A week of comic strips and cleaver juice.

 Happy Friday Hedgehog parents,

We are feeling very jolly in Hedgehog Class at the moment. Each day starts with a happy sort of song and an (optional) dance, which we have found to be a very positive start to the day. 

The children have completed a fantastic writing project this week. We have been looking at various different traditional tales this term, and this week was the turn of 'The Frog Prince'. We then looked at some simple comic strips showing other traditional tales. After that, the children each created a little comic strip of part of the story of 'The Frog Prince' and learnt how to write speech bubbles and thinking bubbles. The extra challenge for Year 1 (and those Reception children who wanted it) was to use question marks and exclamation marks in the correct places. The children loved this project and their work was lovely. 

We continued this theme in computing, where the children used the 'Doodle' drawing app to create an image and add sound to it - they had fun being the voices of the frog, the fairy or the princess. 

At Forest School this week the main activity was to make cleaver (stickyweed) juice. The Year 1 children requested this activity because they remembered enjoying it last year. Many of the children had a go at making the juice and tasting it, with mixed responses. It did smell delicious, but some children didn't think it tasted so good!

If you want to make some at home:

1) collect lots of sticky weed
2) crush it in a bowl with some water (you might have to start with a little water and add it as you need)
3) using fresh sticky weed, make a nest of it on top of a jug
4) filter your juice through the fresh sticky weed
5) Enjoy! (hopefully)

As part of their Great Fire of London mantle, the Year 1 children completed a DT project this week. They were tasked with creating a new loaf of bread for the re-opened bakery on Pudding Lane. They started by tasting some different breads, deciding which ones looked, smelled and tasted the best. Then they designed and made their own loaves. Finally they evaluated their bread. They brought the remaining bread home - I hope you all found it in book bags and had a taste! Reception children will be having a go at making bread next week, so look out for their  loaves too!

In Maths we have been continuing to learn doubles to double 10 by heart. We also started a new game which you could play at home. It's a race game. Year 1 children need to use 3 dice. Reception can use 2 or 3. 

You can play with as many players as you like. One player rolls the dice. Players add up the numbers as quickly as possible, then shout the answer when they know it. Whoever shouts the (correct) answer first gets a point. The aim of this game, particularly for Year 1 children, is to use what they know to help them to add up quickly. For example, if they roll   5   5   3   they would begin to see that the double 5 helps them - double 5 is 10, 10 add 3 is 13. 

We have also been telling the time to the hour and half hour with Year 1, though Reception have also been joining in the main teaching parts as well. Year 1 have learnt to tell the time using analogue and digital clocks - lots of practice of this would be beneficial. Some children wear a small watch or fitbit to school with the time on, which is a good idea, as they are unobtrusive but help the children to get used to telling the time. 

Phonics has been more sentence-writing for Reception! 

Year 1 have been learning to make a single noun into a plural using either -s or -es. They have learnt that they need 'es' when the plural adds an extra syllable and sounds like 'is'. This usually comes after the sounds:  tch   ch   sh   ss    s    zz   x  

To practise this, write the following words in chalk or in pen on a large piece of paper, and ask your child to turn them into a plural by adding the correct suffix (s or es):

day       catch        witch         bus         sandwich        banana        cup   
church      wish

Then for an extra challenge, write some silly sentences together using them. 

Don't forget also to practise for the spelling bee!

Have a very good weekend,

See you soon!

Mrs Simpson 

Three bowls of porridge and a lot of sun.

 Hello Hedgehog Parents,

This week started with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children enjoyed the story and then followed some instructions to make porridge. They chose which toppings to add and even made some for Mrs Davies and Mrs Ferfecka, who were very complimentary. 

From there, the children gave baby bear (Mrs Abery) some clear instructions and the Year 1 children wrote down a set of instructions using time openers (such as first, then, next, after that...), bossy verbs (put, pour, stir..) and adverbs (carefully, gently, quickly, slowly...). They did a brilliant job. Reception children also had a go at writing a few of the instructions. 

In Mantle of the Expert Year 1 learnt about the changes that occurred as a result of the Great Fire of London, in particular due to the Rebuilding Act of 1667. Using this knowledge they re-designed Pudding Lane to make it fire-safe. 

It was lovely to have so many daddies in this morning - I hope you enjoyed the sausages and the sun!

In Maths the children have been looking at capacity, using the three bears' bowls of porridge for context. They have learnt to identify full, half-full and empty containers and how to measure the capacity of a container using a non-standard measure (they used a small pot to compare the capacity of three different containers). This weather is a great opportunity to get some water out and practice this, filling up containers, making predictions about which one will hold more and measuring capacity using, for example, a plastic cup. 

We have also been learning doubles to double 10 by heart. Reception really only need to learn to double 5, but it doesn't hurt to start reciting up to double 10. For this, we have been learning a rhyme that goes something like this:

Reach down and touch your shoe
Double 1 is 2
Knock on the door
Double  2 is 4
Tap your sticks
Double 3 is 6
Open the gate
Double 4 is 8
Cluck like a hen
Double 5 is 10
Dig and delve
Double 6 is 12
Ghosts are a-haunting
Double 7 is 14
We are all mixing
Double 8 is 16
Now we are waiting
Double 9 is 18
Sweets a-plenty
Double 10 is 20. 

There are, of course, actions. See if your child can remember the actions, and practise the rhyme together. If your child is fluent in their doubles to double 10, you can see if you can make up a rhyme about halves (eg Fun in the sun, half of 2 is 1...). I would love to see it if you do. 

In Phonics:

Reception have been doing more memory sentences (see last week's blog). It has been a great way for them to start to apply the high frequency words they've been learning, as well as their phonics. Again, you can practise this skill at home by giving your child a sentence to write (make it a silly one, that usually helps) which includes simple words that use our phonics and the yellow or orange word list - they memorise it with your help, you both write it out from memory (you with some deliberate mistakes) and then see who has spelled the highest number of words correctly. 

Year 1 have been learning the prefix un-  in the context of Mr Men and Little Miss. We made, for example, a Mr Kind and a Mr Unkind character. We have also started to look at plurals, making sure that we write a whole word before adding -s to make a plural (for example, to write 'oats' many children would first write 'oas' but we are learning to write the single 'oat' first before adding -s). 

You could write a story about a cast of un- Mr Men and Little Miss, giving them names using the un- prefix and writing a story about them with a good beginning, middle and end. Bring them in if you do!

Have a good weekend - see you soon!

From Mrs Simpson

An outdoorsy sort of week.

 Happy Friday Hedgehog Parents,

We've had an absolutely lovely week. There has been some rain, but there has also been a lot of sun and a lot of time spent outdoors. 

The children have some new equipment in their outdoor area, including but pots, large identification posters, and tubes and funnels for water learning. They have found some fascinating creatures outdoors already. Forest School on Thursday involved a campfire and 'smores - we even cooked fried three of the chickens' eggs!

The Year 1 children continue to enjoy the Great Fire of London Mantle with Year 2. This week they have been working on firefighting in the 1600s, learning about the equipment and the methods used. This included taking part in a bucket chain to put a fire out. 

The Reception children have been having a wonderful time with our new water equipment. They've been experimenting with how to arrange funnels and tubes to help the water to flow.  

Phonics.

Year 1 children took part in the phonics screening check this week. I will let you know how your child got on, once the pass mark has been released. They have done a wonderful job of their phonics! There is no phonics homework this week, just enjoy reading together. 

Reception children have started to write memory sentences (this is something the Year 1 children do regularly). This is where we give them a sentence using the sounds and words they have been learning. We read it together, spotting sounds and spotting tricky words. The children then look at the sentence for a minute, before it is hidden. Finally, they have a go at writing the sentence from memory. 

Writing sentences in this way helps children with their spelling, their phonics and their sentence structure (such as putting spaces in).

If you would like to practice this at home, this week's sentences were:

My frog can float and swim. 
I was going to the zoo.

If your child is a confident writer, you could make the sentence longer. 

Maths.

Year 1 children have been learning to recognise coins and notes this week. They set up a shop with and for the Reception children and played some coin and note recognition games. 

The best way to practise this is to get your child using real money! I know we don't really use money much these days, but if you are able to give your child some coins to spend in a shop or at an ice cream van (for example) it will give them some real-life experience of what we have been learning. 

Reception children have been joining in with the Year 1 maths, and so could also do the same maths homework!

Have a lovely weekend, and I shall see you next week!

From Mrs Simpson