Platinum Star Reader!

A massive congratulations to Ethan Carruth who has received his Platinum Star Reader award for reading 150 books! Wow! Ethan and his family have put in a lot of time reading every night, both his school reading books and sharing other bedtime stories. This has really been reflected in Ethan's reading and story telling.

                                      

When Ethan had read 75 books he chose The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher and has really enjoyed listening to this story with his family. "I loved reading the Christmasaurus, the best bit is he can fly".

Well done Ethan - keep it up!

It's a mystery!

The Reception children returned to their classrooms after lunch on Monday to find there had been a visitor! The visitor had not looked after the school's property and their was a series of mysterious clues left behind. "Look there's clue, it's a footprint!" exclaimed Ethan to his classmates. The children were outraged at the mess and set about to find out what had happened.

The children has a lot of theories of who might be responsible for the mess in the bakery, home corner and construction area. Aspen class were certain it was the Big Bad Wolf. Layla, Adam and Lilly W thought it might have been a bandit and this idea quickly spread in Apple. Other suspects included Elsa, a monster and Jack the elf. "It's something to do with the three bears as there is porridge" said Ryan from Alder.

The children thought long and hard about the clues they could see and worked together to draw up a list of evidence. Evidence found included: a pink hair ribbon, a small footprint, porridge oats, a broken chair, three bears and three bowls. After some more discussion the children came up with a new suspect....... Goldilocks! The children in Alder briefly suspected Hannah as she looked a little like Goldilocks but quickly discarded this clue as she pointed out she was having lunch with her class.

The children were extremely excited and engaged throughout the afternoon, searching the early years area for additional clues. Some children grabbed magnifying glasses and looked closely for tiny details, others decided to use a clipboard to record the clues and evidence they had found. Augustas set about marking out additional evidence with masking tape throughout Apple class. There was so much discussion and collaboration seen across the year group to find out what had happened to the classrooms. Everyone's imaginations were captured!

This week we will continue to work work with the text Goldilocks and The Three Bears. We will be busy taste testing porridge, making posters to find Goldilocks and writing letters to apologise on behalf of Goldilocks.

Reception Newsletter 30.01.17

Term: Spring 1                      Date: 30.01.17

Dear Parents,

This week we will be reading the text ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’.  We will be carrying out various activities including story telling and re enacting, porridge making, designing wanted posters and much more. We are also really lucky as we have a professional story teller coming in this Friday to carry out a workshop with all of the Reception children.

Our Learning Objectives for this term are:-

Personal, Social and Emotional:

Shows confidence in asking adults for help.

Confident to speak to others about own needs, wants, interests and opinions.

Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks.

                       

Communication and Language:

Extends vocabulary, especially by grouping and naming, exploring the meaning and sounds of new words.

Builds up vocabulary that reflects the breadth of their experiences.

Introduces a storyline or narrative into their play.

Physical Development:

Handles tools, objects, construction and malleable materials safely and with increasing control.

Uses one-handed tools and equipment, e.g. makes snips in paper with child scissors.

Shows increasing control over an object in pushing, patting, throwing, catching or kicking it.

Literacy:

Describes main story settings, events and principal characters.

Hears and says the initial sound in words.

Joins in with repeated refrains and anticipates key events and phrases in rhymes and stories.

Mathematics:

Beginning to use everyday language related to money

Says the number that is one more than a given number.

Finds one more or one less from a group of up to five objects, then ten objects.

Expressive Art and Design:

Constructs with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources.

Builds stories around toys, e.g. farm animals needing rescue from an armchair 'cliff'.Understands that they can use lines to enclose a space, and then begin to use these shapes to      represent objects.

Understanding the World:

Beginning to construct, stacking blocks vertically and horizontally, making enclosures and creating spaces

Looks closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change

Knows some of the things that make them unique, and can talk about some of the similarities and      differences in relation to friends or family.

Messages.

Learning Challenge

Each half term we will be setting our pupils a challenge related to their learning. We believe that it is important for us to provide guidance for parents on how their children's learning can be extended at home.

The learning challenge will include either a nursery rhyme, famous person, illustration or a piece of music. Please talk to your child about the challenge and help them to engage in their learning. The children can choose how they present their learning challenge outcomes to their teacher or class.

 Person:  Choose a Traditional Tale Character   

 Artist/Illustrator: Axel Scheffler

 Poem/Song to learn: Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Turn around

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Touch the ground,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Reach up high,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Touch the sky.

Nursery Rhyme	Artist/Illustrator	Person
1.    Learn it off by heart. 2.    Draw a picture to illustrate the rhyme. 3.    Find out about stars.	To find out facts about the illustrator. Produce a collage of other pictures by the illustrator. To draw a picture in a similar style	1. 1.Draw a portrait of the person. 2.   Find out facts about the person. 3. Watch the person in action.

Toys and watches

Please ensure your children do not bring toys into school.  A number of the children are bringing in various toys, including small toys in their pockets they are then giving them to other children which is leading to arguments.  This is causing a great deal of disruption and we can not take responsibility for belongings from home.  Furthermore a number of the children are wearing watches which have games on them, these are causing disruptions throughout the day and are not suitable for school use.  Thank you for you cooperation with this matter.

Dates for your Diary:

Thursday 9th February - Break up for Half Term (Friday 10th is an INSET Day)

Friday 24th February - Reading Stay and Play (Detailed letter to follow)

Kind regards

The Reception Team

                                       

Reception Newsletter 23.01.17

Term: Spring 1                      Date: 23.01.17

Dear Parents,

This week we will be reading the text ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. We have got various activities planned.

Our Learning Objectives for this term are:-

Personal, Social and Emotional:

Confident to speak to others about own needs, wants, interests and opinions.Enjoys responsibility of carrying out small tasks.

Confident to talk to other children when playing, and will communicate freely about own home and community.

                       

Communication and Language:

Introduces a storyline or narrative into their play.

Uses talk to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events.

Responds to instructions involving a two-part sequence

Physical Development:

Shows increasing control over an object in pushing, patting, throwing, catching or kicking it.

Can usually manage washing and drying hands.

Understands that equipment and tools have to be used safely.

     

Literacy:

Describes main story settings, events and principal characters.

Hears and says the initial sound in words.

Joins in with repeated refrains and anticipates key events and phrases in rhymes and stories.

Mathematics:

Says the number that is one more than a given number.

Finds one more or one less from a group of up to five objects, then ten objects.

Finds the total number of items in two groups by counting all of them.

Expressive Art and Design:

Constructs with a purpose in mind, using a variety of resources.

Builds stories around toys, e.g. farm animals needing rescue from an armchair 'cliff'.Understands that they can use lines to enclose a space, and then begin to use these shapes to      represent objects.

Understanding the World:

Beginning to construct, stacking blocks vertically and horizontally, making enclosures and creating spaces

Looks closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change

Knows some of the things that make them unique, and can talk about some of the similarities and      differences in relation to friends or family.

Messages.

Learning Challenge

Each half term we will be setting our pupils a challenge related to their learning. We believe that it is important for us to provide guidance for parents on how their children's learning can be extended at home.

The learning challenge will include either a nursery rhyme, famous person, illustration or a piece of music. Please talk to your child about the challenge and help them to engage in their learning. The children can choose how they present their learning challenge outcomes to their teacher or class.

 Person:  Choose a Traditional Tale Character   

 Artist/Illustrator: Axel Scheffler

 Poem/Song to learn: Teddy Bear Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Turn around

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Touch the ground,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Reach up high,

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear,

Touch the sky.

Nursery Rhyme	Artist/Illustrator	Person
1.    Learn it off by heart. 2.    Draw a picture to illustrate the rhyme. 3.    Find out about stars.	To find out facts about the illustrator. Produce a collage of other pictures by the illustrator. To draw a picture in a similar style	1. 1.Draw a portrait of the person. 2.   Find out facts about the person. 3. Watch the person in action.

Please keep reading with your children at home.  Furthermore when you do read, write a comment in their reading record so that we know you have read with them.

Kind regards

The Reception Team

                                       

Star Readers and Red Words!

Congratulations to all our star readers in Reception!

These children have been very busy reading at home. Indianna received her bronze star reader award. Riley L, Courtney, Amelie, Harvy, Lilly, Aaliyah and Tiren have received their bookmark for reading 25 books. 

Well done to Elise-Rose, Mia and Iniya who has received their silver star reader award. There are also a few children waiting to receive their chosen books for reading 75 books.

Your child should have brought home a sheet of red words recently (please let your class teacher know if they did not). In the RWI phonics scheme red words are used to help children recognise the fact some words are more difficult to read, because they cannot ‘Fred talk’ them in the normal way. Your child needs to be able to recognise these red words on sight so that they become a confident and fluent reader. Some words are only ‘red’ words until your child has learnt that sound. Please practice reading these words by sight with your child when you read at home.  Here is a little saying to help you remember: 'You can't Fred a red!'. Once your child has mastered these red words, we will send home another set. 

Here are a few ideas to help you!

• You could take turns to read the red words - my turn, your turn. 
• You could practice reading these words in and out of order.
• You could talk about the sounds in the word that make it tricky. Eg. in the word 'was', the 'a' sound is the tricky bit because it makes the sound 'o'. 
• You could cover them up and remove the item to reveal the word. 
• You could turn the red words into a game: chop up the words and place them all face down on the table, take turns to pick a word. Can you read the word to collect the card, if not it goes back down on to the table. The person with the most red words at the end is the winner. 

Good luck and keep reading!  

                             

                            

Winter Wonderland!

The children in reception were very excited last week by the snow we received. The outdoor area was turned into a white wonderland on Friday morning and we were fortunate enough that the ground was not icy. After phonics more snowflakes started to fall from the sky, the children hurried to get their outside gear on and couldn't wait to get outside to explore. "Look at the snowflakes falling" said Saarah as the children lined the windows gazing out. 

Before the children went outside they discussed the conditions and agreed on some safety precautions. Although the ground was not icy, they agreed they would all walk outside to ensure no one slipped over. "We probably should't run, it could be slippy" Tavia told her friends. The children also discussed snowballs and compromised that they could only throw them at other children (or staff) who wanted to play and that snowballs should only hit the body, no head shots! They then went on to talk about the difference between throwing ice and snow. The snow provided an excellent real life situation for children to manage risks in. 

"Who is making it snow?" said Lilly W, starting off some great discussions about weather and climate. We love learning outdoors in all weathers and the snow provided an exciting stimulus for the children in Reception. "I've caught a snowflake on my tongue" said Abdulmalik as the children tried to catch the cold snowflakes! 

Quick phone 999, it's an emergency!

"Hello, fire station, what is your emergency? Could you tell me your address please?" said Ruby W as she answered the phone in the fire station. "Quick guys a cat is stuck up a tree. Go straight ahead and round the corner!"

The children in Reception have been busy saving the day this week as they sent out teams to various disasters around the Harold Hill area. We have had cats stuck in trees, children stuck in fences, little old ladies falling in the river and of course numerous house fires. The children have been taking turns to answer the emergency calls before sending out teams of firemen to deal with the disasters.

There has been a lot of turn taking involved in their play as the children all initially wanted to dress up, answer the phone and drive the fire engine. Quickly the children realised they would have to rotate jobs and turn take. "I'll drive , you can drive to the next emergency"  said Harry as the team set off on a job.

This new outdoor role play area has also bought up discussions about fire safety. "If there is a fire you have to call 999" Archie explained to a group of friends.

Apple's Learning Challenges!

The girls is Apple Class have been very busy at home completing this terms (and last terms) Learning Challenges! Laura completed last terms learning challenge, creating a spaceship for five little men and was able to sing the song to the class.

Tutu has made a fantastic collage of pictures drawn by the illustrator Axel Scheffler, and showed the class her favourite story she has at home. She also found out some facts and shared these with the class. The children recognised many of the books he had illustrated, especially as some of them are our favourites in Apple Class.

Nicole learnt the poem 'Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear' and recited this to the class showing us her illustrations of the poem and a fantastic bear mask. She also revisited last terms challenge and shared some fantastic facts about stars with the class.

Great work girls, you all deserve your certificates. It is fantastic to see such great learning going on at home!

Nursery Newsletter 23.1.17

Term: Spring 1                      Date: 23.01.17

Dear Parents,

We had a great week reading the 'The Tiger who came to tea'. After we heard that Mrs Chisholm was collecting a special visitor from the airport the children were very busy making letters and cards for the tiger. They were very surprised when he arrived at Nursery on Tuesday! The children found out lots of facts about the tiger by asking him questions and we even had some time to sing and dance to 'Down in the Jungle'. This week we are going to focus on the story 'Monkey Puzzle' by Julia Donaldson.

This Newsletter can be seen on the Broadford Primary School Facebook Page and the EYFS Blog which you can reach from the school website. If you follow the school Facebook page you will see lots of blogs including photos of the children's time in Nursery.

Personal, Social and Emotional:

Confident to talk to other children when playing, and will communicate freely about own home and community. We are praising the children for sharing resources and modelling sharing.

                       

Communication and Language/Literacy:

We are encouraging the children to learn Nursery Rhymes and join in with actions to help them re-tell these. We are focusing on learning the rhymes 'Miss Polly had a Dolly', 'I'm a Little Tea Pot' and 'Pat a Cake' this week. They are encouraged to listen carefully to adults telling the rhymes and say the missing words. We are pointing our rhyming words in these rhymes and stories and encouraging the children to hear how words rhyme.

The children are always encouraged to use the correct tenses and word endings when talking e.g. "I slid down the slide." "I found a pretty bead." "Soon it will be my Birthday." Please continue to model this at home. Encourage the children to talk to you in full sentences and share their ideas.

Physical Development:

We are focusing on ensuring children are able to hold scissors correctly and are enjoying daily

'Dough Disco' sessions to develop the muscles in the children's fingers.

    

Mathematics:

We are focusing on the children's individual targets in play and moving them forward in this

way. Some children will be encouraged to and count amounts correctly and those able will be encouraged to match numerals to amounts.

Expressive Art and Design:

We are modelling how to cut materials to create collages this week. This will be left for the children

to explore and create their own designs.

Understanding the World:

This week we have lots of various animal books, animal puppets and toys, vet role-play items and

photos of real pets. In small groups we will share these items with the children to encourage them to

talk about animals and the children's experience own of pets. If you have any photos of pets please

either send these in with the children of email them to eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Snack focus:

Last week the children cut bananas and added natural yogurt and milk to create their own delicious smoothies. This week we have rice crackers, cream cheese and various fruits and veg available. The children will be encouraged to create their own faces/patterns with the fruit and vegetables to create their own healthy snack.

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Messages.

Learning Challenge

Thank you for the Learning Challenge's we have already received. The display of all the children's work is looking great! If you would like to complete this half term's learning challenge please read the details below:

Each half term we will be setting our pupils a challenge related to their learning. We believe that it is important for us to provide guidance for parents on how their children's learning can be extended at home.

The learning challenge will include either a nursery rhyme, famous person, illustration or a piece of music. Please talk to your child about the challenge and help them to engage in their learning. The children can choose how they present their learning challenge outcomes to their teacher or class.

Poem/Song to learn: 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on a bed.

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,

One fell off and bumped his head. Mother called the doctor and the doctor said: 'No more jumping on the bed!'

(Repeat down to 0)

Painting: Guido Daniele – Animal Hand Painting

Nursery Rhyme	Painting
1.      Learn it off by heart. 2.      Draw a picture to illustrate the rhyme.	3.      To create your own hand art and take a photo. 4.      To create your own animal picture at home.

If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk

Kind regards,

The Nursery Team