The End of Half Term: Week Ending 28th May

And there goes the first half of the summer term!

The past six weeks have gone by very quickly and Hedgehog Class has been very happy. I always enjoy the smiley greetings the children give me each morning, and adults around the school keep commenting on what a happy smiley bunch they are at the moment. It's lovely.

This week, several things happened in our story. 

The villagers/travellers were travelling down a woodland path...

The children spent a very productive and creative 45 minutes working on this path. They used a range of resources and methods, working well in small groups and pairs. 

Next, they travelled down the path talking about what they were doing - some where sneaking, others were strolling and others were skipping!

Unfortunately, they met a large, grumpy troll on the way. They had to decide how to get past it. After some discussions, most children chose to duck, sneak and hide in the bushes. A few children decided to talk to the troll. This was tense, but they managed to get past by feeding the troll food from their bags. 

The next day Queen Matilda needed their help to find out what lay beyond the woodland path. The children travelled north, south, east and west to explore the geographical features. The Queen explained that, to build a castle, she needed a location with a hill, fresh water, pastures and a woodland. The children created maps showing what they had found:

They presented their findings to the Queen, who said she would consider where the best location for a castle might be. 

I hope you all have a very good half term. I am not setting any homework because the children, and you, deserve a break from it! However, please do keep reading to and with your child. They should have come home with several books in their bags, and I have also put more books on each child's Rising Stars account. 

See you after half term!

From Miss Nash

Week ending 21st May: a wild, wet and windy week.

 Despite the weather, we made it to the end of the week with every child still on the ground. At one point we thought about getting the parachute out during Forest School, but we decided that could end with Hedgehog Class flying away across Milton Keynes. So we didn't.

Our mantle story.

In our story, the villagers finally set out with Queen Matilda on their quest to help her to establish a new kingdom. Unfortunately, it was soon discovered that a stranger was in our midst. The queen was concerned that she could not recognise who was one of her new knights, and who was not. She told the villagers about knights' coats of arms, which meant that the children's main project this week has been creating their own shields with our own coats of arms on them, complete with an animal to represent them. 

Maths:

Reception children finished work on one more and one less. They also recapped number bonds to 6. 

To practice number bonds to 6, you can play this game (you may have seen it before). 

Year 1 children continued work on fractions. They are learning that to make half they need two equal groups and to find quarters they need four equal groups.

To practice this, complete this sheet. Your child will need objects to do this - first count out the correct number of objects, then share into halves or quarters, then complete the sheet. A good tip is to find a piece of paper, fold it into halves or quarters, then share out the objects between them. For an extra challenge, they could write a matching sentence using the 1/2 or 1/4 symbols, such as  1/2 of 8 is 4. 

Phonics and Spellings:

Reception children continue to recap phase three digraphs. You can practice them using flashcards here. 

They have also been looking at cvcc words - words with a consonant blend at the end such as bump, help best, vest. You can practice these by playing this game. 

Year 1 children have moved onto spelling lists with i_e and o_e in. Please practice these for the spelling challenge next week. Here they are!

Week ending Friday 14th May

 

We have had another very good week in Hedgehog Class. Our mantle story is moving on and the children are very interested in what might happen next.

They were in their village, being rat catchers, spinsters, millers and so on, when they noticed a stranger on the village green. She was tired and her clothes were scruffy, but she had a battered crown on her head!

She explained that she was a Queen, but that she had lost her kingdom. The children were keen to help her - they brought her food and water, cut her hair (thank goodness we had some barbers in our village) and took care of her. Then she invited them to become her new order of knights! She wanted them to go with her on a quest to establish a new kingdom. 

The children discussed this - some were keen to leave, others weren't sure they wanted to leave their beautiful village of Wheat Hill. Eventually they held a vote. It was decided they would all go with the Queen.

We spent a session making 'medieval' bags from paper, string, tape and glue. The children added items they might need for the journey (looking at images to compare now and then). At dawn the next day, they rose from their beds and went to meet the Queen. 

However... she wasn't there! It seems she panicked - she left a letter saying she was worried that the villagers might betray her, like her other knights did. She asked them to promise to look after her. The villagers were disappointed that she wasn't there, but were keen to write some promises so that the Queen would know she could trust them. The Year 1 children did their writing on Thursday, and the Reception children did theirs on Friday - they attached their promises to the village sign for the Queen to find. 

On Monday, we will find out what happens next in our story.

Phonics this week:

Reception children recapped 'or' and looked at 'ur' and 'ir'.  

You could practise this by completing the or word maze, and if you get on well with that, move on to the ur and ir word maze. 

Year 1 children looked at a_e and e_e. They will have a spelling challenge next Friday. They have asked to have their own spelling challenge books, so the spelling challenges will begin to be individual rather than team-based from this point on. 

The words for next week's challenge are here. Please encourage your child to learn the ones higher up on the list. If they are very confident spellers, learn the others too!

Maths this week:

Reception have continued to work on 'one more' and 'one less' up to twenty. We played a game which you could play at home. The instructions are here. 

Year 1 have begun some work on fractions. We focussed on half of an object, picture or amount. This is a great one to practice around the house, halving food, paper shapes, playdough objects and so on. The children have learnt that a half is one of two equal groups. The key word is 'equal'. 

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

Miss Nash

Hedgehog Awareness Week: Week Ending 7th May

 

We spent our short week at school learning about Hedgehog Awareness Week. 

The children learnt that hedgehog numbers are falling and they've been working to remedy that by raising awareness of hedgehogs. 

They created a hedgehog mascot so that, whenever people saw her, they'd think of the hedgehogs (see image - they were very excited to see her on the wall). To create her they used a printing technique, etching spike patterns into some polystyrene and printing using brown paint.

The children also looked at features of hedgehogs in order to create 'Hedgehog Spotting Guides.' This was followed by designing some hedgehog-friendly gardens and some hedgehog road signs. 

Finally on Friday the children wrote to the company that provides our fruit, asking if it could come in paper bags instead of single-use plastic bags, as single-use plastic can harm hedgehogs and other animals. 

The children were very passionate about the hedgehogs. While they were sad to learn they are in decline, they were keen to do what they could to help.

The only homework this week: Ask your child about Hedgehog Awareness Week and, if possible and if you have a garden, consider how you could make your garden more hedgehog friendly. For ideas, watch this video. 

Have a good weekend!

Miss Nash

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

Sunshine and walks: Week ending 26th March

Well, that was a sunny springtime week!

The children have spent a lot of time outdoors this week, including a walk on Tuesday afternoon. We were spotting signs of spring. The children were particularly excited to see the lambs in the field. We had to be very quiet to stop them running away (very good sneaking practice). 

We also crouched down, closed our eyes and stayed very quiet to feel spring on us. 

Aside from that, the children have started creating their own stories based on Jack and the Beanstalk, but in stead of Jack and a beanstalk, it is themselves and a giant sunflower. 

We have also been doing some maths facts work, handwriting, reading and super sentence writing. 

At home:

Please keep reading! 

Reception children please:

• keep practising your high frequency sight words
• practice your number bonds to 5 (orally, or by matching up number cards, or by making up number stories). If your child is very confident, please get them to draw part whole diagrams showing all of the bonds to 5. 

Year 1 children please:

• Practice your doubles and halves (children should know half is the inverse of double)
• If you are confident, start looking at doubles of 10s numbers eg double 10, 20, 30 as far as you like
• Beyond this, do some timed doubling challenges. Parents, write lots of numbers (any you know your child will find a suitable challenge) and time how long it takes them either to double, or to half them. 

Early next week, I will be emailing home our assessments of where your child is working in the core subjects, what we will be working on in school, and how you can help at home. 

Have a good weekend!

Miss Nash