JIGSAW - Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

PSHE Education (Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education) is a planned programme of learning through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to successfully manage their lives – now and in the future. Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings as well as building their capacity to learn.

Jigsaw combines PSHE, emotional literacy, mindfulness, social skills, and spiritual development. Jigsaw aims to help children know and value who they really are and how they relate to other people in this ever-changing world. There are six Puzzles/themes (one per half-term), and every year group studies the same Puzzle at the same time (sequentially ordered from September to July), allowing for whole school celebrations. They are: Being me in my world, Celebrating difference, Dreams and goals, Healthy me, Relationships, Changing me.

Every Jigsaw session starts with ‘Calm Me’ time where children are encouraged to relax and control their breathing. We then sing a song about togetherness. This week’s discussion topic was ‘I can start to recognise and manage my feelings’. The children talked about being happy, angry, and sad and used the sentence starters I was happy when…. I was sad when….

The children impressed us with their empathy, and we talked about strategies for managing anger and what to do if you see someone who is sad. We will continue to have these discussions on a daily basis, and it would be great if you could do the same at home. We have assigned a mindful breathing activity on Seesaw for your child to practise (you might like to join in too). It is good to practice this regularly, so your child can use the strategies in times of stress and anxiety.

At the end of the session the children enjoyed taking photos of one another on an iPad. They made happy, sad, and angry faces. They took all the photos themselves and wanted to share some with you (photos can not be viewed via the school news app).

We will also share a knowledge organiser (via e-mail) for our first half term of Jigsaw ‘Being me in my world’ so you can continue the learning at home.

In Read Write Inc (RWI) this week the children learnt the sounds k, u, e and r. Practise writing these letters in your RWI handwriting booklet.

The children are continuing to orally blend sounds in cvc words. They have also been learning to independently blend with the sounds they know. It is important to continue recapping and practising the sounds they have learnt as your child’s speed of recall will affect their ability to blend independently. This is a hard skill for a child to learn, so please do not worry if they find it tricky, we will be doing lots of practise. We use magnet boards with the sounds to help the children learn.

There is a set one speed sound video on Seesaw that we encourage your child to watch daily to help their speed of recall. We have also assigned an oral blending activity and a sound blending activity for your child to watch and join in. This will give you an insight into how we teach blending. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. We will continue to share information on your child’s phonic journey.

Maths

The children have thoroughly enjoyed Maths this week. We have been exploring the numbers 1, 2 and 3. There have been many rich discussions about representing the numbers, and we have been questioning the children to elaborate on their reasoning. For example, the children were asked to show 3 fingers, and they all showed this on one hand but when they were asked to show it on two hands (1 on one hand and 2 on another hand) some of them did not see this as 3 as the fingers were not together on one hand. We have been challenging the children to articulate how they know which number is missing from a numberline and someone said, ‘I know 2 is missing because I can see one and three, and I know one more than one is two and one less than three is two”. The children enjoyed number hunts around the classrooms to find groups of objects representing numbers.

Mrs Clague has recorded an information video on Seesaw regarding Maths Mastery and why we invest quality time in each number to ten.

We have also introduced a new innovative programme called Ten Town. Children are very often good at counting to ten aloud, but this does not mean they are able to write the numbers or understand the real value of each number. In Ten Town each character represents a number. There is a phrase for each character to help the children write the numbers. As always, we like to encourage children to continue their learning at home, so we are really excited to offer your child access to Ten Town at home. They will be able to watch stories, play games and practise writing the numbers. They will only be able to access the numbers as we introduce them in school, the others will be locked. We will send your child’s unique password for Ten Town via Seesaw. Please explore the resources.  

Messages

• Please continue to contact the school office by email admin@preston.torbay.sch.uk or phone 01803 607075 with any questions or queries.
• In the event of your child being poorly, please call our absence line is 01803 607589 where you can leave a message.
• There is also lots of useful information, as well as event dates and term dates, on our school website  https://www.preston.torbay.sch.uk/
• On Thursday 14^th October Puffins and Penguins class photo will be published in the Herald Express ‘First Class’ supplement. Your child will be in the photo if they attended school on Monday 4^th October and they had photo consent.

Home learning options

• Enjoy sharing this week’s library book and do not forget to upload a video of you telling us your favourite part.
• Practise writing the sounds learnt this week in your RWI (Read Write Inc) phonics booklet. Also practice writing your name using the correct formation.
• Watch the Seesaw video to review the set one RWI sounds.
• Watch and join in with the oral blending and sound blending activities on Seesaw.
• Enjoy the story read by Mrs Wenman.
• Use your unique password to access Ten Town and explore the characters and numbers 1-3.

Dates to remember

Last swimming session – Tuesday 12^th October

Last day before half term - Friday 15th October

Return to school - Monday 1st November

‘Stickman’ Theatre Trip - Friday 5th November

Brush Bus

 The children were very excited to start the Brush Bus this week. They are already showing great independence and enjoy brushing along to the song. Please support your child to be independent at home with their tooth brushing. Your child will bring home a free tooth brushing pack to use at home. This includes a toothbrush, toothpaste and a two-minute timer.

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team