'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