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