Assessment and Review

How fantastic was last week? The children worked so hard during Bookweek and produced some superb work, particularly the poetry which was produced with David Horner during his visit on Monday and Tuesday. He was VERY complimentary about the children’s behaviour and said the standard of their work was amongst the best he had seen in children of their age!

We hope to compile some of the poems over the holidays and post them on the main school website. Many thanks to all of you for helping your children to come dressed as a character from a Traditional Tale on Friday – they all looked brilliant and it even inspired them to write in role...they remembered the HOTSEATING activity from a couple of weeks ago and started to interview each other!

This week’s diary

MONDAY – please remember to hand in all homework, especially the WANTED poster competition. We have already had some lovely comments in the diaries saying how much the children have enjoyed doing it.

WEDNESDAY – The Ash Wednesday service will be held in the hall at 9am and will last about half an hour. Ashes will be distributed in the hall afterwards for adults and the children will receive them in their classrooms. You are most welcome to join us for our reflection at the start of the Lenten Season.

FRIDAY – will be a NON-UNIFORM day in order to raise funds for Marie Curie. Children are asked to bring a donation on £1 for this cause. We hope it will be well supported.

Also, on Friday, we finish for the half term holiday and we will return on Monday 18th February at 8.45am

Assessment and Review

As always, the last week before each half term, is when we assess how much the children have achieved during the term. This helps us to ensure that our planning for the next half term is at the right level for the children.

Many of you are already working through the targets given to you in the diaries for reading, writing and numeracy and this has become evident in the work which the children are producing in class, so many, many thanks.

As for the last couple of weeks, we have been gauging the level of comments in the diaries on a weekly basis. There has been a dip in some classes, so please do aim to make at least one comment each week.

Mrs Worrall’s class – 90%
Mrs Malone – 63%
Mrs Pinto-Edwards – 43%

Literacy

This week, the children will be writing their very own versions of Traditional Tales. We will be looking for evidence of all the things they have learned this half term to improve their writing.
One exercise we have been trialling across the school, is the use of a memory technique to help write the setting of story. The children SHOULD be able to talk to you about this, as they have really taken hold of the idea and ran with it.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

First, the children had to learn a rhyme, where they associated pictures/objects with the numbers 1 to 9. (in red) Ask your child if they can remember the actions to go with this.
Then we added an element of a story setting to each number (in green)

1 – SUN – a location
2 – SHOE – something close by
3 – TREE – something in the distance
4 – DOOR – a sound you can hear
5 – HIVE - something you can touch
6 – STICKS – a smell
7 – HEAVEN – something moving or moving somewhere
8 – GATE – emotions or feelings
9 – WINE – a different viewpoint

The children then take all of these elements and use them to help them remember the order of the sentences to write the opening of their story...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful young girl named Cinderella. She lived in a small, thatched-roof cottage, with her stern, wicked and cruel stepmother and her two ugly stepsisters, who were always mean to her. Close by to the cottage, there was a stream, where silver fishes darted in the light of the moon each night. In the distance, through her small bedroom window, Cinderella was able to see the royal palace, where she had longed to visit since she was a little girl. She could hear the sound of birds singing happily in the garden and the bees humming around the silky, fragrant flowers which had just bloomed. As she wandered downstairs in her dreary clothes, sweeping brush in her delicate hands, she dreamt of going beyond the cottage gardens to the palace. Would she ever get there? The answer, she assumed, would always be NO! Until that is, a special delivery landed gently onto the doormat...this was to be the day that would change a humble servant-girl’s life forever!

Lots of these ideas, were actually from the children themselves, so they are not unattainable! I can’t wait to read them at the end of the week.

The children will also be assessed on their knowledge of the spelling patterns that we have been focussing on. They will need to be able to both read and spell words containing the 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.

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

We will be assessing the children on their knowledge and understanding of the topics covered this half term.

The children have done really well, but there are a couple of areas where some extra practice would really benefit them:

ODD and EVEN numbers – can they recognise that an even number ends in 2 4 6 8 or 0? Can they recognise that an odd number ends in 1 3 5 7 or 9? Emphasise the fact that however big the number is, it is only the LAST number which tell them whether it is odd or even.

The links from the last few blogs will help to support your child’s learning this week. Also, please keep a check on the targets which have been placed in your child’s diary for numeracy.

NUMBER BONDS CHALLENGE

Well, the children are doing really well with this now, and the competition is hotting up (and that’s just between the staff!) Each Friday, the children have 5 minutes to attempt 100 questions on simple addition and subtraction sums to 10 for Year 1 and 20 for Year 2. All the totals are added together and the class with the highest overall mark, is awarded the Maths Challenge Cup in whole school assembly on Monday morning. Mrs Malone’s class won it the first week and Mrs Pinto-Edwards for the last two weeks.

To get some extra training in, a great site to practice these questions against the clock is http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Hitthebuttonv7.swf
You need to click on NUMBER BONDS and then select ‘bonds within 10’ for year 1 and ‘bonds within 20’ for year 2. Let us know how many you can get in one minute!

Science

We complete our topic on Keeping Healthy this week and the children will complete a quiz in class to see how much information they have remembered.

Here I Am
This week see the start of Lent with Ash Wednesday. We will also begin our new topic of Thanksgiving.

The children will:

RECOGNISE :That the children recognise some ways of giving thanks
REFLECT: on the many ways in which thanks are given at home, in school and in the neighbourhood.
RESPECT: that there are many different ways of giving and showing thanks.

Topic

As I type this, Barnaby has just sent some more e-mails of what he is up to in New York. He has said that the people in America he has met this week are very friendly. His best part so far, is when he got to meet the Captain of the aeroplane and got to sit inside the cockpit – with his hat on! He has had a great time and cannot wait to get back to see us all and tell us about his adventures!

When Barnaby has recovered from his jetlag this week, the children will HOTSEAT him and ask him lots of questions about his journey.

Of course, we have to say a big thank you to Mr. Worrall, who has had to explain lots of Barnaby’s photos to cabin crew, hotel staff and many downtown New Yorkers! The children have loved them!

A treat!

We have been invited out to a fine dining restaurant! Yes, all of the Year 1/2 children have been invited to Casa Foundation Stage on Thursday afternoon, for their Chinese New Year celebrations! We can’t wait and say a huge thank you to Mrs Narraway and the children for inviting us.

Thank you for all your support this half term and we hope you have a happy and relaxing break. Remember to keep practicing those number bonds and we hope that it is a new class who are the champions when we come back!!

Year 1/2 team.

'Twas the weekend before Bookweek.....

Do you like the title??

Guess what's happening this week in school...? Yes, it's

BOOKWEEK!!!!!

All of this week's activities are based around the theme of books and fostering a love of reading. This year, it has fitted in really well with our current literacy topic of Traditional Tales.

The week starts with a visit on Monday and Tuesday, from David Horner, (or as one of the children put it, a real LIVE poet!) Each class will have an opportunity to work with him, to create a class poem. David has visited the school for many years now, and, as a 'native' of Warrington, loves coming back to visit us. We will publish some of the poems on the blog next week, but just to whet the appetite for now, why not contribute to the longest poem in the world...and it's still going!

The children will also decorate a leaf, with the title and author of their favourite book. It would be a huge help if you could spend some time over the weekend, looking through your children's books that they have at home. It will help to aid our discussion about the different types of books and how many different children's authors they can find. Each child in the school will be asked to complete this leaf, and all 300 of them, will be attached to our reading tree.

http://www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk/ this is an excellent 'one-stop shop' to all the current children's authors, who have websites available. By clicking on the name, you should be re-directed to their own website. Roald Dahl is particularly interesting! On the same site, you can search for children's illustrators.

QUESTION? Who always illustrated Roald Dahl's books?

On Wednesday, the Book Fair arrives. The children will get the opportunity to browse through the books which are available during the day and will come out ready on Wednesday at 3pm with a long list of the books that they would love! By buying a book for your child at the Book fair, you could really give their enthusiasm for reading a boost. If they get to choose a book they can keep, they will try so hard with their reading skills. It may even encourage them to want to read even more, which would be fantastic!

http://www.scholastic.co.uk/zone/book_home.htm We can't promise that all of the titles on this site will be avaiable at the book fair, but it willl give you an idea of the books which will be suitable for your child's age and reading ability.

As well as many other art and craft activities which will be happening during the week, my favourite day will be FRIDAY when the children will be able to come to school DRESSED AS A CHARACTER FROM A TRADITIONAL TALE.

The costume needn't be complicated nor expensive. The children are also very skilful in making props for their costumes from any 'junk' materials that you may have at home...

• a cardboard tube - sword - how else can the handsome prince cut down the vines to rescue the princess?
• a cereal box - cut up, this could become a shield, a crown; a wand
• foil - this can cover any of the above props, to transform anyone into a fairy godmother

Homework this week will be slightly different. In addition to the spelling sheets and numeracy homework, we will be holding a competion. The children will be asked to design a WANTED POSTER for a villain from a Traditional Tale. If possible, we would like them to use their ICT skills for the design and print out the finished product. All of the posters will be used as part of a display and the winner will be announced on 5th February, during the whole school assembly. We will send home a written checklist of all the things which the children must include in their posters, as well as an example of the kind of finished product.

Well, with all of this going on, are we going to be able to fit anything else in? Of course we can...

Numeracy

The first ten minutes of each numeracy lesson, is dedicated to practising mental strategies, which will enable the children to rapidly recall key number facts. This week, we will be focussing on:

• recognising the value of the digits in two digit numbers - this is important, particularly as the children need to understand which number represents the 'tens' when finding ten more and ten less.
• recalling one more and one less than a two digit number - the children were fantastic at finding one more than number, but found it difficult to calculate one less.
• doubling multiples of 5 and 10 up to 50 - ask the children if they can remember to double the tens and double the units?
• be able to write the numbers to 100
• recognise the names of 2D shapes

During the main part of the lesson, we will be looking at ordinal numbers. Although this sounds very grand, it is being able to say which is first, second, third...and so on. Why not try having a race and awarding badges or medals to the people who came 1st, 2nd etc.

The children will also learn about numbers which are greater than and less than. Do they know that the crocodile really doesn't like BIG NUMBERS and so he EATS them!!

45 < 54

Imagine teeth drawn on the <>

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ordinal_numbers/eng/Introduct/default.htm ordinal numbers

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ChineseNewYear/ZodiacStory.aspx this is the story of how the Chinese Zodiac was created It will also be a fun way for the children to learn about ordinal numbers.

http://www.ictgames.com/rabbit2.html why not write some of these numbers on paper and ask your child to draw the 'crocodile'.

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/awards/awardc.html there are some difficult numbers on this, including decimals, but the children will be able to access the DIVING AWARDS MEDALS - which country wins the GOLD?

http://www.ictgames.com/dragonmap.html odd and even revision from last week

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

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/stick/stick.html virtual counting stick

http://www.ictgames.com/newduckshoot10s.html counting in tens - shoot the duck on the target number

http://www.ictgames.com/spitfireufo.html although this is aimed from year 2, the children in Year 1 could also access it by counting on in steps of that number.

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/bugs/bugrace3.html a great game for two players. Choose 0 as the lowest number and 9 as the highest, it will create a game to practice and reinforce those number bonds!

Topic

Barnaby Bear will set off on his journey this week - that is if the children can get his passport prepared on time! They found out last week that he doesn't have his own passport and so they have to gather all the information he needs to complete his application form on Monday! They learned how to use the digital camera last week and took the 2 passport sized photographs for him. Once they have been printed, we can apply on-line...hopefully he will receive his passport in time to travel on Tuesday!

This week, the children will learn how to use e-mail to communicate and so when we receive an e-mail from Barnaby on Thursday, we will know how to reply to him!

We will be talking to the children about how to stay safe online too. We will talk about the need to keep their name, address and phone number safe and NEVER to fill in any forms online, which ask for these details. At this age, some children are already keen to join up to membership forums on BBC websites etc., so we do need to emphasise the need to keep this information to themselves.

and finally...

The reading percentages for each class's comments in the diaries remained the same this week. Let's use this Bookweek, to really aim for that 100%...we are very close, so I think we can do it!

We will be asking a question in the diaries this week about books, so please do read it and answer as honestly as possible. We will publish our results on next week's blog.

Think that's all for this week. Have a great one and remember to visit the Book fair, which starts on WEDNESDAY at 3pm.

Year 1/2 team

Are we sitting comfortably?

We have certainly got back into full curriculum now and the children are striding ahead in leaps and bounds. Before we let you know what will be happening this week in school, there are a couple of notices...

Reading

Many, many thanks for those of you are who supporting your child at home in all areas, but particularly in reading. We conducted a survey this week, to see how close we were to our reading target of 100% of children reading at home in each week, and the results are....

Mrs Malone’s class – 70%

Mrs Pinto-Edwards’ class – 73%

Mrs Worrall’s class – 73%

This is fantastic, so let’s see which class can reach their 100% target first! In order to help us do that, your child will probably come home and ask you to write a comment in their diary at least once during the week. If you look back through the pages, there will be a sheet of targets that your child is currently working on, depending upon their reading level. It may be helpful for you to refer to these, to help you evaluate how your child is doing. It has also been really encouraging for us to hear how children are spotting their spelling patterns when out shopping! Keep up the good work!

Why not make up a story with your child this week? You can download some scenery, puppets and a list of things you will need from http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/jackanory/make/puppettheatre.shtml?page1

If you do make some, we would love you to bring them in for us to see!

Homework

As you are aware, homework re-commenced last week for all children. Most homework is returned on time, on Monday mornings, but there are a few that don’t make it in on time. It would be really helpful, if you could ensure your child hands in their homework along with their diaries on MONDAY MORNING, so that it may be marked, ready to return to you on Tuesdays.

Also, we have been using the traffic light system on our Numeracy homework for some time now. This helps us to evaluate the effectiveness and suitability of the weekly homework for each individual child. We would ask that this is completed as honestly as possible. If your child found it easy, then they will be moved on more quickly. If they found it difficult, and they coloured in the GREEN traffic light, then they may not revisit the work in class for a couple of weeks, to clear up misunderstandings. If you would like to make a comment in addition to the traffic lights, then we would be delighted to read them. Many thanks for your support with this.

This week...

Literacy

We move onto our third week in our block on Traditional tales, completing our reading, before we move onto the exciting week of becoming authors next week.

This week, we will be looking at the SETTING of stories – where do they take place? This is a great opportunity for the children to develop their artistic skills, as well as their ability to develop their work on adjectives from last week. They will be painting a picture with words!
We will start the week by watching a video of the opening of Cinderella and then comparing it with the start of the written story of the same story. But there will be a problem! The DVD only works for the start of the story and then the screen goes blank! The children will have to come to the rescue and write the rest of the story themselves – they will become the Writers for a Hollywood production of the film, as the real ones are on strike...(mmm, very topical, and believeable as the children will have seen this on the news recently!)

The links from previous blogs from this term are still relevant for this week.

High frequency words are being assessed this week and the list at the front of the diaries will be updated. Many children have come on in leaps and bounds with this, but I have included a few ‘games’ to try to see if we can move a few more children onto the next term’s lists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/starwords/index.shtml just type the words into the control panel and see how many words your child can identify at speed

http://www.ictgames.com/plankgame.html guess a letter by looking at the words on the sails.

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html this is great for those children who like wordsearches to help learn their spellings. This game, uses all the spelling patterns we have been working on so far this year.

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_spellings/infantspelling.htm good spelling investigation, where the children have to work out which pattern to include to spell the word correctly.

http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html choose any of the patterns at the bottom of the screen to give a list of words that the children could attempt to spell

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

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

Numeracy

This week, we will be:
· Counting on and back in 1, 10 and 100.
· Recognising odd and even numbers
· Grouping objects in tens in order to count large numbers
· Reading numbers to 100 (and beyond) and recording in words and figures

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/number-english.html match the number names to the figures

http://www.ictgames.com/100huntplus10.html click on the number in the 100 square to find 10 more

http://www.hyperstaffs.info/work/math/wilce/cosmic.html I love this! The children have to solve the problems along the way, to complete the mission. Some are harder than others, so it may be best if you sit with them for this one. Good for problem solving.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=washindex ordering odd and even numbers on the washing line

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/explore_num_seq/eng/Introduction/default.htm the children will be using this in class to explore odd and even numbers

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=npmenu sort the odd and even numbers into the correct circle.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/estimate/estimate.html group these objects into small groups in order to make counting easier

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/estimate/estimate.html this site is a bit more challenging, but it great at allowing the children to practice grouping in 10s to make counting quicker.

Science

We continue our theme of Keeping healthy, with looking at how animals produce young and that these grow into adults, and that young children need to be looked after.

By the end of the week, the children should be able to explain that animals produce young which grow older; describe differences between babies and toddlers and how they need to be looked after.

Topic

The children will be introduced to Barnaby Bear this week, who is about to go on a very special journey (courtesy of Mr Worrall!) We will be looking at the journey he will be going on and looking at the different ways in which he could arrive at his destination.

The children will learn how to read e-mails and open attachments, as Barnaby will be sending us photographs and e-mails whilst he is on his journey!

If all goes to plan, we should receive e-mails from Barnaby each day, and the children will work together as a class, to send an e-mail back to Barnaby, asking him to find out information, or send a photograph. Aren’t Blackberry’s a wonderful invention??

Here I Am

We continue our topic of Celebrations with the Relate section. We will be looking at how the church celebrates Feast days and looking at where they occur during the year. Does your child know what Ash Wednesday means and that this year, it is on February 6th?

And finally...

Whilst the vast majority of children arrive in school in plenty of time, there are a few children who are arriving late. This is having a significant impact on the time at which learning can start and means that the children who do arrive after their classmates, are starting their day feeling really unsettled. We would be grateful if all children arrive promptly this week, ready to start our learning each day.

CONGRATULATIONS to Mrs Malone’s class, who won the Maths Champion cup for the largest number of correct answers in the number bond challenge for the first week of this term. Last week’s winner will be announced in assembly on Monday morning...who will it be this week?

Many thanks for your continued and valued support. Which class is going to reach 100% in their reading diary comments this week?

Have a good week!
Year 1/2 team.

14th January 2008

Welcome to the start of the second week back after Christmas. Doesn't it feel as if that all happened a VERY long time ago? We have even more to fit in this week, so here goes...

Literacy

We began our work on Traditional tales last week and the children thoroughly enjoyed them. We certainly have some budding thespians in our midst!

This week we move on from being able to sequence the events in order, to investigating the characters in the stories. We will be comparing stories and drawing out typical features: beginnings and endings, story language, characters and plots. They will continue to re-enact many of the stories using pictures, puppets or props.

When we are investigating the characters, we will asking the children to do something called ‘HOT SEATING’. This means that the children will have to pretend to be a character from a story and the rest of the group will pose questions to them. Their answers will have to be from the point of view AS IF THEY WERE THE CHARACTER. So...

Mr. Wolf, why did you choose to eat Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma?

(Wicked Stepmother) What jobs did you get Cinderella to do? How did you try to prevent her from getting to the ball? Why were you so mean to Cinderella?

Mr Troll, why wouldn’t you let the 3 Billy Goats across your bridge?

By the end of week, the children:

MUST be able to identify the main character in a story

SHOULD be able to use adjectives to describe the main characters in a story

COULD write a character profile of a main character in a story

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/english/story_telling/index.htm this site has online versions of 5 different traditional tales. There are also different activities for you to download (using Word) which practice character, setting and sequencing.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/20050224/English/Keystage1/Writing/tradit~00/introduct/default.htm click onto the main session and then part two to work on adjectives to describe characters.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/are_they_the_same/eng/Introduct/default.htm again, click on main session part one to be able to sort the characters from the traditional tales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/floppy.shtml choose the correct adjective to complete the sentences

Why not read a new story each week at home as part of National Year of Reading? One of my favourites is The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. Try clicking on the Jackanory Junior website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/jackanory/stories/video.shtml

Numeracy

This week is the second week of our review of numeracy. Many of the children rose to the challenge last week and managed to partition thousands, hundreds tens and units numbers! This really is time well spent, as clearing up any misunderstandings now, will mean the children are able to tackle more challenging problems later on. Each day this week, will be spent on a different area of numeracy, but the main focus will remain on their ability to manipulate numbers.

Addition and Subtraction; missing numbers

Each Friday, we carry out our weekly number bonds challenge test. The children are doing well, but are beginning to see just how short an amount of tie 5 minutes really is! Their target for next week’s test is...Remember to always look at the sign – is it + or -?

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=digitmenu great for showing sums which the children should be able to complete using partitioning from last week.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=100square use this to help with counting on

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/add_sub/9%20and%2011.swf remember to use the 100 number square to calculate the answers to these problems

http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n2a/playground.htm add up the total by partitioning and recognising the names on the pinball machine

Money
Doubles and Halves

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf by far the best site to use for doubling and halving. This is also a great site to use fro developing those times tables skills.

Symmetry

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/greg_morgan_symmetry/index.htm a great way to illustrate to the children how to show reflective symmetry. Remind the children about those paint print pictures that you folded in half when they were younger!

Time

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Higher&Lower-Reveal&Orderv4.swf select o’clock and half past, then order the cards in order of time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/5_7entry/4.shtml identify the correct hour on the clock and then order in terms of time

http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html can you get the mouse to run up the clock to eat the cheese?

The children are also working on being able to order the days of the week and the months of the year. Why not use this as an opportunity to work on the spelling of these?

Science – Healthy Eating

This week’s key question is ‘Why do we get hotter when we exercise?’

The children will contribute to creating a class block graph by providing a simple description about the data displayed on the graph, e.g. the food that most children like best. The children will do this in ICT this week, continuing from the work on pictograms last week. They will be looking at the need to eat types of food from each food group to stay healthy. Also, they will be looking at the need for exercise to keep healthy and also how exercise affects different parts of the body.

By the end of the week, the children:

Must be able to say why exercise is important

Should be able to recognise changes in their body when they exercise

Could be able to recognise the role of the heart when exercising

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/6_7/health_growth.shtml from the BBC website Science Clips. An excellent site which encourages the children to predict the outcomes of mini-experiments

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Activity.aspx?siteId=3&sectionId=37&contentId=56 build a healthy lunchbox

http://www.welltown.gov.uk/park/playground2.html can the children predict how different forms of activity make the heart work harder?

http://www.sycd.co.uk/good-to-eat/index.htm# this is quite a difficult website for children to follow independently, so they will need you to share it with them. This will appeal to Manchester United Fans, as it shows how players prepare for matches and the types of foods which they eat. Can they work out why players are not allowed to eat their favourite foods pre-match?

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/zap.html this is a really interesting one! In order for the children to understand why we need sleep, try this activity out at least twice – once when then are awake and alert, and once when they are very tired. They should notice that there reaction times increase when they need sleep. Try it yourself and see what you average time is!

Topic
Journeys – Barnaby Bear

Over this term, the children will be looking at Journeys and the different processes and stages involved in a journey. Our aim is to get the children to plan their own journey to Liverpool, as part of the Capital of Culture Year. http://www.liverpool08.com/
(Some children suggested that we plan a journey to Spain...mmm might just consider that one for the staff!!)

Have a look at these sites, just to give the children an idea for this week’s discussion about different journeys they have been on. Each child will be expected to say one thing about a journey they have been on. It could be a journey on holiday or it could just be a journey by bus into town!

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/barnabybear
www.barnabybear.co.uk
www.coxhoe.durham.sch.uk/curriculum/barnaby_bear.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/meadowfarmcps/barnaby_bear.htm a lovely site where we can find lots of photos of where Barnaby has been on a journey

Homework

Homework will commence again this week. It will be given out on Tuesday as usual, to be returned on Mondays. There are a number of homework folders that were not returned before Christmas. As we are trying to encourage as much independence as possible from the children now, please remind them that THEY need to remember to hand in their homework folder, along with their diaries. You should also receive a new set of bound spelling sheets this week. Remember, that we only expect ONE sheet to be completed each week, but please do check the back of each sheet, as there is usually a short handwriting exercise to complete as well as the spelling patterns. Many thanks for your understanding with this.

And finally a thank you! The children all returned to school with a great work ethic. It has been very evident that you have continued to work with them over the holidays and some children are even ready to be assessed for their next reading level again. This is fantastic! You should also have received updated writing targets for your child in the diary, based on the results of writing assessments before Christmas. Please feel free to comment on these targets when you are writing in your child’s diary.

Have a good week!

Year 1/2 team.

Happy New Year !

Happy 2008! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year and that Santa brought you everything you wished for! Thank you to you all too, for the very generous gifts that you gave all the staff - they were all very much appreciated.


Having recharged our batteries, it is time to start the SPRING term with gusto. We will be stepping up the pace from now, as this is a very short term. We have a great deal to fit in, so here goes with what we have in store for the start to the new term...

Literacy

For the next few weeks, we will be focussing out work on Traditional Tales. I love this, as the children are so familiar with them, as many of them have heard them as bedtime stories. As 2008 is National Year of Reading, why not use this as an opportunity to really push a love of reading at home. Why not buy a Sunday newspaper and let your child SEE YOU reading...or make time to read that novel or autobiography that was bought as a Christmas gift?

We will be looking at the story of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children will be expected to be able to name the main characters and events of the stories, as well as being able to sequence the events in chronological order. Why not make a story board, or film strip of the story – then cut it up. See if your child can put the events back in the correct order, whilst retelling the story.

The children will also be trying to earn their equity cards this week, by exploring how the use of their voice can make a story sound more interesting. Try raising your voice at the end of a sentence and see if they can predict what will happen next...”What big EYES you have grandma!...All the better to SEE YOU WITH!”

If you do read a traditional story with your child this week, please do let us know in the diaries, as the children will be creating a bar chart showing all the favourite stories in their ICT sessions.

By the end of this week, the children:

Must be able to identify the main characters and events in a traditional tale
Should be able to sequence the main events in chronological order
Could retell a traditional tale in chronological order using story language

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/fairytale2/fairytale.htm this has lots of examples of Traditional Tales, with activities to support ideas reading and writing. It does takes a while to download, but the activities and ideas are well worth it.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-red-riding-hood.htm some great activities to print and make to do with Little Red Riding Hood. If you have the time to navigate through some of the other tales on this site, they are well worth a look. We will be revisiting this site over the course of this topic.

http://www.penguinreaders.com/pyr/resources/index.html This may seem quite a daunting site when you first look at it. It isn’t a game that your child can play on, more of activities that can be carried out with you. Although it is based on a particular publisher’s books, it can be used with any version. The PDF files (that open in Acrobat Reader) have a brief overview of the story, it origins and some ideas of activities that you can do at home. The chants are a great way of helping children to remember the order of events in the stories, with having to read the whole story. This will be a great hook for them when they come to write their own versions in a couple of weeks time.

http://www-math.uni-paderborn.de/~odenbach/pigs/pigs.html Wow! This brought back many memories of childhood!

Numeracy

We will be starting the week with a review of place value and partitioning. We will also be reviewing the numeracy assessments which the children did just before Christmas, in order to clarify any misunderstanding that occurred.

One way you could help at home, is with missing number activities. Many of the children found it challenging when we turned around some of the number sentences:

2 + 3 = ? was easy to calculate, but they found it hard to grasp 5 = 3 + ?

Try doing this type of activity at home with number cards are symbol cards and see how many correct number sentences your child can make.

This type of question comes up every year on every assessment all the way up to year 6, so if they are able to grasp the concept now , it will become easier when they use bigger numbers.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/Postsortingv3.swf click on the tens and units postbox to post the letters. Be careful, as you cannot post all the letters!

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=Toolkit%20index2a this will open up lots of things that we use in class, but for this week, you will need to click on the place value calculator. Although it says it is aimed at Key Stage 2, many of the children will be able to use the knowledge they have to calculate the answers.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/PlaceValueChartv4.swf having used this before the holidays, we know how much the children enjoyed it!

Science

This half term, we are investigating the theme of Keeping Healthy...and it is not just because that is my New Year’s resolution!

The children will learn that humans need food and water to stay alive; that children need to eat and drink a variety of food to enable them to grow and to recognise and sort a collection of basic food types.

By the end of this week, the children:

MUST be able to state that they need to eat and drink to stay alive;
SHOULD: be able to name a variety of basic food groups;
COULD: be able to sort some different types of food into existing groups.

Maybe you could get them to sort out the weekly shopping in the food groups, or plan a meal, to make sure it includes all the elements – then they can see it isn’t always as easy as it looks!

The following sites will show the type of vocabulary the children will be expected to know by the end of the topic.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/healthy_eating/eng/Introduction/default.htm we will be using this website in class to introduce the topic this week

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=platehtml The balanced plate – sort the foods into the correct category as they come along the conveyor belt.

http://www.welltown.gov.uk/school/dining_game.html sort the food from the plate into the correct category

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Activity.aspx?siteId=3&sectionId=37&contentId=55 make your own balanced plate of food

http://www.greatgrubclub.com/?location_id=71 a great site, with lots of fun activities to share. It does involve cooking, which is great activity and covers so many areas of the curriculum. Why not have a go at making the ‘eye-ball eggs’??

Here I Am

You will receive this term’s information leaflet for our RE topics this week. Please do let us know if you do not receive a copy.

Our new topic is Celebrations. The children will:

RECOGNISE a way of celebrating
REFLECT on the different ways they have celebrated different occasions
RESPECT that there are many different ways of celebrating

In preparation for this, we would ask that that you chat with your child about what their favourite celebration has been, as all children will be expected to say at least one thing. It may be a wedding, a christening or Christmas. If they do have a photograph or a ‘prop’ to bring in, it will help them when they say something to the rest of the class. Being able to verbalise an idea or thought, is the first important step in the writing process, so it will really give them a head start when they come to write about Celebrations.

This week will be a tiring first week back after the holidays, as many of the children (and adults) have been used to the luxury of the late nights and lie-ins! Because of this, homework will recommence NEXT week, but reading should still happen every day.

The children worked extremely hard last term, so here’s to a happy, but hard-working Spring term!

Year 1/2 team

Please remember that this Sunday is the Feast of the Epiphany. As the feast day falls on Sunday this year, there will be no mass on school. Also, just to bring Easter ever closer, Ash Wednesday is on 6th February – only 4 weeks away!