Saplings Class
Please scroll down to see all the learning we have been doing in FS1
2024-5
Welcome to the FS1 blog and information page
hello👋🏻👋🏼👋🏽👋🏾👋🏿
Here you will find key information, dates and photographs of all of the wonderful things FS1 have been up to 🤩
FS1 staff 👩🏻🏫👩🏼🏫
Mrs Hindle is Saplings Class Teacher.
Miss Gill is the HLTA in FS1.
Miss Doyle and Miss Pickering are the TAs in FS1. They are in class everyday.
PE days 🏃🏽♀️
FS1 do not have a formal PE session each week but they are developing their fine and gross motor skills daily, both indoors and outdoors.
Please ensure your child has a pair of wellington boots, a coat and at least one change of clothes in school.
Home Learning 🏡
You can find ideas for home learning on Tapestry. We’d love to see photographs of you learning with your child at home. These can be added directly to Tapestry ☺️
Contact us 📧
If you have any questions or queries you can contact us on this email:
fs1parents@newmoston.manchester.sch.uk
We very much look forward to working together this year! 🙂
❄️🌨️ Topic Learning ❄️🌨️
This week, our topic learning has been based around Winter.
We started the week off with a Winter Walk, and as soon as we put our coats on, it started to snow! We were all so excited! 🌨️
The children could spot that all of the leaves had fallen off most of the trees. We identified and discussed why some trees still had their leaves (evergreen trees).
We talked about how the air was much colder and how we could see our breath!
We also talked about and explored frost and freezing water in a variety of ways. 🥶
🏡 Home learning:
Can the children have a go at some frozen water play at home?
http://fourcheekymonkeys.com/play-love-learn/frozen-water-play-sensory-play-kids/
🐝🐞🦋 Literacy 🦋🐞🐝
This week, we have been learning about Winter, using our story The Snow Thief.
The children have enjoyed:
- listening to and learning the parts of a book (the title, blurb etc)
- discussing their favourite parts of the story
- answering questions about the story to aid their understanding
- ordering and discussing the wintery aspects from the story.
🏡 Home Learning Idea:
Can the children watch The Snow Thief at home and discuss some of the things that Squirrel was confused about and why? https://youtu.be/l9fMv3Brbxg?feature=shared
This week in our new phonics groups we:
- have enjoyed sharing our news of what we have done over the Christmas break
- have been singing our favourite nursery rhymes, using actions
- have been playing I Spy, focusing on introducing initial sounds
- have been listening carefully and joining in with some familiar stories.
🏡 Home Learning Idea:
Can the children play I Spy with siblings/a grown up at home?
Maths - Number 3
This week, in our new maths groups, we have been learning about number 3!
Some of the activities we have completed this week around number 3 include:
- demonstrating 3 actions such as 3 claps, 3 jumps, 3 spins etc.
- counting up to number 3 on our number line
- counting back from number 3 to 0
- showing number 3 on our fingers
- counting out 3 counters, using 1-1 correspondence to check right amount
- looking at the different ways we can represent the number 3, such as on fingers, with people, with objects, on a 5 frame and writing the number 3
- looking at one more and one less
- singing number songs, focusing on counting forwards
🏡 Home Learning Idea:
Can the children find 3 items around the house?
Can they count them confidently?
Can they identify one more and one less?
Think Equal
This week for Think Equal, we read The Tale of Baby Beetroot.
This story was about a beetroot who left the other beetroots and moved to a bigger garden with different vegetables. At first, the beetroot felt scared because the other vegetables were different but eventually, he realised that the other vegetables were kind and friendly.
We talked about how the beetroot felt throughout the story and about how we would feel if we were the beetroot.
We also discussed how we are all different, like the vegetables, but we still all get along and are kind to one another.
We hope you all have a lovely Christmas break!
🎅🏻 Father Christmas 🎅🏻
Today, we had a VERY exciting visitor!
Santa came to see us because he was SO impressed with our Nativity this week. We sang some songs to him before having our photo taken with him. When we got back to Nursery there were presents from him waiting for us!
🥳 Sapling's Christmas Party Day 🥳
🎄 We've all had a great party day today! 🎄
We ate, we sang, we danced and we played lots of musical games!
Thank you to all our families for generously supporting us with party snacks.
🎄 EYFS Christmas Show 🎄
HUGE thank you to all our families for supplying the children's Christmas jumpers for this years show. The children have been working very hard to remember all the words and actions to the songs.
We think they all looked brilliant 🤩
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week, Sprinkles the Elf has continued to bring us Christmas stories each day for us to read!
This week, the books we have received so far have been:
- Ten Little Elves
- The Christmas Eve Tree
- The Snowman
- The Great Christmas Pudding Rescue
Home learning idea: Can you read some Christmassy stories at home? There are lots on YouTube if you don't have the books at home! We really enjoyed reading The Snowman: https://youtu.be/m6KD-cVUlpw?feature=shared
🏡 Home Learning 🏡
Apologies for the very early closure of school today!
Here are a couple of home learning ideas:
- Phonics
Can the children practise these Nursery rhymes for their nativity next week:
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Twinkle Twinkle
And any of the other Christmas Nativity songs that you can find on Tapestry?
- Literacy
Read and discuss the story Ten Little Elves: https://youtu.be/-FdOm7xbdZA?feature=shared Can the children help to count down the elves?
- Maths
Can the children find 1 and 2 Christmas items around the house or outdoors? Can they spot the number 1 or 2 at home?
Can children make a tower? Can children find things that are taller than their tower? Can children find something that is shorter than their tower?
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week, we had an exciting delivery from The North Pole!
Inside the parcel was an elf, a letter and a present. The letter told us that Sprinkles the elf had been sent by Father Christmas to keep an eye on us in the nursery. It said that each night he would be going back to The North Pole to tell Father Christmas all about us. Each morning, he will come back with a Christmas book, wrapped up, for us to read!
Our Christmas books so far have been:
- What the Ladybird Heard at Christmas
- The Christmas Pine
- Dear Santa
- Oh, Christmas Tree!
- Babushka
🏠 Home learning idea -
Can you read any Christmas stories at home? There are lots on YouTube if you don't have the books at home!
🎄 Decorating Nursery for Christmas 🎄
Our Nursery has started to look very festive this week! The children have been helping us to decorate the rooms and have been decorating our Christmas trees with lots of tinsel and baubles. We think you’ll agree they did a very good job! 🎄
British Values Week
This week we have been learning all about British Values and why they are so important.
At the beginning of the week we learnt what Great Britain is and looked at a map and spoke about the countries that are in Great Britain.
On Tuesday we looked at the Rule of Law and used 'What the ladybird heard' to speak about why it's important to have laws and why Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len needed to be stopped and that we can't just do what we want if it's something bad.
On Wednesday we then looked at Individual Liberty and spoke about a few rights that the children have. We asked the children how they would feel if some of their rights were taken away, such as the right to play and the children said that would "make them sad" and that "it wouldn't be fair" if some children had rights but others didn't.
On Thursday we looked at Mutual Respect and Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We watched two videos about different festivals and compared the ways that different faiths celebrate. We watched one about Christianity - Christmas https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate-christmas and another about Islam - Eid https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate-eid
Today we finished off celebrating British Values week by coming to school dressed in the colours Red, White and Blue and this afternoon we had a cream tea party and each child had a scone and could choose to have a cream and/or jam topping. The scones were enjoyed by all, there were some very happy faces!
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week we have been extending our learning of The Gingerbread Man.
At the beginning of the week, we re-read the story with the children joining in with the repeated refrains and making up actions, such as running on the spot for “run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man.”
We then acted out the story in our keyworker groups, with each child taking turns to take on the role of one of the characters from the story. We then thought about what other characters the gingerbread man could have met along the way.
At the end of the week we watched the story ‘The Gingerbread Man 2: What Happened Next.’ We had a think about what was the same in two stories, such as the characters that were in the story and then what was different in the two stories, such as the fox baking the gingerbread man and living happily ever after with the old woman and the old man at the end of the story.
🏠 - Home learning idea
Watch The Gingerbread Man 2: What Happened Next https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMVhnxMfsCI Can your child remember what happens in the story?
This week we are continuing to develop our listening and attention skills further through lots of different and fun activities!
We -
• Sang familiar Nursery Rhymes using props and joined in with actions songs.
• Listened to and discussed different environmental sounds by going on an environment walk around the indoor and outdoor setting.
• Used sound button stories to enhance our stories and created our very own sound effects.
• Explored volume and pace with different instruments, such as fast and slow, loud and quiet.
• Shared and acted out the story of We’re going on a bear hunt. We created our own actions for the story and joined in with all the repeated refrains.
🏠 Home learning idea -
Make instruments with everyday household objects such as banging a pan with a wooden spoon. Can you play them loud, quiet, fast and slow?
🌿 Understanding the world 🌿
This week we have been looking at the Artist Wasily Kandinsky. We had a look at some of his pieces of artwork and spoke about what we liked about them and the patterns and shapes that he uses in his pieces. The children particularly liked the ones where he uses lots of circles and we spoke about what colours we could see.
The children then coloured their own pictures in the style of Kandinsky in small groups. In provision time the children have been making their own versions of Kandinsky’s work with paint in our painting area and using circles of tissues paper and coloured paper in our creative area.
We have also been looking at primary and secondary colours. We learnt that we need the primary colours red, yellow and blue to make lots of other colours. We mixed the primary colours together to see which other colours we could make and spoke about light and dark colours. The children particularly enjoyed this activity!
This week we are continuing to develop our listening and attention skills further through lots of different and fun activities!
We -
• Sang familiar Nursery Rhymes and actions songs.
• Listened to and discussed different environmental sounds.
• Used sound button stories to enhance our stories and created our very own sound effects.
• Explored volume and pace with different instruments, such as fast and slow, loud and quiet.
• Shared and acted out the story of The Gruffalo. We then described the different features that The Gruffalo has.
🏠 Home learning idea -
Go on a sound walk to the local park or round the area where you live. Can you remember everything you heard and make a list or draw pictures when you get back home?
🌿 Maths 🌿
This week in Maths we have been exploring size and height.
At the start of the week we focused our learning on size. We worked together to sort some animals into big and small groups. Then in our keyworker groups we then had a variety of objects and the children had to put the objects into the correct hoop, depending on whether they were big or small in size. The children were very good at recognising if objects were big or small. We also thought about other describing words for these. The children came up with tiny and little for small and giant and huge for big.
At the end of the week we focused our learning on height. We sorted our class into height order, tallest all the way to the shortest! Then in our keyworker groups the children all built a tower using different bricks. We had to decide who had made the tallest tower and who had made the shortest tower and we then ordered the towers based on their height.
We finished off the week by signing our favourite number songs, remembering to sing forward and joining in with the actions.
🏠 Home learning idea -
Can you order your family in height order, shortest to tallest?
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week in Literacy we have been learning all about the story of The Gingerbread Man.
We started off the week by making our own Gingerbread men. In groups we had a look at all the ingredients we needed, such as flour, salt, oil and water and the children had a smell of some ginger. Some of the children really liked the smell of it! The children then had a think about what we might make with all these ingredients and some of the children suggested it could be “Gingerbread men!” We used a Gingerbread man cutter to make the shape of our Gingerbread men and baked them ready for the children to decorate them during provision time!
We then read and watched the story of The Gingerbread Man, discussing the different parts of the story, such as who did the Gingerbread Man meet and what happened to him at the end of the story. We rounded off the week by making our own story map and the children did really well at remembering all the parts of the story and the order of the animals that The Gingerbread Man met.
We think the children particularly enjoyed decorating their Gingerbread Men and we bet they definitely enjoyed eating them! Take a look at some of their busy learning!
🏠 Home learning idea -
Watch the video of The Gingerbread Man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U89dkGrsYZY&ab_channel=oxbridgebaby
Can you retell the story of The Gingerbread Man to your family?
EYFS Christmas Events Reminder
Dear families
We hope this message finds you well.
Please follow this link to read the latest newsletter for EYFS families: https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/new-moston-primary-school/UploadedDocument/07431aa1-47c3-4345-8e93-0cb16358cdfb/christmas-reminder.pdf
Thank you for your continued support.
❤️🧡💛 Children in Need 💚💙💜
Today the children came to school dressed in their pyjamas to raise money for Children in Need.
This morning we watched a video all about what Children in Need does and what the money raised is used for. We then had a think about why people might need our help and also how the children could help to raise money, including wearing their pyjamas.
This afternoon we joined Pudsey in a 'danceathon' which was lots of fun!
🏠 Home learning idea -
Watch the video at home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9shOpct-1ZU&ab_channel=BBCChildreninNeed
Can you think of any other ways to raise money? Can you do one of the activities?
🌿 Sound of the week 🌿
This half term we have started looking at our sound of the week. Each day we pick out a new picture which has the same initial sound and this week we had ‘s’
The children said the sound correctly each day and enjoyed finding different things that started with the same sound!
We had:
- Sun
- Star
- Spider
- Snake
- Spider-Man
🏠 Home learning idea -
Watch the video together and practice saying the s sound correctly.
Is there anything in your home that starts with s?
🌿 Understanding the world 🌿
This week we have learnt all about light and dark through the story ‘Look Up!’ By Dapo Adeola.
We shared the story together then had some calm time with the lights dimmed and the star lights shining. We talked about what we could see and listened to some calming music. We used torches to explore shadows and created our own shadow puppets using our hands. We then went outside to explore shadows on a larger scale! It was lots of fun! We ended the week travelling to space in our imaginary rockets! 🚀
🏠 Home learning idea -
Go to space! Let your imagination run wild and create your own rocket. You could get crafty with a cardboard box, jump in the bath or grab some sofa cushions. Make sure you buckle in & do a countdown from 10!
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week we have focused on Friendship and Anti-bullying week 🤍
We started the week by listening to the song ‘Choose Respect’ by Andy and the Odd Socks and we used this to discuss what respect means and how we can show this in school.
We then talked about friendship & discussed what the children like about their friends and how we can be a good friend. We enjoyed the story ‘Duck and Penguin are not friends’.
We rounded the week off by creating the perfect friend. We drew around on of the children and used this to write the things which make a great friend and we then watched 'The Smeds and the Smoos' by Julia Donaldson and discussed the ways that they weren't very kind or respectful to each other in the beginning but at the end they all became good friends 💙
🏠 Home learning idea
- Talk about how you can be kind and respectful at home. Make a card for someone you love and have your grown up write down your words of affirmation for your loved one. Spread the love!
🌿 Think Equal 🌿
This week we continued with our Think Equal learning. It is a reflective time of the day where we share a story together and use it to discuss important aspects of our life.
This week we read the book -
Amazing Daisy!
In the story Daisy really wanted to fly but found it really tricky. She never gave up though and kept trying and trying and at the end of the story she could fly really high!
We talked about how it’s important to always try your best and to never give up even if something is really hard.
🏠 Home learning idea -
Have a think of something you really struggle with, such as fastening the zip on your coat, keep trying and never give up!
This week we celebrated world nursery rhyme week by singing a range of nursery rhymes in our key worker groups. We used puppets and props to enhance our learning 🤍
🏠 Home learning idea -
Sing your favourite nursery rhymes together. Can you teach your family the actions to some of our favourites -
- Twinkle twinkle little star
- Incy wincy spider
- The Grand old Duke of York
This week we have had some really fun activities to recap and reinforce our learning of 0 and 1.
To reinforce the children’s ability to recognise and represent (on their fingers) 0 & 1 we have played -
- Number sorting into hoops
- Number splat with fly swatters
- Number corners with lots of dancing
- Number statues with lots of wobbling!
- Number songs
🏠 Home learning idea
- Number Hunt
Go on a number hunt around your home, the shop or the local area. Look out for 0 and 1 in the environment and see if it can be recognised in various fonts and styles. Each time your child finds a 0 or 1 ask them to represent the number on their hands with their fingers.
Odd Socks Day 🧦
This week is anti-bullying week with the theme of 'Choose respect'. Today the children wore odd socks to school to celebrate their uniqueness. We spoke about how we are all different but that's ok and that everyone deserves to feel safe and respected.
📚 Book Fair 📚
Today we walked to the Junior Hall to have a look at the Book Fair, everyone had the opportunity to look at the books to see what they might like to read.
The Book Fair is open before and after school every day this week so please visit if you can!
🌿 Think equal 🌿
This week we continued with our Think Equal learning. It is a reflective time of the day where we share a story together and use it to discuss important aspects of our life.
This week we read the book -
Is there anyone like me?
We talked about what unique means and what makes us unique. Then we spoke some positive affirmations together. The children said “I am special” “I am important” “I am unique” 🤍
🏠 Home learning idea
Listen to the song ‘Unique’ by Andy and the Odd Socks and celebrate what makes you unique with your family!
🎇💥 Pop, Whizz, Bang 🎉🎆
The children have been celebrating bonfire night and fireworks this week in our learning.
Outside the children have enjoyed making up their own firework dances using the ribbons. Together we have explored different ways to move the with ribbons, such as up and down starting low and building it up like a firework as it shoots up into the sky. We've also been spinning, twisting and twirling as the fireworks explode. As the children danced they have been using words lots of good describing words to describe the sounds from the fireworks.
Reuben said "whizz, pop, bang, crackle"
“Whoosh, sparkles, bang” said Poppy
"it's loud, big bangs, twinkle, sizzling” said Indie
Reign said "Zoom."
🌿 Understanding the world 🌿
This week the children have been learning about Remembrance Day and why we celebrate it by wearing Poppies.
We watched the CBeebies Remembrance animation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_ub7Be7oA&ab_channel=CBeebies and spoke about what happened to the animals and thought about how it might have made them feel.
In the provision the children all used different media to create their own poppies. We used glitter, tissue paper, paint and pencils to create a variety of poppy pictures. They are all unique and beautiful and we’re looking forward to making a lovely display in the unit with all the poppies!
🏠 - Home learning idea
Watch the CBeebies Remembrance animation at home with your child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv_ub7Be7oA&ab_channel=CBeebies
Can they tell you what they have learnt about Remembrance Day?
In the play dough area the children had the opportunity to make their own poppy. They used their hands and the rolling pins to flatten out the dough, chose a cutter shape and added a leaf and a button for the centre of the poppy. We think they are beautiful!
Autumn Leaf Threading
To help with the children’s fine motor skill and strengthening their little fingers ready for writing, the children have had fun at the funky fingers table, using the laces to thread around the autumn leaves we have found outside. Although it was a bit tricky at first they all persevered and there were lots of happy, proud faces when they had completed the challenge. Great threading!
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week we have been learning all about Autumn through the story - The Leaf Thief 🍂
We began the week by going on an autumn walk.
We talked about all the different things we could see and took photos of different aspects of autumn.
We then shared the story of The Leaf Thief together and used this story to discuss some of the key features of autumn.
The children were able to tell us all about how the leaves change colour to golds, oranges, yellows and reds. They could also tell me that the leaves fall down from the trees as the wind blows and in the spring new leaves will grow again.
🏠 Home learning idea
Go on an autumn walk and lookout for signs of autumn and the season changing. Can you discuss what you can see with your family?
This week we have continued to focus on the numbers 0 & 1.
We played number splat to support the children with their number recognition & our new favourite - number statues!
We ended the week singing number songs together. Our favourite this week was 5 little speckled frogs 🐸
🏠 Home learning idea
- Play number statues at home. When the music stops you need to freeze and show the correct number on your hand when your grown up shouts it out.
This week we have been continuing to develop our listening and attention skills through lots of fun activities!
We -
• Used sound button stories to enhance our stories and created our very own sound effects
• Listened to and discussed different environmental sounds
• Explored volume and pace with different instruments
• Shared and acted out the story - Peace at Last
• Sang and joined in with the actions to familiar Nursery Rhymes and actions songs
🏠 Home learning idea
- Peace at Last
Share the story ‘Peace at Last’ either with a paper copy or via the YouTube link below. Join in with the repeated refrain and think of your own sound effects for each thing which keeps Daddy Bear awake.
Book bear 🐻
Every Friday a child from our class will receive a bag, in it there is a:
• book
• teddy
• biscuit
• writing book
It is for you and your child to enjoy a story, cuddle and biscuit together. Inside it there is a book to write or draw your favourite books or books you would recommend for other children to read.
At some point every child will get the opportunity to take this bag home. But please ensure it is looked after so everyone can enjoy.
Please share a picture of you and your child enjoying the book, biscuit and cuddle on Tapestry. We’d love to see them all!! 🥰
🎃 JLT pumpkin competition 🎃
A big thank you to everyone who participated in the JLT pumpkin carving competition. All the designs were unique and looked amazing! As a school we raised £100 towards books for our children to read.
Thank you!
🕷 Playdough spiders 🕷
The children have been enjoying making spiders in our playdough area this week.
The children used the available resources to manipulate the dough into the shape they wanted and then added eyes and legs. Some of the children thought about how many legs spiders have and counted out the correct amount of pipe cleaners.
🥽🦇 Potion Making 🐸🕷
This week in the water area the children have been making potions. There were different sized bottles with different coloured water, glitter, stars and sequins. There was also a cauldron full of spiders, pumpkins, frogs and bats. We spoke about ‘Safety first’ and always putting on your safety goggles when mixing up magic potions! The children had lots of fun as they poured, mixed, stirred and sprinkled things in to make their potion.
The children experimented mixing the different coloured water together to see what colour it would make.
There was lots of great language used about making potions and spells using lots of words such as magic, pour, bubbly, spells, mix it up, sprinkle and stirring.
🌿 Understanding the world 🌿
This week is a busy time for celebrations across the world. We have learnt all about two very special celebrations and festivals this week!
🪔 Diwali
We learnt all about what Diwali is and how it is celebrated by the Hindu community. We made diva lamps, learnt about the festival of light and enjoyed creating our own rangoli patterns outside on the floor!
🎃 Halloween
We learnt about Halloween, how it is celebrated in the UK and what they may be doing at home to enjoy Halloween. We talked about the importance of staying safe in the dark if they choose to go out trick or treating. We also shared some spooky stories about witches and monsters & we explored pumpkins in the provision.
🏠 Home learning idea
Draw a picture of your Halloween celebrations!
🌿 Think Equal 🌿
This week we started our Think Equal learning. It is a reflective time of the day where we share a story together and use it to discuss important aspects of our life.
This week we read the book -
Me, myself and I
We talked about what we love about ourselves, what makes us special and what makes us unique 🤍
🏠 Home learning idea
Talk with your family about what you love about yourself and each other ❤️
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week, in keeping with Halloween, our story has been Room on the broom 🧹
The children have loved this story!
We shared the book together, watched the animation, sequenced the story and even made our own potions 🧙♀️
🏠 Home learning idea
Watch the animation of Room on the Broom on BBCiPlayer. Encourage your child to share what is happening during the story and discuss the story afterwards.
This week we have focused on the numbers 0 & 1.
We watched the Numberblocks video - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08bzzns/numberblocks-series-1-one 🏠 - why not watch it at home!
Then we played games which enabled us to practice our number recognition & counting.
We played number corners and number statues. In both games the children had to dance & freeze when the music stopped. They then had to either find the correct number shouted or show the correct number with their hands or actions! We ended the week singing number songs together. Our favourite this week was 5 currant buns in a bakers shop 🧑🍳
🏠 Home learning idea
- How many 0 or 1s can you spot in your home? Take a photo of as many 0 or 1s that you can see!
This week we are developing our listening and attention skills through lots of fun activities!
We -
• Played pass the story
• Listened to and discussed different environmental sounds
• Experimented with volume using different instruments
• Shared and acted out the story - We’re going on a bear hunt
🏠 Home learning idea
- We’re going on a bear hunt 🧸
Share the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ either with a paper copy or via the YouTube link below. Join in with the repeated refrain and think of your own actions for each part the family have to walk through!
🌿 Sound of the week 🌿
This half term we have started looking at our sound of the week. Each day we pick out a new picture which has the same initial sound and this week we had ‘m’
The children said the sound correctly each day and enjoyed finding different things that started with the same sound!
We had:
- Marshall
- Mermaid
- Moon
- Monkey
- Mouse
NSPCC kindness challenge and Show Racism the Red Card
Today the children came to school dressed in the colours green or red to raise money and awareness for the NSPCC kindness challenge and Show Racism the Red Card.
This afternoon we had a think about different ways that you can be kind to somebody or how we could cheer someone up if they're feeling sad.
The children came up with some fantastic suggestions of what we could do!
Dough Disco
The children have been taking part in dough disco sessions to help us to develop our fine motor skills to get us ready for writing.
During dough disco this afternoon, the children:
- Splat the dough
- Played the piano along the dough
- Poked their fingers into the dough
- Rolled the dough into a sausage
- Rolled the dough into a ball
- Pinched the dough
- Dived their fingers into the dough
- Squeezed the dough
All along to the beat of music 🎶
🍃🍂🍁Autumn crowns🍁🍂🍃
We are starting to exploring the season Autumn and think about the changes that happen at this time of year. The children have been talking about what they can see happening. They have noticed lots of leaves are falling off the trees and that there are lots of different coloured leaves. We've seen red, brown, yellow, green and even spotty ones! We have also been looking at conkers and pinecones.
Over the last few weeks the children have collected lots of these on their nature walks and brought them in to school for us to use for craft activities. Today the children have made their very own Autumn Crowns, choosing the different styles of leaves they would like to use to decorate their crowns.
Making our own bears!
Our story this week has been Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears. The children have been getting creative in our creative area making their own bears. Using a fork and brown paint, the children use this to create the texture of fur and then add ears, nose and eyes using black card. We love how unique each bear turns out to be!
🎶🎸🎷Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears 🥁🎙🎵
This week we have been looking at the alternative story Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears.
Have a listen to the story on the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeUOv_UBFSg
We made our own 'Singer Wanted' poster to help the bears to find a singer for their band. The children told us what a singer might need such as a microphone.
Today we made our own band like the three bears in the book. We explored the different instruments and the children played along to some music. We even managed to find some singers for our bands too! We had lots of fun!
🏡 Home learning idea -
Can you make your own band at home with your family? Can you find things around the house that you could use as instruments? Please share your bands with us, be as creative as you like!
Have a look at our band!
Have a look at our band!
This week we have been singing number songs using puppets in our Key Worker groups. We sang together as a group while the children took it in turns to use the puppets as a visual aid. Our number songs are less traditional and focus on counting forwards rather than backwards.
This week we have also been learning a new forward counting number song.
1 little firefighter -
1 little fighter standing in a row
12345 let's go
Jump on the engine with a shout
Quick as a wink the fire is out!
2 little firefighters...and so on...
We have been using our fingers to represent the numbers as we've been counting forwards and have been using 1-1 correspondence to check the amount and thinking about which number comes next.
🏡 - Home learning idea
Have a sing song at home with our new number song 1 little firefighter.
Can your child tell you what number comes next?
This week we are continuing to work in our key worker groups to develop our communication and language skills as well as our listening and attention skills further through lots of different activities!
We -
• Went on a sound walk to see what we could hear around us
• Played follow the leader with pat and clap patterns
• Had a story time with a group discussion
• Explored different musical instruments
• Used beaters in the environment to explore the different sounds things made
🏠 Home learning idea -
Follow the leader -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=RsQZX7Hhqug
Can you copy Mozi's clapping rhythm in the video above and then create your own rhythm for your family to follow?
Reading afternoon
A big thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us for our first reading afternoon of the year. It was so lovely to see you sharing stories with your children in school 
Our next reading afternoon is on Monday 9th December.
Meet the author ✍🏽
🌿 Understanding the world 🌿
This week we have been learning all about people who help us.
We talked about the different roles people had and how each person was able to help us. We discussed police, firefighters, doctors, dentists, teachers, paramedics, crossing patrol etc. We discussed if we had ever been helped by the different roles.
🐝🦋🐞 Phonics 🐞🦋🐝
This week in our key worker groups we have done lots of fun activities!
We -
• Went on a sound walk to see what we could hear around us
• Played follow the leader with pat and clap patterns
• Had a story time with a group discussion
• Explored different musical instruments
• Used beaters in the environment to explore the different sounds things made
🏠 Home learning idea
- Sound Walk -
Go on a sound walk around your house or local area. Take time to stop and listen, what can you hear?
🌿 Literacy 🌿
Our story this week has been Goldilocks and the Three Bears 🐻
We came into school on Tuesday to discover a crime scene! We discussed what had happened and who could have done such a terrible thing! Once we had read the story on Wednesday we had a talk about the characters and what they were like. We used this discussion on Thursday to help us write a wanted poster for Goldilocks and we put it up in the hope we’d catch her!
🏠 Home learning idea
Can you retell the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? Support your child in remembering what happens next and allow them time to retell in their own words what happened 🐻
🌿 Maths 🌿
This week we learnt all about zero!
It’s a tricky one to learn as zero means nothing but it’s important that the children understand that concept 😊
We played lots of games all around understanding what zero looks like as well as its value of nothing.
🏠 Home learning idea
Watch the numberblocks episode below which is all about zero -https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0blsx34/numberblocks-series-3-zero
Can your child demonstrate their knowledge and show you zero claps, zero stamps etc? What does zero mean? We have nothing!
🌿 Artist of the term 🌿
Our artist of the term is Andy Goldsworthy.
We have had lots of learning opportunities for the children around nature art in our provision. This week we spent some focused time learning all about Andy Goldsworthy and his work.
We looked at some pictures of his work and took time to reflect on how the art made us feel, which we liked, which we didn’t and why.
We then created our own Goldsworthy inspired art with natural objects. We started doing these on a small individual basis and then developed our learning and art on a larger scale. We worked as a key worker group to do a collective piece of art and then did a large whole class piece!
🏠 Home Learning Idea -
Create your own Goldsworthy inspired nature art at home. You could do this in the garden or at the park. Are you going to do a small personal piece or will you work with your family to do a larger collective piece?
Please share photos of your artwork via Tapestry or send them to FS1parents@newmoston.manchester.sch.uk
My family portrait 💚
This week we have been talking about different families in our literacy sessions. Indie worked really hard on drawing her family today. She spotted her family picture on the easel and began to draw. Once she had finished she was able to tell us who everyone was. We were so impressed with her picture we took it to Ms Rashid who was VERY impressed 🤍
Good job Indie!
🌿 Literacy 🌿
This week we have read lots of lovely stories about families. We have read a range of stories representing different family dynamics. As part of our learning we have talked about who is in our family and what family means to us ❤️
🏠 Home Learning Idea -
Can you draw a picture of who is in your family?
We would love to display your artwork in our home corner so please bring in your beautiful creations for us to put up on our display 🤍
This week we have re-read the traditional stories together but this time in our key worker groups. The children listened carefully to each story and joined in with some of the familiar repeated refrains.
After each story we had a discussion about what the children liked about each story. We also discussed what happened at certain points in the book, such as at the beginning, middle and end.
🏠 - Home Learning Idea
Take some time to share the stories below by following the links. Which is your favourite and why?
🐐 The three billy goats gruff - https://www.oundleceprimary.org/numbersquash/wp-content/uploads/The-Billy-Goats-Gruff-Story-Powerpoint-pdf.pdf
🐷 The three little pigs - https://lionwoodinfant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Yr1-The-Three-LIttle-Pigs-Story-PowerPoint.pdf
🦊 The gingerbread man - https://www.fleet.camden.sch.uk/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Home-Learning/Reception/wb%20050121/The%20Gingerbread%20Man%20Reader.pdf
🌱 Jack and the beanstalk - https://queensgateprimary.co.uk/assets/images/branding/Jack-And-The-Beanstalk-Story-Powerpoint-Comic.pdf
🐺 Little red riding hood - https://lionwoodinfant.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Yr2-Little-Red-Riding-Hood-Story-PowerPoint.pdf
This week we have been singing number songs using puppets in our Key Worker groups.
The children have particularly enjoyed singing ‘one currant bun in a bakers shop’
We sang together as a group while the children took it in turns to use the puppets as a visual aid.
Our number songs are less traditional and focus on counting forwards rather than backwards.
🏠 - Home learning idea
Have a sing song at home with a new number song - One currant bun in a bakers shop 🧁
The lyrics are …
No currant buns in the bakers shop,
No round ones, fat ones or cherries on the top,
Along came the baker with some dough one day,
made a currant bun and put is on display
One currant bun in a bakers shop, round and fat with a cherry on the top.
Along came the baker with some dough one day,
made a currant bun and put it on display … etc.
Can your child show you the correct number on their fingers?
Fruity water 🍋🟩
The children have enjoyed exploring the water kitchen this week. They smelt and felt the grapefruit and limes in the water and squeezed them to make the water fruity. They shared the pots and pans together and gave each other enough space to explore safely. They poured and filled the pots & added fruit to make delicious ‘juice’ 🍋🟩
Dough disco!
This week we introduced Dough Disco to the children and they are absolutely loving it!
Each child has their own pot of play-doh and we use it to strengthen their hands in preparation for writing. We do various movements in time with the music & make sure we use all our fingers and both of our hands. 🙌🏻
🏠 Home learning idea -
Grab some play-doh and have a go at home!
Follow along with the video below and have fun 🤩
🌿 Maths 🌿
This week we have been singing number songs with puppets! This week we have particularly enjoyed singing ‘one little man in a flying saucer’.
We sang together as a class and the children listened and sang beautifully.
Our number songs are less traditional and focus on counting forwards rather than backwards.
🏠 - Home learning idea
Have a sing song at home with our new number song - One little man in a flying saucer 🛸
The lyrics are …
One little man in a flying saucer flew round the world one day,
He looked left and right & he really liked the sight so one more came to play
Whoosh!
Two little men … etc.
Can your child show you the correct number of fingers?
🌿 PSED 🌿
This week in our PSED time we have been learning our school rules. Each day we looked at a different school rule and explained what each one meant, discussed how we might do that and showed good examples.
Our school rules are:
Be Ready - One of our examples was 'sat on the carpet ready to learn!'
Be Safe - One of our examples was 'keeping the environment safe and clean!'
Be Respectful - One of our examples was 'looking after our friends!'
As part of our ‘being safe’ rule we talked about being safe in the toilets and learnt all about Pantosaurus.
Fire breathing dragons 🔥
The children have been getting creative making their own fire breathing dragons using tubes, tissue paper and glue ✨
🌿 Our story of the week 🌿
This week our story has been Zog by Julia Donaldson!
At the beginning of the week we read the story together and then the next day retold the story as a class with actions. On Wednesday we went to dragon school! Watch the video to see us roar, breathe fire & fly!
The children all graduated from Zog’s dragon school with a gold star and a certificate ✨ We ended the week watching the animation of the story.
🏠 Home Learning Idea -
Can you be Madame Dragon and run your own dragon school for your family?
Let’s see if they can -
- Roar
- Fly - Flap their arms and run around
- Breathe fire - Big blows
- Capture a princess - Hide a doll/teddy and see if they can find it
Zog School!
Nature walk 🍂
We are in need of your help please 🍂
Over the next few weeks we will be creating some beautiful nature art using natural resources such as sticks, leaves and pebbles. Please can you grab a bag & explore your local area, collecting treasures along the way!
Bring in your bag of natural treasures over the next few weeks for us to use as our artists materials.
Thank you!
Self portraits 🖌️
Our self portraits
The children have been busy creating their own self portraits!
First they created their background using paint and sponges, then they independently wrote their names & drew themselves.
Each half term we will repeat the activity with the children and stick their new work on top of the last one, creating a beautiful keepsake of their progress throughout the year ✨
The Colour Monster
This week we have been learning all about our feelings through the story of The Colour Monster. We read the book together and have spent the week discussing the different feelings in the story.
The children enjoyed having circle time and taking it in turns to share their ideas and listen to what their friends had to say.
Our first week in nursery ✨
What a first week we’ve had!
The children have settled in brilliantly and have had so much fun!
We have sung songs, read stories, explored our new areas and made new friends.
Roll on next week 🎉
A sneak peek of Nursery!
We have been super busy getting nursery ready for your new adventure to start! We are all ready and raring to go.
Roll on Monday!
As always, any worries or questions please feel free to get in touch at
fs1parents@newmoston.manchester.sch.uk
Meet the team 🤍
We are looking forward to meeting you all on Monday! Here’s a little intro of each of us 😊
2023-4
Mrs Bennett 🩷
Mrs Bennett is leaving us 🥲
She has been a super important part of the EYFS for many years and has been fundamental in making it a happy and safe space for all the 100s of children we have had the privilege of helping start the learning journey in education.
She will be missed immensely.
We wish her all the very best for her next adventure 🩷
Sports Day 🥇
Thank you to all the families who attended Sports Day today, the children love having you in school and thankfully the weather held off for us!
We are super proud of all the children for their efforts, we have some budding sports stars in our midst.
Happy Father’s Day!
Wishing all the Dads, Step-dad’s and father figures a wonderful day 😊
The Singing Mermaid
In literacy this week our story is The Singing Mermaid.
We have been looking at lots of describing words for the characters and thinking about how the mermaid felt when she was locked in the tank and when she was free to go back to Silversands.
The children have also been drawing their own pictures of the character Sam Sly and describing what he looks like and thinking about what he was like as a person.
The children came up with some good suggestions such as:
"Sam is mean because he tricked the mermaid."
"Sam is mean because he locked the mermaid in the fishtank."
"He wears a big hat."
"Sam isn't a kind person because he doesn't tell the truth."
Suncream Art
This week we have been looking at keeping safe outside in the sunshine. We spoke about remembering how to be a sun safe superstar and remembering the 5 S's of sun safety which are:
- SLIP on a t-shirt
- SLAP on a hat
- SLOP on suncream
- Sunglasses
- Shade
We then made some suncream art where the children used their fingers to create pictures on black card. The children will be bringing these home for you to put up in the window to see what happens to the colour of the card when it's in the sun!
Please send us updates on Tapestry with what happens to their pictures when they are in the sunshine so we can share them with the children!
Making our own Trolls
This week in Literacy we have been reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff. In our creative area the children have been making their own troll faces. The children have really enjoyed this activity, using the available resources to create the face of the Troll. During making their Trolls, the children talked about how the troll looked, using excellent describing words.
The Three Billy Goats Gruff 🐐
The children have been looking at the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff in Literacy.
Using the masks and the story hill that they had created we retold the story together with some children acting it out at the front. The children joined in using the key phrases from the story
Tasting honey 🍯
Our story this week in Literacy is The Bumblebear.
In the story, Bumblebear really enjoys eating honey! The children thought the bear might have really liked eating honey because it tastes sweet. The children then all had the opportunity to try tasting some honey. We spoke about where honey comes from and who had tried it before and who hadn’t. They sensibly and carefully spread some honey on bread before trying it.
Creating our own beehives 🐝
The children enjoyed learning all about world bee day. We created our own beehives using our own ‘stamp’. Using pictures that were in the tuff tray the children looked at the different beehives and the colours in them before creating their own.
🐝 World Bee Day 🐝
This week we have been learning all about World Bee Day. The children have been sharing with us all the facts they already know about bees and we have also been learning why bees are so important for the environment. We had a go at following a step by step guide of how to draw a Bee. The children listened to the instructions very carefully and we think you'll agree they all did a fantastic job!
We’re going on a bear hunt 🐻
