Week 5 in Key Stage 1...

HI.. Hope you are all having a fabulous weekend... Well another week done and ready to start a further week of learning.... I just don't know where all the time is going!
Here is what is happening this week....

Literacy - We are continuing to write non-chronological reports on Space - this week we are delving a little deeper into the Space Race.
We are expecting children to write facts about the Space Race in order to make their non-chronological reports exciting and interesting for the reader.

Numeracy -We are still thinking about Place Value but we are going to explore place value with money!
We want children to be able to
- find different amounts with coins
- Understand that 30p and 4p = 34p
- Understand when they see 4 x 10p's and 7 x 1p's  it totals 47p
- Investigate how they can make different amounts in different ways
- Use greater and less than signs to show which amount is more/less
- Order different amounts of money through partitioning from the least to the most

Topic - We are exploring the Space Race. We have lots of exciting activities planned.

- Children to complete Space Pictures
- Children to make their own facts booklets about the Space Race
- Make a time line of the Space Race

Remember E-Safety

We are continuing to talk to the children about been safe on the internet.

So far we have talked about what inforation is safe to give and that that is not.
Children have particiapted in exercises that demonstrate that certain information is specific to them and must not be shared.

They have also completed posters about the rules of keeping safe.


Class 2 Have Boubon the attendance bear this week... We are after some ideas of something different that we can do with Bourbon any ideas let us know through the comments section.

On Tuesday saw lots of parents descend into our KS1 classes. We had lots of fun and I hope you did too.
The purpose of the afternoon was to enlighten you to our teaching approaches, specific focuses we are establishing this year.
E.g mental maths and reading
We endeavoured to show you quite a bit in a short space of time.

Here is some headlines from my talk afterwards.

Homework
Spellings will be sent out and we expect children to learn them. We will be looking for them in their writing. In my experience testing children does not mean they apply in their writing. Team points will be given if we spot them!
Only one set of spellings will be sent home across Key Stage 1. You would be surprised by how many children do not know these spellings across the whole of KS1.


Reading please read wth your child as frequently as it is possible. Getting into a bedtime routine often helps. This is something I did with my children and they couldn't wait to open their new book! As they are now teeenagers... I do miss those times!

Mental maths homework will be sent home and it will be linked to what we are doing within class.
If you are unsure please come in and see the staff.

Phonics folders will come home but we expect the children to take some responsibility to remember to take their folder out of their tray! A gentle reminder would be helpful if they don't come home with it! Pleaase use the phonics folder for the children to show you what new sounds or revisited sounds they are currently learing in class.

Trips

There will be two trips across the course of this year. 1 to Skipton Castle and 1 to The Deep. We will be operating a payment from Autumn 2 in order to spread the cost of the trips across the year.mPlease look out for deatils around this.


I also talked about our successful year in 2012/2013.

Phonics had an improvement of 23% pass rate to 93% on the previous year.
KS1 data had a significant improvement in all three areas of reading, writing and numeracy.
We expect this to be significantly improved again this year.

We are having a phonics meeting on Tuesday after school in Class 2... everyone is welcome!

And the last thing...

We are not perfect... but

you have educating your children a dedicated, hard working and caring team of teachers and support staff.

Please remember we are always looking to imporve what we do... so if you do have anything please feel free to pop in and see me!

Many thanks

Sam Golia and the KS1 teaching team

KS1 meeting

Thanks to all those parents that came this afternoon. We had a fun afternoon of maths! Lot's of information was given and lot's of questions asked. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and please remember come and speak to us if you think we can improve anything we are doing!
I will write up all the information given this afternoon and put it on the blog for you to digest in your own time!
Enjoy your evening.

MIss Golia

Week 4

Another very busy week in KS1! Everyday we seem to have more giant rockets, planets and aliens filling our classrooms! The writing the children are producing seems to prove how much they are enjoying this space topic.
The hard work the children are putting into their phonics and writing skills is really beginning to show - have a look below at William Kearsley's writing about his alien. He is in Class 1 and he was chosen as the Writer of the Week for the whole of Key stage 1 - what a superstar!

 

Thank you for returning the homework, it was fantastic to see just how hard the children work at home to produce such good work. Each week the homework will have a numeracy focus (going over the work covered in class) and a spelling focus. In future it will go out on a Wednesday to be returned on the following Monday. Many thanks as well for the continued support with reading at home, it really does make a difference!
 

 

 

 

Next Week ...

Literacy
In literacy this week, we will be reading a lovely book, ' One Giant Leap - The Story of Neil Armstrong.' We will also be watching clips of the Apollo 11 launch and landings which we are sure the children will love! They will then use this information to write their own non chronological report about the Apollo 11 mission using sub headings, captions, pictures and questions. What alot of things to remember!

 

 

Numeracy


In numeracy this week we will continue partitioning with Maltesers! The children are becoming quite expert now! We will also order numbers and introduce the symbols for greater than (>) and less than (<). We will then move on to adding/ subtracting 10 and using number squares refreshing the memories of the children in Year 2.

 

 

 

 

A reminder

 

Don't forget on Tuesday afternoon you are invited to our Mental maths session followed by a welcome and information meeting with Miss Golia, our Key Stage 1 phase leader. The session begins at 1.30 and it would be great if you could join us!

 

 

Have an enjoyable weekend

 

The Key Stage 1 team

Milk Reminder

Last week, letters were sent home to ask if children will be having milk on a morning. Thank you to those of you who have returned these letters. Please could we ask any outstanding replies to be returned as soon as possible to ensure that we can order the correct amount of milk for the children.

Many thanks
The Key Stage 1 Team

Week 3

This week the children have begun to settle back into school routines. It's great to see the children bringing in their home reading book eager to build up those stars in their reading record so that they have the opportunity to become the week's ******STAR READER****. (If the children change their book three times in a week they are rewarded with a special sticker and the opportunity to be the chosen STAR READER for the week.) Many thanks for all the support you give the children with their reading.
The children had their first PE sessions of the year and this half term our focus is dance. Using Holst's Planet Suite the children will create their own dance routines. Why not click on the You tube link  to enjoy the music for yourself.
 (Please can you ensure all your child's uniform is named as already some children are missing jumpers and cardigans following PE sessions - thank you.)

Again this week we have been invaded by aliens. They have been mysteriously appearing in our classrooms ....  have a look at some of them - if you dare!!!

Ooh scary!!

Also the children are still working hard at home and bringing in some absolutely fabulous Learning Log Space creations - using their Design Technology skills and junk material to create super space models.

 

This week has seen the start of activity clubs and despite one or two hiccups the children have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to show their skills in - gardening, baking, art, sports, ICT, story reading and much more. What a talented bunch we have in Keystage One!

 Next Week ...

Literacy
In literacy this week, we will be continuing with our current writing block, non-chronological reports. We will be reading the book 'The King of Space' by Jonny Duddle and the children will be designing their own robot and writing a non-chronological report about the special features of their robots. Children will be focusing on the features of a non-chronological report, including the title, subtitles, images, caption, quick facts and bullet points.                


Numeracy


is 100

In numeracy this week it's all about Maltesers. The children will be learning or in the case of the Year 2 children, refreshing their memories on how we can use the Malteser method to partition numbers. 


is 10

 

It works like this...

is 1

 

 

 Can the Year 2's remember what a bucket of Malteser's represents?

Quick Quiz ... How would you partition
11, 23, 42, 66, 125 or 327

We hope you've had a fantastic weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday,
The Key Stage 1 Team

Purple Mash...

Hi ...
Here are some purple mash projects you can get creative with....


Make an alien profile...
http://www.purplemash.com/Alienprofile/

Moon landing reseacrch
http://www.purplemash.com/moon_landing_research/

Create a planet profile....
http://www.purplemash.com/planetprofile/


Have fun and remember to use the comment section to tell us how much you enjoyed it.

Gateway to ICT in KS1

HI ....
All passwords to our ICT platforms will be sent out ASAP... with a rigorous review of our E safety policy we have reset all passwords. We will provide children with a passport to some fabulous resources. However, we do encourage and expect children to learn their passwords.
In my experience they have a better memory than I do, especially when it comes to using SUMDOG!!

Miss Golia

Life in Key Stage One....

I have enjoyed describing the aliens. by Izzy.

I have  enjoyed making play dough aliens. by Acacia.

Week 2

Wow! The first full week of the new school year is here and it is an exciting week at that. Last week, children settled in fantastically to their new classes and got back into learning without even blinking an eye. The atmosphere in KS1 was fantastic and you would not have known the children had only been back three days!

Our topic this half-term is SPACE!! We started the school year off with receiving some amazing learning log projects about space which clearly showed the children had been busy over the summer holidays. So many fantastic projects were received. Well done KS1 on some fantastic home learning. Here is just a selection of some of the fantastic work below:

We started the term off with an alien theme. We designed our own aliens, modelled them out of plasticine and play-dough, wrote reports about our aliens and even investigated the forces needed to make a 'blow-paint alien'. Here are some examples of the children's fabulous work below:













 This Week ...

Literacy
In literacy this week, we will be continuing with our current writing block, non-chronological reports. We will be reading the book 'Bob's Best Ever Friend by Simon Bartram' and the children will be designing their own best friend for Bob and writing a non-chronological report about this friend. Children will be focusing on the features of a non-chronological report, including the title, subtitles, images, caption, quick facts and bullet points.

Numeracy
In numeracy this week, we will be looking at number patterns and identifying how many a pattern is increasing by. Towards the end of the week, we will be investigating odd and even numbers.

Quick Quiz ... can you sort these numbers into odd and even and post your response on the blog? How you know you are right?

1,  14, 18, 21, 101, 1005

We hope you have had a fantastic weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday,
The Key Stage 1 Team

Welcome to the new year... 2013- 2014

Welcome back!!!

I trust you have had a fabulous holiday and feel relaxed and have enjoyed the time with your children. I myself have had a great time this holiday and spent some quality time with my girls! It's not all been freedom the KS1 team have met up frequently during the holidays in order to plan the exciting activities over the few weeks. We also have spent a subtantial amount of time setting up the classrooms with new stock which I am sure your children will come and tell you about. Please feel free to go into your child's class and have a look at the vibrant displays and fabulous areas of provision the team have worked hard to make them all Space related!

The topic this half term is 'Destination Outer Space'. We are really blasting off with all things Space. We will be writing non-chronological reports about aliens, planets, Space Race, the Sun and the Moon.

Please ask what your child's writing target is.... they may even show a lovely looking symbol! We encourage parents to pop in after school and speak to class teachers and look through books... Please take up the opportunity to do this. If you wish to speak to your class teacher about any concerns, you can make an appointment with the class teacher via the office or directly after school. Please respect the staff's role in a morning. It is important that staff are available to see all children in safely and conduct the register by 8:50.

In numeracy we are are exploring Numbers and the Number System. This will involve reading numbers, writing numbers, counting in 1's,2's,5's,10's and even 3's and 4's, understanding what each digit represents in a number, patterns in number e.g odds and evens, number sequences, estimating and rounding.... WOW! It's a lot but with this under their belt it will set them up for a year of fabulous numeracy learning.

In topic we are making blow paint aliens, space pictures, making our own rockets, learning about forces including gravity, looking at famous astronauts such as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and the Apollo Mission. We will making time lines of the Space Race and Neil Armstong's life, understanding that the sun is a light source and the moon reflects light....

We really are in for a fantastic first half term of learning!!!!

Reading - please be patient with teachers as they spend a few weeks jiggling groups around for Guided Reading and the home reading scheme.
You may find your child comes home with a lower level band than previously had. This does not mean your child has suddenly dropped a level. Your class teacher maybe consolidating previous learning and allowing your child to get up to speed after several weeks of holiday!

Please make use of the library and Bug Club to enhance your child's diet of books. The library is open after school and you are free to take a book, enjoy it and then return it. There really are some amazing books that have been invested in by Mrs Bailey and our fabulous Literacy Miss Fowler.

I will be doing a story telling club in the library on a Thursday afternoon. Please come and join me to choose books for your child.

Thanks
Sam Golia - KS1 Phase Leader
and the KS1 team
Miss Streams, Mrs McHugh and Mrs H Cairns
Mrs Riley, Mrs Hallat and Miss Farrell