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GEMS JUMEIRAH PRIMARY SCHOOL

PUBLICATION
BY LOUISE USHER
JANUARY 2015

Helping you to help

your child in FS2
Term 2

GEMS Jumeirah Primary School

PO Box 29093, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Tel +971 04 394 3500 Fax +971 04 394 3960
Web : www.jpsdubai.com www.gemseducation.com

FOREWORD
We have already had an exciting first term in Foundation Stage 2
and I hope that you are already seeing the progress your child is
making in all aspects of the curriculum. As you will see as you
look through this booklet, the things we are looking for in the
children have moved on and present more challenging
opportunities, however, we still strive to make school a fun
experience for them with the phrase Learning Through Play at
the forefront of our minds. Please find below further curriculum
information for your reference.
PRIME AREAS
All areas of learning and development are important and interconnected however the Prime Areas are seen as particularly
crucial for igniting childrens curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and
thrive. These three areas are:
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
SPECIFIC AREAS
The Specific Areas are developed to strengthen and support the
Prime Areas and build upon skills learnt ;
providing the next steps for learning.
These areas are:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding of the World
Expressive Art and Design

EXPRESSIVE ART AND DESIGN

The EYFS curriculum aims to create an environment where
children feel safe and secure to express themselves. We aim for
children to be able to do this in a variety of ways; through role
play, art, design, dance , music and movement.
What we are looking for in Term 2:
1. To safely use and explore a variety of materials,
tools and techniques.
2. To experiment with colour, design, texture, form and function.
3. To represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings, through
design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and
stories
What you can do at home:
1. Provide opportunities to use a mixture of materials and media
on a creation
2. Experiment! Try thing out together and provide opportunities
for enquiry e.g. What would happen if we tried putting this
paint with water? Would we still see the glitter if we mix it with
glue? etc.
3. Listen to a variety of different music and make comparisons.
4. Role play with your children. And provide chances for them to
create stories, dances and music with their friends and
siblings

UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Children have a natural inquisitiveness to find out about their
surroundings and the world around them. Understanding of the
World guides children in making sense of their physical world and
their community through exploration and observation; along with
the opportunity to find out about people, places, technology and
the environment.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

(PSED)
PSED is an integral part of the Early Years curriculum and is
present in all the activities we plan. The PSED skills learnt at this
stage in their development will influence the way in which they
behave and interact as adults. There is a Social Studies aspect
whereby the children will continue to learn about aspects of
Arabic culture or life in the UAE.

What we are looking for in Term 2:

What we are looking for in Term 2:
1. Inquisitiveness, investigation, observation, questioning and
explanation.
2. The ability to use a range of ICT equipment, including
computers, programmable toys, iPads independently
3. To construct with a purpose in mind, comment on their project
and make adaptations
4. To make observations of, and comparisons between different
places, objects and living things.
What you can do at home:
1. Explore and talk about the world around us, focusing
particularly on plants, insects and animals
2. Share non-fiction books.
3. Encourage questioning.
4. Encourage use of a variety of ICT equipment; cameras,
computers, CD players etc.
5. Talk about differences and similarities between different
things

1. Continued awareness of the Golden Rules and

why it is important for us all to follow them
2. Show that they are confident to speak in a familiar group and
share ideas
3. That they can choose their own resources for a particular
activity
4. Take steps to resolve conflicts with other children eg: find a
compromise
5. To show a sensitivity to others needs and feelings.
6. Children to develop a wider understanding of the country and
culture we live in, in the UAE
How you can help at home:
1. Encourage independence when playing. Eg: making
up their own games and finding the things they will
need to play
2. Ask children to think of ways they could solve a problem
between themselves and a sibling/friend
3. Continue to talk about emotions and how you/they are feeling.
4. Chat about Dubai, the UAE and take part in cultural
experiences such as Abra trips on the Creek or a camel ride.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

MATHEMATICS

Physical Development is recognised as one of the Prime areas of

the EYFS curriculum. A childs physical development is inextricably
linked to their writing development. Large physical movements
which are practised now will feed into the development of fine
motor skills enabling children to hold a pencil effectively and form
letters correctly. Children must also be helped to understand the
importance of physical activity; and to make healthy choices in
relation to food. Swimming lessons will not take place until after
Sports Day on Tuesday 10th February. Children will be
receiving additional PE lessons in this time

Mathematics in FS2 is taught through a play based hands on

approach, where children have the opportunity to use a range of
equipment and resources to develop and improve their skills in
counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating and
simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe
shapes, spaces and measures.

What we are looking for in Term 2:

1. To hold a pencil effectively and forming letters the correct way.
2. To hold scissors correctly and able to cut around straight
3. To show care and control when throwing, catching and kicking
balls, along with using bats and rackets.
4. To understand the importance of staying healthy and eating
healthy
What you can do at home:
1. Continue to provide opportunities for your child to use play
equipment to practise climbing, sliding, travelling through, up
over etc
2. Continue activities which will help develop fine motor control,
such as using clothes pegs, picking up small objects such as
grains of rice or using tweezers.
3. Encourage children to hold pencils using the three finger tripod
grip.
4. Practise the formation of lowercase and uppercase letters.

What we are looking for in Term 2:

1. To recognise and order numerals to 20 then numerals to
20,30 and place them in order
2. To count reliably up to 20 objects and beyond
3. To say which number is more or less than a given number
4. To use quantities and objects, they add and subtract two
single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer
5. To use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity,
position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and
objects and to solve problems
6. To name 2D and 3D shapes and use mathematical terms to describe them
How you can help at home:
1. Counting, counting counting!!! Anything and everything!
2. Create simple problems in day to day tasks. Eg: I have 5
oranges in the bowl, if I eat one how many will there be?
3. Encourage children to take part in simple baking and cooking
activities where they have to weigh things. Eg: is the apple or
the egg heavier?
4. Practise the days of the week and the months of the year.

* Some children may be ready to advance to this next step.

WRITING

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

Once children become confident with their phonics they will begin
applying this knowledge when writing. We encourage and provide
for independent writing opportunities, along with more focused
tasks aimed at teaching the skills which come with learning to
write. Children will be writing more regularly through their daily
phonics sessions

Providing a rich language environment is key to enable children to

develop the confidence and skills to express themselves and to
speak and listen in a range of situations.

What we are looking for in Term 2:

1. Attempts to write simple sentences in meaningful contexts
2. Children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways
which match their spoken sound
3. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves
and others
4. Some words are spelt correctly while others are phonetically
plausible.
How you can help at home:
1. Continue to involve children in day to day writing tasks such as
shopping lists and birthday cards etc.
2. Encourage children to show you what they can do in terms of
writing, at a time when they are ready to show you.
3. Share
any writing which comes home from school,
independent or adult supported, encouraging children to read to
you what they have written and why.
4. Please see the Physical Development section for additional
ways to support in writing.

What we are looking for in Term 2:

1.
2.
3.
4.

To listen to stories and anticipate key events

To talk about what they have heard and begin to ask questions
Respond to what other children say.
To express themselves effectively, showing an awareness of
the needs of the listener.
5. To develop their own narratives and explanations by
connecting ideas

What you can do at home:

1. Share non-fiction texts which are relevant to current
topics so provoke questioning and enquiry.
2. Encourage slow clear speech and to decide what
they want to say before they start speaking
3. To share their ideas and talk about what they have done/made
and how they did it.

READING

PHONICS
In order for children to become independent readers and writers,
we deliver a systematic Phonics Programme at JPS. The approach
works by scaffolding skills; equipping children with the ability to
support their own learning.
What we are looking for in Term 2:
Children will be split into smaller groups to support
where they are at in their phonic development. Your child will be at
one of the following stages:
1. Learning the letter sounds and beginning to blend them orally,
for reading and writing
2. Practising blending to gain confidence and to aid fluency of
reading
3. Ditties reading short stanzas to develop fluency of reading
CVC words and some red words/ Action Words (those you
cannot de-code)
4. Coloured reading books
I will be discussing Reading/ Phonics during the FS2 Curriculum
Preview meeting on Tuesday 20th January. I intend on discussing
the organisation of the approach in more detail and aim to give you
a brief overview of the types of activities children will be doing
within Reading/ Phonic sessions. Further information as to how
you can support your child at home can be found at the FS2
Reading Workshop on Tuesday 27th January and will be
presented by Emma Deans and myself.
How you can help at home:
1. Encourage children to use their sounds when reading
and writing
2. Go through Ditties and books which come home and
recap the activities they have done in school
3. Continue playing sound/ word games together.

At JPS we use a variety of reading schemes to ignite the

childrens interest in books and to practise different reading skills.
Our schemes include:
The Oxford Reading Tree
Ruth Miskin
Rigby Star
Ginn Lighthouse
Heinemann Foundation Sails.
Children will be reading on a daily basis through
their phonic sessions
What we are looking for in Term 2:
1. To begin to read simple sentences
2. To know that information can be found in books and on
computers
3. To use phonic knowledge to decode simple words and read
them aloud with some accuracy
4. Children read and understand simple sentences
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

How you can help at home:

Read lots of books together at home.
Complete suggested activities from Reading Journal
Share non fiction books to find out information and answers
to childrens questions
Encourage children to decode unfamiliar words using their
sounds.
Enjoy sharing/ reading/ decorating poems/ rhymes with your
child from My FS2 Poetry Book
Action Words Practise