Supporting your child at home
Firstly, thank you for all the support with your child’s learning. We are very impressed with the children’s attitude and enthusiasm to continuing and extending their learning at home.
As you will be aware, Lexia is a reading and phonics based online program and, in Year 1, we have been using this app on a regular basis. Once your child has received their level 5 certificate, they no longer need to work on this at home as they have completed the Year 1 program of learning.
We’ve just signed up to Numbots and your child will have brought their login details home on Thursday. This is a great app and website for practising addition and subtraction facts (our current maths learning) and it’s great to see so many of the children have already accessed this resource. There are 15 different games, each with a different focus. Topics covered include doubles and number bonds to 10, 20 and 100.
Another great maths resource is Hit the Button. Select number bonds (to 10) when using this.
PhonicsPlay is a great website that we often use in our daily phonics lessons. In each game, you can select the phase of phonics and, more specifically, which letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes) to focus on. The games are a fun way to practise reading sounds, real words, alien words and sentences. Login details are Sphere (user name) and Spher3 (password). Check out the Resources page. In class, we have recently reviewed Phase 3 and we are now working on Phase 4 so please select these when using this at home.
As with all of these resources, little and often is the best way to use these at home.
In addition, our Home learning page provides an overview of our learning in class for the week. Finally, it’s definitely also worth checking out our Help your child and Calculations and times tables pages which both contain a range of ideas, links and activities – even just a bit of regular practice of handwriting can make loads of difference!
If you have any questions or queries about the above resources, please contact us by email (carolinetaylor@spherefederation.org and jackiefreeman@spherefederation.org).
Maths: part whole models
The part-whole model is the concept of how numbers can be split into parts. Children using this model will see the relationship between the whole number and the component parts. This helps learners make the connections between addition and subtraction.
Last week, Year 1 started learning about the part whole model and how a number can be partitioned into two or more parts. The children were confident in creating the model and writing the appropriate calculation.
5 + 2 = 7
2 + 5 = 7
To build on this concept, we began to look at addition fact families. The children were taught that the order of an addition sentence can vary and they are now beginning to realise that addition is commutative.
Once the children were familiar with swapping the parts, in the number sentence, we explored whether the whole could be moved to create more fact families.
5 + 2 = 7
2 + 5 = 7
7 = 5 + 2
7 = 2 + 5
Writing: similes
We’ve been learning about similes this morning in our writing lesson.
We used an app called Padlet to collate our similes. We then read them as a class and edited them if they needed correcting or improving.
“The red panda moved as quick as lightning to save its adorable cub.”
“The newly washed clothes were as soft as silk.”
History: using historical sources
In yesterday’s history lesson, we learned about the Battle of Thermopylae – a famous battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Persians.
We learned about a Greek historian who wrote about the battle and about the weapons and armour that the Greek soldiers would have had.
We then became military commanders to show the events of the battle.
Times Tables Rock Stars/NumBots
As you all know, Times Tables Rock Stars is an app and website that we use in school to quicken the recall of tables facts.
Here in Y3, we have been using this app on a regular basis and there has been progress in our recalling speed of our table facts.
This post is simply a reminder that it’s something that you can use at home, too. If you have any questions, send me an email and I am more than happy to help.
Each game is short so you don’t need lots of time – ten minutes each day would be ideal.
Regular practise has shown great progress with children’s times tables.
We also know that our times tables open up the door to many other areas of maths.
We’ve just signed up to Numbots, too. Perhaps more suited to younger children or children who need a bit of extra support with the basics, this is a great app and website for practising addition and subtraction facts. Your child can use it at home too – they login using the same details they use for Times Tables Rock Stars. There are 15 different games, each with a different focus. Topics covered include doubles and number bonds to 10, 20 and 100.
Thanks for all your support so far this year and as always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, send me an email: oliwain@spherefederation.org
Children in Need
Don’t forget!
Tomorrow, Friday 13 November, is Children in Need.
It will be a non-uniform day for a donation towards the charity.
Living and Learning
Our Living and Learning statement this week is:
In Y3, we have been reflecting on this statement all week.
For our homework, we talked about and wrote down some of the things that make us special.
We also enjoyed an assembly about how we are all the same and different. The children in Y3 had lots to share about this statement – it was great!
I’m looking forward to our L&L session on Friday where we will revisit working cooperatively and remind ourselves to do this all the time!
If you haven’t done so already, ask your child what makes them the same and different!
Children in Need
Tomorrow, Friday 13 November, is Children in Need.
It will be a non-uniform day for a donation towards the charity.
Reading as Historians!
Continuing our Ancient Greece learning, we have been looking at the Golden Age – this was between c. 500-300 BC.
Here are some pictures of us ordering key events from Ancient Greece’s history chronologically.
Ask your child what chronology means!
For us to be able to do this, we had to carefully read the different events throughout Greece’s history and match them up with the correct dates.
Keep up the hard work, Y3!
Isolating at home?
Here is some home learning for when you can’t be with us at school.
Remember to send pictures of your child’s home learning to moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org
Phonics
We have been learning e, u, r this week.
Sing along to these Jolly Phonics songs.
(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.
https://youtu.be/4VknD1I0Zc4
Literacy
We are reading the story ‘Owl Babies’.
Listen to the story here.
Draw some of the events from the story and label your pictures using your phonic knowledge.
Maths
We are continuing to learn about the number 3.
Count out 1,2, or 3 objects and then use a cloth to hide them. Can your child show how many are hidden using their fingers? Add one more object to the hidden group. How many are there now? What happens if you take one out?
Please send photos of your learning.