Happy New Year!

It has been lovely to hear the children’s holiday news and to welcome them back to Foundation Stage. We have another busy half term ahead of us and cannot wait to get started.

Here are some of the plans we have for the children for each of the areas of learning within Foundation Stage, these may change depending on the children’s interests and ideas.

Communication and Language.

Through adult directed input, keyworker groups, circle time and child initiated play, the children will share ideas and opinions. We will use different vocabulary to explore meaning and sounds of new words and give the children opportunities to recreate what they have learned, through their play. The children will use talk for writing skills to retell stories and will be looking at how the characters in our stories feel and how we make others feel. We will also be looking at different countries and talking about the similarities and differences between them and where we live.

Personal Social and Emotional Development.

We will be discussing who helps us in our community, Police officers, Firefighters, Nurses and Doctors to name a few, as well as people who help us within school. Mrs Goodman and Mrs Churchill will be talking to the children about their important roles within our school. The children will invite visitors into Foundation Stage to ask them how they help us. We will also discuss how we can help others, modelling through role play, turn taking and listening to each other. We will encourage the children to try new activities, giving them exciting enhancements in their play to extend their learning.

Physical Development.

Foundation Stage will have weekly PE lessons this half term will focus on movement and balance. The children will be moving in different ways on, over, under and through the climbing equipment and obstacles. They will be practising Yoga and developing their posture and balance. The children will have daily access to the outdoor provision, were they will also have opportunities to balance, and climb, as well as ride bikes, throw balls, play ring and parachute games. They can have fun in the sand pit, mud kitchen and water area, as well as use different materials to mark make.

Literacy.

The children will continue with their daily phonics sessions, practising segmenting and blending, they will read individually and in groups. The children will be writing invitations and postcards, as well as labels for their models. There will be lots of opportunity for the children to apply their previously learned skills, independently during child initiated activities. They will be writing for different purposes, lists, letters, instructions etc and mark making in different materials such as sand, shaving foam and gloop 

Maths.

This half term the children will be looking at shape, space and measure. They will order according to length or height, look at standard and non-standard measurement, capacity and pattern. We want to capture their curiosity and appetite for learning and develop their critical thinking. 

The children will also continue to consolidate in all aspects of Number. Counting, numeral recognition, finding one more and one less and combining two groups of objects, as well as estimating and solving problems.

Understanding of the World.

This half term we will be using Fiction and Non Fiction books to look at Winter and animals, with a focus on Polar Bears. Can the children tell us about the similarities and differences in the environment since Autumn? Where do Polar Bears live? Why? What do they eat? How do they travel? The children will become the experts, making fact files and researching using books and computers. The children will also have opportunities to operate different technological toys, cameras, CD players and remote control toys.

Foundation Stage have looked at lots of celebrations since September, such as Diwali, Hanukah and Christmas. This half term we will focus on Chinese New Year. How is it celebrated? What foods are eaten? and are there any special clothes worn? The children will have opportunities to cook and taste special foods and dress in authentic clothing.

Expressive Arts and Design. 

We will look at Winter pictures and try to recreate them using different media. Colour mixing to see how the colours change, what colours do we associate with cold? Splatter pictures using gross motor skills. What materials could we use to make a Polar Bear, a frosty scene, a snowman. We will also be looking at floating and sinking and melting and freezing, giving the children opportunities to investigate both inside and outside.

We are looking forward to an exciting half term and hope the children are too.  

Kind regards,