NEW BLOG ADDRESS

Hope you are all having a good holiday and are ready and raring to go next week!

As the Year 2 children will be in their own classes, we have decided that for this year, they will have their own blog, separate from Year 1. The new address will be www.mrsmalone.blogspot.com and will be available from next week. This blog will still be available, although it will not be updated.

Domestics

The children start back on Wednesday 3rd September at 8.45am. They need to line up on the infant playground, behind the labelled cone and will be met by a member of staff. The children have now been in school for two years now, and so we ask that you allow your child to come into school on their own this year. The infant area does get very congested and children do get quite upset when they feel they are being squashed.

They should be collected from the infant playground/patio area at 3pm. We are very good at putting names to faces by the end of week, but please do make yourself known to us! If there is anything that you need to let us know about, then please do let any member of the team know.

What does my child need to bring?

• their bookbag
• packed lunch if they are having one
• any money that they need to bring - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ensure that this is in a labelled envelope so as not to go astray
• water bottle - preferably filled with water rather than fruit juice
• snack - again this needs to be labelled
• PE kit
• the children may buy toast and milk at playtime
• they also need to bring their diary and reading book EVERY day - this will come home with them on the first day

Many thanks and if you have any questions, do please call in to see any member of the team.

Year 1/2 team x

Hankies at the ready!

Well, have you got the Kleenex ready?


After a wonderfully hardworking year, we have now reached the final week of term, and we shall all certainly need the tissues out, even before we get to Friday! It doesn't seem 5 minutes since we were saying 'hello' to the beginning of the new year, and here we are, already at the end of another successful year.

This last week is, just like any other, extremely busy, with lots to fit in, so here goes...

Gulliver's World

Yippee! On Monday the whole school will be leaving and going off to Gullivers for the day. I know they can't wait! Let's just hope for at least a dry day.

• Every child will need a packed lunch and at least a couple of drinks, as we will be out for the whole day. It is better if the children have a backpack for this, as it means they can be 'hands-free' on the rides.
• The children will need a waterproof coat - hopefully this will remain in their bags though!
• If our prayers are answered and we have glorious sunshine, then a sunhat and sun cream are essential
• The children will be allowed a couple of pounds to buy an ice cream etc. Please ensure that this in a zipped purse.
• As always, please ensure your child's name is on everything - we are taking the whole school and there are many children with the same bags!

Thank you so much for all the offers to help on the trip. The response was over-whelming and you will have been informed by your child's teacher if you are needed to accompany the children.

We would advise that parents go around in pairs on the day, so that there is always someone available to look after bags, stay with children who don't want to go on particular rides etc.

On Monday morning, please send your children into school for registration as normal. The children will then be put into their groups, ready to leave for the walk up to the coach.

At the end of the day, as you may appreciate, there are nearly 300 children and 60 adults all trying to get back into school at the same time. Please Please Please could we ask that you do not collect your child from the coach, but from the classroom door as normal. We are sure that you support us in agreeing that our children's safety is paramount. Many thanks with this.

Leaver's Mass

Mmm, I shall definitely need my tissues for this one! We say goodbye to our Year 6 children on Friday. There will be a leaver's mass at 9.00am in the hall, to which you are invited.

Reports

You will receive your child's annual report this week, as hopefully the Year 6 SATS results should be back in school. It is a celebration of all their achievements this year and there are also some targets which will help them maintain the same level of progress next year.

We love to read your comments, so please do take 5 minutes to complete the reply form inside - they are appreciated.

And finally...

All that is left to say, is a huge thank you for all the support you have given to all the staff this year. We have had a great year and the children have made a tremendous amount of progress since September.

We shall miss all of the children and hope that the Year 2's still come back to see us when they are very grown up juniors. They are more than ready for the challenge now!

Holidays

I know September seems a million miles away (or though I did see a 'Back to School' sign in Tesco the other day!), but children do lose a little momentum over the summer break.

I intend to maintain this blog over the holidays and will post some websites to keep the brain cells functioning over holidays. If you would like to visit the Year 3/4 site, you can view it by clicking here.

Have a really good summer and we'll see you again in September.

Year 1/2 team xxx

Not many more sleeps!

Can you believe that we only have two weeks to go? This year seems to have gone very quickly and very soon, the children will be moving on to their next year group. The class organisation for next year is being finalised, and you should be informed of this through your child’s annual report.

We aim to get the reports out by the end of this week, but as you may have heard on the news, the results of the Key Stage 2 results have been delayed nationally.

As we are in the final two weeks, we are updating lots of information to pass up to the next teacher, including high frequency words, number work and two pieces of independent writing, which will form the first pages of a book called ‘The Big Write’. This book will stay with your child as they move throughout the school, and will contain examples of their writing from Years 1 and 2 all the way to Year 6. They will be amazed at home much they can improve throughout this time!
The children are also busy preparing a canvas bag of work which they have chosen to represent their time in Year ½. This will be brought home during the last week and you will be amazed by how much they have come on this year. They will also bring home a small momento of their time in their class, which they need to keep safe – Facebook...in 20 Years time!? We are thrilled with their progress and the tissues are at the ready for all the staff!
Sports Day

We hope (fingers crossed) to hold our annual sports day this week, although as I type this, the heavens have just opened and the rain is VERY heavy! Our planned day is Tuesday and the infant sports day is held in the afternoon.
Should the weather not be suitable on Tuesday, we will hold it on Thursday, again for the infants in the afternoon.

The children should have brought home their PE kits on Friday, ready to be washed and ironed for sports day, so a plea...PLEASE do remember to send them back into school on Monday.
IF the weather is fine, please remember to send in a hat and sun cream for the children. Also, an extra drink would be useful.

Gulliver’s World

Many thanks for all the permission slips which have been returned. If you haven’t already done so, and you would like your child to go on the trip, please return the slip as soon as possible.
ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP? We need lots of adult help on the day to ensure we have the sufficient adult/child ratio. If you are able to help, please let any member of the team know, so we may allocate places. Alternatively, let us know through the diary.

We will let you know the details for next week’s trip in this blog next weekend and also by letter during the week.

BBQ

Don't forget that this Friday is the annual Friends of St.Vincent's Barbecue. It is always a great occasion, starting at 6.00pm and ending at...well, let's just say late! If you haven't got your tickets yet, the let us know and we can arrange them for you.

That’s all for this week’s very short blog!
Have a good week and fingers crossed for good weather!

Year 1/2 team

Around the World in 21 days!

What a great week we had last week! The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed our Spanish Week, including Paella tasting (well Paella á la Worrall anyway!) and Flamenco dancing. The visiting dance specialist was fantastic and even the staff kicked off their shoes to join in.

Our Open Day was a great success and we have had some wonderful feedback from the visitors who joined us for lessons throughout the day. Many comments included how happy the children seemed to be and the fact that they really appeared to be enjoying their learning. The children themselves were also fantastic ambassadors for our school too, particularly some of our Year 6 children who acted as tour guides. Estupendo!!

Well we are rapidly hurtling towards the end of the year and there are lots of activities to fit in before the end of term, which I can’t believe is only three weeks away!

Homework

Homework between now and the end of term, will be a different practical activity each week, in addition to the spelling sheets. The children will be asked to feedback what they have done each Monday morning, in order to develop their speaking and listening skills. This will then feed into a weekly piece of writing, using our writing ‘mantra’ ‘Think it – Say it – Write it’.

Last week, the children were asked to investigate different objects around the home and find out how they were measured – grams, kilograms, millilitres or litres. We will be asking the children to feed this back to us on Monday and we will then be writing a recount of their findings.

http://www.ictgames.com/mostlyPostie.html reading scales in kg and g
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/aliencookbook.shtml make an alien recipe using an alien cookbook
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/measures/index.htm
although this is aimed at key stage 2, most of the children will be able to access this - particularly if they like Bob the Builder!

Literacy

Our last topic of the year is a great one to finish with. We are going to look at different stories by the same author. This week we will be reading lots of extracts from authors such as Martin Waddell, Dick King Smith and my favourite, Roald Dahl.

We will be exploring characterisation in the author’s books by gathering evidence from the text, interpreting information and responding to questions through drama and hotseating. The children will be expected to pose and answer questions about particular characters and look for evidence of change during the course of the story.

http://www.roalddahl.com/ the official website
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/dickkingsmith/
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/dickkingsmith/waterhorse.html read an extract from The Water Horse, which has recently been made into a film.

High frequency words

The children are doing really well with these for reading. When they are assessed in school, please remember that since they are sight words, the children are expected to be able to say them as soon as they are seen, rather than blending the sounds together to read the word. We aim to have a real push on these for the remainder of the term, as once they are known, children really do gain confidence with their reading ability.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/index.shtml
http://www.ictgames.co.uk/ clickon literacy games and then scroll down for the pirate ship and lots of other games to develop HFW and phonics

Numeracy

All the children have now been assessed for their end of year checks, and what a fantastic lot they are too! We know now that we are going to be able to move the children on much more quickly next year, as many of them have exceeded their end of year targets!
We are going to spend the next few weeks, consolidating a few areas where the children would benefit from a little more practice, to enable them to really hit the ground running in September.
If you would like to support the children in beginning to learn times tables in preparation for Year 3, then that would be fantastic. Year 3 have a weekly times tables champion test – wouldn’t it be fantastic if they could have some children achieving the bronze award in September?

Year 1 children could also move onto practicing their number bonds to 20 now and even pairs to 100! Imagine how quickly we are going to be able to move on with our curriculum in September if the children are confident with these before the end of the year?

Teamwork

Following on from last week’s successful Spanish Week, the children will be working in their teams this week to produce an information book about Spain. Each team will be responsible for producing a page, including art work, photographs and key information points. The children will be encouraged to produce some of their best work ever, as we hope to display these in the school library when they are finished.

A big thank you to Mrs Cullen and Mrs Moss who have provided us with some great resources for Mrs Worrall’s Travel Agents. If any of you have any travel brochures, particularly about Spain at home, we would be very grateful for them.

Transition

I know for many of you, you are beginning to think about our little ones crossing the hall in a few weeks time, to become juniors. Fear not! We have been privy to many conversations with the children and the atmosphere of ‘excitement’ more than describes how they are feeling. I myself experienced the Year 2/3 transition last year and the children do take it in their stride. Honestly!

As part of a transition project, we are going to begin some writing with the children, which they will then complete during the induction time in September. The Year 3 teachers will be coming to work with us for a couple of sessions for this and we will arrange for the Year 2 children to spend some time in the juniors before September.

If you do have any questions or anxieties, then please do feel free to pop in and see any member of the 1/2 team.

Domestics
There have been a few letters over the last couple of weeks or so, and I know some of them may have been buried at the bottom of the bookbags, so...

Gullivers World letter - voluntary contribution of £17
Water Bottle letter if you ordered and received one before the holidays
Flamenco dancing donation - £3

Many of the books in the library seem to have depleted recently. Could we ask you to please check at home if you have more than one reading book? Books are changed on Tuesdays and Fridays, so it is particularly important that they are in school then. Also, if your child needs to keep their book, please could you indicate this in the diary. When the children progress to the higher book band levels, it may take the full week to read the text, so that is fine.

Think that’s all for this week, except to say, please check out the links on the right hand side of this blog this week. We use all of these sites on a regular basis and the children are becoming fantastic at navigating through them in class!

Take care,
Year 1/2 team

HOLA!

Hola and welcome to Spanish Week!

After a very busy week last week, including Beeston (have they recovered yet and caught up on their sleep?), we have Spanish Week across the whole school.
This is our chance to show off all our Spanish skills and really become immersed in the Spanish language and culture. We may even adopt the afternoon siesta for this week – who knows!

Picasso

The children will be focussing on the work of Pablo Picasso this week. As our link school is in Malaga, what a great artist to choose! The children are currently investigating Variation and the differences between ourselves in Science, so they will be drawing and painting self-portraits with a difference.

Cuisine!

It wouldn’t be a Spanish themed week without some tasty food on offer! So on Monday afternoon, we will play host to Foundation Stage children when they will visit our Tapas Restaurant. Our new starter children have their first visit on Monday and Tuesday of this week, so it is a great opportunity for the present foundation class to become acclimatised to their new surroundings for September.

Language

We thought we might include a little bit of the Spanish language for you to brush up on your skills this week – and also be able to understand just what your child may come home saying to you!

If you scroll down through the blog, there are a number of phrases which the children will be familiar with and also some links for websites that you may like to visit.

Introductions

¿Como te llamas? What is your name?
Me llamo…. My name is…..
¿Dónde vives? Where do you live?
Vivo en Warrington I live in Warrington
¿Cuántos anos tienes? How old are you?
Tengo ocho anos. I am eight years old.

Los Animales Animals

El perro dog
El gato cat
El ratón mouse
El caballo horse
La serpiente snake
El conejo rabbit
El hámster hamster
El pez fish
El pájaro bird
La rata rat
La vaca cow
El oso bear
Una rana a frog
Un mono monkey

Los Números Numbers
Uno
Dos
Tres
Cuatro
Cinco
Seis
Siete
Ocho
Nueve
Diez
¿Cuanto es?
Dos mas dos son cuatro
Cuatro menos dos
Dos por dos
Quince dividido por cinco es tres

Commands
¡Levantaos! Stand up!
¡Sentaos! Sit down!
¡Miradme! Look at me!
¡Levantad la mano! Put your hands up!
¡Cruzad los brazos! Cross your arms!
¡Abrid los ojos! Open your eyes!
¡Cerrad los ojos! Close your eyes!
¡Bajad la mano! Put your hands down!
¡Señalad! Point to!
¡Repetid! Repeat!
¡Escuchad! Listen!
¡Mirad! Look!
¡Enseñadme! Show me!

Classroom equipment

Un boli a pen
Un lapiz a pencil
Un libro a book
Un sacapuntas a pencil sharpener
Una goma a rubber
Una calculadora a calculador
Una regla a ruler
Tijeras scissors

Los colores
Rojo(a) red
Amarillo(a) yellow
Naranja orange
Rosa pink
Azul blue
Verde green
Negro(a) black
Gris grey
Blanco(a) white
Purple purpura

The Weather – El tiempo
¿Qué tiempo hace hoy? What is the weather like today?
Hace buen tiempo….. It’s nice weather
Hace mal tiempo……..It’s bad weather
Hace mucho frio……….It’s very cold
Hace mucha calor…… It’s very hot
Hace mucho viento…..It’s very windy
Esta lloviendo…….. It’s raining
Esta muy nublado….. It’s very cloudy
Esta muy helado…… It’s very frosty
Esta muy soleado…..It’s very sunny

Telling the time
¿Que hora es?
Es la una
Son las dos
Son las cinco

Parts of the body
Los partes del cuerpo

La cabeza - head
El cabello - hair
La frente - foreheadL
a oreja - ear
El ojo - eye
La nariz - nose
La mejilla - cheek
La boca - mouth
El diente - tooth
El cuello - neck
El hombro - shoulder
El pecho - chest
El brazo - arm
El antebrazo - forearm
El codo - elbow
La muñeca - wrist
La mano - hand
El dedo - finger
El estómago - stomach
La cadera - hip
La pierna - leg
El muslo - thigh
La rodilla - knee
La espinilla - shin
El pantorilla - calf
La pie - foot
El tobillo - ankle
El dedo del pie - toe (lit. finger of the foot)
La espalda – back

Simon Says...
¡Señalad!
Simón dice…. ¡Tocad! …… ¡Levantad!…… ¡Sentaos! …¡Señalad!

Clothes – La ropa
Llevo - I wear
una corbata - a tie
un gorro - a woolly hat
una bufanda - a scarf
unos guantes - gloves
una chaqueta - a jacket
unos pantalones - trousers
un jersey - a jumper
una falda - a skirt
un vestido - a dress
una camisa - a shirt
un abrigo - a coat
unas medias - tights
unos calcetinas - socks
unas botas - boots
unos zapatos - shoes
Llevo unos zapatos - I wear shoes.

http://www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/spanish_for_children this is a great website, which has lots of ‘clickable’ objects which help with pronunciation

http://www.learn4good.com/kids/learning_spanish_online/free_lessons_for_children.htm some lovely interactive activities for the children, including colours and numbers.

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/languages/Goats/Spanish/cabritillos.html 3 Billy Goats Gruff in Spanish

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/languages/Little%20Red/Spanish/Northumberland%20NGfL%20Caperucita%20Roja.html Little Red Riding Hood

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/languages/Goldilocks/Spanish/Rubiales2.html Goldilocks

Visiting Dance Company

On Thursday, the children are in for another treat! A dance company will be visiting school, to enable the children to learn Flamenco! Can’t wait!

Book Fair

Starting on Tuesday after school, we will be holding out book fair in the hall. Please do come along and visit, as any commission that is earned, goes directly into purchasing books for the library.

A big thank you to Mrs Narraway, who has organised both of these events for the whole school!
Having said all this, I wonder if we are going to be able to fit it all in before Friday! A tall order, but with all the staff back in this week, we should make it a great week. Why not join us this Thursday, between 9.30 and 2.30, for our Open Day, to see some of the things we do – you will be amazed!

On Friday, we ask the children to come to school, wearing the colours of the Spanish Flag!

That’s all for this week
Adios!
Year ½ team

Beeston Update

Well the children (and staff) are having a great time! As I write this, they have had their camp fire and toasted marshmellows! The weather is holding for them, which was fantastic on the long walk to Beeston Castle.

Some of the more recent quotes include...

• When are we going to get dirty? Mum has packed LOADS of clothes!
• Let's have a competition who can stay up the latest!?!
• Can we have breakfast in bed Miss?

Waitress service it is then!

The staff who have accompanied the children have been in touch to say how well the children are behaving and their excitment is lovely to see. They will also be tucked up in bed by 6pm tomorrow night - and I do mean the staff as well as the children!!

Mrs Worrall x

Beeston here we come!!

Hi there!

Do you have an unbelieveably excited little one at home? Are they checking you have remembered to pack everything, including the kitchen sink? Well, they are probably one of the 45 children off to Beeston on Tuesday!

The details are as follows:

The children need to arrive for school as normal for school on Tuesday morning at 8.45am. The coach will be leaving at 9.30 and we will be returning for 3.00pm on Wednesday. If there are any traffic issues, then a member of staff will contact school to advise of a new arrival time.

Remember that they are only going to be away for one night, so the bag that they are bringing needs to be able to be carried or wheeled by them. Also, please ensure that their name can be clearly seen on the outside of the case.

If your child needs to take and prescribed medication, Mrs Fox will be on the playground on Tuesday morning to collect it. Also, please ensure that this has been included on the medical form.

Children can bring a teddy bear!

They will need to bring pumps, slippers or indoor shoes, as outdoor shoes are not allowed in the centre.

On the first day, they will need a packed lunch. It would be helpful if this can be put into a plastic bag, packed separately from the rest of their luggage, so it can be disposed of.

Children may bring up to £3 to purchase souvenirs from the shop at the Candle Factory.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO PACK?

When going through this list, please remember that anything taken, may get torn, WILL get dirty and, whilst we do everything possible to avoid it, but may get lost. Whatever they do take...

LABEL EVERYTHING WITH CHILD'S NAME AND ST.VINCENT'S.

Indoor Clothing

• an change of clothing for the evening - slippers or pumps
• lots of OLD clothes - joggers, jumpers etc.

Outdoor Clothing

• Sweatshirts, tracksuits, t-shirts
• no demins - only for inside
• plenty of socks
• underwear - more than one pair each day
• at least 2 pairs of old trainers/shoes NOT good school shoes

General

• pyjamas
• wash bag and flannel
• hand towel
• toothpaste and toothbrush
• hairbrush or comb
• anorak or cagoule - OLD
• Cameras - disposable ones are best and then only if they know how to use one
• £3.00 to purchase pens etc. in the shop
• sun cream / hat in case it is sunny - the children need to be able to apply the suncream themselves
• plastic bag/sack for dirty clothes

Phew! What a list, but this is to ensure that everyone is sure about the kinds of things that they need to take. Just think about how much we all pack when going away overnight with the family!

A few children have asked if they can bring Nintendos, iPods etc. Apart from not having the time for these, they could get damaged or lost, so we would ask that these be left at home.

Although the children are SO excited now and sleep may not be top of their list of priorities at the moment, just thing of the big sleep they will have on Wednesday night - not to mention the staff!

So what are the Year 1's up to this week?

On Monday of this week, the children will be having their own class teacher, but on Tuesday, the Year 1's will be put into 2 groups, to work on a variety of curriculum 'fun' for the rest of the week. I will be taking one group and a supply teacher will take the other group.

There will be copious amounts of glitter and glue around, as well as making an interactive poetry book, complete with cover, designed by the children. They will also be making a paper copy of the poetry book, which will be displayed in the school library when it is complete.

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/riddles2.htm match the riddle to the picture of the animals in the top screen

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/riddles1.htm guess the object and match it to the description

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/wwww/living/kids.shtml a lovely website, not particularly aimed at riddles, but is good at extended vocabulary

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/20050415/English/Keystage1/Rhymingwords/Canyourhymeit/Introduction/default.htm investigating words that rhyme. Click on starter activity for those who need a reminder of traditional rhymes with rhyming words. The main activity is great for those who want to move onto their own poems, but be sure to click the orange juice in the fridge for this one!

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/my_monster/index.htm make up your own monster poem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/spacespins.shtml a great game which develops alliteration patternshttp://www.whiteheadm.co.uk/html/poem_index.htm a lovely collection of easy to read poems for children. This site also has many other links to poetry sites for you to explore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/rhyme/index.shtml an old favourite!

http://www.rhymezone.com/ a great site which can help out even the most prolific poet when struggling for a rhyming word!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Literacy/Keystage2/Poetry/Usingverbsinpoe/Introduction/default.htm more challenging, but a great way of bringing poems to life using verbs

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/year4/limerick.htm although this is aimed at Year 4, many of our children will be able to access it – and get the jokes!

Numeracy

Many of the children achieved their targets of finding fractions of shapes, so we will move on to finding fractions of numbers with the Year 1's this week. We will also be spending some time reviewing the numeracy curriculum from this year, in preparation for their final assessment of the year in a couple of weeks time. The standard of the children's understanding and knowledge has been amazing this year and they will certainly hit the ground running when they become Year 2 in just 5 weeks time!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Numeracy/Keystage2/Number/Sharingcakes/Introduction/default.htm sharing cakes - what a better way to teach fractions?

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/level3.htm say how much of the shape is shaded

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Numeracy/Keystage2/Number/Findafractionof/Introduction/default.htm children will be able to find halves and quarters quite easily, but if they fancy a challenge, they will be able to find thirds and fifths of numbers

http://www.mathsyear2000.org/games/map-fractions/falling/ drag the leaf into your player box.

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/level1.htm divide the pizza between the number of people in the picture and type in the fraction

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/fractions/ how many ways can you make a half?

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html a lovely way to apply our numeracy work on fraction to our topic. Design a flag using the colours and fractions shown

http://www.counton.org/games/map-fractions/spring/

First Holy Communion

Our Year three children will be receiving the Sacrament for the first time this Saturday at 9.30 in St.Joseph's. We wish them all our love, thoughts and prayers for their special day. We would love lots of singers for the choir and also, maybe the Year 2 children could use this as an opportunity to see what they will be doing next year!

If there are any messages to be passed on this week, then either pass them through your child's classteacher, or Mrs Worrall on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I aim to update this blog on Tuesday evening, with some information of how they are getting on in Beeston, so check back then!

Have a good week!

Year 1/2 team

Here comes the Summer...

Welcome to the last half term of the year, which for some of you, will be the last few weeks in the infants!

In this week’s blog, we will let you know all the fantastic things which we intend to ‘shoehorn’ into the short time we have available, including BEESTON!! Yes, it is only a week away, and we are sure that the excitement is almost unbearable at home! Thank you to all of you who attended the meeting in the last week of the half term. We will be sending home final details of the trip this week and posting them on this blog, but in the meantime, if you do have any questions, then please do call in to see any member of the 1/2 team.

Literacy

We begin one of my favourites this week – poetry! The children will hear, read and respond to poems, each using particular patterns of rhythm and rhyme. Some of them will make sense, whilst we will have great fun looking at ‘Nonsense rhymes’ – remember The Ning Nang Nong??

What can you do at home to help?

There are lots of games to play, many of which can be played in the car (and have been tried and tested over many miles my myself over the holidays!)

Alliterative poems - tongue-twisters

Make a list of possible subjects for the alliterative sentences, e.g. a pear, an aardvark, a dog, a table, a camera.

Demonstrate how to select a subject (e.g. a pear) and think of an adjective with the same sound (e.g. a prickly pear). Then try to find a verb and extend the sentence using the same sound as often as possible, e.g.

A prickly pear perched on a purple plate
An awful aardvark arriving at the airport
A dull dog digging in a ditch

Riddles

Think about who or what might be the focus for the riddle.

Think about possible subjects for riddles, e.g. sun, moon, lock, glasses, hands, candle, etc. Select one as a
focus - a familiar object such as a banana. Brainstorm a list of things that they know about the object -
thinking about its shape, its function, its colour, its taste, what people do with it, what it looks like, e.g. a banana

Banana
Boomerang
Unwrapped present
Rhino horn
Monkeys
A bunch of fingers
You unzip it
Some are spotted

Demonstrate how to take the brainstorm and extend ideas into poetic lines, which act as clues but do not give the subject away, e.g.

What am I?
I am a yellow boomerang
An unwrapped present waiting to be opened
Shaped like a rhino horn
But loved by monkeys...

The children will LOVE doing this and it will help them extend their vocabulary. They will also be expected to use specific vocabulary when describing the poems they hear and read; syllable, nonsense, poem, verse, tongue-twister and alliteration. The children are more than capable of this, as they were in fact using some of these words in Foundation Stage, so I can’t wait to read some of their own ideas by the end of next week!

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to identify the rhyming words in the poems
SHOULD be able to continue the rhyming string using the same patterns
COULD create their own rhyming strings using their own letter patterns

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/riddles2.htm match the riddle to the picture of the animals in the top screen

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/riddles1.htm guess the object and match it to the description

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/wwww/living/kids.shtml a lovely website, not particularly aimed at riddles, but is good at extended vocabulary

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/20050415/English/Keystage1/Rhymingwords/Canyourhymeit/Introduction/default.htm investigating words that rhyme. Click on starter activity for those who need a reminder of traditional rhymes with rhyming words. The main activity is great for those who want to move onto their own poems, but be sure to click the orange juice in the fridge for this one!

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/my_monster/index.htm make up your own monster poem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/spacespins.shtml a great game which develops alliteration patterns

http://www.whiteheadm.co.uk/html/poem_index.htm a lovely collection of easy to read poems for children. This site also has many other links to poetry sites for you to explore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/rhyme/index.shtml an old favourite!

http://www.rhymezone.com/ a great site which can help out even the most prolific poet when struggling for a rhyming word!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Literacy/Keystage2/Poetry/Usingverbsinpoe/Introduction/default.htm more challenging, but a great way of bringing poems to life using verbs

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/year4/limerick.htm although this is aimed at Year 4, many of our children will be able to access it – and get the jokes!

Phonics

We begin with a review of last half term’s phonic patterns and ensure that any gaps are addressed before we move on. The children are doing really well with linking their learning in this area when writing independently. We will be having a real push on the high frequency words this half term, as they really are the ‘word glue’ which holds every piece of text they will ever read or write, together. By not having to think about these words, it will really help their writing to not only flow more easily, but it will enable them to concentrate on the content of their writing.

Please refer to earlier posts on this blog for phonics websites.

Numeracy

We begin the week, with looking at 2D and 3D shapes and the relationship between them. They will be expected to be able to describe the shapes, using specific vocabulary, such as sides, edges, vertices (corners), and faces. They will learn that the number of 2D shapes that they have to use when constructing a 3D shape, is the number of faces that that shape has.

If you have ‘GEOMAG’ at home, this is great way to construct these shapes and also talk about how the magnets hold everything together!

In the second half of the week, we move onto looking at fractions of shapes and applying this to find fractions of numbers. By the end of the week, they should be able to find half of all even numbers to at least 20, and then move onto finding a quarter of numbers – remember that to find a quarter of a number, find half, then half again.

MUST: Be able to know addition and subtraction facts for pairs that total up to 9; to know addition and subtraction facts for pairs that total 10.

SHOULD: Be able to classify and describe common 2D and 3D shapes.

COULD: Be able to recogonise and halves and quarters of shapes and numbers of objects

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Numeracy/Keystage2/Number/Sharingcakes/Introduction/default.htm sharing cakes - what a better way to teach fractions?

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/level3.htm say how much of the shape is shaded

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Numeracy/Keystage2/Number/Findafractionof/Introduction/default.htm children will be able to find halves and quarters quite easily, but if they fancy a challenge, they will be able to find thirds and fifths of numbers

http://www.mathsyear2000.org/games/map-fractions/falling/ drag the leaf into your player box.

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/level1.htm divide the pizza between the number of people in the picture and type in the fraction

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/fractions/ how many ways can you make a half?

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/fractionflags/fractionflags.html a lovely way to apply our numeracy work on fraction to our topic. Design a flag using the colours and fractions shown

http://www.counton.org/games/map-fractions/spring/

Science

We begin our final topic of the year, called Variation. We will be looking at the similarities and differences between each other, humans and other animals. We will also look at how changes happen over time. Well, I have been brave enough to dig out all my baby photographs and many photos of when I was in primary, secondary and university! Apart from a huge array of hairstyles and a variety of dress sizes(!!) it was comforting to see the things that had stayed them same, although admittedly, there weren’t many!

Go on, dig out your own photographs and have a laugh (sorry, I mean look!) with your children. Maybe they will appreciate their own wardrobe now, when they look at the fashions of the 70’s!!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/health_growth.shtml

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/healthy_eating/eng/Introduction/default.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/ourselves.shtml

http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/interactives/interactive_fs.asp?swfpath=science/bodyandmedicine/skeleton.swf I was fascinated with this site! Some difficult vocabulary, but a site well worth a visit!

http://www.childrensmuseum.org/special_exhibits/bones/kids_mazeGame.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/moving_growing.shtml

Topic

With the Olympics just around the corner, what a great opportunity for the children to learn about some of the different countries that will be taking part. Just to be able to identify the flags during the opening ceremony and say something about a few of the countries would be fantastic!

We will be focussing on a country from a different continent each week, and then we will work in our co-operative learning teams to make a ‘passport to the world’ scrap book of information from that country, including customs, costumes, flags etc. The children will be able to apply their knowledge of information texts to this topic, which should be really enjoyable.

http://www.london2012.com/ I saw some of this last week and it will be fantastic for us in 2012 – just four years time!!

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?subject=Geography&topic=Weather%20around%20the%20World lots of fabulous sites which look at weather around the world

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?subject=Geography&topic=Earthquakes some great video clips of earthquakes. The children could ask to research these, particularly as the Olympics takes place in China this year.

Request

The outdoor play equipment (outside Foundation Stage) is a fantastic place for the children to play and learn during the school day and the children all love using it. Could we please ask though, that children refrain from using any of the equipment before school starts. The area has to be set of before school xeach morning for Foundation Stage lessons, as it is an essential part of their curriculum and an extension of their classroom. Many thanks for your co-operation with this.

Also, there have been a number of children arriving in the school grounds before 8.15am. The children should not arrive in the playground before 8.30am as whilst there are some members of staff around, they are unavailable to supervise children on the playground before school.
Both of these requests are for your children’s safety. Many thanks in anticipation of your support with these.

Have a good first week back!

Year 1/2 team

The end of another half term already!?!

Well here we are again, hurtling towards the end of another half term - where does the time go? We have a very busy week ahead of us, so without further ado, let's find out what's happening...

SATs

The children have worked so hard over the last few weeks, completing all the tasks and tests for the SATs and this week sees their conclusion. Phew I hear you say? Well, in actual fact, we have lots of lovely comments in the children's diaries, saying how much the children have enjoyed them! I can tell that this group of children are really gearing up for their move into the world of the juniors - and ready for it they are too!

The year ones will also have their progress assessed too this week and the week after the holidays. Many children have already moved onto the next level in the reading, with many children exceeding their targets for the end of the year already - FANTASTIC!

Literacy

The children will be completing their information books this week, which will be assessed as a piece of independent writing. From this, the children will be given their final set of targets to work on in the last half term.

If you fancy having some writing practice over the holidays, have a look back through the blog links from the last couple of weeks. Some children have even brought in some stories that the have printed off - we would love to see more!

Phonics

As always in the last week of a half term, we will be reviewing the letter patterns that we have covered and assessing whether the children are able to blend and segment words using them. You should receive an update on the patterns that your child needs to work on via the diaries this week. Many of the children applying their phonics knowledge superbly when blending unfamiliar words, but a great way to practice this skill, is by highlighting words which contain a particular pattern on a page from your Sunday newspaper! Have a go this weekend and see how many you can find.

CHALLENGE: how many words can they find on a page, where the letter 'e' has changed the sound of the vowel in a word? Maybe you could make a list and use this to add to your swagbag!

http://www.focusonphonics.co.uk/index2.php?action=underestand review some of the previous letter patterns we have been working on. By clicking on the sounds, the children will be able to hear the sound the letters make together.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/wordTree.html write 5 words with the au pattern and 5 with the aw pattern and get the children to locate them on the tree. The children could even make their own game up for each other, practising their spelling skills!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html choose ‘enter your own words’ to work on this week’s patterns or choose from the list to review previous sounds

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html click on the au and aw patterns

Numeracy

The children will be completing assessments this week on all the areas of numeracy covered this year. This will enable us to plan the children's learning for the last half term, so that any misunderstandings can be addressed.

Links from previous blogs will really support our numeracy work this week. You also have noticed on the right hand side of this blog, I have added some of our favourite sites for you to look through. Although they are all general sites and they contain resources all the way up to Year 6 and beyond, you have lots to work through!

Topic

We will be completing the work we have been covering this half term on Florence Nightingale and also assessing the children's understanding of our work on plants and animals. Mrs Worrall's class will be completing their writing for display on this topic, so why not pop in and see some of the children's work on Friday? Mrs Pinto-Edwards' class have also produced a beautiful display in the hall, based on their work on Pentecost. Why not pop in and have a look, by going to the Rosary during the week at 8.30am in the school hall?

Beeston

The Year 2 children are getting very excited now about their 'big sleep-over' at Beeston which is rapidly approaching! They may be saying that they will be getting up to all kinds of things, but there will be a meeting THIS WEDNESDAY at 3.15pm in Mrs Malone's room, to inform you of the real timetable for the visit! There will be a creche available for the children and the meeting should last no longer than about 20 minutes. Should you be unable to attend, then please call in to see any member of the 1/2 team, or pop a message in your child's diary.

As it is the last week of the half term and the children are working extremely hard on their assessments in school, there will be no formal homework this week. This will give you the opportunity to spend a little more time on reading with your child and completing some of the phonics activities.

A very busy week, packed into a very short blog! Have a rest over the holidays and come back ready and refreshed for the last half term, which is for some children, their last half term before moving to the juniors!

Take care,
Year 1/2 team.

Up-levelling

Well what about last week’s weather?! I complained about the lack of Summer and Hey Presto – sunshine and shorts! I’d better not complain this week in case we return to the wintery days of April again!

On the subject of the warm weather, could we remind everyone about the need for children to be protected from the sun, by wearing a hat and applying sun-screen. The children may bring it to school in a named plastic bag at the start of the week and bring it home for the weekend.

We continue with SATs tasks for the Year 2’s this week and the children have really done us proud so far. They have said that it was nothing like they thought it would be and they can’t wait to do more – an opportunity for them to show off all of their knowledge and skills.

Next week sees the Key Stage 2 SATs nationally and our own Year 6 children are eager to show off all their knowledge after 7 years at St.Vincent’s. We wish them all the very best and are sure that they will be fantastic!

Literacy

By the title of this week’s blog, you should be able to gather that we are really pushing the children on to raise the level of their writing this week.

When writing our Information books this week, the children will be ‘up-levelling’ their writing in 4 different ways:

· Vocabulary
· Connectives
· Openers
· Punctuation

VCOP for short!

Have a go with this sentence:

· I walk to school.

Mmm, we can improve this by adding vocabulary to extend the sentence :

· I walked quickly to school this morning.

Then, let’s extend it even more by adding a connective:

· I walked quickly to school this morning SO I was not late for the register.

Getting better! Now, how can we change the opening? Let’s begin our sentence with an ‘ing’ word – the action (verb) in the sentence:

· Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register...

Oh – when we remember our Think it, Say it, Write it rule, the sentence doesn’t ‘sound’ right. We need to add another ‘bit’ on the end, so...

· Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my packed lunch, so had to return home anyway.

Much better, but I haven’t got any punctuation!

· Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register, I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my packed lunch, so had to return home anyway!

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to write 3 simple sentences about their chosen topic
SHOULD be able to write at least 5 extended sentences, including a connective, about their chosen topic
COULD be able to write extended sentences, using VCOP about their chosen topic and ensure they are written as paragraphs.

http://www.sparklebox2.co.uk/literacy/writing/vcop.html a resource we use in school, but if you would like your own colour copy of this to print off at home, then it can be downloaded from this site. Get the children to cut this out and assemble it into an actual pyramid! You may recognise some of the other resources which we regularly send home, as this is a huge favourite of ours!

http://www.kelsall.cheshire.sch.uk/Parents/Parent%20Handouts/VCOP%20Mat.pdf a mat version of the VCOP pyramid

http://www.sutton.lincs.sch.uk/pages/playground/zone/story/start.html ideas for writing your own stories – great to use as opening paragraphs

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/writing_a_story_opening hints on writing a story opening

http://www.midlandit.co.uk/education/writingtips.htm story writing tips

http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/kids/writing/storymaker/storymaker.asp create your own story

http://www.eduplace.com/tales/index.html this is great! Enter the information requested and the programme generates a story start.

Phonics

The children have really amazed us with how much they can remember and which phoneme to use for different words. ‘PH’ and ‘WH’ words are now firmly embedded and the children are even giving themselves spelling challenges, seeing how many words they can come up with!
This week, we move onto ‘au’ and ‘aw’ sounds. They will investigate where the ‘au’ and ‘aw’ pattern USUALLY come in a word – beginning, middle or end, and apply this to new words.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to recognise the patterns au and aw in words
SHOULD be able to spell words containing au and aw
COULD be able to include au and aw words learned in a sentence

http://www.focusonphonics.co.uk/index2.php?action=underestand review some of the previous letter patterns we have been working on. By clicking on the sounds, the children will be able to hear the sound the letters make together.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/wordTree.html write 5 words with the au pattern and 5 with the aw pattern and get the children to locate them on the tree. The children could even make their own game up for each other, practising their spelling skills!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html choose ‘enter your own words’ to work on this week’s patterns or choose from the list to review previous sounds

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html click on the au and aw patterns

Numeracy

As stated last week, we will be continuing with a review of areas of numeracy where the children need a little more practice.

This week, we will be moving on to partitioning up to 4 digit numbers and using this to support them when adding larger numbers. We will also review missing numbers in a number sentence, looking particularly at the sign in the middle + or -.

One area which we will spend some time on, is reviewing the vocabulary associated with addition and subtraction. Once the children can understand the vocabulary, the number work becomes second nature. For example:

10 – 5 = ?
Or
Find the difference between 10 and 5

Both are exactly the same sum, but the second one is perceived as being more difficult, because of the ‘words’!

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to find the difference between a TU number and a U by counting on a number line
SHOULD be able to find the difference between a TU number and another by counting on a hundred square
COULD be able to use partitioning to help find the difference between numbers up to 4 digits

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/846/Thinkingofanumber-100.swf this really does make you think! Click on all of the clouds to get the clues in order to guess the missing numbers

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/sumsub.html manipulate the numbers to make up your own number sentence for subtraction. Remember to emphasise the ‘find the difference’ phrase.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Ghostblasters3/ghostsub2.html blast the ghost which answers the subtraction problem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/crosstheswamp.shtml choose addition and subtraction, then select which ‘rock’ to land on. Challenge yourself by selecting the higher numbers.

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/big%20sums/big%20sums%20subtract.html we will be using this site in class to teach missing numbers. Try hiding the first number rather than the answer to add some variety!

http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/mathssub.html race against the clock to answer these subtraction questions

Science

We are moving towards the end of our topic on plants and this week we are looking at the different types of plants that we can find in and around our neighbourhood.

The children will also look at how animals are suited to the environment in which they live. They will be able to name a number of different habitats and match the animals to them.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to name some habitats and where they might be found
SHOULD be able to match an animal to its habitat
COULD be able to predict suitable habitats for animals according to their features

http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/living_things/index.html a lovely website, which is a one-stop shop for all our objectives this week!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/plants_animals_env.shtml click on the plants and animals that we might find in our local environment. This is a great site, particularly as the children can use this independently.

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/AAA/AAA.html what a lovely database all about animals and their habitats. This is also a really useful resource for the children to use when writing their information texts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/wwww/scottishwoodlands/standard/index.shtml building on who, where, what, why and when questions from last week, this is a fairly simple sites which poses questions about habitats for the children to answer.

Here I Am

We begin our new topic of Building Bridges in our RE curriculum this week. In this important topic the children will focus on their friendships and how they are to be cared for. They also look at how friendships can be spoilt and the importance of putting things right. They will study the Sacrament of Reconciliation and learn about the importance of forgiveness and being forgiven. This topic also enables to link our SEAL curriculum with our Here I Am programme.

By the end of the week, the children will have:

RECOGNISED :that friendships can be spoilt.
REFLECTED: on friendships they have had which were spoilt in some way.
RESPECTED: appreciate the importance of saying sorry and making-up.

This Sunday is also Pentecost Sunday, where we celebrate not only the coming of the Holy Spirit, but the birthday of the Church. We have a task for the children on Sunday...

What colour vestments is Father Richard wearing? Why is he wearing that colour?

PE Kits

The children should have brought their PE kits home over the last week or so to be washed, but there are still a few which haven’t found their way back into our class PE boxes. Please could ensure that you also check your child’s pumps fit, as we hope to embark on our practices for Sports Day – yes we are approaching that time of year again, hard to believe though it is!

Change of Day

For this week only, Golden time and University has been swapped to THURSDAY. This is enable Foundation Stage to go on their visit to Blue Planet Aquarium – I am sure they will all have a ‘splashing’ time! (oh dear!)

Year ½ team

5th May 2008

Hi,

We are fantastic! (and that’s official!) We were assessed for our third Basic Skills quality mark on Thursday by Derek Barnes, a senior advisor from the LEA and he praised all the children in our school, saying how amazed he was at the progress they were making in all areas, but particularly literacy and numeracy. A big thank you to all of you too, because of the support which you give the school and your children to help achieve these standards. What a great way to end the week!
So, what’s on our menu this week?

We start our SATs tasks with the Year 2 children this week. Fear not! The children are well versed in the way we conduct assessments in Key Stage 1 and the emphasis is very much on celebrating achievement and success. As discussed at parent’s evening, the children will take part in these tasks in a classroom setting, with their own teacher. Unlike Key Stage 2 SATs, they are not completed in one week, rather spread over about 4 weeks, so it is important that children are in school during these weeks. If there are any issues that staff need to be aware of, or any questions which you may have, please see any member of the Year 1/2 team.

http://www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/curriculum/SATs.htm this site gives some information about the nature and purpose of the SATs in schools. It also explains which tasks will be completed in school.

Curriculum will continue throughout the assessment period for the year 2 children as well as the year 1’s.

Literacy

We continue with the second week of Information texts and the children will be able to choose an area which they would like to write to their text about. They will be gathering all the information they need, using books, the internet and interviewing other pupils and staff, ready to begin their writing next week. Some of the children took digital photos last week to include in their book, which they have chosen to make using Smartboard software on the interactive whiteboard!

They will be using this checklist this week when looking at information books, to see if they have included all the necessary elements. They will then use this same checklist when they come to do their own writing next week:

· My front page is clear (the reader can tell what the book is about)
· I have used questions
· My labels and diagrams are clear
· I used captions to give more information about the illustrations
· I have used full stops and capital letters
· My sentences make sense when I read them out loud
· The information chosen is about the title
· The information can be found using the contents page and index
· I used headings and sub-headings to organise important information

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to identify the key features of an information text
SHOULD be able to list questions they want to find the answers to
COULD use question words to write questions they need answered and use them as headings for their paragraphs of information

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/literacy/ a good site to review some of the key areas for literacy

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/english/caerphilly/adjectives/index.htm a site in which children can develop their application of adjectives in their writing

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/penguinsonice.shtml

Phonics

The children are working really hard with the patterns we have been learning. This week, we will be consolidating work on the patterns ‘wh’ and ‘ph’. This links in with the question words from their information texts:

who, where, what, why and when

You could support this work at home, by investigating whether they can find words which contain these patterns in reading materials.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/index.shtml escape the maze has some great games on to enable the children to apply their phonic knowledge learned over the past few weeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml for those children working on the long vowel patterns – some great poems!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/wordTree.html click on menu and enter the high frequency words or patterns your child is currently working on. These will be saved for the next time you open the game.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/phaseThreeAS1_v2.html scroll through the sounds on the rainbow and use the letters on the set of cards to make new words. You will need to have the sound turned up for this one!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html a lovely new game which supports children in their reading of high frequency words. You could also enter your own words using the phonemes they are currently working on, and getting the children to practice their blending skills.

Numeracy

For the next few weeks, we will be reviewing different areas of numeracy in order to ensure the children have a firm grasp on them.

This week, we will looking at grouping objects in sets of 2,3 5 and 10 in order to make counting easier. We will be reviewing partitioning three digit numbers into hundreds, tens and units and also rounding numbers less than 100, to the nearest 10.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST: Be able to count a number of objects by grouping in 5’s or 10’s. : begin to add a multiple 10 to a 2-digit number by counting on in 10’s
SHOULD: Be able to begin to partition 3-Digit numbers into hundreds, tens and units.
COULD: Be able to begin to round numbers less than a 100 to the nearest 10 and then move past 100.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/Postsortingv3.swf click on rounding TU to the nearest 10 and then move onto rounding HTU to the nearest 10.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/850/calcbalancev3.swf click on times tables 2,3,4 and 5 balance

http://nwlg.org/pages/resources/ma_num/swf/y2d4a1.html counting in multiples of 3

http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog10s_v2.html counting in multiples of 10. Click on the missing number to complete the row of flowers

http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog5s_v2.html

http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog3s_v2.html

http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog2s_v2.html

http://www.cantcros.bham.sch.uk/maths/main.htm click on addition to see how the children may add 2 two digit number using partitioning

Science

Last week, we assessed the children’s knowledge of plants learned so far and we were thrilled with the information they have not only retained, but how much of their learning, they were able to apply to new situations.

One area that the children did find difficult to explain, was predicting what a plant would look like if it was left to grow in the dark. We will be repeating an experiment to illustrate this, but the children could start to predict WHAT the plant will look like. What colour will it be? Will it be strong and healthy? How tall will it be? Will it grow at all?

We will also be developing the children’s thinking skills in this area of the curriculum this week, by using our ‘Challenge Contracts’ for plants. The children absolutely love these and regularly choose do complete them during wet playtimes (of which there have been far too many lately...mmm... summer?)

Here’s a sample of some of the questions they will be discussing:

· Alternatives – Think of 5 ways to water the garden without a hose
· Different uses – The answer is seagrass. What could be the question?
· Inventions – Invent a machine to tidy the school environment – label and draw it
· Solutions – work out three ways to stop people destroying the rainforest
· What if? – what if trees could grow money? Write 5 ideas

As a parent, I DO like the idea of the last one!!

Why not have a trip to the garden centre this bank holiday and have a look at the plants that are available there. Look at the plants in the shaded area – why are they bending? Have you got any in your garden or house plants that are doing the same?

Think that’s all for this week. Have a great three day weekend!

Year 1/2 team

Swagbagging!!!!

Hi there!

What on earth is the title of this week's blog?! You might well ask...

A number of staff across the school attended a course this week, the theme of which was 'Big Writing'. Not a reference to the size of the script which your child writes, but more a development of the quality and quantity of their writing. Enthused by some of the ideas, each teacher returned to school, eager to try some of them with the children...thus 'SWAGBAGGING' came to fruition!

Why not try this out at home. All you need is your child's home reader or any magazine or newspaper that you are reading. They will also need a 'SWAGBAG', which could just be a sandwich bag with the word SWAG written on it! Read it out loud to your child and get them to 'steal' any WOW words that they think are interesting - particularly adjectives or adverbs. Then, get them to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in their swagbag. At the end of the week, empty out the swagbag and they will find that they have lots of words that they now can try to incorporate into their writing. This also works if you use 'POSH' words during conversations, which they can also try to swagbag!

You will laugh, furrow your brow and amaze at the number of times that your child pretends to grab the air during conversations...they are swagbagging your vocabulary!! We would love to hear of any successes you have at home with this.

Literacy

A great opportunity to use some swagbag skills this week, as we move onto looking at Information Texts.

Using the children's own interests as a starting point, they will pose their own questions about what they want to know about what interests them. In shared reading, we will be using information books (or ICT sources) to find answers, exploring how to use an index and alphabetical order. We will also be reviewing dictionaries and glossaries to find definitions of words from reading. The children will also be expected to know some of the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts. The children will also learn how to use the Smartboard as a presentation tool for them to display their information text and photographs or drawings. Maybe some children could even write an information section on this blog next week to inform you of what they have been doing this week!

http://www.kidsgowild.com/animalfacts information about animals which will help the children who chose this as their area to write about

http://www.settle.co.uk/local.htm an example of how an information text can be set out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/pets/ a great site from CBBC

http://www.abc.net.au/oceans/alive.htm information about animals of the sea – good for interaction

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?item_ID=5426&subject=English&topic=Text%20-%20Non-chron%20report a non-chronological report on elephants. This link takes you to a powerpoint that can be downloaded to view at home.

Numeracy

The children did really well with their multiplication investigations last week, so this week, we are moving onto looking at division.

A really good visual way of doing this is with, yes you've guessed it...food! Instead of using sweets or biscuits, why not try this will grapes or raisins? Begin with dividing amount into 2. Start with 10 raisin each and divide them between 2 people. Make sure your child can tell you how many you have EACH - 5.

Then move onto showing them how this looks when it is written down:

10 ÷ 2 = 5

Can they spot how the numbers can be manipulated to make the multiplication sum?

2 x 5 = 10

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST: Be able to bein to subtract a 1 digit number from a 2 digit number: subtract by counting back to a multiple of 10.

SHOULD: Be able to introduce multiplication as repeated addition:record facts using x and =

COULD: Be able to understand division as grouping.

http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ click on Year 2 and the division. Fancy a challenge? Why not click on Year 3 or even 4 division?

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/maths/dictionary.html bookmark this site! It will be so useful when trying to work out the definitions for any mathematical vocabulary. Not only is it an online dictionary, it also has practice examples for you to try.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf an old favourite - just click on the division facts although the others will be just as valuable!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/grouping_and_sharing/eng/Introduction/default.htm division as grouping or sharing

http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/c3a/playground.htm I loved this site! Choose easy to begin with, but then you will be able to move on to the more challenging section

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/dividermachine.html begin with level 1, but as you become more familiar with all the tables, you will be able to move onto levels 2 and 3.

Here I Am

We continue with the final week of our Holidays and Holydays topic, where the children will consolidate all their work on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. Please see the links from last week to support our RE curriculum.

Science

The children will be reviewing all the work done on plants so far this term and completing a short assessment to enable us to move on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/plants_grow.shtml
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/factors_plant_growth/eng/Introduction/default.htm http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?item_ID=5584&subject=Science&topic=Life%20-%20Plants click on the cress picture to download a great powerpoint which explains how you can help plants grow well.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/factors_plant_growth/eng/Introduction/default.htm this is actually a KS2 site, but I think the children will be able to access the ‘main session part 2’ section. Ask them what ‘hypothesising’ means!
http://www.walkers-crisps.co.uk/flavours.html click on the GB potatoes link at the top and then ‘from field to crisp.’ This is a really interesting site!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/growing_plants.shtml can you find the right conditions for the plant to grow? http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/7_8/plants_grow.shtml a little more challenging http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?item_ID=5584&subject=Science&topic=Life%20-%20Plants this is a really useful powerpoint to download and keep for the whole of the topic. It is aimed at Year 3, but we really do need to push the children on, as their knowledge on this subject is very good already. http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/science/plants/index.htm click on the seed growth leaf for a great animation of what a seed needs to grow. http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=plantlabelmx a very simple resource to drag and drop the labels onto the right part of the plant. As you move through this site though, you will be expected to explain the functions of each part. This is also really useful in supporting the literacy for this week. http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/earlygrowth/germination/germ.html how fascinating! You will need to sit with your child for this, but the use of stop motion photography is fantastic. Just click on the sunflower germination – it’s really interesting! The movies for flowers are also beautiful!

PE KITS

As the weather seems to more promising at the moment, we are going to try to make the most of the great otudoors for their PE sessions. A few of the children have mentioned about their pumps being a bit uncomfortable, so maybe a check on them would be useful. We will send their kits home this Friday to enable you to check them. Many thanks with this.

Have a good week!

Year 1/2 team