information about learning in foundation stageinformation ... post curriculum mat… · information...
TRANSCRIPT
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