Foundation
Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Like Jesus
There is only ONE Wednesday left until the Foundation class, and their teacher, enter the real world of school/teaching 5 days a week. After the Labour Day Weekend, all Foundation students will be expected at school every day. Attending school is a legal requirement, and if your child is going to be away for a prolonged period of time, could you please let me, or Therese (currently Libby) know via email so we have a record of the reason why they are absent? Family holidays are usually the most common cause for extended absences, and whilst there is absolutely no issue with this happening, we do require written documentation to explain any lengthy absences from school. Thanks.
Literacy
We are becoming masters at Heggerty! Each morning we are rhyming, segmenting, blending, substituting words and learning letter names and sounds and almost managing to do this within the allocated 10-12 minutes! The students are becoming much quicker, and are starting to become more familiar with the morning routine.
Reading groups have begun this week, with Damien taking one group on the iPads for decodable readers (reinforcing letter/sound relationships, and by FAR the most popular activity scheduled) Grace is in charge of letter consolidation through games, and I have a small guided reading session. Plus we have one self managed group completing an activity from the shared big book. These activities last for about 20 minutes each morning, and each group goes to each activity during the week. Poetry in motion at the moment, let's hope it continues.
Writing is still heavily focussed on pencil grip and pencil control. Tracing activities, play doh, cut and paste sentences, and group story writing make up most of the hour, plus we have a weekly SMART spelling sentence which is worked on daily. So far we have covered "The cat is on the mat", "That ant had a hat" and "It is in the big tin". Each week a new sound is introduced, as well as revision of previous sounds already covered.
The Literacy block is the first two hours each morning, and every minute is practically accounted for. No wonder we all look forward to first break so much!!
Numeracy
Numbers to 10 will be the focus for the remainder of the Term. Pleasingly, recent tests have indicated that this group of students have a fairly good grasp on counting and recognising numbers. We have started playing a game called "Guess my Number?" where it is myself/teacher versus the students. Highly, highly competitive, the students really enjoy it and the whole time we are playing, number concepts are being reinforced and developed.
We spend a lot of time playing games in Maths and one excellent website is
I use games from this source frequently- they are easy to play (after a few practices) and are fantastic for building number concepts. All you need is a deck of cards or simple items from around your house. I have a feeling that the website may have been developed during the grim, dark days of Covid- when remote learning was the norm. I highly recommend this site, and I'm sure your children will too, once we start playing more games from it.
Religion
Our new unit is Lent and Easter. Lent is the 40 days before Easter, and a chance for us to do kind things for others. For adults, Lent is also a time of fasting, repentance and prayer, often 'giving up' something during this time. However, at this age, in the Foundation room, the simple idea of doing good and helping others is enough. Last week we watched an animated story called "The Giving Tree". The video is as old as the hills, but the students quickly grasped the idea of how the tree kept looking after the boy. They then thought of one thing they are going to do during Lent to help others.
The Resilience Project
The focus over the past few weeks has been Emotional Literacy. Students have been identifying different emotions using facial expressions and body language to help them explain how they are feeling. We have role played, mimed and created different emotions. Turns out we have some talented actors in the classroom. We have a Resilience Project lesson every Tuesday at 12:45pm, and the students really enjoy it. The ability to recognise emotions in themselves, and others, is a life skill that is already being demonstrated in the playground and classroom.
FRIDAY 8TH MARCH
Friday is a Student Free Day. The teachers are working on Maths all day, but the students are free as proverbial birds. A four day long weekend is certainly something to be celebrated, and the Foundation students are very excited about the prospect-even after only 6 weeks of school life!
Family Night
Don't forget the My Future Academy evening (this name will be used instead of Bluearth from now on Family Night at school on Thursday 7th March, which should be great fun. The evening will begin at 6pm, and run until 7:15pm. BYO drink bottle and a 'can do' attitude.
And if a competitive night of fun was not enough to entice you to attend, second hand uniform will be available for purchase on the night as well! Coming into cooler mornings, it is always a good idea to have a 'spare' jumper on hand for the moment your child utters the "I can't find my jumper' statement- and they will...
Harmony Day- upcoming event
Thursday 21st March
Timetable
Monday
Tuesday Art
School newsletter online(odd weeks) Classroom updates (even weeks)
Wednesday Rest Day
Thursday Specialist subjects (students to wear sports uniform and runners)
Friday Library, Bluearth-wear sports uniform (even weeks) Assembly (odd weeks)
Don't forget, any questions, problems or queries, please contact me. If it is during school hours, just leave a message and I will return it as soon as possible, or send me an email.