Category: School Updates

We have had another busy learning week in Primary 1A. The children wanted to share some of their learning with you.

Literacy -Writing

This week the children have continued to develop their descriptive writing skills. The children were asked to describe a car. They started by looking at a picture with labels (labels were attached to the main parts of the toy car) they then focused on listening to simple sentences which described the car, how it was built etc. (label words are used in the sentences). Below some pictures of the big book we used and some of the children’s descriptive writing.

Phonics – Spelling

New sound this week is “s”. The children have been making it, sorting pictures by initial sounds and writing it. Some of their work below.

Numeracy

This week we have started a daily Number Talk. At this stage children are presented with a dot pattern. They are  asked “how many dots do you see and how do you see them?” I record their answers and we discuss  which was the most efficent strategy. The aim is to recognise groups of dots for example, in a pattern of 5 random dots a child may see a 3 and a 2 or a 4 and a 1. In time, (some are already doing this really well!!) it is hoped that this will increase their speed and accuracy and they won’t drop back to counting in 1’s when presented with larger groups.

We have also been focusing on the story of 6. The children have been writing the number 6 with different materials, they have also been gathering collections of 6 objects and making 6 in different ways. As a challenge some of the children ordered a huge 0 to 30 number line. Fantastic to see the children challenging themselves.

Health and Wellbeing

As part of our covid recovery programme we have been sharing stories of how we helped friends and family during lockdown. Some comments from the children

Katie – “I helped  mummy put away my clothes in the drawer”

Scott – “I helped  mum when she wan’t feeling well”

Emily- “I helped  mum make a cake”

Samuel – “I helped mum make dinner”

The children have drawn some pictures of the people they helped.

I hope you all have a fantastic  holiday weekend and I look forward to seeing the children on Wednesday (23rd).

Outdoor Learning

Primary 4 started the week off with outdoor learning with Mr Turner. The children continued learning about fables and the morals that are a feature of these tales. P4 were given the task of using natural resources in the surrounding area to help them to create a detailed setting for their fables to take place. Using their clay animal that they had made last week the pupils planned their stories and came up with a moral to their story. After the children then confidently performed, their fables and the audience were set the task of trying to guess the moral of the stories.

Literacy

Primary 4 have also been sharing their knowledge and understanding of nouns, adjectives and verbs this week. The children were showing confidence while sharing what they already knoe or now know about these and how they could and will now use them in their writing.

“I know that I am a noun” (Derry)

“I enjoyed learning about these and I can now challenge myself to use these in my writing” (Lewis)

Also in literacy this week the children were challenged to show their knowledge of spelling patterns and sounds as there has been a strong focus towards spelling this week at Deans. The children all worked super hard during these sessions and showed great enthusiasm towards the discussion of unfamiliar words and sounds.

Numeracy

We continued to explore addition using chimney sums with 2,3 and 4 digit numbers with carrying. The children found this a challenge and were able to express this during group and individual discussions. They are now beginning to understand the process of carrying over and that it may be tricky at times but to keep going with it.

“I found it a challenge as I got mixed up with where to place the numbers I was carrying over” (Derry)

“It was fun” (Kayleigh)

“It was hard because I had to remember to add in the numbers I had carried over to the next column” (Shay)

Novel Study/ IDL

P4 used their activing skills this week to work as part of a group to act out a scene from what we have read so far in our class novel ‘Billionaire Boy’. The audience had to try and guess which scene it was.

“It was fun because I like performing to the group” (Summer)

The children also used their learning from this week to write a detailed character description of one of the main characters from our novel. P4 were confident in their knowledge of adjectives and could discuss how they could use these to describe Joe Spud in detail.

To round this off the class were to imagine that they were all tour guides and asked to describe Joe’s house. They shared all of the wonderful things he had in his house. After our class discussion P4 then drew detailed maps of Joe’s house ‘Bumfresh Towers’ with all the different rooms, materials and wacky decorations that they were able to imagine from the story.

P.E

For P.E this week, we participated in a series of races. This enabled the children to work together showing great teamwork and support to their peers when racing. They were also able to display their stamina and work on controlling their speed and body movement for each of the different kinds of races.

It has been another really busy week for P1A and the children would like to share some of their learning with you. We have just started our Autumn topic. We have been reading Autumn stories and painting  trees for our display.

Literacy – Phonics

The new sound “c” was introduced on Tuesday and we have been working really hard on forming the letter correctly using a variety of media.

We have also been sorting pictures according to their initial sound – m or c

Numeracy

We are continuing to practise counting forward and back, order numerals, saying the number before and after. This weeks focus has centered around 5 (forming it correctly) and finding different ways to make it.

We are learning how to use 5 frames which are a great way to develop a sense of number. Why not ask your child about them.

Health and Wellbeing

We continue to focus on feeling safe. The children were asked to draw a picture of where they feel safe and belong. We had lots of super suggestions- “when daddy gives me a big hug”, “when I am in bed and Mummy is reading me a story” “when I go to visit gran”.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. More updates on next weeks blog.

We have had another busy week in P1A. The children are now more familar with our daily school routines and are becoming even more independent.

Literacy- Sounds

This week we have started our more formal phonics programme and have been exploring the “m” sound. We have looked at where we make this sound in our mouths and words that begin with the “m” sound. We have also been making and writing the sound with a range of media such as play dough, paint, pom poms, string and black markers. Today we completed an “m” sorting activity (their first piece of work in their literacy jotters!)

We have looked at words such as mat, map, mop, man, men, mum, melon etc. It would be a good idea if you are out and about to point out things that begin with the m sound.

Numeracy

We are continuing to work on numeral formation. The children find the cards below useful.

As well as forming numerals we have been making and drawing collections of 3 and 4 objects. We have started looking at different ways to record numbers and can now use a five frame. Five frames are useful when looking at different ways to make 5.

Health and Wellbeing

This week as well as focusing on being safe we have been exploring our nurture value . As a class we tried to think about what nurture means and what it would look like. We decided firstly that we would try our best to be kind with our words and actions and secondly, we would  try to incuded everyone in our play. I have been very impressed by the kind and caring nature displayed by many of the children this week. At Deans we are very proud of all the children who display our school values.

A picture below of our Jigsaw pieces which shows different ways we are keeping ourselves and others safe during covid.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will post more news next week.

We have had another busy week in Primary 1 and it has been great to see all the children becoming more confident and independent.

Reading

We have enjoyed reading about Elmer the patchwork elephant. As well as the important message from the story (it’s good to be different and it doesn’t matter what you look like on the outside its what your like on the inside that really matters) we have been counting the words in the title, discussing the author and the purpose of a blurb  , order (pre-reading skills).

Phonics/Spelling

We have spent time this week looking at word boundries. The children have been jumping and counting words in short sentences. This is a good way of developing an understanding of the concept of a “word”. We have also been building an awareness of word rhythm and counting syllables in a word, again great pre- reading and spelling skills. Next week we will begin learning individual sounds and will begin with m.

Numeracy

We have continued to practise counting forward and back within 20, order numbers and forming numerals. We have started exploring dice patterns. The children are being encouraged to say how many dots they see and how they see them. They really enjoy this important early numeracy skill.

Class Charter

We have been working on our class charter which links to our school and class values. So far we have agreed that we will keep oursleves safe in the class by listening to and following instructions, tucking our chairs in and only leaving the classroom if permission is given.  We will respect everyone by using kind words and actions and try to include everyone so that no-one feels sad or alone. A picture of our work so far.

We have also been thinking about all the things we can’t do yet, just like Gerald the giraffe and considering  ways to achive our goals.

The children have been drawing  people who live in their house and we have started creating a family display.

I would like to post pictures of the children working on tasks etc. however, as yet we have not recieved photograph consent forms for everyone. If you would like another form please let myself or the office know.

Have a lovely weekend and keep safe!