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