Newsletter 30th October 2015

We are all very impressed with the F1 children this week. After the holiday, most of them came back happy and excited to engage in new activities. Some were a bit unsettled and found it hard to say goodbye to their carers but, this is normal after a holiday. We are confident that they will get settled again on coming days. 

This week, we have still been focusing on 'My Home' and 'My Family'. The children are still very eager to play in the home corner and imitate gestures that they have seen from home. They make cups of tea and coffee for their teachers, cook food and even wash the dishes. 

For our malleable area, we have made a cornflour and soap dough. The children helped in mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough. Some needed support and encouragement to hold the dough but most of the children had fun patting, squeezing, stretching and rolling the dough. 

As we all came from a week-long break, we have begun sharing news with each other. This activity helps support children's language development and enhance their confidence when expressing themselves. 

Kin was the first one who shared his holiday photos. He told his friends that he went to a shopping centre with his mummy and daddy and visited a toy shop. He also shared that he played with trucks and buses, 

Ms Crislet also shared how she spent her break. She showed us her photos with her husband and friends in Mui Ne. She said she had fun swimming in the beach and eating lots of seafood. 

Minh Anh was very excited when she saw her photos up on the IWB. She told us that she and her brother joined in SSA's skills factory class held in An Phu 1 campus. She even showed us how she kicked the ball on the field. 

Carrot has also shared her holiday news. She told everybody that she went swimming in Dong Nai river with her mummy and daddy. She even shared that she wore her beautiful swimming suit.

The children did so well in sharing their holiday news. It was really amazing how they got excited seeing their photographs up on the board and how much fun they had sharing stories about their holidays. Well done!

For Literacy, our focus story was 'Mr Gumpy's Outing'. It is a story about Mr Gumpy taking 2 children and different animals in his boat. He agreed to have them on board his boat as long as they don't squabble, hop, chase, tease, muck, bleat, flap, trample and kick. Everything seemed well at first but, when they all start moving about, the boat tipped over and they all fell off the boat! They ended up swimming to the bank and having tea at Mr Gumpy's house. 

The children particularly enjoyed making animal noises and counting them one by one. We showed them a Powerpoint with all the characters appearing one at a time. The children had fun watching them ride the boat and were all very good at naming the animals. 

For ICT this week, we have been learning new songs on the IWB using 'Super Simple' songs. The children have been learning the words and even the actions of songs such as '5 Little Monkeys', 'Pinocchio' and more. Look at how the children pretended to be little monkeys jumping and falling off the bed! Fantastic!

For Maths, the children have been completing peg and 4 piece puzzles very well so we have been encouraging them to complete big floor 15 piece puzzles. Their favourite so far is the double-decker bus. We have been teaching the children how to complete the puzzles by looking at the pictures, colours and shape and matching them. We will be focusing on this more next week. 

What a fun and great week we've had! Great job children! 

You are all stars!

NOTICES:

F1's 1st School Trip: Thursday 5th November. Children will be visiting Ms Crislet's house and look at the different parts of the house. They will also be cooking in Ms Crislet's kitchen! This trip is to extend children's learning about our theme 'My Home'. Please see trip letter for more information. 

- We are encouraging ALL children to join this trip but, if you decide on not letting him/her join in, please inform us as soon as possible. We are sorry but your child needs to stay at home on that day as all adults will be joining the trip and no one will be in class to supervise  your child. 

Holiday Photos: If you haven't done so, please bring in or sent me your child's holiday photos. These will be used for news so your child can share them in class. This is for your child's language development as well as building up his/her confidence when speaking in front of a group. 

Thank you very much!

Have a relaxing and fun weekend!

Kind Regards;

Ms Crislet, Ms Grace and the F1 Team

Newsletter 16th October 2015

Another great and fun week in F1 Unit! The children are still showing a great interest in cooking in the home corner and, Kin, Duc Phu, Bao Nhi and Henry are now confident in wearing the chef costumes. They have been cooking chicken, eggs and even baking cakes and cookies for their teachers!

One of the chidlren's favourites is the outdoor playground. They enjoy using an array of resources to support their play and share them with each other. This week, we have been playing with the hoppers and Bao Nhi and Carrot had a go at them. They both did very well, bouncing around the playground happily.

Diem My have  begun to settle in class and explore more confidently. This week, she has explored the sand pit independently.

Nhat Hoang, Minh Anh, Monica and Kathy are now becoming more confident in driving the trikes around. We are now encouraging them to negotiate space and be mindful of the other children playing around them. 

Henry on the other hand has been trying to climb up the slide. He has been using his strong arms and legs in climbing up. 

This year, we aretaking care of 4 peace lily plants. Everyday, we give them water and make sure that they get sunshine. This week, Nhat Hoang, Duc Phu and Carrot helped in watering the plants. Thank you children!

This week, we have also celebrated Nhat Hoangs's 3rd birthday! Mummy came in with a cream puff cake and we all loved it! Thank you Mummy and Nhat Hoang for sharing this wonderful event with us! Happy birthday Nhat Hoang!

Great job children!

After the half-term break, we will be observing children's interests and will then decide on which theme we will focus on. 

If you are going on a holiday or will be doing activities with your children during this half-term break, please make sure to take photos, make a post on your child's blog or send the photos to me so we can share them in class. 

NOTICES:

Half-term break is from 19th to 23rd October. No school. 

School reopens on the 26th October.




Thank you very much!


Kind Regards;
Ms Crislet, Ms Grace and the F1 Team

Masters of Learning: Katy the Caring Dolphin

 Katy is a caring dolphin and she is in F1 class! 

This term in F1, the Aide Memoire focus is Caring. 

As a start, we are focusing on 'I enjoy being at school'.

In f1, we have a display board where children are little dolphins swimming towards Katy. As the children gradually achieve the focus, the little dolphins will move as well. Whoever reaches Katy first will be our Master of Learning. 

So far, Bao Nhi, Nhat Hoang, Kathy and Henry got their first Katy Caring stickers for settling in class very well and being happy members of our class. Well done!

We will be handing out more stickers every time we see that the child is achieving our focus. 

Newsletter 9th October 2015

It has been a FUNtastic week in F1! All of them are beginning to show so much confidence when exploring in and out of the classroom. Most of them are now able to say goodbye to their mums, dads and carers with minimal support from their teachers. They are also able to engage in a variety of activities and get themselves busy. Such wonderful children! 

For our circle sessions, we have introduced our visual timetable and the days of the week. Most of the children are now able to recognise the pictures in our visual timetable and point to the different learning areas. We have been encouraging the children to say 'over there', 'outside' and 'here' as they point to them.  For the days of the week, we have been singing the song 'There are 7 Days' and everyday, one child is asked to see what the weather is by looking through the glass door. We have been using 'cloudy', 'rainy', 'sunny' and 'windy' to describe the weather. 

During story times this week, we have shared stories such as 'Jasper and the Beanstalk', 'Spot Goes to School', 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See', 'The Three Little Pigs' and 'Goldilocks and The Three Bears'. 

Carrot brought in her book, 'The 3 Little Pigs' and shared it with everybody. We then watched the story in the Interactive Whiteboard. 

For ICT, we still encourage all children to do the register on the IWB once they arrive in class. We also have Mr Tue who comes in every week to give each child a 5 minute turn to use the iPad and play with different Apps. 

As using the IWB wand is new to the children, we have put up a painting activity from busythings.co.uk wherein children need to keep pressing the button on the IWB wand for the shapes and colours to change. Most of the children had a go at this activity and they loved it!

F1 also had a  fantastic time playing in the Fundino playground. Most of them are now showing great confidence in using the climbing equipment and other resources to support their play. 

The soft play room is a popular learning area amongst F1 children. When we open the door in the morning, all of them will cheer and will be very excited to play in there. They have been building with the shape cushions, play chasing game, shoot the balls on the goal and jump off the platforms. The tunnel is becoming a favourite area for them to hide and sing songs!

WELL DONE F1 CHILDREN FOR ANOTHER FUN AND EXCITING WEEK! 

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND! 

NOTICES:

- Half-term break will be from 19th October to 23rd October. School will reopen on Monday 26th October. If you are going on a holiday, please take loads of photographs so we can share them when we come back. You can also make a post on your child's blog about his/her half term break and we will be happy to share it in class.

- Parent EAL Sessions : Please check BIS HUB for more information. 

- A big thank you to Duc Phu's mum, Ms Nguyen Thi Dieu Hang, for agreeing to be our class representative.

Thank you very much!

Kind Regards;

Ms Crislet, Ms Grace and the F1 Team

  

Brilliant Books Celebrations

What a fun and exciting week we've had celebrating Books! The children did great during Book days and have been showing more interest in books and stories.

Last Monday, we've had our dress-up day. All came in wearing their favourite story book character costumes and all the EYFS teachers dressed up as aliens just like in our focus story, 'Aliens Love Underpants'. 

We also had a visit from 2 story book authors. Mr Steve and Mr Steve, also known as the '2 Steves' came in F1 class and read the story 'Pied Piper of Hamelin'. F1 and F2 had fun listening to the story and joining in some actions and sounds.  One Mr Steve even played the recorder and acted as the pied piper! Thank you for coming Mr Steve and Mr Steve!

After our session with the 2 Steves, we went off for a short play and then came back together in F1 classroom. Ms Clarissa read the book 'Aliens Love Underpants' and all F1 and F2 teachers re-enacted the story! The children giggled when the aliens finally arrived on Earth using their spaceship and stole lots of underpants! They all looked silly in their pants!  

It was indeed a Fantastic Monday!

On Tuesday, we had another wonderful activity in class. We've had Snuggle-up and Read. First, we shared lots of books with each other in our pyjamas then we had hot chocolate and marshmallows. After our simple snack, we gathered on the mats and watched the story 'The Gruffalo's Child' by Julia Donaldson. Some children used the stuffed toys and the big cushions as pillows and laid down on the sleeping mats whilst watching. The children enjoyed watching the Gruffalo's child as she met the snake, the fox and the owl in search for the 'big bad mouse'. Some children said the story was scary and some said it's funny!

Great job children!

This week, still focusing on Brilliant Books, we have also read stories such as 'The Three Little Pigs', 'Little Red Riding Hood' and more. We have also read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' during our story time and used the story sack. 

Please have a look at how much fun we've had this week:

Well done children!

A big thank you as well to all of you who supported our 'Brilliant Books Celebration'!



NOTICES:

- Please bring a toothbrush and a toothpaste for your child in class. We encourage all children to brush their teeth after lunch.

- Please ensure that your child is wearing a pair of sensible shoes. No laces and no Crocs style shoes.

- If your child comes in after 8.10, please go straight to the office and get a late slip before bringing your child to the classroom.

Thank you very much!

Have a wonderful weekend!


Kind Regards;
Ms Crislet, Ms Grace and the F1 Team