Beechwood Primary School

Foundation Stage Blog – 26 January 2018

On Monday the children arrived at school with a problem to solve! Somebody had left some items in a tree (a witches hat, a wand and a broomstick which had been snapped in two). The children had to think about who the items belonged to and how the items got there. This sparked their imaginations and during their child-initiated learning the children made broom sticks and wands and some children wrote letters to the witch to ask her some questions. During the English adult-led activity on Monday the children worked in groups to create mind maps to share what they had found in the tree and any ideas or questions they had. The children were asked what they could do at school that links to this problem e.g. writing letters to the witch. At the end of the day the children shared the letters they had written and pinned their messages to the tree so that they could be sent to the witch. During their Maths input the children developed their previous learning about 2D shapes. The children started by trying to guess a hidden shape which was gradually revealed from behind a scene. Then the children were shown two sorting hoops labelled squares & triangles. The children had to put a shape in the correct place, if they had a shape which wasn’t in one of the labelled hoops they put their shape outside of the hoops. The children were encouraged to use mathematical vocabulary to explain how they knew what each shape was (e.g. what makes it a triangle?).

On Tuesday the children received a letter from the witch thanking them for their help making broomsticks and wands the previous day. The witch explained what happened to her and told the children that her friends were scaring a dragon away. Following this the children created their own terrible beasts using junk modelling materials. During their adult-led English activity the children discussed how the witch was feeling at different points in the story and then they wrote simple words and sentences in speech bubbles to explain what the characters from the story would be saying. At the end of the day the children listened to the story Room on the Broom and started to make links with recent events at school and events from the story. During their Maths input the children had to use their mathematical vocabulary to describe a shape which had been taped onto a child’s back. Following this they explored the concept of symmetry by making a symmetrical butterfly painting. The children were challenged to think of other animals which were symmetrical.

On Wednesday the children continued the theme of Room on the Broom by acting out the story. During their Maths input the children were challenged to sort a group of Furbles (coloured shapes with eyes) in different ways (e.g. colour, shape, number of eyes). The children explored different sorting criteria with different groups of Furbles. Following this the children engaged in a Maths based adult-led activity where they explored and described 2D shapes using a feely bag.

On Thursday the children put the witch in the hot seat and the children were encouraged to ask the witch some questions about how she was feeling and what happened in the story (e.g. how did you feel when your broomstick broke in two?). The Furbles returned for Wednesday’s Maths input and the children were introduced to bar graphs, pictograms and pie charts as ways of recording data. During today’s Maths adult-led activity the children sorted 2D shapes in different ways and other children thought of their own sorting criteria for 2D shapes.

On Friday the children explored the topic of Room on the Broom through a variety of creative activities. The children continued learning about data collection during their Maths input by gathering information about which fruit/vegetable they preferred. The children looked at their data presented in groups and then this information was created into a bar graph. They were asked which type of sorting was the easiest for them to understand. Finally the children were asked questions to interpret the data (e.g. which was the most popular fruit/vegetable? Which was the least popular fruit/vegetable? How many people like apples?)

During PE this week the children continued their learning about 2D shapes by playing a selection of games. Firstly the FS staff put a shape on each wall, an adult would call out a shape and the children had to run to the corresponding shape. Next the adults would call out shapes and the children had to use their bodies to make a shape (e.g. 4 children to make a square). Then the children were put into shape teams and had races where they had to move in different ways from one side of the hall and back again. This week’s PSHE focused on the children thinking about something they want to get better at, this was referred to as their goal/ next step, and then they were encouraged to think of ideas of how they will achieve this.

It was fantastic to see so many parents attending our Tapestry parent workshops this week. We look forward to seeing parents uploading observations to show what their child has been doing at home and it would be lovely to see parents adding comments to their  child’s school observations.