Well can you believe we have reached the end of our very first term...and what a packed one it was too!
As our Christmas preparations draw to a close, I am sure you are all gearing up at home and that the Christmas excitement is almost too much. The countdown in our house is now almost on an hourly basis too, (at the time of writing, it is 10 sleeps, 6 hours and 11 minutes!)
A Christmas countdown clock is available for you to check up during the week ahead!
This week’s blog is to let you know what is happening during this week and also, we have included a few festive sites to keep everyone occupied whilst the cleaning fairies organise the housework for the big day!
Monday
Dust off those party frocks and best clothes, as Monday sees our fantastic Christmas party! The children have worked really hard all term, so now is the chance for them to let their hair down and boogie the afternoon away. The children will be allowed to come to school ALL DAY in their own clothes, complete with hair gel, glitter and perfume!
Santa’s elves have been very busy wrapping all the gifts for the children AND organising all the party food. Elf Hughes, Elf Abbott and the Pixies have been fantastic this week, making sure that all the children will have a great time – a huge thank you!
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we shall be putting the finishing touches to the lovely Christmas decorations that the children are making. We will make sure that they are sturdy enough to last for at least 30 years, so you can hang them on the tree all the way to your child’s adulthood!
Friday
The last day of term, sees a real treat. Our Christmas Carol Service, led by Years 5/6 will be held up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. We ask that the children arrive in school as normal, for registration. We shall then be walking all the children up to Church for the service, which should last around an hour. Please ensure that the children are wearing a very warm coat, gloves, hat and scarf for that day, as the weather is extremely cold. The children will obviously not be able to buy toast on that day, so it would be helpful if they could bring a small snack for after the service. We really do need lots of parental support to accompany the children up to St. Joseph’s, so please let any member of the team know by Tuesday of you are able to help out.
The afternoon sees the Parent’s Panto. It is always a really fantastic production and a fitting end to the year. All the children, (and staff) leave the hall in festive mood, ready to start our preparations at home.
Festive Fun
Lots of the children comment on how they have ‘been on the games on the blog’ when we read through the blog on Monday. All of the sites, links and activities on the site are used in class to support our learning, but every now and again, we include sites which are ‘just for fun’.
http://www.emailsanta.com/ write a letter to Santa and see the reply appear before your very eyes!
http://www.northpole.com/ a real favourite of mine! The disco dancing Santa is fabulous!
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/ a very interesting site, explaining all about the customs and traditions of Christmas.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/meaning.htm I loved this story! Maybe one for Christmas Eve?
http://www.star28.net/snow.html?msg=they this made me giggle! Get the penguin to write your name in the snow. What about trying this to help with the spelling of those tricky words?
http://www.learn-ict.org.uk/resources/rudolph/rudolph.htm Rudolf is missing! Read this lovely interactive story with your child. A great way of developing those comprehension skills.
http://www.funranch.com/games/tree/index.htm decorate the online Christmas tree
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/snowman_v4.html build your very own snowman...without getting your hands cold!
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/winter/ some great ideas for Christmas crafts to do
at home, using all those empty boxes.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/ Christmas crafts
http://www.nevada.edu/~blake/Christmas.carols.html why not sing through some of these traditional Christmas Carols in preparation for Friday’s service?
http://www.kidzone.ws/math/christmas/index.htm although these are based on American ‘grades’, some of these Christmas themed Maths worksheets are still really useful.
http://christmas.iboard.co.uk/ lots of Christmas online activities to try. I really like the writing ideas, which use a framework and a wordbank to help. Why not print some off to bring in to show?
On behalf of all the staff, we wish you a very happy, peaceful and holy Christmas. We hope that Santa brings you everything you ask for and that we all return safe and happy in the new year.
Merry Christmas!
Year 1/2 team.
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Saturday, 1 December 2007
10th December 2007
Weren’t they fabulous? I am sure you were all as proud as we were of the children last week when they performed ‘Santa’s Christmas Circus Extravaganza’. I hope they all managed to catch up on their sleep over the weekend and are ready and raring to go on the last two week stretch before the holidays.
This week, we will be finishing off our writing assessments and you will be informed of your child’s targets to help them move forward in their learning before the Christmas break. You will have already received updated targets for your child’s reading in the diaries.
So, what have we got planned for this week?
Literacy
We will be focussing on the children’s writing skills this week and they will be writing their very own versions of the ‘Greatest story ever told’ – the Nativity. We had a great time using our ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ comprehension quiz last week...and yes they DID get to the million pound question! Using their knowledge of the sequence of the story and their ability to write using some adventurous vocabulary, we should see some fantastic pieces of writing.
We will be encouraging them to use our ‘mantra’ for writing of Think it – Say it – Write it. Now that we have had the excitement of our production, we will be announcing the winners of our poster competition and making sure they have pride of place in our classrooms.
By the end of the week, the children:
Must be able to write a simple sentence to explain each stage of the Christmas story
Should be able to use a range of interesting words when describing the setting, characters and events in the story; be able to join sentences with simple words like ‘and’ or ‘but’
Could use a range of story language and descriptive phrases to entertain the reader; be able to use conjunctions like ‘because’, ‘so’ and ‘when’ to join ideas in sentences.
Phonics
We shall be reviewing the letter sounds and patterns that we have been working on this half term. It would be really helpful if you were able to spend just 5 minutes each day, going through these with your child. The repetitive nature of this, will ensure that they become embedded and almost second nature to your child. Just see what happens when they come across a new word in their reading books, and the say ‘I know what sound those letters make together!’
IGH
Say these words as you show the letter pattern –
These are the letters i – g – h and they make the sound...I (eye)
Practice the same with the following letter patterns:
SH TH NG AI EE IGH OA OO AR OR UR OW OI EAR AIR URE ER
This week’s question: Are there any letter patterns that make the same sound?
The children will be set a series of spelling challenges, in which they will have to try and work out the spellings to a number of words. Sound simple? Well, they will have a few words which don’t fit the patterns they have been given and they will have to work out what other letters can make the same sound.
mAIn – mAnE
http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html spelling game based on the initial sounds they can hear
http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html it took me a while to figure out how to play this game! To select a word in the wordsearch, click on the first and the last letter of the word you wish to highlight, and the cow will ‘MOO’ if you are correct! A great way to investigate spelling patterns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/snap/snap.shtml click SNAP when the sounds match the word written on the right hand side
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/spelling/spelling.shtml drag and drop the correct spelling pattern into the gaps before the time runs out.
Numeracy
This week we will be looking at Doubling and Halving numbers. The work on partitioning from last week, will really help with this.
By the end of the week, the children:
Must recognise doubling as the addition of two equal amounts
Should know doubles of numbers up to at least 10 and the corresponding halves
Could begin to derive doubles of multiples of 5 up to 100 and the corresponding halves
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf one of my favourite sites. Click on the doubles/halves button and select the doubles on the left hand side to begin
http://www.ictgames.com/bridgedoubles.html select the doubles from the circles to complete building the bridge
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game1.htm move the sheep into the correct paddocl to double the quantity
http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/doubling/doubling%202%20digit.swf if you fancy a real challenge, see of you can work out how to double any two digit number
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/double.html type in the number you want to double and see if you can calculate the answer before the machine!
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/halver.html exactly the same as the previous site, but this is the halving version.
Diary
On Wednesday afternoon, the children are in for a real treat! We will be watching a theatre production of Jack and the Beanstalk...oh yes we will! (Sorry!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/jackbeanstalk.shtml why not watch and listen to this version to remind your child about the story!
If you haven’t already done so, then we request a donation of £1 towards the cost of this great experience. Many thanks for your support with this.
Carol Service
It is our annual Carol Service on Friday 21st December, led by Years 5/6. This year, it will take place up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. The children will arrive at school as usual at 8.45am and will walk up to church for the service. Please ensure that any permission slips are returned as soon as possible, as we will be unable to take children out of school without them.
As I am sure you will appreciate, we will need lots of volunteers to help walk our children up, so please do let any member of the team know if you will be able to help us with this. It is sure to be a lovely occasion, where we can all take time out from the hectic preparations and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.
Christingle Kits
These are on sale in school for 50p. This year’s Christingle service takes place on 19th December at 7.00pm at St.Joseph’s.
FOSV
You should all have received your YELLOW MOON catalogue from the Friends of St.Vincent’s this week. There are some great ideas for stocking fillers in there...in fact my order has gone off today!
In order for proceeds from the sales to go to our school, the please remember to quote the correct code when sending your order: SST2316
The link for the website is: http://www.yellowmoon.org.uk/
Request
Could we please ask that if you have changed any contact details, particularly Mobile numbers, please remember to inform school, so that our records may be updated.
Homework
Homework will commence once again this week, for spelling, handwriting and numeracy.
Many thanks once again to all who supported the Christmas productions and the mums who came to help behind the scenes for all our performances, but particularly on a very wet and windy Thursday evening! You were fantastic!
Have a great week!
Year ½ team
P.S. For those of you who have always fancied being a children's author, then below is a link to the BBC's RAW site,who are running a competition to create a bank of children's stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/raw/beinspired/yourstories/competition/contents.shtml website for parents to enter a writing competition
This week, we will be finishing off our writing assessments and you will be informed of your child’s targets to help them move forward in their learning before the Christmas break. You will have already received updated targets for your child’s reading in the diaries.
So, what have we got planned for this week?
Literacy
We will be focussing on the children’s writing skills this week and they will be writing their very own versions of the ‘Greatest story ever told’ – the Nativity. We had a great time using our ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ comprehension quiz last week...and yes they DID get to the million pound question! Using their knowledge of the sequence of the story and their ability to write using some adventurous vocabulary, we should see some fantastic pieces of writing.
We will be encouraging them to use our ‘mantra’ for writing of Think it – Say it – Write it. Now that we have had the excitement of our production, we will be announcing the winners of our poster competition and making sure they have pride of place in our classrooms.
By the end of the week, the children:
Must be able to write a simple sentence to explain each stage of the Christmas story
Should be able to use a range of interesting words when describing the setting, characters and events in the story; be able to join sentences with simple words like ‘and’ or ‘but’
Could use a range of story language and descriptive phrases to entertain the reader; be able to use conjunctions like ‘because’, ‘so’ and ‘when’ to join ideas in sentences.
Phonics
We shall be reviewing the letter sounds and patterns that we have been working on this half term. It would be really helpful if you were able to spend just 5 minutes each day, going through these with your child. The repetitive nature of this, will ensure that they become embedded and almost second nature to your child. Just see what happens when they come across a new word in their reading books, and the say ‘I know what sound those letters make together!’
IGH
Say these words as you show the letter pattern –
These are the letters i – g – h and they make the sound...I (eye)
Practice the same with the following letter patterns:
SH TH NG AI EE IGH OA OO AR OR UR OW OI EAR AIR URE ER
This week’s question: Are there any letter patterns that make the same sound?
The children will be set a series of spelling challenges, in which they will have to try and work out the spellings to a number of words. Sound simple? Well, they will have a few words which don’t fit the patterns they have been given and they will have to work out what other letters can make the same sound.
mAIn – mAnE
http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html spelling game based on the initial sounds they can hear
http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html it took me a while to figure out how to play this game! To select a word in the wordsearch, click on the first and the last letter of the word you wish to highlight, and the cow will ‘MOO’ if you are correct! A great way to investigate spelling patterns.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/snap/snap.shtml click SNAP when the sounds match the word written on the right hand side
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/spelling/spelling.shtml drag and drop the correct spelling pattern into the gaps before the time runs out.
Numeracy
This week we will be looking at Doubling and Halving numbers. The work on partitioning from last week, will really help with this.
By the end of the week, the children:
Must recognise doubling as the addition of two equal amounts
Should know doubles of numbers up to at least 10 and the corresponding halves
Could begin to derive doubles of multiples of 5 up to 100 and the corresponding halves
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf one of my favourite sites. Click on the doubles/halves button and select the doubles on the left hand side to begin
http://www.ictgames.com/bridgedoubles.html select the doubles from the circles to complete building the bridge
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game1.htm move the sheep into the correct paddocl to double the quantity
http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/doubling/doubling%202%20digit.swf if you fancy a real challenge, see of you can work out how to double any two digit number
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/double.html type in the number you want to double and see if you can calculate the answer before the machine!
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/halver.html exactly the same as the previous site, but this is the halving version.
Diary
On Wednesday afternoon, the children are in for a real treat! We will be watching a theatre production of Jack and the Beanstalk...oh yes we will! (Sorry!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/jackbeanstalk.shtml why not watch and listen to this version to remind your child about the story!
If you haven’t already done so, then we request a donation of £1 towards the cost of this great experience. Many thanks for your support with this.
Carol Service
It is our annual Carol Service on Friday 21st December, led by Years 5/6. This year, it will take place up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. The children will arrive at school as usual at 8.45am and will walk up to church for the service. Please ensure that any permission slips are returned as soon as possible, as we will be unable to take children out of school without them.
As I am sure you will appreciate, we will need lots of volunteers to help walk our children up, so please do let any member of the team know if you will be able to help us with this. It is sure to be a lovely occasion, where we can all take time out from the hectic preparations and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.
Christingle Kits
These are on sale in school for 50p. This year’s Christingle service takes place on 19th December at 7.00pm at St.Joseph’s.
FOSV
You should all have received your YELLOW MOON catalogue from the Friends of St.Vincent’s this week. There are some great ideas for stocking fillers in there...in fact my order has gone off today!
In order for proceeds from the sales to go to our school, the please remember to quote the correct code when sending your order: SST2316
The link for the website is: http://www.yellowmoon.org.uk/
Request
Could we please ask that if you have changed any contact details, particularly Mobile numbers, please remember to inform school, so that our records may be updated.
Homework
Homework will commence once again this week, for spelling, handwriting and numeracy.
Many thanks once again to all who supported the Christmas productions and the mums who came to help behind the scenes for all our performances, but particularly on a very wet and windy Thursday evening! You were fantastic!
Have a great week!
Year ½ team
P.S. For those of you who have always fancied being a children's author, then below is a link to the BBC's RAW site,who are running a competition to create a bank of children's stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/raw/beinspired/yourstories/competition/contents.shtml website for parents to enter a writing competition
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