Well we can certainly tell that many of you continued to work hard over the holidays, as the children came back refreshed, eager and willing to work hard last week, so a huge thank you! We assessed all of the children’s reading ages last week and we are so pleased at the progress they have made. We will inform you of their scores at Parent’s evening along with any new targets which they have. What is evident, is that the children are making the links between the letter patterns they are learning and looking for them in their reading – this is FANTASTIC and will certainly help them on the way to reading for pleasure!
Student teacher
We have two final year teaching students starting with us for 7 weeks, commencing on Monday. Lauren Scott will be taking Foundation Stage and Laura Davin will be taking Mrs Malone’s class. Mrs Malone will be in school throughout this time and will continue to support her own class, as well as working with Year 2 children from across the 3 classes, on numeracy and phonics work. As Mrs Narraway also has a student with her class, she has very kindly offered to work with some Year 2 children to develop their writing skills. This will be of great benefit to the children, as they will be able to work in smaller groups, all working towards the same objectives – plus there will definitely be copious amounts of paint and glitter around!
PE Kits
There have been a number of children without PE kits this week and so we have a plea. Please could you check that your child has kit in school which fits them, including pumps now, as we will be going outside more now that summer is here (and I wrote that without laughing!) If they have outgrown their t-shirt, shorts or pumps, we would be very grateful for them in school, as we would like to keep some spare kits ‘just in case’.
National Year of Reading
Tuesday of last week, saw the launch of National Year of Reading, and courtesy of Mrs Narraway, our Literacy leader, we have some fantastic activities to use across the whole school with this.
During each month, we will be focussing on a particular area of reading. These will be published, so that you may support us at home. For this month, we are encouraging the children to look at WHY we need to read.
· To be able to find out where we are going – maps, road signs
· To find where foods are in the supermarket
· To find out which platform our train leaves from or which gate the plane leaves from; just think of when you use your own reading skills?
Of course there are hundreds of reasons why we need to be able to read, but for this month, why not read signs, labels, timetables etc. while you are out and about. Also, why not set aside some family reading time? Switch off the TV for an hour and even if you just let your child see you reading a magazine, they will see the importance of reading and the pleasure which can be gained once they have mastered the ability to decode words.
Literacy
This week, we start a new unit on Fantasy stories – a brilliant topic, which will really get the creative juices flowing! Fantasy is imagined worlds, or is based in the movement between this world and an invented world. A key feature of the fantasy genre is the use of a ‘doorway’ or ‘portal’ that connects the ‘real’ world with the fantasy one: for example, the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland, the wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Ever watch Primeval on a Saturday evening? That had a portal whereby they could escaped from the latest threatening dinosaur!
In fantasy, dragons may fly, witches exist or trolls live under bridges, and so the roots of fantasy and its themes lie back in traditional tales. The possibility of using magic allows the writer to right wrongs without the messy business of reality creeping in!
Because fantasy stories often involve a journey or quest, we will be beginning the week looking at lots of different examples of fantasy settings and using the ideas to help us make our own maps to use when we write our stories later on in the topic. You could help by encouraging them to suppose ‘what if…’ as a way of capturing a good idea: ‘what if…you shrank to the size of a mouse?…you could be in two places at once?…you could travel back in time?….your pet cat started talking?’ etc. It also helps to borrow a setting from a well-known story and create a new story using the same place.
We will also be looking at extracts from films which are based on fantasy worlds. If you fancy watching a DVD, or a trip to the cinema, then why not choose a film such as The Wizard of Oz or the new film, Horton Hears a Who? Or you could watch one of my favourites, The Chronicles of Narnia (the BBC have some great videos of the series they produced many years ago!)
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/englishC6.htm click on Alien Worlds for some great images to use for describing purple seas etc!
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/learn_y4/main.asp?lesson_path=year_4/story_openings/&lesson_file=story_openings.swf&language=eng although this is aimed at older children, I think the language used for this story opening, really shows them how to use adjectives to set the scene.
http://www.midlandit.co.uk/education/writingtips.htm some great writing tips
Phonics
The children are doing really well with their phonics work and we are moving quite quickly through the objectives. Time did run away with us last week, so we will be spending some time reviewing the following patterns:
a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/16022007/wordmaker_vowels3/lesson.html
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/sound_buttons_v14.html click on the ‘split’ tab at the bottom, and then use the alphabet to make words.
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/phaseThreeAS1_v2.html for more practice using sounds already learned, then this is a great site to use. Click on the arrow above the rainbow to move through the sounds.
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/ you can download any of the phonics games from here to play off-line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/flash/fpoem10.shtml poem to support the i-e sound
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/flash/fpoem6.shtml same idea, but to support the a-e sound
Numeracy
This week, we will be looking at 3D shapes. We will be reviewing the names of 3D shapes which they have learned last year, but this time, the children will have to be able to identify them from just a picture, rather than being able to handle the shape. They will also have to describe the properties of the shapes, in terms of sides, edges, vertices (corners) and faces.
Why not play a game at home of What am I? Ask your child to describe a shape with 3 attributes :
· I have one curved edge
· I have two flat, circular sides
· You will often find things wrapped around me
· WHAT AM I?
· A cylinder!
By encouraging them to use adjectives to describe the shapes, it will also support them when describing their settings in fantasy worlds.
By the end of the week the children:
MUST: Be able to begin to use the names of common 3D shapes and describe features of familiar 3D shapes.
SHOULD: Be able to use the names of common 3D shapes and sort 3D shapes.
COULD: Be able to describe features of 3D shapes including number, types of faces and properties.
http://www.ictgames.com/Y2shape.html
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/longshape3d.html
http://www.interactivestuff.org/match/maker.phtml?featured=1&id=15 wait for the arrow to appear which says ‘ready to play!’
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ click on Year 2 and then 3D shape. The quiz will really help describe the shapes!
Science
After a very successful science week last week, we continue with our topic on plants. The children already have a fantastic knowledge of this, so we are able to forge ahead with great speed onto more challenging objectives.
The children will learn:
· that humans eat some plants;
· that potatoes are roots;
· where crisps come from.
· that plants have roots, leaves, stems and flowers and they will learn about the functions of each of these parts
· that we can eat different parts of a plant.
http://www.lgfl.net/dbmaterial/web/learning%20objects/ls/Year%201%20Science/home/?verb=view click on the whiteboard lesson
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!
Here I Am
We begin our new topic of Holidays and Holydays. The children will:
RECOGNISE :That the children recognise a special holiday.
REFLECT: That the children reflect on their own and others’ special holidays.
RESPECT: That the children appreciate that everyone needs rest and re-creation.
You should also receive an RE newsletter this week, informing you of the topics which we will be covering this term, with ideas of how you may support them at home.
History
We started our topic on Famous people last week, and the children were spellbound when we read the story of Florence Nightingale – particularly the boys! They were fantastic at comparing the differences between modern day medicine and hospitals in Florence’s time.
This week, we will be looking at the journey which Florence made and be able to locate and label the places she visited on a world map. They will also be looking at reasons why journeys in the past took longer and were much more dangerous. They will also be writing an account of Florence’s life, using captions from last week to support their writing.
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/11134/Crimeanwar.pdf the photographs are really useful from this site
Parents Evenings
We have received many requests for parents evening times last week, although many of you have asked for the same time slots. We would ask that you try to be as flexible as possible in the time which you are allocated and we will try our very best to allocate the time slot requested. Many, many thanks for your understanding with this! Should the time you are allocated be unsuitable, then please see your child’s teacher and we will try to arrange an alternative when possible.Have a great week!
Year 1/2 team.
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