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