Are we sitting comfortably...?

Hi!

Welcome to the fourth week in Year 1! It feels like the children have been here for much longer, as they are really into the swing of their new learning and have been showing some real talents. I have high hopes and expectations from these children!

Notices

A big thank you to everyone who donated food for our Harvest Festival. This will all be displayed during our Harvest Mass Celebration on Tuesday morning at 9.10am in the hall. It will then be taken to St Joseph’s Welfare Centre, where it will be distributed to very appreciative families.

Labelling

Again, we have a plea. Could you please check every item of your child’s uniform and ensure that any labels with your child’s name on, are still intact and legible. Many thanks.

High Frequency Words

Your child’s high frequency words are essential to the development of their reading skills. Just 5 minutes practice each day, will have a huge impact on their learning, and will ensure that they are truly embedded. We will be testing the children on them this week and the list at the front will be updated.

Homework

Many thanks to everyone for handing their homework in on time last week. The children also had their spelling ‘test’ on Monday and many got full marks. In order to help your child with this, please could we ask that you keep your homework books in the folders, and only return them on MONDAY MORNING. This is so that they have the time to review their spellings over the weekend. Many thanks in anticipation of your support with this.

Literacy

Well, I may have been a little over ambitious about just how much we would cover in literacy last week, or is it that we went off at a tangent, due the fantastic response from the children? By popular request (and because we had so much fun) we will be continuing with our dramas, so that the children are really confident about the story that they are going to write.

When talking through our stories this week, the children will be ‘up-levelling’ their sentences in 4 different ways:

Vocabulary – how many interesting words can they use?

Connectives – make a sentence longer by joining 2 shorter ones together – because, and, so

Openers – how many different ways can they think of to start a sentence?

Punctuation – could they use an exclamation mark or question mark at the end of their sentence?

VCOP for short!

Have a go with this sentence: · I walk to school.

Mmm, we can improve this by adding vocabulary to extend the sentence :

I walked quickly to school this morning.

Then, let’s extend it even more by adding a connective:

I walked quickly to school this morning SO I was not late for the register.

Getting better! Now, how can we change the opening?

Let’s begin our sentence with an ‘ing’ word – the action (verb) in the sentence:

Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register...

Oh – when we remember our Think it, Say it, Write it rule, the sentence doesn’t ‘sound’ right. We need to add another ‘bit’ on the end, so...

Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my packed lunch, so had to return home anyway.

Much better, but I haven’t got any punctuation!

Walking quickly to school this morning so that I was not late for the register, I suddenly remembered I had forgotten my packed lunch, so had to return home anyway!

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST be able to say 3 simple sentences about their chosen topic
SHOULD be able to write 3 sentences, changing one word, about their chosen topic
COULD be able to write at least 3 extended sentences, including a connective, about their chosen topic

http://www.sparklebox2.co.uk/literacy/writing/vcop.html a resource we use in school, but if you would like your own colour copy of this to print off at home, then it can be downloaded from this site. Get the children to cut this out and assemble it into an actual pyramid! You may recognise some of the other resources which we regularly send home, as this is a huge favourite of ours!
http://www.kelsall.cheshire.sch.uk/Parents/Parent%20Handouts/VCOP%20Mat.pdf a mat version of the VCOP pyramid http://www.sutton.lincs.sch.uk/pages/playground/zone/story/start.html ideas for writing your own stories – great to use as opening paragraphs
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/writing_a_story_opening hints on writing a story opening http://www.midlandit.co.uk/education/writingtips.htm story writing tips http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/kids/writing/storymaker/storymaker.asp create your own story
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/index.html this is great! Enter the information requested and the programme generates a story start.

Numeracy

This week, we move onto measuring lengths, using non-standards units. This means we will be asking the children to measure the length of objects using cubes. They will then be asked to compare and order length, from the longest to the shortest and vice versa.

Challenge

Can the children put themselves in height order AND check they are right by measuring themselves in CUBES? Can they use the tape measure or metre stick to measure themselves in STANDARD MEASURES? (centimetres.)

By the end of the week, the children,

MUST be able to compare two lengths and say which is longer or shorter
SHOULD be able to measure a range of objects using non-standard units
COULD be able to measure objects in non-standard units and order them

These websites are great, but there is no substitute for using a ruler and measuring lots of objects around the house. Try encouraging your child to use the vocabulary ‘longer than’ or ‘shorter than’. Also, ask them if they can estimate whether objects are longer than a metre or shorter than a metre. Could they order them for shortest to longest?

These are some of the words that you child will encounter this week while investigating Length.

length, width, height, depth, long, short, tall, high, low, wide, narrow, deep, shallow, thick, thin, longer, shorter, taller, higher,longest, shortest, tallest, highest, further, furthest, near, close, metre (m), centimetre (cm), ruler, metre stick, tape measure

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.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.

Science

This week, we are ‘looking at’ the senses of sight and touch.

By the end of the week, the children will know:

That eyes are for seeing
That the sense of touch tells us what something feels like
How to record their observations using a chart

The children will also be linking this topic with their numeracy this week, by measuring their heights this week in our Doctor’s surgery role play area.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer/index.html This is a great site, with lots of science experiments that can be done at home, with everyday items in your kitchen cupboard. Try the ones for sight, such as the pin hole camera!
http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/cat_senses.html some great experiments all linked to the senses. If you get to try one, please do let us know!
http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/infant/spring/bksp.html a lovely book to read with the children about the senses. Try the thinking questions at the side!

History

We are also beginning a unit of work on Famous people this week. In preparation for this, the children will be asked to talk about their favourite famous person.

Have a look through the weekend newspapers to help them choose their person. Try asking these questions:

Who is their favourite person?
Why are they famous?
What is the best thing they have done?

Challenge
If they could be this person for one day, what would THEY do?
Ooo, I can’t wait for this discussion!

Think that's all for this week!

Year 1 team x