Class News

It’s the Easter holidays…

…so we have no set homework or spellings, in line with our Homework Policy.

That doesn’t mean we expect your child not to be developing their skills in reading, writing and maths!

Your child should be reading daily – this could be fiction, factual books, a comic or newspaper, and could include being read to at bedtime, too.

It would be good to practise basic skills in writing by writing a letter or email to a relative, perhaps recounting a day-trip or reviewing a film your child watched.

We’re finding quite a few children are ‘squashing their sentences’ such as I went to Leeds City Museum it was really interesting which is wrong.  It would be much better with punctuation to separate or a word to join:

• I went to Leeds City Museum. It was really interesting. (A comma isn’t strong enough to separate two sentences.)
• I went to Leeds City Museum – it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum; it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum and it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum which was really interesting.

Finally, to improve calculation skills, please keep practising mental number facts which your child must know:

• number bonds (two numbers which add up to 10, 20 and 100 eg 3+7, 13+7, 30+70) – these facts should be known by children in Y1 – Y2
• times tables (up to 12×12) and the division facts with your child – children in Y2 should have rapid recall of x2, x 5 and x 10 at least

We know we mention these ‘basics’ a lot, but that’s because they involve practice, practice and more practice – we practise a lot at school, but your child will need to practise at home, too, if they are to truly succeed.

Learn more about current expectations for reading, writing and maths.  However, do be aware that a new National Curriculum comes into effect from September, meaning these expectations have been raised and so many aspects of learning now feature in younger age groups.

Have you always wanted to be a superhero?

Have you always wanted to be a superhero?

Do you know what your super power would be?

Go to Moor Allerton Library on Tuesday 27 May from 2.30 – 3.30 pm and meet an author, Jason Beresford.  Discover the adventures of the Fabulous Fish Finger gang.

This is a free event, no booking required.

Sentences

Explaining to young children what a sentence is can be difficult. Through reading, children quickly learn that a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. They are told that a sentence makes sense on its own and is complete; that it makes sense in some way such as consisting of an idea.  Helping children to recognise when they have written a sentence is more difficult.

How you can help at home:

• When reading with your child, point out the sentences and punctuation in the book
• Encourage your child to think of the whole sentence (an idea) and say it aloud before they begin to write
• Get them into the habit of rereading and checking their writing
• Read a sentence aloud and ask your child to count the words
• Model speaking in sentences and give your child lots of opportunity to construct sentences orally

Solving problems in maths

When I returned from Finland, it was clear that Mr Wilks had taught us well in multiplication. I set the children a challenge using grid method. I gave them all of the numbers but not yet placed in their section of the grid. In groups, they had to figure out what went where and then tell me what my calculation was.

Everybody rose to the challenge, working very effectively in teams. Well done!

Sporting heroes

So far in our heroes topic, we have explored superheroes, heroes from the past and community heroes. This week, our focus has been on heroes in sport. We were lucky enough to be visited by Keith Senior, a retired Leeds Rhinos player. Lots of us had some very interesting questions.

How long have you been playing rugby? 20 years.
Why did you retire? I got a knee injury.
Have you ever got cuts and bruises? Yes lots!