KS1 Dictation for writing
All the children have made a great start to their writing journeys this year. We have been really pleased with their enthusiasm.
In Key Stage One, we use dictation as a tool to help children with their writing. During dictation, the teachers will either have sentences already in mind or they will discuss and decide on a sentence with the children. Dictation allows children to watch as an adult models using different writing skills effectively. Together we practise letter formation, spacing between words, spelling, where and when to use punctuation such as capital letters and full stops. Teachers also model how to listen to sounds in words and write the corresponding letters.
Here are some examples of our dictated sentences:
Help at home: You could think of some simple sentences to write with your child at home. These could be about anything at all from writing about what you did at the weekend or a sentence about a film or a program you have watched on the telly.
Ask them about the process and how they do it school. I’m sure they’d be happy to share with you how skilful they are at counting the words in the sentence and using their Phoneme Fingers to listen for sounds in words. You could also include some tricky words or some of your child’s spelling words.
Living and learning : manners
We highlighted manners in our Living and Learning lessons last week (but the message will continue all year).
Small words can make a big difference.
We also talked about greeting other people and also how powerful smiling at other people can be.
Help at home by modelling good manners.
Year 6 high school taster day
Today, the year 6’s enjoyed the opportunity to spend a day in the life of a high school student. Upon arrival, we kicked off the day with PE and and food technology. The children were challenged to beat their best times possible on the rowing machines. This resulted in lots of sweating and competitiveness. In food technology, we cooked a healthy vegetable stir fry. The children were able to apply their cutting and chopping skills that they had learnt at Scholes to this lesson.
Drama gave the children an opportunity to work collaboratively to create freeze frames to express their interpretation on different images. Finally, we applied our coding knowledge to crack a code and create a game.
English – reading and writing
We have been reading several versions of Little Red Riding Hood in the first few weeks of September. Most of the children have heard the story before and we enjoyed comparing different versions. Bethan Woollvin has written several ‘twisted tales’ and we enjoyed her version – Little Red.
We decided Little Red is a fearless, brave and clever character in this story. We had to use our inference skills because the story does not directly tell us this.
We have also used these books to give us ideas to write sentences, discuss new words and read with prosody (expression).
What big teeth you have grandma!
Help at home by reading stories out loud to your child and showing a love of reading.
KS1 Maths-Numbots time!
All children in Year 1 have been given an account and login for Numbots. This is an interactive tool that school heavily invests in for your child. It is an engaging platform to help your child learn the foundations of maths.
Numbots is all about every child achieving the ‘triple win’ of understanding, recall and fluency in mental addition and subtraction, so that they move from counting to calculating.-Numbots Innovators.
We have seen the amazing impact that Numbots can have on a child’s knowledge and confidence in Maths. Numbots is part of the weekly homework for Year 1 children. Please can we ask that you make this tool a part of your weekly family routine. Once children have logged on a few times, they’re hooked and really enjoy ‘playing’!
We have class leader boards that tell us the amount of time, amount of correct answers etc for each child. In our weekly celebration assembly we reveal the weekly winners and give certificates. Who will it be next week?
(For Your Information: Once children have completed the Numbots levels they can then move on to TTRockstars which is based on multiplication and division.)
If you are experiencing an difficulties with logging on, please chat to your child’s teacher.
Help at home: Help your child log on to their Numbots account. Guide them to navigate the devise being used and let them impress you!
Living and Learning : 8Rs for learning
Last week’s Living and Learning statement is ‘I use the 8 Rs to help me learn.’
In KS1 we have been discussing each of the 8 Rs and how they are important in supporting our learning. They are:
- being ready
- being responsive
- being reflective
- being resourceful
- remembering
- risk-taking
- being resilient
- being responsible
Being ready is one of our school rules. We are learning our new routines really well and getting better and better at being ready.
1A Class Reward
In 1A we have a class motto: ‘We’re not collecting warnings, we’re collecting marbles!’ For the past 3 weeks children have been putting marbles into a jar for excellent behaviour, good manners, superb work, listening to instructions, lining up beautifully…the list goes on. In short, our marble jar was filled to the top and because of this we had a class treat. The adventure playground in KS2 was a well deserved reward for everyone in 1A.
Living and Learning : school rules
We have been talking about our school rules since we came back to school. They are useful rules for life too and help make our school a happy and healthy place to learn.
Help at home by talking about why we have rules.
The Great Big Book of Families
This week we’ve been reading The Great Big Book of Families. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.) Through the book, we have explored and celebrated the variety of families. Children had lots of suggestions about what makes a family.
What is a family?
People who live in the same house.
People don’t have to live in the same house.
They love each other.
Grandma and Grandad because they can live in your house.
In the writing area, we drew our families and we used loose parts to make the faces of people in our families.
Help at home: Family photos
Thank you for sending your family photos. There’s still time to email one if you haven’t had the chance yet. Over the next few weeks, we will also be thinking about our homes. To help support our discussions and art project, please send in one picture of your front door. You can email photos to scholesreception@spherefederation.org
Maths
We’ve been using our subitising skills in maths this week. When subitising, we can say how many there are in a small group by ‘just looking’ and knowing without needing to count.
We used counters to create our own arrangements of 2 and 3 and sorted pictures into groups showing 1, 2 and 3.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) s,a,t and p.
During our phonics learning, we listened carefully to the initial sound in a word and sorted objects into those that started with ‘s’ and those that didn’t.
In Reception, we learn to say the pure sounds that letters make, so for ‘s’, we say ‘ssss’ rather than ‘suh’. To hear the pronunciation for each letter, you might like to watch this short video clip of the letters we’ll be learning this half term.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Poetry Picnic
Each week, we will learn a new poem and will recite this poem every day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Chop Chop.
Chop Chop
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop.
Cut off the bottom and cut off the top.
What there is left, we put in the pot.
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop
And here are a few other snap shots of our learning this week.
eBooks
Next week, you will be issued your first eBook to share with your child. Your login details and reading record will be sent home soon. Please let us know if you do not have access to a device to read at home, as we have iPads for loan at the school office.
Please read with your child each week. As teachers, we have access to reading reports. We will be giving out certificates in class to celebrate your child’s reading at home.
Reception Baseline Assessment
Within the first 6 weeks of Reception, your child will participate in the reception baseline assessment.
“The RBA is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with. It became statutory for all schools from September 2021.”
Click here to find out more.
‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting
Thank you to those parents/carers who were able to attend our ‘Welcome to Reception’ presentation on Thursday evening. We hope you found it informative.
If you were unable to attend or would like to re-visit the subjects we discussed, please click here to be taken to a PDF version of the slides used in the presentation.