So here it is...Merry Christmas!!!

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 almost too much. The countdown in our house is now almost on an hourly basis too, (at the time of writing, it is 12 sleeps, 6 hours, 1 minute and 37 seconds!)


A Christmas countdown clock is available for you to check up during the week ahead!


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. A huge thank you to all the elves behind the scenes who have been bagging and wrapping for the last few weeks – you can put your feet up now!!

Christingle Service
This year’s Christingle service takes place up at St. Joseph’s Church on Tuesday 16th December at 7.00pm. Although it is quite late, it would be lovely if there could be some Angels, Kings and Shepherds there, complete with their Christingle kits. We have these on sale in school for 50p.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we shall be putting the finishing touches to the lovely Christmas decorations that the children are making. We will make sure that they are sturdy enough to last for at least 30 years, so you can hang them on the tree all the way to your child’s adulthood!


Friday


The last day of term, sees a real treat. Our Christmas Carol Service, led by Years 5/6 will be held up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. We ask that the children arrive in school as normal, for registration. We shall then be walking all the children up to Church for the service, which should last around an hour. Please ensure that the children are wearing a very warm coat, gloves, hat and scarf for that day, as the weather is extremely cold.


The children will obviously not be able to buy toast on that day, so it would be helpful if they could bring a small snack for after the service, which they will be able to eat in the Loretto Centre at Church before their return.


We really do need lots of parental support to accompany the children up to St. Joseph’s, so please let any member of the team know by Tuesday of you are able to help out. Many thanks to the people who have already volunteered!

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.

Photographs


The children’s photographs were distributed last week. Please do let us know if you haven’t received them and we will do our best to sort them out for you.

Reading books

We are thrilled with the progress that the children have made in their reading this term, so in order to keep the momentum going over the holidays, I have sent two books home. It would be really helpful if you were also able to find just a few minutes each day to practice your child’s high frequency words, both reading and spelling. These words are the ‘glue’ that hold together all the texts that your child will ever read and so are vital in their reading development.

Also, as a plea, could I ask that ALL reading books which your child has at home, are returned on the first day back in January. The stocks in the library are somewhat depleted at the moment, and so we will have an AMNESTY when we return. Many thanks for your support with this.


Festive Fun


We have had such good feedback from these websites which were put on last week’s blog, that I have included them again! Maybe you could get your child to print of the letter to Santa on Christmas Eve and leave it under the tree on Christmas Eve!

Nativity stories

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit1-en.html


http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/nativity/index.htm


http://www.refuel.org.uk/curric/infant_topics/christmas/christmas.html


http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/christmas/nativity/nativity.html


http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/nativity.htm


http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/word/cross2.gif

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 doat 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.ylw.mmtr.or.jp/~johnkoji/hymn/xmas/index.html christmas carols to sing along to.

http://www.btinternet.com/~edward.caution/ oh this is just fabulous! Karaoke anyone?? Just scroll down for the Christmas songs. Go on – I’ll bet you can’t resist just singing along!

http://woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/teacher/christmas.html lots of different activities for you to try at home


http://christmas.iboard.co.uk/ lots of Christmas online activities to try. I really like the writing ideas, which use a framework and a wordbank 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.


Merry Christmas!

How many more sleeps??

Weren’t they fabulous? I am sure you were all as proud as we were of the children last week when they performed ‘A Christmas Tail’. I hope they all managed to catch up on their sleep over the weekend and are ready and raring to go on the last two week stretch before the holidays.

This week, we will be finishing off our writing assessments and you will be informed of your child’s targets to help them move forward in their learning before the Christmas break. You will also receive updated targets for your child’s reading and numeracy in their diaries. We have been really pleased at the amount of progress they have made this term and can’t wait to see where the new year will take us!So, what have we got planned for this week?

Christmas lunch

On Monday, we don our party hats and best singing voices (if we have any left!) and have our Christmas lunch. If you have asked that your child has lunch on Monday, they won’t need a packed lunch. Please also remember that there will be no toast served on Monday, so the children will need to bring their own snack.

Christmas Party

The children’s party takes place next week, but there are still a number of children who need to bring in their £2.50 contribution. If you haven’t already done so, we would be grateful if it could be sent into school by MONDAY, so that we are able to arrange the party bags. Santa’s elves are working really hard at the moment, so the more time they have the better!! Many thanks!

Literacy

We will be focussing on the children’s writing skills this week and they will be writing their very own versions of the ‘Greatest story ever told’ – the Nativity. We had a great time using our drama skills last week, retelling the story using our nativity masks! Using their knowledge of the sequence of the story and their ability to write using some adventurous vocabulary, we should see some fantastic pieces of writing.

Have a look back at the sites from last week, in order to help the children sequence the story.We will be encouraging them to use our ‘mantra’ for writing of Think it – Say it – Write it. Now that we have had the excitement of our production, we are sure that the children will rise to this challenge.

By the end of the week, the children:

Must be able to write a simple sentence to explain each stage of the Christmas story

Should be able to use a range of interesting words when describing the setting, characters and events in the story; be able to join sentences with simple words like ‘and’ or ‘but’

Could use a range of story language and descriptive phrases to entertain the reader; be able to use conjunctions like ‘because’, ‘so’ and ‘when’ to join ideas in sentences.

Phonics

We shall be reviewing the letter sounds and patterns that we have been working on this half term. It would be really helpful if you were able to spend just 5 minutes each day during the holidays, going through these with your child. You will receive an update of the sounds your child needs to work on in their diaries this week.

http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html spelling game based on the initial sounds they can hear

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html it took me a while to figure out how to play this game! To select a word in the wordsearch, click on the first and the last letter of the word you wish to highlight, and the cow will ‘MOO’ if you are correct! A great way to investigate spelling patterns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/snap/snap.shtml click SNAP when the sounds match the word written on the right hand side

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/spelling/spelling.shtml drag and drop the correct spelling pattern into the gaps before the time runs out.

Numeracy

The children completed their termly numeracy assessments last week and they were fabulous! We were amazed at the way the children were able to apply what they had learned to problem solving. We are using the last two weeks before the Christmas break, to reinforce a few areas that the children found challenging.

This week we will be looking at Doubling and Halving numbers up to 10. The work on partitioning, will really help with this.

By the end of the week, the children:

Must recognise doubling as the addition of two equal amounts

Should know doubles of numbers up to at least 10 and the corresponding halves

Could begin to derive doubles of multiples of 2 up to 20 and the corresponding halves

Beware, some of these websites are quite challenging, so you may have to sit with your child while completing these activities:

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf one of my favourite sites. Click on the doubles/halves button and select the doubles on the left hand side to begin

http://www.ictgames.com/bridgedoubles.html select the doubles from the circles to complete building the bridge

http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/games/game1.htm move the sheep into the correct paddocl to double the quantity

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/doubling/doubling%202%20digit.swf if you fancy a real challenge, see of you can work out how to double any two digit number

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/double.html type in the number you want to double and see if you can calculate the answer before the machine!

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/maths/num%20machine/halver.html exactly the same as the previous site, but this is the halving version.

Carol Service

It is our annual Carol Service on Friday 19th December, led by Years 5/6. This year, it will take place up at St. Joseph’s Church at 10am. The children will arrive at school as usual at 8.45am and will walk up to church for the service. Please ensure that any permission slips are returned as soon as possible, as we will be unable to take children out of school without them.As I am sure you will appreciate, we will need lots of volunteers to help walk our children up, so please do let any member of the team know if you will be able to help us with this. It is sure to be a lovely occasion, where we can all take time out from the hectic preparations and reflect on the real meaning of Christmas.

Request

Could we please ask that if you have changed any contact details, particularly Mobile numbers, please remember to inform school, so that our records may be updated.

Festive Fun

Lots of the children comment on how they have ‘been on the games on the blog’ when we read through the blog on Monday. 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.northpole.com/PersonalizedStories/ this is lovely and the children will love printing these off! Just enter a couple of pieces of information and your child will appear as a character in their very own story!

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 doat 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 our carol 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 wordbank to help. Why not print some off to bring in to show?

Many thanks once again to all who supported the Christmas productions and the mums and dads who came to help behind the scenes for all our performances, but particularly on a very wet and windy Wednesday evening! You were fantastic!

Have a great week!

Year 1 team xx

Minty gets his Christmas Tail !!!!!

The dress rehearsal for ‘A Christmas Tail’ was FANTASTIC!!! You will truly amazed by the standard of singing, acting and dancing which the children will show you and I guarantee that you will be humming the tunes around Tesco next weekend! Mmm, maybe that’s why I was getting some funny looks last week!!?? After the Wednesday evening performance, the children will be able to take their costumes home with them – including all the tinsel and glitter which had adored the carpets this week!

May we take this opportunity to thank you for all the time and effort you have put into preparing your children’s costumes. They all look fantastic on the stage and are a real credit to you.

You should have all received you tickets a couple of weeks ago. Please do keep them in a safe place, as we cannot re-issue tickets. Each family has been allocated one ticket for each performance. This has been the case for a number of years, in order to help us comply with Health and Safety regulations. It can also be really daunting for the children to see a sea of faces when they are on the stage, so restricting the numbers, is for the benefit of all our children.

Glitter and Snowflakes!

As I am sure the children will be extremely tired this week, we will be taking the opportunity to get creative with our Christmas Cards, Advent Calendar and Wreaths. Make sure you keep pride of place free on the mantelpiece for your child’s decoration!

Here I Am

We move onto the Relate section of our Birthdays topic, where the children will learn about Advent being a time of waiting for Jesus. We will be looking at our school Advent wreath, courtesy of Mrs Fox and will learn about the meaning of the different coloured candles.

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, so why not visit St Joseph’s for the family mass, where Father Richard might give away some of the answers to this week’s questions!!

In the next few weeks, the children will have to sequence and write the Christmas Story, so in preparation for that, I have included some websites which will support your child’s learning.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit1-en.html

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/nativity/index.htm

http://www.refuel.org.uk/curric/infant_topics/christmas/christmas.html

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/christmas/nativity/nativity.html

http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/nativity.htm

http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/word/cross2.gif

http://www.teachingandlearningresources.co.uk/millionxmas.html I loved this one! A Who wants to be a millionaire Christmas quiz!

Phonics

We shall be reviewing the letter sounds and patterns that we have been working on this half term. It would be really helpful if you were able to spend just 5 minutes each day, going through these with your child.

The repetitive nature of this, will ensure that they become embedded and almost second nature to your child. Just see what happens when they come across a new word in their reading books, and the say ‘I know what sound those letters make together!’

IGH

Say these words as you show the letter pattern –These are the letters i – g – h and they make the sound...I (eye)

Practice the same with the following letter patterns:

SH TH NG AI EE IGH OA OO AR OR UR OW OI

This week’s question: Are there any letter patterns that make the same sound?

The children will be set a series of spelling challenges, in which they will have to try and work out the spellings to a number of words. Sound simple? Well, they will have a few words which don’t fit the patterns they have been given and they will have to work out what other letters can make the same sound.

mAIn – mAnE

http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.html spelling game based on the initial sounds they can hear

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.html it took me a while to figure out how to play this game! To select a word in the wordsearch, click on the first and the last letter of the word you wish to highlight, and the cow will ‘MOO’ if you are correct! A great way to investigate spelling patterns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/snap/snap.shtml click SNAP when the sounds match the word written on the right hand side

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/spelling/spelling.shtml drag and drop the correct spelling pattern into the gaps before the time runs out.

Musical talent!

With all of the singing going on recently, we have spotted some really talented singers in our midst and we have suggested some great ideas of how to nurture that special talent. Go on...I know you are desperate to get up on that stage yourselves!

Here’s an extract of games which can be played in the car. You could also adapt them to play in the house, whilst the rain is pouring down the windows!

‘How do I keep my children happy and occupied on car journeys?’ is one of the strange parenting mysteries of life, alongside ‘who teaches toddlers to arch their backs to delay getting in the pushchair?’, and ‘who teaches a child the infamous words “Are we nearly there yet?”’ And why are they never spoken 5 mins from your destination? The addition of Sat Nav to our cars has an added bonus of enabling our fellow passengers to be even more knowledgeable and irritating back seat drivers – resulting in “you’ve gone the wrong way”, “that’s added 3 minutes onto our arrival time” and “I’ve chosen an alternative route!”.

The following music activities promise that all travelling minds will be awake, active and stimulated, all mouths will be singing, talking and laughing and all bodies will be moving, grooving and clapping (please – no high speed clapping whilst driving!).

Adapt them according to the variety of ages and abilities in the car· Use a huge variety of songs of every style and genre· Oh, and remember to have some times of quiet too – let the world go by and give your voices, ears and minds a rest!

Syllable Ping Pong! · Take turns to sing one syllable and one note at a time – the quest is to get the song as smooth as possible and not so jerky· Try Jin- gle – bells –jin- gle – bells – jin- gle- all – the – way!

I Sing With My Little Voice, Something Beginning With…· Musical ‘I spy’- simply hum or la a line from a well-known song!

Medley Madness!· Choose any topic and come up with a long list of songs/lyrics which match the topic in any weird and wonderful way! Any topic such as colours, weather, love or girls (e.g. ‘Girl put your records on’, ‘Girls just want to have fun’).

Throw Me A Line· Sing a well-known song, but take turns in singing a line each around the car!· Challenge each other by changing the pitch (higher or lower) and tempo (speed)!

DJ Intro Wizard· Play a well-known song from a CD and do a cheesy voiceover introduction to the song – making sure you time your words just right before the singing starts!

Beat The Wipers!· On a rainy day when the wipers are on intermittent, see who can sing the longest line from any song whilst the wipers are down. As soon as they lift, you stop. ‘One potato, two potato, three potato, four…’ works well.

Tap The Rhythm· Tap the rhythm of a line from a song on the back, palm or on an area of the car (not the driver!)

Morse Mayhem!· Using the morse code list tap secret words to each other (3-letter words to start) this really helps in memorising rhythms!

I Downloaded A Track And Got…· A musical version of the shopping game. Each player adds a new sung phrase to the list, and repeats everyone’s choices as the list grows…

Sing The Gap!· Everyone sings along with the CD – at the beginning of the chorus turn the volume down and carry on singing – turn volume up after a while and see how close you are to getting it in tune and in the right place!

Lost Lyrics· If you have the CD inlay this makes life easier. Or choose very well-known songs. One person sings or says the lyric and everyone has to sing or say the lyrics which come after.
Old Favourites With A Twist!· Try changing very familiar songs and make them your own! Perhaps singing them faster and higher, slower and lower, operatic, jazzy, posh, punk etc.

Copy Cat· Sing a simple phrase or tap/clap a rhythm for the other person to copy! Make the phrases longer and longer until they make a mistake.

Making Your Own Up!· Write your own words to a familiar tune or make up different lines within the framework of the song.· E.g. ‘Row row row the boat’ could change to ‘Run, run, run away, from a hairy goat. If you dare to stand that close, it will eat your coat!’

Old And New· Take turns to teach each other songs from your childhood and then let them teach you a new one!· You may even discover familiar territory.· Perhaps make a collection of your favourites and explain your reasons.

Can I Be Simon Cowell?· Each chooses to be a TV judge from a talent competition (ooo, I wonder what that could be?!) Listen to the radio and when a song ends turn it down and take turns to make comments and give marks!

Assessments

Over the next week or so, your child may come home telling you they have done some ‘tests’. We need to see how much the children have progressed since September and also form judgements about how we can move our planning forward in the new year. The way the assessments are delivered, means that any anxiety is kept to a minimum, as they will be done as part of normal classroom activities.

By the end of this term, you should expect:

· Any remaining high frequency words to be updated and new lists stuck into the front of the diaries
· Your child’s reading level to be checked and, where appropriate, given a new colour book band
· Updated maths targets based on the assessments completed in school.

And finally...

As you will have read in last week’s newsletter, Mrs Narraway will be starting her maternity leave this Friday and will return after Easter. I am sure you will join us all in wishing her and her family well, and look forward to hearing baby news very soon!! xx

I think that is all for this week’s short blog...!!!
Year 1 team xxx

It's Christmas Eve...there's lots to do ....

Well, can you believe that we have the dress rehearsal for our Christmas production this Friday? The children have been working tremendously hard and we can’t believe how quickly the children have managed to fit it all together last Friday!

Because of our rehearsals this week, we shall have a reduced curriculum, but still with lots of hard work in the afternoons. The children will probably be very tired this week, so a few earlier than usual bedtimes may be in order – I’m sure Santa would appreciate some extra time in the evenings too!!

In this week’s blog, we aim to consolidate all the information that has come home over the last few weeks, so you can find it easily in one place, so here goes...

Costumes

Monday – please could you send in your child’s costumes in by today, so that any last minute adjustments may be made. If there are any problems, please DO call in to see any member of staff as soon as possible.

Dress Rehearsal

This Friday sees our dress rehearsal, where the children will perform in front of the children from Springwood Nursery.

Non uniform day
This Friday is also a non uniform day. We would be grateful if children could bring something for the Tombola stall for the Christmas Fayre. Maybe for this one, why not send in something other than a tin – the children could get some lovely ‘presents’ from this stall using pocket money...a lovely idea!

Christmas Fayre

Saturday sees the Friends of St Vincent’s hold their annual Christmas Fayre, between 11am and 1pm. Please do come along to visit Santa’s grotto and lots of other fun activities and stalls.

Operation Christmas Child

If you would like to send a shoebox into school, filled with Christmas gifts, then please do so by WEDNESDAY of this week. You will have received a leaflet explaining the types of things which are suitable to include for each age range. The boxes need to be able to be opened by customs, so securing the lid on with an elastic band is the best way to do this. Please also ensure that you remember to include the correct amount for postage costs.

Christmas Lunch

The children will be having their Christmas lunch on 8th December, so if you would like your child to take part in this, and haven’t already done so, please send in the payment by Monday. Obviously, children will not need a packed lunch for that day, but please bear in mind, that there will be no toast available at morning break on that day.

Christmas Party

Ooh, get those glittery dancing shoes out for a good old boogie! It’s our Christmas party on 15th December in the afternoon. The children will be allowed to come to school in their own clothes for the day. You should have received a letter this week, requesting £2.50 towards the costs of the food and drinks for the party, as well as a little gift from Santa. We would be grateful if this could be sent into school as soon as possible, as Santa’s elves need to make and wrap over 120 presents in time! If you think you would make a good elf, please let any of the team know as soon as possible.

Christmas productions
You will have received your tickets for the production last week and we ask that you keep them safe, as there will be no admittance without them. The productions take place on 1st and 2nd December at 9.30am and on 3rd December at 6.30pm. We ask that the children come back to school NO EARLIER than 6.00pm and that they come through to their classrooms. As I am sure you can appreciate, getting 120 children into costumes and face paints can be extremely hectic, so please send the children through and then take up your places in the hall. Many thanks for your co-operation with this.

One advance piece of information, is that on the morning after the evening performance, Mr Barker usually allows the children to come into school slightly later – by 10.30am. If this is a problem for you, then the staff will be in as usual.

Carol Service
We will finish our Christmas celebrations with our carol service, which will once again be held up at Church. It is a lovely celebration and a chance to us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Please let any member of the team know if you are able to help walk the children to and from church on the morning of 19th December.

Panto

Many thanks for all your offers of help for the panto on 9th January. We are awaiting confirmation from Parr Hall on numbers of adults that we need to take. As soon as we receive confirmation, I will let you know. Many thanks.

Homework

Because of the evening performance next week, and the hard work which the children have been putting in in school, there will be NO HOMEWORK on the week of the production.

Phew! Hope I haven’t missed anything out, but please do let me know through the diaries if there is anything I have missed!

Curriculum
Numeracy

Last week, the children were really good at o'clock and half past times, but to our surprise, they found it difficult to name the months of the year. Any help you could give at home with this would be great.

This week, we begin counting in groups of 2, 5 and 10. Essentially the children will begin to learn their times tables this week!

For homework this week, the children will have a 100 square in their books and will have to colour the ‘multiples’ of each number. Do they notice any patterns? Can they work out a quicker way of colouring the grid? Can they tell you what a multiple is?

We will be using the following sites on the interactive whiteboard this week, but perhaps the number line site is the most useful, where you have to guess the missing number.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/times_it/eng/Introduct/default.htm
http://www.e-gfl.org/e-gfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/teacher/other/Spark/Spark2005/catch_numbers/play.html
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/Ghostblasters1/gbcd.html
http://www.ictgames.com/fishy2s.html
http://www.ictgames.com/newduckshoot10s.html
http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog10s_v2.html
http://www.ictgames.com/fairyfog5s_v2.html
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/numberlines.html

Here I Am
We begin our new topic of Birthdays this week, where the children will plan a birthday celebration for our new class teddy bear (mmm...might be another opportunity to eat in our class I think!!). They will recognise the different ways people have of celebrating birthdays.
Use this weekend, as a chance to look through any photographs you may have of their birthday celebrations and ask them to write down the different ways they have celebrated.

We will also be reinforcing the months of the year in our Here I Am lessons to support our numeracy curriculum. Maybe you could make a calendar with your child and ask them to draw the different birthdays that happen in each month for your family.

Art
The children will be given the challenge of changing our display board this week and changing it into our Winter Wonderland (oooh, bet you have just started humming that Christmas song like I have!)

They will be using elements from nature to make some winter collages and writing some list poems, which will all be on display by next week. If you have any twigs or conifer leaves in the garden, we would be very grateful for them in school.

Role play
The children are in for a real treat on Monday, as, by the magic of the weekend, our role play corner has been transformed in the Argos Christmas shop! A big thank you to Miss Knight for stalking the Argos store to collect our catalogues and other resources! I wonder what delights the children will order? Will they be able to calculate how much everything will cost? Will it be in stock?

Have a great week!
Year 1 team x

We're very very bossy!!!

Welcome to this week's blog. There is a lot to get through this week, so here goes...

Literacy

We will continue our theme of Instructions. This week’s question will be HOW CAN WE TELL SOMEONE ELSE TO MAKE THIS?

The children really enjoyed making their pizzas last week and we have to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Pizza Hut for donating their boxes for us to use (and to Miss Knight for trekking to get them!)

In preparation for their writing, why not try getting your child to tell you the instructions to what you are cooking this weekend.

What are you doing with the ingredients? Chopping, slicing, dicing, cutting, grating or stirring?

What order are you doing it in?

FIRST chop the tomatoes and spread over the pizza base
NEXT grate the cheese and sprinkle on top of the tomatoes
THEN slice the mushrooms and place them evenly around the pizza
AFTER THAT dice the onions and scatter on top of the finished pizza
LAST put the pizza in the oven on a shelf and bake for about 12 minutes
FINALLY remove the cooked pizza from the oven and enjoy but be careful because it will be HOT!

This week, the children will once again have to work in their co-operative learning teams, in order to explain how to make something. The other people in the team, will then have to write down the instructions and then pass them to another team to make. The children will find out just how successful they have been, when they see what the other teams have made.

This normally produces much giggling and laughter, but the children do appreciate just how vital it is for instructions to be accurate and clear.

We will then be moving onto writing our set of instructions independently. In order for the children to check whether they have included all the necessary ‘ingredients’, they will be using something called a ‘Marking Ladder.’ They have used these in the past and found them fantastic, as they got to ‘tick’ their own work before a teacher!

I used a ‘How to’ heading
I used an introduction to hook the reader
I used a ‘You will need’ subheadingI gave two lists: equipment and materials
I used numbered instructions in the right order
I used a ‘bossy’ verb in the present tense to begin each instruction
I used an impersonal tone(no ‘you’ or ‘I’)
I linked diagrams to instructionsI used labels, arrows, lines and keys
I included a short conclusion to suggest the next action

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/lists_and_instructions/eng/Introduction/default.htm this is a great site! Drag and drop each of the sentences to put them in the right order.
http://ro.zrsss.si/~viljenka/maketea.htm another way of showing how to put the instructions to make a cup of tea, in the correct order.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=teaseq

Numeracy

Last week, the children found the idea of partitioning quite a difficult concept to grasp, but one which is essential to their understanding of place value. We will revisit this many times throughout the year, but if you can take just a few minutes each day to work through some questions orally, it will really help.

This week, we are looking at bar graphs and pictograms, or to give it a more formal name, data handling. This is a really interesting topic, which the children really enjoy.

During the second half of the week, we will be looking at time and assessing whether the children can answer the following:

· Can you name the days of the week in order? (Also the spelling of them is on the Year 1 high frequency word list!)
· Can you name the months of the year? (Remembering that they all need to begin with a capital letter.)
· Can you tell the ‘hour times’ on an analogue clock?
· Can you tell the ‘half hour times’ on an analogue clock?

Vocabulary

One of the things which often holds children back in numeracy, isn’t their ability to manipulate the numbers, but their understanding of the vocabulary involved. The list of words which follows may seem quite long, but you will be surprised at just how many your child already knows.

Timetime, days of the week: Monday, Tuesday... seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter day, week, month, year, weekend, birthday, holiday morning, afternoon, evening night, midnight bedtime, dinnertime playtime, today, yesterday tomorrow, before, after next, last, now, soon, early late, quick, quicker, quickest quickly, fast, faster, fastest slow, slower, slowest, slowly old, older, oldest, new, newer newest, takes longer takes less time, hour, o'clock, half past, clock, watch, hands how long ago? how long will it be to...? how long will it take to...? how often? always, never, often sometimes, usually once, twice

By the end of the week, the children:

Must Begin to read o’clock time.
Should Read the time to the hour or half hour on analogue clocks.
Could Read the time to the hour, half hour or quarter hour on analogue clocks and a 12-hour digital clock and understand the notation 7:30
Must: Interpret a pictogram to decide which feature is most/least popular
Should: Collect information in a prepared list or table and use this to draw a pictogram
Could collect information in a prepared list or table and use this to draw a block graph

http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=13# click on eye colour pictogram
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=19# click on favourite toys
http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html a challenge for quarter to times
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/willy/willy.html o’clock and half past game
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/time/index.shtml time quizzes
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/new_good_practice/holder.asp?moviename=calender_e&lang=e ordering the months of the year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/clock/index.htm set the hands on the clock to the correct time
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/503/clock.swf teaching clock face

Topic

We continue with our topic on Sound and Hearing this week and the children will learn:
· to recognise that our ears give us information about where sounds are coming from;
· to recognise that some sounds signify danger;
· that sounds are louder the nearer they are to the source.

By the end of the week, they will be able to:
· state that they hear sounds through their ears;
· describe sounds that signify danger;
· describe where they could stand to make a sound seem louder or quieter.

Please see the links from previous blogs to support this area of learning.

Here I Am

We continue our topic of Invitations this week and the children will be looking more closely at the sacrament of Baptism, and realise that this is when babies are invited into the family of the Church.

Homework

We are really pleased with the response we have had with the homework and we have had 100% returned, which is fantastic! Some children are so keen, that they are returning their homework on a Thursday! By doing one column of the spelling sheet each evening, it will help the children to remember the spellings, rather than completing it all in one go. Many thanks for your support with this.

FOSV Disco

Many thanks to all the parents and children who supported our Infant disco on Thursday. If any parents have any time (or talents!) to spare, why not join the Friends of St Vincent’s to see how you can support our children. They would be very grateful of any support and ideas.

Christmas production

The children have been allocated their places this week, as the performance is drawing ever closer. The children all know which parts they have and you should have received your letter informing you of this and the costume that is needed. Please ask any member of staff if you need any help with this.

You should have also received your tickets this week in your child’s bookbag. Please ensure that they are kept in a safe place, as they cannot be re-issued. There is a limit to one ticket per performance, per family, although you may wish to swap between yourselves. Also, please bear in mind that children under 3 may be admitted without a ticket, but they must be able to sit on a parent’s knee for the duration of the performance. All children over 3, need their own ticket. I am sure that you will support us with these arrangements.

I think that is all for this week. Have a great one!

Year 1 team x

Oogie Boogie Woogie !

Well, the Christmas play rehearsals are well underway and all the children in Year 2 have been allocated their speaking parts. In Year One and Foundation Stage, we are the essential dancers...spiders, bookworms and other exotic things! I can’t wait to see it all put together and am sure it will be fantastic.

You should have received your letter containing details of your child’s costume and tickets. If you have any questions regarding costumes, please do feel free to call in and see any member of staff, who will be able to help.

The ticketing system is exactly the same as in previous years. We have three performances and each family is allocated ONE ticket per performance. This is to ensure that we adhere to Health and Safety rules and regulations and also ensure that our precious little ones are not over-whelmed – a sea of adult faces can be quite daunting for a five year old! I am sure that you will support us in this. Many thanks.

While rehearsals continue, your child may be a little unsettled (or is that excited?) so please try to encourage a little extra sleep. This is a very hectic term and a long one, so let’s pace ourselves!

Competition

Gulliver's World are running their own design a Christmas Card competition this year, and if you go to http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/gullivers.php?parkname=Warrington you can download the application form. Entries need to be handed into school and submitted to them by 28th November. Winners could win a computer and printer for our school!

Literacy

This week’s question - HOW DOES THIS WORK?

We will be starting a new topic this week of Instructions. Sounds uninspiring? Not at all! This is a great topic to get the children’s creative juices really flowing. We will start by playing some games, which the children will have to follow the instructions to. Then, make sure they remember to bring their dancing shoes, as they will have to follow the instructions to a new dance (mmm...might bring in my High School Musical CD for this one!)

We will also have lots of fun, by asking the children to make something – but they will told the instructions in the wrong order. When we have done this in the past, it has made us giggle, but the children learn how important it is to read and write instructions in the correct sequence.

The children will learn all about bossy verbs – push, turn, press, grate etc. How many can you find over the weekend in recipe books or DIY books? Maybe you could bring them in to show us. Cake mixes are always examples!

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to follow a simple set of oral instructions

SHOULD be able to give oral instructions in the correct sequence

COULD be able to write labels on equipment to instruct someone how to use it

This will definitely be a Green Hat week!

How can you help at home?

Could your child programme the DVD player to record your favourite programme before you? If that sounds familiar, then you are not alone! Children are fantastic at working things out, but they learn through experience...pressing the buttons to see which one works! See if they can explain to you how to program the recorder, by giving you step by step instructions. Then, say them back to your child in the WRONG order. See if they notice the mistake!

Another really good way to help children understand instructions, is to bake with them. You could make cakes from scratch, (which would also help to develop the children’s measuring skills), or you could buy one of the cake mix packets when you do your weekend shop. Green’s cake mixes have some really clear instructions on the back, that are presented with diagrams and simple sentences, plus the cartoon characters help to make it memorable!

http://www.popandco.com/archive/moab/ this is strangely fascinating! It shows how a Lego brick is made, giving step by step instructions from granules to the bricks we know and love (and end up under the sofa!) If you have Lego bricks at home, maybe you could get your child to write the instructions to build a scene from a Fairy Tale.

http://www.foodafactoflife.org.uk/Sheet.aspx?siteId=12&sectionId=47&contentId=122 these are some great recipe sheets for you to download, which are great for showing how useful instructions are

http://www.hitentertainment.com/artattack/artattacks.html ooh I can just see the glitter and pom-poms! The children will have seen the programme Art Attack and this site has the instruction sheets for all the activities that have been broadcast from this series.

http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/howto.html very simple instructions on how to make a pop-up book. This is also a great idea if you feel like making some of your Christmas cards this year.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=teaseq can you make Gran the perfect cup of tea?

Numeracy

This week, we will be focussing on Place Value. The children will be able to answer questions such as ‘How many tens are there in 42?’

The key question for this week will be ‘How can we PARTITION this number?’Partition is a key piece of vocabulary, which the children will encounter over and over again. It means splitting a number up into how many tens and units it is made from.

The children will also be investigating finding the missing number. This is a recurring problem, which comes up every year until year 6.

2 + ? = 10
?+8=10
And one which ALWAYS trips them up, is when we put the answer first...
10= 5+?

If the children make the link to their number bonds to 10, then once they see the pattern, it becomes easy!

http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=1_1&lid=154 this does take a little while to download, but is well worth it. The children need to solve the problem using the Base 10 apparatus that we use in school. The instructions on the right hand side are really easy to follow.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/dienes_addition/question.asp again this uses the same equipment, but the numbers involved are a little more challenging, as they include hundreds.

http://www.ictgames.com/woodseasy.html click once to partition the number and then choose the correct number to double it. Remember the rhyme...Double the tens and double the units.

http://www.ictgames.com/woodcards.html again, the same activity, but a bit more challenging as the numbers involve bridging through 10 and 100.

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/numbersense/index.html this game does take a while to get the hang of, but once you figure out you have to generate a larger number than the machine, you’ll fly ahead.

http://www.ictgames.com/sharknumbers.html be careful you don’t get eaten by the shark! Look at the green number blocks on the surf board and then choose the correct number in the bubbles. Get one wrong, and the shark takes a bite of the board!

http://home.freeuk.com/elloughton13/math81.htm we will be using this in class to show the children how numbers are made up of hundreds, tens and units.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/placethepenguin.shtml very appropriate for the chilly weather! Place the penguin on the right space to partition the numbers.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/PlaceValueChartv4.swf another one we will be using in school to help the children with their understanding of place value. The children will be given a target number and they will have to make it using the correct number of hundreds, tens and units.

Topic
The children will apply their labelling and captioning skills from last week, when they have to label the parts of the ear. Will they believe me when I tell them that there are bones in their ear??

We are also going to do one my favourite activities – the musical instruments!! The children will have to sort them according to how they are played. Who will be the drummer and lead guitarist I wonder?

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to say when they can hear a sound
SHOULD be able to identify the different ways a sound can be made
COULD organise their own way of sorting the group of sounds and choose a way of recording the information

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ears.html quite a complicated site, but if you sit with your child, they will find this really interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/sound_hearing.shtml good old science clips! Why not try doing some of these with real instruments. Have a go at making your own shakers, using a Pringles tin and rice?

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?subject=Science&topic=Physics%20-%20Sound lots of interesting links for our sound topic, including some animations of the ear.

The children will also be finishing their captions to go with their Florence Nightingale portraits. Once these are mounted and on display, I will take a photo and upload it onto this site for you to see. They are truly amazing!

And finally...

We have had a number of visitors in our class this week and we have had some lovely compliments about the children’s behaviour, attitude to one another and academic ability. It is great to hear these things as a teacher, but my thanks must be conveyed to you, for all the support you give to your children.

On that note...have a great week!
Year 1 team xxx

Oochie Coochie Coo!!

What on earth is the title of this week's blog??!! Mmm...all will be revealed shortly, but maybe your child will be able to shed some sparkly lights (camera and action) on it!!

Welcome back!

We hope you had a great half term break and are ready and refreshed for the run up to Christmas (ooh is it that time already?)

Speaking of Christmas, we will be practising all the songs and dances for our production ‘A Christmas Tail’ over the next few weeks, so you may just hear a few of them being hummed around the house – they are VERY catchy, so be warned!

Many thanks to you all for attending the parents evenings before the half term and it was lovely to put faces to names. May I also just thank everyone for the amount of support you are giving your children at home, as we can see how much the children are coming on – a real credit to you all.

Literacy

We begin this half term with a very short unit on Labels and Captions. We will begin by looking at the purpose of labels and captions and will label the parts of a car or a bicycle and write a sentence to explain their function.

We then move on to changing one of the displays in our classroom, but it really is over to the children! Before the holidays, we started to look at our new topic of Famous People and we chose Florence Nightingale to investigate. They have already produced some lovely portraits of her in charcoal and chalks, which will form part of the display. During our literacy and history sessions, the children will learn how to write labels and captions for the portraits and pictures of Scutari Hospital.

The children will also have the opportunity to write letters home from the hospital, as wounded soldiers who are being treated by Florence, in our Role Play area. For those interested in Dinosaurs, they will be able to write labels and captions for the dinosaurs and the setting in our Small World activity.

'Big Writing'.

Not a reference to the size of the script which your child writes, but more a development of the quality and quantity of their writing. Over the next few weeks, we will be trying out a different approach to independent writing. In preparation for this, we would like your support with an activity called ‘Swagbagging’ at home.

All you need is your child's home reader or any magazine or newspaper that you are reading. They will also need a 'SWAGBAG', which could just be a sandwich bag with the word SWAG written on it! Read it out loud to your child and get them to 'steal' any WOW words that they think are interesting - particularly adjectives or adverbs. Then, get them to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in their swagbag.

At the end of the week, empty out the swagbag and they will find that they have lots of words that they now can try to incorporate into their writing. This also works if you use 'POSH' words during conversations, which they can also try to swagbag!

You will laugh, furrow your brow and amaze at the number of times that your child pretends to grab the air during conversations...they are swagbagging your vocabulary!! We would love to hear of any successes you have at home with this.

http://www.roythezebra.com/ - a great site for lots of literacy games and ideas
http://www.roythezebra.com/reading-games-word-level.html lots of interactive reading games to play online – follows all phase 3 patterns
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-topics-dinosaurs.htm lots of activities to do with dinosaurs
http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/3306.aspx this shows the children captions to do with the solar system. Make sure you turn the sound up for this one!
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=10# choose the caption and sequence session and type in your own caption to them picture. Remember VCOP!
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/transport-english.html transport labels - why not add your own caption?
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/vegetable-english.html vegetable labels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/ search for lots of little video clips for all areas of learning – well worth bookmarking!

Numeracy

After having completed our assessments in the week before the half term, we begin our week with investigating the properties of 2D shapes. The children were very good at identifying the name of the shape, but had more difficulty in describing the properties, such as whether they had straight or curved edges and the number of sides.

They will move on to identifying and describing shapes such as a pentagon, hexagon and octagon. Also, we will introduce a quadrilateral to the children – a very ‘posh’ name for a shape which has 4 sides. Think ‘Quad bikes’ and they usually remember!

The second part of the week, we will be looking at subtraction, using a number line.

http://mathematics.hellam.net/maths2000/shapes.html match shape and its name
http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/information/shape_facts/shape_facts.htm names shapes, sides and symmetry
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/gp/pupils/maths/2dshapes.htm match words with the shapes
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/mathematics/12884/nns_useict0260002venn.swf sorting triangles
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=tangram tangrams
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=digitmenu good for addition and subtraction to 20
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=quad polygons and quadrilaterals
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=vpinboard4#Scene_1 virtual pinboard
http://www.ictgames.com/partition.html partitioning numbers into tens and units
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/PlaceValueChartv4.swf place value charts
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Subtract%20-%20%20Number%20Line%20v5.swf subtraction number lines
http://www.deltamicro.co.uk/primary_online/planetstaken.html subtraction aliens

The children will be introduced to their ‘I can’ statements for numeracy this week, so that they can keep track of how they are doing:

I can use 2-D and 3-D shapes to make patterns, pictures and models.
I can name most of the 2-D and 3-D shapes
I use in my work as well as those I see in my classroom and playground.
I am beginning to picture a shape in my head.
I can describe where something is using words like ‘next to’, ‘in front of’, ‘underneath’, ‘on top of’
I can use objects to take away a small number from any number up to 20.
I can record the practical situation on a number track.

Topic

As mentioned earlier, the children will be learning all about Florence Nightingale over the next couple of weeks. By the end of the topic, they will have produced a lovely book, which will be used to teach other children about her life and work.

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 to support their writing.

http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/flo2.htm
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/11134/Crimeanwar.pdf the photographs are really useful from this site

Here I Am

We continue with our theme of Invitations and move onto the Relate section. Maybe you could share some invitations at home with your children, which you have had as a family.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/invitations/eng/Introduction/default.htm design, write and print their own invitation.

Have a good week!
Year 1 team xxx

Holiday Homework

Just a quick update to remind you about the holiday homework!!

We have been thrilled with the children's writing, and feel that the holidays are great opportunity for the children to maintain the drive and enthusiasm that they have developed over their first few weeks in Year 1.

Your child will have come home tonight with a diary for them to complete over the holidays. Each day, we would like them to write at least 1 or 2 sentences about what they have done that day. They can either write in the booklet and draw pictures, or, they can present their work on the computer, complete with digital photographs. Be creative! Which ever one you decide to choose, remember they need to be brought in for the first day back.

By clicking here, you can download a VCOP pyramid, to support your child with their writing at home.

Have a good break and be safe!

Year 1 team x

Assess and Review

Well can you believe that we have been in school for a whole half term already? The children have worked extremely hard and are looking forward to their week off. This week is known as ‘Assess and Review’ week, where we see how much the children are able to recall and understand about the work we have covered so far.

Please do not think your child will have to complete lots of written tests and assessments! There will be lots of practical activities and observations to help us check for their understanding, particularly for numeracy.This week’s blog is part of that review. It would be fantastic, if you could spend some time this week, working with your child on some of the links and activities that we have included. Just count how many times you hear the phrase, ‘Oh yes...I remember that!’ You will be amazed at just how much they have managed to get through!

Parent’s Evenings

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of this week, we hold the first of our parent’s evenings for the year. It is a chance for us to meet together to discuss how your child has settled into Year 1 and the progress they have made so far. You will receive a list of targets for reading, writing, numeracy and science. 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.

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, prior to the appointment, as 10 minutes 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.

Literacy

The children will complete a piece of writing this week, based on their own experience. It would be really helpful if you were able to have a discussion with your child this weekend about what they would like to write about. It may be about a favourite holiday, a journey or a party that they went to. Talk for writing is perhaps the most beneficial part of the preparation process that you can support your child with, and ensures that they don’t have ‘empty-page’ syndrome.

The children will be asked to ‘check’ their own work, seeing if they have included the following:

I used a capital letter for the word ‘I’
I used a capital letter at the beginning of each sentence
I used a full stop at the end of each sentence
My work makes senseI wrote as if ‘telling the story’ of what happened

The children will also be tested to see if they are ready to move onto the next book-band level. This includes seeing how well they can decode the words (match the letters to the sounds they make) and how well they have understood the story (comprehension). Although it may appear that texts are easy for your child, it may be that they need more practice in their comprehension of what is happening in the text. It is a combination of BOTH of these factors which determines their readiness to move on.

Why not try asking your child to retell the events of the story either to you, or to a younger sibling. Also, get them to make up alternative endings for the story, by using sock puppets...a great use for those single socks that we all have in our cupboards!

High Frequency Word checklists will be updated again this week in the front of the diaries. As agreed at the induction meeting at the beginning of the year, the children have been working on the words in school and at home. We have been assessing the children’s ability to transfer these words into their independent writing and have been really pleased with what we have seen so far. It is vitally important that children are given daily practice in the reading and spelling of these words, as they are the ‘glue’ that holds all text together. Children who practice these words regularly at school AND home, make significant progress!

These sites will help to support the reading and spelling of these words:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/hfwords/index.shtml a great site, where you have to match the shape of the HFW
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/index.shtml choose any of these activities to help with CVC words (cat, hat, mat etc)
http://www.ictgames.com/dinosaurwordsrepeat.html you need to turn the volume up for this one! Click on the dinosaur egg to hear the word and then click on the written word that matches it.
http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html I love this one! You can either choose from the lists of prepared words, or you can type in the words that your child is working on. You need to click on start to begin ‘look, say, cover, write, check’.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=stickyl drag and drop the letters on the green letter rack at the top of the page and then click on the ‘Send’ button to send it to the word bank
http://www.ictgames.com/wordreader.html listen to the word and then click on the matching flower
http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/airport_xray.html this may bring back memories of your holidays (doesn’t it seem a long time ago?!) Scan the suitcase to find the high frequency words

Numeracy

We have been really pleased with how well the children are working numeracy and know that many of the children are going to fly through the assessments this week!

Number knowledge – can they match the correct digit to the correct number of objects?

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/850/calcbalancev3.swf click on the number names in the middle of the scale to match the number name to the digit. This will be a really useful site to bookmark, as we will be using it regularly throughout the year.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/numbers_eng/numbers_e.html this site is useful for practicing the formation of each of the numbers. The first slide is VERY fast, so click on the green arrow on the bottom right-hand side to practice the numbers individually.
http://www.numbernut.com/basic/activities/number_mem20_1-10words.shtml play a memory game and match the number names to the digits at the same time!http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n2a/playground.htm click on the ‘continue’ button to start the activity. This activity looks at the number names up to 100, so give it a go if you fancy a challenge!
http://www.primaryonline.co.uk/sitetour/pol/blastoff1.html a lovely game in which you have to launch 5 spaceships! Remember that the number name won’t always match a spaceship, so you have to click on ‘next’ until you get a match.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=washindex For those children working or ordering numbers to 20
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/ngfl-flash/place_value/place_value.html a great way of explaining place value. Select Level 1 and for a challenge, why not have a go at level 2? Even more of a challenge is Level 3, when it asks you to order 1000's!http://www.ictgames.com/dinoplacevalue.html can you 'partition' the numbers into tens and units?
http://www.ictgames.com/postletter.html fancy a challenge? Listen to the number and post the letter in the correct letterbox.
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/bgfn/number.cfm Choose how many tens and how many units make up the target number. If you click on 'check' it will even mark it for you!
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=Toolkit index2a The children are used to using a 100 square in school, so this will be a big help at home, particularly when doing numeracy homework.
http://www.ictgames.com/football2.html kick the ball that shows 10 less than a given number

Knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/maerdy_2d/e_index.html guess the name of the 2D shape by listening to the propertieshttp://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/build_it/eng/Introduction/default.htm what can you build using these shapes and blocks? Encourage the children to describe the properties of the 3D shapes too!http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/mathsE3.htm you will need to be selective from these ideas, but there are lots of sheets, activities and powerpoints for you to use at home to support your child with both 2D and 3D shapes. Be aware, that some of them are for Key Stage 2, but give them a go if you fancy a challenge!http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=MatchingPairs3Dshape why not try a memory game with 3D shapes. Some of these shapes are quite difficult to name, but you could ask your child to describe the properties them - how many faces/edges do they each have? Remember to click on start a new game to begin the activity.We are also keen to develop the children’s scissor skills this week, so any help at home, cutting out shapes etc. would be a big help!

Measurement

http://www.edukate.net/special_files/ruler.swf use this site to practice measuring the ‘red bar’. If you can though, measuring objects around the house is a much more practical way of measuring in centimetres.
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/measures/index.htm click on Reading Length.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=ntrack ordering numbers on a number track. Can your child recognise the numbers? Are they able to order them? Can they locate the missing number?http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/ruler/ruler_cm_easy.swf measure the length of the lines using the on screen ruler
http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/ruler/ruler_cm.swf move the ruler to the line to measure it in centimetres
http://www.counton.org/games/circus/ choose the Pole Climber, Maths Pairs or Shapes and Numbers activities. With the Pole climber activity, start on level one and then see how high you can go – subtraction begins at Level 3!
http://www.numeracyworld.com/addition%20worksheets.html I have been really pleased with the number of children who have been printing off some of the activities from the websites on the blog, so this is should be a big help! It has lots of printable sheets for you to print off and practice at home for all areas of numeracy. Some are more difficult than others, but have a look through for the topic we are covering this week for some extra practice.

There are lots of practical activities that you can do at home to support all of these areas. Have a look through previous blogs to revisit some of the ideas that were suggested.

Here I Am

Last week, we began our new topic of Invitations.

The children:
Recognised a special invitation
Reflected on invitations their family has received
Respected the type of invitations their family has received

We move on this week to the Relate part of the topic, where we will talk with the children about the Sacrament of Baptism. Maybe you could share some photographs of your child’s Baptism with them. Do they know who their Godparents are? If any of you would be willing to share a video of your child’s Baptism, then please see any member of the team.

http://www.request.org.uk/infants/tellme/infant/baptism01.htm some lovely questions about infant baptism
http://www.request.org.uk/infants/milestones/baby/baby00.htm click on some of the links on this page to view a video click of an Infant baptism

Spanish

Ooh we had a great week last week during our whole school Spanish week. Did the children tell you all about the Paella? A big thank you to Mrs Fox too for making Spanish Omelette and our visiting work experience students, for being excellent waiters and waitresses!

For those of us who are learning alongside the children (and I DO include myself in this!) I have included a couple of links below which will help with pronunciation etc. so we can keep our language skills going...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/ this is a site for adults who are new to the language. You can download lots of mp3’s for your iPod and then amaze your child by asking them some questions in Spanish (before they ask you!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryspanish/ a great site for the children to use. There are also lots of downloadable activities, again for practising those scissor skills!
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/spanish_songs_ks2 I loved these! There are some great Karaoke songs to download, along with some matching activities for the children.
http://gamequarium.com/spanish.htm a great site for help with pronunciation!http://www.studystack.com/menu-21283 again this is another site for adults, but the matching game is a great one for testing yourself! It does take quite a while to load, so you need to be patient before hitting the back button!

Homework

An apology...As I was out on courses last week, homework did not arrive on home on the usual day. You should have received it on Friday, but if there are any difficulties in completing it for Monday, then please feel free to send it back in on Tuesday.

As it is the last week before the half term, there will be no homework, due to parent’s evenings etc. We would therefore appreciate it, if this time could be spent reviewing any high frequency words and sharing reading books with your child. Also, you could check back through these blogs for links to support your child over the holidays.

Finally, a thank you from all the staff for encouraging your children to come into school independently this week. It really has reduced the congestion in the area and the children are getting into their classrooms a lot quicker, ready to start work. We would also encourage children NOT to play on the patio area before school in the mornings. The children cannot be easily supervised there and so the children should remain on the playground until staff collect them at 8.45am.

Competition

This might be a good activity for over the holidays - not for the children, but for parents! I bet you are all fantastic story tellers, but why not share your stories with other mums and dads over the internet?

Munch Bunch are running a competition, which aims to encourage the art of storytelling among parents, particularly in what can become a very busy 'bed-time'.

The competition prizes are fantastic and include:

- An all expenses paid day-trip to Lapland for you and your family to visit Father Christmas and take a magical husky-led sleigh ride by a frozen lake
- An overnight stay in a central London hotel for two
- The chance to meet celebrity mum Gail Porter
- A day in a London recording studio seeing your story come to life as a podcast
- Your winning story published online as a podcast

The link for the competiton is http://www.munchbunch.co.uk/parents/win/ but why not send them into school too, so that we can compile our very own bedtime story book.

That's just about it for this week, except to say that we are looking forward to meeting with you all this week and have a great half term!

Year 1 team xxx