Welcome to the Foundation Stage Page
The Beginning of an Educational Adventure
This year our annual theme will focus on: Stewards of the Earth; Guardians of God’s Gift, as well as continuing with the BRW Sprit Strong we have embraced over the past few years.
Miss Chapman, Miss Matthews , Mrs Hudson and all of the staff in the Foundation Stage offer a very warm welcome to our new children starting this term, and, of course, a warm welcome back to our existing children.
Our topic this term is – Who Lives in This Castle?
We will be sharing traditional stories which include castles and finding out the answer to this question. We will also be visiting our very own, local castle of Nottingham—yipes—look out for the Sheriff!
As always, our Come and See topics will be woven tightly into every area of learning as children learn to recognise the stories of the Epiphany, of Mary and Joseph taking Jesus to the temple, Jesus with the children and, of course, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as religious stories they know and love. They will also find out more about how the Parish gathers in the church to celebrate together.
All children will also improve their core strength and co-ordination by taking part in Drum Fit sessions and yoga with Mrs Bathgate. They will also learn how to look after their bodies when feeling poorly and how people change as they grow up. This is underpinned by the religious understanding that growing up is part of God’s plan for our lives, and that we are loved by Him at every life stage. (Relationship and Health)
How you can help support our topic……
Please read these traditional stories:
Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Owl and the Pussy Cat
Please share the poems from the Poetry Basket collection—we will let you know which one, which week via the weekly updates.
Talk about and share photographs at home when you enjoyed family celebrations together.
Use bricks or junk box modelling to bring the stories to life eg Make a palace for Cinderella; a castle for the giant or a boat for the Owl and Pussy Cat to share.
Helping at Home: Handwriting
Writing is so much more than just letter formation. Pre-writing (mark making) is important as it gets the muscles working in the hands with drawing, colouring etc before moving on to writing letters. The following links have some fun ideas to support your child’s writing development:
Learning to Write | Early Writing Activities – YouTube
21 Fun Handwriting Activities for Kids (thekindergartenconnection.com)
For FS2 children, all of the above are important, but we are also working on controlling letter size and formation. Lots of practising to keep letters sitting on lines (using ascenders and descenders) and using a comfortable pincer grip .The half-termly Phonics sheets will support their handwriting.
More ideas
A quick and easy playdough recipe so that you can help your children develop strong fingers and wrists, creative skills, communication skills as they talk about the changes they see and make and social skills as they play together with you.
List of useful websites for EYFS
For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)
Phonics play
Lots of phonics based games for children to play
Top marks
Lots of different maths activities for children to play
CBeebies
Lots of interactive stories and games for you to play
YouTube is great to watch the following on:
- Numberblocks – this helps children to understand numbers up to and beyond 10 by using different characters
- Tricky word song – these help children with reading and spelling words such as; I, go, to, he, she etc
- Jolly Phonics songs and actions – these help children read and say different sounds
- Alphablocks – these shows help with segmenting and blending sounds in words
- Cosmic Kids – yoga suitable for young children
Further Information – Early Years Development Matters Curriculum Guidance 6.7534 DfE Development Matters Report And Illustrations Web 2 FS Summer Newsletter 2024