Ready, Steady...

Well, there is just one week to go now before your child embarks on their next year of school...and a great one they have in store too!

I know you have all been working on some work which was given to by Mrs Narraway at the end of last year, so this post is just to give some information of how you help prepare for the first week of term.

High Frequency Words

Have you been practising them every day during the summer? I know how difficult this can be, but why not do just 10 minutes a day during this last week of the holidays. You will be amazed at just how much they have forgotten - even words which they have had 'ticked' in their diaries.

The words themselves can be downloaded from the new school website at http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/ . If you click on 'Year groups' in the menu on the left hand side, then 'Year 1' and then 'Downloads'. This new site is very much at the construction stage, and we will be building it up throughout the course of this year. If you have any suggestions as to the information you would like to see on there, then please do let me know.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml lots of different activities to help reinforce phonics activities in school

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/index.shtml another favourite which practices lots of skills, including spelling, grammar and punctuation

http://www.ictgames.com/lcwc.html enter the high frequency words you are working on and type them in to this site. Using the look, say, cover, write, check method, see how many they can get right.

http://www.ictgames.com/tellAtRex_v3.html choose a level and then choose yes or no. This helps the children to read for understanding, and also improve the speed of their decoding of the words.

http://www.spinandspell.com/game.swf oh I loved this one!! Choose an area – I chose things we eat and click on a picture. It says the word for you and then you have to click on the letters in order on the wheel. Then when you have finished, click on submit. A fabulous way on developing spelling and helps the children will their alphabetical order skills!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/phaseThreeAS1_v2.html the children will be using this in school to practice segmenting words to spell new ones. Click on the arrow on the rainbow to see all the sounds.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/poopDeck_v3.html a fun way of practising blending 3 and 4 letter words. Keep the ‘good’ coins and throw away the ones that are wrong.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/phonemeChecker.html this is a great site where all the sounds that the children have learned so far, are in one place. This would be a great place to start if you wanted to try some of the spelling investigations!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/airport_xray.html click on ‘new bag’ to get a new HFW. Then click on the speaker to hear the word being said. Select the tick for the correct word.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/sandcastle/flash/game.shtml choose the correct phoneme to complete the spelling of the word.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/spelling/spelling.shtml drag the correct phoneme to complete the word.

Numeracy

During Year 1, we focus on a variety of mathematical activities and objectives, but we have a weekly number bonds 'test'. Fear not! This is not to be worried about! Last year, the children were so competitive about this and I am sure this year will be no different. We even have a trophy for the weekly winner, which is presented each week in the whole school assembly.

Why not try some of these sites to get the grey matter working this week?

http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ a real favourite of mine and one which we will use throughout the year. Click on Year 1 and 2, as many of the children will be able to access this.

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?subject=Maths you will have to be quite selective about this, because it is used for up to Year 6 level (I did say we were going to challenge the children :-) )

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/ I love these! The BBC introduced them last year and the children loved them. See how quickly they can reach the 'really hard' level.

Domestics

The children start back on Wednesday 3rd September at 8.45am. They need to line up on the infant playground, behind the labelled cone and will be met by a member of staff. The children have now been in school for a whole year now, and so we ask that you allow your child to come into school on their own this year. The infant area does get very congested and children do get quite upset when they feel they are being squashed.

They should be collected from my classroom door at 3pm. We are very good at putting names to faces by the end of week, but please do make yourself known to us! If there is anything that you need to let us know about, then please do let any member of the team know.

What does my child need to bring?

• their bookbag
• packed lunch if they are having one
• any money - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ensure this is in a labelled envelope so as not to go astray
• water bottle - preferably filled with water rather than fruit juice
• snack - again this needs to be labelled
• PE kit - this will be sent home for washing on a regular basis
• the children may buy toast and a drink of milk at morning break
• they also need to bring their diary and reading book EVERY day - this will come home with them on the first day.

I am sure that we will have a fabulous year and I am really looking forward to it. Mrs Narraway has told me so much about this group and I do believe we might just have some fun this year!!

Take care and see you all next Wednesday!

Mrs Worrall x