Weekly update 24th November 2014

Information

Hello and welcome to another busy week in school.

 

The children have been working really hard over the past week to practice their Christmas Play and an equal amount of effort will be put in over the coming week!! You are all in for a great treat when you come to see it!

Please could you send in costumes on THURSDAY 27^th NOVEMBER so that we can check that the children have everything they need for the dress rehearsal on Monday. Please could you put them in a bag with the child’s name on. Thank you.

It’s nearly time for the Christmas Party and letters will be going out asking for money to provide the goodies for the party. Please could you check in your child’s bag.

Also the weather is getting chilly so please could you make sure that the children have a warm coat, gloves and hat as we will still be going outside at playtime for fresh air and exercise.

This Thursday 27^th is also the Key Stage 1 disco from 6 – 7:30pm.

 

Maths

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.

 

 Some websites to help:-

 

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

 

 http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/counting_with_money/index.htm

 

 http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/Postsortingv3.swf

 

 http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/movecoins.swf

 

 http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/coincards.swf

 

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

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/dynamo/den/snap/index.htm

 

 http://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/91/fewest_coins#

 

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

 

 http://www.ictgames.com/moneypayer50p.html

 

English

This week we will be continuing to look at non-fiction books and focusing on researching an animal. The children will become ‘experts’ on their chosen animal in order to design and write their own mini non-fiction book or report. The research can begin at home prior to the lessons in school.

Have a go at some fun online literacy games.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1literacy.html

 

Topic

This week the children will learn about school life during WW1.  We will be looking at photography in detail and discussing what we can see, how the children may be feeling, what they might be learning, how the teacher might be feeling, we will look at the children’s clothing and so on.  The children will use their observation skills to make inferences about the past.

We will also learn about the different type of school rules and how strict the teachers and headmasters were. A short video clip will help the children to gain a better understanding of school life during WW1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/29030558

Interesting fact – did you know that if children were lazy or rude or broke school rules, the teacher might hit them on the hand with a wooden cane. In Scotland and in parts of northern England, teachers used a leather strap called a 'tawse' instead.  The cane and tawse were finally banned in most schools in 1986, but it took until 1998 for every private, fee-paying school to stop using them.

 

 

Thank you for your continued support- and have a great week!

The Key Stage 1 team.

 

Weekly update17th November 2014

Information

Welcome to another busy week. The children have been very busy over the past week with their first rehearsals of the Christmas play “A Very Hopeless Camel”. They are really enjoying the songs and you might find that they will be coming out of school singing them!

Thank you to parents who attended the first of our Parent/Teacher consultation meetings last week. We hope you found them useful and informative.

Maths

This week in Maths we will be learning about money. We will begin by checking that the children can recognise all the coins in circulation from a 1p coin up to a £2 coin. Next we will move on to making set amounts of money using the coins before checking how much change we will get when paying with a particular coin.

 

The Year 1 children will recognise coins of different values; order coins according to their value; exchange coins for 10p and 1p coins and find totals of sets of coins.

 

The Year 2 children will find totals of sets of coins: relate to adding three or more numbers and pay an exact sum using smaller coins up to £2.

 

Some websites to help:-

 

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

 

 http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/counting_with_money/index.htm

 

 http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/Postsortingv3.swf

 

 http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/movecoins.swf

 

 http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/coincards.swf

 

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

 

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/dynamo/den/snap/index.htm

 

 http://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/91/fewest_coins#

 

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

 

 http://www.ictgames.com/moneypayer50p.html

 

English

This week we will be continuing to look at non-fiction books and focusing on researching a chosen animal in order to design and write their own mini non-fiction book or report. They will also look at instructions, both written and verbal, and the use of imperative verbs (bossy words) and then write a list of instructions for another child on how to look after a chosen pet.

Have a go at some fun online literacy games.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1literacy.html

 

Topic

This week the children will learn about The Christmas Truce.  They will be asked to think about reaching out to others across divides and how both the British and German soldiers would have felt during the festive period.

We will read a true story and also listen to a story written by Michael Morpurgo (The Best Christmas Present in the World). This is a beautiful story, which the children will enjoy:

https://soundcloud.com/harpercollinschildrens/michael-morpurgo-the-best-christmas-present-in-the-world-full

The children will be tasked to draw a picture of The Christmas Truce and write adjectives to describe how the soldiers must have felt during this festive period whilst mixing with the ‘enemy’.

Interesting fact – did you know that In 1914, during the Christmas truce, the words of Silent Night resounded throughout the battlefield, as English and German soldiers sang together.

 

 

 

Come and See

Belonging

This week sees the completion of this topic as we look back over what we have learned about belonging to God’s family through Baptism.

 

Thank you for your continued support- and have a great week!

The Key Stage 1 team.

 

Weekly update 10th November 2014

Information

Welcome to another busy week.  The Christmas play parts have now been given out and we will be starting to look at the formalities of the play in the upcoming week.

This week sees the first of our Parent and Teacher consultations. You should have received your appointment time before the holidays if one was requested. Please remember these times are 10 minutes each, so if you require longer, you may be asked to make an additional appointment to ensure that other parents are not kept waiting.

Maths

This week in Maths we will be learning about time. We will begin by learning the order of the days of the week, months and seasons and the events which happen in each.

 

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.

 

Some websites to help:-

 

 

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

 

English

This week we are looking at non-fiction books and focusing on an e-book called ‘Can I keep an orang-utan as a pet?’ The children will be learning what a contents page is and how to find specific information using this and what a glossary is. The e-book has links throughout it with extra information and maps of where the orang-utans live. The children will be writing facts they know about an orang-utan before they read the book and then what they would like to find out. They will eventually produce an information booklet about orang-utans and then answer the question, ‘Can I keep an orang-utan as a pet?’

Ask your child how they look after their pets and what the animals need. If your child does not have a pet, which pet would they like and how would they look after it?

Have a go at some fun online literacy games.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1literacy.html

 

Topic

This week we will start our new topic for this term called ‘People, Poppies and Pets’.

More specifically this week the children will learn about Remembrance Day, why we remember people who have suffered and died in wars and the significance of the poppy.

On Tuesday we will hold a two-minute silence at 11 o’clock giving the children an opportunity to reflect on and remember those who fought in the wars.

The children will be making their own poppies to create a class wreath, which will be displayed in our classroom.

Some useful videos that will be incorporated within the whole class teaching include:

REMEMBRANCE VIDEO - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25406723

POPPIES VIDEO - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25454559

COMMEMORATION VIDEO - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25463539

 

.

 

 

Come and See

Belonging

We will be continuing to look at the relate part of the topic which is belonging to God’s family.

We will be discussing the following pictures about baptism.

             

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

Key questions being asked:

·         Who can you see in the pictures?

·         What are they doing?

 

Individually the children will sequence pictures describing what happens at a Baptism. The children will then talk about key words that each picture represents.

We will be looking at the key words:

 

Sacrament

Oil of Chrism

Welcome

God’s family

Font

Godparents

 

The children will watch a video of a baptism and we will discuss the following questons:

 

·         The priest asks the parents what name the child will be given. What name would you choose? (Hint: it would be good to choose the name of a saint that the child could find out about and imitate in their life.)

·         Why do you think the Good News of God’s love is read at a Baptism?

·         What are the words the priest uses when he baptises someone?

 

 

Thank you for your continued support- and have a great week!

The Key Stage 1 team.

 

Weekly update 3rd November 2014

Information

Welcome back year 1/2!  Hopefully you have all had a wonderful half term break and are ready for lots of fun and learning in the lead up to Christmas!

Next week, we will hold the first of our parent’s evenings for the year and letters will be going out this week for you to select an appointment time. It is a chance for us to meet with you to discuss how your child has settled into their new class and the progress they have made so far. You will receive a list of targets for reading, writing, and numeracy. Although this may seem a lot, please remember that these are the targets they will be working on until after Christmas, so there is plenty of time to get through them.

For parents of children who are new to Year 1, the parents meetings are slightly different those in Foundation Stage. They are held in the hall, with appointments being made at 10 minute intervals. As you can appreciate, this is a very short amount of time. It can be a good idea for you to write down any questions you may have to ask us, prior to the appointment, as the time can go very quickly. We are very good at sharing the information in the allocated time, but please be aware that we may need to make a further appointment with you, to avoid other parent’s running over their time slot.

Maths

This week in Maths we will be learning about doubles and near doubles of numbers. This is a useful strategy to help us when we are adding numbers together.

 

The Year 1 children will recognise doubling as addition; know doubles of numbers up to 5 and add by identifying near doubles.

 

The Year 2 children will know doubles for numbers up to at least 15 and corresponding halves; and begin to derive doubles of multiples of 5 up to 100 and corresponding halves

 

Some websites to help:-

 

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

 

 http://mathszone.webspace.virginmedia.com/mw/doubling/contents.swf

 

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

 

 http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/media/games/doubling/

 

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

 

English

In English this week we are learning about Guy Fawkes and why we remember the 5^th November. We will be describing Bonfire Night using our senses and writing what we see, smell, hear, taste, and touch and how it makes us feel. We will then go onto reading some poems about Bonfire Night and planning then writing our own poems. Our grammar focus this week is capital letters.

Ask your child how they feel on bonfire night and can they describe it to you? Which sense do they use the most?

Here are some ideas of creative crafts to make at home.

 http://www.thelittleactivitychest.com/bonfire-night-and-fireworks-children-activities/

Information on firework safety and Guy Fawkes.

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/bonfire-night

Have a go at some fun online literacy games.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/

http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1literacy.html

 

Topic

This week we will be looking at the four seasons in a year; which months (and birthdays) fall into which season and what we typically associate with each season.  For example: Easter, daffodils, sunshine, snow, lambs, fireworks, falling leaves and so on.

We will create a tally chart of the class’ birthday months and a living pictogram so the children can physically get involved with understanding months and seasons.

Independently the children will then create a birthday pictogram on paper using the tally chart to help them.

In keeping with the ‘seasons’ theme as we near the end of autumn we will also be looking into how animals survive the winter.  More specifically the children will learn about adaptation, hibernation and migration.

The children will watch an animated tale called ‘Swallow’ and will be read two poems (Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field and The Swallow by Christina Rossetti).  Whole class discussion and independent activities will be based on migration and hibernation.

 

Interesting fact – did you know that the word migration comes from the Latin migratus that means “to change” and refers to how birds change their geographic locations seasonally.

 

Come and See

Belonging

We will be looking at the relate part of the topic which is belonging to God’s family.

Key questions being asked:

·         Who can you see in this picture?

·         What is Jesus doing?

·         How do you think the children near Jesus felt?

·         What makes you think that the children knew Jesus?

 

 

We will be making a large picture of this scene and the children will be adding themselves to the scene.

 

We will also be thinking about looking at speech bubbles of conversation between Jesus and the children.

 

Thank you for your continued support- and have a great week!

The Key Stage 1 team.