Author: fionacroal

Good afternoon! 

Literacy

This week, we learned the l and c sounds. We found things around the classroom starting with our new sounds and found some leaves (pictures below) to make lions. We practised blending CVC (consonant vowel consonant) words. It helps if we take one big breath and say all the sounds slowly one after another without any breaks!

 For writing, our prompt was “I ran to…”.  Everyone did very well with writing those two tricky words, and we all tried to build and write ‘ran.’ 

Numeracy

This week, we were back to our SEAL ptogramme to practise saying the number before/after, as well as using different strategies to work out addition sums up to 10 and beyond.

Health and Wellbeing

In PE this week, we practised our literacy with listening to the middle sound of words to know how to move around the room. We also made up our own versions of tig that we played! On Friday, we went to the hall with P2, and they taught us some of the skills they have been learning in their PE lessons. There were lots of different stations for us to practise lots of different skills!

Other Areas

We have been practising our Nativity lines and have been thinking about adding in expression and drama to our performance. Please support your child to learn their line by next week if they don’t already know it. We got together in the hall with all the other P1s today to work out our staging! Today, your child has a letter in their purple folder about their costume. Around the classroom, we have had some impressive creations with the small bricks and the magnets.

General Information

We have loose parts (messy play) next Friday (2nd December).

Please support your child to learn their line for the Nativity in a big loud voice!

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Good afternoon! 

Literacy

This week, we learned the b and u sounds. We practised recognising the difference between b and d using the word ‘bed’ and dabbing only the b bubbles! We also had fun popping lots of bubblewrap! We also learned two new tricky words: put and his. In general, with our tricky words, we can sound out the first sound to help us remember what the word is (apart from ‘the’!).

 For writing, our prompt was “I had a big…”. We all had a go at hearing the sounds and writing the prompt, and there were some great drawings of giants, dinosaurs and cakes. For Scottish Book Week, we talked about our favourite books and when we like to read.

Numeracy

This week, we continued work on our number bonds to 10 and how to use a number line. We practised our number formation for numerals 0-9. Backwards 3s and 7s were the most common slip that we will work on. We also had a refresher on 3D shapes, with cylinder and cuboid being the trickiest to remember.

Health and Wellbeing

In PE this week, we worked on throwing and catching, before playing a P1B favourite – Clear the Playground. We also looked at People Who Help Look After Us as part of our RSHP learning. We talked about the police, family, nurses, refuse collectors and many more. For Anti-Bullying week, we read a story with Mrs Conlin about being kind and talked about what bullying is.

Other Areas

We have been learning Away in a Manger with the signalong signs as part of our Nativity preparations, as well as our 4 other songs! Your child has their line to learn in their purple folder. Next week, we will start putting it all together. Thank you also to those who have brought in something from their family’s country. 

Apologies for no photos this week, we are having technical issues with the blog.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Good afternoon! 

Literacy

This week, we learned the f and g sounds. We practised our cutting skills and made foxes, folded our own fans, worked on our letter formation and found items beginning with ‘g’ around the classroom. We also played the Yes or No game and had to guess which ffffarm animal we were! We had to really think at first about how we worded our yes or no questions! We learned two new tricky words: me and is. Lots of repetition is great for learning our tricky words, as we need to know them by sight! For writing, our prompt was “I am happy when…”. We all had a go at writing I am hap thinking of our tricky word I and then listening to the sounds. This week, we also read a book at the teaching table that will help us gain familiarity with reading the names of the characters that will be in our reading books: Biff, Chip, Kipper, Dad, Mum and Floppy. We also practised using our finger to follow along.

Numeracy

This week, we used number lines and unifix cubes for learning the number bonds to 10, as well as gaining an understanding of how to add and what a sum looks like. We worked hard on how to use a number line – eg if you start on the number 7, how many jumps until you get to 10? so 7+3=10. 

This is something we will continue with next week to really know those number bonds! 10+0=10, 9+1=10, 8+2=10, 7+3=10 etc.

Health and Wellbeing

In PE this week, we worked on throwing and catching, jumping, skipping and hop scotch as part of our basic movements. We used our literacy skills to help us warm up – if the word has an ‘a’ sound in the middle march around the room, or if the word has an ‘o’ sound in the middle then sidestep around the room.

Other Areas

We have been learning Away in a Manger with the signalong signs as part of our Nativity preparations. Thank you also to those who have brought in something from their family’s country. We have had some lovely interesting things such as an Irish doll, a French cookbook and a book about a house by the sea in Scotland. If they haven’t already, it would be lovely if your child brought in something for this! This week, we had the magnets out for the first time and made some really inventive things including a spiky dragon with a giant tail, 3D shapes and a turtle. This week, we also made our Christmas card designs!

Information

We have Loose Parts (messy play) on Wednesday next week.

Please return your Christmas Card forms to school by Tuesday. Instructions were sent out on how to do the form.

A reminder that school photos are on Thursday.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Good afternoon! It was lovely to see some of you in the classroom this morning. We hope you enjoyed seeing our learning through play!

Literacy

This week, we learned the d and o sounds. We did step by step drawings of dinosaurs, practised cutting skills with octopuses, worked on blending and building with our new sounds, and made octopuses using our taping skills. For blending and building, we sometimes struggle to hear the middle sound in a word. Lots of emphasis on that sound will help! We each completed a Halloween Animal sheet too, where we had to put the letter in the right box to spell the word.

We learned two new tricky words this week: he and to. Lots of repetition is great for learning these, as we need to know them by sight!

For writing, our prompt was “I was splashing in my wellies and…”. We all had a go at writing and by listening to the first, middle and last sound in the word.

We also have a reading table in our classroom with the characters from our reading books, which we will start after learning all of our initial sounds. We have enjoyed looking through them, reading some of the words and making our own stories with Biff, Chip, Kipper, Mum, Dad and Floppy!

Numeracy

This week, we looked at doubles using our fingers. For example, show me double 4. How many is double 4? 8! We also used counters to start some work on number bonds to 10. These are the sets of numbers that add together to make 10. At the teaching table, we found that 9 blue counters and 1 red counter made 10, 8 blue counters and 2 red counters made 10, etc. We will continue work on number bonds to 10 next week. We also introduced number lines, which is a really helpful resource when we start doing sums!

Health and Wellbeing

In PE this week, we worked on throwing and catching, using bean bags and hoops. We worked on our underarm throw, and moved the hoop further away from our throwing cone to make it harder and harder.

With Mrs Conlin, we continued our work with Look On the Bright Side and thought about small deals and big deals. We also talked about how to keep safe around fireworks on Bonfire Night. 

Other Areas

We had a lovely trip to the woods! We explored the area with all the P1 classes together. We are looking forward to using the space for future outdoor learning! 

Looking Ahead to Next Week

As part of our RSHP programme in school, we would like to celebrate the breadth of languages and cultures represented within our class community.

As part of this, we would like to give every child an opportunity to share with the class something about the languages they speak or the country or countries that members of the family come from ( including Scotland) . For example – they may wish to draw or print a flag from a country that is represented in their home; teach the class how to say a phrase in a language that is spoken at home; bring/wear an item of traditional dress or souvenir; or simply talk to the class with no ‘props’

If your child would like to bring or share something, please send it in to school any day over the next fortnight and we will use these to enhance our discussions.

There is no obligation to share anything, only if your child would like to do so.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Happy holidays, P1B! Well done on all your hard work over your first 9 weeks of school!

Literacy

This week, we introduced the e and h sounds.  We used our craft and cutting skills to make elephants, and also completed the elephant drawing. On Wednesday, we made hedgehogs and on Thursday we learned all about Miss Croal’s harp! Some of us wanted a shot of playing it. We found out that it is a clarsach which is Gaelic for ‘small harp’. When we say the ‘h’ sound, we should be able to feel our breath on our hand. 

As well as focussing on 2 more sounds, we also learned 2 tricky words: I and the. Tricky words are those that you can’t sound out – they are tricky but common so we have to know them by sight! At the teaching table, we worked with our letterboards for blending and building, as well as practising our letter formations.

For writing this week, our prompt was “I am waving to…”. We had a go at filling in “I am”. We came up with some very imaginative drawings!

Maths and numeracy

This week, we learned about shapes and objects. For 2D shapes, we focussed on a circle, square, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, hexagon and octagon and how many sides they have. For 3D objects, we learned about cubes, cuboids, cylinders, spheres and pyramids. If I put it on the palm of my hand and it sticks up then it’s a 3D object and not a flat shape. We managed to all find lots of real-life examples around the classroom! On Friday, we had unifex CUBES and some of the Bright Sparks made a huge cube train!

Health and Wellbeing

In PE this week, we worked on movement whilst also practising listening for the initial sound. If the word began with ‘a’ we had to run, if the word began with ‘i’ we had to jump. Our listening and focus was so great that we ended up with 7 different movements for 7 different sounds! We also did some yoga in the classroom to help us stretch and relax.

This week, we read the book I Feel Sad. The book helped us see how to Look on the Bright Side. If our tower gets knocked down, we now have a challenge to build a bigger one! If we feel sad or down, it is important to try and keep busy and distract ourselves.

Other Areas

This week, there were impressive structures with the small bricks, team work with the marble run, more dress designing in the area and a great outdoor loose parts session!

General information:

I will be teaching Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the week we come back to school.

I am looking for some additional furniture and items for our classroom. If anybody has any small tables (IKEA LACK size), small chairs or rugs that are unwanted we would really appreciate any donations! 

Have a great October break and thank you for all your support this half-term,

Miss Croal

Good afternoon, P1B! Just a reminder to please return your blue learning story folder as soon as possible.

Literacy

This week, we focussed on going over our sounds so far: s, a, t, p, i and n. We worked on our sound recognition, blending and building at the teaching table, and had further opportunities to consolidate our learning around the classroom. In writing this week, our prompt was ‘I opened a tin of…’. No one was allowed to say beans! The Bright Sparks came up with some really imaginative ideas.

Numeracy

We continued with our work on SEAL Chapter 5 this week, focussing on the number before, the number after and number sequences forwards and backwards. 12-13 and 13-12 proved to be the trickiest one, so it would be great if you could practise this at home! This week, we also had a numicon station to get familiar with the resource.

Health and Wellbeing

We all did a fantastic job at PE on Monday, practising different ways of moving across the playground and following instructions. On Thursday with Mrs Conlin, we looked at the Building Resilience programme and thought about how to Look on the Bright Side and look for solutions for when we are feeling sad and upset.

Other Areas

Loose parts outside involved lots of problem solving, imagination and team work! It was great to be outside with all of the other P1 children too.

We practised keeping a beat and using our listening to guess who is singing…

We have had another very busy and creative week in the P1 area and around the classroom. Here are some of our creations.

General information:

I am looking forward to catching up with you all next week during Parent Consultations on Wednesday and Thursday.

I am looking for some additional furniture and items for our classroom. If anybody has any small tables (IKEA LACK size), small chairs or rugs that are unwanted we would really appreciate any donations! Please speak to me at the door or email the school.

See you all next week,

Miss Croal

Happy Friday, Bright Sparks! Please look out for the Queen Elizabeth II keepsake book provided by the Government, the Halloween Disco letter and the blue paper with our sounds for the week in the purple folders. We would be grateful if you could please bring the learning stories back to school as soon as you have read the term overview and your child’s star steps.

Literacy

This week, we have introduced the ‘s’ sound and the ‘i’ sound. We practised the sounds with our friend Geraldine the Giraffe and had two more treasure hunts around the classroom, finding things like a star, a snake, Sophie, Sarvesh, ink and insects. We made suns with paint and pasta, sniffed different smells and tried to build igloos! Our writing prompt this week was ‘I sat on a…’, and we all had a go at sounding out and writing ‘sat’. We had really imaginative drawings and ideas! Below are also videos to help your child with the s and i letter formation.

Numeracy

This week, we continued with our SEAL programme for numeracy fluency work. We have been working on lots of different skills including sequencing numerals 1-10, counting backwards from 10 or 20, taking a given amount of counters and domino pattern recognition.

Other Areas

In PE this week, we have been continuing to focus on spatial awareness and basic movement. We were being different types of beans around the hall, such as runner beans, broad beans, jumping beans and chilli beans! 

Our first loose parts (messy play) session was a great success. It was fab to have all P1 classes out together, and thankfully it stayed dry in the afternoon! During the session, there was an abundance of teamwork, problem solving and communication skills.

We had a special delivery this week of new furniture for our classroom house corner! There has been increased engagement with this area and the children are demonstrating the skills of negotiation, teamwork and cooperation during the roleplay. We still would welcome donations of any further resources to support our loose parts provision – if you have a source of larger items such as guttering, logs etc we would love to hear from you. Also, any old baking trays or pots and pans are most welcomed and will be well used.

General information:

If the classroom door is closed, please drop off/pick up your child at the office. 

Promote independence in dressing and everyday tasks – changing/tying shoes, taking off jumpers, opening snack packets, zipping up coats, sorting inside out sleeves etc.

Appointment booking for Parent Consultations on 5^th or 6^th Oct will open later this evening.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Croal

Hello Bright Sparks! We have been very busy this week around the classroom. Today your child will bring home their learning story folder containing an overview plan for the term along with targets and star steps for each pupil. Please return the folder to school next week. Thank you.

Literacy

This week, we have introduced the ‘p’ sound and the ‘n’ sound. We practised the sounds with our friend Geraldine the Giraffe and had another great treasure hunt around the classroom. Our writing prompt this week was ‘I am pointing at…’. The Bright Sparks filled in the blank for ‘at’ and then imagined themselves pointing at something in the playground. Around the classroom, we made pink potato paint prints and a newspaper n. We also had fun dressing up as pirates and the police! At the end of the week, we sorted lots of objects into a, t, p and n tubs. Please see the videos below to help with practising writing the p and n sounds.

Numeracy

This week, we continued with our SEAL programme. We all worked on saying the next number forwards and backwards, alternate numbers and counting a collection. At home, you could refer to numbers around the house on clocks etc for numeral identification (eg what number is this?).​

Other Areas

In PE this week, we have been continuing to focus on spatial awareness and basic movement, such as being in a space bubble and running and walking forwards and backwards. We also took turns leading the warm-up and following the leader.

In Music, we have been using our listening skills to work out who is singing our tapping on the window song! We played this game during the first week of school, and it is fantastic now to see that every single Bright Spark wants a shot of singing solo in front of the class! There has been some lovely imaginative play in the P1 area. See pictures below.

LOOSE PARTS NEXT THURSDAY

Next Thursday afternoon we will have outdoor loose parts play (aka Messy play). The children way get wet and dirty, so please dress accordingly – old play clothes, or a waterproof onesie, wellies etc. We want the children to enjoy the experience without worrying about their clothes.

Loose parts play develops skills across the whole curriculum. It is child-led, and helps children strengthen their independence and sense of self. It helps children observe, enquire, investigate, construct, deconstruct and engage with both others and the world around them

General information:

If the classroom door is closed, please drop off/pick up your child at the office. 

Please look out for the coloured paper on a Friday in the purple folder with what we have been learning this week!

Promote independence in dressing – changing/tying shoes, opening snack packets, zipping up coats, sorting inside out sleeves etc

Look around the environment for examples of written numerals – car number plates on the walk to school provide lots of opportunity for number hunts!

Encourage your child to write their name using correct letter formation.

Enjoy the long weekend,

Miss Croal