Celebrations and festivals

This half term, we will be learning about celebrations and festivals.

The children have been talking about Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot. Some of the vocabulary we have been using is November, Houses of Parliament, explode, plot and past. Teaching children about historical events is important as it helps them gain understanding of time.

 Last Friday, we spoke to the children about how to stay safe during Bonfire Night, and this week we revisited this celebration by talking about the children’s experiences of the evening. Some of the children have been using chalk to create colourful firework pictures. Some of the children wrote words to describe fireworks using words such as red, pink, pop, bang, and whizz. We have been so impressed with the children’s attempts at using their phonic sounds to think about the letters and begin writing words. Well done, children.

On Monday, we went to the Woodland Camp where we had our own small bonfire in the fire circle.

Before half term, all of the children were assessed in their phonics. Puffins and Penguins have now been split into smaller ‘Read Write Inc’ (RWI) groups so they can focus on their particular targets for reading. Every child’s reading journey is unique, and we celebrate all their successes.

Your child’s RWI teacher will provide your child with a phonics or reading activity for your child to practise at home. This will either be posted on Seesaw or sent home with your child in their book bag.

If you have any questions about phonics, please do not hesitate to ask. We will continue to share information on your child’s phonic journey.

Maths

We had lots of fun in Maths this week! We were introduced to the concept of ‘whole’ and ‘part’. First, we used an image of an elephant to talk about the whole creature and then we talked about the different parts that made up the elephant, e.g. “The trunk is part of the elephant.” “The 2 ears are part of the elephant.”

We discussed how the size of the object didn’t really matter – it was the fact that whole meant ‘complete’ or ‘all of it’.

We talked about how a ‘whole’ object could be split into two or more parts. We further applied this idea through fruit at our snack time, e.g. “This is a whole apple.” “I have eaten part of my banana; I have part left.” “Would you like a whole pear or part of an apple?”

Stickman

We have been talking about our fantastic trip to the theatre last Friday to see ‘Stickman’. Some of the children made their own stickman from the items which we collected in the wood last week. Maybe your child could take their stickman out with them over the weekend - we would love to see a photo of where he went! We have also used story stones to help us to retell the story. We noticed that the story was set across the 4 seasons – Stickman was lost for such a long time! We have been talking about seasonal changes and this week we made beautiful Autumn crowns to celebrate the changing colours of leaves.

Remembrance

This week, the children held a two minute silence to remember those who have fought and lost their lives to protect us. We talked about the significance of the poppy and made our own poppies. The children demonstrated respect and responsibility.

Parent meetings

Thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us about your child’s learning in your parent meeting this week. At Preston we believe that children make the most progress when school, the child and parents work together. It was wonderful to discuss your child’s progress and talk about how they have settled in school.

As a whole school, we would like children to have the confidence to be more self-reflective. We have been teaching and supporting children to talk about themselves as a person and a learner. To compliment the parent meetings, we asked the children some questions and recorded a short video to share with you – this is now on Seesaw for you to view.

Home Learning

• Check your book bag or Seesaw for this week’s phonic activity.
• Enjoy listening to the story on Seesaw.
• Enjoy sharing this week’s library book with your grown-up.
• Talk about ‘part’ and ‘whole’ at home when you are eating or playing, e.g. “I only want part of the pizza”. “Please can I have a whole apple?” “There is a missing part of my jigsaw.”
• Take your stickman for a walk. Where will he go on his adventures?

Messages

• Please continue to contact the school office by email admin@preston.torbay.sch.uk or phone 01803 607075 with any questions or queries.
• In the event of your child being poorly, please call our absence line is 01803 607589 where you can leave a message.
• There is also lots of useful information, as well as event dates and term dates, on our school website  https://www.preston.torbay.sch.uk/

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team