It's a girl!!

Hi there

Well finally, after a lot of waiting I finally gave birth to a little girl, 6 pounds and 12 ounces, called Ellen Rose on 27th December. She is a beauty and once I can drive again I’ll be in to school to show the children as promised.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are now raring to go for the New Year. Before I begin with the curriculum, here are a few domestics…

Friday is a day we are all looking forward to - the Panto! As I am sure you can appreciate, getting the whole school onto buses at the same time requires almost military timing, so could we please ask that you ensure your child arrives on time every day, but particularly this Friday. We shall be bringing the children in at 8.40am, but could we ask that the children keep their coats on to make things run a little more smoothly. The children will not need a snack on Friday, as one is provided for them at the Parr Hall. Also, please bear in mind, that as they are out of school, they will not be able to buy toast. Many thanks for your co-operation with this.

So onto the curriculum…

Phonics

MUST be able to recognise the letters s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck, e, u and r by sound or name.
SHOULD be able to recognise the sound and name for h b f, ff l, ll ss
COULD be able to use the letters they have learned to segment and blend words when reading and writing.
http://www.starfall.com/ - this is a great website. Perhaps make sure that your child focuses on the letters that they are working on for the week.
http://www.ictgames.com/cvc_machine.html - this game is great for helping your child to blend sounds together. You can select the pattern (choose those with the letters we have been working on) and then the children have to read the word and click on the tick if it is a real word.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=cvcmaker - This again is a great website for blending three letter words together.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/learn_y4/main.asp?lesson_path=year_4/word_machine_c-v-c/&lesson_file=lesson.swf&language=eng - This helps the children see how three letter words are made up of a consonant, a vowel and then a consonant.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/cvc/crank/game.shtml - If your child is experiencing difficulties listening to the middle sound then this is a great game for them.
http://www.ictgames.com/machine - a great site for blending again. Look at the picture in the machine and click on the correct word to match it.


Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
This week, we will begin our three week block of work looking at shapes and their properties. Your child’s existing knowledge of shapes will determine whether they will be working on 2D shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, star) or 3D shapes (cuboid, cube, sphere, cone and cylinder). A good idea is to take a shape walk around your house our local area and see how the world is made up of their shapes.

By the end of this week, the children:
MUST be able to name and identify a 2D shape when shown
SHOULD be able to sort all the 2D shapes when given set criteria ;
COULD be able to name, describe and identify any 2D from its description and sort using their own criteria

Here are some good websites also.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/Phase2delivery/Wales/Artanddesign/Keystage1/Making/Shapepictures/Introduction/ - the children review their recognition of 2d shapes and then look for them in pictures. The children also get the opportunity to create their own shape picture on the computer.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/build_it/eng/Introduction/default.htm - a good website for seeing how models are make up of 3D shapes.
http://www.learningplanet.com/act/rats/rats1.htm?rats_shapes - a great website. The children must catch the given shape but no others.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/simpleshapesort.swf - shape sorting activity according to properties.
http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/kidsonly/findout/shape/shapes.htm - a good website to help the children match, find, build and discover the properties of the 2D shapes.
http://demo.iboard.co.uk/screens/thread_home.htm?thread_id=2 - the children can copy shape pictures by clicking and dragging them. They can then go on to create their own.
http://www.ictgames.com/Y1shape.html - parts of a shape are shown and the children have to guess the shape.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/memory.html - this is a fantastic game to help the children develop their visual memory techniques.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/shapereveal.swf the children have to guess the shape as it is revealed. They can chose to use 2d or 3d shapes.
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/MatchingPairs3Dshape.swf - 3D shape matching game.
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/online/longshape3d.html - a good website. The children have to identify the shape that is partially hidden in sand and then click on the correct labelled picture.
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/castle_shapes/eng/Introduction/default.htm - identifying 2D and 3D shapes.
http://www.ictgames.com/Y2shape.html - guess the 3D shape.
http://www.rainforestmaths.com/ -by clicking on the shapes label you will be able to make patterns with 2D shapes. If you also click on the space row under 3D and 2D shapes you will have to sort different shapes according to the given criteria.

Alternatively, you could go on a shape walk around the house or local area and see what shapes you can find.

CHALLENGE! Why not write some clues about a shape and see if the class can guess what shape it is?

Here I Am
The children will begin their new topic on JOURNEYS. They will learn to:
RECOGNISE that a journey is to travel from one place to another;
REFLECT on journeys the children have made themselves;
RESPECT and appreciate that they make many journeys.

As you can see this ties in really well with the overall theme of JOURNEYS. Maybe you could start to plan that Summer holiday now with your child? Talk about how they might get there and how they will get from one place to another when they are there. You could also look at previous holiday photographs and talk about the journey that you made as a family to get there – were there any problems and how did you overcome them?

Well, we are well are truly back to work now! Here's to a great 2009!


Have a great week everyone!

Best wishes
Jayne Narraway and the Foundation Stage Team xxx