Class R

Dear Parents,

Welcome to our Clatford School family! It has been lovely meeting you and your children in our Year R classroom. We hope that you enjoyed your visit and the opportunity to spend time in school with your child. It is important to us that your child is happy and that home and school can work together; we look forward to working with you all and thank you for your support in advance! During this first half-term, we will be encouraging the children to build relationships with each other, and adults, and helping them to settle into school. We will also be carrying out some initial assessments.
This year, we are very lucky to have four adults working in Year R. Mrs Fawdry and I are looking forward to having the support of Mrs Batterson and Mrs Proud, to help with the children’s learning, and are sure that you would like to join us in welcoming them to our team.

This term, our themes our ‘Marvellous Me!’ and ‘Bears.’ These themes encompass all seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (Communication and Language, Physical development, Personal, social and emotional development, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the world and Expressive arts and design). They also provide opportunities for the children to demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning: Playing and Exploring (engagement), Active Learning (motivation), and Creating and Thinking Critically (thinking).

During our ‘Marvellous Me!’ topic, we will be focusing on the importance of keeping clean and washing our hands, drinking water, eating a balanced diet, and having enough exercise and sleep. We will also be thinking about what we can do and what is special about us. At this time of year, we also learn about autumn and harvest.

Our ‘Bears’ topic will include fictional stories about bears, such as ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ as well as finding out facts about them. We will learn
about polar bears and where they live as we investigate ice and approach Christmas!
As discussed during your visit, the children will need to come dressed in their shorts and t-shirt (with their tracksuit over the top), and trainers/plimsolls on Mondays and Wednesdays. Where possible, we will endeavour to have P.E sessions outside but on very wet or cold days these will need to take place in the school hall instead. Please remember to label your child’s clothes, with his/her name, particularly cardigans, school sweatshirts, and tracksuit tops which they are likely to take off during the day!

As you are aware, the children bring a healthy snack (cereal bars, fruit, cubes of cheese, slices of cucumber, carrot sticks etc) to school each day; these are eaten part-way through the morning. Please remember to check the ingredients for nuts: We are a nut-free school due to staff and child allergies. Re-usable snack boxes are more environmentally friendly than plastic bags so we are encouraging the use of these. (Please remember to make sure that they are named). School fruit and milk are provided in the afternoons but please remember to register for school milk with ‘Cool Milk.’ Should you wish your child to continue with milk, once he/she has turned five, you will need to arrange payment with the milk company. Please speak to Mrs Walkom, in the school office, if you need help.
Reading books will be changed on Thursdays and need to be returned to school the following Monday. To begin with, the children will bring home picture books. Please share these books with your child, discussing the illustrations and the story. There are questions in each book that you can ask your child. These books are a foundation for reading and play an important part in developing communication and language skills. As the children progress through the phonics scheme, they will bring home green cards with phonetically regular words on. These provide opportunity for your child to practise saying the sounds, that they have learnt, and then blend them together to read words. Once the children can consistently and accurately sound and blend words, on green cards, they will be sent home with books containing words.

In addition to the reading books, we will put any phonic sounds or red words (high frequency/common exception words), that the children have been taught during the week, into a zippy wallet in book bags on Thursdays. The number of these phonic sounds and red words will vary but please practise any that are sent home so that the children can become confident in saying them without having to think! At the bottom of each sound card is the rhyme that we use to help the children with their writing. Please also take the opportunity to practise letter formation with your child but remembering that ‘little and often’ is preferential to less frequent, much longer sessions.

Please keep this zippy wallet in your child’s book bag so that we can add to it. Thank you. The children start learning phonics as a whole class, focusing on the same sounds, and are then grouped according to the sounds that they know and their application in reading. If your child already knows the sounds that are taught to the class as a whole, please do not worry but instead think how confident and happy they will be feeling!
Please do not let any worries become huge concerns. We are always happy to answer any questions that you have so please phone the school office if you need to talk to us. Our aim is for your child to be happy and enjoy their learning so that they can become the best person that they can be.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Carr and the Year R team

Learning from home - Summer Term 19/20

20th July 2020

Dear Year R and Parents,

What a crazy year it has been! Despite so much disruption, the children have managed so well. Now it is time for a well-earned and much needed rest. We will miss you all so much.

However some parents are worried about their child's transition into Year 1. I think the postcard and the visit to the classroom door, from Miss Bridgman, has helped. The children now know that they will be learning about animals in September and are very excited!

Here are some ideas that will help your child to start Year 1 with confidence:

• Practise listening skills through playing games such as 'Simon Says'.
• Consolidate letter and number formation.
• Play board games that involve dice counting and turn taking.
• Practise using scissors to cut around the outlines of shapes.
• Practise independent dressing and undressing, especially putting socks and shoes on and taking sweatshirts off!
• Joining in with activities that involve sharing.
• Consolidating individual letter sounds and the diagraphs: ay, ee, igh, ow(snow), oo(zoo), oo(book), ar, or, air, ir, ou, oy.
• Counting forwards and backwards and recognising numbers to 20.
• Writing a simple sentence, with spaces after each word, a capital letter at the start and a full stop at the end.
• Practising gross motor skills: jumping, hopping, hop-scotching, skipping, throwing and catching.

All these activities can be achieved in a fun way and are just a few ideas....they are only suggestions that you may or may not choose to do!

Let's hope the sun shines throughout August.

Love and best wishes

Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

13th July 2020

Home Learning Week 7

Hello Year R and Parents,

This is the last week of home learning; I can't believe that it is nearly the summer holidays and the end of the children's first year in school. Despite unusual circumstances, the children have coped remarkably well and have made a fantastic start to their Clatford School journey.

This week we are going on a journey into the garden. Perhaps the children could explore their own garden and make a picture using objects that they find!

Monday - Today we are starting our journey with the Garden of Eden. What can you find out about it? Maybe you could make a paper chain snake. What about making a BEWARE OF THE SNAKE sign?

Try writing the sign in capital letters to make the words stand out.

Tuesday - Can you find a picture of 'The Snail' by Matisse? Try making your own picture using different coloured rectangles and squares to create a spiral shape. Then draw/add the snails body underneath!

Wednesday - Listen to the story of 'The Very Lazy Ladybird' on YouTube. Tell an adult what happened in the story. Try some ladybird doubles: if there are two spots on each wing, how many are there altogether?

Thursday - What can you find out about ants? If you have access to YouTube, learn how to draw an ant by googling 'How to draw an Ant, Art for Kids Hub. Alternatively, you could draw and label your own picture of an ant.

Friday - Bees are busy insects. Have you heard adults use the words 'busy as a bee?'

A swarm of bees have been busy sorting dominoes. Can you sort some dominoes or be busy in other ways, like a bee? Perhaps you could get busy making some cakes, tidy your bedroom or do a job that mummy or daddy suggests.

Please send in photographs of any activities that you complete during your last week of home learning, we love seeing them!

Tapestry will be closing for photographs at the end of the week, (Friday 17th July) as  we need time to download the content onto discs for you to keep safe and treasure!

Stay safe, have fun and keep smiling

Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

6th July 2020

Home Learning Week 6

Dear Year R and Parents

Its July and the start of another week! Hopefully the sun will come out today especially as we are starting this weeks journey into space with learning about the sun! Below are some activities that you might like to try or you could plan your own journey into space! Either way, please send photographs of your work to Tapestry, we are very much looking forward to seeing it.

Monday - Find out some facts about the sun.

Using 10 objects can you find different ways to split them into two parts eg. 2+8, 3+7.

Record each sum on a ray of the sun.

Tuesday - Use a balloon to learn about how rockets move by propulsion. Watch and listen to the story 'Whatever Next!', on YouTube. Can you make your own rocket out of boxes? Where might your rocket take you? It could be to a pretend planet such as Green Planet or Sweet Planet. Tell an adult what you see and do when you get there.

Wednesday - What can you find out about the moon? can you make your own footprint in mud, flour, playdoh.... just like the footprint that is on the moon! What else can you find to make prints with?

Thursday - Choose a planet to find out about. Can you write 2 facts about it? Remember that facts are true!

Friday - Draw and colour a picture of an alien. Aliens speak in a different language and say the strangest of words! Can you use your sounds to read some of the words that they might say: lat, bis, cet, snam, clug, plint, broof, yeed ?

Stay safe and enjoy your learning.

Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

29th June 2020

Home Learning Week 5

Hello Year R and parents,

it was so lovely to see Daisy, Alfie and Kiera on our virtual meet-up last week. We all miss you; Mrs Fawdry and I are so proud of everyone who is learning from home. Keep up the great work!

This week our journey is to the land of Nursery Rhymes. I wonder how many nursery rhymes you already know....perhaps you could try singing some each day! Below are the nursery rhymes that we are focusing on at school, with some suggested ideas for activities:

Monday - Humpty Dumpty. Today we are talking about rhyming words and having a try at completing rhyming sentences. For example, where is the hat? It is on the …. and where is the toy? It is behind the …., maybe an adult can ask the questions and you answer them! (with rhyming words of course!)

Tuesday - Old King Cole. Oops! Old King Cole has broken his bowl....he's so clumsy!

Can you make him a new one? We are using clay, you could use playdoh, empty boxes or draw and colour a design.

Wednesday - Hickory Dickory Dock. Can you make a moving picture so that you sing the nursery rhyme, you can move the mouse up the clock? You will need to ask an adult to help you cut a slit in a piece of paper. You could glue or Sellotape a picture of a mouse to a twig, lollypop stick or straw. We are also practising saying and drawing O'clock times.

Thursday - Little Miss Muffet. What facts can you find out about spiders? Can you make a spiders web?

Friday - Hey Diddle Diddle. In the nursery rhyme, the cow jumped over the moon. How many times can you jump over a line in two minutes? How far can you jump? ( I wonder how you will measure your jump?)

Take care and stay safe

Mrs Carr & Mrs Fawdry 

22nd June 2020

Home Learning Week 4

Hello Year R and Parents

It looks as though we are going to have another week of glorious weather! At school, we are journeying to the bottom of the sea. With paddling pools out, you may be able to to create an ocean feeling!

Monday - Gather ideas about what plants and animals live in the ocean. Perhaps the children might like to draw pictures and label them. Look at seas and oceans on a globe or world map. Which ocean is the coldest? Warmest? Biggest? Smallest?

Tuesday - Explore sinking and floating, either in the sink or paddling pool!

Wednesday - Listen to the story of ‘The Rainbow Fish‘ on YouTube, (or you might have the story book at home). Can the children make a fish of their own? What does it look like? Can they tell you about an adventure that it goes on?

Thursday - Find out about a sea/ocean creature.

Friday - Using pictures of fish, or objects to represent them, can the children work out the answers to subtraction sums such as 6 - 1 and 14 - 5? ( The fish can either swim away or be caught in a net). You could also do this practically in a paddling pool or bath!

We are very much looking forward to seeing you online on Thursday. Remember to bring a picture or model with you to share!

Stay safe......see you soon!
Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

15th June 2020

Home Learning Week 3

Dear Year R and parents,

we hope that you are enjoying your learning at home together and are all well.

This week, we are going on a journey to Mr Men and Little Miss Land! (Adults: please freeze a button or small toy in an ice cube tray ready for Friday).

Monday - Little Miss Curious is curious to know whether you can add two numbers together, using objects to help you. Ask an adult to write sums such as 7+2=. Can you work out the answers?

Tuesday - Mr Small is very small. Can you draw and label pictures of objects that are smaller and bigger than your bicycle? Can you write a list of small words (with 1, 2, or 3 letters)?

Wednesday - Oh dear! Mr Muddle really is in a muddle! He has dropped all his numbers (1-20) on the floor! Can you help him put them in order?

He has muddled up the letters in words eg. t c a but needs your help to work out what the words should say!

Thursday - Mr Greedy eats far too much!

Can you share a bunch of grapes, packet of sweets or biscuits into halves so that he doesn't eat them all? How many did Mr Greedy start with and how many are in each half?

Friday - Its suddenly got very cold! By mistake, Mr Snow has left one of his toys outside overnight (it could be a button that's got lost instead!) Its frozen! How can you help him get it back? Talk to an adult about your ideas and then test them out to see if they work! If they are unsuccessful, re-think and try another idea. I am sure that eventually you will manage to save Mr Snow's toy or his button that has fallen off!

Remember to put any pictures or videos of your home learning on Tapestry, we really love seeing what you have been doing!

Stay safe

Mrs Carr & Mrs Fawdry

8th June 2020

Home Learning Week 2

Dear Year R and parents,
We hope you had a lovely weekend; here are some ideas that you might like to try this week:

Monday - Watch and listen to the story of Little Red Riding Hood on YouTube (you might even have the story in a book on your book shelf!)

Tuesday - Discuss journeys: the idea that they have to start and finish. Where did Little Red Riding Hood’s journey start? Where did it finish? Can you make a map of her journey?

Wednesday - Make a Get Well card for Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother. Talk about what you might put on the front of the card and inside it, before you start making! You will need to write who the card is to and who it is from. Perhaps you can even make an envelope to put it in!

Thursday - Why was Little Red Riding Hood called that? Can you think of other things that are red? Maybe you could take photographs of things that are red, like a strawberry or tomato. You could draw pictures or find pictures in magazines to cut out or go on a red hunt! Can you see anything that is red when you go outside for a walk with an adult today?

Friday - There are other stories about journeys. Another story we are looking at in school this week is called ‘Emma Jane’s Aeroplane’(YouTube Clair Lainton) Emma Jane goes on a journey to different places in the world.
What can you find out about Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Harbour Bridge? Maybe you could make a model or find out more by looking on the computer or in books?

Please remember to send any learning that you would like to share to Tapestry.

Stay safe😊
Mrs Carr & Mrs Fawdry

1st June 2020

Dear Year R and parents,

We hope that you had a lovely half term holiday; the weather has been particularly sunny. Maybe you have enjoyed a BBQ or splashing in your paddling pool!

Some of you will be learning at school this week and some of you will be learning from home. Wherever you are, we know that you will be trying your best!

If you are learning from home, we will try and make some links to the learning that we will be doing in school. This week, we will be thinking about balloons and how important it is that they don't get too close to something that they shouldn't...otherwise they might go pop!

We are going to be trying our best not to get too close to each other. Maybe you can think about why this is?

Please only do these activities if you are learning from home, otherwise the children will be repeating them in school.

Monday - Listen to the story of The Blue Balloon on YouTube. I wonder where the blue balloon might end up....where do you think? Tell an adult your ideas.

Tuesday - If you were a balloon, where would you like to land? Paint, chalk or draw and colour, a picture of your idea. Tell an adult what it is like there.

Wednesday - What are balloons made out of? What happens to the rubber when you fill it with air?

If you have a balloon at home, see if you can pat it up in the air 5 times without it touching the ground. Maybe you could manage 10 times?

Thursday - Balloon has the sound 'oo' in it. What other words can you think of that have the 'oo' sound in them? I can think of 'spoon'!

Please draw and colour a picture next to each word that you write. Remember to use your Fred Fingers to help you write the words.

Friday - Can you make up a number story about balloons? It could be an adding number story or a taking away number story. Tell the story to an adult at home.

Can you draw and colour the story?

Please remember to keep sending your pictures and videos of your home learning to Tapestry, we love to see them.

Stay safe

Mrs Carr & Mrs Fawdry

25th May 2020

Good morning Year R and parents,
We hope that you enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend, despite the wind! Maybe some of you tried flying kites? 

This week is our half-term holiday and so we are not suggesting that you try any school activities. It’s going to be sunny all week so we expect you’ll be spending lots of time outside, in your gardens, in the fresh air. 

Instead, we are sending you lots of love; have fun and stay safe 😊😊 Next week, some of you will be coming back to school and although it will be very different to what you are used to, we are looking forward to seeing you ...... we have missed your chatter and smiles so much! 
 

Please remember your water bottles and two snacks (One for the morning and one for the afternoon as there will be no school fruit). See you soon! 😊😊 
Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

18th May 2020

Hello Year R and parents, we hope that you are all well and are looking forward to a week of sunshine!
Mrs Fawdry and I have chosen physical activities for this week; some of these will you will be able to do outside! Remember you don’t have to do them all; you can do as many as you like!

Monday – ask an adult to draw some pencil lines on a piece of paper: straight lines, curved lines, and wiggly lines. Maybe the adult could even draw a loop the loop line! Can you use a coloured pencil or felt tip to follow the lines, drawing on top of the pencil marks? Try not to wobble off!

Tuesday – find a large ball. Can you throw and catch the ball five times, with an adult, without dropping it? You might also like to try using a small ball! Try throwing the ball against the wall and catching it (make sure you are not too close to window!) You could also ask an adult to teach you how to play ‘piggy in the middle‘!

Wednesday - make an obstacle course with an adult (you can either create a chalk one, on the path, or make your own in the garden using objects). Perhaps you could chalk a line to balance along and a star that means you need to do five star jumps? You could use sticks to step in and out of, and make a jump using books and twigs. We would love to see videos of you doing your obstacle course!

Thursday - can you help an adult to wash the car, clean the window, sweep the path or the patio, hang out the washing?

Friday - we wonder whether you can find a picture to colour, or maybe an adult could draw a picture to colour? Try really hard to colour the picture without going over the lines!

Thank you for sending photos and videos to tapestry… We have loved seeing them and look forward to some more photos and videos of this week’s activities! Have fun!☺️ 
Mrs Carr and Mrs Fawdry

13th May 2020

National Numeracy Day 

Hello Year R parents and children

as today is National Numeracy Day here is a little video from Mrs Carr with a challenge, hope you all enjoy and we look forward to seeing your videos/photos on Tapestry.

Stay safe

Mrs Carr & Mrs Fawdry

11th May 2020

Hello Year R and parents, 
We hope that you are all keeping safe and well. 
As it is National Numeracy Day on Wednesday, we thought about some number activities for you to enjoy doing together this week😊😊 
These are optional so you can do as many as you like… but we would love to see some photographs of your learning on Tapestry!

Monday - play a game together that has numbers in. Maybe you could play Snakes and Ladders, or an adult could teach you how to play hopscotch? You could even make up your own game with numbers in!

Tuesday - can you build a tower of 8? You can use biscuits, cushions, Lego, tins of food, boxes, whatever you like! Now make your tower taller by adding 4 more but before you do, how many do you think there will be? Tell an adult the number you think, and why!

Wednesday: we will try to add a video about number stories as we know how much you all enjoy stories on the carpet at school 😊😊

Thursday - go on a number hunt: can you find out your shoe size? (Where could you look?) What number is at the top of the clockface? What is the date today? (I wonder how you could find this out?) How old is mummy or daddy? Which number is the biggest? Smallest? Can you put them in order?

Friday - find 12 objects that you can share between two of your toys; you need to choose to toys are very good at sharing! Share the objects; how many do they have each? Have they got the same? Remember sharing has to be fair! Now try sharing the same objects but with three of your toys; how many do they have each this time? Remember they must have the same number! Maybe you could try four toys and then five toys to see what happens? You could even draw a picture and write numbers to show us what you have found out! 
Most importantly have fun😃

Dear Parents and Year R children,

5th May 2020

Mrs Fawdry and I are missing you all but we know that you are spending family time at home together and have probably been playing, exploring, creating, sharing, taking turns, thinking, persevering, exercising, talking and listening... everything that happens in our Year R classroom at school. We have seen photographs and videos of some of the wonderful home activities that you have been doing, on Tapestry, and look forward to seeing even more! We love looking at them.

Mrs Fawdry and I would like to draw your attention to White Rose Maths (link below), which has some amazing ideas that you can try at home together. The activities incorporate the standards from the framework for the EYFS and are based on a different story each week. This week the story is ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’, although you do not need to be familiar with the story to carry out the activities. You can also look ahead at the stories, planned for future weeks, and might be able to share each story together at the weekend, prior to the White Rose activities the following week. You may have some of the stories at home already or be able to listen to them on YouTube. The emphasis is very much on using concrete resources, in line with the children’s stage of mathematical development and understanding.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/early-years/

I understand that Mr Kirk has been asked about the possibility of creating profiles for Year R children on Mathletics. He is already looking into this, just be aware of the importance of using concrete objects and discussion if you choose to access this. It is important that the children do not ‘jump’ into abstract mathematics too early as it can affect their understanding later on. Maybe you could use concrete objects, with your child, as they work through examples on Mathletics.

Perhaps this week the children might like to see what they can create out of ONE piece of A4 paper? I might make a bag to put my snack in or a hat that fits my teddy bear... I wonder what ideas you have? Remember to plan and share your thoughts first! Please decorate what you have made. Mrs Fawdry and I would love to see photographs of your creations on Tapestry.

Stay safe and hopefully see you all soon. XX

Children will be sent home with a pack of work soon, which includes a variety of activities that they can complete from home. This will include; handwriting, number formation and some simple spellings.

Children can also access:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/cbeebies

Which has lots of great programmes for the children to watch which are educational including but not limited to; numberblocks, alphablocks and numberjacks.

If the children complete anything else in their time off please bring it in to show us!

I hope you all stay healthy and happy. Remember that although some of us may be ill, isolated or feeling sad. We are still a big Clatford family! We'll all be back to school together before you know it!

Mrs Fawdry

This is where our learning at Clatford begins.  We start by getting to know each other, find our way around our school environment and choose the rules that will make our time in year R a happy one.  We follow the framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage themes and principles which ensure each child is unique, constantly learning and will become increasingly confident.  

We will do most of our learning through playing, exploring and having a go.  The children are able to choose what they would like to do from the different areas of the class room. We have a Writing area, Art and Craft area, Role Play area, Construction area, Maths area, Book area, Computers and Outdoor area.  The resources in these areas can change depending on the children’s interest at the time.  The children will also have teaching time as a whole class, group or individually.

The Early Years Foundation stage is made up of seven areas of Learning and Development, divided into Prime and Specific but they are each connected to one another and are equally important.  Our topics are currently All around us, Ourselves and Celebrations, Toys, Food, Growing and Transport.

The Prime areas are:

Personal, Social and Emotional development, this includes making relationships, building our self confidence and self awareness and how we manage our feelings and behaviour.  This is an important focus which is covered in everything we do throughout the school day, including lunchtimes and playtimes.

Physical Development involves health, self care and moving and handling ourselves.  We develop this area through our P.E. sessions, using the outdoor area to ride, push or pull, build with construction materials, threading, painting and craft work using different tools. In our topic about food, we learn how we can keep healthy.

Communication and Language, this is experienced throughout the day and covers listening and attention, understanding and speaking.  

The specific areas are:

Literacy, we learn to read and write through the Read Write Inc programme which we do daily in small groups throughout Key Stage 1.  We like to tell stories and have a go at writing our own.

Mathematics we use throughout our play, we begin to use numbers in the things we are doing and learn about shape, space and measures.  We enjoy making number lines and singing number songs.   As we go through the year, we begin to learn about time and money, using coins in our shop.  We love to play number games.

In Understanding the World, we learn about People and communities, the World and Technology.  During the year we will have a visit to Milestones museum to look at the history of toys and a visit to the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium which will support our topic on Transport.

Expressive Arts and Design is when we are full of imagination, acting out scenarios and stories, and making things for our play.  We try other ways to create pictures, using different materials and tools.  We love to move to music, make music and sing!

Our Year begins with lots of free choice play, but as we grow and learn more, we begin to have more structure to our day as we get ready for our next step….Year 1.