Term 6 week 5

The children went on a surprise litter pick to the park and really enjoyed it.  This was our Community Project and the children were very aware of how litter can not only make a place look ugly, but potentially harm animals and plants.  A well-earned play in the play area was definitely the highlight of the session!  Thank you to those parents who came and assisted.

Last week and this week we have begun learn about times tables in maths.  The children need to know there 2, 5 and 10 times tables and some of them already do!  On the cover of their maths books they have a chart similar to the one below.  Can you get them to explain it to you?

term 6 week 4

We hope you enjoyed our class assembly.  I have to say the children were rather surprised when I told them we were doing it on the day it actually had to be done, but they were marvelous, forming groups and planning and rehearsing what they wanted to say.  There are many parents who don't get the chance to come in and observe, so we wanted to share some of our practices with you, as well as our knowledge!

Term 6 week 2

All children completed their phonics screening tests this week.  The children did well and you will receive a letter (probably at the end of term) telling you your child's results.  We cannot let you know yet because the pass mark (usually 32) has to be agreed by the 'Powers that Be' and then we are able to let you know.  However, all this takes time...

The teaching assistants in Hazel Class have worked tirelessly with the children, delivering phonics intervention upon phonics intervention, so a HUGE THANK YOU to them.

Many thanks to all parents who came and took part in the sports event yesterday.  The children were lucky to have so many different sports tasters.  

Also thank you for sponsoring your child in his/her spellings this week.

And finally, thank you to everyone who has donated something for the school fete.  See you all there tomorrow.

Term 6 week 1

Welcome back to school and term 6.  

The children will be taking their Phonics Screening test at the beginning of next week.  They have worked extremely hard at their phonics all year, but especially in these last few weeks.    This is a statutory test to completed by all year 1 children.  You will be informed of their results.  Any child who fails the test will re-take it in year 2.  We are confident the children will do their very best!

Two things became apparent this week at school: firstly, the children are still not totally familiar with coins and secondly many of them are unfamiliar with well known traditional tales, such as Snow White, The Gingerbread Man,  Goldilocks and the three bears.  If you do have these at home, please read them to/with your child.

Below is the curriculum map for this term.

Term 5 Week 5

We are sending you home two pieces of writing this week.  The first is the children's first 'cold task', which they did at the beginning of Term 1.  The second is their latest 'hot task'.  We thought you would like to see how much progress the children have made with their writing, not just in terms of how much they are able to write now, but also the improvements in their handwriting, grammar, spelling and composition.  We are delighted and hope you will be too!

Below are some pictures of a very simple fraction game the children have been playing at home.  Maybe they can explain it to you and you can make one to practise half/quarter/three quarters/whole and one and a half.

Finally, a note to those parents whose children have milk at break time.  The large majority of children are NOT drinking even half of their milk and throwing their milk cartons away at least half full into the bins.  We feel this is a terrible waste of money and would be grateful if you would ask your children if they still want milk at playtime.  Many thanks.

Term 5 week 4

Amazingly no one got really wet this week when we went outside, armed with different containers and water, to measure capacity.  The children had to estimate then measure how many cups it would take to fill a bottle, a jar and a teapot. They have also been using phrases to describe capacity.  It was pretty tricky putting these words and expressions in order:  three quarters full, full, nearly empty, half full, quarter full, empty and nearly empty.  They found it much easier if they had bottles containing different quantities of liquid.

Term 5 week 3

The children had a great time going to the Gulbenkian to see the Tiger Who came to Tea.  Take a look at their review!

Term 5 week 1

We have had a roller-coaster of a week to start term 5: Tuesday back to school, Wednesday Ousted & Zoo-lab, Thursday Healthy Kids and a most welcome Sweet Sale and the Sponsored Bounce on Friday - phew!

We also did a bit of work... In preparation for our theatre trip to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea we are using the book as our Talk for Writing text this term.  We already know parts of the story by heart and will then innovate the text and finally invent our own story.  This week we all did a Cold Task, making up a story about an animal of our own choice coming to tea.  Ms Shepherd was VERY impressed with our efforts.  In maths we worked hard towards our new targets, which have been put in our contact books as usual.

Term 4 week 5

Dear children and parents of Hazel Class,

I would just like to thank-you for all of your generosity today. I am truly overwhelmed. It has been my honour to work with such wonderful children (who truly are amazing, and are all making wonderful progress in their learning) for the past 10 weeks, and of course, amazing and supportive parents colleagues. This experience has been truly amazing and I am devastated to have to leave such an excellent school behind. I am already looking forward to my return after Easter for research, however, keeping myself away from the front of the classroom will be a challenge!

Thanks again, and I look forward to seeing the Elham family again soon.

Mr Thompson.

Term 4 Week 4

The children have impressed us with their ability to partition numbers this week, using blocks of tens and units.  This is the powerpoint Mr Thompson used to teach them how to partition.  Can they explain it to you?

Term 4 - Week 2

This week we are celebrating the fact that some of our readers have moved onto the Accelerated Readers scheme!  Children who move onto this scheme choose their own books, take them home to read and then do a little quiz about the book at school when they have finished it.  It is all done on the computer and the computers record how many words the child has read and their quiz results - it is very motivating!

Don't worry if your child is not on the Accelerated Readers scheme yet.  All children move forward at a different pace and each child in Hazel Class has made lots of progress in his/her reading this year.  

Below are some pictures of some of the children choosing their books.  There is also a picture of Erin working on our English Working Wall.  

Term 4 - Week 1

We are officially over half way through the school year now as we begin term 4.  This means your children are well on their way to year 2.  We are trying to encourage the children to become more independent learners and to be more resourceful.  Instead of sitting with their hands up to tell us they don't have a pencil, we are urging them to think about what they could do instead.  We are also thinking of introducing a system whereby children come into class and change their books independently.  They already do this in Reception class!  Watch this space.

We apologise that books were not changed today - please use the opportunity to let your child choose a well loved book of his/her own to read to you instead - feel free to write in the Reading Record, so we know what they chose to read.

This week in maths the children have been looking at money again - this term brings bigger challenges, as you will see in the pictures below.  Children have been trying to find different ways to make a sum of money again.

Finally, a word document will be attached to this page, summarising what the children will be doing this term, so those of you who wish your children to be prepared can provide valuable extra support at home!

Term 3 - Week 6

First of all, I would like to say thank-you for the wonderful turnout on Monday's drop-in. It was great getting to meet some more of you, but also, it was truly lovely to see the pride and joy that the children showed on their faces as you got to see all of their hard work and achievements.

We've been busy in Hazel class this week! Halving shapes has been really fun; we've designed some "party invitations" for Malcolm the Monkey's birthday party (who is very fussy and only accepted PERFECT halves, but the children adored him!) and we've even been making and halving shapes with play-dough, which the children really enjoyed.

In English, we have continued some of our work on Dogger - we have some amazing story tellers! Please find on this page a picture of the story-map: it might be useful to read through it at home so that they remain confident with the story for when we come back.

In science, we have been testing the effect of heat on materials to see whether they melt - I ensured I worked with the chocolate group as we all got to enjoy snacking on some, and found out, in a who-can-keep-it-on-their-tongue-the-longest challenge, that chocolate also melts in our mouths! I think the children (and admittedly, me too) definitely enjoyed that part of the lesson!!

All of the targets have been reviewed, and if you notice that any of them are the same for the next term, it is because they could do with a little more practice to improve their confidence with them :)

Homework for the week:
Have a lovely, relaxing, and very pleasant half term!

Mr Thompson

Term 3 week 5

The children have been learning an oral story this week, called Dogger by Shirley Hughes.  They haven't read it yet, but they are learning a short version of it from a 'story map'  - to help them learn it we sometimes play fun games, like 'word tennis' or 'story race'.  Oral story telling is really important and gives the children lots of confidence when planning to write their own stories - we always try to get them to tell the story orally before writing it down.  

Next week we have PJ Friday, so it would be lovely if each child could bring in a favourite bed time story, or even have one in their head to tell a friend or a group of friends.  Ask your child to pick their favourite bedtime story book  and help them be read to read part of the story or say what it's about for PJ Friday!

We will also be signing off this term's targets and sending them home, ready for new ones to be sent home next term.

Term 3 week 4

Weighing is tricky enough when deciding whether to pounds and ounces or kilos and grams, but have you ever weighed in cubes?  This is what we were up to in maths all week.  On Friday everything we had a challenge:  We had a tray full of prizes and had to get as many as we could in one bucket, but their total weight was not allowed to exceed the weight of 30 cubes.  Anything we successfully weighed by the time the challenge was up went into our prize box.  Some of us came home with those prizes..

Term 3 week 3

We have been looking at rhyming words this week, through poetry of the senses, and during our Guided Reading sessions.  Rhyming words can generally be found at the end of a line in poetry.  Can you bring a poem into school with a rhyming pattern?  Or make a simple one up of your own!  What are the rhyming  words in this well known poem?

I eat my peas with honey

I've done it all my life.

It makes the peas taste funny

But it keeps them on the knife!

Term 3 week 2

Learning was bound to take a dip today... the children were so excited by the snow that they just could not focus in guided reading.  So we took them onto the field where they proceeded to bombard Mr Thompson with snowballs - I think he enjoyed it as much as they did.  Apologies to those who have wet shoes.  Rest assured they did not wear them throughout the day.

This week in English the children have been writing books.  We have read some African books with repeating phrases, two of which were counting books, so the children have created their own, the aim being for them to end up with a counting book to five or ten with pictures and captions such as two squeaking mice, three braying zebras.  In maths the children have continued to work on number this week - please practise one more/one less with them - pick any number and ask them to say or write one more and one less.

We have only had one entry so far for the build-a-birdfeeder competition, though several children say they are in the process of making them!

Term 3 week 1

A very happy new year to you all!  Thank you so much for all your Christmas cards and presents - I return to school at least 2kg fatter...

This week at school the children have tried hard to put their learning hats back on, but it has been tricky!  We have been looking at our targets and these were sent home to you (stuck in the children's reading records).  Some parents have asked what number bonds are.  They are basically a set of numbers that make one number.  So number bonds to ten are 0+10, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5, 6+4, 7+3, 8+2,9+1 and 10+0.  Number bonds need to be learnt off by heart as they form the basis of many calculations.  For example if a child is adding 10+3+7 it helps them to know that 3+7 make 10.  Please practise with your children at home - your support is invaluable!  Make cards with the different numbers for children to match, or write out the number sentences with some of the numbers missing, or google number bonds and you will be sure to find lots of activities.

We have a student starting next week, which is wonderful as it means more support for the children.  Carl Thompson is a 3rd year student and is with us for 8 weeks.

The children continue to read to Bertie the dog on Wednesdays.  Here are some pictures of Bertie receiving a well-earned (belated) Christmas present - he was so excited it was hard to get him in focus!

Term 2 week 6

Today (Tuesday) has been our pre-pre-dress-rehearsal day!  The children were simply delighted with their costumes.

Term 2 Week 5

We have been a small class this week - on one day an amazing six children were off sick - here's hoping everybody will be fit and healthy next week, ready for our Nativity Play rehearsals.  We have already had quite a few and the acting and singing is coming along really nicely.  It is hard to sit still and not turn round and look at what is happening on the stage!  

The children have been making Christmas cards in Art and ICT and also some Christmas decorations.  We have a Christmas tree waiting for home made decorations - please encourage your children to make something and bring it in for the tree.  

Term 2 week 4

The school council has changed our behaviour chart back to a more child-friendly one - you will see a photograph of it below.  All children start off on the rainbow and aim to be on the really cool sun by the time they leave at the end of the day.  If they do this they will bring home a mini-certificate (we stick them in their contact books).  Poor behaviour means the child will move down to the cloud and to the thundercloud if it persists.  If they are on the cloud they lose 5 minutes play time, more if they end up on the thundercloud.

Term 2 week 3

It was a pleasure to see you all at our parent evening appointments this week.  For some parents it was our first opportunity to meet each other, so thank you for making the effort to be there.

I spoke to many of you about the statutory Phonics Screening that the children will undergo next year in May.  The screening is a simple reading test in which the children will be required to sound out and blend the forty words.  I know some parents are already supporting their children with this by practising at home.  If you would like to know more please google Year One Phonics Screening - there is a video online for teachers that explains the process very clearly.

The beginning of this week saw the children on stage for their first rehearsals of the nativity play.  The whole class behaved beautifully and Mrs Le May awarded each child with a team point for good behaviour.  

By the end of the week in maths this week it became apparent that not everyone understands the symbols + - and =.  Can you get your child to put them into different number sentences at home?  There are lots of team points waiting for them if they bring them into school!  Thank you, as always, for supporting your children's learning at home.

Term 2 week 2

We have started using number lines in year one.  Please make one at home with your child, or use the one I have posted here, to help them understand how it can be used when subtracting (taking away).  The children have been practising by putting their finger on the larger number in a sentence like 10-6= and counting back six to work out the answer.  It's early days - some struggle to count and move their finger back at the same time, so your help at home will be much appreciated.

Term 2 week 1

Welcome back school and Term 2.  You will see the children have come home with target sheets stuck in their reading records.  There are three: a yellow reading one, a green maths one and a blue writing one.  These targets are what the children are AIMING TO ACHIEVE.  Parents can help by talking about the targets with the children and practising them!  

This week we are having a look at money and trying to make 10p in different ways.  Many children are struggling with the concept that a 2p coin is actually worth two pence.  Do let your children go through your purses and get out 1p, 2p and 5p coins.  Please help them add the coins together. Can they find different ways of making 5p, 10p and 20p?  There are also lots of websites that help with counting money - just google 'key stage 1 money games'

We have also been identifying 2D shapes on the playground.  Can your child tell you what these shapes are?

Term 1 Week 7

Who are all these strange children?  They are all characters from Roald Dahl and very fine they looked too in their costumes.  Even those who hadn't wanted to dress up were happy to get up and talk.

What a long first term it has been!  We are all ready for a rest and some good times with our families.

See you all next term and have fun.  There are no spellings to learn over half term, but make sure you do your daily reading please.

Term 1 Week 6

Wednesdays are the best, according to the children.  Not only do they have PE with Mrs Horton, they have show and tell AND Bertie the gorgeous spaniel comes in and listens to them read.  All these ingredients make for a very special mid-week treat, which lasts half the morning!

Term 1 Week 5

The children have adapted really well to their early morning start.  We are having a much calmer start to the mornings.  The children come in, read their own home readers and then enjoy other books.  The extra time also gives us time to do developmental marking with them.  

Term 1 Week 4

This week we have been learning the names of the letters of the alphabet.  We are a little confused because we are getting the alphabet names muddled up with the phonemes (sounds) of the alphabet.  We need the sounds to help us decode words, but we also need to know the names of the letters in year one.  Here is the alphabet book we have made in class.

In Science we have learnt about our bodies.  We already know lots of facts:

The blood pumps out of our heart (Saul).

Our body helps us move (Samuel).

Blood flows round our body  (Arthur).

The eye helps you see (Jack).

The veins take all the blood round the body (Riley).

The mouth helps us to talk (Baptiste).

Without bones you can't move your fingers or legs (Gabriy'el).

The skin is the biggest organ in your body (Howie).

Your ears help you hear (Joe A).

Our hands help us to pick up stuff (Charlie).

Your mouth helps you to eat (Tamsin).

Our nose helps us sniff (Erin).

Your lungs help you breath (Owen).

Term 1 Week 3

This week we have been learning all about counting.  We know how important it is to move objects as we count them.  Then we have also learned how to count 'static' objects by putting a line through them to show us that we have counted them.  At the end of the week we worked hard at understanding the expressions 'one more' and 'one less' and then completed some pages in our Abacus maths booklets to show our understanding.  Here are some photos of the pages we worked on.  Let us show you how good we are at counting and saying one more/less!  Then you will see some photos of us moving objects as we count them.

Term 1 Week 2

It was good to see so many of you at the 'Meet the Teacher' afternoon.  If any of you were unable to attend, do make an appointment if you would like to come and meet me and have a look around the classroom.

This week the children have started to learn  the rudimentaries of hockey.  In the pictures below you will see Mrs Norton showing the children how to and how not to hold the hockey stick.  Can they tell you which is the correct way to hold it

Term 1 Week 1

Welcome to Hazel Class!  This week we have been trying to learn our new routines.  The children have been given jobs and are trying hard to remember all the new things - there is a lot to remember!  Thank you for the wonderful holiday diaries. We have shared them and used them as a starting point for writing a COLD TASK (unassisted piece of writing to see what the children can do) about our holidays.  You will see these in their books when you come and see the classroom.  Below are some photos of the children sharing their books.

Please keep the plastic bottle tops coming in - we will be using them to make caterpillars and need as many as possible.  Many thanks.  

Ms Shepherd, Mrs Clayton & Mrs Grady

PS Show & Tell is on a Wednesday!