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Phonics mornings

Next week, we’ll be holding phonics sessions for parents on Wednesday 21, Thursday 22 and Friday 23 of January at 9 am.

During these sessions you will have the opportunity to see how we teach tricky words and long vowel phonemes. We will explain words such as ‘digraph‘ and ‘polysyllabic‘ and give you ideas for supporting your child at home in their independent writing.

Please let us know which day you wish to attend.

We look forward to seeing you next week.

Open morning

Thank you to the parents who visited us this morning. Each parent watched the teaching and learning in two classes (30 minutes each), then discussed what they’d seen with Mrs Weekes and me. The feedback was really positive and very useful. Here are some of the comments:

• “This was a great opportunity to visit the school and see lessons taking place.  Great behaviour in classes.  Nice mix of teaching styles.”
• “Great teaching and behaviour and lots of learning… All the children were on task and knew what they were doing.”
• “In Year 4, there was excellent rapport with kids who were on-task and motivated.”
• “The varied teaching methods, the engagement of the classes, the level of knowledge all impressed me.”
• “In Year 2, lots of support and the children knew what they were doing.”
• “Everyone was involved in Year 1 – all the children were concentrating despite being so young.  There were lots of methods to teach.”

Parents raised some points for us to consider:

Talented Year 1

This half term our SEAL theme is Good to be me.  For homework, this week, Year 1 have been asked to discuss, Why is it good to be you? What is your talent?

We will be discussing this homework in our SEAL lesson on Wednesday and it would be great if your child could bring in anything to support this homework (for example: a recorder, swimming certificates) on Wednesday as this will feed into our upcoming class assembly on Thursday 22 January.

We’re looking forward to hearing all about these talents.

Topic

Samba is our current mini-topic (mini-topics usually last just two weeks).  It was great to see so many children have such good rhythm and timing whilst learning about Samba music. The children enjoyed making their own music as part of a Samba band, although I think Mrs O’Malley will be pleased when the noise is over!

The whole-school Big Topic starts Monday 19 January: Time Travel.  We’re learning all about medicine through the ages. To kick start our journey through time, we’ll embark on a history workshop followed by a visit to the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds. From early medical breakthroughs to scientific advancements, this topic will have your child exploring the life of a patient in 1861 to present day and beyond. Beware…things could get a little gory!

Encourage your child to talk about and research topic subjects at home. Talk to grandparents and others about what they know. Take a trip to the local library, or research on the internet.

Maths

Some of the areas we will be covering in Maths this half-term are, with an example of how to support for each:

• place value – practise saying a larger number for your child to write using digits
• multiplication – make sure your child has rapid recall of their 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 times tables (this means being able to say the answer straight away, rather than counting up to the answer
• division – and make sure they can recall the corresponding division facts, too
• measurement – do lots of measuring at home when ever an adult is using measures, whether length (compare journey distances in kilometres and miles); mass (weigh everyone in the family in kilograms each week); capacity (look at how much cartons of juice, bottles of milk etc hold)
• money – keep receipts and talk about the prices of things you’ve bought so your child has an idea of the value of things

In Year 3 the children are expected to know their 2, 3, 4 and 8 times tables. Therefore, we will continue to focus on one of these each week.

Don’t forget: your child has a log in to access Mathletics. I frequently monitor their usage and progress whilst also assigning certain tasks. Have a go at some of the activities to ensure your child is getting the best from this with your support!

09 January 2015

Happy New Year!

Here are this week’s spellings.  There will be a spelling test on Friday 16 January.

09 January 2015

This week’s homework is talk time.

Why is it good to be you? What is your talent?

Make sure your child is able to talk about this on Wednesday 14 January.

If you would like to share this talent with more people then sign up for “Moortown’s Got Talent” on Monday. Auditions will be held soon.

Writing

Writing is key to our English lessons. We’ve already written reports about Samba and we’re soon to write promotions linked to our Time Travel topic.

Spellings this term will follow a similar structure to last term: ten spellings will be given but only eight will be tested. The words are set in line with the 2013 National Curriculum with a focus on the spelling patterns and root words.

How can you help?

• Little but often spelling practice is the best way to support your child. Try spelling the words aloud, writing the words, spotting the words in the books you read with your child etc.

Reading

Our new class novel is a classic: The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett and comes recommended as a childhood favourite of Mr Roundtree and Mrs Weekes! The novel tells of the Ruggles family of seven children in the 20th century – it’ll tie in great with our Time Travel topic!

You can read an overview of the book or an interesting review.

How can you help?

• Be sure to ask your child how they’re finding the novel and make comparisons between your family and the Ruggles.
• Guided reading groups will continue to read each day – your child must have their guided reading book with them and have read to the agreed target page.

09 January 2015

The spellings this week are all words which contain the suffix ible.