Author: Staff..226

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope that you have had a good week. Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

In phonics we have been learning to recognise and spell words with the au and aw sound. For example, Paul, haul, saw, draw. Here is a fun video to watch at home related to this week’s learning.

Long Vowel Sounds – AU & AW | Phonics For Kids – Learn To Read | Alphablocks – YouTube

In spelling we were introduced to 3 new words from Block 4: little, most and old. We then worked on the particular block we are focussing on (block 1, 2, 3 or 4). We enjoyed a rainbow writing activity to reinforce the words we are finding particularly difficult to spell.

We have been learning what nouns are as part of Grammar. We are learning that nouns are naming words. For example, nouns can name a person, animal or thing.

Our writing was an imaginative piece of writing based on an animation called ‘The girl with the yellow bag’.

Ideas for learning at home:

Please continue to practise the spelling block your child is working on. Here is an idea for an activity you could try. If you have lego or other building blocks at home you could ask your child to build their spelling words. For example, see the picture below.

Here is a link with the lists of tricky words.

Block 1 – 8 Tricky Words single sheet (wordpress.com)

Please go over your child’s reading book with them at home. This will help to build their fluency.

Here is an online game to revise phonics. Please select au and aw to practise this week’s focus but also two other sounds which we have covered already.

Spooky Sounds (ictgames.com)

Numeracy and Maths

We have been learning to read o’clock and half past on digital and analogue clocks.

We have continued to work on place value. Most of us are working on tens and ones but some of us are working on hundreds, tens and ones.

We are developing our understanding of the digits in a number, their position and value.

Ideas for learning at home:

Time

Please use every opportunity to look at analogue and digital clocks.

Here is a teaching clock which you can use.

Teaching Clock (topmarks.co.uk)

Here is a fun online game to play at home.

Telling the Time – Mathsframe

Place Value

Ask your child to investigate how many numbers between 0 and 100 have the digit 3. Once they have created their list, ask them to say whether the 3 is a tens digit or a ones digit (include the number 33 which has both).

Other

As part of Scottish Book Week we enjoyed a visit from Morag Hood. She told us about her job as an author and illustrator. Then she read us two of her books and did a ‘draw along’ session with us.

In PE we continued to work on dribbling with basketballs as well as team work skills.

In Health and Wellbeing we continue to work on the ‘Keep Connected’ unit of work. We are learning about the importance of having caring relationships. We have been thinking about the special people in our lives. These people are our ‘Back Up Team’. Please see the home learning sheet which is coming home today related to this.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

Important information

• Loose parts on Monday 13^th
• Change of clothes: Please ensure that your child has a spare change of clothes at school (including pants and socks); these don’t have to be school uniform. It is really helpful for them all to have them (especially when they get wet). Some children took them home after needing them in but haven’t returned them back to school. Please label all the items.

Here is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we have learned the vowel diagraphs ou/ow. Here is a video that you could watch at home if you would like to revise the learning:

Here is another video:

We have practiced our reading skills: prediction, inference, summarising, etc.

We have introduced new tricky words from block 4: word, world, work. It would be very helpful if your children practice to read and write these words and previous blocks.

In writing we wrote a continuation of the story The Storm Whale. We read the beginning and we had to think about what was going to happen after.

We have started to practice cursive handwriting. This week we have practice i and l. See the link below of the formation we are practicing at school.

Continuous Cursive letter choice 3 beginners (teachhandwriting.co.uk)

Ideas for learning at home

• Please ask your child to read the school reading book at home.
• Read, write and make the words: mouse, house, loud, sound, shout, south, round, count, out, ground, cow, town, powder, flower, etc. You can write the words and ask your child to look for the ou/ow letters and circle them. Ask your child how many letters the word has and how many sounds.
• You can play this free online game:

https://ictgames.com/phonicsPop/index.html

– Please continue to read stories to your child at home.

– Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day.

Maths 

We have been working on angle, symmetry and transformation. We have been learning to use technology and other methods to describe, follow and record directions using words associated with directions and turns including, full turn, half turn, quarter turn, clockwise, anticlockwise, right turn, left turn. We have used Bee bots and the Bee Bot app on the IPads to reinforce our learning.

At school the children have enjoyed playing this game:

https://pbskids.org/peg/games/hungry-pirates/

Ideas for learning at home: 

Ask your child to explain to you:

• How to get from the kitchen to the toilet (and from different rooms to other rooms). You can pretend to close your eyes and your child has to give you instructions (step by step).
• How to get from the school to the park.
• Blindfold Game: Create a maze for your child using items like cushions, pillows, bed sheets and other items that won’t harm or hurt your child. Now blindfold your child and give them directions, like “turn left,” “walk straight,” etc., until your child comes out of the maze. Now blindfold yourself and ask your little one to give you the correct directions. This fun activity will help you to teach directions to your child easily.

Other areas

Art

We made Rangoli patterns linked to Diwali.

PE

We have been dribbling using the basketballs.

RME

We are learning about Bible stories. This week we have learned about Jonah and the whale.

We also enjoyed being creative with a box Mrs Imrie gave us. We were to think of a way to use it which could not be its original purpose. We decided to make puppets and put on little shows.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents/Carers,

It was great to see so many of you today at the drop in.

Important Information

Please remember to send in a change of clothes for your child or to refill their change of clothes bag if they use their items. Please note that these do not have to be school uniform.

Here is a summary of our learning:

Literacy

We read the book Aaaarrgghh Spider! Then we did our main piece of writing around this.

Our phonics focus this week was oo and ew. Examples of words with these sounds are: book, look, few and drew.

In spelling we were introduced to 3 new words from Block 4: have, give and live. We then worked on the particular block we are focussing on (block 1, 2 or 3).

Ideas for learning at home:

Please continue to practise the spelling block your child is working on. Here is an idea for an activity you could try. Write the words they are finding difficult on a bit of paper but with a letter missing. Write the missing letters on the opposite side of the paper but in a jumbled up order. Your child is to find the correct missing letter and draw a line to connect the two.

Here is a link with the lists of tricky words.

Block 1 – 8 Tricky Words single sheet (wordpress.com)

To practise phonics have a look through books at home to find examples of oo/ew words. You could also ask your child to spell these words: few, new, drew, dew, book, look, moon and cool. Can they write a sentence using one of these words? Do they remember a capital letter and full stop?

Please go over your child’s reading book with them at home. This will help to build their fluency.

Numeracy and Maths

We have been learning about positional language. We are more confident now in using the words above, below, left and right.

We have continued to work on place value. Most of us are working on tens and ones but some of us are working on hundreds, tens and ones.

In particular we have been ensuring that we have a solid grasp of the importance of the digit zero. It is very important to keep a place in a number where there are no tens or hundreds in that column.  I hope that you found the drop in session useful to see some of the games we have been playing to develop our understanding of the digits in a number, their position and value.

Ideas for learning at home:

Please continue to practise using left and right. Can your child give you directions from one place to another using left and right correctly?

Place Value Game

Choose 3 different single digits. For example, 2,5 and 8. Ask your child to write all the different 2 digit numbers they can make using only these digits. For each 2 digit number, they should partition the number and give the value of the digits. For example, 52 = 5 tens and 2 ones = 50 + 2.  For more challenge, try this with 3 digit numbers.

Other areas of the curriculum

We learned about Rishi Sunak, the current UK Prime Minister.

In PE we worked on our hockey skills: holding the stick correctly and a simple push pass.

We have been learning about anti-bullying week in assembly.

Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

It has been lovely to see the children back after the holidays.

Important information

• Loose Parts on Friday 3^rd November.
• Drop in for Parents on Friday 3^rd November.
• Change of clothes: Please ensure that your child has a spare change of clothes at school (including pants and socks); these don’t have to be school uniform. It is really helpful for them all to have them (especially when they get wet). Some children took them home after needing to use them but haven’t returned them.
• As usual your children will be taking home their reading books today. This is a showcase of their learning. We have been reading the book at school so your children might find it ‘easy’. Please return the reading books on Monday: this is essential so books can be used by other children across the school. We have a few books missing and this means that a set of books cannot be shared with a group of children.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we have been working on the sounds oa/ow. Here is a wee video that you could watch at home if you would like to revise the learning:

We have practiced our reading skills: prediction, inference, summarising, etc.

We have introduced new tricky words from block 4: other, mother, another. It would be very helpful if your children practice to read and write these words and previous blocks.

In writing we wrote a recount of the Owl Babies story.

Ideas for learning at home

• Please ask your child to read the school reading book at home.
• Read, write and make the words: boat, goat, road, load, toad, foal, oak, coach, soap, soak, loan, bow, row, show, mow. You can write the words and ask your child to look for the oa/ow letters and circle them. Ask your child how many letters the word can has and how many sounds.
• You can play this free online game:

https://ictgames.com/phonicsPop/index.html

– Please continue to read stories to your child at home.

– Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. It is important that children practice reading every day.

Maths 

We have been learning about place value: the value of each digit in a number. Most of us have been working on numbers to 99.

We enjoyed making place value monsters. The tens were the monsters hair and the ones were the monsters teeth!

At school the children have enjoyed playing this game:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/place-value-basketball

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Can your child recognise and say the number words for numbers from 0 to 100? You can ask your child how many digits a number has, what each digit tells you.
• This website will give you more information:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z8sfr82/articles/zw4g2nb

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z8sfr82/articles/zncq4xs

• This activity is for a challenge:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zsjqtfr/articles/z9w3g82#z2pv9ty3

• Build a Paper Cup Stack

Grab a stack of reusable paper cups. Number them from 0 to 9 on the visible edge. Then stack the cups in various configurations. Discuss place value as you stack and restack the cups.

• Use Lego/ Duplo

Simply write number values on your Lego with a dry erase marker. Then when you are done you can simply wipe the numbers away.

Other areas

Black History Month

We have been learning about the life of Samuel Coleridge Taylor.

French

We have been learning birthday vocabulary.

PE

We enjoyed PE stations this week working on different skills such as throwing, balancing and dribbling.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents/Carers,

Important Information

We hope you had a lovely week. Looking ahead to the week after the holiday, please remember that Monday 23^rd October is an in-service for the staff, so we look forward to welcoming the pupils back on Tuesday 24^th October.

We have a session of Loose Parts on Wednesday 25^th October. Please come dressed for the weather!

We have worked on our reading books in class this week but will not be sending them home over the holiday. We are still waiting for some to be returned so if you have a book at home, please return it as soon as possible to enable other groups to use the set of books.

Here is a summary of our learning.

Literacy

Writing – We wrote a final set of instructions. This week it was themed around a magic spell! There were lots of creative ideas as well as the bossy verbs, capital letters and full stops required!

Reading – We have been working hard on our new reading books in class. There have been lots of good discussions on how to work out new words.

Spelling– We all now know which block of tricky words we are working on. This week we made wordsearches and swapped them with a partner. At the parent consultations we handed out a list of the tricky words so please continue to work on these at home too.

Phonics – We have been learning to recognise igh and y. For example, high, sky, fly, right.

Ideas for learning at home

• Continue to practise reading and spelling the tricky words that your child is working on.  One idea is to play snap. Use 2 sets of cards with the words. Lay out a large piece of paper and a pen in the middle of the table. When the words match, rather than saying the word to win the cards, you have to grab the pen and write the word to win the cards.   
• Look for igh and y words in books and in the environment. We found lots of these in our reading books this week! Ask your child to write a simple dictated sentence using the sounds for example ‘A bird can fly.’ Or ‘I am right.’ Do they remember capital letters, full stops and finger spaces?

Maths

• We continued to read and interpret pictograms and bar charts.
• We have been revisiting how to form the digits 2,3,4 and 5. We did this on whiteboards and then into our handwriting jotters.
• We have been recognising and ordering 2 (and in some cases 3) digit numbers. We focussed particularly on the difference between teen and ty numbers. For example 14 and 40 sound very similar but are very different!

Ideas for learning at home

We have really enjoyed using this game on the interactive whiteboard.

Caterpillar Ordering – An Ordering and Sequencing Game (topmarks.co.uk)

Practise forming the digits 2,3,4 and 5 in particular. You could use chalk, coloured pens, paint, anything to keep this fun! This is the correct formation:

Other Areas

• We continued to develop our rugby skills in PE as well as other ball skills.
• We enjoyed using paint to create autumn trees in art.
• We enjoyed assembly which was about climate change and also a relaunch of the school house system.

Have a wonderful October break,

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

Important information

• MP Christmas cards: Today we are sending a template for the MP Christmas cards competition. If you wish your child to take part in this competition, please make the card at home and sign the form for consent. Please can all forms be returned to school by Wednesday 25^th October.
• Your children will be taking home their reading books today. This is a showcase of their learning. We have been reading the book at school so your children might find it ‘easy’. Please return the reading books on Monday: this is essential so books can be used by other children across the school. We have a few books missing and this means that a set of books cannot be shared with a group of children.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we revised last week’s sounds ee/ea. We felt it was important to revise as not all children were able to do home learning last week.

We have introduced new tricky words from block 3: should, would, could. This is the end of block 3. It would be very helpful if your children work on reading and spelling these words.

At parent consultations we shared with you all the tricky words blocks that we are going to learn in P2. Please continue to revise blocks 1, 2 and 3.  

Thanks to the very kind donation of the book Llamaphones (A Grammar Zoo Book) from one of our parents we have learned about homophones. We had a few examples of this week’s sounds: peek/peak, see/sea. We had a rich discussion based on this book.

In writing we wrote a set of instructions on how to blow a bubble.

Ideas for learning at home

• Please ask your child to read the school reading book at home.
• Read and write the words: keep, bee, jeep, deep, eel, leek, feet, see, wheel, sheep, week, queen, meal, tea, read, eat, teach, see, peak, peek. You can write the words and ask your child to look for the ee/ ea letters and circle them. Ask your child how many letters can the word has and how many sounds.
• You can play this free online game:

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/2/dragons-den

Make sure you choose you choose the sounds we have worked on so far. For ee go to phase three.

– Please continue to read stories to your child at home.

– Please continue to encourage your child to read at home.

Maths 

We have continued to work on gathering and analysing data. Last week we learned about pictograms and building on this knowledge we have learned about bar graphs: what is a bar graph, how to read and create a bar graph.

We have worked on number and number processes too: saying numbers forwards and backwards, addition and subtraction.

Ideas for learning at home: 

• More information about bar graphs:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqgrd2p/articles/z9kbp4j

• For more challenge try this game: 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Look in the number bonds section and choose the right level for your child.

Other areas

Science

We have continued to learn about Space. This week we have learned about the Moon and its phases. We can now explain why the moon appears to have different shapes and positions in the sky at different times in a lunar month.

PE

We have worked on pre- rugby skills and team games.

FRENCH

We have learned the days of the week. We like this song: Le jeurs de la semaine.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mrs McFarlane

Blog 29.09.23

Dear Parents/Carers,

What a very strange week it has been! We hope that you found the online learning resources useful. As we explained, there was no expectation that all worksheets were to be completed; we understand that families have their own set of circumstances to manage. We would really appreciate it if you could return the folders with sheets, even if they are not completed. As you will have seen, there was a great deal of photocopying involved and we can reuse some sheets in the following weeks.

We would also really appreciate it if reading books could be returned as soon as possible. We still have books sent out last Friday which have not come back. If they are not returned, it impacts on other groups who cannot use that set of books. 

Instead of the usual summary of our learning this week we will be giving out suggestions for other activities you may wish to do at home with your child. We hope you find these useful.

P2 Team

Literacy

Comprehension is a key skill we work on each week in class during our discussions. Here is a very short video to watch along with some questions to discuss.

“A Cloudy Lesson” by Yezi Xue | Disney Favorite – YouTube

• What do you think the relationship might be between the old man and the boy? What makes you think this?
• What type of story do you think this is?
• What did the boy do to fix the situation at the end of the story?
• What might the characters have been thinking at the end of the story?
• Can you find 3 words to describe your favourite character?

Maths and Numeracy

Today we have sent home SumDog log in details for your child. We have set a challenge based on the learning covered so far in P2.

We have noticed that lots of pupils are accidently reversing two digits. For example, writing 41 instead of 14. We have been looking at the 100 square in class to help with numeral identification and to consolidate understanding of the order of the digits. You may wish to show this to your child at home too.

Paint the Squares – Interactive Number Charts (topmarks.co.uk)

HWB

Did you know that September is friendship month? Friendship is so important to us in our school. Watch this little video of two friends.

Sesame Street: Elmo and Rosita Teach Friendship – YouTube

Questions to discuss at home: What does your friend do to make you feel good? What do you and your friends like to do together? Your child could draw a picture of them with their friend having fun. They could give this to their friend to say thank you for being a good friend.

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

Important information

• Your child will be taking home their reading book today. This is a showcase of their learning. We have been reading the book at school so your children might find it ‘easy’. Please return the reading books on Monday: this is essential so books can be used by other children across the school.
• PTA Christmas cards: Today we have sent home a blank Christmas card template for fundraising.  In school we have made one already but if you wish to also design one at home, please return the completed sheet on Monday.

This is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we revised all the initial blends and diagraphs that we have worked on so far: th, ch, sh, wh, -ai-, -ay, -oi-, -oy. It would be very beneficial for the children to practise these at home: looking for words that have those sounds in books, boxes, etc. , thinking about words with those sounds and writing them.

We have introduced new tricky words from block 3: water, kind and find. Last week we worked on any, many, very and every. It would be very helpful if your children practise reading and writing these words.

Please also revise the ones from block 1 and 2. (See last week’s blog)

In writing we wrote about our houses using the vocabulary we have learned in our topic.

Ideas for learning at home

– See suggestions above.

– Sounds hunt: th, ch, sh, wh, -ai-, -ay, -oi-, -oy. Look for these initial blends and vowel diagraphs in magazines, books, food tins, boxes, etc.

– Spelling: tricky words. Ask your child to write the tricky words any, many, very, every, water, kind and find using a different colour for each letter.

– Please continue to read stories to your child at home.

-Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. We have noticed that some children have lost fluency over the summer.

– Ask your child to write the words: wish, dish, cash, shock, bash, ash, chop, chat, chick, chum, thick, bath, path, this, then, when, which, whip, nail, chain, maid, pair, hay, ray, way, May, coin, soil, boil, boy, toy, joy. Can they write a sentence using one or two of these words? They can write them in post it notes and hide them around the house, whoever finds the most and able to read them wins.

• You can use this online game. Please choose the sounds that we have worked on so far.

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/forestPhonics/index.html

Maths 

We have continued to work on addition and subtraction (within 10, 20, 50). We have been working on holding a number in our head then counting forwards (for addition) or backwards (for subtraction).  We have also used a number line to help us to count forwards and backwards.

We have continued to work on how to use a calendar: remembering the names of the months of the year, putting them in order. We are finding difficult to remember the month before a given month.  

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Ask your child to add two numbers together. For some, this might be with two single digits, for others it could be a 2 digit number plus a 1 digit number. For example 34 + 4. Encourage your child to ‘hold’ the big number in their head then count on using their fingers.  

If your child is finding this difficult, make the numbers smaller and use counters or small objects for them to count.  

• For more challenge try this game: 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

Look in the number bonds section and choose the right level for your child.

• You could also look through a calendar at home. If you start to read the months in sequence, can your child continue to name the months in the correct order? Can they count how many weeks for a planned event?
• Order the moths of the year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhk82hv/articles/zrr2jsg

• Before and after: Please continue to work on this concept. If you see a number around (bus, house number, etc) challenge your child to say the number before and the number after.

Other areas

Social Studies

We have continued to learn about houses and homes. We are now confident in naming and identifying at least two types of houses from our local area.

PE

We have started to work on our rugby skills.

HWB

We have worked on our Wellbeing wheels to explain how we feel using the wellbeing indicators.

ART

We have created our ….Christmas cards!

Have a great weekend,

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a great week.

Important Information

Please return your child’s learning story.

We have a session of Loose Parts on Wednesday. Please come dressed for the weather!

Here is a summary of our learning this week:

Literacy

This week we have introduced the oi and aoy digraphs. As in ‘coin’ and ‘boy. We know that when the sound is in the middle of the word it will be the oi pattern and when it is at the end of the word it will be the oy pattern. Here is the visual prompt we have been using in class.

We have started to work on tricky words from block 3: any, many, very, every.

It would be very helpful if your children practice to read and write these words.

Please also revise the ones from block 1 and 2.

In writing we are learning to write a set of instructions. This week we have been learning how to cross the road. We linked this with our discovery walk around the local area. We have focused on using words of order and bossy verbs.

At story time we have worked on predictions.

Ideas for learning at home

– Please continue to read stories to your child at home. Building on our work from story time this week, can they predict what is going to happen in the story based on the information they have or on previous experiences?

-Please continue to encourage your child to read at home. We have noticed that some children have lost fluency over the summer.

– Here is a fun video introducing the oi sound. Alphablocks

– Ask your child to write the words below

oi words boil, foil, coin, join, soil

oy words boy, toy, joy

Ask them to write the oi /oy sound with a different colour than the rest of the sounds in the word.

• Spin a word game attached.
• You can use this online game. Please choose the sounds that we have worked on so far.

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/forestPhonics/index.html

Maths 

We have been learning to add and subtract. We have been working on holding a number in our head then counting forwards (for addition) or backwards (for subtraction). 

We have also been learning to name the months of the year, put them in order and link them to the seasons.  

Ideas for learning at home: 

• Ask your child to add two numbers together. For some, this might be with two single digits, for others it could be a 2 digit number plus a 1 digit number. For example 34 + 4. Encourage your child to ‘hold’ the big number in their head then count on using their fingers.  
• If your child is finding this difficult, make the numbers smaller and use counters or small objects for them to count.  
• For more challenge try this game: 

Subtraction Grids – Topmarks

• You could also look through a calendar at home. If you start to read the months in sequence, can your child continue to name the months in the correct order? Can they find the birthday months for members of your family? 
•  

Other areas

Social Studies

We have continued to learn about houses and homes. First, we looked at houses around the world and built our own houses using the items from loose parts. We all worked well in teams and constructed amazing houses. Following that we have been looking at houses in our community. On our discovery walk we were able to identify different types of houses. Thank you to the parents who were able to help on the day.

PE

We have continued to develop ball control with our feet.

HWB

We are learning to develop our personal coping skills. We read a booked called Izzy Gismo and talked about resilience and how sometimes things don’t work the first time we try.

We hope you have a lovely long weekend! (Remember there is no school on Monday!)

Mrs McFarlane

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a lovely week. Today your child is coming home with their learning story. Inside, you will find the termly curriculum overview for our class and the targets that your child will be working on this term. There is also a section towards the back of the folder which is for wider achievements. Please feel free to add photos, drawings etc which detail your child’s achievements out of school. This might be part of a club but could also be things they have achieved with their family, for example, climbing Arthur’s seat!

Information for the week ahead:

As part of our topic on houses and homes we are going for a trip around the local area on Thursday 14^th. We will be going out even if it is a bit drizzly so please ensure that your child comes to school with a coat and appropriate footwear.

Here is a summary of our learning this week.

Maths

We have been learning to link number patterns to digits. For example:

• recognising the number represented by a domino pattern
• recognising the number represented in 10 frames
• (for some) adding groupings of 10s and ones

An important goal of this work is for learners to develop strategies that do not involve counting by 1s. For example, one strategy would be to ‘anchor’ to 5 and count on (visualising the pattern in their head), or another would be to recognise that if there are only 2 dots missing that the number is 2 less than 10 so that must be 8.

Learners should come to know that 8 can be regarded as 5 and 3.

Then, building on that, for example, that 6 + 6 could also be regarded as 6 + 4 + 2 or 10 + 2.

We have also continued to work on number formation as we have noticed that learners are not using the correct number formation or are reversing numbers.

Home learning ideas:

• This is a 10 frame flash game. Each number is only shown for a very short time so you may wish to press pause at key moments until your child feels more confident.

Ten Frame Flash Game (1-10) – YouTube

You can ask questions such as ‘How many dots?’ ‘How many empty squares?’ ‘How many lots of 2 can you see?’

• For extra challenge, you could ask you child to tell you all the different ways that they can make a particular number. For example, 12 could be made with 8 and 4, 10 and 2 and so on. Can they also make any subtraction sums which give you 12?

Literacy

This week we have introduced the ai and ay digraphs. As in ‘play’ and ‘rain’. We know that when the sound is in the middle of the word it will be the ai pattern and when it is at the end of the word it will be the ay pattern. Here is the visual prompt we have been using in class.

We have revised the spelling of tricky words.

At story time our focus has been to summarise the texts we have been reading.

We wrote instructions on how to wash our hands. We had to use bossy verbs as well as using our knowledge of phonics to spell familiar and unfamiliar words.

Home learning ideas:

• Please continue to read stories to your child at home. Building on our work from story time this week, can they summarise the main events from the book?
• Here is a fun video introducing the ai and ay sounds.

Alphablocks Series 3 – Train – YouTube

• Ask your child to spell the words ‘rain’ ‘pain’ ‘play’ and ‘stay’. Can they cut them out and sort them into two piles (one for ai spelling and one for ay spelling). Ask them if they can explain the rule for working out whether it is ai or ay (ai in the middle of a word and ay at the end of a word).  

Other areas

Social Studies

As part of our topic on houses and homes in our community we have discussed what we know already and what we would like to find out in our topic.

Wellbeing wheel

We have continued to learn about what to be safe, healthy, active, nurtured, responsible, respected, included and achieving looks like in our class.

PE

We have continued to work on our football skills, in particular dribbling. We are improving in every session!

ICT

We have started to use the ipads independently when leading our learning in the room. We know how to log in and we are each having a turn to be a learning detective. This involves taking a couple of photos of the learning in the room which is then shared with the rest of the class at the end of each session.

French

We have learned how to describe our feelings which has linked to our work on Colour Monster. For example, Ca va? Ca va bien.

Loose Parts

We had a fantastic session of loose parts. We observed some amazing structures being built. What a creative group of learners!

Here are a few photos from this week.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Mrs McFarlane