Newsletter 28.10.2016

Welcome back!  It has been wonderful to hear the children share news about their holidays and thank you to those who shared holiday pictures via Tapestry.  Starting next week we will start sharing weekend news during our carpet sessions, to get the children speaking more.  Information and photos you share with us about your weekend adventures, via Tapestry, helps us know what questions to ask and prompts to give.

There was a good turnout for the EYFS Messy Play coffee morning, hopefully everyone enjoyed getting their hands dirty.  Please see the play dough recipe below, incase you’d like to have a go making it at home.  In class this week the children enjoyed exploring and experimenting with ‘cloud dough’ in the tuff spot.  It can be shaped and moulded but it’s dry and powdery.  It was quite a contrast from the gooey, slimy basil seeds that were in the tuff spot before the holidays.

The children are enjoying the responsibility of using the Planning Boards, during carpet sessions, to choose where they would like to play.  At home you might like to ask your child where they chose to play today.  

Outside this week the children enjoyed playing hide and seek in the Fundino playground and their interest in obstacle courses (from before the holiday) continued.  It is wonderful to see the children challenging themselves; jumping with two feet together, balancing and climbing. 

The children have enjoyed the addition of some larger vehicles and a wide array of costumes to our classroom.  They are working hard to make good choices and take turns while playing together.  This will be a lengthy and on-going focus in F2 and we encourage you to support your child with this at home.  In the classroom  we have a colour ladder which helps the children moderate their own behaviour and encourages them to make ‘good’ rather than ‘poor’ choices when navigating the murky waters of turn taking with their friends.  If you’d like to know more about this, please ask one of the teachers.  At home you could practice turn taking during your daily routines E.g. ‘You brush your teeth for a count of 10, then it’s my turn to brush for a count of 10’ or ‘I will choose the first story and then it’s your turn to choose the next story’, be sure to emphasise the word turn and reinforce with plenty of positive praise.

Today we introduced recordable pegs to the class, and the children were very keen to learn how to use them.  They were thrilled to hear themselves and replayed their messages and songs for their friends and teachers to hear.  We look forward to using more next week.  Have a great weekend, we look forward to hearing all about it on Monday!

Notices:

Late Slips – If you arrive at school after 8:15am please collect a late slip from the office before bringing your child to class. 

Save the date – EYFS Family Morning on the 26^th November.

Library –Please be reminded that children can only have 1 book issued to them at time, to avoid disappointment during our Wednesday library session please return books to school on Monday (or Tuesday).  

Newsletter 14.10.16

Newsletter 14.10.16

This week's highlights:

Time flies so fast when you are having fun! We've reach the end of the first half of the term and we are so proud with how the children settled in F2! It's been amazing seeing these children settle in well, enjoy and try the activities in the classroom, explore the resources that we have and most important of all, begin to make friends with other children. We would like to thank all the parents for helping us during the settling in time and for being supportive and encouraging to your children.

The outdoor area in the F2 classroom is quite popular this week with children building fire hoses with the rabbit construction and pretending to be fire fighters. They also had a great time exploring and using the obstacle course that we set up in our mulch area where they did lots of physical activities such as crawling and balancing to name a few. Playing with transports such as cars, trains, boats and trucks is still a popular choice for most of the children. They enjoyed playing with the boats in the Water Area and with the garage in our Small World Area. The Investigation Area is a bit slimy this week as the children explored and played with basil seeds and water. They particularly liked mixing, scooping, watching the seeds change as you put water on it, feeling the slime and filling up and emptying the containers. Dressing up is still popular this week with the boys dressing up as princes and the girls as princesses. Some of them prefer to dress up as a dragon or a chef in our role play area. 

The children also enjoyed playing with the parachute in the Soft Playroom. We sang the "My Lovely Parachute" song and "Wheels on the Bus". They also enjoyed shaking the parachute really fast and slow. In the Fundino Playground, the children played with the musical instruments especially the cymbals, riding tricycles and playing hide and seek. We are very happy that the children are enjoying the Splash Pool and they are getting more confident playing in the water. 

This week in our Music lessons, the children had a very fun time playing with the egg shakers and singing the song "I have a chicken!". Mr Jon also taught us a new song this week called "Teddies on a Trampoline" and "Three Tapping Teddies". 

We wish you an amazing half term holiday! 

F2 Team

Ms Sara, Ms Precious, Ms Claudine, Ms Y, Ms Tu and Ms Nhat

Click the link below to hear/watch the songs we've been singing at school!

I know a chicken!

Wind the bobbin up

Five Little Speckled Frogs

Incy Wincy Spider

Shake your Sillies Out

Notices:

You are invited to our EYFS Family Morning on 26th of November 2016 (Please see poster below)

Please join us on 26th of October for our EYFS Coffee Morning: Messy Play! (Please see poster below)

School is closed for the half-term holiday, 15th October to 23rd October 

All children come back to school on the 24th of October

Please send us photos from your holiday trip/s so we can display/ask the children to share it with us during our carpet sessions. You can email the photo/s or give it to us when we get back to school on 24th of October. You can also upload your holiday photos on your child's Tapestry account. 

EYFS Family Morning (Save the date!)

EYFS Coffee Morning: Messy Play!

Have a look at our photos from this week:

Newsletter 6.10.16

This week's highlight:

On Tuesday, F2 children had an amazing time making pizza in the Canteen. They had a go at naming the ingredients before adding them on to their pizza. Some children took a handful of mozzarella cheese whilst others preferred to have just a little amount. We then put it in the oven for a few minutes and VOILA! It was too yummy for our tummies!

This week, the children continue to enjoy cooking and dressing up in our role play area. Some of them have been really fantastic expressing themselves using simple sentences in English such as "I am a Dragon", "It's lunch time!" or "Do you want to eat?" 

Swimming is still a popular choice to most of our children. We are very pleased to see that we have such confident swimmers in F2T. This week, the children also enjoyed a variety of physical activities such as using bouncy balls in the Fundino playground, riding tricyles/balancing bikes and moving in different ways in the soft play room!

Music this week was fun fun fun for all the children! They have been learning to shake/tap musical instruments fast and slow. They have also been singing songs such as I Have A Chicken and Shake Your Sillies Out (see link below).

How to help your child at home:
Ask your child about the songs we have been singing in school.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjJyiqpAuU
Twinkle Twinkle Chocolate Bar- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APots2fp6Vw
Baa Baa Black Sheep- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dttq5p0xUM
Incy Wincy Spider- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ek95wga4Xs
5 Currant Buns- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRLA7ZxdK4
5 Little Monkeys- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDpg7aSpHW4
5 Little Ducks- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw9veQ76fo
Open, Shut Them- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNUZBHlRH4Y
I Have A Chicken- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E7l0JPgclE
Shake Your Sillies Out- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03zqJQJRLN0

Notices:
- School is closed for the half-term holiday, 15th October to 23rd October
- All children come back to school on the 24th of October
- A gentle reminder: Please pick up your children on time (2.30pm)
- Please secure your child's swimming things in a proper swimming bag. We are discouraging the use of disposable plastic bags. Please also provide a proper bath towel for your child's comfort.


Enjoy the photos from this week and have a lovely weekend!