EYFS
We have made it to term 5 – Summer is in sight!
This term we are hoping that the weather is kind and we can spend lots of time playing and exploring outside. Please remember that playing can be a messy business and whilst we try to avoid any unnecessary mess, clothes, socks and shoes may get dirty or scuffed. Please do not send your children in clothing that you are precious about.
Our topic this term is “Animal Kingdoms” We will be exploring pets, farm animals and wild animals and how we take care of them. We will look at different types of animal habitats and how the animals have adapted to live there.
As we near the Summer, we will be looking at our end of year expectations and hoping to see lots more independence and children taking on challenges with increasing maturity. Please help them by encouraging them to try new things, be more independent and “have a go!”
If you notice them meeting any particular milestones at home, we would love to hear about it. Pop a post-it note in their book bag or speak to one of us on the gate and we can include it in their learning journeys.
The Foundation Stage Team
The Foundation Stage Team would like to thank all of those parents who had such positive things to say to the OFSTED inspectors at the end of last term; It is really lovely to feel supported by our families. We hope those of you who came, enjoyed the Easter church service and that you all had a fabulous Easter holiday!
Scissors! Being able to use scissors carefully and safely is a really important skill. We start in the FSU by having scissors freely available for all types of activities. We allow children to explore by snipping away at different materials and different textures. We teach the correct way to hold scissors and how to move the paper when cutting out shapes. If you haven't got any children's scissors at home it's worth getting some and letting your child practise their skills.
Thank you for your donations to Comic Relief this year. The children enjoyed wearing their red clothes to school and we even found some old red noses to use for water fun!
For World Book Day this year, we invited a real-life author into our school! Bethany Walker read our class one of her picture books and told us all about why she wrote books and how she worked with her illustrator. It was really interesting. We don't need a special day to celebrate books in the FSU though, we read stories everyday; on our own, with friends or with a grown up and there always books new books to explore and books that support our learning in all areas of the curriculum.
Last week we were so lucky to have had a visiting planetarium. We went into the inflatable dome, which was extremely dark! and watched a short film about travelling through space and another one about the Earth when dinosaurs were around. The films were projected across the whole of the domed ceiling and, as you can see by our faces, it was super exciting!
We have enjoyed the start of our "Growing" topic. We have made caterpillar prints, chopped vegetables and made daffodils out of play dough! We have done lots of other fun stuff but sometimes we just don't have the chance to take a photograph!
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to term 4
Our topic this term is called “Come Outside” We hope to be spotting some signs of spring and learning all about new life and how things grow. We will be naming animals and their young and observing life cycles of butterflies, plants, frogs and hens.
Easter is a lovely time in school; we will be looking at why Christians celebrate Easter and will have an Easter service in the Church.
We will spend as much time outside as we can so please continue to dress your child appropriately.
FS2 Children should all be practicing their reading books regularly – little and often is the key! If you would like to do any extra work at home we recommend looking for words in the environment such as shop signs or packaging, writing little sentences, shopping lists or labels. Playing number games is great for maths practice as is any type of counting. We also encourage questioning such as “how many do we need?” “how many more?” “How many is that altogether?”
If you need any help or ideas please feel free to speak to one of the team before or after school.
Just a reminder that once the first bell has been rung at 8.47 and your child is in the line, you are welcome to leave. When the second bell rings at 8.50, we will take the children into the Foundation Stage Unit. If you arrive late you will need to go to the main entrance and register at the office.
Thank you,
The Foundation Stage Team:
Mrs Forrest (Class Teacher)
Mrs Murten
Miss Brason
Remember, today (Friday 9th) is the last day of term. We will be on the half term break for a week. Please let us know if your child does anything at home which will help us to assess their progress, especially if it is something that surprises you, something they have never done before or evidence of the new things they are learning at school.
Please also remember to keep reading over the holiday, it is so easy for children to slip behind if they aren't practising regularly.
See you in a week's time!
The Foundation Stage Team
We love it when it snows. We wrapped up warm and went outside where we had SNOW MUCH FUN!!
Our last week of this topic was spent making houses for the 3 Little Pigs and building bridges for The 3 Billy Goats Gruff!
FS2 parents, please, please keep practising your child's reading books with them. You don't need to read all the books every time but daily practise really is the best way to improve confidence and fluency. A few pages each day is better than slogging through every book at the end of a busy week.
Thank you.
There has been some fantastic building going on this week; we have followed the example of the 3 Little Pigs and made houses out of all sorts of things! outdoor challenges are great for developing big ideas, using our gross motor skills and developing team work.
We are really enjoying our traditional tales topic. So far, we have made porridge, drawn a story map, built castles and made fairy wands, baked gingerbread and designed bridges. By immersing ourselves in activities and play, we use lots of storytelling language and this enables us to write labels for our buildings, speech bubbles for our characters and have the ideas and confidence to use mark making in all of our play.
It has been great fun playing with the ice this week! Cold weather is not a barrier in the FSU!
All FS2 children are learning to read and write words through our RWI (Read write inc) phonics scheme. We currently have a subscription that allows parents to access interactive teaching videos so I thought it would be really useful to share them with you. They are great for you to see how we teach as they mimic the lessons we do in class and it will be super for the children to use them to do some extra practise at home.
Please feel free to access the ones you find most suitable for your child and of course, ask any of the team if you have any questions. I will try to post new videos weekly so do keep checking this web page.
Welcome to The Spring Term 2024!
This half term our topic is “Traditional Tales". We will be exploring traditional tales and fairy stories, thinking about the settings and characters in them and having a go at telling them ourselves. We will be doing lots of exciting play-based learning such as making porridge, baking gingerbread men, creating fairy wishes and potions, building fairytale castles and making bridges for the 3 Billy Goats to cross over. Keep an eye on our class page for photographs.
FS2 children are all writing independently and we would love it if you could encourage them at home. Small pieces of independent writing are much more valuable than longer pieces where an adult has had to help. You could try writing labels for things, shopping lists, greeting cards or write a sentence from a book or nursery rhyme. At school we ask children to just 'have a go' at spelling words they don't know; they can use their phonics knowledge from RWI, it doesn't matter if words aren't spelt exactly right, as long as they can tell you what it says. We do try to insist on correct letter formation and finger spaces at all time though.
Nursery children and FS2 children continue to do Read Write Inc, daily. Nursery children are listening to stories, singing nursery rhymes, learning about the RWI characters and playing words games. FS2 children are learning new 'special friends' sounds (ee, ay, ow etc.) through reading and writing activities. We work slowly through each book ensuring all children have a thorough understanding of the sounds and words we are teaching that week and that they can write them as well as read them. Please make sure you practise their RWI and class reading book at least 3 times each week and sign their reading record accordingly. All FS2 children need a school book bag to keep school books safe and in good condition.
Wednesday afternoon is our PE session. In line with the rest of the school, we ask that you send your child to school in their PE kits. (Joggers and school jumpers/hoodies can be worn) However, as self-care is an important part of the EYFS curriculum we do encourage children to be independent so please allow your child to dress themselves as much as possible including putting on their own coat and having a go at the zips and buttons! Children also need to be able to take off and put on their own shoes. If this is something they struggle with, please practise at home.
Please only bring essential items into school. Children need a school book-bag, their own ready filled water bottle and a lunch bag/box if they are having packed lunch. Again, please make sure they are all named. You can put spare clothes in their book bag if you are worried about toilet accidents.
If you have any concerns or would like to talk the Foundation Stage Staff, please feel free to come and speak to us at the end of the day.
Thank you,
The Foundation Stage Team:
Mrs Forrest (Class Teacher)
Mrs Murten
Miss Brason
Christmas was great fun in the FSU. We learnt about the Nativity story, Advent and the history of the Christingle. We went to the pantomime and enjoyed a visit from a theatre company. The FS2 children were fabulous in their Nativity performance. We all dressed up for Christmas Dinner and enjoyed games and dancing at our class party. The term ended with a beautiful Christingle service in Church. We hope you were able to join us for some of our Christmas festivities and the FSU team wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We had a beatboxing lesson last week. After a demonstration, we were shown how to make different sounds with our voices and put them together to make music. It was lots of fun!
Brrr! What a cold few days we have had. We still like to be outside though so please make sure your child has a warm coat that they can put on by themselves and please practise fastening it so they can be independent when choosing to play outside..
Miss Brason found a hedgehog in our FSU garden last week. He was clearly lost as it's definitely not a nice quiet place to hibernate! After everyone had the chance for a peek at his little face, we relocated him to somewhere more suitable.
We have been learning about different types of transport this week. The children have had great fun building boats, trains and monster trucks outside! It is great for their physical development but also encourages team work, cooperation and some wonderful vocabulary. Inside we made a town for our cars to travel around. The children labelled the buildings and even made a fruit box car wash! Remember to ask your children what they have been learning about - they might surprise you with just how much they know and remember.
Covering different events is a really important part of our curriculum. For young children, it allows them opportunities to learn about how other people celebrate, to talk about their own experiences, make sense of things that are happening now and reflect on events in the past. In the last 2 weeks, we have explored Bonfire night, Remembrance day, Diwali and Children in Need. Activities linked to these events give the children an opportunity to practise new vocabulary and recall what they have been learning about.
Welcome to term 2!
Week ending 20th October. Thank goodness we had a few nice days at the start of this week before the horrendous rain spoilt our play! The children loved being outside and we could see lots of great learning going on..
Week ending 13th October: Lots of mark-making has been happening this week. Mark-making can be pictures, scribbles, shapes or writing. We encourage all children to see themselves and writers; to assign meaning to the marks they make, and mark-making is the beginning of this process. As children learn to write new sounds, they are encouraged to use them and some FS2 children can now choose the correct initial sound for what they want to write about. It's super to see how quickly they progress!
During Black History Week, The FSU children have been exploring what makes each of us unique. We have made faces with play dough and loose parts, drawn self portraits, read books that celebrate diversity and talked about what we are good at and what we enjoy.
We are so lucky to have some great dressing-up clothes in the FSU - role play helps us to use new vocabulary, play collaboratively and make sense of the things we have been learning about. The children have been talking about their homes and families this week. We enjoyed making houses using all types of media.
This week we have been learning about the adults who work in our school, and people who help us in the community. The children have also enjoyed learning about parts of their body.
What a super first two weeks we have had! Keep checking in on our class page. We put any notices here as well as information about what we have been doing.
Welcome letter from the Foundation Stage Team. September 2023
Mr Forrest bought his Pizza oven in and we all got to try Pizza and make our own! What a fantastic end to a super Year! Have a fabulous Summer everybody.
Sports Day was a great success. We were great sports in the FSU - we smiled if we won and we smiled if we lost!
We didn't let the rain spoil our day at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. The FSU children were brilliantly behaved and we had a fabulous time!
We were lucky enough to have a football taster day last week. All the children had a great time and learnt some new skills.
We said Goodbye to our Midday Supervisor, Mrs Taaffe. She has been a familiar face around school and will be missed by all the children.
Ahoy there! We have had a fabulous few week's fun of pirate fun and sunshine.
How is it the last term already?!
Term 6 is upon us. This term we will be learning all about the seaside. Our topic will include some of the children’s favourites such as pirates, fossils and dinosaurs. We will also be learning all about boats, what we can see at the seaside. How to find places on a map or a globe, how to draw treasure maps and what an island is.
We are hoping for some lovely weather and lots of outdoor play so please remember to bring hats and water bottles every day. Applying an all-day sun cream in the morning is the best way to protect your children but you are welcome to send a bottle with them in their book bag. We don’t apply it but will help children to do it themselves.
We will be holding transition session later this term. We have seen fantastic progress from all our children and they are all ready for the next year group so this should be a really positive experience for them all. If you have questions about transition, or anything else for that matter, please speak to a member of the team at the start of the day.
Kind Regards, The Foundation Stage Team
Mrs Forrest
Mrs Murten
Mis Brason
Exciting News... Our tiny frogs have gone to their new home and we released our butterflies this week! We are experts on butterfly and frog life cycles in the FSU!
The King's Coronation! Lots of learning has taken place over the last few weeks and the children have remembered so many facts; ask them to tell you some!
Our tadpoles and caterpillars have been great for recapping on last term's learning. We can talk about how they are growing and changing and what a life-cycle is.
We are loving this term's animal topic!
Welcome to Term 5!
This term we are hoping to spend lots of time playing and exploring outside. Please remember that playing can be a messy business and whilst we try to avoid any unnecessary damage, clothes, socks and shoes may get dirty or scuffed.
Our topic this term is “Animal Kingdoms” and we will be exploring insects, pets, farm animals and wild animals. We will look at different types of animal habitats around the World and how animals have adapted to live there.
As we near the Summer, we will be looking at our end of year expectations and hoping to see lots more independence and children taking on challenges with increasing maturity. Please help them by encouraging them to try new things at home, be more independent and generally just “have a go!”
If you notice them meeting any particular milestones at home, we would love to hear about it. Pop a post-it note in their book bag or speak to one of us on the gate and we can include it in their learning journeys.
Just to remind you, FS2 children need to be reading 3 times a week and completing their RWI homework. Their reading packets should come to school every day. Our PE session is on a Wednesday afternoon so PE kits should be worn that day. Water bottles are needed for all children and must only contain water. We have very few spare clothes in school, it would be appreciated if every child could have spare pants and socks/tights in their bag - just in case!
Thank you.
The Foundation Stage Team
We hope you enjoyed our Mother's Day Coffee and Cake Afternoon last week. It was lovely to see so many parents, grand-parents and friends enjoying refreshments, cake and conversation! We raised 110 pounds from donations on the afternoon and sales of left-over cake. With gift-aid, we have sent a massive 137 pounds and fifty pence to UNICEF!
We do lots of "funky finger" activities for children to build up their upper body strength; gross motor skills and finger/hand strength and control; fine motor skills. These prepare the children physically so they are ready to write....and paint, cut, colour and build!
We have been busy with our "growing" theme this term. Children know all about the life cycle of a butterfly from our "Very Hungry Caterpillar" work, we have observed our cress seeds grow, and now have frog spawn to watch too!
If you haven't already, please RSVP to our coffee afternoon invitation. All FSU parents and carers are welcome: next Friday (March 24th) 2.15-3.15 in the school hall. Please bring a donation for UNICEF.
Thank you to all our FS1 Parents and Carers who attended the "Stay and Play" session. We hope you had an enjoyable morning. The teaching staff spoke with everybody so we hope you left us with an idea of what your child likes to do and how they are progressing in Nursery.
Everybody loved playing in the snow, today!
Snowy Fun!
World Book Day 2023
Pancake Day was "flipping" great!
Welcome to Term 4!
This term we will be learning all about life cycles and things that grow under the umbrella of "Spring".
We are hoping for an improvement in the weather so we can see signs of Spring all around us - fingers crossed! We will be looking at baby animals, butterfly, hen, frog and plant life cycles, the different seasons and exploring the books by Eric Carle. We really hope the children will learn and remember lots of interesting facts that they want to share with you.
This term also has lots of different celebrations to enjoy including Pancake Day, St. David's Day, Red Nose Day, Mother's Day and Easter.
Our FS2 children are busy with their reading and writing. Please continue to support them by reading as often as you can and completing their RWI 'homework'. If you have any questions about this please speak to one of us at the beginning or end of the day.
Parents evening and our Nursery "stay and play" sessions will give you an opportunity to see what your child has been doing in class, and ask any questions but we really hope that you feel you can speak to any of us, anytime.
Don't forget to check our page again soon to see what we get up to in the FSU this term.
From the FSU Team :)
Can I please ask that all children are provided plenty of opportunity at home to practise putting on, and doing up their own coats? I know it's often easier to just do it for them but it really slows down our transition times when an adult has to stop and help lots of children and it's much easier to practise 1-1 at home, than it is for us to try and teach half a dozen children who are just desperate to get outside and play! We have set the children a challenge to learn so please help them to succeed :)
Our playing these last few weeks has been just like baby bear's porridge - not too hot, not too lumpy but just right!
Welcome to the Spring Term!
This term our topic is "Traditional Tales". It's a fantastic topic for exploring story telling and story writing so we hope your children will be able to share lots of story time with you.
We will be learning about the features of traditional tales and fairy stories, exploring the characters and dialogue and creating our own settings for small-world toys and role play, writing sentences from stories we know and speech bubbles for our characters.
The stories we look at include Goldilocks and the 3 bears, (with porridge making and lots of learning around sizes and the number 3) The 3 Pigs, (buildings and construction play) The Gingerbread man, (repetitive phrases, and baking) The 3 Billy Goats Gruff (sizes, floating and sinking) and lots of other terrific tales.
In maths we will be comparing amounts, ordering numbers to 10 and beyond, exploring parts and wholes of numbers up to 10 (early addition) and looking at measuring weights and capacity.
We have our PE session on a Wednesday afternoon (please come in PE kit on Wednesday if you attend that session) and use our outside area most days so come prepared to play outside with coats and hats.
Children have a fruit snack in school everyday and all 3 and 4 year olds receive a free carton of milk. If your child has turned 5 but would still like to have milk, you will need to order it for them via the "Cool Milk" scheme. Speak to the office if you want more details about this - most children love their milk in class, and it is very affordable to buy, so it really is worth taking the time to look into this.
We have had lots of water bottles broken recently. Dropping things in EYFS is inevitable so we do advise a soft water bottle for longevity!
As always, If you wish to speak to a member of staff about any issues or would like clarification about anything here, please speak to us in the morning or at the end of the day.
Kind Regards,
The Foundation Stage Team
Christmas in the EYFS!
Brrr, it's been cold outside this week. But it's a great opportunity to learn new things..
Astronomy Week
Our Transport Topic
Read Write Inc. (RWI)
We hope the FS2 children are enjoying sharing their reading books with you at home. The sound blending books match the phonics that the children are learning in school so they should be able to read them with about 90% accuracy.
We are happy to help with any reading questions but you might also find the information on the Ruth Miskin (RWI) website useful:
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/parents
Our school subscription also allows for access to some home learning videos. These are similar to the way we teach in school so your children might enjoy showing you how they read and spell or you might want to watch them yourself to see how we teach phonics in school.
I will post a few videos each week so if you enjoy them, check the website for the next uploads.
This week's RWI videos:
Everybody loves playing in the Autumn leaves!
Imagine our surprise when the Fire Engine came to school! We learnt lots about fire safety and the equipment the firefighters use.
Welcome to Term 2!
This term our topic is "Ticket to Ride". We will be learning about maps, our home town, different types of transport and places we might travel to.
It is also Christmas Term so we will be learning about the Nativity Story and doing lots of festive activities!
FS2 Children are beginning to do a bit more formal learning. We have RWI (phonics) for about 30 minutes each day and a short daily maths session. We are also starting to write words and short captions to accompany our pictures. We have a writing session most weeks. It usually follows a story we have read or is linked to our topic. We mostly encourage "have a go" writing where children can write whatever words or sounds they can hear or remember - everyone is a writer! Sometimes the writing is independent and sometimes we will support them by helping them to come up with a sentence, with correct letter formation, "Fred talk" (sounding out each word in order to spell it) and finger spaces.
Parents evening for FS2 children will take place this term. We don't hold a formal parents evening in Nursery; we speak to most of our Nursery parents/carers daily so I hope you already feel reassured that your child is settled at school but if you would like to know any more please speak to any of us at the beginning or end of the session. We hold a stay and play session in the Spring term where you can find out more about your child's progress and what they like to do in Nursery.
We use our outdoor area every day so please ensure children have coats (and hats and gloves if necessary) and know how to put them on. We will help with buttons and zips but do encourage independence so please help them to practise at home.
Kind Regards,
The Foundation Stage Team
The African Dance and Drumming workshops were lots of fun!
What a fabulous first few weeks we have had....
Welcome to a new year in the Foundation Stage!
Dear Parents,
The Foundation stage team warmly welcomes everybody back to school for the new school year. An especially warm welcome to our new starters; there are lots of you this term! We are so pleased to have you with us. 
This term our topic is “Marvellous Me” where we will be learning about ourselves, our families, and our community.  We also follow the children’s interests and cover topical and seasonal events such as Harvest and the passing of Queen Elizabeth II
In the FSU, most of our learning is through play, enriching environments and practical activities. Our more structured sessions are based around Maths, RWI (phonics) and writing sessions for FS2. We will send more information out over the next few weeks regarding these; and how you can support your child’s learning in EYFS. Until then, if you would like to, please focus on name recognition and name writing, counting, listening and following instructions. 
Wednesday afternoon is PE. In line with the rest of the school, we ask that you send your child to school in their PE kits. (Joggers and school jumpers/hoodies can be worn) However, as self-care is an important part of the EYFS curriculum we do encourage children to be independent so please allow your child to dress themselves as much as possible including putting on their own coat and having a go at the zips and buttons!  
We don’t wear shoes in the FSU. You can help your child by encouraging them to take off and put on their own shoes and ensuring they are wearing socks. Please make sure they recognise their own shoes and label them. You may want to use a sticker inside the shoes to help with putting them on the right feet. (Cut the sticker in half and put one half in each shoe so that when the shoes are placed together it makes a complete picture.) 
We have very limited cloakroom space in the FSU. As such we must insist that children only bring essential items into school. Children may have a school book-bag, their own ready filled water bottle and a lunch bag/box if they are having packed lunch. Again, please make sure they are all named. You can put spare clothes in their book bag if you are worried about toilet accidents.  In the morning, all FSU children are provided with a fruit snack and milk.
In the morning Mrs Reeson rings the first bell at 8.47 and the children should line up. Please do not wait in theline with them as this can be unsettling for children who’s parents have already left. When the second bell rings at 8.50, we will take them into the Foundation Stage Unit.  If you arrive late you will need to go to the main entrance and register at the office.  At home time, please wait on the playground, near the FSU gate, for your child to be sent to you.  You can give us a little wave if we don’t see you in the crowd!
 
If you have any concerns or would like to talk the Foundation Stage Staff, please feel free to come and speak to us on the playground, before the second bell or at the end of the day. 
Thank you, 
The Foundation Stage Team:
Mrs Forrest (Class Teacher) 
Mrs Murten 
Miss Brason 
Keep an eye on our class pages for photographs and updates about what we have been doing.
So far this term we have been.......
Term 6
The final term is here! Our topic is called "Sailing the Seven Seas" and we will be learning about different countries and oceans, types of transport (especially boats) and Pirates! You may have noticed our pirate ship in the FSU playground and if you ask, your children should be able to tell you lots of pirate words!
It's getting warm so please remember to send your child to school with their water bottle and a sun hat. We do try to keep the children out of the direct sun for some of the day but it makes sense to apply sunscreen too. All day sun-cream is best but you can send some in their book bag if they are capable of applying it themselves.
Keep an eye out for information regarding transition days and sports days. These will come via the usual channels.
If you need to speak to a member of the FS Team we are available at the school gates before and after school.
Kind Regards, The Foundation Stage Team.
The Platinum Jubilee Celebrations were lots of fun! We know lots of facts about the Queen and about London.
We opened a time capsule today!
So far this term...
Term 5
Term 5 already, where is the year going?
This term we are hoping to spend lots of time playing and exploring outside. Please remember that playing can be a messy business and whilst we try to avoid any unnecessary damage, clothes, socks and shoes may get dirty or scuffed. Please do not send your children in clothing that you are precious about.
Our topic this term is “Animal Kingdoms” and we will be exploring pets and wild animals and how we take care of them. We will look at different types of animal habitats and how animals have adapted to live there.
As we near the Summer, we will be looking at our end of year expectations and hoping to see lots more independence and children taking on challenges with increasing maturity. Please help them by encouraging them to try new things at home, be more independent and generally just “have a go!”
If you notice them meeting any particular milestones at home, we would love to hear about it. Pop a post-it note in their book bag or speak to one of us on the gate and we can include it in their learning journeys.
The Foundation Stage Team
Thank you to everyone who came along to our Mother's day tea party. As well as having a fabulous time, we raised 75 pounds for UNICEF which will support their work with children in Ukraine.
Look at all the learning that takes place when we are busy playing!
Spring Term
Welcome to the Spring Term!
This term our topic is all about things that grow. We will be looking at the life cycle of butterflies, frogs, plants and hens. We will be growing plants, talking about the difference between baby animals and adult animals, looking for signs of spring and noticing changes in our environment. We will also be learning about Lent and the Easter story.
We continue to do daily RWI sessions. Nursery children learn all about sounds, rhyme and pattern through stories, rhymes and phonics games. FS2 children learn the RWI phonics sounds and practise reading, letter formation and sentence building. Please make sure you hear your FS2 child read at least 3 times a week and make a note of this in their reading record so that we can change their book. Remember, it is good for children to read a story several times. It helps to build confidence and fluency and enables them understand and answer questions about the book.
In maths this term, Nursery children will continue to count, subitise, recognise and order numbers up to 5 (and beyond) and FS2 children will continue to develop mastery of numbers up to 10 (and beyond). Number mastery uses small numbers to develop skills that can be transferred to larger numbers in KS1. This term we will be finding 1 more/less, using the part/whole model and finding doubles.
As always, please speak to any of us, at the start or end of the day, if you have any questions or queries.
Kind Regards, The Foundation Stage Team.
Because we spend so much time playing, exploring and investigating, we have the vocabulary and the knowledge that enables us to draw story maps, label pictures, write speech bubbles and retell stories. In the EYFS, playing IS learning!
We have been learning all about traditional tales and fairy stories.
Welcome to The Spring Term
This half term our topic is “Traditional Tales". We will be exploring traditional tales and fairy stories, thinking about the settings and characters in them and having a go at telling them ourselves. We will be doing lots of exciting play based learning such as making porridge, baking gingerbread men, creating fairy wishes and potions, building fairytale castles and making bridges for the 3 Billy Goats to cross over. Keep an eye on our class pages for photographs.
FS2 children are all writing independently and we would love it if you could encourage them at home. Small pieces of independent writing are much more valuable than longer pieces where an adult has had to help. You could try writing labels for things, shopping lists, greeting cards or write a sentence from a book or nursery rhyme. At school we ask children to just 'have a go' at spelling words they don't know; they can use their phonics knowledge from RWI, it doesn't matter if words aren't spelt exactly right, as long as they can tell you what it says. We do try to insist on correct letter formation and finger spaces at all time though.
Nursery children and FS2 children continue to do Read Write Inc, daily. Nursery children are listening to stories, singing nursery rhymes, learning about the RWI characters and playing words games. FS2 children are learning new 'special friends' sounds (ee, ay, ow etc.) through reading and writing activities. We work slowly through each book ensuring all children have a thorough understanding of the sounds and words we are teaching that week and that they can write them as well as read them. Please make sure you practise their RWI and class reading book at least 3 times each week and sign their reading record accordingly. All FS2 children need a school book bag to keep school books safe and in good condition.
Wednesday morning is PE morning. In line with the rest of the school, we ask that you send your child to school in their PE kits. (Joggers and school jumpers/hoodies can be worn) However, as self-care is an important part of the EYFS curriculum we do encourage children to be independent so please allow your child to dress themselves as much as possible including putting on their own coat and having a go at the zips and buttons!   Children also need to be able to take off and put on their own shoes. If this is something they struggle with, please practise at home.
Please only bring essential items into school. Children need a school book-bag, their own ready filled water bottle and a lunch bag/box if they are having packed lunch. Again, please make sure they are all named. You can put spare clothes in their book bag if you are worried about toilet accidents. 
A few children are still arriving late. The FSU starts at 8.40. If you arrive when the FSU gate is shut, please go to the main entrance and register your child with Mrs Howitt in the office.
 
If you have any concerns or would like to talk the Foundation Stage Staff, please feel free to come and speak to us at the end of the day. 
Thank you, 
The Foundation Stage Team:
Mrs Forrest (Class Teacher) 
Mrs Murten 
Miss Brason 
Term 2 was full of fun! Look at all the things we did.
The end of Term 1 already! What a lot of fun we have had in the Foundation Stage Unit this term. This is how we learn...
Everybody has been busy learning through play this term.
