Lego Discover – Session 3 ‘Let’s Sort’

This week the children had to think about how packages are sorted, loaded then unloaded at different destinations.  We built on the previous vocabulary, (transportation, destination) and introduced the words cargo, load, and unload. The children were challenged to build a Sorting Centre following some given instructions. They worked well in their teams, using the 4C’s to help them (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Creativity). There was lots of mathematical spatial reasoning as they tried to decide which way round some of the bricks needed to be. They were great problem solvers and had to listen to each other’s ideas when they encountered problems. Well done everyone.

Six Bricks This week your child brought home a complimentary ‘Six Bricks’ Lego set. Six Brick activities are one of the LEGO Foundation’s tools to introduce learning through play. Through fun, short, and playful activities with sets of LEGO® DUPLO® bricks in six bright colours, children practice a range of skills. The activities support working memory, problem solving, creativity and spatial awareness. We always start a Lego Discover session in school with a six brick activity. Now the children are able to share the learning with you at home.

We have posted an information video on Seesaw, along with some tricky tower six brick challenges for you and your child to work on together at home. Then each Friday we will add new challenges for you to try. We hope you have fun and please share photos with us on Seesaw.

Visitors from the Community

It has been a fun and exciting week full of unique and wonderful experiences.  The three aims of our school are to create a love of learning, teach children to be good citizens, and get them ready for the world of work. In our current learning experience, we are exploring the future career opportunities for all the children, and we would like to thank everyone who has supported us.

Architect Visit

Linking to learning from our Lego Discover programme and our school curriculum aim ‘Ready for Work’, Mrs Fairclough came to visit the children to talk about her job as an architect. She explained how creative an architect can be when designing a new building or attraction in the community. The children understood the importance of working as a team. They were challenged to design a new attraction for people to visit and have fun. They drew their own architect sketches and plans on special paper and talked about the materials they would need. They then swapped plans with a friend who had to build their design. The children had some fantastic ideas ranging from rollercoasters to adventure playgrounds with slides and water fountains. The children referred to the newly introduced Design, Make, Evaluate model to help them understand the process people go through when being innovative.

Thank you, Mrs Fairclough. It was a fun, creative and informative session. At Preston, we have high aspirations for children and want them to realise that anyone can aspire to be an architect. Visits like this inspire children and provide opportunities for creativity.

Teddy Bear Hospital

This week we welcomed a group of medical students from Plymouth University.  They provided a carousel of activities including:

• Hand washing – Why do we wash our hands? When do we wash our hands? We learnt and practised the correct hand washing technique.
• Heart – Where is our heart? What size is our heart? What does the heart do? We used a stethoscope to listen to our own and a friend’s heart.
• Hearing – How do our ears work? What special equipment do they use to look inside the ear?
• Doctors bag – What happens when you visit the doctors? What equipment do they use, and what can you find in the doctor’s bag?
• Teddy Bear Hospital – The Doctors wrote ‘paw-scriptions’ and put plasters and bandages on the injured bears.

It was such a fantastic and inspiring experience for everyone, it was a great way of getting the children to think about health at an early age. The children were engaged in all the activities and talked to the doctors with such confidence and enthusiasm. The doctors spoke about how they are training to be doctors and that they demonstrate a love of learning by attending University for five years. Many of the children made comments about being a nurse or doctor when they are older.

There is a fun app called ‘Get Well Soon’ hospital with Dr Ranj that can be downloaded to share with your child. More information can be found on this link. Get Well Soon Hospital (getwellsoonapp.co.uk)

Chinese New Year

Our curriculum is planned and sequenced to help children learn and remember specific knowledge. We often recap learning from previous weeks making links to secure their learning. This week we revisited our learning from last term, ‘Celebrations’. The children impressed us with their prior knowledge and this week they started learning about the celebration, Chinese New Year.  We discussed how people prepare for the celebration and what makes it special. As part of our PE session the children listened to different Chinese music and watched video clips of celebration parades. We then performed our very own dragon dance! We will share a video with you on Seesaw. We will continue to learn about how Chinese New Year is celebrated.

Recommended Reads

These are the books your friends would like to recommend this week. We hope you enjoy them.

‘There’s a superhero in your book’ by Tom Fletcher

recommended by Daniel

I really love this book. I like the bit when superhero zooms into the world, and he leaves a big hole in the book!

‘The Usborne book of Fairy Tales’ by Heather Amery

recommended by Tabbi

This is my favourite book, it has lots of stories. My favourite is Cinderella. I love princesses and the fairy godmother has a magic wand. It is fun trying to find the yellow duck on every page.

‘The Bunny of Bluebell Hill’ by Tim Preston

recommended by Emilia

My favourite book is The Bunny of Bluebell Hill because I really like bunnies. Bunny wants to find a new exciting home, so he goes on an adventure.

Visiting Torquay Library

As part of our curriculum, we strive to give children opportunities to be immersed in a love of reading. We took another small group of children to Torquay library this week. They spent quality time looking at a whole range of books. They enjoyed selecting some books to borrow for the week so that they can share them with their classmates back at school. The children were great ambassadors for the school. They understood the importance of using their school values when out on a trip. Members of the public commented on how wonderful it was to see the children at the library and how well behaved they were.

This week they were joined by Marley from year 6. She came to share her achievement of reading 100 books through the library’s ‘Book Quest’ scheme. The children were inspired by Marley and enjoyed sharing stories with her at the library. Well done Marley, and thank you for sharing your love of reading. At the bottom of the newsletter, we have shared information regarding schemes and events you may like to participate in at the library.

Another highlight of the trip was the journey on the minibus. We linked this to the learning from our Lego Discover programme. The children spotted all the different modes of transport, and they were able to articulate that the library was our destination.  

Literacy – Knock Knock Open the Door

In Literacy, we have been reading the book ‘Knock Knock Open the Door’ by Michaela Walker. We have planned a progressive sequence of learning to immerse the children in the story. It is a lovely book with special lift the flap doors.

Initially we showed the children the front cover of the book and asked them to predict what they thought the story would be about. They looked for clues on the front cover and had some wonderful ideas.

We then read the blurb and looked at the picture on the inside cover and found out that the little toddler was waiting for someone special to arrive. We read the story and used the character adjectives (funny, bouncy, noisy, smelly, cute, cuddly) to try and work out who that special person was. It would be lovely if you could talk to your child about this story, so they can tell you who the special person was.

The children have been busy rehearsing the book by making story maps to help them retell the story. They used collaboration to create the story maps we were very impressed with all their hard work.

We will continue to explore the story over the next couple of weeks, and we hope to make our own lift the flap page with our own special person behind the door!  

Maths

We have been using our subitising skills this week. There are two types of subitising: perceptual and conceptual. Perceptual is seeing a small group of objects (no more than 4/5) and knowing instantly how many there are without counting. Conceptual subitising is for larger numbers (5-10) and children need to see the smaller numbers (subgroups) within the larger numbers, so they can quickly add them to know the total.

We have been talking to the children about how you cannot perceptually subitise larger numbers like number 9. They have been looking for the smaller numbers within 9 to conceptually subitise. They saw 3 + 3 + 3 and 5 + 4.

We have assigned a subitising video on Seesaw for your child to practice. There are two videos, one is faster paced if your child would like to challenge themselves.

Home Learning

• Check your book bag or Seesaw for this week’s RWI activity.
• Six Bricks – Please watch the Six Bricks information video on Seesaw with your grown up. Enjoy taking part in the tricky tower challenges. We would love to see some photos of you completing the challenges and hearing your thoughts.
• Enjoy listening to the story on Seesaw, read by Mrs Bastin.
• Use Ten Town to practice numbers 1-8. If you are unsure of your password for Ten Town please let one of your teachers know.
• Find out something interesting about Chinese New Year to share with your friends next week.
• Watch the subitising video on Seesaw – and call out the numbers.

Messages

• Thank you for sharing your career experiences with us, the children have enjoyed talking to their friends about their family. We really appreciate you taking the time to share the information with us, it has really enhanced our learning experience.
• Please remember that you can also view this newsletter on the school website where you can see any photographs that we include.
• If you have any messages regarding medical appointments for your child, please e-mail or call the school office admin@preston.torbay.sch.uk Please avoid visiting the school office.
• Please ensure your child has their book bag and water bottle in school every day.

Important Dates

• Half term begins Monday 21^st February
• School returns Monday 28^th February

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team