Buckstone Primary School, P1 Red Smeds

P1R Reflective Friday 6.9.24

Staff..469

We have had a busy week in school. The children are getting to know one another and enjoying the different activities in the area and classroom.

LITERACY

This week we have been learning to recognise and begin to write the graphemes t and p.

When revising these sounds at home please always use the pure sound of the letter.(Please don’t add an i to the sounds to make them ti and pi). As we begin to blend and build words to read and write, not using the correct pure sound can make things tricky for us. If you would like further explanation, please speak to one of us at the end of the day.

Our story prompt this week was- I am changing my shoes.

MATHS AND NUMERACY

In P1 we use the SEAL programme (Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning) which promotes number literacy. Pupils will be learning skills and strategies appropriate to their current stage of development. This includes(but is not limited to) recognising numerals to 10, 20 and beyond; counting forwards and backwards in sequence; counting objects with accurate 1-1 correspondence; ascribing numerosity to random arrays, spatial and finger patterns; counting two seen/unseen collections; describing and creating equal groups; partitioning patterns and numbers.

THINGS TO DO AT HOME

Go on a hunt around your house for things beginning with t and p.

Play ‘I spy for t and p’.

Look for numbers in the environment(buses, shop prices, house numbers)- if single digit numbers are easy, look for teen numbers.

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

The children have been developing their skills through independent learning opportunities in class. Here are just a few photographs of what they have been doing.

PE

In PE we were playing some warmup games and learning to move at different speeds and levels in a designated space.

‘OUR BUCKSTONE’ TOPIC

On Tuesday P1R and P1S went for a walk around the local area to learn more about their surroundings and discuss the community we live in. As part of this topic, we are going to talk about our addresses. Please can you help your child to learn their address.

LOOSE PARTS

The children really enjoyed their first experience of loose parts play last Monday. The next day for loose parts will be Wednesday 11th September. Please can you make sure that your child has clothes that you don’t mind getting wet. Waterproofs and wellies would be ideal but old scruffy clothes will do just as well.

OTHER PRIMARY ONE MATTERS

Please bring in any clean recycling for the children to use in our STEM  area.

Please make sure your child has a change of clothes in case they get wet or muddy. Can these items of clothing  be named and kept in school in a bag. If your child has to change their clothes and takes the wet/dirty items home, please make sure they are replaced the next day.

We have had a number of  jumpers and coats which have gone missing. Please can you check that your child has brought home the correct item of clothing, thank you.

We are very happy to speak to parents at the end of the day to discuss any issue concerning your child. We are not able to talk to parents in the morning as we have to supervise the children as they come in ready to start their day. Thank you for your understanding.

Have a lovely weekend.

P2B

P2B Reflective Friday 30.8.24

scott2bennett

Hello families, 

Welcome to issue 2 of the 2024/25 P2B Bouncing Bunnies Blog! 

Timetables, Dates and Reminders 

  • PE is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 
  • Our next loose parts session is on Friday 30th of August. You may wish to provide waterproofs and wellies.
  • Miss Kelly takes the class on Wednesdays. 
  • We have a short class show and tell session each Tuesday. It would be good if this were focused on achievements and souvenirs of special experiences rather than precious toys and belongings. 
  • Your child needs a spare change of clothes in school in case of spills or getting caught in the rain etc. If your child is wearing these home one day can we have a replacement the next day. 
  • We have a rotating list of class responsibilities each week. One of these is our librarian. As well as looking after our class reading books the librarian will bring in from home, or choose from the class library, a favourite book for Mr Bennett to read all or a taster of at story time on Fridays. 
  • Our shared area is always in need of clean and dry cardboard boxes etc for junk modelling. Skip the recycling and bring yours in (no packaging from dairy products or nut products for the safety of those area users with allergies please.) 

News

  • Purple folders will be heading home today with your child’s learning stories containing this term’s personal targets and term 1 newsletter. Please can you return these next week after you have read them and we will start filling them with our P2 learning.
  • Yesterday some important forms went out in purple folders. Please can these be returned ASAP. We are hoping to plan an outing in our Houses and Homes project soon and cannot do this until all forms are in place. 
  • Reading books will be now be going out from the week after the September break in order to better co-ordinate our planning with P2D. Apologies for this slight change of plan.

Literacy 

We listen to a story each day. On Monday we voted for our favourite story from the second week of term. The children selected Smelly Jelly Smelly Fish by Michael Rosen and Quentin Blake as their favourite choice. 

Our class sound focus this week was on Ay and Ai digraphs. We discussed how ai tends to appear in the middle of words like pain, train, chair and tail. We also looked at how ay tends to appear at the end of words like pay, play, stay and hay.  

Numeracy 

We had our first SEAL session in new groups this week and looked at the counting strategies as noted in your child’s targets. 

Topic 

Our first topic of the term is houses and homes. We have looked at different types of home in Scotland from Houses and flats to lighthouses and castles. We also looked at houses and homes from cultures around the world and noted and respected the different ways people live and build homes as part of our rights respecting ethos. 

Play 

In class and in our loose parts session this week we have built and drawn many kinds of house and home. Here are galleries of some of the amazing results with some of the children’s descriptions as captions.

Health and Wellbeing 

In PE this week we have focused on rolling and throwing games. 

The Mr Bennett Bit 

It has been another great week in class. I have particularly enjoyed seeing all the house pictures and models that were built. 

Have a fabulous weekend Bouncing Bunnies 

Mr Bennett. 

P2D

P2D Reflective Friday 30.08.24

Staff..114

Dear Parents,

We hope you had a lovely week.

Information

  • Your child is taking home their Learning Story today. Please read carefully the term overview: you will find all the information about your child’s learning for the term. You will also find your child’s individual targets based on transition information and recent assessments at school. We will be working on these this term. Please return the learning stories by next Friday. Thank you for your support.
  • Please ensure that all your child’s items are labelled.
  • If you have any questions or worries about your child please don’t hesitate to contact me. I would really appreciate if this could be arranged at the end of the day.

Here is a summary of our learning this week.

Maths

We are learning to continue a number sequence. We are working on reading writing, ordering and reciting whole numbers to 100, 30,10, starting from any number in the sequence.; could be forwards and backwards, starting a different points from 100, 30 or 10.

We are working on number formation as we have noticed that children are not forming them properly or reversing numbers. This is normal at this age however it is helpful to remind the children about to do right number formation.

We have started to do work on time: seasons and months of the year. We are now able to tell in which month we were born and in which season.

We have started to work on data and analysis. We have learned what is a bar graph and we are learning that is a pictogram and a bar graph, to explain information looking at a bar graph. Our next step is to display gathered information on a bar graph.

Home learning ideas:

  • It would be fantastic if you give your child two numbers between 0 to 10 (30, 100) and ask him/her to count forwards and backwards from one number to another. Look for numbers in buses, houses, car plates and use them as a starting point.
  •  Some children are finding hard to understand the concepts before and after therefore it would be helpful to emphasize this at home with routines: you put your socks before your shoes, etc.
  • https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/paint-the-squares
  •  It would be useful to have a paper calendar at home and when looking at different family events use the calendar for it.

Literacy

This week we have introduced a new vowel diagraph ( two vowels that make one sound): -ai- and -ay. See below the picture that we are using in class to remind us of the sound.

We made paper chains, snails and played with play dough.

We have continued to read our reading books in class. We also had the visit from the mobile library and we were able to choose a book that we will be reading in our BEAR ( be excited about reading) time.

We have revised the spelling of tricky words (common words) from P1 and introduced new ones from block 3: so, very and every.

Our piece of writing was “How to wash your hands”. When writing our focus is to use our knowledge of phonics and spelling strategies when spelling familiar and unfamiliar words. We are learning to write a set of instructions using ‘bossy verbs’.

Home learning ideas:

  • Please continue to read stories to your child at home. This will help to increase your child’s vocabulary. prediction and summarising skills.
  • Ask your child to think about words that have the ai/ay sound. They can try to write them too. Write words with those sounds and ask your child to find a given sound. Some words: nail, chain, rain, mail, chair, tail, wait, fail, pain, gain, main, aid, maid, pair, day, may, say, pay, bay, lay, ray, way, hay, Fay, May, Kay.
  • For working with the above sounds:

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

You can watch this video:

Other areas

Social Studies

We have started our topic on Houses and homes we have discussed what do we know about houses and homes and what do we like to learn. If any parent has a job related to this topic we would love to have for a chat with the children ( please contact Mrs de Bonrostro via school office email). Thank you

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 did amazing houses.

We watched this video and the children found it very interesting:

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

P1 Blue Smoos

P1b reflective Friday 30.8.24

Staff...685

Please name all items of clothing, but crucially cardigans, sweatshirts and coats. The children frequently remove cardigans and sweatshirts in the classroom/gym hall, and it can be impossible to reunite them the rightful owner if they are unnamed. Similarly for coats which are often left behind in the playground – if it is named it means it can be taken directly to class.

We currently have an age 6-7 purple GEORGE cardigan which has clearly been passed on and is still named with the name of its original owner (who definitely wouldn’t fit it now). There is also an un-named grey TU cardigan (age 3). If you think either might belong to your child please let me know.

Please check this blog every Friday as we will share the learning from the week. We would encourage you to look at it with your child so that they can talk to you about their experiences in class. The blog will also include this week’s ‘homework’ activities

We may also share other information via the blog during the week, so you may wish to set up an alert for new posts.

Our learning this week


Here are some photographs of us developing our skills through our independent learning opportunities and experiences this week. Please take time to share these photographs with your child so they can share their learning with you.


Literacy focus

This week we have been learning to recognise and begin to write the graphemes s and a

When revising these sounds at home please always use the pure sound of the letter (e.g. sssssss and not suh or the letter name Ess ). As we begin to use our knowledge of letter sounds to blend and build words to read and write, not using the correct pure sound can make things tricky for us. If you would like further explanation please just ask at the door.

We have also been looking at letter formation in our names. Today your child will bring home a reference sheet for you to keep at home which shows correct letter formation routes. Please encourage your child to use this correct letter formation as they write their own name.

We have been practising some of the pre-writing patterns

Our detailed drawing and story telling prompt this week was I am reaching up high

Maths and numeracy focus

In P1 we use the SEAL programme ( Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning) which promotes number literacy. Pupils will be learning skills and strategies appropriate to their current stage of development. This includes ( but is not limited to) recognising numerals to 10, 20 and beyond; counting forwards and backwards in sequence; counting objects with accurate 1-1 correspondence; ascribing numerosity to random arrays, spatial and finger patterns; counting two seen/unseen collections; describing and creating equal groups; partitioning patterns and numbers.


Other areas of the Curriculum

.

In PE we have been developing skills in sharing the space and travelling safely.

We have been practising and demonstrating our gross motor skills such as ascending/descending stairs one foot on each step without support, hopping on one leg, jumping with two feet together, and skipping ( the travelling kind, not with a skipping rope). These skills are tricky for some of us, so additional practice at home would be useful.

PE days will be Wednesday and Thursday. Children should come to school dressed ready to participate as we will not change clothes in school -e.g joggers/leggings/shorts and a T shirt with a Buckstone jumper on top.

As far as the weather will allow , Thursday PE will take place outdoors until October so outdoor shoes on that day would ideally be trainers if possible.

Looking ahead to next week

We hope to have a walk round our local area on Tuesday

‘Homework’ ( things to practice at home)

Most of the children are really independent, able to change their shoes, put coats on and open snack packets themselves. If this is something your child hasn’t quite mastered yet, please continue to practise at home. Opening fiddly straw packets on milk/juice cartons is one for a few of us to work on.

  • Try to write your name with correct letter formation (no capitals other than the intial one)
  • Turn sleeves from the wrong way to the right way.
  • Go on a hunt around your house for things featuring the sssss or ah sound ( no aeroplanes !)
  • Play’ ‘I spy’ for a and s
  • Look for numbers in the environment ( buses, shop prices, car registration plates etc) – if single digit numbers are easy for you, look for teen numbers.


Buckstone Primary School, P2B

P2B Our Learning 23/8/24

scott2bennett

Hello families, 

Welcome to the 2024/25 P2B Bouncing Bunnies Blog!

Timetables, Dates and Reminders 

  • PE is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. 
  • Our next loose parts session is on Friday 30th of August. 
  • Miss Kelly takes the class on Wednesdays. 
  • We will have a short class show and tell session each Tuesday. If you have achieved something, done something extraordinary or have something very special to show us then that is the day to bring it.
  • Your child needs a spare change of clothes in school in case of spills or getting caught in the rain etc. If your child is wearing these home one day can we have a replacement the next day. 
  • We have a rotating list of class responsibilities each week. One of these is our librarian. As well as looking after our class reading books the librarian will bring in from home, or choose from the class library, a favourite book for Mr Bennett to read all, or a taster of, at story time. 
  • Our shared area is always in need of clean and dry cardboard boxes etc for junk modelling. Skip the recycling and bring yours in (no packaging from dairy products or nut products for the safety of those area users with allergies please.) 
  • Purple folders will be heading home today so that you have them. Books will be going out from the week commencing 2nd September, when we have completed our reading assessments and formed our groups. When reading books go home your child will have practiced during the week. The aim is for them to showcase their learning to you with a read over the weekend. Books need to then be back in on Mondays for us to start the next set of reading groups.
  • Flu vaccination letters are coming home today. We need them back ASAP and by Wednesday at the latest.

Rights Respecting Class 

This week’s big rights respecting task was the creation of our class charter, which has been signed by everyone in the class with a hand and their name. 

We decided the aims of our charter were that our class should be a fair and happy place and a Rights Respecting place. 

Our charter also aims to help us be healthy, develop freely, express ourselves freely and access education. These aims are from UNCRC Articles 6, 13 and 28. 

The expectations we put in place were to be Ready, Respectful and Safe as per the whole school’s values. We also decided to be Kind, to Do Our Best and to be Helpful. It is important that the adults in our class live up to these aims 

Literacy 

Our main focus this week has been on reading assessments in order that we can form our reading groups for the term. 

We listen to a story each day. On Monday we voted for our favourite story from the first week of term. The children selected Stuck by Oliver Jeffers as their favourite choice. 

For some speaking and listening tasks we have made talk teams of three (and a single 2 due to numbers). These will change on a monthly basis so that the children get a good experience and benefit of working with all their classmates over the year. 

Miss Kelly and Mrs DeBonrostro are running spelling groups on Wednesdays to improve our vocabularies and writing.

Our sounds focus at present is to revise some of last block of sounds from P1- wh, ch, sh, th, ee and oo. If you have books with a focus on these sounds at home, for example “Horton hears a who” for the wh digraph then reading those together will support our work in class. 

Numeracy 

As with Literacy it has been a week focused on assessments and group set up for continuing our S.E.A.L. (Stages of Early Arithmetical Learning) practice. 

We have also been working on counting backwards from 30 as a class and singing this song. Counting backwards is a vital skill for successful subtraction and division. It can also make some addition and multiplication learning easier (e.g. 9×10 is equal to 10×10 minus 10). 

Modern Languages 

Our French word of the week has been Bonjour and we have used it to practice saying hello and goodbye in French. We have also been using Salut and Au Revoir in these sessions. 

Play 

In play the main focus has been learning and playing with all the new toys, areas and objects in the classroom. A popular choice has been building with our block sets and with our Lego.

Health and Wellbeing 

In PE this week we have focused on referee roles and their importance. 

In health and wellbeing we have been focused on Ready, Respectful, Safe, establishing our class roles and choosing our class identity. The identity the children have selected is P2 Bouncing Bunnies. 

The Mr Bennett Bit 

It was a pleasure to meet so many of our class’s families last Friday and do feel free to chat with me after school at the door with any small questions, or to make an appointment via the school office if that time isn’t good or the issue is larger. 

Have a fabulous week Bouncing Bunnies 

Mr Bennett. 

Apologies- there was one more button I should have pressed to link this to the class list on the website and it was missed on Friday. Hopefully you can now see this.

P2D

P2D Reflective Friday 23.8.24

Staff..114

Dear Parents,

Welcome to our P2 blog!

In our weekly blog you will find information about the learning that has taken place at school during the week, ideas of learning activities to do at home and relevant information for P2 parents.

We hope you enjoyed your visit to your child’s classroom last Friday. It was lovely to meet you all.

We have had a fantastic first full week of P2! 

The children have been busy learning the names of their new classmates and developing new friendships. They have been amazing at following their new routines.

We have agreed our class charter: Ready, Respectful and Safe: what those words mean to us in P2 at Buckstone.

Useful information:

  • PE days: Mondays and Tuesdays. Children are invited to come to school dressed in their PE kit on those days.
  • Please ensure all your child’s items are labelled: water bottles, lunch bags, coats, cardigans, shoes,…everything!
  • Your child needs indoor and outdoor shoes. We recommend trainers as indoor shoes as it gives good support to the child’s feet and we will use those shoes for indoor PE.
  • Remember to bring a change of clothes for your child: all labelled, it doesn’t have to be school uniform items just a full change of clothes (t-shirt, trousers/leggings, pants, socks, jumper/sweatshirt). This change will be kept at school until the end of term (unless needed before).
  • In P2 the purple folder should be carried to school each day. You can pop your snack in your folder to bring it to school, but please refrain from putting water bottles in the bag in case of leaks.

The folder will be used to send home any paper communications necessary, and children may also bring home any drawings they do in school and wish to keep. Please check and empty folders daily to avoid a build-up of paper perhaps hiding an important letter.

We would ask that children do not routinely bring a large schoolbag ,  only when necessary for example when we need extra layers and waterproof clothes for a trip to the woods or if they need it for other reasons (e.g. childcare or clubs after school, etc.)

Today you will find a letter for the flu vaccination, please send it back as soon as possible. The dead line for this is Wednesday 28th August. Thank you for your collaboration on this.

  • We would be delighted if you could provide empty boxes, junk, etc…for our stem area.
  • Loose Parts on Friday 30th August. Please ensure that your child bring appropriate clothing for outdoor learning.

The children have decided that our class identity will be the P2 Dolphins. We have been learning how to draw dolphins and made our own ones!

Numeracy and Maths

In our number work we have been revising concepts from P1. In particular we have been counting forwards and backwards. 

Suggestions for learning at home:

Count forwards and backwards using different voices (e.g. a squeeky mouse voice, a robot voice, a lion voice). For some children this will be in the range of 0-20,  others 0-30 or within 100. Play particular attention when your child is crossing the decades e.g. 31,30,29.If your child is confident in these sequences ask them to count forwards and backwards in 2s or 3s.

Literacy

In our literacy work we have been revising the sounds covered in P1 and blending these together to read words. 

Our writing them was ‘When I go home’. I was impressed with the writing skills. We invited Mrs Ashbrook to share our amazing work with her.

Suggestions for learning at home:

Click on this link

Letters & Sounds Bingo (ictgames.com)

There is no need to print the bingo cards. Use the main menu to select a set of words (CVCs which are 3 letter words or if your child is more confident, words containing sh and ch sounds). 

Pressing the red button will generate words for your child to practise reading.

Other areas

We had our first session at Loose Parts with P2B. It was great to see the children working as a team and interacting with different peers.

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs de Bonrostro

P1 Blue Smoos

P1b reflective Friday 23.8.24

Staff...685

We have had a great start to the term in P1. The children have been fantastic, taking the new routines in their stride and enjoying exploring the classroom.

This week’s blog post is a long one as there is lots of information to share !

Please check this blog every Friday as we will share the learning from the week. We would encourage you to look at it with your child so that they can talk to you about their experiences in class. The blog post may also include ‘homework’ activities or suggestions of things to try at home as well as requests for help such as the ones below.

We may also share other information via the blog during the week, so you may wish to set up an alert for new posts.

Purple folders

Thank you for your support and patience waiting for the purple folders to finally arrive. The children are welcome to personalise their folders with a small keyring to help them identify their own one, but we respectfully ask that it is only one small keyring and not a large collection or a particularly bulky soft toy type attachment. The folders are stored in a basket during the school day and the addition of multiple big toys means they don’t fit.

Can you help ?

In order to encourage writing in play the children have free access to notebooks and diaries in which they can ‘write’ plans and notes on their learning. To enable this we would welcome donations of unwanted/partially used notebooks or diaries. Also any enticing writing implements ( ie glittery pencils/gel pens/ pencils with feathers etc – basically anything other than standard school issue type pencils/pens) These will be used in our ‘message trolley’. The children enjoy choosing resources from the trolley to use in their independent learning, promoting markmaking and early writing skills.

In our STEM area ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) the children enjoy creating structures and models from clean cardboard/plastic recycling. We would love to receive frequent donations of resources to support this area of learning, no amount is too much !

Our STEM area is a core part of our play curriculum in school. The end product may not look like much, but it is the process that matters. ‘Junk’ modelling helps to develop their imagination and creative abilities while challenging them to explore, investigate and problem solve as they bring their ideas to life.

Children can work on their own or co-operate with others, learning to negotiate and share ideas. When they create something new it can give their confidence and self-esteem a big boost. They can also consider how their plans have worked out as they think about what they might have done differently or how they might improve their model.

With these materials they practice complex skills from fine and gross locomotor skills to higher order executive functioning; higher order thinking skills such as sequencing, hypothesis testing, divergent problem solvng, analysis and evaluation.

If they don’t take their model home at the end of the day it doesn’t matter – the learning has already happened. If it does come home, please value the process your child has gone through more than the product itself. Thank you.

Our learning this week


Here are some photographs of us developing our skills through our independent learning opportunities and experiences this week. Please take time to share these photographs with your child so they can share their learning with you.


Literacy focus

We have been doing some baseline assessments to ascertain the children’s prior knowledge of phonics.

Our writing programme starts with telling stories through detailed drawing. This week our drawing prompt was ‘My family’

Some of us have shared our memory boxes.

Maths and numeracy focus

We have been doing some baseline assessments to ascertain the children’s prior knowledge and understanding of number.


Other areas of the Curriculum

We have been demonstrating our cutting skills, learning to use scissors safely and efficiently.

In PE we have been developing skills in sharing the space and travelling safely. We also played a game to help us learn to listen and respond quickly.

PE days will be Wednesday and Thursday. Children should come to school dressed ready to participate as we will not change clothes in school -e.g joggers/leggings/shorts and a T shirt with a Buckstone jumper on top.

As far as the weather will allow , Thursday PE will take place outdoors until October so outdoor shoes on that day would ideally be trainers if possible.

Looking ahead to next week

Loose parts play ( aka messy play) on Monday. Children should come dressed with waterproof coats, overtrousers and wellies if possible. We do have some spares in school for anyone who forgets.

Outdoor loose parts play supports ( amongst other things) the development of metaskills, social interaction, physical strength, emotional regulation and academic understanding, and as such is an highly valued part of our week. We will have loose parts sessions regularly through the term – and will notify the date here.

Please return the Flu vaccination letter via the purple folders by Wednesday of next week at the latest. Thank you

‘Homework’ ( things to practice at home)

Most of the children are really independent, able to change their shoes, put coats on and open snack packets themselves. If this is something your child hasn’t quite mastered yet, please continue to practise at home. Opening fiddly straw packets on milk/juice cartons is one for a few of us to work on.

Focus on rhyme – identifying and creating rhyming words – even if the words are made up.

Play Rhyming I spy

Instead of looking for words beginning with a certain sound, ask your child to find something in the room that rhymes with another word.

This is a great way to practise recognising those important sounds in words.