Welcome to the Upper Foundation Stage 2023/24

World Book Day

For world book day the children were very excited to take part in a broad range of reading challenges across the school. The children built dens to read in, made a musical soundtrack for a book, read books in fancy dress costumes, completed a reading treasure hunt to unlock the treasure chest as well as read and recreated a revolting recipe. The children were also very lucky to have the author Jane Newberry visit them to talk part in an interactive and engaging rhyme workshop. The children got to use lots of exciting props as she told rhymes from her book 'Big Green Crocodile'. There were big smiles all round from the children and lots of them returned back to the class saying 'This is the best day ever!'. We hope the children continue this enthusiasm for books and reading at home. 

Forest School

The Explorer Dome 

The children in Red classes had a very exciting visit from the Explorer Dome.  After crawling through a dark tunnel, they entered the enormous dome where they watched a multi-sensory show about planet Earth containing lights, sounds, smells and even a bit of ice and rain! They were told about some of the environments, habitats and animals that live on our planet. Can your child tell you something exciting that they learnt about in the Explorer Dome? What did they see? What did they smell?  Maybe they can remember something about the rainforest or the desert? Can they tell you the types of animals that live in very cold places and how they stay warm? It was a fun and fascinating experience for all. 

Here are a few quotes from the children:

“The North Pole is very cold.”

“The desert is very hot and very dry.”

“It’s wet in the rainforest and very hot.”

“About all the rubbish. It was very stinky.”

“Penguins live on the ice.”

“There was a camel in the desert.”

“Penguins live at the South Pole.”

“I remember scorpions live in the desert and they sleep until it’s night time. They wake up when it’s dark. They’re nocturnal. I enjoyed being the seal.”

“I loved the snow and getting wet in the rain."

"There were so many trees in the rainforest." 

Oden the Great Dane visits Red classes

On Friday 21^st We had a visit from Mrs Hume’s Great Dane ‘Oden’. The children asked some great questions so we learnt lots about him and how to care for a rather large dog. We learnt that Oden was 2 years old and weighs 74kg which is about the same at 5 reception children. He drinks water. Has 3 beds and sits on the sofa. He likes to play with a rugby ball and other toys. He has 2 meals a day and 2 walks. We were amazed at the how much Oden had grown when we compared his collar from when he was a puppy to now.

‘He’s got a black and white body. White feet and black body. His tongue is pink’ – Aniyah

‘He drink water’ – Ruan

‘He is so big.’ – Evie

‘I learned about him. He was sick. He wasn’t allowed milk’ – Alice

‘He was 2 years old’ – Lukas

‘He was 74 kilos. 5 children (heavy)’ – William

‘He’s bigger than me’ - Matilda

‘He has long legs that were white and a little bit black. He has 3 beds-1 was downstairs’ - Josephine

‘He had a long tongue’ - Xavier

‘His paws were big’ - Emi

‘He had 2 foods a day-breakfast and tea’ - Jack

‘He has dog biscuits to eat’ - Casey

‘He is 2 years old and when he was a puppy he had to wear a small red collar’ - Evelyn

Mini beast hunt

For our ‘’Stunning Start’’ we went on a Mini-beast hunt in our forestry area. The children made their own binoculars to search for the creatures and went exploring with their clipboards. We discussed the mirco-habitat that mini-beasts live in and where it would be best to search for them. We were lucky enough to discover worms, beetles, woodlice, centipedes, slugs and baby snails. The children were very excited and recorded their findings with observational drawings and labels.

Art Festival

Red classes have had a great time exploring different artists this week during our art festival. We looked at Matisse and how he paints with long sticks and also Van Gough with his impressionism in the art work 'Starry night'. After looking at these techniques we had a go at exploring them ourselves. 

'I liked painting with the sticks with the bumpy wall' Belle

'I liked painting with the lines because it was fun' Caleb

'I touched the wall on top when I was painting with the stick'

'It was fun' Aniyah

'I liked the stars on the starry night' Alice

'When I made the ocean it was different colours' William

The Gingerbread Man visits China!

The Gingerbread Man visited China this week. We have started learning about some of the famous landmarks in China such as the Great Wall of China and Mount Everest. We have been busy using our construction, loose parts and small world areas to create our versions of these landmarks. We have also looked at how life in China is different to life in the UK. We were interested to learn that in China, children have to learn to write symbols rather than letters. We have been recreating some of these symbols using glitter and paint.

The Gingerbread Man visits Africa! 

We received a postcard from the Gingerbread Man this week telling us that he has travelled on an aeroplane all the way to Africa! He told us that it was very hot there and asked us to find out some interesting facts about Africa. We have started exploring Africa using Google Maps and looked at some of the landmarks that are found in Africa such as the Pyramids, Mount Kilimanjaro and Table Mountain. We discussed similarities and differences that we noticed between the Maasai Tribe’s lives and houses and our own lives and houses. We are also enjoying investigating African artefacts and which materials are magnetic and why. We listened to some African music and discussed how it made us feel. We then listened to music that we would hear in our day to day lives and compared the two. After that, we created our own music using a range of African Drums. 

The 3 Little Pigs visit the outdoor area!

We have started learning the story of the 3 Little Pigs this week. We discovered something peculiar in our outdoor area on Monday morning. There was a pile of straw, sticks and some bricks. After hunting for clues, we decided that the remains must have been from the 3 Little Pigs' houses that had, sadly, been blown down by the Big Bad Wolf. We discussed why the straw and stick houses fell down easily and what would be needed to make a strong and stable house. We have started designing and making our own strong houses in the outdoor area and have been busy exploring how we can join different construction materials together to make sure they are sturdy enough to withstand being blown down! 

Exploring Autumn 

We received another challenge from the Gingerbread Man in our letter this week. He mentioned that he had noticed the leaves changing colour and that it was getting colder. He needed us to find out about the changes that happen during Autumn and send him a letter back with our findings. We went on an Autumn hunt to discover some of the signs of Autumn and used our phonics to write our findings down. A local postman came in to talk to us about what happens when you post a letter and how it gets to its end destination. After this, we put our findings about Autumn into a large envelope with the Gingerbread Man's address and a stamp and took it to the post box. We hope that the Gingerbread Man receives our letters and we look forward to hearing more about his adventures. 

The Gingerbread Man celebrates Bonfire Night and Diwali 

The letter we received from the Gingerbread Man this week told us that he was looking forward to watching some fireworks for Bonfire Night and celebrating Diwali with a Hindu family in London. We learnt that Diwali is the festival of lights and when celebrating, Hindu's will decorate their houses with things such as lights, Rangoli Patterns and Diya pots and share delicious food with family and friends. We made our own Diya pots using clay. We also learnt about how to stay safe when watching fireworks and holding sparklers. 

The Gingerbread Man visits London 

We've had a busy few weeks in the Red classes since the Gingerbread Man ran away. He has travelled to London and has sent us lots of letters explaining the types of things he has been exploring. We enjoyed learning about the features and landmarks of London and comparing London to Callington. We found the London Underground particularly fascinating. He first told us that it was very busy in London with lots of cars and people and set us the challenge of finding out who helps to keep us safe in the community. We were lucky enough to have a visit from the Callington Tri-Safety Officer who taught us about staying safe.

The Gingerbread Man Runs Away!

After learning to retell the story of The Gingerbread Man we were very surprised to find out that our class gingerbread man had decided to run away! He left us a letter to explain and a video of him escaping. He has decided to go travelling and find out about the world around him. His first stops were the school and Callington town. We are learning so much about the landmarks, places and people he visits and can't wait to see where he visits next!

Our First Week of School

We have had a fantastic first week of school; we have been busy settling in, making new friends and exploring our new environments. Our teachers have been super proud of the way that we have adapted to all of the big changes and taken everything in our stride. 

During our Busy Bee time this week, we have been using our new playdoh stations, creating designs and structures in our construction areas, exploring our loose parts tables and enjoying reading some new books in our reading corners. Outside, we have been busy using pipes in the water area to see how we can make the water travel in different ways, we have been dressing up and role playing doctors and patients and we have really enjoyed building paths and roads to balance on.  

Here are some quotes from the children about their time at school:

"I liked building a house with the magnet things."

"I liked playing in the doctors because we fix people."

"I'm building tall towers. I'm going to make this one bigger than that one." 

2020-2021

Our Fantastic Finish!

We have been busy this week harvesting our crops, designing and labelling our salad plans, cutting, peeling, grating and finally eating our salads.  

Our Learning in our words...

"I've been enjoying making pictures, I used pencils to do flowers" - Amy

"I liked looking for bugs and making a bug hotel, we found woodlouse and lots of spiderwebs" - Aiden

"Miss Stainer has been teaching us a car game and for each letter we called the name of it when the speedy car went to it" - Fletcher

"I liked doing our assembly, I liked speaking to the computer and getting the Blue Book certificate" - Cooper

"I liked our assembly, I liked it when we all cheered at the end!" - Matilda

Our week in our words...

"I liked playing in the building site, we built a big house and a maze and there was a dog. There was a garage with a magic car in it. We used loads of blocks, we stacked them up and the carpet was the floor" - Akira

"I was playing in the building site and I was making a house for a little baby, I used hard bricks because it didn't fall over" - Maisie

"I liked making a necklace for Mrs Stainer in the creative area" - Hattie

"I liked playing ball, we were trying to throw them and catch them" - Jermey

"I liked finding spiders with Cooper, we found a tiny spider, it had long legs" - Jack B

Our learning in our words.....

"I liked playing on the adventure playground, I liked all of the things!" - Hattie

"I liked playing on the adventure because I liked playing on the surf board dong a song, wibble wobble jelly on the plate" - Paddy

"I liked playing on the computer with Paddy, we were playing the zoo, vets and then we baked a cake" - Akira

"I was enjoying playing in the maths area with Amelia, we was making colours in a rainbow" - Nate

"First I builded a square, the I attached it to my 2 by 2 rectangle, then I put a stick on it and it was a train" - Freddie

"We were trying to double things, and we needed to face each other, we got a number in between 1 and 10 and we tried to double them, we did double dinosaurs or counters. We got a number then our carpet buddy got the same number of things and it was double" - Kitty-Rose

BREAKING NEWS!

A Beanstalk has grown in the Upper Foundation Stage outdoor area! This shocking event was discovered after assembly time when we received a letter from Jack (and the Beanstalk). Jack told us that he had dropped some magic beans by accident in the outdoor area and that an enormous beanstalk grew over night. he even sent us a video to see how it grew through the ground in the outdoor area. Luckily, Jack's mother was on hand with an axe to chop the beanstalk and Jack rectified his mistake by helping Mr Aspen to clean up the mess it made. As an offer of apology, Jack left us all some magic beans to eat. He did explain that the beans had lost their magic but were very scrumptious to eat.  We've been busy news reporting on the event all day. Details to follow shortly. 

                                      Our Learning - Week of 14/06/2021

This week we have been learning the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We've been busy retelling the story in lots of ways in great detail and in our own words. Using the Forest School area, small worlds and construction resources we have used our imaginations to bring the story to life. 

Our class caterpillars are changing already with many of them forming a hard chrysalis. We have been talking about these changes lots and our scientific vocabulary is being deepened as we revisit each week. 

We have been investigating how primary colours can be mixed with paint and noting down our findings like artists and scientists.

In Maths, we are consolidating our knowledge of numbers to 10. We are using a variety of resources to represent 1-10 and are using mathematical vocabulary to talk about our representations. 

In Phonics, we have begun Phase 4 of our learning. We are revising the graphemes: 

              ai, ee, igh,  oa and the Tricky Word 'out'

This time round, our emphasis is on reading and writing words which contain adjacent consonants and a wider range of words. E.g. strain or draining.

                                             Our Learning in OUR Words

"The caterpillars have gone and stuck on to the lid with their sticky webs. they have sticky legs and they build a cocoon and  then they will hatch into a beautiful butterfly." -Kitty- Rose

"Lochlain and me were building. Making the beanstalk using sticks." - Harry

"I enjoyed looking at the caterpillars and one was curling up." - Amy

"I liked making the beanstalk with Fletcher and Akira. I found a stick and it looked like a harp and I found a stone and that stone looked a bit like a chicken." - Paddy

"I was making 2 and did 2 dinosaurs, I did 2 blue ones. 2 and 2 makes 4." - Jack B

"I liked the maths. I was drawing 6. I drawed 2 and four makes 6." - Cooper

"I really enjoyed playing outside. I liked playing ball with Nate. We can only use one ball and take in turns to catch the ball." - William

"I found out that blue and red make purple because I put them together." - Mika

"I'm proud that I made mixing colours. I made purple, green and orange." - Jake

"I liked playing in the small world and making a house." - Lucas P

"I liked going on the adventure playground. I went on a slide and it was really fun." - Alfie

"I made a castle. I use paper rolls, paper, lids and a box and sticked together with tape." - Millie

Our Learning in OUR Words

"We were making a track for the balls to go down, we put another bit on it and it made it bigger and now you put it on the top and it rolls down to the bucket to catch it" - Harry

"I've been playing in construction, we made a soft play. I used mens, shells and made a tower, a slide, a waterfall, it was good" - Lily-Jane

"I liked playing in the small world and we were doing something with the dragonflies. My idea was to put their food under so they could store it, I didn't have a dragon fly. In my season it was winter and they stored their food." - Paddy

"I liked playing in the small world. I had the tree and I used the cotton wool for their food. They ate it and then they grew into a butterfly." - Cooper

"I did the shapes (using triangles). I didn't just do one. I did lots. I did a square and a rectangle and a triangle." - Maisie

"I liked making a rectangle on the paint table. I closed the page and it made the same rectangle on the other side." - Logan

"I liked making squares and triangles in Maths. When we had 4 triangles, we made a rectangle."- Renesmee

" I liked drawing my letters in phonics and I like learning." - Atilla 

                                 Our Learning this Week 24/05/21

This week we have been observing the changes which have taken place with our class tadpoles. We are now experts at talking about the different stages of their life cycles because we have kept our eagle eyes on their growth over time. We have been strengthening our gross and fine motor skills whilst learning how to join and attach different woodwork resources. It takes a lot of concentration to tighten tiny nuts and bolts. 

In Maths, we are focussing on 'taking away'. Through telling mathematical stories we have been able to talk about what 'taking away means' and the impact it has on a number. We have been mastering this concept in lots of ways including by retelling pictorial subtraction stories, drawing our own and using number tracks to see subtraction in a different way. 

We have continued to tend to the needs of our fruit and vegetables which are growing away despite a VERY rainy few weeks. Today we harvested a radish and were amazed at what the tiny seed had developed into. We have applied our strengthened phonic skills to write more labels and signs to give people information about our growing produce. 

                                         Our Learning in OUR Words

"When I was playing with the letters (Alphablocks). I couldn't find a 'ur' so we tried to find a 'u and a r' so we could make 'ur'." - Kitty-Rose

"I liked it when I was in the construction area. I builded a tadpole pond." - Aiden 

"I liked sitting on the bench at run around time and I liked to be outside all day." - Jeremy

"We actually found out that when the plants didn't have any sun we have to investigate some plants and they didn't have any sun or water." - William

Our Learning This Week - 17/05/21

This week, we have been learning about the amazing jobs bees do to help plants and flowers. These tiny creatures have been the topic of talk in the bee hive small world and during our play.  We have been making posters to put up around the school to help people to understand why bees are important and thought of some great reasons why they are. We have continued to tend to the needs of the different plants in our class garden and are noticing so many more changes already. 

In Maths, we have been exploring 'adding more' onto lots of different amounts. We have been retelling mathematical stories where different amounts are added on and then talking about what has happened at each stage. E.g. First there were 4 chicks. Then 2 more chicks hatched. Now there are 6 chicks. 

In Phonics, we are revising the phonemes:

oo oo ar  and or

As we progress through phonics we are reading increasingly more difficult words with 'adjacent consonants' and more syllables such as 'gardening' or 'starlight'.

Our Learning in OUR Words

"I liked the bees because they fly around. I made a little bee house out out the egg (carton)." - Akira

"I was doing tricky words (in chalk outside)." - Amelia

"Once the bees were collecting nectar from the flowers in the small world." - Jack H

"I was paying for things (in the garden centre). Flowers and pots." - Nate

"I made a bee, I used ribbon and pipe cleaners to make the wings" - Mika

"I liked making up my snakes game with Nate, If you got a six you missed a turn, if you got a 1 you needed to go back to the start" - Paddy

"I made a bee and I liked making the stripes" - Akira

"I liked when I was doing the math area, I counted the numbers but there was a number missing, it was 13" - Maisie

                                               Our Learning this Week

This week we have further investigated the parts of a plant in lots of experiential ways. We have been busy using lots of new words such as 'stem' and 'roots'  when we observe them and have been busy chatting about the changes which have taken place with the plants we have been growing in school. 

We have noticed that a key part of plants and trees are their leaves. In Forest Schools we have been busy looking for lots of leaves and are now experts at talking about the similarities and differences between them. 

In Maths, we have been strengthening our spatial awareness. We have been spotting 2D shapes in lots of orientations and as the week progresses will use our positional vocabulary and reasoning to make matching models, spot odd models out and explore the positioning of the different part. 

In Phonics, we are revising the letter sounds:

                         ai      ee     igh      oa    

                                             Our Learning in OUR Words

"I liked playing on the bouncy hoppers, it was fun having a race" - Lochlain

"I liked playing on the bouncy hoppers too, I liked making a course for my friends" - Cooper

"Me and Amy and Mika were making a REALLY long link chain and we used all of the chain it went circle, circle, triangle, circle, circle, triangle again and again" - Kitty-Rose

"Sorting all the dinosaurs and animals with Jack H. We were putting the dinosaurs in their right colour straight lines." - Paddy

"I liked doing the forest school. I liked doing the leaf hunt. I found a leaf that Paddy found ( a fern). I found one the same." - Cooper

"I liked playing outside with the wheelbarrow getting all of the cement." - Amy

"I want tell Mummy and Daddy that when it's tidy up time I will tidy the whole class. Over there I was drawing. " - Fletcher

"I enjoyed when I was playing with the bands. I was making shapes with Miss Slemon. I made a square and a house" - Freddie

"First I chose a ginormous flower and then I chose a tiny flower. I did some labels about the leaves and the stems. I found out that on the stem I saw a little bit of a pink bit." - Matilda

"Jack did a treasure hunt for me. You could find all the letter and there was letters on the floor." - Harry

Our Learning This Week - 26th April 2021

This week we are learning the story of The Enormous Turnip. We have been busy retelling the story with actions and lots of expression. We have been designing our own 'turnip farms' using loose parts, forest school objects and using junk to make giant vegetables. Using lots of different vegetables, we have been exploring the different ways we can make printed marks.  In Maths, we have been learning about 'teen' numbers and how they can be represented using a tens frame. Using our super subitising skills, we have found out how to represent each number using 'ten' and then worked out how many ones we need to create the rest of the number. We will continue to explore this all week, using different resources.

In Phonics we are revising the phonemes:

                                       y    z    zz  qu 

We will practise applying these to sentences and words with more than one syllable

    Our Learning in OUR Words

"Today, I made a giant tomato. I made it with red, flat tissue paper. " - Jessica

"We learnt a story about a giant turnip. It grew and grew and grew." - Isabella

" I actually had to pull the turnip 4 times before it went pop." - William

Fantastic Finish Spring term!

Our fantastic beasts puppet shows

Our Learning this Week    2/3/2021

This week, we have read the book 'Flip Flap Pets'. It's a fantastic book where you can mix up the bodies of different animals. This has inspired some great drawings and models of 'mixed' up animals and some very combinations of animals features!

We have also been very busy choosing our favourite animals we have learned about for the topic. We will be designing our own puppets to create a puppet show. We have had to think hard about the features of each animal puppet and how to create those using pipe cleaners. Soon we will record a video of our puppets and finally we will have a film premier of our puppet shows for our FANTASTIC FINISH. 

This week in phonics, we are focussing on 

                                      air        ure   and      er     

                                      Our Learning in OUR Words

"I like it because it was sunny outside so I thought we could do the show." - Maisie

"When I was playing with the magnetic things (tiles)." - Freddie

"I enjoyed making the tickets for everyone at the show and making up stories for them." - Jack H

"I was doing drawings over there. Of my family."  Harry

Our Learning this week - 22.03.21

In Phonics we are revising Phase 3 and are learning the phonemes:

                                                         ur   ow   oi   ear

We started this week in a big way! After reading the story 'The Smartest Giant in Town', we were surprised to find some enormous items of clothing in our outdoor area. After some detective work, we came to the conclusion that this could only be the clothing of the kind giant in the story. We have been busy writing and putting up 'Lost and Found' posters around the area to help reunite the giant with his clothing. We love how kind and generous the giant is so have also spent some time making him some big new clothes and creating a house for him to live in. What a great way to get 'hooked into a book'. 

In maths, we are exploring 3D shapes including those which we see around us everyday. We are learning to talk about their features and properties and will progress onto constructing our own 3D shapes as the week progresses. 

                                             Our Learning in OUR Words

"We are posting the giant letters." - Mika

"The thing I liked is that we writed letters to the giant and we writed 'oi' (in phonics)." - William

"I found a shape with rectangles (a cuboid)." - Nate

"I found a large pipe. Cylinders have a round face and circles." - Jack H

"I remembered when we got the big giant's letter." - Fletcher

"I made a cube and a cuboid. I used sticks." - Hattie

"My favourite thing was Theo in the small world and the friendly giant." - Isaac

"I found some shapes, a cuboid, a cube and a sphere." - Reuben

"I was finding some shapes. I found a sphere." - Jake

"When they are grown, they come above water and jump on lily pads." - Ethan

"I think we could use his sock for a hopping race (sack race)." - Jeremy

"We found the giant clothes. He might have thought it was a washing place."  - Freddie

"We found a giant top and socks." - Matilda

"We made an ice cream café with a cone, squares and a cuboid." - Jack H

Our Learning this week - 15.03.21

In Phonics we are revising Phase 3 and are learning the phonemes:

                                                         oo oo ar or

We have had a great start to our week in UFS - we are exploring the animals of cold climates, thinking about their habitats, what makes these animals special, how we can move around the frozen landscapes and so much more - keep checking back to see what the children say about their learning each day.

                                             Our Learning in OUR Words

What Have We Been up to in Week 4?

This week, an unwelcome mess was left by a mystery villain. The outdoor area was completely wrecked. Upon further inspection, we spotted lots of very big paw prints and some little pieces of fur. Using our 'Slinky Linky Snake' skills we realised that this could only be the work of the Big, Bad Wolf. 

Quickly we set to designed traps to capture him, drawing wanted posters and searching for mysterious clues around the area. 

Rather surprisingly, we received a letter On Wednesday which was from the Big Bag Wolf. He was ever so sad about what he had done and has decided to turn over a new leaf and become a kind wolf. 

In Maths we have been busy creating simple patterns using lost of different resources. In Phonics, we have been learning the Phonemes:

 i         n        m      d

Week 4 in OUR Words

" We found a massive pile of logs. The wolf escaped and ran into the shed." - Ruben

"The Big Bad Wolf came and left footprints." - Logan

"I saw some more footprints on the bottom. I didn't hear any banging or howling." - Tahlia

"The wolf's put footprints and the fur outside!"  Paddy

"I made a trap for The Big Bad Wolf to fall in." Maisie

"Big Bad Wolf. He made all the mess!" Freddie

"We was looking for clues." Aiden

"I loved finding the clues. The footprints." William

"We learnt to do 'i'." Matilda

This week in Phonics we are learning to recognise the phonemes:

                                              s   a    t        and        p

Our Learning in OUR Words this Week...

" I played with the snake. It was for the sound sssssss" - Jake

" I galloped like a horse in the hall." - Isabella

"I was building the blocks. I was building a house" - Madison

" I liked it when my heart was beeping because I was going so fast!" - Laurence

" I ran as fast as I can like Cat Boy" - Lucas S

" I played the Three Little Pigs." - Theo

" I liked it when The Big Bad Wolf huffed and puffed and blew the little piggies house down" - Jessica

"I played Three Little Pigs. I did some hiding from the wolf." - Finlay

"I played with the wooden pigs in the wooden bocks in the wooden houses" - Logan

"We were making a house with the blocks" - Ethan

" I picked up noodles. They are hard to pick up." - Millie

"I liked reading books. We read about people and things." - Tahlia

"Building a pig house." - Isaac

"I liked when the wolf burnt his bottom. On the fire!"    William

"I liked the wolf burning his bottom too!"  Lochlain

"I liked the water outside. I've been making hot chocolate with Lilly-Jane by making water and putting jewels and leaves and then everyone liked them and we put them in the oven to bake."   Maisie

"I liked playing with those stuffs (Aiden is pointing at the object sorting table). You sort them out. " Aiden

"I liked when we could see the smoke coming off the wolf!"   Paddy

"We were doing medicine (in the town role play). We drawed it (on a prescription sheet)."  Cooper

"We made a soup." Jack 

"I liked doing sticky cement to make a forest"  Jack

"I liked painting different lines (outdoors) "  Kitty

"I liked playing with the balls outside and then putting them inside the nets."  Jeremy

"I've been playing with the letters and sounds and then I been playing with the Alphablocks and in the house The Town." Hattie

'' We done a monkey but we didn't do a racing car '' (Travelling in PE) Fletcher

''We went to the hall and we dis giraffes and monkeys (PE) and I maked pictures for my Mummy and Daddy'' Matilda

''William and me were playing together in the water'' Nate

''I liked the 3 little pigs'' Amy 

--- 2020/2021 ---

What a fantastic 1st day in UFS! 

It has been a delight to get to know your children just a little better today, to watch them forming new friendships, enjoy old ones and come together as a class.

We will post regular updates both here and via Twitter so keep checking back and follow us on Twitter @CallingtonPS 

Hello 2020/21 starters, family and friends!

We are so excited to welcome you to school on Monday the 7th of September - if you would like to pop in and say hello before that we will be here on Thursday (3rd) and Friday (4th) so you can meet your teacher, visit your classroom and have a look around the school. 

If you have any questions please do send us an email at ufs@callingtonprimary.co.uk 

----  2019/20  ----

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to all our children and their families.

We have had a wonderful term in Red 1 & Red 2 - we count ourselves very lucky to be a part of your child's first year of school and see their development in that time.

This week we have celebrated all our learning during the Creature Comforts topics with the creation of hybrid animals - we then put on a exhibition for our big buddies before going to a Christmas party they planned for us! 

Enjoy the photos - a selection of the last few weeks.

Its been a brilliant couple of week in UFS! 

There has been so much happening, from Busy Bees to Daily Miles, House Team meetings and voting for our captains, yoga, phonics, numeracy, reading, writing, drawing, painting, constructing, making music to match emotions, whole school assemblies and so much more!

Here are a few pictures for you to talk about with your little ones :)

Welcome to our 2019/20 intake!

We have had a fantastic start to the children's school learning journey - friendships are blossoming, ideas are flowing and we really enjoyed our topic 'Stunning Start' of a minibeast hunt. 

In these first weeks the children have also....

Enjoyed whole class phonics, alliteration, rhyming and identifying initial sounds. Developed our math skills in counting, adding and reasoning. We have become Busy Bees, including using the Busy Bee camera to capture creations. Making independent choices and applying learning characteristics to activities, becoming choosing chimps, I know Rhinos, Go For It Gorillas, Slinky Linky Snakes... ask your child which stickers they have got and why.

The children have run over 100 laps of the daily mile, created waterways, drawn masterpieces in the art studio, made insects, read books, role payed in the pet shop, built houses, castles, trains, bug hotels and so much more. 

This is just a snapshot of a few weeks, just imagine what the children will have learnt and experienced by the end of year 6 in 2026!

(check back for more photos as we receive your child's admission form which includes GDPR consents)

----  2018/19  ----

We have had a wonderful year in UFS!

We are so proud of the children moving up to year 1 in September - every single child has grown so much over the year in so many wonderful ways. Here are just a few of the photos from this half term where the children were able to harvest the produce from the seeds they planted in our stunning start and create delicious meals. Have a wonderful summer Red 1 & Red 2... see you in Blue 1 & Blue 2 in September!

What a wonderful half term!

It couldn't be better, amazing children, wonderful weather - perfect for out Let It Grow topic.

This week has been all about bees - from the collection of nectar to construction of hives and the scientific names for the parts of a bee - our topic vocabulary this week has included... pollen, pollination, thorax, abdomen, antenna, community, growth, hive... just tonnage a few - ask your child about our topic words.

Our seeds are also growing almost as fast as the children's knowledge, characters and achievements, phonics learning is abundant in fantastic writing, planning, labelling, creating which the children create every day and mathematical language and reasoning for money, 2D & 3D shapes, ordering and categorising can be heard across all our activities - it has been a privilege to see the children using their developing knowledge through play and group activities over this half term, we can't wait for our final half term with Red 1 & 2 of 2018/2019.

Let It Grow!

This term in UFS our topic is 'Let It Grow' - our stunning start was planting beans, sunflowers, rocket, radishes,  which will 'grow' with the children throughout this term, providing us with learning opportunities through to the summer and changes to track in our Plant Diaries. We hope that by the end of the term we will have grown our very own summer salad!

Along side our planting we are exploring the environment that plants need, size and measure (with some help from James and the Giant Peach and Jack and the Beanstalk), 3D shapes, expanding phonetic knowledge and enjoying our new Battle of the Books Books - Thank you to our PSA!

The children have even used Ipads (again thank you to our PSA) to write the story of Jack and The Beanstalk, becoming illustrators and narrators - we hope you enjoy the pictures and stories.

Equality & Diversity Day

Today the children were exploring toys and gender - we had great discussions about toys, why we think these might be for boys or girls and gender stereotyping of toys. We used a variety of toys and well know shops catalogues to promote conversation, to explore the ideas children had about who should have which toys and 'sort' the toys. In the end the children decided that everyone could play with toys because "toys are toys" and "toys shouldn't have labels because everyone can play with toys".

Our journey around the world, so far...

Over the past few weeks the children have learnt about the culture, cuisine, geography, traditions, landmarks of China, Australia, France, Italy and Africa. The childrens learning has inspired their play, conversation, vocabulary, writing and Red 1's 1st class assembly. They have been using their increasing phonic knowledge to produce some amazing writing and exciting designs and taken part in group discussions, taking turn, voicing opinions and debating questions such as 'should girls and boys have to wear different clothes?'.

We have enjoyed every moment this half term and can't wait to see everyone after the break to continue our learning journey around the world! 

Around the World in 60 Days ~ Our Stunning Start ~

For our Stunning Start we went on an adventure around the world. We got to explore the different cultures, music, cuisine and artefacts from a selection of countries and continents dotted around the globe.

Quotes from the day: 'You go in an airplane to Greece, it's a long way'.

'You use chopsticks to eat food in China'.

'In England we have police cars and double-decker buses'.

'I don't want to eat snails!' (we explored French cuisine).

'Mmm, this pitta bread tastes better than chocolate!' (Greek cuisine).

'You need a hat it's so hot in Greece'.

'I liked Hawaii, it's where Lilo and Stitch are from'. 

'I know this is Australia because they got these hats to keep the flies away'.

We have learnt lots about what makes countries different from ours and we can't wait to explore them further throughout the rest of the topic!

Celebrations Galore!

Not only have we been exploring cultural celebrations such a Diwali, All Hallows' Eve, Armistice and Guy Folks Night through  whole class, group and Busy Bee activities, we have celebrated the amazing ideas, crafts, phonics, tricky words, writing, segmenting and blending, kindness, resourcefulness, perseverance and growth in so many areas! We are so proud of the children - we hope these pictures show the fun they've had whilst learning.

Forest School!

What an amazing day - the children explored our forest school area taking part in activities which inclined problem solving, team work, use of tools, painting, looking after our environment, using natural resources to create artwork and of course a fire complete with toasted marshmallows and hot chocolate. We hope you enjoy the pictures.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

The children have been exploring our topic over the first half term - including learning all about our topic words such as reptile, amphibian, ferocious, habitat to name just a few - ask your child about the amazing and interesting vocabulary we have been learning. 

Of course there has also been... Phonics, Numeracy, PE, exploring, building, Busy Bees, planning, writing and so much more - have a look at our photos to see more.

Welcome to Red 1 & 2! 

We are so proud of the fantastic start the children have made in Upper Foundation Stage (UFS) and are loving getting to know all of them. 

Our topic this term is 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them' - where we will be exploring all things animal from the smallest mini beasts to the biggest whales and anywhere our imaginations take us in the process. Here are just a few pictures of our learning so far....

---- 2017/18 ----

The Super Heroes of Red 1 & 2!

The last few weeks we have been visited by real life heroes, by Super Potato, Sandman, Spiderman and woman by Superman, Superwoman, Batman, Wonder Woman and so many more, plus all our mini heroes in Red 1 and 2 have been there too.

There have also been lots of exciting new resources and activities in our outdoor areas where the children are now making discoveries though play in physics, engineering, understanding of the world, maths, literacy, physical development and loving every moment (us too!)

As we head into the final weeks of UFS we can see the amazing progress the children have made, they are amazing creative, thoughtful, helpful, friendly children who have embraced our characteristics of learning and continue to be persevering parrots, choosing chips, I know rhinos, slinky links snakes, concentrating crocodiles and proud peacocks. Great work everyone!

What a heroic half term it has been!

The heroes of Red 1 & Red 2 have honed their super powers this half term - we have seen them grow in confidence, skill, outlook, knowledge, understanding and upwards too!

Well done all of you -  have a fantastic half term holiday.

We are all Heroes

Its been a very exciting few weeks in Red 1 and Red 2 exploring the topic of Heroes.

We have been learning all about fire fighters, lifeguards, coastguards, health care professionals through maths, literacy tasks, phonics, creative activities, discussion and play.

There has also been Red 1's 1st class assembly and sharing learning journeys with parents afterwards the daily mile, time with our buddies, library visits, PE... enjoy the photos.

Red Classes Stunning Start for their New Topic ‘Heroes’

When we arrived back in our classes, after assembly, we were shocked to find a crime scene in our outdoor area. Not only had someone broken into our classroom and stolen Miss Parker and Miss Pendleton’s lunch but they had also messed up the area. We spent the day being ‘real life heroes’ which entailed interrogating witnesses, searching for crumbs and clues and filling put crime reports. After completing all of the police officer tasks, we found out that the sneaky culprit was The Big, Bad Wolf who had found himself a little peckish. At the end of the day, he wrote a letter to apologise and tidied up overnight so all is forgiven! We can’t wait to find out more about the heroes, this term.

3,2,1, BLAST OFF!

What an amazing half term we have had exploring space..... The children have been launched rockets, astronauts, built jet packs, journeyed to the moon for picnics, to play spot with aliens and save the moon form terrible fires!

We have explored the planets in our solar system, thought about measure, weight, size and distance. There have been stories told, written and played out by all the children (and grown ups too). Along side this the children have worked really hard in phonics sessions, maths challenges, reading and writing - we are so proud of them all. It has been wonderful to see the children grow in character, skill, perseverance and confidence.

Have a fantastic Easter and we will see you on the 16th of April - from all of the UFS Team.

This week we have been looking at patterns in maths, in phonics we have learnt the sounds er, ure, air, ear and oi, diggers in our topic, Red 2 had their 1st class assembly and the sun came out - a brilliant week all round!

Bridges!

Continuing our 'Can We Fix It?' topic this week has been all about bridges - We have thought about what makes a good bridge - why porridge is "a really silly idea for a bridge Miss P!!!!"

We have thought about why bridges need to be strong, what they are used for and how we can design, construct and test our own bridges.

In phonics the children have learnt the digraphs oo, ow, or, ur and ar - the children have done a great job of using these in their writing throughout the week.

All this and PE, library time, buddy visits, assemblies, guided reading and lots more - ask your children what they have been up to.

Don’t forget - home learning stars are a huge part of your children's learning journey, we have sent some home today, we look forward to finding out all the amazing things your children have done at home.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to all our UFS children, families and friends.

We have a very exciting term planned starting with our new topic "Can We Fix It?"

 stunning starter on Monday where the children emerged themselves in a day of design, construction, team work and fun creating some fantastic structures and fascinating creations! Keep checking back to see photos, work, ideas and comments from your children - please ask them what they have been learning and keep the home learning stars coming, these are a huge part of your children learning journeys too, thank you.

Merry Christmas from everyone in UFS 

We have had a fantastic first term  - especially our forest school yesterday. Enjoy the holidays, have a very merry Christmas and we will see you all next year on Monday 8th January 2018!

Dartmoor Zoo!

We had a brilliant day, the kids were amazing, the animals were fascinating and the weather was glorious.

The zoo taught us about reptiles, mammals and birds, what they are, how they are different and what special characteristics they have. We also saw feeding of Meerkats, Coati, and Otters, even Santa's reindeer made an appearance. 

What a wonderful start to your children's school journey.

It has been a brilliant six weeks, the children have been amazing and hope they have a great half term holiday.

There has been so much happening this term and the children have grown so much already.

Enjoy the brief recap of our 1st half term in the pictures below (lots more pictures if you scroll down) and we look forward to sharing learning journeys with you at parents evening.

What a ROARSOME week!

We have continued our journey with the dinosaurs this week. Our prehistoric companions have been part of our phonics, maths, reading, movement, construction, design, creativity and so much more!

The children have shown fantastic perseverance in their learning this week, with all their effort resulting in some fantastic ideas, writing, pictures, creations, group work, counting, number recognition and phonics. 

Also this week we have started phonics sessions in smaller groups, the children have had their fist school photo and had the chance to exchange library books (this will happen every Thursday - remember to send in your child's library book each week).

Enjoy these pictures - there will be many more in your child learning journey to go alongside the home learning starts you send in from home which we share with our classes every day. (you can get spare copies from the classroom, the office or download them from the top of this page).

See you all next week. 

Dinosaur Roar!

This week we have been exploring and learning through the exciting world of dinosaurs. We have been... Designers creating a world for our dinosaurs to live in, then using our outdoor construction materials to build them. We have been investigators, measuring a range of dinosaurs using big and small cubes. There has been the opportunity to explore capacity through water tray play, mud kitchen activities and whole group maths. Phonics continues on a daily basis with the phase 2 sounds s, a, t, i, p, n learnt in whole group sessions and reinforced through play, phonics bingo, sound washing lines, writing story books, and playdoh!  Plus so much more........ 

Crazy Creatures... A special guest!

Today the children were treated to a visit from Rocky the tortoise. He was a fantastic guest, he took his time (lots of it) to walk around and met all the children who were keen to ask questions about Rocky and give him a stroke.

The children were fantastic, asking very good questions such as 

"What food does he eat?"

"Can he climb trees?"

"how long does he sleep for?"

Alongside our special guest the children explored the activities both inside and outside the classrooms designed to encourage exploration, physical development, phonic knowledge, creativity, communication and much much more.

Enjoy the pictures and please do ask if you have any questions about your child's time in school.

Welcome to Upper Foundation Stage 2017/18!

What an exciting week we have had. We have loved welcoming all the children into Red 1 and Red 2 and have been bowled over by their enthusiasm for our Crazy Creatures topic. 

In the coming weeks we will be adding lots of pictures of the children's learning to this page, so please keep checking back so you can share in their learning.

Wow - What an amazing year!

It has been an absolutely amazing year with Red 1 & Red 2. The children have all worked so hard this year and we are so proud of how far they have come. 

This last week has been so much fun, especially our Pirate Forest School fantastic finish where the children showed us just how much they have grown, they respected the environment, looked after each other and themselves in keeping with our forest school ethos.

Enjoy the pictures and good luck to all your children in year 1

Best Of British Week!

Wow! We are so, so proud of the children - what superstars they were on stage this afternoon. We hope you enjoyed the performance as much as the children did.

In the week leading up to our fantastic finish today we have made scones, cucumber sandwiches, thought about what it is to be British, looked at what makes up Great Britain, played some tennis and cricket, written rules, built famous landmarks, voted for our favourite British meals, had tea parties, we even had time for phonics, some PE practice, our first whole class writing activity and learned our awesome dance.... a brilliant week all round.

Tiddler's Tales...

This week we have been exploring salty seas through Tiddler by Julia Donaldson. The children have been creating their own story books with very creative reasons why Tiddler was late for school, they have been searching for phonics in an undersea garden, continuing to strengthen the muscles for fine motor skills with nuts, bolts and screwdrivers to maintain the undersea vehicles. The children have been exploring their creative side, painting repeating patterns with celery and thoroughly enjoying exploring sounds of the sea with a range of musical instruments before designing and constructing their own instruments. Phonics continues on a daily basis, children are learning through adult led sessions, applying this knowledge in independent activities and during guided reading sessions.

We have been so impressed with the children this week!

Have a great weekend,

The UFS Team

Welcome back - we hope you had a fantastic Easter.

Our new topic is Salty Seas! We will be exploring all things aquatic, learning through play and exploration, of course we will be continuing our phonics, next steps and guided reading too - keep checking back for updates.

Here is some of our learning so far.....

We have been very busy bees lately.....

As we continue our topic of super heroes we have started thinking about our own bodies and how we need to look after them to keep ourselves super fit and healthy. We have thought about our skeletons, our hearts and lungs - including a visit from a Cystic Fibrosis Nurse - Nurse Whitton - who taught us all about our lungs and why they may not always work properly and how we can look after ourselves.

We have also been testing our super jumping skills, out of this world turn taking, fantastic sharing, improving our agility with pencil rolls, forward rolls and teddy rolls.

We hope your enjoy the photos as much as we have enjoyed the activities. 

We will huff, and we will puff and we will blow you away........

with the amazing learning the children have done this week!

We have continued to explore goodies and baddies through the Three Little Pigs. The children have designed and built houses of spaghetti straw, created blue and purple and gold houses of brick prints, recalled the story and written and drawn some beautiful story maps, exhibiting the amazing developments in phonics and handwriting the children have made.  

We have enjoyed the lovely weather and played in our outdoor area and on the adventure playground too!

This week’s trigraphs were air (like in chair) an ure (like in manure) and on Friday we were very luck to be visited by a real life hero Nicole, a veterinary nurse, who taught us how to look after our pets, fix a broken leg and think about the similarities between us and animals.

What an exciting week - there has been phonics, frogs, fancy dress and families!

The beginning of the week saw your children exploring new a digraph and trigraph in phonics (oi and ear) and lots of tricky words practice whilst investigating everyday heroes, specifically the police this week. There was role play, writing opportunities, traffic control in our outdoor area, investigations into missing objects and more.

Thursday was World Book Day -and your children looked absolutely amazing - thank you so much for all the effort put into costumes, this really ignited the children's enthusiasm to talk about our favourite stories and explore some new ones too.

Friday was Equality & Diversity Day where we talked about how each and everyone of the children are unique and special, how diverse our families are and shared some lovely stories which encouraged the children to think about the wider world.  

What an exciting week back......

This week we are exploring everyday heroes and looking at 2D and 3D shapes in maths! It is very exciting learning with new role play areas, shape hunts around school, maths and literacy challenges and lots of opportunities to develop our phonics and numeracy skills through, games, focus groups and individual activities.

The children are growing in so many ways we are so proud of them all,  we know this is the same at home too, please remember to tell us about all the children’s wonderful achievements at home on learning starts which you can download from above.

We are very excited as this week we are exploring goodies and baddies through Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson!

Here are some pictures from our learning so far - we cant wait to share more with you at the Learning Journey Afternoon on Thursday 8th February at 2.30pm.

Well done to Red 1 a fantastic first assembly today - we are so proud of you all.

Thank you to all the parents, friends and family who were at today's performance.

These are a few of the children's thoughts.....

"It was cool"

"I liked it, I liked being on stage, I liked a cup of tea and a biscuit"

"I remembered my words"

"I was brave"

"I saw my mummy"

"I liked them clapping"

This weeks theme is.... SUPERTATO!

Continuing our topic of goodies and baddies this week our learning will be centred around the stories of supertato! we have started our week designing traps for the evil Pea, creating a team of Super Veggies, honing our super cutting skills by creating masks, strengthening our counting and motor skills selecting mini magic beans with tweezers and so much more. This week in maths we are focusing on one more and one less - see how many ways you can find to build this superpower at home. Take a look at our pictures (keep checking back we will add more throughout the week)......

Superheroes Assemble!

This week we are exploring our topic of goodies and baddies through superheroes. The children of Red 1 and Red 2 have been immersed in activities to encourage and develop all of our early learning goals, we are drawing, painting, building, counting, designing, writing, sharing, climbing, flying, strengthening, mixing, selecting, playing, enjoying and more..... we hope you like the pictures of the children's super learning.

Jack & The Beanstalk Continues....

This week we are continuing with our learning based around Jack & The Beanstalk. The children have had a great time exploring phonics, counting, sharing, role playing, constructing, drawing, painting and those are just a few of today's choices for our busy bees. 

Our 1st Library Trip

The red classes enjoyed a very special visit to the new school library today. The children were lucky to be the very first classes to explore our wonderful library filled with hundreds of brilliant books to take home and enjoy.

After choosing a book, the children (with a little help) used the computer to scan out the book which is theirs to enjoy for a week. We even had time for the children to enjoy the UFS team reading some exciting stories - we all had a fantastic time, these are just a few of the wonderful comments the children made...

"We are so lucky" 

"It's brilliant"

"There are so many books I can't choose, can I have ten?"

"Please can we come again tomorrow?"

Your child has borrowed their 1st book today, library books will be changed on a Thursday - please remember to return the library book every week so your child can borrow another exciting title!