Pets, vets and phonics!

Dear Parents and Carers
Here is your weekly bulletin about the wonderful children of Ash Class, to tell you what we have been up to this week. No week is ever a quiet one in a Foundation Stage Unit, and this is no different. I think the children will be exhausted and need a restful weekend….
So, we are really getting stuck into our topic about ‘Pets’. It is no impediment if your child does not have a pet – we have been discussing pets we would like, as well as ones we actually have living with us. We have been working on our counting skills through topic work, practising recognising numbers and counting accurately up to 10, saying a number name for each animal counted. We did an activity where we had to put the right number of dogs into each bed, and some of us played the Spotty Dog game: I taught my two sons to count using this game, so it took me back!

We also changed into our whole PE kits this week, for our Wednesday lesson. I was impressed that many children managed to get changed all by themselves, or needed only minimal help. Being able to dress/ undress independently is such a useful skill (and great for self esteem!) so if you know that your child struggles with this do support them to learn. Things like putting shoes on the correct foot, turning inside out jumpers the right way, taking off sweatshirts etc are major milestones for a young child – and it really helps us make the most of our time actually doing PE!  Here we all are in our smart kits!

Also, we have been painting pictures of real or would-be pets. I will put them on display in school and take a photo so that you can see the works of art in next week’s newsletter.
Most days we have a short phonics session – we have already learned to recognise and even try to write a few sounds: m,t,a,d,i and s! At this stage it is most important that the children hear and recognise the sounds, and we don’t ‘push’ the written side of things. But most are willing to have a go! Frog has been helping us to hear words such as ‘m-a-t’ said slowly, to figure out what he is saying. This is an important early reading skill, and can be made to be fun, especially with the addition of funny voices 😊

And finally, we have been enjoying our Vets role play area. Some of our soft pets have sustained some serious injuries, but luckily the Ash Class veterinary surgeons are on hand to mend broken bones and give the appropriate (usually) treatment to the poor patients. Lots of rich language has come from this play, along with some lovely caring collaboration. It is a joy to watch!
We in the FSU team hope that you are hearing at least some snippets of what your children are up to in class. Often children don’t want to talk about it after a long day, so don’t be surprised if this happens. Sometimes this information only comes out at bath or bedtime!
As always, if you have any concerns or questions do please drop us a line, or have a word at drop off or pick up time. In the meantime, have a wonderful, restful weekend.
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From us all in Chagford school FSU.