Assessment and Review

Well we are nearly at the end of another term, with just a four day week next week. As there are lots of activities for the children in the final week, we have decided to use this week to assess how much the children have learned this term.

Literacy

This week, the children will be writing their very own versions of Traditional Tales. We will be looking for evidence of all the things they have learned this half term to improve their writing. One exercise we have been trialling across the school, is the use of a memory technique to help write the setting of story. The children SHOULD be able to talk to you about this by the end of the week.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

First, the children will learn a rhyme, where they associate pictures/objects with the numbers 1 to 9. (in red) Ask your child if they can remember the actions to go with this. Then we add an element of a story setting to each number (in green)

1 – SUN – a location
2 – SHOE – something close by
3 – TREE – something in the distance
4 – DOOR – a sound you can hear
5 – HIVE - something you can touch
6 – STICKS – a smell
7 – HEAVEN – something moving or moving somewhere
8 – GATE – emotions or feelings
9 – WINE – a different viewpoint

The children then take all of these elements and use them to help them remember the order of the sentences to write the opening of their story...

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a beautiful young girl named Cinderella. She lived in a small, thatched-roof cottage, with her stern, wicked and cruel stepmother and her two ugly stepsisters, who were always mean to her. Close by to the cottage, there was a stream, where silver fishes darted in the light of the moon each night. In the distance, through her small bedroom window, Cinderella was able to see the royal palace, where she had longed to visit since she was a little girl. She could hear the sound of birds singing happily in the garden and the bees humming around the silky, fragrant flowers which had just bloomed. As she wandered downstairs in her dreary clothes, sweeping brush in her delicate hands, she dreamt of going beyond the cottage gardens to the palace. Would she ever get there? The answer, she assumed, would always be NO! Until that is, a special delivery landed gently onto the doormat...this was to be the day that would change a humble servant-girl’s life forever!

Because...How many times have we all said that as a response to a question?? Well, we shall be encouraging the children to use this word lots this week during our writing activities BECAUSE we would like them to start extending their sentences. This is a target for them, designed to improve their writing and extend beyond simple, short sentences.

The children will also be assessed on their knowledge of the spelling patterns that we have been focussing on. They will need to be able to both read and spell words containing the patterns learned this half term.

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.

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.

Numeracy

We will be assessing the children on their knowledge and understanding of the topics covered this half term.

The children have done really well, but there are a couple of areas where some extra practice would really benefit them:

ODD and EVEN numbers – can they recognise that an even number ends in 2 4 6 8 or 0? Can they recognise that an odd number ends in 1 3 5 7 or 9? Emphasise the fact that however big the number is, it is only the LAST number which tell them whether it is odd or even.

In numeracy, there are a number of key objectives which the children are expected to achieve by the end of the year. They are making rapid progress towards these at the moment and we shall be updating our records this week, by checking the following:

· Count reliably at least 20 objects
· Read/write/order numbers from 0-20.
· Understand and use vocabulary of comparing/ordering these numbers
· Understand the operation of + and – and use related vocabulary
· Know by heart all pairs of numbers with a total of 10
· Use mental strategies and appropriate operations to solve simple problems
· Say the number that is 1/10 more/less than any given number to 30
· Compare/measure lengths using direct comparisons or suitable standard/non standard units.
· Use everyday language to describe features of familiar 3D shapes· Count on/back in 1’s from any small number and in 10’s from and back to 0
· Begin to count in steps of 5 from 0-20 or more and back again
· Work out how to pay an exact sum using smaller coins
· Begin to count in steps of 3 from zero
· Understand and use vocabulary related to time
· Solve problems by sorting/classifying/organising information using a simple table

http://del.icio.us/mathslinks/Addition_Mental lots of links for supporting addition
http://del.icio.us/mathslinks/Subtraction_Mental lots of links for supporting subtraction
http://www.ictgames.com/newduckshoot10s.html counting in steps of ten
http://www.ictgames.com/fishy2s.html click on the fish that gives the next number in the sequence of 2’s.
http://www.ictgames.com/rabbit2.html read the words and click on the numbers that correspond to the questions
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=ncmenu greater than or less than – remember the crocodile eats the biggest number!
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/dinas_powys_sian_mansfield/venn_2.htm a great site which gives step by step instructions for how to use a Venn diagram
http://www.ictgames.com/funkymum20.html%20number%20bonds%20to%2020
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf the old ones are the best!
http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/numberlinev2.swf the children will use this in school to help find out how much each of the divisions on a number line are worth. This will also help them when they come to read numbers on a scale.
http://www.ictgames.com/mostlyPostie.html drag the parcel onto the scales and then read the scale to see how heavy it is. Enter the amount on the till and click check. If you are correct, then the postvan will drive off.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/aliencookbook.shtml this is quite challenging, as it ask you to measure not only weight, but capacity as well, but the children will get experience of reading a variety of scales, not least to make an upside down cake!
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=simplescales2 a simple way of introducing how to read scales, by weighing how much each toy weighs.
http://www.ictgames.com/weight.html
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=fruitbalance3 this is good for developing the vocabulary of which is heavier or lighter. See if you can find out which is the heaviest fruit?
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=scales3 a very similar site, but this time, the children have to try and guess which is the heaviest alien! Very funny!

Science

We complete our topic on Light this week and the children will complete a quiz in class to see how much information they have remembered.

The links from previous blogs will support this area of learning.

FOSV

Many thanks for your response to the Go 4 Gold scheme. The closing date has now been extended to 7th April to allow you to ask friends and grandparents if they have any 'old gold.'

The Friends have now organised the Bag 2 School scheme. You will have received a blue plastic bag on Friday, which we would like you to fill with clothing, bedding, curtains, soft toys, shoes, belts, handbags etc. Please could we ask that the bag DOES NOT contain any BRIC-A-BRAC. The bags then need to be returned to school ON WEDNESDAY 29TH APRIL. As we have no storage space for these in school, please could we ask that they are not returned before this day. Many thanks for this.

STRIPES and SPOTS day

This Friday, we will be having a stripes and spots day, arranged by Mrs Walker. We are asking all the children to dress in STRIPES or SPOTS and for this, to donate £1. Mrs Walker is currently 'in training' for The Great North Run in September and she is raising money for the Arthritis Research Campaign and hopes that we can all support her in this cause. Ooh, the children might even support her running training this week in our PE lessons!

Some advance notice...

You will have received a letter a few weeks ago, informing you of our Easter celebrations. Just as a reminder –

EASTER BONNETS – the children will be having their annual Easter bonnet parade in the last week, so start getting creative now! Prizes will go the bonnets which display both creativity and evidence of the children’s own work.

EGG ROLLING – this too will take place in the last week, but please try to do this just one day in advance – 120 children – one hall – 120 hard-boiled eggs...mmm...need I say more!!

And finally...

I hope you managed to have a look at the Children’s Work section on the Year 1 pages of the school website? They worked so hard on making a Photostory of the story of Cinderella and they will be using this to form the basis of their writing this week.

The children have asked me (mmm...begged may be more apt!) to tell you where you can download the masks from and the Photostory software, so...

Photostory -

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/PhotoStory/default.mspx

Masks for role play – These can be laminated, or stuck on the back of some cereal box card and stuck on a lolly stick. http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/cll/index.html Scroll down to Traditional Tales and click on the Fairy Tale you want the masks to.

You could have a go at e-mailing us some of the finished products, by clicking on the ‘e-mail us’ button, again on the website. http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/

Have a good week.
Year 1 team. x

Once upon a time...

Hi and welcome to another busy week in Year 1!

Literacy

We began our work on Traditional tales last week and the children thoroughly enjoyed them. We certainly have some budding thespians in our midst!

This week we move on from being able to sequence the events in order, to investigating the characters in the stories. We will be comparing stories and drawing out typical features: beginnings and endings, story language, characters and plots.

They will continue to re-enact many of the stories using pictures, puppets or props.When we are investigating the characters, we will asking the children to do something called ‘HOT SEATING’. This means that the children will have to pretend to be a character from a story and the rest of the group will pose questions to them. Their answers will have to be from the point of view AS IF THEY WERE THE CHARACTER.

So...

Mr. Wolf, why did you choose to eat Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma?

(Wicked Stepmother) What jobs did you get Cinderella to do? How did you try to prevent her from getting to the ball? Why were you so mean to Cinderella?

Mr Troll, why wouldn’t you let the 3 Billy Goats across your bridge?

By the end of week, the children:

MUST be able to identify the main character in a story

SHOULD be able to use adjectives to describe the main characters in a story

COULD write a character profile of a main character in a story

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/english/story_telling/index.htm this site has online versions of 5 different traditional tales. There are also different activities for you to download (using Word) which practice character, setting and sequencing.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/20050224/English/Keystage1/Writing/tradit~00/introduct/default.htm click onto the main session and then part two to work on adjectives to describe characters.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/are_they_the_same/eng/Introduct/default.htm again, click on main session part one to be able to sort the characters from the traditional tales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/magickey/adventures/floppy.shtml choose the correct adjective to complete the sentences

Numeracy

This week we begin our review of numeracy. Many of the children rose to the challenge last week and we are certainly on track! This really is time well spent, as clearing up any misunderstandings now, will mean the children are able to tackle more challenging problems later on. Each day this week, will be spent on a different area of numeracy, but the main focus will remain on their ability to manipulate numbers.

In the next week or so, I shall be assessing the children on their numeracy and will inform you of their new targets to work on over the Easter holidays.

The children have been working on some fantastic games on the interactive whiteboard in school for manipulating numbers and counting in steps of 2,5 and 10. The link for this is http://resources.oswego.org/games/ . It is well worth putting this as one of your favourites!

Addition and Subtraction; missing numbers

Each Friday, we carry out our weekly number bonds challenge. The children are doing well, but are beginning to see just how short an amount of tie 5 minutes really is! Their target for next week’s test is...Remember to always look at the sign – is it + or -?

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=digitmenu great for showing sums which the children should be able to complete using partitioning from last week.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=100square use this to help with counting on

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/add_sub/9%20and%2011.swf remember to use the 100 number square to calculate the answers to these problems

http://www.sums.co.uk/playground/n2a/playground.htm add up the total by partitioning and recognising the names on the pinball machine

Money-Doubles and Halves

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf by far the best site to use for doubling and halving. This is also a great site to use for developing those times tables skills.

Symmetry

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/greg_morgan_symmetry/index.htm a great way to illustrate to the children how to show reflective symmetry. Remind the children about those paint print pictures that you folded in half when they were younger!

Time

The children were fantastic at being able to read o’clock times, but still need a little practice on the half past times.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Higher&Lower-Reveal&Orderv4.swf select o’clock and half past, then order the cards in order of time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/5_7entry/4.shtml identify the correct hour on the clock and then order in terms of time

http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html can you get the mouse to run up the clock to eat the cheese?The children are also working on being able to order the days of the week and the months of the year. Why not use this as an opportunity to work on the spelling of these?

Science

The children LOVED designing their Cinderella dresses this week and were devastated that she wouldn’t be able to go to the ball if it wasn’t made of reflective material! The children are completing the individual portraits this week, which will form part of our Traditional tales display.

A good book to accompany this is Goodnight Owl by Pat Hutchins (Picture Puffin), ISBN 0-14-050121-5.

How was Owl to sleep, with the bees buzzing, the crows creaking, the starlings chittering, the jays screaming -- and all the other inhabitants of the hollow tree pecking, calling or crunching? Owl tried to sleep, but it was impossible.

Pat Hutchins has written a bedtime story with a switch; a surprise ending that will send the youngest child off to sleep laughing.

By the end of this week, the children will be able to:

· state that the Sun is a light source, even when it is behind a cloud;
· describe differences between day/night-time and light/dark.

The children thoroughly enjoyed their science show on Friday on the topic of Light and Sound. See if they are able to remember any of the activities which Adrian Bowden showed them. My favourite was the rainbow on the ceiling of the hall!

Notices

The children are doing a great job in becoming independent and we would like to thank you for your help with this. In order to further support our efforts, we would welcome your support in a few reminders for the children:

· children should come to school with a water bottle each day, even though water is available from the water fountain in school. Please encourage your child to drink as much as possible during the school day and remind them that they can refill their bottles during breaks and lunchtimes

· EVERYTHING which your child brings into school, needs their name written on it, in a prominent place. There are around 120 children in Key Stage 1 and so if someone has lost a jumper, it is much easier to reunite them with if their name is written on it.

· diaries should be brought into school EVERY day and placed in the book box inside the classrooms. Please remind your child to ensure their reading book is placed INSIDE the diary, as we have had a few instances where the wrong colour book has gone home, due to books falling out.

· many of the children have the school book bags and these are more than large enough to hold the equipment which the children need in Years 1. A few children are bringing in quite large rucksack style bags, which can be quite difficult to store in school. If you are considering buying a new bag for your child, please do consider purchasing a book bag for them.

Vouchers

We are collecting Tesco and Sainsbury’s vouchers at the moment, so please send any vouchers into school and encourage your child to place them in the boxes in the area. Many thanks.

Go 4 Gold

Thank you to the parents who have sent in some ‘old gold’ for the benefit of our school. Please remember, that in order for us to be able to accept any donations, you will need to sign the envelope which came home with your child, and list the items you have included.

If you haven’t had the chance to do so already, why not start your Spring clean by having a sort out of your jewellery box. I have done my own and didn’t realise quite how many ‘single’ earrings I had or broken chains!

REMEMBER the closing date is THIS THURSDAY.

Homework

We are currently working on our new school website and would like some feedback as to the kinds of things that you would like available on there.

We have decided to make our weekly homework available to download from the website. We would appreciate your feedback on this and please do let us know of any difficulties you have with this.

I intend to send a letter out before the holidays regarding this, to canvas opinions, but, as you are the first group of parents to ‘trial’ this, please do let me know of any glitches which you may have come across.

Also, we intend to make the links which we put on this blog each week, available on the website. Currently, there are a number of links on there for numeracy and literacy, but other areas will be populated over time.

Again, please do feel free to give any feedback – or if there are any web-wizards out there, I’d love to hear from you!

To access the new website, go to http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/ and click on Year Groups, then Year 1 and follow the menus on the left hand side.

FOSV

There will be a cake sale this Friday after school. The Friends would be grateful of any donations of cakes, which may be sent into school on Friday morning. Many thanks.

Think that’s all for this week!
Year 1 team xx

Once upon a time...

Welcome to another busy week in the land of Year 1...

Red Nose Day

A big thank you to everyone who wore RED on Friday - you all looked fantastic! We will let you know how much was raised in total next week.



Recognise anyone?

Literacy

For the next few weeks, we will be focussing our work on Traditional Tales. I love this, as the children are so familiar with them, as many of them have heard them as bedtime stories. As this is a great opportunity for bedtime stories, why not use this as an opportunity to really push a love of reading at home. Why not buy a Sunday newspaper and let your child SEE YOU reading...or make time to read that novel or autobiography that was bought as a Christmas gift?

We will be looking at the story of Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children will be expected to be able to name the main characters and events of the stories, as well as being able to sequence the events in chronological order. Why not make a story board, or film strip of the story – then cut it up. See if your child can put the events back in the correct order, whilst retelling the story.

The children will also be trying to earn their equity cards this week, by exploring how the use of their voice can make a story sound more interesting. Try raising your voice at the end of a sentence and see if they can predict what will happen next...



”What big EYES you have grandma!...All the better to SEE YOU WITH!”


If you do read a traditional story with your child this week, please do let us know in the diaries, as the children will be creating a bar chart showing all the favourite stories in their ICT sessions.


By the end of this week, the children:


Must be able to identify the main characters and events in a traditional tale


Should be able to sequence the main events in chronological order


Could retell a traditional tale in chronological order using story language


http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/fiction/fairytale2/fairytale.htm this has lots of examples of Traditional Tales, with activities to support ideas reading and writing. It does takes a while to download, but the activities and ideas are well worth it.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-red-riding-hood.htm some great activities to print and make to do with Little Red Riding Hood. If you have the time to navigate through some of the other tales on this site, they are well worth a look. We will be revisiting this site over the course of this topic.

http://www.penguinreaders.com/pyr/resources/index.html This may seem quite a daunting site when you first look at it. It isn’t a game that your child can play on, more of activities that can be carried out with you. Although it is based on a particular publisher’s books, it can be used with any version. The PDF files (that open in Acrobat Reader) have a brief overview of the story, it origins and some ideas of activities that you can do at home. The chants are a great way of helping children to remember the order of events in the stories, with having to read the whole story. This will be a great hook for them when they come to write their own versions in a couple of weeks time.

http://www-math.uni-paderborn.de/~odenbach/pigs/pigs.html Wow! This brought back many memories of childhood!

When listening to your child read at home, try asking them some of these questions, in order to help with their comprehension:·


Where does the story take place?·


When did the story take place?·


What did he/she look like?·


Who was he/she?·


Where did he/she live?·


Who are the characters in the book?·


Where in the book would you find?·


What do you think is happening here?·


What happened in the story?·


What might this mean?·


Through whose eyes is the story told?·


Which part of the story best describes the setting?·


What words and/or phrases do this?·


What part of the story do you like best?



There are lots of other ways to support your child’s reading, but why not try some of these ideas?·

Make your new book into a caption or concertina book·

Play a game using text from the book·


Re-order chopped up sentences or word from the book·


Write your own story based on the book and illustrate·


Re-tell the story with finger puppets·


Re-read familiar texts with the same high frequency words·


Paint a picture of a favourite character, part of the story, etc

Recommended reading

As part of our drive to raise standards in reading, particularly fostering a life-long love of reading for boys, we are currently compiling a list of recommended reads for each age phase. We aim to recommend many more titles, for when you are browsing in Borders at the weekend, but for ages 5-7, we recommend this:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers

HarperCollins, 978 0 00 718227 5

With a title like this it just has to be a good choice. Henry loves books, literally
loves them, from the odd nibbled corner to the whole thing, he gobbles the lot. The more pages and books he eats the smarter he grows, until he gets some sort of over-knowing indigestion with everything mixed up inside. The only cure is to stick to absorbing things by reading instead. A wonderful book! If you do read this with your child, please do let us know what you think by leaving a comment on this blog, or send us an e-mail through the Year 1 pages on http://www.stvincentsprimary.co.uk/

A big thank you to Mrs Narraway, our literacy leader, for recommending this title!

Phonics

The children are working really hard with the patterns we have been learning. This week, we will be consolidating work on the patterns ‘wh’ and ‘ph’. This links in with the question words from their information texts: who, where, what, why and when You could support this work at home, by investigating whether they can find words which contain these patterns in reading materials.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/index.shtml escape the maze has some great games on to enable the children to apply their phonic knowledge learned over the past few weeks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml for those children working on the long vowel patterns – some great poems!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/wordTree.html click on menu and enter the high frequency words or patterns your child is currently working on. These will be saved for the next time you open the game.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/phaseThreeAS1_v2.html scroll through the sounds on the rainbow and use the letters on the set of cards to make new words. You will need to have the sound turned up for this one!

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html a lovely new game which supports children in their reading of high frequency words. You could also enter your own words using the phonemes they are currently working on, and getting the children to practice their blending skills.

Numeracy

We move back to work on number activities this week.

We will be adding and subtracting 10 and multiples of 10, such as 20, 30, 40 etc. We will also be looking at adding and subtracting 9 and 11. 9 and 11 are ‘nearly’ 10.

So, when adding 9 to a number, add 10 and then take 1 away.

Similarly, when taking away 9, take away 10 and add 1. 30 – 9... Say 30 – 10 = 20

Then give one back = 21

Once the children have mastered this, they could be able to add and subtract 19 and 21, using the same method.

A really useful numeracy tool to have at home for this, is a hundred square. You already have one of these in your homework books and in the back of the diaries, so please do try to find some time to practice using them, to count on and back. If you would like a larger version, please do let us know through the diaries.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST: Be able to add by counting on. Be able to add two multiples of 10 by counting on in 10’s.

SHOULD: Be able to subtract a multiple of 10 from a 2 digit number by counting back in 10’s.

COULD: Be able to add and subtract 9,11, 19, 21 by adding and subtracting 10 and 20.

http://www.ictgames.com/fairy2.html adding 9 fairy http://www.ictgames.com/100huntadd9.html use the 100 square to add 9 to the target number http://www.ictgames.com/100huntadd11.html adding 11 http://www.ictgames.com/technowithflock.html this made me laugh! A tortoise, with goggles jumping +10, -10 on a number line!! http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/bugs/bugrace3.html a game to play in pairs to add 2 two-digit numbers

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Function%20wheel%20v6.swf click on the add and take wheel to guess the function of each wheel. http://www.ictgames.com/countonconvict.html find the difference between two numbers

Science

Oh we have a real problem this week! Cinderella has become the victim of the Health and Safety officer and they won't allow her to go to the ball without special clothing! It has to be reflective, as they have heard that she will flee the ball at midnight and the coaches and others won't be able to see her otherwise! The children will receive an e-mail from the Fairy Godmother, asking for their help in designing a new outfit for her, which is reflective and will help her be seen in the dark! Not to be outdone, the prince will need a reflective outfit too, for when he leaves to search for his princess when the clock strikes 12!

Yes, we have gone slightly mad, but I KNOW the children will just love this challenge!

By the end of the week, the children will:

· recognise that a shiny object needs a light source if it is to shine;
· that a shiny object will not shine in a dark place;
· predict whether they expect reflective materials to shine near a light source.

Here I Am

We begin our new topic of GROWING this week.

By the end of the week, the children will:

Recognise different patterns of growth.
Reflect on their own growth patterns.
Respect and appreciate that each of us grows in a variety of different ways.

We will also be celebrating Mass in the hall this Thursday at 9.15am, on the theme on Reconciliation. You are most welcome to join us. If you would like to leave any pushchairs in the infant area during Mass, please feel free to do so.

Children in Year 5 will be receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time this Wednesday, in an Away Day at St. Joseph’s Church. I am sure you will join us, in remembering them in our thoughts and prayers this week.

Friends of St. Vincent’s

Once again, the Friends are working hard to raise funds for some great new playground equipment for the benefit of our children, and so they are organising a GO 4 GOLD SCHEME. Any old/unwanted gold can help us to raise funds. On Friday, you should have received an envelope to put the gold in and we would ask that these are returned as soon as possible and no later than THURSDAY 26TH MARCH.

In order to prevent the children from just ‘helping themselves’ to your finest jewellery, we need you to sign the envelope and complete some information on the envelope. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept the gold without it. If your child’s name and class is on the envelope too, their name will be entered into an Easter draw, to will a HUGE Easter Egg! I think this may have prompted the GOLD search on Friday evening! As an idea of the amount which could be raised, if every child in school brought just one small stud earring, school would raise approximately £1600!

There will also be an Easter raffle held, to win an Easter Egg and a cuddly toy. Tickets cost 50p per strip and are available from the school office. The draw for this, will take place on 9th April.

I think that’s all for this week.

Year 1 team x

What time is it Mr Wolf?

Hi and welcome to this week’s blog.

Before we begin with our curriculum for this week, can I just take this opportunity to thank you all for the fantastic efforts you made with the writing homework last week. I loved reading all the information sheets that the children brought in and we have decided to use them to make a display book in class of them all.

Whilst we are on the subject of writing, I have been thrilled with the responses we have had to our Barnaby Bear diary. The children who have taken him home so far, have written some fabulous diary entries and have even managed to take photos and print them off, all in one night! I am sure you will enjoy reading the entries for yourselves when Barnaby comes to visit your house!

Literacy

We conclude our Information topic this week and our focus will be on writing an information page. The children will be using the same marking ladder as mentioned in previous weeks and checking to make sure they have included them in their own work.

The children have devised their own system of writing improvement and this involves a point scoring system. Intrigued? Well...

Tigers are big.

Mmm – a 3 point sentence

Tigers are very big animals.

A four point sentence – but we need to improve the VOCABULARY

Tigers are extremely large animals.(5 points)

Better – but we need to make our sentence longer by adding a CONNECTIVE and get more points.

Tigers are extremely large animals AND they hunt other wild animals. (11 points)

Getting there – but can we improve the OPENING to the sentence?

What about the PUNCTUATION? Maybe we could put an exclamation mark at the end, or even start my information with a question.

The children will be challenged to make their sentences as long as they can – ask them if they remember the ‘frog’s tongues’ from last year?

Phonics

We are moving through our phonics at a great pace at the moment and we are pleased that the children are beginning to apply this when writing independently.

This week, we are going to review UE and AW and introduce the new sounds wh ph and ew.

wh – we will talk about the difference between this and ‘w’. ‘wh’ always comes at the start of the word. ‘w’ can come at start, middle or end.

ph – we will look at the difference between this and the letter ‘f’

ew – compare this to the ‘oo’ sounds and explain that ‘ew’ usually comes at the end of a word

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/foamPhonemes_v10.html click on the arrows on the rainbow on the right hand side until you get to this week’s sounds. By click on the canon, you release foam letters and can make words containing the sounds.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/sound_buttons_v14.html similar activity, but this time with the sound buttons that the children use in class.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html why not make your own game up, using words that you have made up with your child using this week’s sounds?

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/airport_xray.html keep up with those High Frequency words – remember that once they are ticked in the diaries, the children are expected to spell them correctly independently in their writing.

By the end of the week, you should receive an update of the sounds that your child needs to work on.

Numeracy

This week, we will be looking at a variety of topics and using number skills to link them together.
The children will be revisiting our work on money and seeing if they can recognise the value of coins. This is particularly challenging now, as children very often only see us paying for things with ‘plastic’ and so do not have as much experience of using coins.

They will also be using their subtraction skills when calculating the change in the role play area. This often helps the children to consolidate their skills, as they really aren’t happy if they think they have lost money!

We move on in the second half of the week, to looking at time. The children will review the telling of time to o’clock and half past, and then move on to quarter past and quarter to. This always tends to be a real challenge, so any support you are able to give at home with this will help.

This week’s homework will be a making homework. The children will be asked to make their very own clock, complete with moveable hands. They will also have to write the instructions for making it, remembering to use the openers...First, Next, Then, After that and Last. More information will be in the homework books this week.

http://www.ictgames.com/moneysplat.html count the number of coins in the hands and click on the hand with 10p

http://www.ictgames.com/change_eXchanger_v2.html Scan the products on the conveyor belt, then work out the change after the customer pays. Our first sum was 10p given for a 3p tin of beans. What's the change?

http://www.topicbox.co.uk/browse.php?item_ID=5854&subject=Maths&topic=Money download a powerpoint from here to help count in 2ps

http://www.ictgames.com/moneypayer.html use the coins to pay the price shown in the tag

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/virtualshop/shop1.htm there is no substitute for using the real thing, but this is a great substitute for using coins.

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/ClassClock/clockres.html this is great for using to teach the time in class and at home.

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/Infant_activities/daysofweek1.htm great for asking questions about days of the week

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/willy/willy.html o’clock and half past time game

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec1.html half past and o’clock times, where the children have to match the digital and analogue times.

ICT

The children will be using the laptops to present their final pieces of writing this week and so developing their typing skills.

The children are managing really well with using the mouse pads and have even learned about servers and networks this week! They are certainly keeping me on my toes!

Artwork

The children have started some fantastic pieces of artwork, based on their knowledge of materials and the natural environment. We are aiming to get this finished and displayed for you by the end of the week, so we will keep you posted of where our gallery will be, courtesy of our resident artist, aka Mrs Fox!

They have also started some great preparations for our next Literacy unit on Traditional Tales. They have been describing, designing and making their own scenery for some of the stories we will be looking at. I can’t wait to see the finished product!

Reading

As part of our constant drive to raise standards, we have monitored the number and frequency of comments in the children’s diaries this week. As a year group, this week we had 75% of parents making a comment in the diary. Let’s see if we can be the first year group to reach 100%!

Yellow Woods challenge. Thank you for your response so far, but keep sending them in. Please remember that we just need the front page and the rest of it can be recycled in your blue bin at home.

Science week is coming up and the children will be taking part in a number of competitions and activities. We would to have any parents in school to give a talk to the children, so if your job involves any aspect of science, please do let any member of the team know.

The Travelling Science Show will be coming to school on Friday 20th March and we will be investigating the topic of Light and Sound.

The Methodist Church car park will have limited parking next week, as they will be beginning demolition work.

The Friends of St Vincent’s Craft Fayre raised £300 last Sunday. Many thanks for your support.

I think that is all for this week!
Year 1 team xxx

Spring has sprung!

Well, Spring has sprung (or at least that is what the meteorologists are telling us anyway!)

We have lots to get through this week, so...

Literacy

We will be continuing with the second week of Information Texts and the children will be starting to write some of their own texts in class. There will be some very diverse pieces of information to read, as we had a wide range of suggestions from the children!

Last week, we asked if you could make some time to look through an encyclopaedia at home. If you haven’t managed to do this yet, it will really help in consolidating the kind of information which your child would like to write this week. If, for example, they have chosen to write about dinosaurs, then they need to come prepared with some knowledge about them. Maybe focussing on one dinosaur, may be better than trying to remember information about lots of them!

The children were also introduced to a ‘marking ladder’ last week and they became teachers. They had to mark authors of information books and check that they had included certain elements in their books. As you can imagine, they thoroughly enjoyed this activity, giving them marks out of out 10!

This week, they will be applying this to their own writing. Why not use it at home this weekend, to help with this week’s writing homework?

I have used questions
My labels and diagrams are clear
I used captions to give more information about the illustrations
I have used full stops and capital letters
My sentences make sense when I read them out loud
The information chosen is about the title
The information can be found using the contents page and index
I used headings and sub-headings to organise important information

http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/jeather/writingfun/writingfun.html if you click on Information/Reports on the right hand side and then click on the numbers at the bottom of the screen, it gives you examples to share at home of what an information text could look like. Also, you can download the template to type into.

The other links from last week’s blog will help to support this work for this week.

Phonics

The children are progressing well with their phonics and this is evidenced in how well the children are doing with their reading. The spelling of words however, is causing a little confusion at the moment. Please try not to worry, as this is down to the fact that they are now learning alternative ways of making the same sounds with different letters. The question that they need to ask, is whether they can hear the sound at in the MIDDLE or the END of the word. This will determine the pattern that they use.

This week, we will be looking at the patterns:

oy – this usually comes at the end of a word (oi usually comes in the middle)
ir – this usually comes in the middle of a word (er usually comes at the end)
ue – usually comes at the end of a word (oo usually comes in the middle)
aw – usually comes at the end of a word (or – usually comes in the middle)

Challenge: how many different words can they come up with that contain these different patterns?

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/foamPhonemes_v10.html click on the arrows on the rainbow on the right hand side until you get to this week’s sounds. By click on the canon, you release foam letters and can make words containing the sounds.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/sound_buttons_v14.html similar activity, but this time with the sound buttons that the children use in class.

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/helpAhedgehog_v4.html why not make your own game up, using words that you have made up with your child using this week’s sounds?

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/games/airport_xray.html keep up with those High Frequency words – remember that once they are ticked in the diaries, the children are expected to spell them correctly independently in their writing.

Numeracy

The children did really well last week, using the pan balances to measure different objects, using both cubes and the 10 gram weights. Maybe you could get them to do some baking this weekend and get them to help you measure the ingredients out? Linking maths to real life activities, really does get the children to see the purpose of numeracy, and if it involved food, even better!

The children will be moving on to recording the information from last week on a block graph. They will also be expected to answer questions based on the graph that they produce.

Wednesday is World Maths Day and the children will be doing lots of fun maths activities and competitions, to support their numeracy learning. Of course, it wouldn’t be our class, if there wasn’t some food making, baking and tasting involved!

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/grapher.html a great bar chart creator to be able to record the information from weighing objects

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/bargraphs/bargraphs.html a great game to play at home for bar charts

Science

The children were fantastic at identifying light sources last week and even managed to identify that the moon reflected light from the sun, so wasn’t a light source itself! Some Key Stage 2 children struggle with this concept...and even some adults so well done!

This week the children will be investigating torches and seeing why some light sources are brighter than others. They will also be investigating why objects can be seen better when they are in brighter light rather than dimmer light.

If you are willing to send a torch in with your child this week, then please label it clearly in a bag, so that it may be returned to you.

By the end of the week, the children will:

· recognise that a variety of light sources show up best in the dark;
· know that some torches give brighter lights than others;
· state that it is easier to see things in brighter light.

The links from last week’s blog will support learning in this area this week.

Geography

This week, the children will be preparing their map display for Barnaby, to show where he and his friends have visited in the world. If you could go through some of your holiday photographs and talk with your child about where you have been, this will be great preparation for this week’s work.

The children will make a flag of the country they have visited, find the place on a map and place the country’s flag there. They will also be expected to talk about the climate there are talk about which clothes would be appropriate. It always raises a smile, when the children think that a swimming costume is always needed – after all, it is a holiday!

Mother’s Day Craft Fayre

This Sunday, there will be a Craft Fayre held at St. Joseph’s, from 11am-2pm. Many thanks for your generous donations from the non-uniform day yesterday.

Request

The children are now half way through Year One now and are becoming gradually more independent. Could we ask that children come into school on their own in a morning, as we are getting quite a bit of congestion in the cloakrooms. This is resulting in a number of children being late for the register each morning and being unsettled for the start of the day.

Also, we have noticed a couple of polo shirts being worn. These are for the Summer term only, as are gingham dresses for the girls.

Could we also remind you, that bobbles, clips and hair bands should be black or blue. Visitors to our school always comment on the smartness of our children, so many thanks for your support with this.

I think that is all for this week!
Year 1 team x

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!!

You should have received a letter tonight, letting you know about the NON-UNIFORM DAY THIS FRIDAY.

This is in aid of the Mother's Day Craft Fayre, which will be held at St. Joseph's this Sunday. We would be grateful of any donations for the tombola stall. Why not send something in that someone might like to receive as a Mother's Day gift?

Swagbagging!

Hi there!

Welcome back after a lovely half term break – we hope you are relaxed and ready to return to some hard work on the run up to Easter.

Ash Wednesday

This week sees the start of Lent. We will be holding a short service in the hall to mark Ash Wednesday and the children will receive their ashes in the classrooms afterwards. Should you wish to receive ashes in school, please join us at 9am in the hall.

To read about the traditions and customs of Ash Wednesday, go to http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/easter/ashwednesday.htm

Of course this also means that we will be indulging in pancakes on Tuesday! Maybe the children could have a go at helping you make some on Tuesday evening and use their knowledge of how to write instructions to write the recipe down? http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/shrove.html has a great recipe on there for pancakes and also written instructions – how many of mine will stick to the pan I wonder?

So, now that I am back with my lovelies full time, we have a packed week in store...

What on earth is the title of this week's blog?! You might well ask...Why not try this out at home.

All you need is your child's home reader or any magazine or newspaper that you are reading.

They will also need a 'SWAGBAG', which could just be a sandwich bag with the word SWAG written on it! Read it out loud to your child and get them to 'steal' any WOW words that they think are interesting - particularly adjectives or adverbs. Then, get them to write it down on a piece of paper and put it in their swagbag.

At the end of the week, empty out the swagbag and they will find that they have lots of words that they now can try to incorporate into their writing. This also works if you use 'POSH' words during conversations, which they can also try to swagbag!You will laugh, furrow your brow and amaze at the number of times that your child pretends to grab the air during conversations...they are swagbagging your vocabulary!!

We would love to hear of any successes you have at home with this.

Literacy

A great opportunity to use some swagbag skills this week, as we move onto looking at Information Texts.

Using the children's own interests as a starting point, they will pose their own questions about what they want to know about what interests them. In shared reading, we will be using information books (or ICT sources) to find answers, exploring how to use an index and alphabetical order. We will also be reviewing dictionaries and glossaries to find definitions of words from reading.

The children will also be expected to know some of the differences between fiction and non-fiction texts. The children will also learn how to use the Smartboard as a presentation tool for them to display their information text and photographs or drawings. Maybe some children could even write an information book using Photostory from a couple of weeks ago? If so, please do send them into school on a pen drive, or e-mail them to school.

http://www.kidsgowild.com/animalfacts information about animals which will help the children who chose this as their area to write about

http://www.settle.co.uk/local.htm an example of how an information text can be set out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/pets/ a great site from CBBC

http://www.abc.net.au/oceans/alive.htm information about animals of the sea – good for interaction

http://www.topicbox.org.uk/browse.php?item_ID=5426&subject=English&topic=Text%20-%20Non-chron%20report a non-chronological report on elephants. This link takes you to a powerpoint that can be downloaded to view at home.

Numeracy

A very practical week in store – the children will be investigating weight!

There will be scales in the classroom, but I shall be avoiding them!!

The children will be investigating objects which are heavier and lighter than each other and should be able to order them from lightest to the heaviest and vice versa.

As always, we are developing the children’s knowledge of mathematical vocabulary, so this week, they will need to learn:

Ascending order – from the lowest amount to the highest

Descending order – from the highest amount to the lowest

How can you help at home?

Look at different of packets, tins, jar, bottles etc. that you have in the kitchen or bathroom cupboards. Look out for how much the packet weighs and see if it is measured in grams or kilograms. Talk about how ‘g’ is short for grams and that ‘kg’ is short for kilograms.

Try to order the objects you have chosen by the weight on the packets and then check by estimating their weight by hand. You could then check by actually weighing them on kitchen scales. Point out what each of the lines mean on the scales and explain how each division might be 10 grams, 50 grams etc.

This is always difficult, so any help you can give at home with this will really help.

By the end of the week, the children:

MUST: be able to compare weights by direct comparisons using non-standard measures, need to be able to use appropriate mathematical language.

SHOULD: be able to recognise the relationship between grams and kilograms.

COULD: be able to read simple scales to the nearest division.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/853/numberlinev2.swf the children will use this in school to help find out how much each of the divisions on a number line are worth. This will also help them when they come to read numbers on a scale.

http://www.ictgames.com/mostlyPostie.html drag the parcel onto the scales and then read the scale to see how heavy it is. Enter the amount on the till and click check. If you are correct, then the postvan will drive off.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/maths/aliencookbook.shtml this is quite challenging, as it ask you to measure not only weight, but capacity as well, but the children will get experience of reading a variety of scales, not least to make an upside down cake!

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=simplescales2 a simple way of introducing how to read scales, by weighing how much each toy weighs.

http://www.ictgames.com/weight.html

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=fruitbalance3 this is good for developing the vocabulary of which is heavier or lighter. See if you can find out which is the heaviest fruit?

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=scales3 a very similar site, but this time, the children have to try and guess which is the heaviest alien! Very funny!

Science

We begin our new topic of Light and Dark with the children this week. The children will learn that that the sense of sight can only be used when it is light. They will also be able to name a variety of light sources and make comparisons between them. Finally, they will find out that the Sun is the source of light for the Earth.

We will also be reading a lovely story called ‘The owl who was afraid of dark’. The children will have to come up with as many different ways of making sure that Plop feels safe at night!
In preparation for this, it would be great if you could try this activity out at home, before the children come back to school:

Stand in your living room, or your child’s bedroom and ask them to look around and describe what they can see.

Then turn the light off to make the room as dark as possible.

Try asking these questions and remind your child that we will be asking them these questions in school this week:

· In the darkness what are you able to see?
· In the darkness are you able to see clearly?
· In the darkness are you able to see the outlines of objects clearly?
· In the darkness are you able to see different colours clearly?

By the end of the topic the children:

MUST be able to name a number of light sources, including the Sun; recognise that they cannot see in the dark and know that it is dangerous to look at the Sun.
SHOULD be able to name a number of light sources, including the Sun; recognise that they cannot see in the dark; describe and compare some light sources and explain why it is dangerous to look at the Sun.
COULD be able to explain that they cannot see shiny objects in the dark because they are not light sources.

Challenge: Can the children investigate whether the moon is a light source or not?

http://www.mystery-productions.info/hyper/Hypermedia_2003/Roby/index.html this site is aimed at Key Stage 2, but I think if you sit with your child for this one, they should be able to work through it
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Science/Keystage1/Physicalprocess/Light/Introduction/default.htm work through this activity to identify which objects are sources of light and which are not
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/light_dark.shtml good old scienceclips! Drag the objects into the centre of the room, to see if they are light sources or not.
http://www.poissonrouge.com/opticalillusions/index.htm just for fun this one! I am normally not very good with these optical illusions, but have a go with your children to see the kind of tricks light can play on your eyes!

Barnaby Bear

I love this topic! We have a very well travelled bear in Year 1, having been taken to Chicago and New York by Mr Worrall last year, but he hasn’t been anywhere lately and is getting restless. Oh dear...we can’t have that can we? This year, he wants to see what his local area is like and have some photographs he can take on his travels over the summer.

So...can we help him? Of course we can! Barnaby will be coming home with each every one of the children over the next few weeks and we would like you to fill in a page each night with his adventures. Don’t worry – it only means writing one or two sentences about what Barnaby has done that night whilst he was at your house. You may even want to take a photo of him wherever he has been and stick that into the book too.

This type of activity already happens in Year 2, so we are preparing for the transition early, with the children getting used to taking Barnaby home. All that we ask, is that you send him back to school the NEXT MORNING, even if you haven’t had the chance to write anything in his book. Thanks for your support with this.

I think that’s all for this week. Have a good one!

Year 1 team x