Welcome to Foundation 2

Welcome to class 1 and 2. We have a fantastic year in store with some fantastic topics including Dinosaurs, The Seaside and Animals . There will also be lots of opportunities to come and share learning with your child. We look forward to a fun and exciting year!

Thank you!

Week beginning 22.7.19

It's lots of thanks from Foundation 2 this week! First of all thank you so much to all the children for their hard work, resilience, teamwork, positive attitudes and for generally being amazing in their first year of school. We have loved teaching them all and will miss them very much as they move into year 1. Mrs Sellers is really looking forward to continuing their learning journey with some of them next year. Thank you to all the parents and carers for all your support throughout the year. Learning is most effective when parents and schools work in partnership, and this has definitely happened this year - we have had brilliant support from parents, grandparents and other family and friends which has had a hugely positive impact on the children's learning and development, so thank you to you all. Finally, thank you to everyone for all the generous cards, gifts and good wishes we have received over the last couple of days. All of these are greatly appreciated by all the Foundation team. 

Wishing you all a wonderful summer break and we look forward to seeing you all again in September.

Thanks again

Miss Tyler, Mrs Sellers, Miss Gill, Mrs Offord, Mrs Bucknall and Mrs Harvey

End of term

Week beginning 15.7.19

The children have had another exciting week in Class 1 and 2. We went to watch the Juniors perform their play 'Aladdin' and thoroughly enjoyed it. We have also had Nicky Rafferty telling us stories and we decorated bunting for the story telling den on Woodthorpe park. Finally, we were amazed by the talents of the pupils from Arnold Hill who performed a wide range of popular tunes.

Butterflies

Week beginning 8.7.19

We have had an exciting week watching our butterflies emerge from the chrysalis. It has been fascinating to watch the caterpillars grow, then go into a chrysalis, and on Thursday class 1 released their butterflies. Class 2 will be releasing theirs on Friday. It was great to hear the children use such brilliant scientific vocabulary to describe their observations. What super scientists!

Visiting classes 3 and 4

Week beginning 1.7.19

We had an exciting morning on Thursday 4th July, visiting classes 3 and 4. We couldn't wait to find out who our new teachers are and which friends are in our classes. We have all done some super drawings of our new teachers and friends, so please look out for those in our book bags this week. We will have a couple more chances to visit our new classes over the next couple of weeks, and there will also be a chance for us to show you our new classrooms on Monday afternoon straight after our Celebration Afternoon. We can't wait to see you on Monday afternoon at 2.30pm.

Sporty Superstars

Week beginning 24.6.19

We have a had a super sporty week practising for Sports Day. We had a great time on the day itself. Well done to all the children for their fantastic resilience throughout the afternoon - they all participated in their three races with such positivity, enthusiasm and enjoyment; it really was great to see. Let's hope the sunny weather stays with us for the rest of term!

Manor Farm

Week beginning 17.6.19

We had a fantastic time at Manor Farm this week. The children showed fantastic behaviour all day, and had lots of fun holding small animals, looking at the owls and large animals and exploring the 4 amazing playgrounds. We also had a great time on healthy living day, exploring lots of exciting new sports including Boot Camp and Clubbercise. Again, the Next Level Sports coaches were impressed with the fantastic attitude and behaviour shown by the Reception children. Well done!

Super Storytellers

Week beginning 10.6.19

We have had a great week learning the story of Dear Zoo. We can now use story boards to tell the story independently using our actions. Lots of the children have chosen to write the story independently and we are so proud of how confident they are all becoming as writers. Well done classes 1 and 2!

Dear Zoo

Week beginning 3.6.19

We have had a great week starting our new story Dear Zoo. The children are already familiar with the story and have put actions to it, as well as painting some super pictures of their favourite animals. Next week we will be creating storyboards to write the story independently. We are really looking forward to our trip to Manor Farm - we are wondering what other animals we might see there?

Awesome readers!

Week beginning 20.5.19

We have all been working really hard on our reading this half term, and we are absolutely delighted with the progress the children have made. They have been working really hard on blending sounds to read words accurately, showing their understanding by talking about stories and answering questions, and retelling stories using their own words or with actions. This has all been enhanced by the new books that have recently been purchased and are now available in our library area. Thank you to everyone for supporting the children with their reading at home, it is greatly appreciated.

Fun in the sun!

Week beginning 13.5.19

We have been having lots of fun learning outside this week. Now that the weather is better more children are choosing to use the outdoor learning area, which is great to see. We are in the process of redeveloping the outdoor learning area, to allow for children to select and use their own resources more independently. Lots of children have been involved in the clearing and planting of the new herb garden (in the bed outside class 1) and the mud kitchen/ digging area will be in use next week. This will involve some resources being left hanging up in that area or in the sheds, and we would appreciate your support in ensuring that children do not use these toys while they are waiting before or after school, as we have a limited budget and will be unable to replace lost items. If they wish to continue playing before or after school they are welcome to use the main playground outside classes 3, 4 and 5 and the resources there. Many thanks for your support in this.

Rocksteady

Week beginning 7.5.19

We loved our Rocksteady music workshop today where classes 1 and 2 formed their very own rock band. We had some very talented drummers, keyboard players, singers and guitarists today - well done classes 1 and 2. 

Marvellous Maths

Week beginning 29.4.19

We have been marvelling at our magnificent mathematicians this week! Classes 1 and 2 have been using the part-whole model to explore numbers and see how many different ways we could find of building them. We were fantastic at building different addition calculations and reversing our calculations e.g. if we know 3+7=10 we also know that 7+3=10. We were so impressed with the children's reasoning skills and their ability to explain their understanding. 

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Week beginning 22.4.19

We have had lots of seaside fun in Foundation this week. Our Seaside Day on Wednesday was a great success. The children looked amazing in their beach clothes and had fun despite having to be taught by a rather strange looking set of pirates! We paddled in the paddling pools, fished in rockpools, made up puppet shows, walked the plank, played in the sand, went on an aeroplane, played beach games and enjoyed ice pops! We have started our new story Pirates in Pyjamas and the children are really enjoying this funny story about some crazy pirates. 

Happy Easter

Week beginning 1.4.19

We have had another busy week in classes 1 and 2. Our Dinosaurs topic has now come to an end and we have been so impressed at the children's knowledge of all the different dinosaurs. This week they have done a fantastic recount of Dinosaurs Love Underpants using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces to create super sentences. This brilliant writing shows how hard all the children have been working in phonics and literacy lessons since September - we are very proud of them!

After Easter our new topic is The Seaside. On Wednesday 24th April we will be having a Seaside day where the children will have chance to visit our very own Woodthorpe Beach! For this special day the children may come to school in 'beach clothes' (aka summer clothes!) Let's hope the weather improves before then. Could you make sure that they have sensible shoes on this day as we will be doing lots of outdoor activities.

Many thanks for your continued support. We hope you all have a wonderful Easter and look forward to working with you again in the Summer term.

Dinosaurs Love Underpants

Week beginning 25.3.19

We have started our new story this week and are loving it! This is a hilarious story about how dinosaurs were wiped out - we know that it isn't a true story but we are enjoying it anyway. The children have been busy creating some fantastic actions to this story and will be using this to retell the story next week.

We have also been showing our teachers how much progress we have made with our maths throughout this year and all the teachers have been really impressed by how much our counting and number recognition has improved. Thank you to our parents as well who really help us with this at home. It would be great if you could keep practising counting and numbers with your children, especially the tricky teens numbers, as this will really help them going forward into year 1. 

Have a lovely weekend and Mums please remind your child that they should have brought home something special to give you on Sunday!

Attenborough Adventures

Week beginning 18.3.19

The highlight of this week was our fantastic day out at Attenborough Nature Reserve. The weather was kind to us and we had an amazing day out. We loved pond dipping and discovering lots of exciting creatures in the water, as well as thinking about which creatures live on land, in the air and in the water. We followed a dinosaur trail down to the woods where we searched for natural materials to make some dinosaur art. We also did a dinosaur spotting activity and then pretended to be paleontologists discovering some dinosaur bones. The staff at Attenborough commented on how well behaved and engaged the children were throughout the day, we were very proud of them. 

Super Scientists

Week beginning 11.3.19

We have had a great week being scientists. On Wednesday we loved science day, visiting the year 1 and 2 classes to learn about exciting scientific concepts. We also had a visit from Megan who shared some amazing science tricks. We have also loved visiting the chicks each day this week. Class 1 were very lucky to watch one of them hatch and we can't wait to see how much they grow over the weekend.

Next week we can't wait for our trip to Attenborough. Please make sure your child is adequately dressed for the weather including warm waterproof coat and sensible shoes. We will be outside for most of the day in the woods and around the pond so they will need plenty of warm clothes. Please also send a bottle of non-fizzy drink in a named rucksack. Many thanks.

Fun-filled week in Foundation

Week beginning 4.3.19

It has been a busy and exciting week in classes 1 and 2. On Tuesday we learnt about Shrove Tuesday and how it helps Christians prepare for Lent. We were very excited to think that this marks the run up to Easter! We followed a recipe to make pancakes and enjoyed eating them with honey or orange.  Then on Thursday we all looked amazing in our costumes to celebrate World Book Day. We loved sharing our favourite books and buying books from the book sale, and it was great to see so many children having fun playing imaginative games both inside and outside (despite the rain!) 

Exciting Visitors

Week beginning 25.2.19

When we came back after the half term break, classes 1 and 2 made an exciting discovery. Some eggs had arrived in our classroom. We made labels to remind any visitors to be quiet and not to touch the eggs, and watched them carefully for any signs of movement. We were very excited as cracks started to appear, and we realised something was inside. Classes 1 and 2 now have 2 dinosaur friends - Spike the triceratops in class 2 and Max the T rex in class 1! This fits in nicely with our new story, Bumpus Jumpus Dinosaurumpus which the children are really enjoying. Over the next few weeks we are looking forward to learning more about dinosaurs and doing lots of dinosaur themed activities. Spike and Max have also decided that they would like to undertake a Grand Tour of Woodthorpe and will be coming home with each child in turn. Please reassure them that they will all get a turn, as it will take a little while for them to get round everybody!

We also have some exciting visitors in human form! Miss Tilley and Miss V are teaching students from Nottingham Trent University who will be working with class 2 over the next few weeks until Easter. The children are enjoying working with them and impressing them with their fantastic learning powers!

Chinese New Year and Baking

Week beginning 4.2.19

It has been a very exciting week in classes 1 and 2 this week. On Tuesday we had a special visit from Freya's mum, who told us about Chinese New Year. The children really enjoyed hearing from Freya's mum (with Freya as a super assistant) and we then tried Chinese food - rice, sweet and sour sauce and prawn crackers. We have some fantastic eaters in classes 1 and 2 as most children tried all the foods and several went back for more! 

On Wednesday we had another food-related challenge - following a recipe to bake bread. The children had to be very patient as we had to make the dough on Wednesday (including lots of hard work kneading it for 10 minutes!) and then leave it overnight. We were amazed with how the dough changed overnight, and we were very excited to take our bread rolls home on Thursday. The children have all brought home a copy of the recipe, please look inside your child's reading diary if you'd like to have a go at this with them - they might even be able to read you the instructions.

Talking of reading, we were excited to launch our Reading Challenge on Monday. It's great to hear that lots of the children have already started their reading challenges at home and are doing really well with it - keep it up!

Storytime!

Week beginning 28.01.19

We've had a fun-filled week sharing lots of stories. Class 1 and 2 met up with Class 3 to watch them perform their Goose Fair story, which was written by our resident author, Miss Gill! It was great to see their super story map and actions. Then Class 2 performed their Handa's Surprise story, which was also fantastic. Now we have started reading The Little Red Hen. The children are loving this story, and we have all made story maps to help us retell the story. We have made up actions to help us perform the story, and next week we will be starting to innovate - changing the characters and actions to create our own stories.

Handa's Surprise

Week beginning 21.1.19

We have had lots of fun this week continuing to explore the story of Handa's Surprise. We have learnt the story, and created story maps and actions to help us tell the story independently. We also had lots of fun making fruit kebabs. First we had to write down which fruits we wanted to include, then we chopped our fruit carefully and finally we made and ate our kebabs. All the children were brilliant at trying new fruits, and were super sensible following food hygiene and safe chopping routines. Many thanks to all the parents for donating so much lovely fruit, we had so much that we are going to have an extra snack time on Friday!

Keeping healthy

Week beginning 14.01.19

We started the week with a theme day on "Keeping healthy". Over the course of the day the children completed a games circuit including athletics and football skills, a running activity, used the balance bikes, and took part in yoga and dance sessions. Throughout the day we thought about the changes that take place in our bodies when we are active, and tried hard to drink lots of water to stay hydrated. We also had an extra snack and were brilliant at making jam sandwiches! We talked about how different foods help our body in different ways, and how there are some foods that we should eat in moderation. It was great to see the children participating so enthusiastically in physical activity!

Fantastic fruit

Week beginning 7.1.19

Happy new year and welcome back to classes 1 and 2. We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas break. Thank you for all the kind wishes, cards and gifts we received at the end of last term, it was greatly appreciated. 

We have had a great first week back, and are so impressed with the children who have come back full of energy and enthusiasm, ready for our learning this term. Our new topic is Fantastic Food and we have started our first story, Handa's Surprise. This is a story about a girl who takes some fruit to her friend, but on the way the different fruits are stolen by some naughty animals. On Thursday we had lots of fun tasting the fruits from the story. The children were all encouraged to try the different fruits (even if it was just a tiny lick!)  and were very brave when trying unfamiliar fruits. We then voted on our favourite fruits - class 1 liked mango best and class 2 chose passion fruit (aka 'seeds' - despite the initial 'eurgh' reaction when they first saw it!)

Festive fun 

Week beginning 17.12.18

It's been a week of festive fun in class 1 and 2. We've enjoyed listening to Christmas stories, singing Christmas songs and finishing off our Christmas crafts. We had a fantastic party day on Wednesday, including a yummy party lunch in the classroom, as well as a visit from Santa, and we also enjoyed watching Beauty and the Beast. We also had a delicious Christmas lunch on Tuesday, thank you to all the midday team who made it so amazing for us. We have been so proud of the children who have been so well behaved and sensible throughout the last few busy days of term. We hope you all have a lovely holiday, and look forward to working with you all again in 2019.

Shine, Star, Shine

Week beginning 10.12.18

We hope you enjoyed our nativity this week. We were so proud of all the children who sang, danced and acted with such confidence. We are very grateful for your support in helping them to learn their lines, songs, and also for providing their fantastic costumes. Thanks also for the lovely comments we have received about the nativity; it is great to hear such positive feedback.

Next week is a busy week with Christmas dinner, Christmas party and lots of creative activities planned!

PE kit for after Christmas

After Christmas PE will continue to take place on either Monday or Wednesday, and Friday with Mr. Ward. PE will be inside for the first few weeks, so children will still need the same kit (just white T shirt and black shorts clearly labelled with their name). After February half term if the weather is good, some sessions may take place outside, so at this point they will need a jumper or sweatshirt, a pair of trainers (trainers are better than plimsolls as they tend to stay on better!) and if you wish, a pair of jogging bottoms or leggings. Many thanks.

Christingles and Christmas creativity

Week Beginning 3.12.18

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in classes 1 and 2! Trees are up, and we are very busy with lots of Christmas craft activities, as well as putting the finishing touches to our nativity. On Monday we had a visit from Jackie and Charis from St Mark's Church, who taught us about Christingle. We had lots of fun making our own Christingles and the children were brilliant at remembering what each part of the Christingle represents. We've also been finishing off our decorations and reindeer food, and can't wait to sell them to you at the Christmas fair. 

We are looking forward to seeing you at our nativity on Thursday, Shine, Star, Shine. If you have not yet sent in your child's costume, please make sure you do this by Monday at the latest for our dress rehearsal. Many thanks for your support in providing costumes, and we hope you enjoy the show!

Our trip to Beaumanor Hall

Week beginning 26.11.18

We have had a very exciting week with our first school trip on a bus to Beaumanor Hall. We had a great day, exploring the Victorian parlour, schoolroom and playground games, and then we sat on the beautiful staircase to sing some songs from our nativity. Whilst we were singing, our guides, Jane and Victoria, heard a sound. We had to rush outside quickly and when we sang We wish you a merry Christmas, a special visitor appeared on the roof! Santa came to see us! Then we all went down into the grotto to meet Santa and received a magic pencil to write our Christmas letters. The children were absolutely fantastic throughout the day and we were so proud of their good manners and behaviour. Thank you to all the parents who accompanied us, we really appreciate your support.

Shine, Star, Shine

Week beginning 19.11.18

We have had a busy week this week practising for the nativity. The children have been fantastic at learning all the songs, dances and words, we are so proud of them! Next week we will be going into the hall to practise the whole show. We look forward to seeing you at the performance on 13th December, please make sure you have ordered your tickets.

We are also looking forward to our trip to Beaumanor Hall on Wednesday. Please make sure your child is warmly dressed and has a waterproof coat on that day. Could you also make sure that all clothing including hats, scarves and gloves is clearly labelled with your child's name. Many thanks. 

We're going on a bear hunt...

Week beginning 12.11.18

This week we have had lots of fun learning the story We're going on a bear hunt. On Monday we received a special letter from the bear inviting us to read his story. On Tuesday we had lots of fun on our own bear hunt (many thanks for sending in wellies for this). The children had to read a set of instructions to find out where they needed to go. Afterwards they wrote some super instructions to show others how to go on a bear hunt. We have been so impressed with their confident independent reading and reading - well done everyone! 

Safety Week

Week beginning 05.11.18

We have had an exciting week learning how to stay safe. The firefighters came to show us the fire engine and talk to us about what to do in case of a fire. We also met Geoff from the RNLI who talked to us about how lifeguards help us to stay safe. Mrs Bright led an assembly to teach us how to stay safe when we are out and about.

We have started to practise the songs for our Nativity play. Further details will be sent out about this very soon.

Superhero Day

Week beginning 22/10/18

We have finished our Superheroes topic on a high with a great Superhero day on Wednesday. We loved the children's amazing costumes, we had lots of fun learning superhero phonics, making superhero biscuits, exploring our superhero hub outside and playing superhero games. This has been a fantastic end to a wonderful topic, which has really helped us to get to know the children and find out why they are all SUPER! Thank you for supporting our day by sending the children in such brilliant costumes, they have absolutely loved wearing them.

Many thanks for all your support throughout the children's first half term. We hope you all have a relaxing half term break, and look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday 6th November when we have two exciting new topics planned for the children.

A creative week in F2

Week beginning 15/10/18

F2 have had a very creative week finishing off our emergency vehicles. Hopefully a fire engine, police car, air ambulance, police helicopter or ambulance has found its way home to you this week and you have had chance to talk to your child about it. We were so proud of the children's hard work on these over the last two weeks. They used an impressive range of skills including painting, cutting, sticking and gluing, and we are sure you will agree the results are fantastic!

Next week we are looking forward to our Superhero day on Wednesday when children may dress up as a superhero - feel free to be as creative as you like. We also can't wait to see their completed Superhero challenge cards - please could these be in by Friday 26th October. Many thanks.

Superheroes Everywhere!

Week Beginning 08/10/18

This week we have discovered that there are superheroes everywhere! The week got off to a great start with a visit from Terry and Emett the guide dog. The children listened really well and Terry commented on their outstanding behaviour and reflective questioning. We were very proud of them!

We have been thinking about other superheroes and have been making vehicles for them - look out for some super police cars, fire engines, air ambulance helicopters and ambulances heading home soon. Many thanks for sending in boxes to enable us to do this. We also thought about our family superheroes in our British values assembly on Wednesday.

When reading with your child this week, it would be great if you could encourage them to spot ck e u and r - this week's new sounds! 

Goose Fair fun 

Week beginning 01/10/18

Class 1 and 2 had lots of fun at the fair this week on our Goose Fair afternoon. We investigated the haunted house, played lots of games, threw wet sponges at the teachers (photos!) and enjoyed tasty mushy peas and popcorn. With the profit we made we have already been able to buy some exciting new toys for our Foundation unit. Many thanks to parents and children for supporting this great event, and we hope you have fun if you are visiting the real thing this week!

We hope you are all enjoying the Superhero challenge - we have had some great feedback from the children who have been telling us about the challenges they have completed at home.

A super start to school in class 1 and 2

Week beginning 24/09/18

Welcome to the new Class 1 and 2 page! We will be using this page to keep you updated on all the exciting things that are happening in our classes this year. 

We've had a busy week practising our song (class 1) and poem (class 2) for our Harvest Festival on Monday. Please remember to bring in a tin on Monday if you would like to donate to our collection.

In Phonics we have now learnt the letters s a t p i n m d and the tricky words I, the, to. See if your child can spot any of these in their reading books! In Maths we have been learning about number order and we are getting really good at spotting missing numbers on a number line, using key words "before" "after" and "in between".

Thank you to everyone who attended our curriculum meeting on Wednesday. It was great to see so many of you there, and we hope the information was useful. If you have any further questions please ask one of the F2 team.