F.S. Blog

The first full half term since the autumn! Wow, it has been brilliant! The children have been curious, enthusiastic and eager to learn. They have grown in confidence and without a doubt made so much progress in so many areas. They have thoroughly enjoyed our Under The Sea theme and worked and played together in lots of different ways. We made fish for our Rainbow Fish display and enjoyed listening to and creating ocean themed stories. FS2 have been busy adding, subtracting, investigating patterns, learning and applying new phonics sounds and even practising writing sentences! FS1 have been learning and investigating new sounds and numbers in lots of different ways, they have enjoyed going in to the hall and joining some of our Special Mention assemblies on a Friday morning. Their listening skills and confidence have really grown. All of the children are continuing to develop their abilities to work as a team and play together, taking into account each others’ wants and point of view. We were very fortunate to be able to watch the progress of caterpillars turning into butterflies and given the privilege of releasing the butterflies! So exciting! Below are just a few pictures showing what the children have been doing.

A huge THANK YOU to all who contributed to our sponsored activity which raised a whopping £745. We have used this to enhance our outdoor learning experience. Some of the money went towards our renovation project and we have purchased outdoor games; snakes and ladders, jenga and dominoes, a mark making trolley, created a dinosaur area and a huge sandpit, among other things. The children will benefit enormously.

Thank you also to the parents who helped paint our sheds which have really brightened up the area and to Mr Todd, our caretaker for making our sand pit and doing numerous other jobs to help.

The Foundation Stage team are looking forward to the next half term when our theme will be Animals. Thank you for all your continued support this half term. Have a wonderful break and enjoy spending time together. It looks as though the weather will be kind to us at last!

The FS Team

I hope you had a lovely Easter break, despite the changeable weather! It is wonderful to see the children again. They have returned to school with such enthusiasm and keen to learn which is fantastic.

Our theme this half term is Under the Sea and the children are thoroughly enjoying the activities and areas, so we have had a great start to the week.

We have also had lots of fun completing our sponsored challenges! Tomorrow we will be having a go at the obstacle course.

It has been fantastic to have everyone back in school! The children are adapting really well and for some this has been a huge change… again! We have had three great weeks of settling back in, learning to play together again and remembering expectations. The children have been a credit to you and themselves and we are looking forward to getting back after Easter and really getting stuck in and seeing some fantastic progress. Have a great break and fingers crossed enjoy getting out and about and seeing friends and family safely outdoors.

Take a look at some of the things we have been doing over the last three weeks.

Hello! I hope you have had a fab day and enjoyed the World Book Day activities.

Mrs Laughton and I have just about finished setting up the EYFS unit for you to return on Monday. Here are some pictures of what you can expect to see and play with. I wonder what you are looking forward to the most?

On Monday, when you arrive, things may be a bit different. We are asking you to enter the playground and leave your red bags in the boxes under the canopy. If you want us to see a message in your yellow book, please take it out of your bag and place in it the box before putting your bag in. There is then a whiteboard where grown ups can leave any messages, such as who will be picking you up if it’s not Mum or Dad. This is a new routine to keep everyone as safe as possible in the current climate.

Have a wonderful weekend and I will see you on Monday!

Mrs Atkinson

What a fantastic final week of Home Learning and what a great World Book Day! Below you can see pictures of both. Today there are more World Book activities to finish the week. Thank you Mrs Altoft for all your hard work in preparing the World Book Day blogs for everyone!

Earlier this week I promised a sneak preview of the classroom ready for your return on Monday. Later today I will be posting some pictures so if you want to find out what it will be like, pop back later for a look.

Finally from me, a huge THANK YOU to you all for all your hard work and to all your grown ups for all their help in supporting you to keep learning. Fingers crossed this will be the last time we need to do this. I can’t wait to see you on Monday.

Mrs Atkinson.

Hi, Mrs Altoft here again today with your FINAL day of Home Learning and our second day of celebrating

I have heard amazing things from your class teachers about your work yesterday – lets have another great day today!

Before we get started with today’s activities, please make sure your book cover/picture you made yesterday is visible in a window/in your garden for all to see from outside – it will be needed in Activity 2.

Activity 1 – We are going to start the day with a D.E.A.R session – we are going to DROP EVERYTHING AND READ!

This morning, I would like everyone, whether at home or at school, to find something interesting to read and build a den or find a cosy spot and then READ!

Perhaps you could make a crown to wear while you read.

https://www.worldbookday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Robs-reading-crown.pdf

Or some bunting to decorate your den.

https://www.worldbookday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Create-Your-Own-Bunting-Primary-Pull-out.pdf

https://www.worldbookday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Create-Your-Own-Bunting-Nursery-Pull-out.pdf

Remember to share your photos on Seesaw/Evidence Me so we can see you all reading – I hope to make a display back at school.

Activity 2 – So, yesterday I set you the challenge of creating a book cover/picture for one of the following books and then asked you to display it in a window or your garden.

Today I would like you to go on a walk around the village to see what book covers you can see.

Here are some of the fab pictures you are looking for…

As you walk, please make a tally chart of the different books you find – you will need the results for the next part of the activity.

When you return from your walk, I would like you to create a graph to show which book you found the most. You could use Purple Mash or make a bar graph or pictogram. Year 5/6 perhaps you could really challenge yourself and create a pie chart.

Activity 3 – The official illustrator for World Book Day 2021 is Rob Biddulph. If you are currently in my class, or were in my class last year, you will know that I love to try drawing like the artist himself by following his videos. For our final activity I would like you to try a ‘Draw with Rob’.

Here is the link to his you tube channel…choose a video and get drawing!

https://www.youtube.com/c/RobBiddulph72/videos

So, that’s it! You have finished your home learning journey!! WE WILL SEE YOU ALL BACK AT SCHOOL ON MONDAY!!!!!

Parents

World Book Day are holding a competition asking you to share photos from World Book Day. There are 4 different categories shared over 4 weeks – please share some of the fab work you have completed with your child.

More information can be found on the following link.

https://www.worldbookday.com/show-your-shares/

Good Morning Everyone, Mrs Altoft here! Today’s and tomorrow’s blog posts are slightly different because…

and we thought it would be great fun to celebrate whether you are at home or school. We are sharing the same on every class blog today in order to give you the chance to work with brothers and sisters and have a little bit of fun for your FINAL 2 days of home learning.

Before we get started, I just wanted to share the World Book Day live event at 10.30am today which you may wish to watch as a family.

https://www.worldbookday.com/event/words-pictures-bring-reading-to-life/

Right, on to our activities, I have planned a range of activities, feel free to tweak them if needed so that everyone has fun!

Activity 1 – As it is World Book Day we would like to unveil something that I have been working on over the last couple of weeks…Brandesburton Primary School’s VIRTUAL LIBRARY!

For your first task this morning I would like you to have an explore of the library and choose a story or two to listen to or read.

Reading

Then choose one of these activities to complete…

Please click on the link below to take you to our library on the school website… (click on the word ‘reading’)

Reading

I hope you enjoy it!

Activity 2 – As you will have seen I have added an ‘Our favourite stories’ section to our library. For your next task I would like to know about your favourite book. What book do you enjoy reading?

I would like you to create an animation, cartoon or film to retell your favourite story. You could use 2animate on purple mash, you could draw it as a cartoon or you could make it as a film using objects to retell it or you could even star in the film yourself!

Here are two examples we made during the first lockdown…

I can’t wait to see what you create!

Activity 3 – For your third and final activity of the day, I would like you to create something ready for tomorrow. I would like you to create a book cover/picture/model to represent for one of the following books…

I would then like you to display your picture in a window/the garden of your house. You might want to just use paper and put it in the window or make an actual model and display it in the garden. Please work as a team together as your finished piece of artwork will be very important tomorrow?!?!

I hope you have a lovely day. Remember to send photos of your work to your teacher on Seesaw/Evidence Me so we can see what you have been doing. Have fun!

Mrs A x

Well, you are really excelling yourselves in the last week of Home Learning! There is so much phonics practising, a great variety of maths, brilliant The Very Hungry Caterpillar work and a huge variety of other things from tie dying t-shirts to birthday celebrations! Lots of you have been investigating Spring and I’m really pleased some of you are talking about coming back to school. Here are some of the amazing things you have been doing.

Today’s activities:

Phonics FS2 – Consolidate new sounds
Phonics FS1 – Oral blending and segmenting
English FS2 – The Very Busy Spider
Maths FS2 – Measures
Maths FS1 – Number of the week: Number 7

Phonics

FS2 Keep practising!

Practise the sound ‘ow’ by watching this episode of Alphablocks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q0py1/alphablocks-series-3-22-how-now-brown-cow?seriesId=b01n954z

Use your favourite Phonics Play games to practise.

FS1 Today I would like you to think about oral blending and segmenting (talking like a robot).

English

Today I would like you to listen to another book written by the author of the Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle. This story is called The Very Busy Spider. Before you listen to it, if you don’t know the story, what do you think will happen? Who do you think is the main character (who is the story about)? Where do you think the story is set (where does it happen)? When you are listening to it I would like you to think about:
What happens in the story?
What is the same and what is different to the Very Hungry Caterpillar?
Look at the title
Look at the illustrations
Think about the story
Which story do you like most? Can you explain why? Who is your favourite character? Can you explain why?

Now I would like you to think about the story and draw a picture for the different headings. Challenge yourself to add labels or captions to your pictures.

Mathematics

FS2 Today’s video looks at weight and the words we use to help describe and compare how much items weigh. Your task is then to use what you have learnt to make a cake!

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/using-everyday-language-to-compare-and-explore-weight-cgv62r?step=1&activity=video

FS1 Number of the week: Number 7. Draw, paint, chalk or colour a rainbow. How many colours do you use? Label them with the correct numeral if you’d like.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Well Being Wednesday

So, we will be back in school next Monday. That is 5 sleeps away. I hope you have been thinking about and preparing for when we return. While it is very exciting to see our friends, it might feel very strange being back in the classroom with lots of other children and sharing resources and activities with others. When things feel strange and different, sometimes we forget all the good things about ourselves. It is really important to keep reminding ourselves of these things because this can help us through strange times and difficult feelings. Today I would like you to complete the activity below. Please save it when you have finished and bring it to school with you so we can add it to a display. It will then be in school as a reminder of how special you are so you can remind yourself when you need to.

Have a great day.

Mrs Atkinson

Good morning. What a great start to the week again. I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to next week and to be able to work with you and share your learning in the classroom! Until then, we have 4 days left so lets get on with today’s activities.

Phonics FS2 – Consolidate new sounds
Phonics FS1 – Listening and sounds
English FS2 – The Very Hungry Caterpillar – sequence the story
Maths FS2 – Measures
Maths FS1 – Number of the week: Number 7

Phonics

FS2 Make sure you practise writing sounds and words as well. Don’t forget this doesn’t need to be with a pencil, you can use whatever you like; paint, sticks in mud or sand, flour, shaving foam, coloured pens or pencils, playdough, magnetic letters, typing on a computer or ipad….. the list is endless. Remember this is about knowing how to read sounds and words by blending and also how to ‘write’ words and sounds by segmenting, it’s not just about picking up a pencil.

This Alphablocks episode recaps the sounds ‘or’ and ‘ur’. It also includes the sound ‘oi’ which is new to you and we will be learning next.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q0pgj/alphablocks-series-3-21-the-end?seriesId=b01n954z

Use your favourite Phonics Play games to practise.

FS1 Today think about different sounds you can make and hear.

English

Well done for great sequencing yesterday. Today we are going to sequence the story again but this time you are going to make your very own zig zag book. First you might want to listen to the story again. This time it is read by the author, (the person who wrote the story), Eric Carle.

Below is a video which shows you how to make a zig zag book. This is a different story but it shows you how a zig zag book works. I can’t wait to see yours!

Mathematics

FS2 Today’s video reminds us of the words we can use to describe capacity. It also includes some fun practical activities to explore capacity.

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/using-everyday-language-to-compare-and-explore-capacities-6rv62d?step=1&activity=video

FS1 Number of the week: Number 7. Practise counting 7 objects with this PowerPoint on Twinkl.

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/talk-about-number-7-maths-powerpoint-t-m-30852

Expressive Arts: Exploring and using Media and Materials

Today I would like you to get crafty and celebrate something about Spring. Below are a few ideas. You can find the instructions for each below.

I can’t wait to see what you make. if you save your creation and bring it to school next week, we can add it to out Spring display.

Have fun being crafty.

Mrs Atkinson.

Good morning and welcome to the last week of Home Learning! I hope you had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the sunshine as much as I did!
At the end of the week there will be some exciting activities to celebrate World Book Day, watch out for more information.
Preparations are underway to have all the FS areas ready for you to come back and enjoy. Later this week I hope to be able to show you some of the things you will see and be able to use when you are back next week. Let’s have a look at what activities we have today.

Phonics FS2 – Consolidate new sounds
Phonics FS1 – I Spy
English FS2 – The Very Hungry Caterpillar – sequence the story
Maths FS2 – Measures
Maths FS1 – Number of the week: Number 7

Phonics

FS2 In phonics this week we will be consolidating the learning from last week, along with all the sounds you know. As I have said before, it is really important to practise so that you know these really well. It is especially important with digraphs and trigraphs so that you recognise them immediately and don’t see them as separate sounds. I have put together a pack for you to use throughout the week and this can be collected from school today. I will post the activities daily here on the blog as well. Don’t forget all the practical ways you can practise as well, such as splat, high five, hunt the word or sound and lots more.

Don’t forget to keep practising both the name and sound of each letter. Knowing the name of letters really helps when writing digraphs and trigraphs.

Watch the Alphablocks to remind yourself of the digraph ‘ar’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01q0m3q/alphablocks-series-3-20-card

Use your favourite Phonics Play games to practise.

FS1 This week we are going to continue to practise the different aspects of Phase 1 Phonics. Each day I will post some activities for you to choose from. Today, play I Spy. Can you find the items on the checklist? When you have found them, can you find items which begin with the same sound?

English

We are going to continue with The Very Hungry Caterpillar for the next few days and today I would like you to listen to the story again. Then I would like you to sequence the story – put the events in the correct order. You can use the download if you wish or draw your own pictures and write the days of the week.

Mathematics

FS2 This week in maths we are looking at measures. This includes; length, capacity and weight. I know lots of you can order objects by size as we have had lots of activities in school like this. However, the most important part of this weeks learning is using the correct words to describe when things are longer, shorter, heavier or full. Later in the week you will be thinking about how to explain why things are longer, shorter, heavier or full and how you know. So, although these are maths lessons, we learn that words and vocabulary are really important along with being able to explain why and how. Today we begin with thinking about ordering by size.

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/ordering-objects-by-size-cthked?activity=video&step=1

FS1 Number of the week: Number 7.This week we will be learning all about the number 7. Watch this video to get started.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World: The World

Last week definitely felt like Spring had arrived! I really enjoyed the sunshine and having a look outside to see the signs of Spring. Watch the video and learn about all the changes that happen in Spring.

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/to-explain-changes-that-happen-in-spring-6njkec

Go out and see if you can find any signs of Spring. Take a photograph or draw a picture of what you see. I know I can see signs of Spring in my garden. Here are a few photographs I took.

You might find this checklist helpful.

Physical Development

Have a go at this Spring themed yoga.

Have a great day everyone.

Mrs Atkinson

What a fantastic first week back. You have all worked so hard again and I am really proud of you! Let’s have a look at some of the great things you have been doing.

Today’s activities:

Phonics FS2 – New sound ‘ow’
Phonics FS1 – Rhythm and rhyme
English FS2 – Finish your retelling of The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Maths FS2 – Consolidating this weeks learning
Maths FS1 – Number of the week: Number 6

Phonics

FS2 Today’s new sound is ‘ow’

Keep practising your sounds (phonemes) and recognising the written letters (graphemes).

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/3/grab-a-giggling-grapheme

For this game choose Phase 3 digraphs
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/3/pick-a-picture

Roll the dice, read the word on the line matching the number on the dice. if you read it correctly, cover the word with a counter. The winner is the person who covers the most words.

FS1 Play Wonky Donkey with Mr Mc and practise rhythm and rhyme.

Can you spot the odd one out in each row?

English

Finish your video retelling of The Very Hungry caterpillar if you haven’t already done so.

Mathematics

FS2 Today’s video looks again at what you have learnt this week.

https://classroom.thenational.academy/lessons/consolidating-learning-64rpct

Today choose one of the number activities from this week that you enjoyed and have another go or pick one that you haven’t tried.

FS1 Learn about 6 with the number blocks.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08pgksd/numberblocks-series-2-six

Knowledge and Understanding of the World: The World

Have a look at the video below at some fun science experiments you can do at home. perhaps you might have a go at one. WARNING: Grown ups, one of the experiments involves a flame.

I thought it would be nice to finish the week with another caterpillar story. There are lots of rhyming words in this story, can you spot some?

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Mrs Atkinson