Number 10
This week, we’ve been looking at the number 10 and the children have engaged in many different activities to represent ten. At the start of each lesson, the children enjoy watching the Number Block song for the number of the week.
They’ve all drawn ten in their busy books. We call this mathematical graphics. In the example below the child has drawn ten in lots of different ways.
“Ten crosses, ten circles, ten ladders”.
The children have enjoyed using pictures to tell number stories to ten.
“First there were 4 pigs, then 6 sheep came along, now there are 10 animals all together.”
The children have had a go at telling less than number stories and with support can write the numbers to show the story.
First there were 14 spots on the ten frame, then 4 rolled away, now there are 10 left.
Finally, they have enjoyed counting by 10s. We estimated how many cubes were in a jug and then grouped them by 10s to count the total number.
Challenge – 3 cubes
Can your child tell (verbally or through mathematical graphics) a number story to ten? They can use a picture from a book, create a scene using small world props or from something they can see around them.
Please email us any quotes or mathematical graphics from your child. This will support us in our assessment by providing evidence towards the number strand of the EYFS.
Children count reliably with numbers from one to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.
World book day
Thank you to those of you who came to the stay and read on Thursday 07 March. The children really enjoyed sharing stories with you. It was also a great opportunity to highlight the importance of your child reading their school reading book as often as possible – daily is recommended in order to support your child’s reading development.
The children also enjoyed sharing the adventurous words they have been exploring at school. Whilst your child reading to you is important, it is also important that you read to your child. This way your child will be able to experience more ‘adventurous’ words that would not be in their own school reading book. We are constantly picking out adventurous words from stories we read at school – this is a great way to develop your child’s vocabulary.
We would also like to say a HUGE well-done to all children in Foundation class for putting on a fantastic assembly. The children were very confident and spoke loudly in such a big assembly hall. We hope you enjoyed the assembly too.
The home-link this week is in your child’s book bag. This week we are asking you to listen to your child re-tell a favourite story. We are often re-telling stories in school using the story actions and sentence starters that we used in our assembly on Friday (First, Then, Suddenly, After that, Luckily, Finally). Please return the home-link this week. Home-links are a great opportunity for us to hear about your child’s learning at school and gain a bigger picture of what your child can do.
Pirate Party
We have all had a brilliant day celebrating Pirate Pete’s birthday and the end of our pirate topic. Thank you for providing all the amazing costumes that the children were wearing today – everyone looked fantastic!
We especially enjoyed dancing at the front of Wake Up Shake Up and teaching the whole school a pirate dance we have been practising all week!
In the afternoon, we had a visit from Pirate Pete, we all sang happy birthday to him and had some pirate punch!
Have a great half term!
Keeping active – starting good habits
Every Friday, each class takes it in turns to lead the daily Wake Up Shake Up (WUSU) session, which is part of our commitment to provide 30 active minutes every day (in addition to our PE lessons). It was F2’s first chance to lead this week. They were really excited and showed us their two favourite dances. Young children enjoy being active and find it easy to join in, without feeling self-conscious, so we hope this continues. Well done, F2!
Living and Learning – Safety Week
This week, we have been learning how to stay safe.
On Monday, we had a talk from the Dogs Trust. We listened carefully to a talk in the hall. We had to decide which situations were safe and which situations were not safe. Some of the children’s comments are below:
- “If a dog is sleeping, it’s not safe to touch it.”
- “Don’t stroke a dog when it is eating.”
- “If you see a dog all alone, don’t touch it. Wait until someone (an owner) come and ask.”
On Tuesday, we looked at ways to keep safe in school. We did an indoor/outdoor risk assessment.
- “If you see a chair, put it under the table.”
- “You can’t run by the pool…it’s wet and you’ll slip.”
- “We can’t run in the classroom. We might bump put heads.”
On Wednesday, we looked at ways to keep safe on the road. We listened to a story about Super Cat, a cat who uses his senses for good to help children cross the road. We learnt the Super Cat’s road safety rap.
We also had a visit from the local fire station.
On Thursday, we listened to a story about Smartie the penguin. He taught us how to keep safe when using the internet. He told the children to always get support from a grown-up if something pops up on their screen and they don’t know what to do. Smartie taught us another safety rhyme.
Home-link – 3 challenge cube
Can your child tell you 3 things they have learnt from safety week? Please email or write down what they tell you. This will support us in our assessment by providing evidence towards the health and self care strand of the EYFS.
Children talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.
Technology home link
As part of our ongoing assessment against the 17 Early Learning Goals, we are focusing on the Technology strand. In particular, this goal can sometimes be difficult to assess purely on what we observe in school. We realise that children are often able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills more readily at home, using the technology that is a part of their everyday life.
Over the next few weeks we will be sending Home Link activities connected to Technology to help us make accurate judgements in this area. We would be very grateful if you could complete the activities with your child, making notes about anything they say, and send it back into school.
EasyPeasy – parent feedback
We hope you enjoyed playing the first game from the EasyPeasy app ‘stepping stones’. If you did not receive a text inviting you to the play the EasyPeasy games, please let a member of staff know.
We would love to hear about when your child plays the games. You can comment on the video on the EasyPeasy app or email us. We really enjoyed hearing about one child playing ‘stepping stones’ at the weekend!
Marvellous Maths Stay and Play
Thank you to those of you who were able to attend the ‘marvellous maths’ stay and play last week. It was great to see so many of you there and the children enjoyed sharing their learning with you.
The teacher taught part of the session focused on the number 8. We focus on numbers to twenty throughout the year to get a depth of understanding of what the numbers represent. We talked about what number 8 looks like – not just the numeral but also what it looks like in our environment. For example, 7 flowers and 1 tree – that makes eight!
The activities part of the session allowed the children to apply the skills practically. There are 6 counting principles which children must know in order to be able to count well.
Thank you for all the fantastic feedback. In response, please find some links below available to download and print to support learning at home.
Number formation , first, then, now – ten frame
If you were unable to attend, your child will be bringing home an information sheet with ideas of how to support your child at home. The children also enjoy watching number blocks – a great conversation starter about numbers!
Big Garden Bird Watch Home-link Challenge
This week, the children have enjoyed bird watching and looking for other signs of winter (ice, moss, snowdrops, spiders webs) in our outdoor garden. So far, they have spotted lots of magpies. They had fun recording their findings. Below, are a few comments from the children.
- “We have to be quiet.”
- “We have to hide and then they’ll come.”
- “We need to put some food out, they will smell it and come.”
- “They like worms.”
Home-link Challenge – 3 challenge cubes
This weekend, it is the big garden birdwatch. Can your child spot any birds/other signs of winter?
Birds to look out for: Blackbird, Blue tit and Chaffinch.
This week, we have also been exploring bird cakes. Making cakes for the birds is great, sticky fun and the mix of fat, seeds and mealworms is irresistible for many garden birds!
Why not try and make a bird cake at home to attract the birds to your garden?
What you will need:
- String
- Scissors
- Mixing bowl
- Molds eg empty yogurt pots
- Mealworms
- Lard to bind the other ingredients together
- Mixed seed
- Nuts (unsalted)
- Raisins
- Hard cheese
Step-by-step guide
- Make a small hole in the bottom of your mould. Thread string through and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so that you can tie the pot to a tree/bird table.
- If using lard, allow the fat to warm up to room temperature. Then cut it up into small pieces and put it in the mixing bowl.
- Add the other ingredients to the bowl and mix them together with your finger tips. This bit can get quite sticky!
- Fill your yoghurt pots with bird cake mixture and put them in the fridge to set (1 hour).
- Hang your speedy bird cakes from trees or your bird table.
Remember to take photos and maybe a photo or drawing of the birds flocking down to eat it!
Please email photos and comments from your child so we can share your sightings next week. This will support us in our assessment by providing evidence towards the Understanding the World strand of the EYFS.
They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.
EasyPeasy! We are going live!
You should have received a letter and information booklet introducing you to the new and FREE educational app called ‘EasyPeasy’.
‘EasyPeasy’ is going live this Saturday 26th January. If you have not opted out you will receive a text message inviting you to access the many educational game ideas that you can do at home.
Each week, you will receive a text message with a new game that you can play in any location with everyday items that you’ll already have at home. EasyPeasy is designed to support learning through play!
This week the activity will be ‘stepping stones’. Let us know how you get on by commenting on the game. Look out for our comment with suggestions of how to adapt the game!
