The children have really settled in to the swing of things now and have got used to the new routines. Many children have really risen to the challenge of being independent but there are just a few who need some gentle reminders. It would be a huge help to all staff, if you could encourage your child to come into school on their own from now on, as we do seem to getting a bit of traffic jam at the moment in the area! Also, as the weather is now getting cooler, the children do need a coat in school every day for the playground.
Diary
Monday and Tuesday are as normal, but there are a number of changes to the rest of the week. Mrs Malone will be out on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, with her class being taken by Ms Jennifer Wright. Mrs Worrall will be out on Thursday, with her class being taken by Ms Ruth Owens. Please be assured, that because all staff plan together, then the provision for your child in each of the three classes is exactly the same.
Topic
We will be having a fun-filled week of art work...glitter – glue – clay – paper – more glitter – feathers – even more glitter...the children will be given the task of making our classroom and the area more aesthetically pleasing! They will be looking at the work of famous artists and trying to emulate some of their work. Each of the teachers will focus on a particular piece of art and show the children how to develop their artistic skills by using different media.
Some of the following websites are lovely and will fuel the children’s ideas for when we start with gusto on Monday. If you fancy an afternoon out, then the Lowry is very child-friendly and has lots of hands-on activities for them to try while you walk around the exhibits!
http://www.schoolsliaison.org.uk/kids/preload.htm what a lovely site! Click on the Victorians and select the ‘Investigate a picture’. There are some lovely activities for you to print off and use too!
http://www.museumnetworkuk.org/landscapes/themes/themesindex.htm looking at Landscapes - if you click on the materials section on the site, it shows how artists select the different materials they use to create landscape pictures
http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/landscape1/index.html I love this! The cartoon character guides you through various artists’ interpretations of landscapes. There is even a section on how to make your very own canvas painting!
http://www.museumeducation.bedford.gov.uk/bedfordbytes/nature/making_patterns.htm a lovely site to make patterns in nature to make a personalised piece of artwork. Maybe some of the children could print them off at home and bring them in to show!
Literacy
This week, we are focussing on writing, based on the work we have been covering on Stories with a familiar setting. The children have read lots of stories, but they will be asked to write a story based on an experience of when they couldn’t get to sleep...(maybe a bit early to start talking Christmas!)
They have been talking about the ‘Story Mountain’ and have been looking at sequencing the main ideas in a story:
1. The beginning
2. Something happens
3. The exciting bit
4. Events to sort it out
5. The ending
There are even some actions to go with these headings, so see if they can remember them when you are next reading your bedtime story!
BY the end of the week, the children:
Must be able to write three simple sentences to retell events based on personal experience.
Should be able to use an opener to begin each sentence.
Could write a story based on personal experience using openers and more adventurous vocabulary
The children have been working really hard on their spelling homework and we can see that some of it is being transferred into their independent writing. A few children have been completing homework in biro. Please could you ensure that any written work is completed in pencil.
High Frequency words
The children will be assessed on the High Frequency words they have been working on this half term and the checklists at the front of their diaries will be updated. A big thank you to the parents who have been working with their children at home on their words . There are lots of links on previous blog posts, for you to support your child.
http://www.longman.co.uk/books/contents.htm some lovely online books for you to share at home with your child
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/story_plant/small_no_sound/standard2.shtml I put this link on a couple of weeks ago and it proved so popular, I have included it again! We would love to read some of the stories that come out of this site!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/patch.shtml click on the game to practice ordering a sentence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/index.shtml choose any of these ‘adventures’ to help with lots of areas of literacy
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/bigbooks/groovyg/index2.html a lovely book, which does read the text for you. We will run the risk of spoiling your fun and say that we discover there are red apples in a 'groovy garden', which some animals like the look of. Make a note of the animals when they appear as you can't click back to them. However when said animals come to eat the apples, they find there are none left. What could have happened? Over to you...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/colour/ourhouse.shtml Print out the pictures and write your own story about being at home.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/jackanory/create/picture_story.shtml ooh, remember 5 o’clock in front of the television, before your tea for Jackanory?? Well, here is the son of Jackanory – Jackanory Junior! There are some lovely stories to share on here, but why not have a go at creating your own picture story?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/drilldown/stories/2/2/1/ As we are looking at stories with familiar settings, these links give you some great ideas for writing about everyday life.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=16 for those children working on writing their own sentences, a good place to start is this site, using a wordbank to help.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/phonics/index.shtml I have used ‘Bitesize’ in Key Stage 2 for a number of years and now the BBC have produced a Key Stage 1 version! There are lots of fabulous games to practice both Literacy and Numeracy. There is also a sheet that can be downloaded, to check how much your child has retained!
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/english/caerphilly/adjectives/index.htm This is a really good site to illustrate to the children just how important adjectives are when writing an interesting story.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/english/caerphilly/larry_the_lion/index.htm another site which uses ‘Larry the Lion’ (wasn’t he Larry the Lamb??) to help the children learn describing words.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=aroundyourhome play a quiz and see if you can match objects around your home to their description
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-writing-storymaker.htm choose any type of story to help you get started on your writing
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-short.htm fancy reading some short stories? There are some lovely ones here, all with follow up activities to support comprehension
Numeracy
This week’s focus will be on number, particularly looking at number pairs to total 10. We will also be working on finding missing numbers in a number sentence.
Why not try the following activity to help with ‘number bonds’:
Have 10 red counters and 10 blue counters. Choose 4 red counters and place them on the table. Ask your child to choose some blue counters to make 10 counters all together. Then, write down the number sentence underneath 4 + 6 = 10. You could then repeat this for all the pairs to 10. See if your child is able to spot the patterns when they see the numbers written down.
By the end of the week, the children:
Must: be able to know addition and subtraction facts to 6.
Should: be able to know addition and subtraction facts to 10.
Could: be able to know addition and subtraction facts to 10 and can relate the number bonds to corresponding facts, for example 16+4=20
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=fmach the doubling machine! Enter a number into the boxes and try to guess the number that the machine will give out!
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/magic-gopher-central.swf How do they do it?? I promise you, you will keep trying this one, just to see if you can beat the gopher!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/laac/numbers/ch3.shtml some of these activities are quite simple, but the missing number questions are a really good place to start for this week’s activities
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/test.shtml the children are used to using jumping frogs, but how will they feel about the Toad?!
http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/add_sub/9%20and%2011.swf can you fill in the gaps in the 100 square?
http://www.ictgames.com/submarinenopad2.html add 10 to the target number
http://nwlg.org/pages/resources/ma_num/swf/y2d2a3.html a good site to help children understand mathematical vocabulary
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/add/add.html you will need to sit with your child for this, but once they see the pattern, it should become easier
http://www.ictgames.com/safecracker.html use Z and X and the arrow keys, to move the numbers to make the number sentence correct and crack the safe!
http://www.ictgames.com/flight_for_fuel.html add three or more numbers together to make a total
http://www.ictgames.com/funkymum20.html
http://www.interactivestuff.org/sums4fun/colquiz.html add the numbers to colour the pictures
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf choose ‘Number Bonds’, then bonds to 10 or 20 and select Digit. This is really good on the interactive whiteboard – it might be a good idea to remind your children that your monitor at home is NOT interactive and therefore they should remember to use the mouse when they are at home!
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/num%20menu.html click on the number machine you want to work with
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/working_with_coins/eng/Introduction/default.htm see if your child can see any number bond patterns when adding these coins together
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/guess_my_number_10/index.htm# try to guess the number up to ten by following the instructions on the screen
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/guess_my_number_100/index.htm the same as the above site, but this site goes up to 100
And finally...
You should have received a parents evening letter this week for next Tuesday and Wednesday’s appointments. We liaise with the rest of the staff, in order to provide you with a time which is convenient for yourselves and fits in with siblings.
For parents of children who are new to Year 1, the parents meetings are slightly different than in Foundation Stage. They are held in the hall, with appointments being made at 5 minute intervals. As you can appreciate, this is a very short amount of time and you should receive the targets which your child needs to work on, along with how they have settled into their new Year group. It can be a good idea for you to write down any questions you may have to ask us, prior to the appointment, as 5 minutes can go very quickly. We are very good at sharing the information in the allocated time, but please be aware that we may need to make a further appointment with you, to avoid other parent’s running over their time slot.
Have a good week!
Year 1/2 team.
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