What a busy week we have had!

We did another sound from Jolly Phonics. This week we did ‘c’ and ‘k’. Just like the sound castanets make. We learnt them together because they sound the same and they have the same action even though they look different. We were very good at writing them on the computer , on whiteboards and on the sound sheets. Our teacher taught us a song about clicking castanets and kites to help us remember the sound and action.You can practise our sounds by looking at the sound book in your homework pocket. We still practise all the sounds we have learned so far.

 We have been counting everyday and we been at school for 14 days. We can’t believe it because it’s flown in so quickly! In numeracy we were writing and counting all the way from 0  up to 10. We were writing them in different ways. Some of us are amazing at writing them on them whiteboards!

We had our photograph taken for the Evening Telegraph!  Read all about it!!! Primary one are going to be in the paper, Dundee’s Evening Telegraph! Look out for it appearing in their P1 editions. This week we had our photograph taken by a lovely man called Bob from D.C. Thomson. We had to arrange ourselves into three groups. The tallest people sat on chairs, the smallest people stood behind them and the medium sized people sa on the floor. We were very good at arranging ourselves into groups . We were super and all said cheese! We looked very smart in our school uniforms! Our teachers, Mrs Mackay and Mrs Munro are going to print two big copies to put on our door and wall.

At assembly we practise our good listening. We like singing some songs and this week we learned some Makaton and sign language. Maddison got a star award this week for always trying her best especially with her sounds. Well done Maddison!

We listened to three more Sleeping Beauty stories. We are getting very good at telling Mrs Mackay and Mrs Munro about all the different parts of the book eg. the front cover, back cover, title. We remember that the author writes the story and the illustrator draws the pictures. We are beginning to predict what might happen next in the story too. Next week we are going to plan what we want to learn about Sleeping Beauty and how we can do that in our classroom and Active Learning Zone.

We have had our first reading books home! In school we have been finding out all about the Oxford Reading Tree family, Mum, Dad, Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy. The books we take home have no words yet but so we have to tell our families the story. We look carefully at the pictures to look for lots of detail. We really liked listening to the story and thinking about what is happening as well as predicting what we think might happen next. We all got a sheet with lots of games on it to play with our families  and we practised playing some of these with our teachers. They are;

‘Find the…’

You and your child take turns to ask each other to find an object in the picture. This game can also be played after reading the whole book to revisit the story as well as familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary.

‘How many…’

See how many of the same object you can find in the whole book. This game can be played when your child has worded books eg how many the’s can you find in the story.

‘I think that this is the story….’

As your child to make up a new version of the story that fits the picture pages on the book. 

‘What’s going to happen next is….’

Before you turn the page, ask questions to help your child recap what they have read via the pictures or what they have told you is the story. Before you turn the page, ask them to tell you what they think may happen next and also ask why they think that.
‘Sequence your story’

Take a photo of each page of your child’s book, including the cover, print off the pictures and ask your child to put them in the correct order (photos do not have to be the same size as the book page).
‘MY Reading Book’

Ask your child to make their own reading book to tell the story. This may have the same pictures or different pictures. Let them to read it to you as a bedtime / quiet time story.

If you can think of other games to play which will help us learn all bout reading and using books please leave a comment and let us know what they are.

We also used ‘Magic Page’ on the computer to read a book with our teacher. We all enjoyed it. Before we could read and listen to the story on the Promethean Board we got some clues to help us try and work out what the title was! Michael and Billy both got it right and guessed that it was The Lost Teddy. We are all looking forward to using magic page again!

In the Active Learning zone we have been very creative. Our creative area has lots of materials, pens, glue and selotape to help us create. Some of us have made crowns just like the king and queen wear in the Sleeping Beauty story. We have also made lots of animals, pictures and lots more. What a creative bunch we are. We have also been using the iPad and an app called Hairy Letters. This helps us practise our letter formation. At the Promethean Board we have been learning to write our name. And at the role play area, which is Sleeping Beauty’s bedroom, we have been pretending to be a character from the Sleeping Beauty story.

  

Week Starting 3rd September 2012

•  We are full time this week. We come to school at 9am and finish at 3.15pm. Remember we will need a packed lunch or money for lunch. If you are going home for lunch then lunchtime is from 12.15pm till 1.15pm.
• Remember to bring your filled, named water bottle with you every day (no juice please).
• We will send homework out on a Thursday. Please send it to school every day but any tasks should be completed by Wednesday. Each week there will be a Yellow Book Challenge to do but you can pick which challenge you want to do from a list of 3. There will be no homework on a Wednesday night.
• Gym is on a Monday and Wednesday. Please remember long hair will need to be tied back and no jewellery. This means all earrings must be removed.

Our project is Sleeping Beauty.

This week we will be learning ;

• how to plan our own learning in a mind map
• how to use the computer to make a picture using Textease Paint
• the Swahili  song Jambo so that we can sing it for our visitors next month.