Author: Mrs Fowler

This will be another exciting week. It is Careers Week where we will be working on targets for DYW (Developing the Young Workforce). In Primary 1 we are also thinking about Science this week and will be working towards our Science targets in Electricity.

Literacy

Phonics

We are learning to recognise and use the sound ‘oo’. We are learning to write words and sentences using this sound. Can you write a list or a sentence using words with ‘oo’?

Writing

We are learning how to create posters this week. We are making an Electricity Safety poster.

To be really successful we will need to:

• have a big title
• clear simple message
• big picture

Handwritng

We are going to keep practising the curly caterpillar letters. We are really trying hard to ensure the children form these letters correctly. When you practise at home ask your child to say out loud: round, up and down. Their pencil should stay on the page until the letter is complete, rather than adding bits on to the letter to finish it.

Numeracy

We are solving subtraction problems within 5/10/20 by counting the objects or counting on or back.

Try out this game at home. Choose your level.

Smoothie Maths

We are working hard at counting back to find out how many – this can be tricky and we use hops to count back to make it easy to stop on the correct answer.

Science

• We are learning to identify things around us that use electricity.
• We know that electricity can be dangerous and show how to stay safe inside and outside.
• We can say why electricity is important in our lives.
• We can investigate how to make a simple circuit.

We have Mr Crawshaw and a group of S3 visiting from Millburn to help us investigate and use the circuit equipment.

DYW – The Billy Goats Gruff

We can talk about the different jobs we would need to do to build a bridge for the goats to cross.

We know that people do different jobs in our community.

In groups we will be working cooperatively to build bridges using different materials.

Even on World Book Day we can be busy doing our IDL. We worked hard on our pulley systems to make our model castle drawbridges go up and down! Tell someone at home how a pulley works. Our key words are: load, wheel and chains (they may call it rope as we used rope in school).

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We have P4/5 working with us this afternoon. We had to choose a slip and find the matching book. Our buddies read the story to us and together we decorated a stone to create a character or image from the book. Thanks for all of your help P4/5.

WOW -What a great buzz today from all of the children. They were all ready to join in with sharing their books and said really encouraging things to the children who made story boxes. I’m just a bit sad that I could not read 21 books -apologies but we did have Sara the Librarian in from Millburn to do a bookbug session. So we did have lots of book learning and enjoyment today! There are lots of photos – sorry again! Bear with me as I need to reformat some of the photos as I took them live by accident 🙂

A busy week ahead…

Phonics

We are learning to identify and use the sound ‘ee’.

Dinosaur’s Eggs – Choose ‘ee’ sound. Click to match the word you hear with the word you read.

Reading

We are learning to read sight words and find sentences and punctuation in our reading books.

Help a Hedgehog – a great reading game. Choose phase 2 or 3 and see how you get on?

Handwriting

We are practising writing the caterpillar letters. We are thinking about the size of our letters as we write them. We have been practising writing 3 and 4 letter words using our best handwriting! Can you write a word list or write a phonic phrase e.g. a run in the sun, a bag of nuts, pots and pans or a red bed in the shed?

Writing

We are learning to write about our personal experiences. We will write sentences about what we saw at Urquhart Castle.

We have some writing targets that we have been working hard at. We are learning to:

• put a capital letter at the start of a sentence
• use a full stop at the end (to stop the words running away)
• put a finger space between each word

Numeracy

We are developing the concept of subtraction and will begin by talking about what we know about subtraction/take away.

We are learning to solve subtraction problems within 5/10/20 by counting the objects or by counting on and back.

Rabbit Take Away – click easy to take away within 10

Fruit splat Subtraction – choose level 1 to work on take away within 10 and then relaxed mode

Monster Subtraction – if you are feeling more confident and are subtracting within 20

Music

We are learning to keep a steady beat while singing simple songs, distinguish faster and slower rhythms and understand speaking and singing voice.

HWB

We are learning to throw and object for distance and accuracy and hit the ball at a moving target in a team game.

Tell someone at home what we had to do to be really successful at dodge ball. What did we do to get better?

We have been practising our handwriting and writing words and sentences using our best handwriting!

We are finishing our block on addition with a place mat activity to show our understanding. We have to make a model, explain our strategy, draw a picture and tell a story.

We sorted silly sentences to put the words in the correct order. In our teams we then put the sentences in order to tell the story.

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A very big ‘thank you’ to both parents and staff who helped out on our Urquhart Castle trip yesterday.

Mrs Mutch and I appreciate all of your help and know that without you helping out it would not be possible to take the children on such rich experiences,. Many thanks as always for your help and support.

We learned lots of information and tales about castles and got to explore replicas of artefacts from the Middle Ages.

We are looking forward to a busy and exciting week!

On Tuesday it is our turn to head back to the Library. We will return our borrowed books and look for something new to take back to the class to share with everyone. Please come wrapped up with appropriate clothing for the weather 🙂

On Wednesday 26th Feb we are off on our very own ‘Castle Hunt…’. Urquhart Castle here we come. Again, please dress appropriately for the weather and come ready with your packed lunch and water bottle. We will collect school packed lunches for those who requested this before leaving. Can’t wait!!

Literacy

This week we are learning to identify and write words with the sound ‘wh’.

Can you make a list of ‘wh’ words at home?

Try this roll and read game at home.

Reading

We are reading for enjoyment and picking a book that we find interesting at Inverness Library this week.

Keep practising your sight words and phonics words in your yellow books. Quick recall of these words really helps when we are learning to read our reading books. Have fun with books! 🙂

Handwriting

We are continuing to practise the zig-zag letters. Have a go!

Numeracy

We are learning quick addition facts for 5 and 10.

Use ‘Hit the Button’ to practise finding the pairs to make 10, addition within 10 or missing number sums. Click onto the number bonds button to find the add to 10 games.

Use ‘Save the Whale’ game to fit pipes together to make 10 and rescue the whale.

IDL

We are learning to understand how we find out about the past. We will be exploring historical evidence and artefacts and asking the experts questions as we explore and investigate Urquhart Castle.

Let’s talk about it! We talked about ways to stay safe on the internet.

• always ask for permission to use the internet
• ask Mum and Dad for help to find/use new games or if something pops up that you don’t expect or know what it is
• don’t give out your personal details

Literacy

Phonics

Over the next two weeks we will be consolidating the sounds we have learned and practising making and breaking words. We are starting to work towards independent writing where children are putting words together to make phrases and sentences.

Viking Word Building – Choose any flag from Phase 2 or the first flag from Phase 3

Dinosaur’s Eggs – Choose any on the sounds we have learned sh, ch, th, ng to read the phonics words

Reading

We continue to practise reading sight words and phonics words, looking for clues in the words to help us. Children are practising listening to others while they read and following with their finger. Encourage your children to read aloud clearly for an audience so we can all hear the words. 🙂

After reading ask your child to find:

• a word beginning with ?
• a sentence with 5 words or 3 words?
• the title/author/blurb?
• a full stop/exclamation mark/question mark?

Writing

We are learning that sentences must make sense. The words must be in the correct order. This week we will be using our story telling knowledge to help us sort the silly sentences.

Handwriting

We are moving on to practise V and W this week. These letters are in the zig-zag family. Keep practising your one-armed robot letters. Remember all letter writing starts at the top. Say it out loud – to make us all proud! 🙂

Number

We are learning to add set to find our how many altogether. We are working hard to count on from the bigger number.

Fruit Splat Addition – Choose the level that fits for you!

We are learning to match the digital clock to the analogue clock for o’clock. have a go at this game to practise telling the digital time.

Clock Splat – Choose level one and move on if you are ready.

On time – Choose level one for the hour clock and match the clock hands to the time given.

IDL

We are continuing to make our own castles with drawbridges and we cannot wait for you to see our castle drawings. We worked hard to use shapes to create the castle and add detail with lines.

Health and Wellbeing

We are working hard at being respectful to others. The children have had lots of excellent ideas for ways to show respect. They have been trying hard to use lovely manners to each other and the adults in the school. Well done everyone!

• Be respectful to others
• Be Organised – get the things I need!
• Using information on charts, lists and graphs
• Active listening (remember what my partner says)