20th May 2013

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 they 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 Forces and Space and also assessing the children's understanding of our work.

Beeston

The Year 2 children had a great time last week at Beeston and we know that you will have had some very tired children at home this weekend. We would love to see some of the photos that the children took, so please do send them in after the holidays to share.

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.

 

Beeston here we come!

Beeston here we come!!

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 Thursday!

The details are as follows:

The children need to arrive for school as normal for school on Thursday morning at 8.45am. The coach will be leaving just after 9.00am and we will be returning for around 3.30pm on Friday. If there are any traffic issues, then a member of staff will contact school to advise of a new arrival time.

As you may be aware, it is Year 6 SATS week and so the hall is unavailable. KS1 area will be available from 8.30am for you to leave your child’s luggage. We then ask that you and your child return to the playground so staff can bring them all together. As there is limited space, we would like to politely request, that parents allow their child to come into school on their own. You may assemble on Chapel Road if you wish to wave your child off. Many thanks for your understanding with this.

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 Malone will be around on Thursday 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 Thursday night - not to mention the staff!

Year One

The Year One children will not be missing out! Although they too would love to be going on the BIG SLEEPOVER, we have an exciting couple of days planned for them too. Whilst their own class teachers are in Beeston, both myself and Mrs Higgins will be having fun with making our  very own SUPERHEROES!

We won't tell you too much, because there will be some secret missions for them to follow and solve, using their reading, writing and maths skills.

In order to help them get into character, we would like them to dress up as their very own Superhero character on Friday. Please don't worry about having to get the sewing machine out to design something spectacular, it should be something that the children can put together themselves, using whatever you can find lying around the house. We are really looking forward to seeing them!

It will be a busy week, and one where there will be a lot of tired faces by Friday evening!

Have a great week.

 

Year 1/2 team

7th May 2013

Well isn't this sunshine beautiful? Let's home that this is the start of our fantastic Summer!

This week, we will be starting some of our tasks for Year 2, so it really important that everyone is in school, and on time every day this week. We do keep these tasks fairly low key, so as not to concern your child, but nevertheless, they are an important indicator of how well they are achieving. You will receive a report on these, as well as any targets for further improvement in your child's end of year report.

Maths

This week in Maths we will be learning about telling the time.

Year 1 children will read the time to the hour and half hour on analogue clocks and begin to use units to measure time: minutes.

Year 2 children will use units of time: hours, minutes, seconds and read the time to the quarter hour on analogue and digital clocks.

Telling the time is a skill which can take some time to perfect. If you get chance, ask questions about the time taken to complete tasks and then look at both analogue and digital clocks to see the differences.

Some websites to help:-

 

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/earlymath/clock_shoot.htm

 

http://www.athena.bham.org.uk/old/timejumbled.htmUse 

 

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/stoptheclock/sthec2.html

 

http://www.time-for-time.com/swf/myclox.swf

 

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Higher&Lower-Reveal&Orderv4.swf

 

http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html

 

Literacy

We will be looking at Bats this week and other creatures that like to be wide awake at night time. Someone even asked us if babies were noctural creatures!

It would be useful if you could spend some time researching some information about noctural creatures, as the children will be using this information to help them write a non-chronological report.

Science

We are continuing to look at forces in science and have been discussing pushes and pulls. This week we are going to be helping Discovery Dog solve another problem. Naughty Nora has chewed up his favourite toys and Discovery Dog wants to get a new ball to play with. He wants to choose a really bouncy one so we are going to help him test some balls so that we can find the bounciest balls for him! We planned the investigation last week, making sure that we use fair testing. This week we will be going out into the playground to do our testing!

We will also be writing up our investigation using our Discovery Dog planning sheets to help us.

 

Can you have a look around at home and find some pushes and pulls?

 

In topic, the children will be learning about the phases of the moon and how this can affect our weather patterns.

 

We will put further information up next weekend about what to pack for Beeston, but if you do have any questions, or any additional information that you need to pass onto staff, please see any member of the team this week.

 

Enjoy the rest of the sunshine!

 

Year 1/2 team