Week ending Friday 30th April

 

I'm not sure where that week went, but it was a very good week.

We continued our story throughout the week. First, we made a map of our medieval village (with lots of repetitions of... it's 1000 years ago!) and the children decided where they'd like their different buildings to be. 

Then we thought about who might have been in the village. The children learnt that just a few of the jobs around in medieval times were:

• miller
• carpenter
• blacksmith
• spinster
• rat catcher
• barber
• swine herd

Each child chose a job role they'd like to take on. There were a lot of rat catchers - our village is sure to be rat-free before too long. Next the children placed themselves on the map, thinking about where they would be (for example, by a blacksmith's forge if they were a blacksmith).

Then yesterday the children made posters to go on their doors, explaining who they are and what services they can offer. 

The village is coming together well. 

This week's core learning:

Maths:

Reception have been continuing to represent numbers to 20 and to find '1 more' than any given number to 20. They have also been working on estimating a small number of objects. 

You can play this 'one more' game to practice finding 1 more to 20.

Year 1 children have been continuing work on numbers to 100. They have been learning how to describe numbers in terms of 'tens' and '1s', and have started to recognise that digits are worth different amounts depending on their place in the number.

You can play this place value game to practice talking about what each digit is worth in a 2-digit number. You can create a similar one with hundreds, tens and ones if your child is very confident with two-digit numbers. 

Phonics/Spellings

Reception have been looking at th, ng, ow and oi.

To practise these sounds, you could play 'hangman', but perhaps with a different image to the traditional game! In class we play 'don't draw a hedgehog' - if I manage to draw the whole hedgehog, I have won.

Choose a word with one of those sounds in. I suggest just a 4- letter word to start with (such as sing, town, coin). Draw four lines to represent the four letters. Ask your child to guess letters. If they are in the word, write them in. If not, write them below and begin to draw your hedgehog. Continue in this way until your child has completed the word, or you have completed your hedgehog!

TIP: once your child has the two letters that make the digraph, ask them what sound they make together. This will help them to guess the word. Eg. if the word is 'town' and your child has guess 't-o-w' identify that o and w say 'ow'. 

Year 1 had a good time with their first spelling challenge. Next week's spelling challenged will be around 'y' when it says 'ee' or 'igh' at the end of the word. 

The spelling list is here.  Challenge your child to learn at least three words from each list. If your child is a confident speller, they can probably learn to spell all of the words, but should at least learn 5 from each list and choose some of the more challenging ones. 

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend!

Miss Nash :0)

Summer Term Begins: week ending 23rd April

 

We have had a really good week in Hedgehog Class. We're back for the whole summer term, all being well, the sun has been shining, there are chicks up at Forest School and the children have been fantastic.

One of the things we have been doing is to slowly start our new Mantle of the Expert story. First, we went for a walk around Whaddon to spot the features of a village such as houses, roads, a bus stop, a pub, a church and a village sign. Next, we considered what Whaddon might have looked like, 1000 years ago in medieval times (we've been having fun learning to say that word). 

After we'd looked at some images of medieval villages the children made one of their own (see photo). It has a castle, a church, a blacksmith's, a windmill, many houses and - importantly - a pasture with sheep and cows and a cow pat in.

More of our story will follow this term.

Reading books and book bags.

Just a reminder that children need to have their book bag (or a bag with books in!) in school each day now with their reading record. Children will read with an adult one to three times per week (depending upon need) and will have the chance to change their books when they read, and/or on a Wednesday when Mrs Darnley will help them to change their books. If your child reads with an adult but has not changed their books, it is because we feel they need to keep practising it a little longer, or it is because they wanted to keep the book they were enjoying.

This week's core learning.

Each week, as usual, I will be letting you know what we've been doing in English and maths and suggest some activities to help at home. These are optional activities, but will of course help if you are able to do them.

Maths:

Reception have been reading, writing and representing numbers to 20. They looked at the best way to represent the numbers (10 and some more, rather than scattered around the ten frames).

To practise this, you can play this pairs game (either turning them face down and playing 'pairs', or having them face up and timing your child to see how quickly they can pair them up. For an extra challenge, see whether they can start to subitise the numbers (i.e. say how many there are, without counting).

Year 1 have been learning to represent numbers to 100 using dienes (10 rods and 1s, or base 10). They've been drawing the representations and have done some partitioning using part/whole diagrams (e.g. recognising that 35 can be partitioned into 30 and 5). 

To practise this, you can play race to 100. You will need a copy of this playing board per player, a 1 to 6 dice, and some 10s and 1s. You could print and cut out the ones on the document, or make your own out of anything else.


Phonics/Spellings:

Reception have been recapping some of the phase 3 digraphs we have been learning, as well as writing words and sentences using them. 

To practise this, you can play Pictionary. Pick a word below to draw a picture of. Your child has to write their answer down! For less confident learners, focus on sh and ch. For more confident learners, include oo as well (using the two sounds: as in 'boot' (long sound) and 'book' (short sound).

chick

chop

ship

shop

fish

book

boot

foot

moon

Year 1 will be having a new spelling challenge every Friday. It will be fun - not like a spelling test, more like a team or paired quiz. It will involve a word list using sounds we have been focussing on. These are sounds we have learnt before, but we are putting them into the context of whole words. 

Ask your child to learn at least 3 words from each list. If you know your child can learn more, help them to learn at least 5 words and to choose ones that will challenge them. 

This week's list is here. 


Have a good weekend and I will see you on Monday!

Miss Nash