Foundation Stage Weekly Newsletter
Puffins and Penguins Weekly Newsletter, 13th November 2020
Dear Parents,
We hope you had a restful half term. It has been wonderful welcoming all the children back. This half term we will be learning about celebrations. We will talk about special times in our lives and learn about different celebrations including Bonfire Night, Diwali and Christmas.
Remembrance
This week, the children held a two minute silence to remember those who fought and lost their lives to protect us. We talked about the significance of the poppy, made our own poppies, and painted a field full of poppies. The children demonstrated respect and responsibility.
Bonfire Night
The children have been talking about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. Some of the vocabulary we have been using is pop, bang, bonfire, November, crackle, explode, plot and past. Teaching children about historical events is important as it helps them gain understanding of time. We talked about their own experiences of bonfire night and how to stay safe. They enjoyed creating their own firework pictures and paper sparklers.
Stars of the Week
As part of our learning about celebrations we are introducing ‘Stars of the Week’. Each week we will choose some children who have done something special, demonstrated their school values or challenged themselves during the week. They will bring home a gold star to share with their family and celebrate their hard work. The star will have a recorded message telling you why the child has been chosen. Please enjoy the star for the weekend and bring it back to school on Monday.
Maths
In maths lessons this week we have been exploring the number 6.
We have been subitising the dots on a dice and instantly calling out the number. We have had fun in class exploring ‘counting on’ games with a large number line. See how well they are doing when you are playing dice games at home (e.g. Snakes and Ladders, Frustration, Ludo, etc).
We introduced grouping to the children. We split the number 6 into different sized groups. We discovered that we could have 1 group of 6, or 2 groups of 3, or 3 groups of 2 or 6 groups of 1. We will continue to practice this concept throughout the year.
Woodland Camp
In the woods this week we made Autumn crowns using different shaped leaves. We talked about what Autumn means and what happens. The children told us that the leaves change colour and fall off the trees. We used the vocabulary Autumn, season, tree, leaves, red, orange, brown, yellow and green. We then talked about leaf litter and how it is good for the soil and helps insects to hide.
Messages
- We look forward to meeting with you on zoom next week to discuss your child’s learning.
- Thank you for your donations to Children in Need. The children felt very special in their own clothes today.
- Please ensure all PE kits are in school ready for next week.
- Please check the school app and website for useful dates.
Home Learning options
- Watch the RWI speed sound lesson on Seesaw.
- Learn the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with the Makaton signs, a link will be on Seesaw.
- Play dice games at home (e.g Snakes and Ladders, Frustration, Ludo). Encourage your child to subitise (instantly recognise) the numbers instead of counting each individual dot.
- Can you write a simple sentence using the words; It is a … maybe you could draw a picture to go with it.
Upload photos on to your Seesaw journal and then you could use the microphone button to record your voice telling us about your work.
From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team