Year 1 & 2 - Monday 1st June

Welcome back wonderful people - I hope you had a lovely half term!

English - Verbs & The Past Tense

Every Monday in school we have a GPS lesson - Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling. To ease our way back into home schooling this week, we will look at tasks from this area of the curriculum. GPS is the unglamorous but important arm of writing. It is like the plain white bowl that holds your triple chocolate fudge sundae - no one pays it any attention but if it wasn't there, things would be very messy.

Taking a verb and writing it in the past tense is a very simple job on paper. We will only consider regular verbs today; that is verbs that just need -ed added to them to:

jump > jumped

Remembering that this is the rule is the tricky bit! The reason for this is because it never sounds like we have added -ed; it sounds like something else.

Jumped sounds like jumpt - ed sounds like t (as it does in rocked, kicked and slapped).

Wanted sounds like wantid - ed sounds like id (as it does in lifted, painted and floated).

Cleaned sounds like cleand - ed sounds like d (as it does in boiled, played and steamed).

Keep an eye out for these traps as you move forward on other tasks and in future weeks!

TASK - Look at the sentences below - identify the verb (what are the people doing) and change them to the past tense:

A farmer worked on a farm.

Year 2's (and any Year 1's who want a challenge) add in adjectives:

A busy farmer worked on a huge farm.

Black belt challenge - add a conjunction (and, but, so, because) to extend the sentence:

A busy farmer worked on a huge farm and travelled around on his red tractor.

Maths - Place Value & Partitioning

Understanding how numbers are represented as tens and ones is an important step in  working with numbers. 14 and 41 are different because the 4 digit in these numbers represents different values. This video explains this idea:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvtppg8

There are activities also on this page as well. I would encourage the practical creation of numbers using representations. I used pasta and bowls to represent 36:

TASK - Try this game:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/place-value-basketball

For each one you could also write the number as a calculation:

So we could write: 30 + 6 = 36. This helps your child understand that the digit 3 in 36 actual value is 30 (or 3 tens) not 3.

TASK - Extension: If your child is secure on this idea, you can try partitioning in different ways. Partitioning just means splitting up a number. The way that the children are most familiar with is the above idea: 30 + 6 = 36. We can, however, partition in different ways. Here our pasta pots can help. I can split the tens pots and individual pieces into 2 groups (keep 10 bits in the pot at all times though):



Here I've got 2 tens and 2 ones on one side and 1 ten and 4 ones on the other, so 22 + 14 = 36. We have partitioned 36 in a different way! You can find many ways to do this with the same number.

I hope you have a happy day, see you tomorrow!
KS1 Team

Years 1 & 2 Friday 22nd May

Good morning and happy Friday! 

I hope you have all had a lovely week and enjoyed the sunshine. As you have all completed lots of seaside activities over the previous weeks and due to next week being half term I thought today's blog will be filled with some fun activities you may like to do over the next week. However please remember these are purely suggestions!

Garden obstacle course

A chance for you and your family to get creative with your household items and make a fun and challenging obstacle course. 

Build a tent indoors 

Perfect for a movie night or family sleepover! The challenge is everyone fitting inside without it collapsing. 

Indoor scavenger hunt

A great way to keep the children busy and see what wonderful things they find... I would be slightly worried about the 'something smelly'.

Make your own TV show

Your child could create their own documentary discussing all the things they have discovered about the seaside or just a fun show. I know we have lots of comedians in years 1 & 2, it could be their time to shine!

Big art

A time to get messy! Lay a big piece of paper on the ground (back of an old wrapping paper would work great) and let the children get creative. Encourage rolling round, hand and foot prints, anything the children can add to create a masterpiece. You will be shocked at just how wonderful it will turn out.

Bury a time capsule 

Each family member could add a belonging and maybe a letter about your time in lock down for someone to discover in the future.  I'm sure it would be a very interesting find!

Invent a new game

I know many of our children have lots of fun creating games during reward time, this is a great opportunity for your children to design a new game of their choice we could all play when returning to school. Some of the game ideas have included: a snakes and ladders inspired game, races, quizzes, math dice games and many more.

We would just like to say thank you for all your amazing hard work homeschooling this half term. We know it is not an easy job, however from the emails we have received showing us all the wonderful work your children have completed, we can see you are all doing a fab job! We hope you all have a lovely half term and a very well deserved rest. Our blogs will resume on the 1st June. 

Best wishes, 

KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 Thursday 21st May

Dear Parents and Carers

As you have probably seen on the front page of the website, it is with much sadness that, following rigorous risk assessments, Down Hall will not be in a position to accept children back to school on the 1st June.  Currently, we have a third of our staff who are self isolating or shielding.  The maximum number of additional children we can accept back to school is 40.  This is because we can only have 6 desks safely spaced in our classrooms and we only have 8 teachers who are able to be at school.  

This would mean that we can not guarantee that your child will be with their class teacher or indeed with their friends in their normal classroom. We are concerned as a staff that this “return to school” would feel so alien to our children, especially to the youngest, that it could have a detrimental effect on their learning and also their mental health and wellbeing.

We will as a staff endeavour to support you and your children in all aspects of homeschooling as we move forward and will keep you updated via the website and the blogs of any future developments.  Please remember that you can email us directly on ks1@downhallprimary.com with any worries, questions about the work given, or to share any good news stories. 

Wishing you all well.

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Langley

Thursday Science Fix!

Down Hall Primary School Curriculum Statement

'We are learning to take care of ourselves, each other, our school and our world.'  

Article 29 states that education must teach children to respect the environment, so in school we would have been asking children to think about this in relation to our seaside project.  Let's begin today by setting a timer to generate as many ideas in 5 minutes in response to these three questions...

Why is it important that children learn to respect the environment? 

What might happen in the future if children didn't learn this?

Which other children's rights might be affected if the environment is not looked after?

(There are some 'top tips' at the bottom of the blog to help you with this activity... I may have rambled slightly... that's why I've put it at the bottom... but it might be helpful!)

After your discussion you need to take a look at some environmental problems specific to coastlines. Here are a range of resources for you to explore:

here  'The Lump'  -  An animated story following an angel fish who investigates the big plastic monster in the sea. Don't miss the specific ideas near the end of this clip telling us what we can do to help. (6 mins)

here  'A Whale's Tale'  -  An animated story following a whale who uses his tail to tackle the problem of pollution in the ocean. (3 mins)

here  A short video from Earth Day 2019.  This short film does include some clips of real animals that have been harmed by pollution in the ocean, so you may want to watch it first yourself to decide if it is appropriate for your child. It very clearly illustrates the nature of the problem and we would use this type of clip in school to promote discussion of what is a real world issue. (2 mins)

Your task then, if you choose to accept it!  After you have watched some clips and enjoyed lots of discussion, make a poster to promote taking care of our seaside environment.  Your poster can be as detailed as you like, with clear instructions on what we should do, or just drawing and a few words.  The important thing is that it communicates clearly how to care for our environment and why we should do so.  You might want to include a slogan, ie; 'Save Our Seas'... or I'm sure you can probably come up with one far more imaginative than me!

Here are a couple of examples; 

Remember, this is a poster, so where better to put it than in your window so that everyone can see it!  And of course, you can send it to us at ks1@downhallprimary.com

If you want some more, or making a poster is not exciting you today, take a look at the links below:

here  Learn a song with Miss Linky - 'Save The Planet'

here  Watch a bbc bitesize clip entitled 'What should I do with my rubbish?' and then play a recycling sorting game.

Mostly, please just go where this learning takes you and if you don't end up with a glossy poster do not worry!  Even if you just watch a few clips, have a good discussion and then investigate your own household recycling arrangements, this can still yield the most amazing learning... and that is what it is all about!

SUMDOG

We will be online tomorrow from 11-12 playing Sumdog for anyone who is ready for a challenge.  Games as follows:

Street Racer 11:00 - 11:20

Stepping Stones 11:20 - 11:40

Dance 11:40 - 12:00

World Record

Don't forget that it is the Largest Art Lesson World Record Attempt at 4pm today so if you have registered, be at your device and load the link before 4pm.  I can't wait to see the results of this!

Wishing you lots of Thursday fun!

KS1 Team

Top Tips for Talking About Children's Rights

Children's rights are for all children, all the time, everywhere.  All rights are equally important and cannot be taken away.  If a child is living in a situation where their rights are not being met, we say exactly that as all children have those rights but sadly not all children enjoy them.  For example a child that has no access to clean water still has that right, but it is not being met.

In relation to our seaside project, here are some of the most relevant articles:

Articles 24 & 27 

The links are clear here.  If our environment and food is polluted, then these rights will also be affected as it may not be possible to enjoy the best possible health.  Food and water may be contaminated and the environment may not be safe.  Ask some simple questions - what might happen to the children playing on the beach if a person leaves a glass bottle behind? 

Other articles that you might discuss if the questions take you there:

Article 1 & 42
All children under the age of 18 have the rights in the UNCRC, and it is our job to teach them what those rights are. But what happens once they reach 18?
On reaching 18 years of age, our pupils will become 'duty bearers', and as such will be responsible to uphold children's rights for others.  They are the guardians and decision makers of the future and if we want them to make a positive impact on our world, we must teach them the importance of our common and shared world view.  Therefore, if children don't learn that the environment is important, how will they safeguard it for the children of the future?
On another note, children can be reassured that when they do reach 18, they do still have rights! As adults, these are called 'Human Rights' as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Year 1 & 2 - Wednesday 20th May

Happy Wednesdays people. I hope it finds you in good spirits! In the last 2 weeks, the blogs have had just over 600 views so it is encouraging to see people are engaging with them. Some parents have also asked if the work from the blogs has to be done or have apologised for not following them closely. Please do not feel compelled to do the tasks here or concerned if you are not. You find the approach that works for you and your children - think of the blogs as a handrail on a staircase: some use it, some do not and some use the lift - but the handrail doesn't mind either way!

English - Story Writing

Today we will finish the planning of our own stories. It is important to note that there is at least 2 or 3 days planning before we actually begin the process of writing the story itself.

Step 3 - Story Mapping



Now we have tried out story mapping before. Have a look at this blog for a reminder:

https://dhps12.blogspot.com/2020/03/year-1-2-thursday-26th-march.html

This time, however, we are coming up with our own ideas. It is important to note here that we are teaching story writing - it doesn't really matter if you feed your child possible ideas for what happens in their story. We are looking for ways to develop your child's use of language through writing - all professional writers borrow ideas from previously published books.

If I were creating a story map, I would consider why the character was on the island, what they were doing to achieve their goal and then a problem that occurs whilst they are doing this.

Problems are the cornerstone of all stories - no problem, no story. What might our problem be? Let's look at some ideas:




Now all problems need their resolutions. How will your character overcome their problem and how might it affect what it was they were trying to do?




So here is my completed story map:





TASK - Create your own story map for your treasure island inspired story!

Step 4 - Writing!

It would be lovely if you could try to write your story out in detail, even if it is just a section of it. Beginning the story is often the hardest part so often in school we give the first line or two to get the children started. Take your time, do a little bit at a time (next week is "half term" so there will be no official blogs but if you want to keep busy, story writing should fit the bill nicely).

A key skill for the Year 2's is proof reading. Here we encourage the children to read back what they have written and:

• Check for mistakes and make corrections e.g. any simple spelling mistakes, missed punctuation;
• Add in any extra detail in a section e.g. adding adjectives and adverbs;
• Improve upon word choices made e.g. changing big to a more interesting adjective.

I really hope you enjoy developing your creative story together. Please remember that this is a very challenging skill. No one ever gets on a bike for the first time and just cycles off. Writing is the same. It is easy to feel like you haven't succeeded if this process is tough going or the end product is not as you envisaged but you have helped a step along the road to achieving success in the future. You learn when you fall off the bike; you do not learn when you give up.

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

JFK 1962

Geography - At The Port

Further to our work in looking at things we see at the coast, we discuss the nature of a port and the different boats that we see at the coast. Much like vehicles on the road, the different types of boat are linked to the different roles that they undertake. This video, featuring the charismatic Barnaby Bear, focuses on the port of Poole:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/z8mn34j

It is good to look at the different types of boat we might see at a port:

A fishing trawler:

An All-Weather Life Boat:

If you want to see this ALB in action watch this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/watch/p01lthns


A ferry:





A container ship:




Incidentally, I find container ships fascinating. It is difficult to get an idea of just how big they are but try this. Next time you are out for a walk, start a timer - you are at the front of the container ship. Walk at a leisurely pace until the timer gets to 5 minutes - you are at the back of the container ship. If you do this at a park and start by a tree you will be able to see just how massive these ships are.

TASK - Choose one of these boats and create a picture of it. It could be just a drawing or you could be more creative in the materials that you use. You might want to approach it with a more scientific hat on - research it and add facts or labels.

Incidentally, the Barnaby Bear clip comes from this programme if you wanted to watch the whole thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qO0mu6YJW8

Have a wonderful day - don't forget; you are all superheroes and all of us are very proud of all your efforts!

Key Stage 1

Year 1 & 2 - Tuesday 19th May

Good morning everybody and welcome to Tuesday's blog. Don't forget that you can reach us at our email address - it's so nice to see what you are doing at home and to just have a chat whether that's celebrating your successes or offering support for any problems you encounter.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

English - Adventure Story Planning

Yesterday, we looked at examples of different adventure stories. Now we are moving onto planning our own story. On MyOn there is a wonderful book called "Adventure Stories: Writing Stories" (search for it in the library tab). This book goes into detail in the basic teaching sequence for creative writing.




You don't need to go through the whole book with your child but it might be interesting for you to see how the whole skill goes through stages. I will outline the main parts below but it is worth knowing that the story mountain idea is frequently used in school as a method of structuring stories across many genres:





Step 1 - The Setting - It is very important to stress that the work outlined here would represent 2 or 3 days of work in class. Don't try to do everything at once or rush, imaginative writing is a slow process; it took Tolkien 12 years to write "The Lord of The Rings!"





Naming and describing features of your setting is important, it will give your story a sense of place. We are not going to use a pirate ship but an exotic island in the middle of the ocean as our setting. We will use this poster as our inspiration:





Have a look at the picture and pick out all the things you can see. (There's a copy on our class page on the website).

TASK - Year 1's, try to make a list of some of the things you can see. Extend to adding adjectives each object:

e.g. crashing waves, tall trees, dark clouds.

TASK - Year 2's, try to develop these descriptions into a sentence with this structure:

Adjective     +     Noun       +       Verb                  + Where

(a describing word + the feature + what is it doing + where it is doing it)

e.g. The curved          waves              crashed          against the rocks.

            The yellow        lightning           flashed         across the black sky.

Step 2 - The Characters




If we consider these factors with the possible characters in our poster we can begin to consider why our character is at the island. Below are some star bullet points that can help you make your decision but if you are feeling imaginative don't feel limited to these:





In my example (and remember it is important to model and write alongside your child if you can) I am going to choose that the characters are looking for something and are shipmates. Look at the poster - pick an individual who will be your main character. I might choose the boy in the middle of the poster collecting wood:

TASK - Year 1's, draw a picture of the character you choose in the middle of the page and around it add some words that describe your character. These can be about appearance (e.g. young, red headscarf, brown shorts) or add qualities - what the character is like - (e.g. brave, friendly, helpful).

TASK - Year 2's, you can extend this by thinking more about the character's back story (e.g. this is his first adventure at sea OR he is being forced to work with a mean crew of pirates).

I hope you enjoy your first steps in building your story world together!

Maths - Making Amounts

Yesterday, we looked at counting coins we had in our money work. The opposite of this skill is making amounts. This is where we are given an amount - 15p - and we need to select the correct coins to make this amount. This game, again, takes us through these steps nicely:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money


Firstly, we need to choose if we are working with one coin (blue button) or mixed coins (pink button). 

Now, Year 1's one coin is a good place to start but do not completely disregard this, Year 2's as it is a good place to practice our times tables for 2, 5 and 10 when we count on in steps with these amounts. Consider this from the 5p game:





Here we will need to count in 5's until we get to 45. We could then record this, Year 2's as 5x9=45 or 9x5=45 (it does not matter which way round you elect to record it).

Clicking on the blue menu button in the corner will take you back to the main menu.

So it is not as simple as Year 1 = One Coin; Year 2 = Mixed Coins.

Indeed, Year 1's can get much from the mixed coins games too, particularly Up to 20p:





In this game you need to select the coins from along the bottom to make them appear in the white box until you have the exact amount:




Now, I could just choose 1p seven times. But challenge yourself to make it in the fewaest coins. The coins available in a line at the bottom help here. Work down them systematically - can I take the £2? No too much. £1? No....10p? Too much. 5p? Yes! OK - another 5p? No too much. 2p? Yes.

Again, all these screen games could be replicated using real coins and price tags. The games are not superior to practical activities but they do neatly show the progression in the skills.

Wow - that turned into a long one! Please don't be over-awed if you feel that this is too much. Pick and choose what you wish and spread the work out over time.

Hope you have a wonderful day.
Key Stage 1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Monday 18th May

Good morning and welcome to week 9! I mentioned last week in the blog that these posts are here to not only give you ideas but also explain how and why we do things the way we do in KS1. One of the key philosophies in Primary Education is the acknowledgement that learning is hard and that children need to be brave and put themselves in a position of them feeling unsure in order to learn. We call it in school "the brave learner."

I often use the quote of John F Kennedy with my class - "we choose to do (these) things not because they are easy, but because they are hard." Now Kennedy was talking about going to the Moon, but the idea is that nothing of true worth or personal reward or advancement is ever easy.

English - Story Writing

Now, talking of hard things, this week we will choose to do one of the hardest things we do in Key Stage 1 - story writing. In particular, adventure stories! We break this huge task into 3 phases:

1. Preparation - researching and exploring existing ideas, thinking about setting and character;
2. Planning - developing our own ideas, thinking about plot, problems and resolutions;
3. Writing - creating our piece of writing, proof reading, additions and revisions.

So today and tomorrow we look at preparation. We cannot do any writing unless we understand what it should look like - what features does it have, how is it constructed, how will we sequence it.

We achieve this by reading existing texts to get a feel for the type of writing we are trying to emulate. We have put the text "Adventure At Sea" as a slides presentation on our class page and embedded the slide show here (and in doing so taught myself a new skill!):


(Did it work? Well, that's a surprise!)

We use example texts to showcase the key features of the genre we are writing. Here we are looking at how the character are on a journey of some kind and the repeated nature of build up, problem, resolution they encounter (they are on a boat, they become shipwrecked, they are rescued). Share the story with your child and discuss these ideas.

Below are some titles from MyOn that also have an adventure story feel. The more stories the children encounter the easier their own will be. I've tried to organise them under the colour levels that the children's reading books are but this is not an exact science so use this more as guidance than gospel:

Pink/Red/Yellow
"City Train In Trouble"
"The Pirate Map"

Blue/Green
"Ora The Sea Monster"
"Tide Pool Trouble"
"The Clever Dolphin"

Orange/Turquoise
"March Grand Prix - The Great Desert Rally"
"The Brave Puffer Fish"

Purple or above
"Dino-Mike & The Underwater Dinosaur!
"Shipwreck"
"Case of The Stolen Sculpture"

Maths - Money

This week in maths we will be looking at money. Now this game rather delightfully takes us through the first 3 steps of money work:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/coins-game

1. Identifying Coins

Firstly we need to understand what coins we have in the UK. Knowing this is a 1p coin and that is a 2p coin but there is no 3p coin. Rather helpfully, in 2008 the Royal Mint took numbers off of coins so this makes identifying coins even more important. Sorting the coins in this game will help your child get to grips with the coins that are out there.

2. Ordering Amounts




The fact that each coin represents a different amount is quite a confusing concept for children. It is an abstract concept that if I have one 10p coin I have more than someone with one 5p coin. This ordering game is excellent in helping understand the value of money and is a key consideration for the next step.

3. Counting Amounts




When we count money, it is important to start at the largest amount and count on. This game helps us build up on this key skill gradually.

Now, all these skills can be achieved practically as well if you prefer and you have a big bottle of change. You can use this coin mat as a ways of matching and sorting coins and mirror many of the activities that are in the games.




Good luck with all your fabulous home schooling today!
Key Stage 1 Team :)

Year 1 & 2 Friday 15th May

Friday Science Fix

Between Friday science and our report writing for english, you must all be quite the animal fact experts by now.  So, I thought today we would have some fun using your knowledge to make a guessing game that you can share with those around you. Or perhaps, even quiz your wider family members and friends in any calls you may be doing to keep in touch.

First, select your animal and review what you know.  Try to think of factual clues;

• appearance - description using any technical words such as fin, tail, jaws, claws etc
• adaptations (bodily features that help them survive in their environment)
• size/ lifespan - how big/ small can they be, how long can they live
• diet - what do they prey on (eat), but also, what might eat them!  
• any other unusual or interesting facts

The idea is that you are creating a challenge, so try not to give your most obvious clue first.  This is one of my favourite activities at school within this term of science work, so I thought I would have a go at making one for you to guess!

First cut a piece of A4 paper in half, and fold it to make your different work spaces.

         

Under your heading,  'What Am I?', write some clues to help the other person guess your animal.  Remember to make the clues factual, thinking about the categories above, and don't give it away too easily with the first clue!

Here is my one for you to guess... 

I have a fourth clue, but it would give it away too easily, and I ran out of room!  Inside the card I have drawn a picture of the animal and labelled it...  I could open the card to show the answer... but maybe not!   I will post my answer at the end of this blog to give you a chance to make some guesses. 😉

You can make as many of these cards as you like, making them as detailed as you want to, presenting the answer as a drawing, a diagram adding other interesting facts for that animal, or a simple one word answer.  It's up to you!  Hope you have fun with this and quiz lots of people.  Telephone calls and video chats have really helped me keep in touch with all the important people in my life recently, so I hope that your friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, grans and granddads enjoy hearing your clues and having a go at your guessing game!

Something Different

Sticking with our seaside theme, and thinking about our well being, I thought I would drop this here for you to try if you want to.  It is an under the sea story with a series of movements and stretches that are rooted in yoga but designed for children.  I just thought this might be fun for you to do together as it is Friday and all of your learning is done for the week!   The sequence is very clearly modelled in a 'copy me' fashion, so it could also be enjoyed independently by children very easily.

Under the Sea with Squish the Fish

A huge well done for everything you have achieved this week, and if you feel you could have done better, please be a bit kinder to yourself!  We can all only try our best in this unprecedented situation where we have to juggle many things at the same time from home.  Remember that you can contact us via the KS1 email to share anything that the children would like to show us, or to share any worries and ask any specific questions.  KS1@downhallprimary.com

Best wishes from all of us,
KS1 Team

Ps.   Here is my fourth clue and my answer;

I can't swim and I have five arms...