Learning Experience – Oh, I do love to be beside the seaside!

This week, some of us have been on a walk around our local environment thinking about the question ‘What are the key features of our local area?’. The children ventured down to Hollicombe park and beach, then over to St Paul’s church, before heading back to school. We identified many features including woods, beach, railway line, church, shops, a petrol station, and a restaurant. Here are some quotes from the children:

“This is great fun! I’ve never been here before!” (Emily)

“I know this is the beach because I can see sand, sea and the cliffs” (Daniel)

“I can see my house. My house is near the school and the beach.” (Harlie)

We will continue the trips next week so that all of the children have a chance to visit the local area.

In class this week, we have been developing our understanding of maps and directions by programming a Beebot to move around a floor map, and using a globe to identify countries. We will continue our learning next week.  

Thank you for supporting your child’s learning at home. It has been wonderful to see them using maps to find their way around, and using SatNavs to reach their destination in their car (some of the children remembered using the word destination in our Lego Discover programme). You have posted lots of photographs on Seesaw – here are a few images to celebrate their hard work. Thank you for your continued support with your child’s home learning.

Maths

In Maths this week, we have been investigating sharing. We built on our knowledge of halving food and shapes last week to start thinking about how quantities can be distributed equally. We have been helping lots of characters (including pirates and pigs!) to solve problems. We recapped and combined previous learning and encouraged the children to ‘prove’ their answer in a variety of ways. For example, when trying to help 2 pirates share their 14 gold coins, the children selected from a variety of resources including part/whole diagrams and counters to solve the problem. Some children were able to use drawings to show their workings out.

We also worked out how to share items when there are more than 2 characters, e.g., the 3 little pigs needed help sharing food on their picnic, and 4 pirates needed help sharing their treasure equally. We have also been using our knowledge to share our snacks in a small group at snack time, e.g., 12 grapes, 20 raisins, 1 tangerine, 4 milk cartons, etc. The work this week has prompted some wonderful discussions and some fabulous reasoning about sharing and being fair.

We have also been impressed with examples that you have posted on Seesaw of how your child has used their knowledge of halving and sharing at home, for example, slicing pizzas, cutting cake, and sharing snacks. Well done!

Literacy – Bonkers about Beetroot

The children were excited to continue their learning on the book ‘Bonkers about Beetroot’. We are re-reading  the story and immersing the children in the text to help secure their knowledge, understanding, and enjoyment. We have been talking about the meaning of some of the vocabulary in the text, e.g. doomed, scowled, out of control.

This week we explored real beetroots! We also sliced some cooked beetroot and the children tasted it. Some children ate quite a few pieces and loved looking at their purple teeth and tongue in the mirror! Some were not so keen on the taste but gave it a try.

Baby Pictures

Our PSHE Jigsaw topic this half term is called ‘Changing Me’. Thank you to all of those who have already sent in a photo of your child as a baby. A reminder to those who haven’t yet done this, to please do it by Monday 27^th June as we will be using these in our lessons. We are going to be talking about change and identifying how they have changed from a baby to a child. You can either e-mail the photo to foundation@preston.torbay.sch.uk or send it to us on Seesaw.

Home Learning

• Enjoy the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’ on Seesaw, read by Mrs Bastin
• Complete the maths activity on Seesaw.
• Check Seesaw and your book bag for this week’s RWI books and activities. Practise reading your book at least 3 times a week.
• If you have not already done so, please send in a picture of your child as a baby to either foundation@preston.torbay.sch.uk or through Seesaw.

Dates for your diary

• Friday 8^th July – Summer Fayre. Starts at 3:15pm on the school field. (Friday 15^th July – Reserve date).
• Monday 11^th July – Sports Day. (Thursday 14^th July – Reserve date). Picnic lunch: 12:10pm-12:40pm, Foundation races: 2pm-3:15pm.
• Friday 8^th July - School Reports out to parents.
• Thursday 21^st July – final day of term.

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team