Lego Discover – Super Powered – Six Bricks

Every Lego session in school starts with at least one ‘Six Brick’ activity. These activities have many benefits including supporting the development of executive functions of the brain: working memory, and cognitive flexibility. Thank you to everyone who came to the ‘Six Brick’ parent information session this week. It was wonderful to share some of the learning benefits and try some six brick activities with you.

Please do not worry if you were unable to attend. We have e-mailed an information letter and posted a video on Seesaw. This week your child came home from school with a Duplo Lego box. The box contains twelve Duplo Lego bricks. Six for you and six for your child. Every Friday we will be posting a video with a new six brick activity for you to try at home with your child. These activities are fun and engaging for the whole family. Please share your six brick experiences with us on Seesaw. We cannot wait see all your wonderful and creative responses. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to come and ask us.

Lego Discover – Super Powered - Session 2 – Energy Sources

The children were excited to participate in their second Lego session. We were very impressed by the knowledge they recalled from session 1. This week the children were given their very own engineers notebook. They will use these in some of the sessions to record their designs and ideas. This week they drew different energy sources that could be found in the community. They were then challenged to follow a set of instructions to build a wind turbine. The children had to work together as a team, listening to one another’s ideas and taking turns. Their final task was to use their creativity to build other energy sources. The children enjoyed exploring the different functional parts to build their models.

Virtual Author Visit – Rachel Morrisroe

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We are always looking for ways to inspire children and immerse them in a love of reading. This week children in Foundation and Key Stage 1 were treated to a virtual author visit from Rachel Morrisroe. Rachel shared her book, The Drama Llama. The story is about a boy called Alex. Like lots of children, Alex sometimes worries about things - like dancing badly or getting an answer wrong in class. However, unlike lots of children, every time he worries a real-life llama appears! And the more Alex worries, the bigger llama grows... which starts getting him into all sorts of trouble!

The children thoroughly enjoyed the story, it was very heart-warming yet funny. As part of the session the children were joined by the illustrator of the book, Ella Okstad. They had the opportunity to draw a llama with step-by-step instructions from Ella. The children were very proud of their drawings. We have purchased a copy of the book for the children to enjoy in class.

Over the next few weeks, we would like to invite you to our new ‘Rock Up and Read’ sessions. This will be an opportunity for you to come into the classroom to share the love of reading with your child. The children really enjoy reading for pleasure, and they would be delighted to share the experience with you as well. We will be holding three sessions before half term:

Morning Sessions

Tuesday 14^th March – 8.40am – 9.05am

Thursday 30^th March – 8.40am – 9.05am

The adult dropping off in the morning can come in to the classroom with their child to share some books. We will be finishing promptly at 9.05am as the children will need to get ready for their phonics lesson.

Afternoon session

Wednesday 22^nd March 2.50pm – 3.10pm

In the afternoon session, the adult collecting your child will be able to arrive a little earlier and come to the classroom to share some stories.

If you are unable to attend the sessions, your child will still be able to enjoy reading for pleasure with their friends.

Mother’s Day

The children have been busy preparing some Mother’s Day surprises.

On Wednesday 15^th March, Friends of Preston Primary (FOPPS) will be holding a Mother’s Day shop for the school. Children can bring £1 -£2 to spend in the shop. We will take the children to the Mother’s Day shop to choose a gift, all gifts are priced £1 each. We will collect the money from your child in the morning to keep it safe.

If you have any queries, please come and ask a class teacher.

Local Trips

Beach Maths

From Wednesday 15^th March – Friday 17^th March, we will be taking small groups of children (on the school minibus) to Preston Sands beach to have their maths lesson. We will be exploring 1 more and 1 less. We will look for shapes and subitise shells, as well as exploring multiples. We strive to make our curriculum rich and engaging. It is important for children to be able to make links in their learning and for it to be meaningful. We believe it would be a wonderful experience for the children to visit the local beach and have a maths lesson outside. Using everyday objects and environments encourages children to see all the mathematical opportunities around them.

You will receive a text message telling you if your child is visiting the beach that day.

Preston Community Pre-School

On Monday 27^th March, all of the children have been invited to Preston Community Pre-School to hear the children perform their Easter songs. Puffins and Penguins have decided that they would also like to perform some songs for the pre-school. It is fantastic that our children have the passion and courage to perform in front of an audience. It is also wonderful to be able to connect with the local community and share our learning. Many of our children attended Preston Community Pre-School, so it will be lovely for them to go back and say hello. We will be travelling on the school minibus.

If you have any queries regarding the local trips please come and speak to a class teacher.

PE

In PE, the children are learning fundamental skills including balance, running, and stopping. It is important for children to master these fundamental skills, so they can participate in a variety of sports as the progress through the school.

Using a circus theme, the children took part in a carousel of activities where they had to practise balancing. We talked about how they have to focus and concentrate and in order to maintain balance on the tightrope!

In another game the children had to work in pairs and follow one another around the room. When the music stopped, they both had to stop quickly to avoid a collision. We explored the techniques of stopping by making smaller steps and bending the knees to come to a stop. These skills will help children in the future when they are playing sports like netball, where they would need to stop quickly and maintain balance.

Home Learning

• Enjoy the story on Seesaw read by Mrs Bastin.
• Check your child’s book bag and Seesaw for phonics activities and reading to complete at home.
• Try the new six brick activity on Seesaw.

Important Dates        

• Tuesday 14^th March 8.40am – 9.05am – Rock Up and Read morning session
• Wednesday 15^th March – FOPPS Mother’s Day Shop
• Wednesday 15^th – Friday 17^th Beach maths on Preston Sands
• Wednesday 22^nd March 2.50pm – 3.10pm – Rock Up and Read afternoon session
• Sunday 26th March - Redeem the World Book Day token for a special book by this date.
• Monday 27^th March – Preston Community Pre-school visit
• Thursday 30^th March 8.40am – 9.05am – Rock Up and Read morning session

From Mrs Bastin, Mrs Clague and the Foundation Stage Team