Welcome to the Foundation Stage 

We are delighted to welcome you to our Foundation Stage class - this page will develop with more information over the school year.  We hope that you will find all the information here that you require if you have any suggestions we will be pleased to hear from you. 

Foundation Stage staff
Miss Wooding - Foundation Stage Lead Teacher 

Mrs. Jeffery - F1 Lead 

Miss Chapman - Foundation stage practitioner

Mr. Tatham - F2 Lead

Mrs. Sutherland - Foundation stage practitioner

If you have any queries or concerns across the year please contact a member of the Foundation Stage team.

Mrs Jeffery - samanthaj@spmillend.herts.sch.uk

Miss Wooding - lauraw@spmillend.herts.sch.uk

Mr Tatham - danielt@spmillend.herts.sch.uk

Next week in the Foundation Stage - 30th January 

This week in the Foundation Stage we will be focusing on sea transport. Our core text this week is 'Brilliant Boats'. This book introduces new vocabulary by looking at sailing boats, rowing boats, ferries, and motor boats. Then take a cruise on an ocean liner, crewed by animals on a jolly, rhyming journey. The children will find out how the boats work as well as the pleasure and hazards of travelling on the water.

Core Book this week

Makaton sign of the week is - yes

Prime areas

Creating a car track using chalk 

Gross motor skills - bikes, hopscotch, prams, beanbags, and hoops

Weekly PE lesson - ball skills and moving in a variety of ways

Weekly Forest School lesson - Friday afternoon

Role play area - car garage  

Talking to their peers during snack time 

Playdough - Number representation

Busy Fingers - Wrap loom bands around pine cones, hole punch leaves, and match pegs to the correct colour hole.

Visiting the school library and sharing books 

Learning new vocabulary all about boats

Specific Areas 

Making folded books of different vehicles

Tricky word-matching game 

Handwriting 

Printing using everyday objects - what marks do they make?

Mixing white with blue and green - what happens to the shade?

Exploring sand to show different weight  

Recognise and write numbers

Exploring making 5  

Creating boats - junk modelling 

2D shape boats 

Literacy 

F1 - Nursery rhymes, story time, daily phonics, exploring mark-making

F2 - Daily phonics, guided reading, CVC, CVCC writing a sentence, making folded transport books, tricky word writing using magnetic letters

Maths 

F1 - Maths - Exploring numbers up to 5 - counting pom poms in wooden boats and matching them to dotted cards and numerals 

F2 - Maths -  the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of 5. Composing and decomposing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a ‘whole’ being made up of smaller parts through practical experience

Adult-led 

This week F1 and F2 will be exploring floating and sinking. They will be thinking about:

What does float mean?

What does it mean when something sinks?

Which objects can you think of that sink to the bottom of the water tray?

Which objects can float on top of the water?

The children will be asked to choose an object from a selection and then ask them to make a decision on whether it will sink or float when they put it in the water. You could introduce the word predict and explain that a prediction is a really good guess based on what they already know.             Do you think (or predict) it will float or sink?

F2 will be extending their understanding by thinking about:

Why do you think that?

Is it big or small?

Is it heavy or light?

What is it made of? 

In Maths F1 will be selecting a number boats between 1 -5. They will be using tweezers to count out the correct number of pom poms and then match the correct dotted card to each boat. To extend their understanding they will use a number line to match the correct numeral.

In Maths F2 will be using Numicon to make 5. They will then use interlocking cubes to make a tower using cubes to show. They will be given 2 different coloured cubes to build towers of 5. How many ways can you build a tower of 5? What do you notice? How many [red] cubes have you got? How many [blue] cubes? Is it still 5? Is there another way to build the towers?

Finally, on Wednesday, the children will be listening to different seaside music clips. The children will be asked to close their eyes What does the music remind them of? Where does the music take them? If they were there, what would they see, hear and smell? How it makes them think and feel. The children will work in small groups to create a sea picture. This will involve mixing green and blue paint with white to create a wavey effect. Their work will be collated together to create a sea background for the junk modelling boats they create throughout the week. 

Parent Workshops 

Organisation

• F1 - PE - The children have PE on a Tuesday morning.
• F2 - PE - The children have PE on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Please can the children come into school wearing their PE kits.
• Please provide a water bottle daily so the child has access to water throughout the day.
• Children are provided with a free fruit snack daily.
• Please provide wellington boots that can remain in school. This is so the children can enjoy exploring the outdoor area in the wetter weather.
• Please bring a coat to school daily.

Foundation Stage aims

• To provide an opportunity for children to reinforce skills, reflect and build upon their learning in the classroom.
• To further foster the partnership between home and school for the benefit of your child.
• To involve parents (and other adults) in pupils’ work
• To encourage the development of independent learning
• To encourage the development of pupils’ organisational skills, self-discipline and confidence

Our expectations

Please note: These expectations will be added and built on throughout the year as and when the children are ready for them. 

• Children are encouraged to find out information, bring in books or object of interest or a similar related task pertaining to the focus topic being carried out.
• Library  – All the of the children in our Foundation Stage will be bringing home library books on a Friday to be returned the following week on a Wednesday
• F2 (4-5 year olds) - Every Friday the children will be bringing a reading book to enjoy at home. 5 – 10 minutes daily practise. They will also have a weekly phonics task based on previous and current learning. This needs to be returned on a Wednesday. 
• Tapestry – sharing with you what the children do at school as well as you sharing with us what you do at home together.
• Independence -encouraging the children to do things independently is really important as they move through the school. This includes getting dressed, cutting food, and putting coats and shoes on.