Mrs Nicoll, our school’s reading leader and Principal Teacher, has designed a very useful guide for parents to our learning to read programme. We use the Read, Write, Inc approach and materials in helping us to teach reading in school. Please see below a link to this guide:

RWI – Parents Help Grid (1)

Mrs Nicoll, Mrs Soutar and Mr Sturrock also attended an update training event on 28th August with the Ruth Miskin (Read, Write, Inc) trainers. They shared with us this very helpful guide for parents based on reading with your child. In the lead up to your child taking their first book home (once they have mastered the Set 1 sounds and can blend), these activities are very useful in continuing to develop your child’s skills as a developing reader.

Tips for reading to your child (from Ruth Miskin Training)

Please find attached our termly learning overview for parents / carers for Term 1 in Primary 1.

Termly Learning Sheet (1)

Technology can be a great way for your child to engage with learning and practise at home. It is also a nice way for you to see your child have fun whilst showing you their learning.

There are many apps which can be used to practise letter and number formation. When choosing an app, the best ones are those which have a cursive font (with ‘flicks’ on the letters).

2 apps which are particularly fun and useful are the “Writing Magic Numbers” and “Writing Magic Letters” apps. You can find these using the below links. They come at a cost (£1.99 each), and we are in no way affiliated to the sellers / receive any commissions! These are apps we have used in the past which have been of great benefit for number and letter formation.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/writing-magic-numbers/id583844038

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/writing-magic-letters-kids-learn-to-write/id537579402

PLAYDOUGH!

We use playdough to develop our fine motor skills in school. This is a great resource to use in many different ways. For example, we can make sounds and numbers with playdough. We develop our counting skills by rolling out and shaping set numbers of items (e.g. putting 8 peas on a plate). We also enjoy “dough disco” to exercise our fingers!

See the following links for examples of dough disco in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZG0rkhPkeY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl2U-lQQgBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSlcJGoW8Bk

Here is an easy, no cook recipe for playdough:

No-Cook Play Dough Recipe

You need:

• 2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil  (baby oil and coconut oil work too)
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
• 1 to 1.5 cups boiling water (adding in increments until it feels just right)
• gel food colouring (optional)
• few drops glycerine (my secret ingredient for stretch and shine!)

Method:

• Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl.
• Add food colouring TO the boiling water, then into the dry ingredients.
• Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough.
• Add the glycerine (optional).
• Allow it to cool down, then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. * This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency!*
• If it remains a little sticky, then add a touch more flour until just right.

Your child has received a “sounds box” home with them. Each time we learn a new sound in school, your child will receive this sound on a small card to add to their box. The aim of the box is to provide further sounds practise and reinforcement at home, which is very valuable in terms of developing your child’s skills as an early reader.

The sounds are taught in the following order, using the Read, Write, Inc approach:

m, a, s, d, t, i, n, p, g, o, c, k, u, b, f, e, l, h, sh, r, j, v, y, w, th, z, ch, qu, x, ng, nk

Each sound is associated with a picture, which helps with recall of the sound and has an associated rhyme to assist with the formation of each sound. The following document shows these pictures: Read Write Inc Sounds – Pictures

Here are some ways the boxes can be used to support your child at home:

•  Go through the sounds in the box. Ask your child to name each sound. The following video provides a good guide for parents for supporting their child with sounds. It demonstrates how to make “pure sounds” as we teach in our learning to read lessons (using the Read, Write, Inc aproach). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6OiU2h3sUI
• Say the rhymes to remember the formation of the written sounds (letters). This document contains all the rhymes: phonics_sounds_set_1__2_and_3-2   This sounds mat shows where to start the formation of each letter: Handwriting formation
• Blend sounds to make words. When we use our sounds and blend them to make words, We call this “Word Time” in school. After we have learned a set of sounds, Fred the frog tells us words we can make from these sounds. The following video shows how we learn to blend with Fred: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEzfpod5w_Q    The following document gives words which can be made from the sounds in your child’s sounds box: Word Time words with Set 1 sounds
•  Think of words starting with each sound (e.g. s – sun, m – mountain, d – dog etc.).
•  As children build up their knowledge of sounds they are able to apply their decoding skills to any unfamiliar word, either real or “nonsense”.  During learning to read lessons, your child will practice their decoding skills by sounding out the letters in ‘alien words’.  Children are unable to rely on existing knowledge of real words, and instead have to use their letter-sound knowledge.
  The following website has an enjoyable game for your child to play to practice their reading of alien words.
  http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/PicnicOnPluto.html

You can make use of the following resource (speed sounds chart) to allow your child to recognise the sounds with speed:  RWI-Simple-sounds-chart

Practise with the speed sounds chart in different ways / in a different order to avoid your child learning the order of the sounds rather than recognising individual sounds.

Other ways to support your child’s emergent literacy skills in Term 1:

• Read stories every day.
• Allow your child the chance to experience a variety of texts / print, such as newspapers, magazines, comics, maps, joke bokes etc.
• Visit your local library.
• Make use of reading as an everyday essential skill. For example, follow a simple recipe together.
• Carry out a fun sounds hunt, looking for sounds in different areas (around the home, outside, at the park etc.).
• Play with rhyming words. Sing nursery rhymes. Can you spot the rhyming words?
• Allow your child opportunities to mark-make at home, for example with paper, notepads, letters, cards, postcards, invitations, shopping lists etc. A whiteboard and pen can be purchased from local shops for a reasonable price and are a cost-effective way to provide mark-making opportunities.
• Playing audio books at home can be a nice way for you and your child to enjoy a story together. They will also have the chance to develop their listening skills, since the focus is all on the spoken word.
• Bed time stories are an invaluable way to develop a passion for stories and books. This also helps to develop your child’s imagination.
• Talk about new words at home. Don’t be afraid to introduce “big words” / ambitious vocabulary to your child. This will help to develop their word base and understanding of language.
• Make time to talk. Ask your child about their day at school / their favourite learning this week / their new friends etc. Encourage your child to share this with a wider audience, such as family and friends. This works best free from distractions (e.g. T.V., tablet, phone etc.).
• Develop your child’s gross and fine motor skills, which are important as they learn to write, in a variety of ways. Finger exercises and threading / other fine activities really help develop these skills.

Please see the below attached for a copy of the Tayside Contracts school lunch menu.

We would encourage you to discuss the day’s choices with your child before they come to school to ensure they are confident when making their choice independently.

PRIMARY_MENU_19-20_reduced

Your child will have received a numeracy home learning booklet home with them. The details for the tasks for our learning this term, which is focused on counting and number, are contained in the booklet.

Homework is designed to provide opportunities to share and demonstrate learning at home. We hope that the tasks are enjoyable, but we also do stress that, should these become too difficult to complete at home for whatever reason, these are optional tasks. Should you have any queries or concerns regarding your child’s learning in numeracy or any other aspect of the curriculum, please share these with their class teacher.

Below is an electronic link to the home learning booklet instructions pages:

Numeracy Home Learning booklet cover and activities sheet

These are some of the tasks we feel would help support and build on the numeracy skills we are developing this term:

• Count out items as part of routines at home (e.g. setting the table with the number of plates and items of cutlery needed for each person).
• Go on a number walk. Spot numbers as you go, for example on signs, on doors, on car registrations etc. Talk about and name the numbers you see.
• Count items of washing (e.g. socks). Pair the socks and count the number of pairs. Count in 2s to see how many socks you have altogether.
• Use everyday items to develop skills in counting groups of objects (e.g. pasta shapes, stones, shells etc.).
• Sing counting songs and rhymes (e.g. 10 in a bed, 10 green bottles, 5 little speckled frogs, 5 currant buns in a baker’s shop). Have a song time ‘karaoke’ at home!
• Go shopping and count items as you add them to the trolley. Ask your child to collect a set number of items (e.g. 4 peppers).
• Read number picture books from the local library.
• Play number / counting games online. https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/ is a good link for a range of counting, ordering and sequencing games involving numbers to 10 and beyond.
• Play maths and number games / board games. Dice games, dominoes and snakes and ladders are all great for developing number skills.
• Save 1ps in a jar. Count the pennies regularly to find out how much money you have altogether. Swap pennies for bigger coins (e.g. swap 10 pennies for a 10p coin).
• Count steps as you walk on everyday journeys.
• Look at a range of coins and notes. Spot how much they are worth by looking for the number on the coin / note.
• Count out loud. Count forwards and backwards, and start at different numbers.
• Have fun practising number formation in different ways (e.g. with paints, with a stick in the mud, in the sand at the beach, in shaving foam).
• Try simple baking which relies on simple measurements (e.g. 4 scoops of …, 1 spoon of …). Allow your child the chance to measure out / count out the ingredients.
• Try some of the fun maths at home ideas on the CBeebies website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-with-maths

ABOVE ALL – HAVE FUN WITH NUMBERS AND MATHS!

Please see the file below for the first home learning grid for P1. This is also available in the home learning jotters.

Homework grid 1

Welcome to the class blog for P1 (2019 – 2020) at Our Lady’s Primary School. We will primarily use this blog for sharing home learning tasks, activities and challenges. We will also post about our learning in P1.

As this is a public website for ease of access for parents, no photos or personal information (such as names of pupils) will be published on this site. For more updates on our experiences in school, as well as regular photos and videos, please visit our school Twitter page (https://twitter.com/ourladysps).