Foundation

Welcome to the Foundation Stage

We are delighted to welcome you to the Foundation Stage at Kneesall C of E Primary School. Whether you join us in Nursery or Reception, we know you will have a fabulous time and learn lots of exciting new things. Keep an eye on this page for what we are learning.

We are very lucky in the Foundation Stage as we are able to adapt teaching and learning according to the interests of the children, providing spontaneous learning opportunities whilst still adhering to the core principles of the Foundation Stage. The possibilities and opportunities are endless!

Things to remember:  

To ensure that your child is prepared for each school day please send them with:

• bag
• reading book and diary
• a named water bottle
• a waterproof coat (we're outside a lot!)
• wellington boots (where possible to stay at school),
• a change of socks and at least two pairs of spare pants and bottoms

Summer 2024

PE kit is required for Foundation 2 children and PE lessons are taking place on Tuesdays. Please come to school in your PE kit. Foundation 1 children are welcome to come in their PE kit on a Tuesdays if they would like to. 

Children will still have access to resources to help them develop physically such as riding wheeled equipment, playing with a variety of games equipment and making and using obstacle courses. 

A quick reminder to parents if you haven’t already, if your child would like milk please register at www.coolmilk.com. Under fives receive free milk!

Mrs Hudson will be teaching on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday morning each week. Mrs McMahon will be teaching on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays each week.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mrs McMahon & Mrs K Hudson  - Foundation Stage Teachers

                                  Miss L Boothe - Foundation Stage Teaching Assistant                                     

What are we learning about during our Summer Term 2024? 

What a Wonderful World,  Life Cycles, Gardens and Growing!

This term we will be noticing what is happening in the natural world around us. We will be learning about recycling and why it is important. We will be learning about gardens and why we garden. We will continue to learn about growing things and the life cycles of plants and animals. 

Spring 2 2024 - Transport & Easter

The lambs came for a visit! 

Thank you so much to The Bough family for this amazing experience for the children. 

Our Easter Gardens

Transport Models using our junk modelling materials

Spring 1 2024 - Winter, Hot & Cold, Chinese New Year & Our School Value- Courage

What a lot to fit into the shortest half term of the year!

We have already begun to look closely at Winter, and are enjoying noticing the changes in our weather and nature around us. 

We love singing and learning new songs and really enjoy singing The Months of the Year song. 

Here it is! 

Some children have used the class ipad and taken photographs of the signs of Winter. Here we can see a little bit of snow, the sky, and Maisie all wrapped up warm in sensible clothes for Winter weather.

We've been enjoying learning more about numbers and matching amounts to numerals. 

In RE we have been learning about VIP's. We have talked about why Christians believe God and Jesus to be very important, and have shared special stories, such as the Good Samaritan, to help us understand why.

We have been learning all about melting and freezing this half term. As well as observing our water freezing outside in the really cold weather, and then helping it melt in different ways,  we have also been making other things freeze and melt. 

Here we are melting some jelly cubes. Mrs Jackson helped us melt the jelly cubes with hot water. We learnt that the jelly needed to go into the fridge, it needed cooling in order to set and be ready to eat. 

We enjoyed checking if the jelly has set! 

Autumn 2 2023 - Celebrations & Festivals

We learnt about different celebrations that take place during this time of year, why we celebrate and how we celebrate in different ways.

We were asked to make a Poppy Wreath for Remembrance Sunday. We talked about why it is important to remember all the people who were and are involved in conflict round the world. 

Mrs Wass took our wreath to Ollerton for the Remembrance Service along with some of our children. 

We are always in the look out for signs of the different seasons. As we passed through Autumn and approached Winter we explored and played with a range of natural objects, such as conkers, leaves and pine cones. 

We learnt about Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light. We read the story of Rama and Sita and learnt how it is about the triumph of light over darkness and new beginnings. 

We found out that lots of lights are used in the celebration and the special lamps are called Diva Lamps. We made our own lamps out of play-doh. 

We used brightly coloured material to dress up in traditional Hindu dress and watched some videos about how Hindus celebrate with parties and special food. 

We had a great time celebrating Christmas! We were very lucky to be able to take part in many different craft experiences with the help of the 'Friends of Kneesall'. 

Here we are making our Christmas decorations and gift bags.

We had a great time celebrating Christmas and learning the true meaning of the special time. 

We shared the Nativity story and tried hard to remember the sequence of events to help us retell it.

We did so well performing our Nativity alongside Class 1 for all our parents and carers. 

Autumn Term 1 2023 - Me and My World

This topic supports children with settling into the new rules and routines of school and encourages them to make new friends and feel confident in their class. It teaches children about being helpful, kind and thoughtful at home and at school, with a particular focus on kindness as one of our School Values. This topic also teaches children how they are unique and special, the importance of friendship and how people in their family, school and local community are important and can help them. 

We have been busy settling into our Foundation Stage and we are learning our new routines well.

We know that when we hear 'Team Stop' and see a grown up's hand up we stop what we are doing and listen carefully. 

We are getting to know all our friends in Foundation and a being very kind and helpful. We are being very courageous and trying lots of different activities on our own and with our friends. We have a lot of faith in our own abilities and we always try our best. 

We try and remember our school values of kindness, courage and faith and this helps us have a really happy time together.

In RE we were talking about where we belong. We talked about our families, our school and our class. While we were talking about our Foundation Stage, we decided to give ourselves a new name this term. Together we talked about the Foundation One and Two children, and wanted better names for each group. We talked about the difference between the two groups of children and after some discussion and a vote we have decided to call the Foundation One children Caterpillars and the Foundation Two children Butterflies.  We thought that the younger children were a bit like caterpillars, growing, learning and changing, and the older children were also growing and learning, but were ready to spread their wings and show the 'Caterpillars' how to behave and flourish. 

We have been reading and sharing lots of stories. We have been talking about who we are and what makes us us! 

We have enjoyed sharing these books.