Literacy - Oi Frog!   

 This week the children enjoyed the funny rhyming story ‘Oi Frog’ by Kes Gray and Jim Field. In the story the animals sit in unusual places that rhyme, e.g., lions sit on irons, seals sit on wheels, and puffins sit on muffins. The children found the story very funny! Whilst reading the story, the children enjoyed predicting what the animals would be sitting on.

 We also discussed the characteristics of the frog and the cat. This is what they said:

"The frog asks lots of questions." "The frog is funny."

"The cat is bossy." "The cat is rude." "The cat is grumpy."

We also had lots of fun thinking of words that rhyme with our names, e.g., Polly sits on a lolly, Ella sits on an umbrella, Rayne sits on a train.

We will continue to explore rhyming over the next couple of weeks. Well done to those who completed the rhyming activity on Seesaw – we loved looking at your photos and writing!  

Next, we will be attempting to write our own rhyming words and making simple sentences with them – we will share this with you on Seesaw to celebrate their success, and also to let you know what your child’s next writing target is.

Local Trip – Torquay Library   

To promote and encourage a love of reading, this term we will give every child in Foundation the opportunity to visit Torquay Library. This week we took two groups of children on the school minibus for a visit. We saw the librarians and talked about their job role. We really enjoyed looking around the library and having the time and opportunity to read lots of wonderful books. Each child chose a book to borrow and to bring back to school so that all of their friends will be able to enjoy the book in class. Next week, some other children will be visiting the library.

Doctors visit

This week we welcomed four student doctors in to our classroom. The children really enjoyed learning about the human body. The four interactive workshops were:

What does our heart do? We found out that our heart is the size of our fist. We used stethoscopes to listen to our partner’s heart.

What do ears do? We already knew that we use our ears for hearing, but the doctor also told us how our ears are used for balance. We looked at a large-scale model of an ear and found out that the smallest bone in the human body is found in the ear. We also talked about why our ears pop on an aeroplane.

Hand hygiene. We talked about when we need to wash our hands, e.g., before eating, after play, after toilet, before preparing food, etc. We then practised good hand-washing techniques. Then the doctor shone a UV torch on our hands to check if we had cleaned them properly.

What is in the doctor’s bag? We looked at some of the equipment that doctors use and talked about what they used them for. There was a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, a tendon hammer, and a peak flow meter to measure our breath.

We then took our teddies to the ‘Teddy Bear Hospital’ to be checked over by a doctor. There was a whole assortment of ailments, such as broken tails, missing eyes, and sore heads. The doctors examined each teddy, then wrote them a ‘pawscription’. They also had to give the teddies a bandage or a plaster to help to heal their wound.

The main aim of the ‘Teddy Bear Hospital’ activity is to provide a positive and fun experience for children, whilst at the same time building trust and reducing anxiety when children visit a doctor or have to go into hospital. We had a fun and informative afternoon. Lots of us are now thinking about a possible career in medicine in the future!

PE

This week, we practised our skills in controlling a ball. We used our hands to push and roll a ball, and then we had to stop it by either using our hand or by running in front of the ball and stopping it with our foot. We played games where we had to listen carefully when the instructions were called out so that we could quickly get into the correct position. We were very impressed with the children’s determination to improve their skills.

We also used what we learnt in the doctors’ visit about our heart and lungs to talk about the differences in our body both before and after exercise. We felt our heart beating, and we knew that our heart had to beat harder and faster during exercise to get the blood pumping around our body. We also noticed that our breathing changed, and we were breathing deeper – some of us remembered that this was so that our lungs could take in more oxygen.

Maths        

In maths this week we have continued exploring number ten. We have used tens-frames and double-sided counters to investigate different ways to make 10 with two parts, e.g., 5 and 5, 9 and 1, 6 and 4. The children were challenged to find as many different ways as they could, and then they recorded their findings by using an iPad to take photographs.

Lunar New Year

This week we have been finding out about Lunar New Year. People in Hong Kong and other Chinese communities around the world celebrate Chinese New Year according to the lunar calendar. The New Lunar Year was celebrated on the 22^nd January and this is the Year of the Rabbit.

We talked about the special traditions that take place at this time, such as gathering with family, decorating homes with lanterns and the giving of red envelopes with money inside. The dragon dance is often performed during Chinese New Year as dragons are a symbol of China's culture, and they are believed to bring good luck to people.

We enjoyed performing a dragon dance in school and we played musical instruments for the dragon to move to. We will post a video of this on Seesaw for you to enjoy watching.

‘Cool Milk’

As well as being delicious, there are many health benefits to drinking milk.

Milk is free to all children who are under 5.

This is a reminder that your child’s entitlement to a daily carton of free milk stops on the Friday before their fifth birthday. For your child to continue to receive milk, you will need to visit www.coolmilk.com/parents to register your child and pay for their milk.

If you have any queries, please ask the class teacher.

Home Learning

• Enjoy watching the story of The Chinese Zodiac. This is the story of how each year is named after an animal. This Lunar Year is the year of the Rabbit. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPWJQsbDuNA&t=198s
• Check your child’s book bag and Seesaw for phonics activities and reading to complete at home.

Important Dates        

• Theatre trip ‘Room on a Broom’ – Tuesday 7^th February.
• Half Term 13^th – 17^th February

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team