We always start a new topic with a discussion on what we already know.  We do this for all curricular areas and particularly for topic work.  This enables the children to share their own learning to ensure that activities planned provide an appropriate challenge.  It also allows me to see if any gaps (or muddled ideas) need to be explored.  This is what we already know about dinosaurs:

As you can see we already know a huge amount of information about dinosaurs.  You can also see there are some gaps in our understanding – almost all of us think cavemen lived during the dinosaurs lifetime.  Many of us think that T-Rex would eat humans! 🙂

We also chatted about what we want to find out about dinosaurs.  Many of us showed an interest in finding out more about dinosaur babies and eggs.

The boys and girls have been talking about rules, rewards for good behaviour and what might happen if you continue to break rules.  The children decided that they do not want to use the daily yellow books for green dots anymore.  They decided they would rather get a special sticker at the end of the week if they had managed to get all of their golden time. This will be implemented immediately.

We had great fun at our active spelling stations today. We will do this every Friday to reinforce key tricky words. Today we tried hard to spell (rather than just copy) a range of differentiated words in different play contexts. We worked independently and enthusiastically. We tried hard to apply some tricky spelling rules. Mrs Duncan was, once again, a very proud and happy teacher! We also played a new fun game called ‘speed writing.’ We will try to beat our score for this game each week. You could easily play this with 3-4 people and some scrap paper. Hopefully your child should be able to explain it to you! 🙂

Reading

Reading will be on Monday and Wednesday this week.  Please check the reading diaries.

Literacy

Please revise all sounds and words that have been taught so far.  We have been focussing on spelling the words too.  Please help your child with this.  You could read out a word and get them to spell it using magnetic letters, scrabble tiles or the mini whiteboard and pen that was sent home in the bookstart book bags.  Elephants please focus on: was, went, his, be, you.  Tigers please focus on: he, me, we, the, my.  Pandas please focus on: the, I, at, is, and.

New sounds/words will be issued on Tuesday. TUESDAY UPDATE: THE H SOUND IS  IN READING FOLDERS.  TIGERS AND PANDAS PLEASE STICK THEM INTO YOUR SOUND BOOK.  ELEPHANTS: YOUR SOUND WILL BE ISSUED TOMORROW (WEDNESDAY), IT’S A TRICKY ONE THIS WEEK AND WE NEED SOME EXTRA REVISION IN CLASS FIRST.

Numeracy

Circles – please free the whale using this website.  You need to find the pipe with the number on it to make a total of 10.  We have been trying this in class too.  We call these pairs of numbers that make 10 rainbow numbers.  You can also try playing a similar aliens game too.

Triangles – We are beginning to chat about number bonds/rainbow numbers.  These are pairs of numbers that go together to make different amounts.  Please play this game with your child to help emphasise this new area of learning.  As they put the teddies into the house please reiterate the language of addition e.g 1 teddy in that house and 4 teddies in that house makes ?  Can you find another way?

This term we will continue to use this Blog to share the fantastic learning that takes place in our class every day.  We will also use the Blog to find out our homework tasks.   These tasks will be posted on the Blog every Monday – please check the blog every Monday.  New sounds or words will be issued on Tuesdays.  Reading will continue to take place twice a week, mostly on Mondays and Wednesdays although this may vary due to other class activities.

Please see below for a very rough plan of some key areas of learning for this term.  All planning is responsive to the needs and interests of the children so may change at any time.

Gym

We will have gym with the PE specialist on Tuesdays and PE with Mrs Duncan each Wednesday.  However, gym kits (and indoor shoes) should be in school every day.

Snacks

This term will we be starting to have our playtime snacks outside. Please ensure your child has a relatively simple snack that they can manage to eat/carry whilst they are playing.

Top Table

This term we will continue to get table points for showing kindness, enthusiasm for tasks or for working hard. The table with the most points at the end of the week will be declared the top  table.   They will be given special stationary for their table and will get to line up first for an entire week.  This always delights the top table! 🙂

Active Spelling

We will be starting active spelling this week and will do this every Friday this term.  It involves using a range of multi-sensory resources to spell, make and write our focus tricky words.  This could include writing in shaving foam, using magnetic letters, clay/playdough, cooked spaghetti, floating letters etc.  You will see evidence of this soon.

Maths

We will continue to explore addition in greater detail at the beginning of this term.  We will also be exploring different ways of gathering and displaying information related to ourselves and our dinosaur topic.  At a request of the children we will also be measuring the real sizes of dinosaurs outside.

Literacy

We will continue to learn new sounds and words each week with a consolidation/revision weeks when required.  We will be introduced to the concept of joining words/connectives to make our sentences longer and will become more independent in writing stories based on class topics, stories and videos.  Each week we will have time for ‘spelling buddies’.  This involves time with a partner or teacher trying to spell different words using magnetic letters.   We will continue to develop our love for reading and will visit the library every Friday afternoon.  The children will choose a library book to take home and these should be returned every Friday.

Happy New Year to you all!  I hope 2016 is a happy, healthy year for you and your families.

It is lovely to be back with the children again.  They have been working hard and are delighted to see their friends.

Thanks again for the very generous vouchers and presents I recieved from you all.  I was overwhelmed by your generosity.  I bought a ski jacket with the vouchers and now I only need some snow!