their environment and at pictures. For example: 3 pigs, 3 houses, 3 noses, 3 hats…
Number stories
Once the children had looked for three around them, they have begun to tell number stories. We use the language first, then and now to tell the stories and have developed some actions to support us.
First there was one flower in the garden. Then two more flowers grew in the garden. Now there are three flowers altogether.
First there were three ice-creams. Then I ate one. Now there are two ice-creams left.
These number stories support your child’s understanding of number in real-life experiences. Looking at numbers in the environment and number stories support your child in developing a deep understanding of what ‘3’ really means.
Can your child tell you a number story that makes 3? Can your child find 3 in the environment? Please let us know what your child has done using a wow sheet – we can then celebrate their learning at school.
World Nursery Rhyme Week
The week commencing 18 November 2019 is World Nursery Rhyme Week. Nursery rhymes play an important role in early childhood development and education. They aid language and communication, assist with learning early maths and support the development of children’s social, physical and emotional skills.
As part of World Nursery Rhyme Week we will be theming our teaching and classroom provision around well-known nursery rhymes.
These are the rhymes we will be looking at each day:
Monday – Baa Baa Black Sheep
Tuesday – Down in the Jungle
Wednesday – Incy Wincy Spider
Thursday – Row Row Row your Boat
Friday – Two Little Dickie Birds
Home-link
To further engage the children, we would like them to tell us about their favourite nursery rhyme. For example, they could bring in a book to share, a picture of their favourite rhyme or even a prop. We would also love to know what your favourite nursery rhyme was whilst you were growing up. Please could these be brought into school ready to share on Tuesday 19 November.
Children in Need
The children have really enjoyed dressing up for Children in Need today. We talked about why we were dressed up and why we had bought in £1. We then talked about those children who may be less fortunate than us. This then encouraged us to talk about what we are thankful for. Those children who had done their homelink were then able to share their drawings of what they are thankful for.
“I’m thankful for my house. It keeps me warm.”
“I’m thankful for my toys.”
“I’m thankful for my wendy house in my garden.”
Fiddly Fingers Stay and Play
Thank you to all those that came along to the fiddly fingers stay and play. We hope you enjoyed the session and came away with lots of ideas on how to support your child’s physical development in terms of their fine motor skills at home.
The next stay and learn will be Marvellous Maths on Tuesday 14 January 2020
PE
The children have really enjoyed climbing and balancing on the climbing equipment.
First, we talked about why it is important to exercise in order to keep fit and healthy. Then, we talked about how to keep safe on the climbing equipment. Whilst exercising we talked about the changes in our bodies. For example, our heart beat was slow at the beginning but was beating fast at the end of the PE lesson!
Reminder: Please ensure your child has a PE kit every Tuesday. It is not safe for your child to climb on the climbing equipment in their school uniform.