Welcome to our first Reflective Friday blog, this will be where we share our weekly learning and information about what is happening in P1. Please find some time to talk about the blog with your child so that they can share with you what they have been learning that week.
We have had a fantastic start to P1, the children are able to follow class routines already and have managed so well in the dinner hall. We have been busy learning through play, making friends and understanding the school day.
We have been talking about our class charter – Ready, Respectful, Safe and we used our hands to show that we will try to follow this charter in school.
Can you please make sure that every item of clothing is named so that we can find its owner should it go missing. Please put names on lunch boxes and water bottles too.
Our PE days will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Tuesdays will be outdoor, and Wednesdays will be in our new hall. Please dress your child in clothes suitable for PE on these days: shorts, t-shirts or joggers can be worn with a school sweatshirt.
Thanks so much to all parents who have sent in tissues, we always need plenty of tissues in Primary One , especially as we move towards the colder months. All further donations gratefully received.
We hope that your child has had a happy start to Primary One, we are available to talk to parents and carers at the end of the day if there is something you would like to discuss. We hope that you all have a lovely weekend.
This is our last Friday blog of the year – how did that go so quickly? It has been my pleasure to work with such a fantastic group of children this year, I will definitely be wearing sunglasses on Wednesday when I have to say goodbye to them !!
Thank you for all your support this year – I hope you all have an enjoyable summer and I look forward to seeing the children in August as P2 pupils.
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Looking ahead to next week
Please could all children bring a bag on Tuesday to take home indoor shoes and changes of clothes. They should also bring their purple folder on this day with all keyrings etc removed as we will be collecting them in and storing them in school for the summer. Also on Tuesday we will have our last loose parts play session (rescheduled from when we were rained off last week)
A reminder to please name all items of clothing, water bottles and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires an item belonging to someone else.
Our learning this week
Our writing prompt this week was ‘all about me’.
This will be passed to our new teachers
We continue to use core reading book resources in school as we begin to develop developing the children’s reading comprehension skills, exploring the cognitive strategies of activating, inferring, monitoring/clarifying, questioning, searching/selecting, summarizing, and visualising.
Maths and numeracy
In numeracy we continue to develop our Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning strategies.
These include additive and subtractive problem solving, forward and backward number sequences, sharing into equal groups, numeral recognition, partitioning of tens and ones, recognising patterns in number etc…
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Looking ahead to next week
Loose parts on Tuesday.
There will be no reading books coming home next Thursday
Other areas of the curriculum
We enjoyed another visit from Ali who came to sing some songs to us.
We had a visit from the Oxgangs Librarian asking us to sign up for the summer reading challenge.
We have been working on a variety of skills including sequencing decade numbers, describing, and making equal groups, counting items, and saying alternate numbers forwards and backwards.
Through our play we have been experimenting with everyday items as units of measure to investigate and compare sizes and amounts.
In small groups we were comparing length and height using nonstandard units. We investigated mass and capacity using different sized beakers.
LITERACY
We are not going to introduce any more new sounds this term and are going to continue to practise reading and spelling words with the sounds we have been learning so far. We will also be revising the tricky words and will be learning some new ones too.
WRITING
We wrote about our dads and what makes them special to us.
HANDWRITING
We practised writing out our tricky words, thinking about the size of the letters and trying to keep our writing on the line.
THINGS TO DO AT HOME
Use the sounds/letters and tricky words that have previously been sent home to help practise your reading and word-building skills.
PE
We were developing our skills using a bat and a ball. We were controlling the ball with the bat, bouncing the ball with the bat, and trying to hit the ball when it was thrown towards the bat.
ELECTRICITY
We talked about the importance of electricity in our daily lives and also discussed the dangers associated with electricity. We helped to make a display for our classroom showing how electricity impacts our lives.
RSPCC – SPEAK OUT, STAY SAFE
We watched a special assembly which showed us the ways a child can be hurt by others and how a child can get help.
We discussed this as a class, identified safe adults we can talk to and learned the Childline phone number.
LOOSE PARTS
The next day for Loose Parts is TUESDAY 20 JUNE.
LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
Some examples of the different kinds of play taking place this week.
We have been working on a variety of skills including sequencing decade numbers, describing, and making equal groups, counting items, and saying alternate numbers forwards and backwards.
Through our play we have been experimenting with everyday items as units of measure to investigate and compare sizes and amounts.
LITERACY
We are not going to introduce any more new sounds this term and are going to continue to practise reading and spelling words with the sounds we have been learning so far. We will also be revising the tricky words and will be learning some new ones too.
WRITING
We wrote about our trip to the woods and the walled garden and described what we saw.
We went into our playground, and each found a stick. We talked about what our stick could be and then went back to the classroom to write about it. Some of our ideas were : a sword, a magic wand, a unicorn’s horn.
THINGS TO DO AT HOME
Use the sounds/letters and tricky words that have previously been sent home to help practise your reading and word-building skills.
MUSIC
ART
Last week we looked carefully at some wild flowers and used water pastels to draw them.
PE
We were developing our skills using a bat and a ball. We were controlling the ball with the bat, bouncing the ball with the bat, and trying to hit the ball when it was thrown towards the bat.
FRENCH
We learned the song Frere Jacques and used our knowledge of the colour words to sing them to the tune . Nearly everyone was happy to sing with a friend in front of the rest of the class.
P7 SHOW
We were very lucky to be P7’s first audience for their show. This is what we thought:
‘I liked the king and queen coming out of their seats’.
‘ I liked when the king and queen gave the princesses necklaces.’
‘ I liked when the knights sang a song.’
‘I liked when the knights were marching in a line.’
‘I like when the dragon came out of the table.’
‘I liked the bit with the baddie.’
‘I liked when the knight was calling his servants prawns.’
‘I liked everything.’
TRIP
On Tuesday we had our Primary One trip to the woods and walled garden. We were spotting minibeasts, trying to identify birds, creating animal dens and shelters, and playing games.
ASSEMBLY
We went to assembly with the rest of the school and listened really well to everyone’s successes over the year.
LOOSE PARTS
We enjoyed building, exploring, and creating across the Primary One stage.
A reminder to please name all items of clothing, water bottles and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires an item belonging to someone else.
This week’s homework
Please continue to revise the tricky words.
You may choose to play this game to support revision of number bonds.
The children have been developing a wide range of skills through independent learning opportunities in class and outdoors. We also enjoyed our trip to the walled garden.
Literacy.
This week we have been continuing to revise our tricky spelling words.
Our writing prompt this week was our caterpillars.
We continue to use core reading book resources in school as we begin to develop developing the children’s reading comprehension skills, exploring the cognitive strategies of activating, inferring, monitoring/clarifying, questioning, searching/selecting, summarizing, and visualising.
Maths and numeracy
In numeracy we continue to develop our Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning strategies.
These include additive and subtractive problem solving, forward and backward number sequences, sharing into equal groups, numeral recognition, partitioning of tens and ones, recognising patterns in number etc…
.
Looking ahead to next week
Please note that all learning stories and comments sheets were due to be returned on Friday 9th.
Please return by Monday if not already done.
Other areas of the curriculum
We enjoyed a visit from Ali who came to sing some songs to us.
We released our butterflies – they were slow to fly away, but that gave us lots of time to observe them closely.
We planted nasturtium seeds and made a leaflet about how to look after them.
Listening and Talking Presentation – Thank you for sharing your talks. I enjoyed hearing about your favourite places.
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A reminder to please name all items of clothing, water bottles and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires an item belonging to someone else.
This week’s homework
There will be no more Friday home learning sheets after this week. We will be focusing on revision and consolidation of spelling the block one and two tricky words as listed on this weeks sheet. Some pupils still find these tricky, so please practise writing them from memory (a few at a time)
you may choose to play this game to support revision of number bonds. Start by choosing the number bonds to ten option. Up the level of challenge to 20 or beyond if required.
Look around your house and discuss which things are powered by electricity. Do they plug into the mains or are they battery powered? Can the battery be charged or do the batteries need to be replaced when they run out ?
Independent learning
The children have been developing a wide range of skills through independent learning opportunities in class and outdoors. We have enjoyed having warm sunny weather allowing us to be outside more than usual.
Literacy.
This week we have been continuing learning to blend initial consonants with the letter s – eg sw, sp,
Our writing prompt this week was the book ‘Not a stick’
We continue to use core reading book resources in school as we begin to develop developing the children’s reading comprehension skills, exploring the cognitive strategies of activating, inferring, monitoring/clarifying, questioning, searching/selecting, summarizing, and visualising.
Maths and numeracy
In numeracy we continue to develop our Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning strategies.
These include additive and subtractive problem solving, forward and backward number sequences, sharing into equal groups, numeral recognition, partitioning of tens and ones, recognising patterns in number etc…
.
Looking ahead to next week
Walk to the walled garden on Tuesday.
Loose Parts on Thursday
Other areas of the curriculum
In PE we worked on ball skills and also developing core strength, timing and reflexes.
Our caterpillars have formed Chrysalises – we are excited to watch the next stage of their transformation – at the time of writing, they are still wrapped up safe and warm !
It has been fantastic listening to all the talks about our favourite places this week. The effort, enthusiasm and confidence shown by everyone has been amazing! We have enjoyed looking at maps, photos, shells, and various souvenirs and have heard about all sorts of different places people enjoy going to. Well done, everyone!
Sounds and Tricky Words
We have been revising the initial consonant blends sn, sm, sw, st, sp and some of the tricky words we have been learning.
We are not going to introduce any more new sounds this term and are going to continue to practise reading and spelling words with the sounds we have been learning so far. We will also be revising the tricky words and will be learning some new ones too.
Handwriting
We have been thinking about the height and size of each letter and trying to make sure letters are in the correct position in relation to each other.
Reading
We have been practising our skills in using the sounds we know, as well as the tricky words we have learned, to read our books in small groups. Some of us have also been identifying words that rhyme with words in our books.
We visited the mobile library again on Tuesday and chose some new books to read until it is time to return them during our next visit.
Things to try at home:
Use the sounds / letters and tricky words that have previously been sent home (as well as the list of tricky words and suggested activities that were sent home today) to help practise your reading and word-building skills.
We have been working on a variety of skills including addition, saying numbers, identifying numerals and describing equal groups.
Next week, as well as continuing to work on our numeracy skills, we will be developing our skills in measure through our play.
Things to try at home:
Play the game below with an adult at home. See if you can type in how many penguins are at each side and then cover them over whilst you are working out how many there are altogether. This is a bit like when you are told how many counters are under the whiteboard but you can’t see them to point to and count. As a challenge, see if you can count on from the first number.
We have planted some nasturtium seeds this week and are going to care for them over the next few weeks to help them grow.
We were learning about where electricity comes from and drew pictures of things we could think of that needed electricity to work. We talked a little bit about safety around electricity and will continue our learning on this next time.
PE
We continued working on our ball skills this week. We have been kicking a ball to a partner, dribbling, rolling, bouncing, catching, and throwing a ball through a hoop.
On Mondays, it is likely we will be outside for PE now, until the end of term.
Music
We enjoyed music with an external visitor from the Youth Music Initiative (YMI). We learned the words to a well-known song from an animated film and then enjoyed singing a song (with actions) about letters being delivered by a ‘postie’ early in the morning.
Art
Linked to our learning on plants, we created sketches of wild flowers using oil pastels.
We have had a busy week! Next week, we will continue learning about plants and animals and have another music session to look forward to!
Loose Parts Play will take place on Thursday next week.
More details about our learning this term can be found in our term overview.
In numeracy we have been counting forwards up to 100, sequencing numerals, saying alternate numbers, identifying numbers and counting items in two screened collections.
We have continued to learn about number bonds to 10 and some of us have been thinking about number bonds to 20.
Use the game above to help. If you feel confident with number bonds to 10, try playing the game using number bonds to 20.
LITERACY
This week we have been learning to blend an initial consonant with the letter s :sm sw sn sp st and the tricky words one and you.
We used our sense of smell to see if we could guess what was in the tubs.
This week’s dictation practised the blend we have been revising this week.
We use Pink for Think and Green for Great to reflect on our learning.
This week we were thinking about what we enjoyed in Primary One and what we were looking forward to in Primary Two.
THINGS TO DO AT HOME
Please see the sheet your child has brought home today and complete the suggested activities.
Listening and Talking Presentation – My Favourite Place As part of our literacy learning, we would like each learner to deliver a talk about their favourite place. This could be anywhere – perhaps the park, a holiday destination or even your bedroom! Talks should last no more than two minutes, and learners can bring in up to 3 things to show during the presentation if they wish to do so. We won’t be using powerpoints/technology to deliver our talks. Please don’t bring a script to read out, you may have some bullet points on a piece of paper to help you remember if you would find that helpful. We will begin to hear the Masterminds’ talks on Monday 29th May, so please have them ready for then. Thank you and we look forward to hearing all about your favourite places!
RSHP
We started learning about the parts of a plant and labelled the names for the different parts on a diagram.
We talked about being the boss of our own bodies and read and discussed the story ‘Miles is the Boss of His Body’ by Abbie Schiller and Samantha Kurtzman-Counter.
PE
We have continued to practise ball skills by kicking and dribbling the ball and playing games.
FRENCH
We have been learning the days of the week in French as we talk about our calendar together.
We learned three new colours:
Marron- brown
Violet – purple
Rose – pink
LOOSE PARTS
We enjoyed building, exploring, and creating across the Primary One stage.
The next day for Loose Parts is Monday 29 May.
LEARNING THROUGH PLAY
We hope that you all have a lovely weekend.
Thanks so much to everyone who has sent a box of tissues in, they are much appreciated.
Listening and Talking Presentation – My Favourite Place Please be ready to share your talk next week.
As part of our literacy learning, we would like each learner to deliver a talk about their favourite place. This could be anywhere – perhaps the park, a holiday destination or even your bedroom! Talks should last no more than two minutes, and learners can bring in up to 3 things to show during the presentation if they wish to do so. Please bear in mind that we would like the children to talk informally about their favourite place and not read a prepared script, so no need to type or write anything out for them. We won’t be using powerpoints/technology to deliver our talks. We will begin to hear the talks on Monday 29th May, so please have them ready for then. Thank you and I look forward to hearing all about the favourite places!
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This week’s homework
learn to spell the tricky words one and you
complete the activities outlined on the home learning sheet – this sheet will cover next week as well.
practice instant recall of the Number bonds that make 10. Pupils should be able to quickly name the partner number to a given number without counting on or using fingers. Memorise these facts.
you may choose to play this game to support revision. Start by choosing the number bonds to ten option. Up the level of challenge to 20 if required.
Independent learning
The children have been developing a wide range of skills through independent learning opportunities in class and outdoors.. we have enjoyed having warm sunny weather allowing us to be outside more than usual.
Literacy.
This week we have been learning to blend initial consonants with the letter s – eg st, sm, sn,
We continue to use core reading book resources in school as we begin to develop developing the children’s reading comprehension skills, exploring the cognitive strategies of activating, inferring, monitoring/clarifying, questioning, searching/selecting, summarizing, and visualising.
Maths and numeracy
We have been doing some speedy adding – how quickly can you answer these sums…..7+2= 3+6= 12+6=
We have enjoyed using the ipads to challenge ourselves with addition calculations
We have also been revising and assessing our knowledge of number bonds to 10. For most pupils we will be continuing to revise this next week. Please support your child with this learning at home.
.
Looking ahead to next week
Be prepared to share your talk about your favourite place
Loose Parts on Monday
Other areas of the curriculum
In PE we worked on developing core strength, timing and reflexes.
Our caterpillars have formed Chrysalises – we are excited to watch the next stage of their transformation.
A reminder to please name all items of clothing and shoes, and to check names on items brought home in case your child accidentally acquires a jumper belonging to someone else.
Buckstone Primary School 