More pictures from our very exciting Gruffalo hunt!

What a fantastic day at Thorndon Country Park despite the fine British weather.

Have a great half term!

 

Happy Birthday, Mrs Pike.

Today we showered Mrs Pike with gifts for a very special birthday. I'm sure Mrs Pike will celebrate in style with her new jewellery, hand bag and matching purse.

We found the Gruffalo!

Despite the rain, the children in Aspen and Fern class had a fantastic day learning outdoors. They had to hunt for mini Gruffalo's and count how many they had found. Next they had to solve clues to find characters from the Gruffalo story. First they found a squirrel up a tree,  then a mouse eating a nut that was good. Using their sense of smell they found the fox in his underground house. Crossing the bridge and talking owl language, they soon found the owl. The children then completed a tree rubbing before hunting for the snake in his log pile house. It wasn't long before they spotted the Gruffalo's child and then the Gruffalo himself.
After lunch they used their teamwork skills to build dens. What a fantastic day, using resources in the outdoor environment to stimulate the children's interests and curiosity.
A big thank you to all the adults who helped make the day run so smoothly.

Take a look at our homework.

Well done to Natasha, Joshua, and Callum for completing their projects about stories. Each piece of homework is different and reflects the children's favourite choices. Well done!

Lilly's homework

Lilly presented her favourite books beautifully. She was able to tell us all about her favourite fairy tale characters. Have a look at her wonderful homework. Well done, Lilly

Nikola's homework

Well done to Nikola for completing her project homework about the books she loves. Nikola was able to tell the class all about her favourite books such as Little Red Riding Hood and Heidi.
We look forward to sharing more homework throughout the week. Please make sure homework is returned by Thursday.

Reminder for school trip to Thorndon Country park

We are really looking forward to our school trip to Thorndon Country Park tomorrow.  For the children to get the most out of the day they may come in their own clothes suitable for hunting through the woods. Please also ensure that children are wearing suitable footwear and have a rain mack as rain is forecast for tomorrow.
Your child’s lunch needs to be packed in a carrier bag which is clearly labelled with their name.

 Children do not need to bring any spending money.

Thanks for your continued support.



Mrs Stanley

Reception Weekly Newsletter

Term: Summer 1 Date 20.05.13

This week we will be concluding our topic ‘Story land’. We have been focussing on fantasy stories and stories from different cultures and our final fantasy story will be ‘The Gruffalo’. Your child will be taking part in the following activities within the seven areas of development (activities are subject to change, depending on the children’s interests; however, the skills remain the same):

Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
Discussing rules for our trip to Thorndon Country Park. (Children need to bring their lunch in a labelled carrier bag, wear suitable footwear for hunting through the forest and a rain mack)

Communication and Language
Introduce the story ‘The Gruffalo’. What do you know about the Gruffalo? What do you want to know about the Gruffalo? Create a mind map with the children

Physical
Exploring our outside area and how to use the equipment.

Literacy
The children need to be bringing in their reading books daily. We praise the children who regularly read at home to an adult and have a reward system in place.
Name writing using chalks, pens, paint brushes, foam etc…
We will be continuing our daily Read Write Inc sessions.
In small groups children to write a recipe for the mouse in ‘The Gruffalo’.

Maths
Prepositional language. In their play outside on the large equipment, encourage children to go over the mound, through the tunnel under the tree house, climb beside the slide.
Weighing and measuring out ingredients in ‘The Gruffalo Café’. Can they share out the ingredients fairly?
Assessing children understanding of shape, more than/less than/ and understanding of numbers to 20 and beyond.

Understanding of the World
Discussing environments. What do you think is in a wood, what do we need to be careful of – Linking with our trip to hunt for the Gruffalo at Thorndon Country park on Friday.

Expressive Arts and Design
Enjoying our daily dance warm up to the ‘5 a day’ fitness programme.
Role play – green grocers shop/Max’s bedroom/ The Gruffalo Café outdoors.
Creating a large collage outside.
Making Gruffalo masks using chosen art resources.
Making mud recipes in outside role play ‘Gruffalo's restaurant’
Acting out the story of ‘The Gruffalo’ using props available from enhancement box.

Messages:
Please follow Broadford on facebook (remember to press the ‘like’ button) and twitter. We update the Early Years blog regularly with photos and information.
There will be no show and tell this week.
Please return permission slips and donations for our school trip asap.

Ways to help at home:
Sharing books to encourage story language and imagination.
Playing letters and sounds phase 2 and phase 3 games on the computer.
Encourage your children to use the correct pencil grip using ‘froggy fingers’.

Homework this half term is ‘Story Land’. Children can either produce a poster about their favourite books; this may be a favourite story or an information book. Alternatively, the children could work on producing their own story demonstrating their great writing skills and imagination. Homework will need to be returned by the end of this week.

Thorndon Country Park.

Just a reminder for Aspen and Fern classes. The consent form and donation needs to be returned to school ASAP ready for our trip to Thorndon Country Park on Friday.
Many thanks to all the parents who have volunteered to help out on the trip, we now have enough helpers.

Aimee's amazing block creations.

The block area in Aspen class is very popular. The buildings keep getting bigger and more complicated. Look at Aimee's amazing work.

Visit from the Lollipop Lady

The Nursery children had a another visit this week from someone who helps us - Broadford's lovely lollipop lady. The children listened intently to how the lollipop lady helps us cross the road and asked some very sensible questions.

Nursery Newsletter

Term:  Summer 1                          Date 13.05.13

Last week all of the Nursery children had a visit from the local police, the morning children also had a visit from the Fire Brigade. Don’t worry, the Fire Brigade are returning to visit the afternoon children in June. 

This week our character of the week is ‘Bob the Builder’ we have a builder coming in to visit the children and we will be making our role play area into a builder’s yard.

Furthermore following on from the visit from the police, the local Lolly Pop Lady has kindly agreed to come in to talk to the children about her important job.

Personal, Social and Emotional

• Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks.
• Confident to talk to other children when playing and will communicate freely about home and community.
• Keeps play going responding to what others are saying and doing. 

Communication and Language                                                    

• Listens to others one to one or in small groups, when conversation interests them.
• Listens to stories with increasing attention and recall.
• Builds up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences

 

Physical Development:

• Can usually manage washing and drying hands.
• Hold pencils with thumb and two fingers no longer using whole hand grasp
• Understands that equipment and tools have to be used safely.

Mathematics

• Compares two groups of objects, saying when they have the same number
• Shows interest in a number problem
• Beginning to talk about the shape of everyday objects e.g. round and tall

Understanding of the World

• Talks about why things happen and how things work.
• Shows interests in different occupations and ways of life.
• Shows an interest in technological toys with knobs or pulleys, or real objects such as sound movements or new image

 

Expressive Arts and Design

• Beginning to be interested in a describe the texture of things
• Uses various construction materials.
• Uses available resources to create props to support role play.

 

Literacy

• Taking part in letters and sounds.
• Learning about the sound ‘a’
• Recognises familiar words and signs such as own name and advertising logos

 

Messages.

 

A boy from the morning nursery lost his shoes last Wednesday, they may have been put into another child’s bag in error. If you find them please return them to the Nursery.

We will be learning the sound ‘a’ this week.  Please bring in something beginning with this letter.

Thank you for all the snack money contributions and for your continued support.

Brooke's Mum and her crew.

Last week Aspen class enjoyed a visit from our local fire brigade. Brooke's mum spoke to the children about what bring a firefighter means and the service they provide. The children had great fun spraying the hoses and climbing in the fire engine. When the fire brigade visit again in June, Fern class will get to enjoy the experience.