Welcome to the eighth edition of this newsletter. We have lots to share with you in this update, including an upcoming school trip, a summer production, and a sports day!
Summer Performance
We are delighted to inform you that we will be hosting a Year F summer performance. We have already started rehearsing the songs. Cast parts are being decided this week and scripts will be sent home to families of children with speaking parts by half term so that you can help your child to prepare for their role. Those with non-speaking parts will still need to prepare a costume and develop their acting skills for their on-stage role!
School Trip
We are also delighted to be able to take the children on a local school trip around Woolston to explore the delights of our local area, including Itchen Bridge, Woolston Library and Weston Shore. Further details to follow!
Sports Day
The Foundation sports day will take place on Wednesday 14th July. Further details will be confirmed by Mr Lobo nearer the time. In our PE lessons on Thursday, the children will start to learn the skills required to compete in sports day activities, including bean bag balancing, stamina running, hopping races, skipping races and much more!
What is my child learning?
In Phonics, the children have been making good progress. Nearly all children now confidently know the set 1 sounds, which is fantastic. More children are now progressing to the Set 2 sounds from our Read, Write, Inc phonics scheme. Following our phonics assessments with each child this week, we are pleased to report that every child has made progress and many of them will be moving into new groups by half term. A great effort!
In Maths, the children have been consolidating their understanding of subtraction or ‘taking away.’ We have been using practical objects to help us subtract from numbers up to 10 and/or 20 (for more confident learners). We have also been exploring the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes, including identifying how many vertices and faces each shape has and looking for shapes in everyday objects.
In RE, the children have been learning about Easter and how Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended into Heaven! Following Pentecost Sunday this weekend, the children will start learning about the events of Pentecost, the role of the disciples and our own mission to spread the message of Jesus to others. We would encourage you to read the story of Pentecost with your children and develop their familiarity with this important part of the Bible. Here is a link to the events of Pentecost from Acts 2. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202&version=GNT
You can also find videos of the story on YouTube.
In Discovery Time, the children have had opportunities to look at different flowers and plants, using our senses to describe them. We would encourage you to do this with the children at home and when out on walks. Some possible questions that you could ask your child: What can you smell? What do the flowers feel like? What colours can you see? Can you name any of the flowers, plants and trees? Can you name any parts of the flower?
We have continued working on our PATRICK attitude of ‘Independence’, particularly encouraging the children to think for themselves without needing to ask an adult to help, as well as supporting them to make decisions without feeling that they always need adult permission. We are pleased to report that most of the children are showing greater levels of independence, which is great as they move closer to moving into Year 1 in September.
Key Words
As mentioned in the previous newsletter, we have been focusing on improving the children’s writing skills. A big thank you for all your support in helping the children to write simple sentences with confident letter formation. Our next step is to ensure that each child is spelling the 45 key words accurately in their writing and recognising them when reading books. Please use the key word mat with your child to develop their speed in recognising the words and using them to check their use of key words is accurately spelled in their writing at home.
Prayers
Now the children have developed a range of prayers and have experienced prayer times and collective worships at school for two terms, we are now encouraging them to share their own prayers. Possible things to pray about: what can we say thank you for? What would we like God to help us with? What worries do we have that we would like to tell God? What are we hoping for in our lives? God listens to our prayers. We look forward to developing this form of prayer with the children in their last 8-9 weeks with us in Foundation Stage.
Best wishes and Happy Pentecost!
The Foundation Team