2018-2019

Class Newsletter: Term 2

Mrs McCole and P1M

I hope you find the following information useful. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Learning in Term 1:

In term 1 we learned all about life at school and the routines that we follow here at Redwell Primary. We focussed on our favourite stories and on creating new friendships within our class. We had a great time exploring our school and our school grounds and getting to know all of the people who help us in school. We also focussed on our school rules and how to organise ourselves quickly for class in the morning, playtime, lunchtime, home time and for gym lessons with Mrs Smith. We place great value on the importance of play in P1 and the children have enjoyed regular opportunities to engage in activities such as construction, role play and imaginative small world play.

Homework will continue to be issued on a Monday and should be completed by Thursday. There will be a selection of Numeracy and Literacy activities and occasionally topic related tasks.  Your child should also have a clearly labelled water bottle everyday which is filled with plain water prior to arriving at school.  Please ensure your child has a labelled weather appropriate jacket as there will be outdoor learning opportunities.

You will be able to follow what we have been doing in class each week by looking at our class blog. This can be accessed via the link on our class page on the school website.

PE days

This term P.E. days are as follows:

Primary 1M P.E. days are a Monday and a Friday.

On these days it would be helpful to the children if they could come to school dressed with polo shirt and jumper rather than shirt and tie in order to make changing for P.E. easier.

 Learning focus this term:

Through our topic People who help us we will be learning about:

• People who help us within our family
• People who help us within the community
• The important role of the different emergency services
• How we can help others at home and in the community

Literacy:

• RWI Speed sounds
• Letter recognition and letter formation
• Sounding and blending with the help of Fred talk
• Introduction of Red Ditty Books

Core Numeracy:

• Number rhymes 0-20
• Number recognition 0-20
• Number formation 0-20
• Number sequencing and number ordering
• Time
• Addition to 10

Health and Wellbeing:

As a Health Promoting school we actively encourage and teach our children to make healthy choices, to enable then to become healthy, active and emotionally resilient young people of the future.

We are delighted to be able to continue to deliver 2 hours of PE a week as well as opportunities for children to be active in our fabulous new grounds.

We would appreciate your support in promoting a healthy and balanced diet, both in your child’s morning snack and in their packed lunch. We would discourage any type of fizzy juice in school or energy drinks.  Children are encouraged to bring in a water bottle, which they can use during class time.  There are water fountains situated throughout the school for daily use.

Please encourage your child to participate in the Active Sports Clubs that are on offer at lunchtimes and after school, as well as any school based clubs that take place throughout the year. Keep looking in school bags for further information.

A reminder that all children who cycle or scooter to school must wear a safety helmet and ‘walk’ their bikes whilst in the playground. There are bike racks available.

Playground toys:

We have a playground equipment for children to play with during lunchtime. Please do not bring in your own toys – except for Golden Time on a Friday – so that we can be sure that all toys in the playground belong to the school.  Many thanks for your support.

 Golden Time toys:

Children can bring a ‘toy’ to school on a Friday to play with during Golden Time. Please remember that the school cannot take responsibility for the safety of these toys and therefore we request that your child does not bring in expensive/ electronic items without your consent. We appreciate your support with this matter.

Yellow Wing Cuddle on the Couch

Please help us to promote reading by joining us for Cuddle on the Couch. Come along to the Yellow Wing and spend some time reading with your child.  This will be on alternate Mondays and Thursdays from 9 – 9.30.

 

Today the children have all enjoyed dressing up in spotty or Pudsey themed clothes for Children in Need 2018. This morning the children joined the rest of the school in a Pudsey parade around the school grounds and it was lovely for the children to be able to see the efforts that th either boys and girls in the school went to for Children in Need.

This week the children have continued to build on heir knowledge of addition to 10 and have now been introduced to the addition sign as well as the equals sign.

In Literacy the children have continued to learn new sounds including j, v and y.

The children have also began rehearsing for the upcoming nativity show with the other p1s and he p2s. They are beautiful singers and are enjoying learning about the story of the nativity.

This week our star writers are Murdo and Keeley for their fabulous effort writing about a member of their family and how they help them. Well done!

Here are some pictures from his week.

This week saw the Rookie Rockstars performances take place. The children did an amazing job singing and dancing along to the songs which had a very important message about having respect, resilience and good friendships.

In class we have began reading short stories which contain simple 3 or 4 letter words. We have almost finished learning all of our initial sounds and the children have enjoyed learning more about their sounds from Geraldine the Giraffe which can be found on YouTube if you wish to watch with at home.

In Maths we have continued to learn about addition and counting items in 2 groups and adding hem together. We have also sequenced the days of the week which tenchildren enjoyed.

This week our star writers are Lochlan and Josh for their super scary stories based on the FunnyBones stories. Well done!

Our Maths Stars this week are Oliver and Kye for completing a piece of addition work accurately. Amazing job!

We have had fun today learning our new sound outside today with a variety of materials including chalk, buttons and paint brushes.

The children enjoyed a story outside today, in the warm autumn sun.

We had a lovely visit from Mrs Johnstone, who works hard with the gardening group to maintain our school garden. She taught us about different herbs which have been grown in the school. These included parsley, mint and thyme.

Welcome back. I hope everyone had a restful October Holiday. It was lovely to see the children again and listen to all of their news.

This week we have began addition to 10 in Maths and the children are really enjoying exploring this new concept with practical activities. Practise of adding at home would be very helpful.

In Literacy we have continued learning new sounds and reading some new 3 letter words.

This week the children learned about some of the most well known jobs within our community to tie in with our new topic, People Who Help Us. They are now familiar with the job of a paramedic, mountain rescue as well as doctors, police officers and fire fighters. We will be looking at these roles in more detail as the weeks go on.

This week our Star Writers are Gracie and Josh for their super work writing their news. Our Maths Stars this week are Mia and Murdo for completing an addition to 10 task with accuracy and a great deal of confidence. Well done!

Next Friday 2nd November is Learning Outdoors Day. I would ask that the children come to school that day dressed for the weather as we will be spending some of our day learning outside.

Well, it’s been such a busy and productive first term. The children really deserve a break after all of their hard work.

In Literacy they have been building new skills to read and blend three letter words and this will continue in term 2. They have also began writing and becoming familiar with what good writing looks like.

In Maths they have built on their knowledge of number by extending to 20 and 30. We have worked with simple patterns and can name some 3D shapes.

Next term I look forward to our topic, People Who Help Us. If there are any parents with a job or role within the community and you would be happy to spend some time in the classroom talking to the children about your role, I would love for you to get in touch.

In science we will look at the sun, moon and stars. Conversations at home about these 3 things would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps talk about what we do when the sun is up and what do we normally do when the moon is out.

This week we enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Ruby who turned 5.

We explored 3D shapes this week and made different structures,choosing shapes carefully so our structures had a solid base and a good peak or top.

I hope everyone has a restful and enjoyable October holiday and I look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday 22nd October.

 

This week the children have been practising their Harvest song with the other P1 classes for our Harvest assembly. They have all tried so hard and sound amazing! Thank you so much to those that have donated food for the Harvest collection. They are gratefully received.

We have had 2 birthdays in the class this week. Charlie and Kaya turned 5 and we enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to both of you.

In Literacy we have continued to practise sounding and blending with our magnetic boards and the children are very proud that they can now read some simple 3 letter words.

In Maths we have explored 3D shape this week, looking at spheres, cubes and cones. If you spot any of these shapes in the house or out and about, point hem out to your child as extra practise.

I have enjoyed hearing what the children found out about their mums and dads as well as grandparents favourite toys as children. Thank you all very much for the time and effort you put into completing the homework task with your child.

The children have enjoyed having their photographs taken this week. First for the Alloa Advertiser and then for their school photographs. The children did very well and all had perfect smiles!

This week the children also held a vote for someone to be a member of he eco committee for our class. A big well done and congratulations to Mia who will represent our class at all future eco meetings and work with others in the school to make Redwell an eco-friendly place.

In Literacy this week the children have been using the sounds learned so far to form 3 letter words like ‘mat’, ‘sat’, and ‘sad.’ The children have enjoyed using magnetic boards and letters to make and read words.

In Maths we have started exploring numbers to 20. The children have been practising ordering numbers to 20 and counting forward and backward.

As part of our toys topic the children have explored wooden toys and toys from the past. As part of homework for next week I would appreciate your support in discussing with your child toys that you liked to play with as a child and it is hoped that the children will share this with the class.

This week the children have been introduced the ‘t’ Saunders through Read, Write, Inc. and have now started making and reading CVC (3 letter words) with the sounds that we have learned so far.

In Maths children have continued to work on the formation of numbers to 10 using sand, chalk, shaving foam as well as practising on paper too.

In R.M.E. the children have been very interested in the life of the Buddha and listening to some traditional Buddhist children’s stories. This week we listened to ‘The Golden Elephant.’

They also also had fun making stick puppets and learning how puppet shows entertained children in the past and even to this day.

This week has been a busy week of fun learning.

In Literacy the children have been introduced to the sound ‘d.’ The children enjoyed practising the formation of this letter in lots of different ways including finger painting, chalk and play dough. The children also completed a short sentence to describe some news from home. The children now know the importance of capital letters, full stops and finger spaces.

In Maths the children have been introduced to shapes like hexagon and pentagon and are still practising being able to identify these. We have also continued practising the formation of numbers, focussing on 3, 4 and 5.

This weeks star writers are Kaya and Kye for showing good pencil control and drawing a lovely picture to match their news. Well done!

Our Maths Stars this week are Thea for writing the number 2 very neatly and Yashfa for identifying shapes. Well done, girls!