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Meet the artists in Year 1

The first week of our Big Topic has been really busy. We had an amazing day with Splats – the children worked on their scene from Katie’s Picture Show for 45 minutes and then it all came together for a professional performance. Well done to all of the children and thank you to Arran who co-ordinated the whole day and narrated the story in the performance. There are a few photos below from the day and also some photos of our own artists – following Vincent Van Gogh’s lead, drawing sunflowers.

19 September 2014

This week’s homework is talk time homework.  Your child needs to be ready to talk about this homework on Wednesday 24 September.

What did Katie do?

There should be lots to talk about this week after our exciting day with Splats.  Here are some questions you might want to ask:

• Who is Katie?
• What happened when she went to the art gallery with Grandma?
• Who did she meet in the paintings?
• Which painting would you like to go inside?
• Did anything in the paintings change?

As this is talk time homework,  we do not expect lots of written work from the children.  There is a slight change in expectations this year – please make a few brief notes showing what was discussed.  Older children are expected to write their own notes but this is something that we can develop during the year.

We are looking forward to hearing all about your discussions.

19 September 2014

Here are this week’s spellings. There will be a spelling test on Friday 26 September.

Well done to all of the children who did really well with their spellings this week.  Year 1 did particularly well seeing as it was their first spelling test.  Here are some ways that you can help your child learn their spellings:

• spend 5 minutes every night looking at the new spellings
• use the words in sentences: if you put the word in context then it might be easier to remember
• turn the telly off

19 September 2014

Our homeworks this week are Talk Time and Practice Makes Perfect and are due in on Wednesday 24 September.

The Talk Time homework is I can talk about the types of books I like and why I like them. 

Children should talk to you and other family members and friends about the subject. They need to have a good awareness of different genres of story and that authors write in a particular style to suit a particular audience. This discussion will hopefully help children with this.

The Practice Makes Perfect homework is I can write descriptive sentences about a character.

This week in English, we have been writing descriptions of characters in the Fighting Fantasy books. Your child has a picture of a character in their homework books and should write about this character. Below is a quick guide with a couple of ideas for how you could help your child to improve their descriptive sentences.

Start with quite a simple sentence:

The scary monster was holding a battle-axe.

1. Improve the vocabulary

The scary monster was holding a battle-axe.  Scary isn’t a strong enough adjective for this sentence so I’m going to change that and improve the vocabulary in the rest of the sentence: The petrifying monster was wielding an enormous battle-axe. 

3. Include an add-in (opener, ender or middler) to their sentence.

I’m going to add a middler to our sentence to give the reader some more information about the monster. Notice the commas used to separate the middler from the rest of the sentence: The petrifying monster, who was bearing down on me, was wielding an enormous battle-axe which was covered in dried blood.

19 September 2014

This week, the spellings are all verbs which have the suffix ‘ate’. Your child will have one of two lists in their learning list. They should learn all the words on the relevant list.

Please make sure your child is spending around ten minutes each evening learning these.  As well as this, there are other ways to support your child at home:

• Use the words in sentences: your child might create some sentences, or you might dictate a sentence to them.  Each sentence might include just one adjective from the list above, or – for a challenge – include two, three or more! (I’ve then included a current affairs themed example, but this shouldn’t be needed after a while!)
• Look out for other words which have a suffix when reading with your child each evening.
• Turn the telly off and use the words in discussions around the table each evening, or on your way to school.All the words are adjectives – words that describe things (nouns); create a ‘bank’ of other ambitious adjectives, and start using them in every day conversation.All the words are adjectives – words that describe things (nouns); create a ‘bank’ of other ambitious adjectives, and start using them in every day conversation.All the words are adjectives – words that describe things (nouns); create a ‘bank’ of other ambitious adjectives, and start using them in every day conversation.
• All the words are verbs. Create a ‘bank’ of other ambitious verbs, and start using them in every day conversation.

Sunflowers – by Year 2

We’ve got art fever in Year 2 with the start of Big Topic. We’re looking at a series of books based around a little girl called Katie. She visits the Art Gallery with her Grandma but always manages to get into mischief by journey right into the paintings!

Katie knocked over  Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ in this weeks story but don’t panic – we’ve created our own (that’s just as good, if not better) to replace them.

Here’s how we created this whole class piece of art…

Martha even had a go at doing her own coloured version at home.

Yoga through the rainforest

Year 2 went on a journey through the rainforest on Wednesday but nobody left their yoga mat! We had great fun doing a rain dance as we got used to the rainforest’s humid climate and then climbed trees and met many animals before sailing down the Amazon and back home. Take a look at our fantastic poses.

What a great yoga class. Well done, Year 2!

19 September 2014

This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due on Wednesday 24 September 2014.

I can talk about a painting.

Have a discussion at home (maybe over dinner) about ‘Sunflowers’ by Vincent Van Gogh. Here are some questions that might help your discussion.

• Do you like the painting? Why?
• What colours have been used?
• Why did the artist choose to paint it?
• Would you want it up in your house?
• How much do you think it would cost to buy the original?

From this year, your child is expected to make some notes about they they’ve discussed.  Also, please could you (the adult) sign the page or possibly write a comment to show that this homework has been discussed and how your child engaged in the discussion.

Did you know yoga means union?

From balances to relaxation, Year 1 had a very calming end of the day with a yoga session with Roisin who runs a local children’s yoga class at Yoga Kula in Chapel Allerton.  Information will be sent out about her class for any children who are interested in doing yoga regularly.

Take a look at some of our poses.

Vincent Van Gogh or Kandinsky?

Today we have started our new Big Topic, Katie and… based on the books by James Mayhew.

Year 1 had some great group discussions about likes and dislikes of a number of famous paintings.  We concluded that it was ok to each have our own opinions and to respect others’ opinions, too.