16th December 2013

Well can you believe we have reached the end of our very first term...and what a packed one it was too!

As our Christmas preparations draw to a close, I am sure you are all gearing up at home and that the Christmas excitement is making everyone smile at home!

This week’s blog is to let you know what is happening during this week and also, we have included a few festive sites to keep everyone occupied whilst the cleaning fairies organise the housework for the big day!

Monday

Dust off those party frocks and best clothes, as Monday sees our fantastic Christmas party! The children have worked really hard all term, so now is the chance for them to let their hair down and boogie the afternoon away. The children will be allowed to come to school ALL DAY in their own clothes, complete with hair gel, glitter and perfume!

Santa’s elves have been very busy wrapping all the gifts for the children AND organising all the party food. The Elf’s and Pixies have been fantastic this week, making sure that all the children will have a great time – a huge thank you!

 

 

 

 

Thursday

The last day of term, sees a real treat. Our Christmas Carol Service, led by Years 5/6 will be held in the hall at 9.15am.

The afternoon sees the Parent’s Panto. It is always a really fantastic production and a fitting end to the year. All the children, (and staff) leave the hall in festive mood, ready to start our preparations at home.

Festive Fun

Lots of the children enjoy using the websites given on the blog every week. All of the sites, links and activities on the site are used in class to support our learning, but every now and again, we include sites which are ‘just for fun’.

 

http://www.emailsanta.com/ write a letter to Santa and see the reply appear before your very eyes!

 

http://www.northpole.com/ a real favourite of mine! The disco dancing Santa is fabulous!

 

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/ a very interesting site, explaining all about the customs and traditions of Christmas.

 

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/meaning.htm I loved this story! Maybe one for Christmas Eve?

 

http://www.star28.net/snow.html?msg=they this made me giggle! Get the penguin to write your name in the snow. What about trying this to help with the spelling of those tricky words?

 

http://www.learn-ict.org.uk/resources/rudolph/rudolph.htm Rudolf is missing! Read this lovely interactive story with your child. A great way of developing those comprehension skills.

 

http://www.funranch.com/games/tree/index.htm decorate the online Christmas tree

 

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/snowman_v4.html build your very own snowman...without getting your hands cold!

 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/winter/ some great ideas for Christmas crafts to do

at home, using all those empty boxes.

 

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/ Christmas crafts

 

http://www.nevada.edu/~blake/Christmas.carols.html why not sing through some of these traditional Christmas Carols in preparation for Friday’s service?

 

http://www.kidzone.ws/math/christmas/index.htm although these are based on American ‘grades’, some of these Christmas themed Maths worksheets are still really useful.

 

http://christmas.iboard.co.uk/ lots of Christmas online activities to try. I really like the writing ideas, which use a framework and a word bank to help. Why not print some off to bring in to show?

On behalf of all the staff, we wish you a very happy, peaceful and holy Christmas. We hope that Santa brings you everything you ask for and that we all return safe and happy in the New Year. School starts again at 8.45am on 7th January 2014.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Year 1/2 team.

 

9th December 2013

Hello and welcome to another week of busy activities. We would like to thank the children for their excellent production of the Christmas play “Minty Mouse! We are so proud of the children and now that they thoroughly enjoyed their performances. We definitely have a few budding actors and actresses among them!

We had our Christmas Fair on Friday which was a great success. Thank you to everyone who turned up and supported the school.

This week we will be assessing the children on their reading, writing, numeracy and phonics. Some assessments have already taken place and will be continuing throughout the week.

 

Literacy

The children will be writing a Christmas Story and focusing on the grammar and punctuation of the story.

Can you help your child by:

·       Empathising that a capital letter needs to be at the start of a sentence and a full stop needs to be at the end of a sentence?

·       Adjectives can be added to sentences to make objects sound more interesting.

·       Conjunctions can be added to sentences to extended the sentence and add extra information.

 

http://pbskids.org/lions/games/wordplay.html

 

http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/grammar/verb/balloon_game/

 

http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-junior/art-attack/           

 

Numeracy

 

The children will be having a numeracy test which will test all of the areas covered so far in this half term.

 

Below is a list of some of the topics that the children will be tested on:

·       Use every day language to describe 2D and 3D shapes – what the shape are called and how many sides and corners shapes have.

·       Odds and evens – can they identify odds and evens numbers up to 100.

·       Counting reliably up to 30 and above.

·       Reading and writing numbers up to 100.

·       Understanding the operation of + and – and use related vocabulary.

·       To know pairs to 10 and build up to pairs to 100.

·       To recognise coins and their values – to be able to add up amounts and find totals.

·       To read the time to the hour/half hour on an analogue clock.

·       Start to recognise multiples of 2,5 and 10.

 

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/daysofweek1.htm

 

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/seasons.htm

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPzIbbvoiMA

 

http://www.ictgames.com/Y1shape.html

 

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/memory.html

 

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_114_g_2_t_3.html

 

http://www.coppschool.lancsngfl.ac.uk/Classwork/Classwork/flashaids/sorting_2d_shapes.swf

http://mathematics.hellam.net/maths2000/shapes.swf

 

http://www.interactivestuff.org/match/maker.phtml?featured=1&id=31

 

https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/ngfl/maths/greg_morgan_symmetry/index.htm

 

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/symmetry/shape_game.asp

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/calamity.shtml

Topic

This week we will be starting their artwork related to the artist Van Gogh. We have been  looking at a variety of his work and the children will be experimenting with materials to produce their own artwork!

 Vincent van Gogh web links

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/

Great free site on van Gogh: includes everything from letters, biography, timeline of his life, pictures you can examine in detail, criticism of his work and embedded links to other artists whom he influenced and was influenced by.

http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=nl

The van Gogh museum site (change the language to English).  Offers decent biography broken down into discernible periods in his life, access to decent quality images of his work, including drawings, sketches, late and early paintings, and most importantly an incredible audio-visual animated overview of his life and work.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/

Vincent van Gogh at the WebMuseum: this incredible resource has everything you could ever want to know about Vincent van Gogh, including many decent resolution images of his work.  It also contains embedded links to just about every significant artist throughout history, artistic movements, traditions and events.  This resource is a must for all art lovers!

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/vangogh.html

Vincent van Gogh at the Archive: another good and comprehensive site, with lots of quality images and bibliographical extras.

http://www.vggallery.com/

The Vincent van Gogh Gallery bills itself as ‘the most comprehensive’ van Gogh resource on the internet and it is not far wrong: here you will find fully 100% of all the artist’s paintings, drawings, water colours, sketches, graphic works, letter sketches and letters. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

Wikipedia offers its usual slice of excellence with this entry on the famous Dutch artist.  Embedded links, audio-visual resources, critical works; there’s not much else you could want.

http://www.abcgallery.com/V/vangogh/vangogh.html

Another great art site in general, with excellent entry for the Dutch Master (not Dennis Bergkamp!); lots of images.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/van_gogh_vincent.html

Vincent van Gogh at the Artcylcopedia: basically a links portal for all things Van Gogh

Notices this week:

Monday 9^th December 2013 is the dress rehearsal of the Year3/4 Production.

Tuesday 10^th December 2013 is the children’s Christmas dinner.

Friday 13^th December 2013 is the Advent Service in school. Details on the school newsletter)

Thank you for your continued support

Year 1/2 Team

2nd December 2013

Welcome to another busy week. The children have been very very busy this week with their final rehearsals of the Christmas play “A Christmas Tale”. They are really enjoying the songs and you might know most of the tunes yourself by now! The children are excited about performing their play to everybody and we hope that you all join in with the singing.

If there are any costumes that have not been handed in yet please have them in on Monday at the very latest.

This week we will be revisiting the concepts taught over this half term ready for assessment week next week.

Literacy

The children have been learning about instructions and developing their understanding of imperative verbs (bossy verbs).

 

Most of the children made a sandwich at school and wrote the instructions on how to make them.

 

If they have any instructions at home that they would like to bring in to show the class that would be very useful.

 

Have a look at home for any instructions you can find and see if you can see any ordering words-m first, next, then, after, finally.

 

http://pbskids.org/lions/games/wordplay.html

 

http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/grammar/verb/balloon_game/

 

http://www.disney.co.uk/disney-junior/art-attack/           

 

 

Numeracy

The children will be continuing with money and its values.

 

Year1’s will be recognising coins of different values; order coins according to their value and exchanging coins for 10p and 1p coins; find totals of sets of coins.

 

Year 2’s will be finding totals of sets of coins: relate to adding three or more numbers and paying an exact sum using smaller coins up to £2.

 

Please practise playing shops at home as money can be a difficult concept for children to understand. The best way to learn and develop skills with money is to go shopping and use real life experiences to help your child to grasp this concept fully.

 

Please review this numeracy topic:

The Year 1 children will know the days of the week; order familiar events in time, know the seasons of the year; begin to know the months.

The Year 2 children will use units of time: hours in a day, days in a week, use units of time: months in a year, seasons in a year.

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/daysofweek1.htm

 

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/seasons.htm

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPzIbbvoiMA

 

http://www.ictgames.com/Y1shape.html

 

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/memory.html

 

http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_114_g_2_t_3.html

 

http://www.coppschool.lancsngfl.ac.uk/Classwork/Classwork/flashaids/sorting_2d_shapes.swf

http://mathematics.hellam.net/maths2000/shapes.swf

 

http://www.interactivestuff.org/match/maker.phtml?featured=1&id=31

 

https://hwb.wales.gov.uk/cms/hwbcontent/Shared%20Documents/vtc/ngfl/maths/greg_morgan_symmetry/index.htm

 

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/symmetry/shape_game.asp

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/calamity.shtml

Topic

This week we will be continuing to tracing the course of Van Gogh’s life on a map of Europe, They will be looking at Paris in a bit more detail and using different types of maps to locate the capital city.

If the children have an atlas at home see if they can find Europe.

Vincent van Gogh web links

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/

Great free site on van Gogh: includes everything from letters, biography, timeline of his life, pictures you can examine in detail, criticism of his work and embedded links to other artists whom he influenced and was influenced by.

http://www3.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?lang=nl

The van Gogh museum site (change the language to English).  Offers decent biography broken down into discernible periods in his life, access to decent quality images of his work, including drawings, sketches, late and early paintings, and most importantly an incredible audio-visual animated overview of his life and work.

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/

Vincent van Gogh at the WebMuseum: this incredible resource has everything you could ever want to know about Vincent van Gogh, including many decent resolution images of his work.  It also contains embedded links to just about every significant artist throughout history, artistic movements, traditions and events.  This resource is a must for all art lovers!

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/vangogh.html

Vincent van Gogh at the Archive: another good and comprehensive site, with lots of quality images and bibliographical extras.

http://www.vggallery.com/

The Vincent van Gogh Gallery bills itself as ‘the most comprehensive’ van Gogh resource on the internet and it is not far wrong: here you will find fully 100% of all the artist’s paintings, drawings, water colours, sketches, graphic works, letter sketches and letters. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

Wikipedia offers its usual slice of excellence with this entry on the famous Dutch artist.  Embedded links, audio-visual resources, critical works; there’s not much else you could want.

http://www.abcgallery.com/V/vangogh/vangogh.html

Another great art site in general, with excellent entry for the Dutch Master (not Dennis Bergkamp!); lots of images.

http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/van_gogh_vincent.html

Vincent van Gogh at the Artcylcopedia: basically a links portal for all things Van Gogh

Notices this week:

Key stage One and Foundation Stage Production Dress rehearsal on Monday 1.30pm for the Juniors.

Key stage One and Foundation Stage Production on Tuesday 3^rd December at 9.30am.

Key stage One and Foundation Stage Production on Wednesday 4^th December at  9.30am.

Key stage One and Foundation Stage Production on Thursday 5^th December at 6.00pm.

Friday 6^th December is non-uniform day. Please bring a donation to the tombola stall.

Friday 6^th December is the Christmas Fair. It is from 3pm -5pm.

Mrs Jackson would like to thank parents that came into school to help with the allotment and any Eco business. The School have now been awarded with the special prestige award of the Green Flag! Well done to Mrs Jackson and the Eco Team for all of their hard work and dedication.

Thank you for your continued support.

Year 1/2 Team.