F.S. Blog

This week we have started learning about Diwali. The children have made their own paper plate Diya lamps, copied some rangoli patterns using shapes and made firework pictures. They also tried some Indian food and we were so impressed with how willing they all were to try different things!

We’d also like to say how lovely it has been to see so many parents on a Tuesday afternoon at Library Time, thank you for your continued support.

Zachary and Jacob were all smiles sitting on the top table for lunch this Friday! Well done boys!

We are learning…

This week, we have been continuing to develop our understanding of number and place value by finding one more and one less of a number to 10.

What’s coming up?

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to Foundation Stage and it has been great to hear all about their half term holiday. We have continued learning about the seasons and been outside collecting leaves and other autumnal things. In addition, we have also been talking about Remembrance Day and have enjoyed making poppy wreaths.

In ICT this week, we have been continuing to practise our mouse and pad skills. We had a real challenge learning how to drag and drop using the laptop pad but we persisted and now we can move and select objects with so control.

Reading is coming along in Foundation Stage 2! We are continuing to practice our set 1 phonic sounds and applying our blending skills to help us read. These are the sounds that we have learned so far…

What’s coming up?

FS have had a fantastic last week of the half term. We have been learning about the seasons with a focus on Autumn and Harvest. The children have painted amazing paper plate pumpkins and used their fingers to paint Autumn trees. They also loved making some Halloween biscuits. We hope you all have a lovely half term holiday and we will see you back for more FS fun afterwards.

What we’ve been working on…

We have been continuing to develop our understanding of numbers to 10 in maths. We have been exploring how many different ways we can make 1, 2 and 3.

Here is a great video to help the children help to understand the composition of numbers to 5.

www.YouTube.com/watch?v=UqN32fNIEQY

Reading

Thank you to those who having been reading at home regularly. At Brandesburton we aim to read 3 times a week or more at home. Every little bit counts, so even just 5 minute a night can make a huge difference.

What is coming up?

In FS this week we having been reading the books ‘Elmer’ and ‘The Colour Monster’. We have talked about our feelings and how our actions make others feel. The children have loved doing lots of activities linked to Elmer as well as being super stars with their phonics and maths lessons.

ICT

This week, we have been learning how to use a mouse to navigate on a computer. We have been piecing together a four piece jigsaw. We have loved it!

What we’ve been working on…

We have been continuing to build our phonetic knowledge to help us read and write simple CVC words. At home this week the children could practice their writing by Fred talking and then writing these words.

What’s coming up?

This week in FS we have been learning about where we live, who we live with and different types of houses. The children in FS2 did an amazing job of drawing their own homes and all of the children have enjoyed cutting and sticking houses and making their own family trees. We also had our own FS baptism in the classroom and then went for a super visit to Brandesburton Church. The children were all so well behaved and listened so well.

Maths

In maths this week, we have been finding and subitising 4 and 5. We have been looking at different ways the numbers 4 and 5 could be represented.

What we are working on…

We are continuing to work on reading and writing CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.

If you want to help at home, you could ask your child to try to ‘Fred talk’ (sound out) then write some of these words –

cat

man

pin

sad

cup

Reading

We didn’t do quite as well with our reading this week. Just over 1/2 of the reading group read 3 times or more at home. Please make sure that you read as regularly as you can, as it really does help the children to progress!

What’s coming up?

We have had such a fun week in Foundation Stage thinking about our birthdays! The children have enjoyed making play dough cakes, paper chains, party hats and balloons. They also loved listening to the story ‘Kipper’s birthday’ by Mick Inkpen. All of the children are working hard during their phonics lessons. In maths, FS2 are learning how to find 1 more and 1 less than a given number.

What are we working on?

We have been continuing to work on reading and writing CVC words. Many of us can now write our names without our name cards and we have been practicing copying less familiar words. We had a go at writing a birthday card for a friend. Look at some of our super writing!

Reading

In our phonics lessons, some of us have been reading CVC words, using our Fred talk and blending skills. Of those children who have started taking blending books home to read with their parents, 66% read 3 times or more this week. Great job everyone!

What’s coming up?

This week we have loved reading the book ‘Incredible You’. The children had great fun thinking about what animal they would like to be and we also explored all of the different things they can do with their bodies. We had great jumping, hopping and lots of funny faces made. The FS2 children are very engaged with their RWI lessons and we can see their progress already!

We have also been mixing paints whilst creating our own self-portraits. Look at some of the fantastic work we have created!

Attendance

Once again, we have had a brilliant week when it comes too attendance!

We couldn’t ask for more!

Reading books

Could we please just remind you that all reading books from the library need to be returned on Wednesday to be changed!

What’s coming up?

Another fabulous week in FS. We have been talking about things we like and things we don’t and thinking about our families. The FS2 children have drawn and labelled their favourite toy. They have also made an excellent start to our RWI lessons. FS1 children have begun their phonics lessons and have blown us away at how well they can order the letters in their names. They have settled so well.

In maths this week, we have been comparing amounts. We explored more and less, bigger and smaller and heavier and lighter.

What’s happening this term?

This week’s focus

This week, we have continued to practise our name writing. In phonics we have been learning to read and write these sounds…

m – Maisy mountain

a – apple

s – snake

d – dinosaur

t – tower

We have had great week and the children are settled in our new routines. Children in FS2 have completed their Baseline assessment and have really impressed us! All of the children have loved exploring the classroom, painting, collaging, playing in the sand and water as well as the home corner and construction area. They also enjoyed going on a ‘listening walk’ around school. Next week we will begin our Read Write Inc lessons in FS2 .

Maths

We started our maths this week! We have learned how to finding matching objects and pictures, identify sets and sort into groups. We had a super tricky challenge of sorting Grandma’s buttons lots of different ways!

Books

Wednesday is our library day and on Wednesday of this week the children took home a library book. Could we ask that you return these books each week to be swapped, please. These books are for you to share and enjoy as a family.

What we are working on!

This half term, our focus is ‘All about me!’ We will be exploring things we like and dislike, what it means to be part of a family or community and our local environment. We will also be practicing our name writing. We’d love to see any writing the children work on at home.

Attendance

A big well done to all of the children in Foundation Stage! This week our attendance was a fantastic 100%!

It has been so wonderful to welcome all of the children into Foundation Stage this week. They have all settled so well and it has been lovely hearing about all their summer adventures. This half term our theme is going to be ‘All About Me’. We will think about things we like and don’t like, what we look like, who we live with and where we live amongst many other things.

This week, the children have enjoyed exploring the different areas in our classroom. They have coloured, got sticky, played in the sand and water, and lots more!

Lots of the children have been exploring the maths area and showing super number recognition!

What we are working on

Over the next week or two, we will be working on getting settled into the environment, learning the new class rules and learning more about each other.