Information about learning in Foundation StageInformation about learning in Foundation Stage

The Home/School Partnership Newsletter Term 5 May 2011

Our teaching and learning focus for this half term is based around the theme of ‘In the garden’. We have been busy

planting cress seeds and plants into pots in the outdoor area. The children will be learning what plants need to help them

grow and how to care for the plants. We are looking forward to a busy and enjoyable term in the Reception class-

room!

Please feel free to pop in at the end of the school day to see your child’s class teacher, or make an

appointment through Mrs Ingram if you have any questions or concerns.

Molly, the Reception class

puppet at the

garden centre!

planting seeds and plants!

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

In this area of learning the children are developing the crucial knowledge, skills and understanding that help

them make sense of the world. The main focus of this half term is for the children to find out about and

identify features of the natural world and living things. Our theme of ‘In the Garden’ will provide plenty of

opportunities for growing our own plants, and looking at living things such as mini-beasts and lifecycles.

Our other main focus in this area of learning for this term is the development of children’s ICT skills. This will

include the use of programmable toys, becoming confident users of the interactive whiteboard

and gaining a knowledge of the different ways in which we use technology in our daily lives.

The children are developing skills to create pictures, using word banks and learning to use the

keyboard to type simple words and sentences.

Creative Development

Our role play will be based around traditional tales. We have already developed our very own puppet theatre, and

will shortly be creating the giants castle from ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. A listening corner has been set up and

the children can use this independently to select and listen to their favourite stories.

The children have been continuing to learn how to mix primary colours and how to use their painting tools and

equipment carefully and effectively in a creative context. We are also working on developing drawing skills

through practising drawing what they can see, and using a range of media.

In music we will be developing the children’s singing skills by looking at pitch and using

high and low voices which will be developed further using tuned percussion instruments.

The children will also be distinguishing between long and short sounds and making their

own performances using their voices and instruments.

Snack money is now due for this half term. Please send £6 in a named envelope to Mrs Ingram in

the Primary Office. Thank you.

Can you help us?

For our garden centre role play

area we need artificial plants and

flowers. If you have any you no

longer want we will

put them to good

use!

If we are fortunate to have very sunny

weather please send in a named sun hat

for your child to wear when they are out-

side.

We are unable to apply sun cream within

school, so please ensure you have put a

good quality, long

lasting high factor on your child before

they come to school. If you have any con-

cerns please speak to Miss Symmons or

Miss Emmins.

Polite Reminder: Please ensure if you give your child a yoghurt in a pot for their lunch, please include a spoon. We

are unable to provide spoons daily for children to eat their packed lunch.

As you may have noticed we

are using the sandpit outdoors.

Children will be taking their

shoes and socks off. If you

have any concerns please let

Miss Emmins or Miss

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The children are continuing to become increasingly independent. They are all now familiar with the ‘Task Board’

system which enables them to manage their own activities and take responsibility for their own

learning. It has also encouraged children to have a go at activities that they would not necessarily choose

themselves which has increased their confidence in all areas of learning. Please ask your child about the

different tasks they carry out each day.

This half term during circle time sessions we will continue to look at appropriate behaviour in conjunction with the

school charter with a focus on the importance of being polite and demonstrating good manners. We are also

particularly encouraging the children to work in pairs and small groups, taking turns and sharing fairly, as well as

accepting the needs of others. We hope that these are some of the skills that will encourage our

children to develop into caring and sociable individuals.

Thank you for supporting your child to produce the fantastic home learning

challenge, creating a picture of what you found in the garden. The children all

proudly shared their work.

Thank you for your continued support!

Communication, Language and Literacy

Our learning theme of ‘In the garden’ will also link in with our language focus of ‘Traditional Tales’ retelling

and acting out stories such as ‘The Enormous Turnip’ and ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We will be focusing

on using story language and developing our own story

telling both in the classroom and outside. The children will have many opportunities to retell and re-enact

stories. They will use puppets to retell stories to each other, tape record their story and develop their

own endings. The children will practise retelling stories in the correct sequence, using traditional story language (i.e. Once upon

a time …) and talk about the character and events in the story. We will also be looking at non-fiction books during the term

and the children will learn how to find information from the text to help answer questions.

The children benefit from a daily phonics session which builds on letter/word recognition as well as sentence construction

and rhyming patterns. The children are now able to read and spell small phonetically built words e.g. pin, shop, duck. Thank you

for your continued support at home with this. We are continuing to practise writing letter sounds in response to hearing them.

This enables the children to write more quickly if they can instantly recall the letter shapes of the sounds they identify in

words. The children are also encouraged to make alliterative sentences as part of their weekly handwriting practice in their

dictionaries. During this half term the children will learn the name of each letter and the association between the letter name

and its phonic sound.

Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy

We will continue to reinforce children’s skills in number recognition, counting and mental calculation through daily

maths sessions. The children have had a range of opportunities to ‘hunt’ for numbers around the classroom and

outdoor area and have been practising recording and the formation of numbers. This half term we will continue to

develop addition skills as well as a focus on subtraction reinforcing the language ‘more’ ‘less’ and ‘fewer’. The

children will progress onto separating a given number of objects into two groups e.g. 0 and5, 4 and 1, 3 and 2 ….The

children have begun to look at estimation, finding and comparing amount of objects without counting. We will also

be looking at ‘time’ by giving children an introduction to the language of time, reading ‘o’clock’ times

on an analogue clock, sequencing familiar events and knowing the days of the week in order.

This half term we will introduce a weekly problem solving activity for the children to investigate and

find the answers to a question independently. This may involve estimating which jar contains the most

sweets or finding out how many cubes are heavier than a toy car, this will give the children further

opportunities to develop important thinking skills.

You can support your child at home by practising number formation. It is important that

children learn the correct formation from an early stage. At CCS we write our numbers like this:

5 and 8 need lots of practise. To help with 8 we say that it starts as if you are writing a S.

Remember numbers and letters can be written in any medium; in pencils, chalk, felt pen, paint or a

steamy mirror!

Physical Development

This half term our PE sessions will concentrate on developing the children’s throwing, catching and aiming skills,

we will also be concentrating on developing dance skills. The children will be given an opportunity to develop their

own dances based on different ways of travelling. We will also be making the most of

the good weather and begin practising our running and team skills ready for sports day

in the summer!

Miss Symmon’s Class: Thursday and Friday

Miss Emmin’s Class: Wednesday and Friday.

shop, shed, wish

chop, chip, much

thin, moth, this

ring, song, king

wait, rain, train

coat, goat, soap

see, feet, week

for, cork, sort

New sounds to learn;

sh, ch, th, ng