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.