We begin this week’s blog with a big ‘thank you!’ The children came back to school last week, smartly dressed, well-prepared and eager to start the new year and they were a real credit to you. Well done!
This week, we will be completing our assessments of the children and giving them a taster of some of the exciting curriculum which we have planned for this year.
Diary
Just a quick reminder that our Induction meeting will be held this Wednesday at 3.15pm in Mrs Worrall’s room. You should have received a letter in your child’s reading diary on Friday, with a reply slip on the bottom. It would be helpful if you could return that on Monday if possible, so that we able to make the necessary domestic arrangements. If you are unable to attend, please do let us know, so that we are able to send any important information home to you.
Volunteers
It is at this time of year where we make a plea for any volunteers to help in Key Stage 1. It could be that you are able to offer to help with reading, artwork, helping with High Frequency words, music groups, making resources, helping to maintain the library...the sky’s the limit! There will be a sheet available at the Induction meeting for you to ‘sign up’, or alternatively, just let us know through the diary. We are VERY grateful for any help that you are able to offer on ANY day at ANY time!
School Council
This week, we will be holding our very own ‘Elections’, in order to choose our class representatives for the School Council. There will be one representative per year group, per class. The children will then meet with all the other class representatives across the whole school on a regular basis, to discuss events and issues which are important to them. One of the key features of our school, is developing the importance of the ‘Pupil Voice’ and this is just one of the many ways in which we can ensure that their views and opinions are heard on a formal basis.
Literacy
We will be completing our assessments this week of the children, so that we can ensure that they are equally supported and challenged by the formal activities which will begin next week.
Included in those assessments will be the testing of the High Frequency words. As last year, once these are completed, they will be stuck into the front of your child’s diary, so that you are able to support them at home.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/index.shtml a great site, where you have to match the shape of the HFW to its spelling
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/index.shtml choose any of these activities to help with CVC words (cat, hat, mat etc)
http://www.ictgames.com/dinosaurwordsrepeat.html you need to turn the volume up for this one! Click on the dinosaur egg to hear the word and then click on the written word that matches it.
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html I love this one! You can either choose from the lists of prepared words, or you can type in the words that your child is working on. You need to click on start to begin ‘look, say, cover, write, check’.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=stickyl drag and drop the letters on the green letter rack at the top of the page and then click on the ‘Send’ button to send it to the word bank.
http://www.ictgames.com/wordreader.html listen to the word and then click on the matching flower
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/airport_xray.html this may bring back memories of your holidays (doesn’t it seem a long time ago?!) Scan the suitcase to find the high frequency words
Numeracy
As with literacy, we shall be assessing just how much the children have been able to recall from last year, so that we can ‘hit the ground running’ with more formal numeracy sessions.
This week, we will be assessing the children’s knowledge of number – can they match the correct number of objects to the digit? Do they know the number names? Are they able to form the number correctly? Can they count in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s? Can they order numbers correctly, both forwards and backwards?
A good way of practising ordering numbers (and a good way for children to check for themselves if they have got it right!) is to completed traditional ‘dot-to-dot’ puzzles. Tesco or Asda have lots of books of these ready-made for you!
Perhaps when you are putting the shopping away this weekend, you could ask your child to group things together – If I have 6 tins, how many more will I need to make 8? 10? Also, why not get your child to pair up all the socks for the family? This is a really good way of encouraging them to count in twos.
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/850/calcbalancev3.swf click on the number names in the middle of the scale to match the number name to the digit. This will be a really useful site to bookmark, as we will be using it regularly throughout the year.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/numbers_eng/numbers_e.html this site is useful for practicing the formation of each of the numbers. The first slide is VERY fast, so click on the green arrow on the bottom right-hand side to practice the numbers individually.
http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_mem20_1-10words.shtml play a memory game and match the number names to the digits at the same time!
http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n2a/playground.htm click on the ‘continue’ button to start the activity. This activity looks at the number names up to 100, so give it a go if you fancy a challenge!
http://www.primaryonline.co.uk/sitetour/pol/blastoff1.html a lovely game in which you have to launch 5 spaceships! Remember that the number name won’t always match a spaceship, so you have to click on ‘next’ until you get a match. This game is most suitable for Year 1, as it covers numbers up to 20.
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html fancy a challenge? Listen to the number and post the letter in the correct letterbox.
Topic
We will be looking at the differences between schools of the past, particularly Victorian schools and modern day schools. We will talking to the children about our school days (yes, complete with embarrassing photos!) and it would be great if you could chat with them about some of the things that you used to do during your time at school, in preparation for next week. I was asked if I used a chalkboard to write on when I was at school on Friday...mmm, better not ask how old they think I am!!
We look forward to meeting you all on Wednesday at the Induction Meeting, where we will be able to answer any questions you may have.
Have a great week!
Year 1/2 team.
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