Next week in KS1

 Dear Parents/Carers

In response to the Government announcement made yesterday, school will only reopen for the children of Critical Workers on Monday 4th January.

If you are a Critical Worker and would like to book a place for your child, please contact us via the phase email address. 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Home learning work will be put in a blog which can be accessed from the school website on Monday morning.  Please ensure you check this blog and complete some of the tasks suggested.

Any further updates will be posted on the school website, blogs and our social media platforms.  

Thank you for your continued support.  

We would like to wish you all a Happy New Year. 

Stay safe.

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Mrs O'Connor

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 18th December 2020

 Happy Friday everybody! 

The children have had a lovely week of Christmassy activities and card making and this was all topped off with our online Pantomime on Wednesday made by Image Musical Theatre. We learnt the songs and made props in the morning so we could all join in as much as possible in watching the show in the afternoon - it was fab!

There is no homework expectation over the Christmas holidays. Please all rest and relax, though if you can keep the reading ticking over this would be very helpful and don't forget Sumdog and Top Marks games for maths! Here are a couple of announcements for you:

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Once we return in January our new project will be "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" where we look at all things to do with chocolate! There are 2 aspects of this project, however, where we need parental consent. 

In our Art/DT lessons, we will be designing, making and packaging our own chocolate creations. In the weeks beginning 11th and 18th January we will be taste testing some possible ingredients for this purpose. Obviously, we will take known dietary needs in to account but if you have any concerns about this, please let us know via our email.

As part of the project we would also like to watch the film "Charlie & The Cholate Factory" (2005) to support our writing in English lessons. This film is certified PG. If you do not want your child to join us in watching it then please let your child's class teacher know, again via our email.

If you have any concerns about either of these issues, please email us at ks1@downhallprimary.com

by Thursday 7th January. This project is always hugely popular with the children and we are very excited to get started on it in the New Year!

Christmas Songs

The current situation we find ourselves in has made it impossible to share our Christmas Production with you as we would have normally. However, each class has recorded a Christmas song - some traditional, some which would have been in the production this year if it had happened - and we have collected these into a shared folder for you to watch at home as a family. 

Some songs are on multiple times due to some children being away or sound issues but hopefully there will be something for everyone inside the folder!

Christmas Songs

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you so much for all that you have done this year in supporting your child's education. It has been an exceptional year in which you have all stepped up and been superheroes! Thank you also for all the kind words and genuine support you have extended to us as we have had to come to terms with a completely different way of working - it has been so encouraging to receive!

We wish you all a truly fantastic Christmas and a more normal 2021!

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Mrs O'Connor

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 11th December 2020

 Happy Friday, everybody!

Today we have had a lovely day in school, all wearing our Christmas Jumpers and making festive hats for our Christmas Party Bag lunch - it has all been very exciting...almost normal!!

Maths Homework

This week we would ask you to complete page 19 of your homework book.

This brings us to the end of Section One and a natural pause point for the holidays. We would encourage you, however, to look back at the previous pages and do a quick recap on the concepts covered this half term, focusing particularly on any aspects that your child was less sure of.

Next Friday

Today we have been putting any pictures, certificates and Christmas crafted items into a plastic bag - they are currently "quarantining" on our children's pegs. The children take great pride in the pictures they have worked on as this is the go to activity they do when arriving at school, after they have finished lunch and are waiting to go outside, and at the end of the day whilst other children are getting ready and going home. They will be bringing this bag home next Friday.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

KS1 Team 

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Class Blog - 4th December 2020

 Happy Friday, everybody - we hope you have had a great week! Christmas is upon us as has been seen by the Naughty Elf visiting all the classes in Key Stage 1 this week!

In our classes this week, as part of our JIGSAW scheme of work on "Celebrating Difference" we have been making Gingerbread Men. We decorate these with items of clothing which highlight things that are the same and different about us and how we welcome new people to our school. Here are Amethyst with their finished Gingerbread Men!

Maths & Reading Homework

We hope that maths homework still goes well - email us if there are any questions about any aspects of this homework.

This week, we would like you to complete pages 15 and 17.

Also keep reading little and often using the Big Cat Library or any other resources that are working for you - it makes a HUGE difference!

Parent/Teacher Consultations

We look forward to seeing you over the next 2 Mondays and Tuesdays for Parent/Teacher Consultation. At these Autumn Term meetings we focus on how your child has settled into the new routines and expectations of their new Year group. We normally give out some support materials for you at these meetings so this year we have put copies of these documents for you to view on our Phase Group web page. We have included these documents:

• A list of the 100 high frequency words split into their 5 phases - this just breaks down the order that we teach these most common words. We look for Year 1's to be able to read these words by the end of the year and the Year 2's to be able to spell them.
• A list of the next 200 high frequency words - Year 2's, if you can read and spell all the words in the above list, try these for a challenge!
• Phase 2/3/5 sound mats - these show the phonemes we teach and the order we teach them in (no new phonemes are introduced in Phase 4 so don't worry, you aren't missing one).
• Writing Mat for Year 1 and Year 2 - these show the end of year writing outcomes that we look for. There is also one for Greater Depth - if you can do all the ones on the "Expected" sheet, try the "Greater Depth" sheet.

We hope that you find these helpful and we will refer to these in our meetings with you. You can find them here (scroll down to the "Important Information" Section):

http://www.downhallprimary.com/our-classes/year-1-2

Keeping Warm

As the weather turns decidedly chilly, please ensure that your child brings in coats, hats. gloves, scarfs - anything to help keep them warm! On PE day in particular, having lots of layers vests/T-shirts/hoodies with hats and gloves is better than having 1 big coat so the children can be mobile and able to do their sport.

On a more festive "keeping warm" note, don't forget that next Friday 11th December is our Christmas Jumper Day when we will be raising money for Action Aid. All the money you donate will go to the education of Thoko from Malawi who is now entering her 3rd year of school thanks to your generosity!

Have a wonderful weekend!

KS1 Elves

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Class Blog - 27th November 2020

 Happy Friday, everybody! This week we have been exploring the role of a police officer and thinking carefully about the jobs they do. We have been writing questions and we were lucky to be able to question Mr Patterson about this as he used to be a real police officer! Here are Diamond Class in training:

Christmas Party Bag Lunch - Friday 11th December

If you wish for your child to have this lunch option, please text the office on 01268 833047 (special texts only number) indicating if you wish for the Roast Turkey Sandwich or Cheese Roll option. Monday is the last day for orders and be assure that, although you will not get a reply, your order will be logged. 

Aside from special dietary options, this is the only lunch available from the kitchen for this day. 

Maths Homework

We hope that the new homework books have been helpful to you all and will help give you a structure for weekly maths work.

This week, we would like you to complete pages 11 and 13.

We are doing 2 pages a week at the moment to catch up to where we would normally be at Christmas but usually we only do 1. If your child is eager to do more maths, rather than do more pages, reinforce the skill being practiced on the pages being covered.

For example, page 11 in the Year 2 book focuses on counting on in different steps with some numbers missing. You can easily recreate some more of these by changing the start/end point and missing out different numbers. Don't forget the Top Marks website (https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/counting). There are many games on this site that can help reinforce the concepts being covered. Maths is all about repeated practice of skills until they become habit.

You do not have to send any photos of the pages that the children complete - we trust you! Also if we receive 80 emails of photos every week, we may miss other messages.

Whilst on the subject of maths, a message from Mrs Hurley:

"WHOLE SCHOOL SUMDOG COMPETITON

Calling all you amazing mathematicians!

You have been entered into the Down Hall Primary School Sumdog Competition. It starts on November 27th at 3:30pm and finished at 3:30pm on December 3rd.

Why not have a go and get your class on the school leaderboard?

I will be monitoring how well each class is doing. The winning class will get an extra playtime!

Let's show our school what great mathematicians we are!

Good luck,

Mrs Hurley"

If you have not logged in to Sumdog before go to:

https://pages.sumdog.com/

We have sent home a little card today reminding/giving you your log in details. Any problems, drop us an email.

Big Cat Reading

We have been very pleased just how many of you have been reading books from our new ebook library (yes we can check and see!!) Please keep this up - little and often. You do not have to read a whole book in one go and it is not a competition to see who can read the most. Spending 5-10 minutes a day on sharing a book with your child can make a huge difference to the progress they make in school. Don't forget to use the before and after reading pages - particularly the comprehension questions, Year 2's!

And there we go. If you can keep up the reading and the pages in the maths book we will be eternally grateful. These tasks represent the most important things you can do with your child educationally outside of school. We hope you have a super weekend!

Your KS1 Team:)

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 20th November 2020

 Happy Friday everybody and welcome to this week's blog. We are trying to share some things each class have been doing each week. This week: Emerald Class have been looking at the Hindu celebration of Diwali and made diva lamps.

Big Cat ebook Library

We are very excited to share with you your child's log in for the Big Cat library that we are now a part of. Your child will come home with a card detailing how they can log into their account for this library. Before you begin, however, it is worth having a quick look at the parent's guide in the link below:

Parent Guide

Once you are ready to begin, go to the website on the front of the card or use the link here:

Big Cat Login

Then enter your child's username and password, again detailed on the front of the card. This will take you to your child's bookshelf.

It is worth noting that every child's bookshelf will look different as they have been assigned specific books by their teacher. We wanted to ensure that every book was accessible and also didn't want 100's of different books making it difficult to navigate. We are able to add more books and remove books as time passes keeping your library at a manageable level.

Clicking on the read button below the book will take you to this screen:

On your first go, it will ask if you want a tour. Click Yes and it will explain the function of the different buttons on the main reading screen.

Supporting Your Child's Reading

Hearing your child read little and often is crucial to their progress but there are other things you can do to support reading development. In the top right hand corner of the front cover of each book is a small blue screen button:

This shows you a short video about helping your child read at the colour level that they are on. This will give you a good overview about the key features of text and reading skills at that level. 

Every book also has a "Before Reading" page at the beginning:

And "After Reading" pages at the end. They are pretty self explanatory but will go a long way to making your reading time together more impactful, particularly the comprehension aspects.

We hope you find these Big Cat books a great help in finding books that are engaging and accessible for your child. If you have any questions or feedback please send us an email. Happy reading!

Maths

As mentioned last week, your child now has a maths homework book (also coming home today) that they can keep at home to work through. We will put the pages we suggest you do each week in the weekly blog.

There is a 4 page mini test at the beginning - this is optional, do this if you wish.

From page 6, the book has an explanatory page on the left which will explain key vocabulary, strategies and explanations of the mathematical concept being covered and a page on the right for your child to do. 

This week we are asking your child to complete page 7 and page 9.

The Plan When Learning Has To Be At Home

As mentioned in both the news letter and a previous blog, this is the plan if (for whatever reason) your child has to stay at home:

As a school we will be using the DfE approved programme, The National Academy (https://www.thenational.academy/). Here there are daily lessons for each Year Group which cover a range of subjects. There are a number of other online sources that you can use to complement this site:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/kids/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/

Use these websites as a means for providing home learning for your child. If a whole class has to stay at home, this plan still applies. Your child's teacher will blog a reminder of this on the first day of the whole bubble being off and will make email contact with you all on a weekly basis.

Fingers crossed we can all stay safe in school!

Take care and have a lovely weekend;)

Your KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 13th November 2020

 Happy Friday everybody - we hope you and all your family are settling into the routines of the new classes now and everything is starting to feel more familiar!

This week, all 3 classes have been thinking about Remembrance and Armistice Day. Although we have not been able to have Year 6 children come around selling poppies, all the children made their own poppy to wear on Wednesday as we all observed the 2 minute silence in class.

Here are this week's announcements!

Baby Photos

Huge thank you to all the people who have emailed in a baby photo for our science work in life cycles. We will be using these in class over the next 2 weeks so there is still time to send these in if you have not already done so. It means so much more to the children if they have a photo of themselves rather than a generic image. Send your pictures in to our usual email address:

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Maths: Homework Books

We have been looking at a way of giving you a more consistent and structured approach to homework, particularly in maths, so we will be re-issuing the maths homework books we have used in past years:

The only difference here from previous years is that once we send the books home you do not need to bring the books back - keep them at home. We will let you know which pages we advise you to work upon with your child each week via our blog.

These books have been ordered and we will be hoping to send these home with your child next Friday.

Maths: Place Value

This week we have been looking at the idea of place value and how numbers can be split into tens and ones. One of the games the children enjoy using to explore these ideas is Place Value Basketball:

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

From the main menu, choose the number range your child will feel comfortable in. We advise Year 1's to start with Numbers up to 19 and Year 2's Numbers to 49. Move to the next step up if they are doing well.

From here we count the tens and ones to give us the total. 

This is good practice for switching between counting on in steps of 10 and then 1's. You could also record this as 20 + 7 = 27. For an extra challenge, Year 2's, think about how you could partition the number in different ways e.g. 10 + 17 = 27 or 11 + 16 = 27.

Big Cat Ebook Library Update

As mentioned last week, we have purchased access to this reading scheme for use for you all at home. Our school subscription has been set up now and next week we will be assigning all the children their own log in details and ensuring they have access to books best suited to them. All these log in details will (all being well) sent home with your child next Friday.

So we wish you all a fabulous weekend and - fingers crossed - next Friday lots of extra bits and bobs to use at home!

Much love

KS1 Team;)

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Class Blog - 6th November 2020

Happy Friday everybody! It has been lovely to welcome all the children back to their new classes and we have been extremely impressed with how well everyone has settled in this week! Please remember that if you need to get in contact with any of us about anything please use our Key Stage 1 email address:

ks1@downhallprimary.com

As we have been so impressed with how hard the children have worked during their first week, there is no specific homework task this week, however we wanted to give you an update on some of the things that will be occurring during our first half term.

Baby Photos

As part of our science work this half term, we are learning about life cycles and living things. We will be looking at growth and how we have changed since birth. If you are able to email a photograph of your child as a baby for use in these lessons, it would be greatly appreciated and makes the learning much more personal to them not having to use a generic Google image! Please be assured that only KS1 teachers receive these emails and we will delete these particular emails once we have printed the photos off for the children to use.

It would also help the children if you have a chat about the photo with them. Explain what they could do and couldn't do when they were very young. Explain any key milestones in their development - when they started to walk, talk, their first words etc.

Reading

Since returning to school in September, we have been trying to find a way to support the children with their reading that works both in school and at home. We appreciate that, with our younger children, MyOn is more difficult as the texts do not match our colour bands and do not always support the children with their phonics. 

As a result of this and having listened to concerns some of you have raised, we have this week been able to purchase the Collins Big Cat ebook Library for use in school and at home.

This ebook library contains the same books as the children have been reading prior to lockdown and is arranged in the colour bands. We feel in Key Stage 1 that these ebooks will work better for your children's needs because:

• Your children will only see books that are matched to their reading level or colour reading band that they are familiar with.
• These books reinforce the work that the children do in Phonics lessons as all the words will be fully decodable.

We are awaiting our school login information and will share this with you as soon as it is available. Further information regarding how the ebook library works will be explained in the blog once it is fully set up.

Autumn Term Project - "999! What's Your Emergency?"

Here is a curriculum overview sheet of the work that we will be undertaking between now and Christmas. Some aspects might be given a light touch due to the fact that this term has been condensed into 7 weeks but as all learning objectives are reinforced over the 2 years that the children are in Key Stage 1, the curriculum is always fully covered.

Thank you all so much for your support in all aspects of your children's learning and development - it means so much and makes a huge difference to progress!

Have a great weekend:)

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 23rd October 2020

Happy Friday everybody! Well, half term is upon us and we are saying a fond farewell to many of the children in our classes. We have been so proud of how the children came back and quickly adapted to the very different set up to the classrooms and the timetable. We can but marvel at their resilience and the mature understanding in which they have approached school life in 2020! 

We wish all our children great success and happiness in their new classes - they will rise to the new challenges effortlessly! In the meantime, however, please enjoy a relaxing half term. There are no specific homework tasks for this week but if you want to help your child keep their hand in don't forget to use MyOn and revisit any of the maths tasks outlined in this half term's blogs.

Overview Meetings

In normal times, we would have held our Key Stage 1 Overview Meeting with parents during the summer term. Although we cannot meet up in person we have provided you all with a link to the slides that would have been presented. Bear in mind that some of these slides do not represent our normal approach (e.g. homework/reading) but please be assured we are constantly reviewing more effective procedures in what we do.

For children moving into Year 1 and 2:

KS1 Overview Meeting

For children moving into Year 3, visit the current Year 3/4 blog and follow the link to their slides.

We will give you a more detailed overview of next half term's project - "999 What's Your Emergency?" - in our first blog back after half term.

Thank you again for all your help and support this half term - we couldn't have done it without you! We will see you all on Monday 2nd November - don't forget this is a PE day for KS1!

Wishing you all a safe and restful holiday:)

Much love

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Mrs O'Connor

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 16th October 2020

 Happy Friday everybody - we hope you have had a good week!

As mentioned in last Friday's newsletter, as a school we must offer immediate remote education if, for any reason, your child is not able to attend school for a prolonged period of time. As a school we will be using the DfE approved programme, The National Academy (https://www.thenational.academy/). Here there are daily lessons for each Year Group which cover a range of subjects. There are a number of other online sources that you can use to complement this site:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/members-area/kids/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/

Multiplication - Arrays

This week we have been looking at the mathematical operation of multiplication. All children by the end of Year 4 are expected to know all their times tables to 12x12. For Key Stage 1, we focus on being able to recite and recall facts for the 2x, 5x and 10x tables. Being able to count on in steps of these amounts is very helpful for solving calculations such as 10x5=? (10, 20, 30, 40, 50). Counting in these steps whilst climbing the stairs is a way of regularly reinforcing this.

In Key Stage 1, one of the ways we further exemplify multiplication is by showing them as concrete arrays to help support this ability to count on in 2's, 5's and 10's.

4 x 3 =
Here we are being told to count in 4's.

How many times? 3

We can visualise this by drawing 4 dots, 3 times:


Try and keep the dots lined up with each other.
Count the total and you have your answer!

Try some out for yourself. 

Multiplication - Partitioning

Once numbers go above 10, arrays become too unwieldy and inefficient. It is good practice for the children entering Year 3 to try some partitioning to help solve these.


Here we split 15 into 10 and 5 and times these by 2 (use arrays if you cannot do this mentally).
This gives us the answers 10 (5x2) and 20 (10x2).
Add these 2 numbers together to find the answer.

Again, if you are confident with arrays and the 2, 5 and 10 times table, try some of these.
If you want to let us know how you are doing with these homework tasks, please send us an email but be assured that there is no compulsion to show what you have been doing - it is enough to just be doing!

Reading

Keep reading little and often - it is very important. Use Myon if you can and if your child finds this platform agreeable but we know some of you have been finding the following site very helpful so we are pointing this out to you again:

• Oxford Owl 

            You will need to register for this site but it is very easy (I tried it and it took less than 5 minutes).

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/user/sign_up.html

Incidentally, after confirming your email notification, if it says there is a problem, just log in as normal - it will work fine!

From here you can choose from a range of ebooks: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/free-ebooks/

From here you can choose a colour book band or search by phonic phase and browse the books.

Once you choose a book you can read it (or have it read to you) and there are even some activities related to the text at the top.

We hope you find some of these resources helpful. Please be assured we are currently continuing to review how we can further develop reading opportunities for your children after half term and fully understand how online reading is not for everyone.

Wishing you all very wonderful weekend:)

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 9th October 2020

 Happy Friday everybody - I hope you have had a fab week!

Amazingly, we are entering the last 2 weeks before half term and the children transitioning into their new classes. It is with regret that we are unable to do many of the things that we would usually do at the end of the year due to Government guidance such as sending work or small gifts home with the children. However, we are planning on having a special "treat" afternoon for the children in our last week together.

If you have any concerns or questions about your child's new class or transition please send us an email and we will hopefully be able to put your mind at ease.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Coats

Just a reminder that as the weather becomes more autumnal to ensure your child brings a coat to school each day. Due to our staggered lunches we get less time outside so unless the weather is very bad we will always endeavour to still go out at playtime and for our Daily Mile. 

Maths - Addition as the inverse of subtraction

This week in school we have been looking at how addition and subtraction are the opposite of each other or to use the mathematical term - the inverse of each other. 

The way we have shown this is through a triangle with 3 numbers, an add sign at the bottom and a take away sign at the top:




We use this to generate 4 calculations. You can create 2 addition calculations by starting at the bottom following it around, finishing at the top:

10 + 5 = 15

5 + 10 = 15

You can also create 2 subtraction calculations by starting at the top and following it around:

15 - 10 = 5

15 - 5 = 10

It is worth noting how the same three numbers are used and that the largest number is at the end in the addition calculations and at the beginning in the subtraction calculations.

In exploring this concept, it is the relationship/patterns between the numbers that are important, not calculating the expressions. 

The game "Number Fact Families" on Top Marks is good for exploring this:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/number-facts/number-fact-families

Choose + and - and then the range that your child is comfortable with. Start with choosing from the left hand column (1+2=3 not the reverse). Click on the numbers and signs for them to appear in the highlighted box to make 4 calculations like in the triangle example above. Note there will be 2 addition and 2 subtraction calculations and where the largest number should go for this.

You can record some of these, screen grab any work you have done on the computer or just send us an email about how you got on!

Reading & Phonics

Don't forget to keep using MyOn to do as much reading as possible. Send us an email if you need any advice on how to use this platform further. We are very lucky to have this resource and online access to thousands of books and regular reading will be imperative for your child's continuing development in all areas of the curriculum.

We would also strongly advise you to try the games on Phonics Play if you feel your child needs additional support in their reading. The whole website is still free for everyone until 21st October. To login visit https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ and enter the username march20 and the password home.

From here if you click on the Resources tab there are lots of games that will support your child's development in phonics and ability to blend sounds in order to read. Please take advantage of this freebie while you still can - enjoy!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend:)

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 2nd October 2020

 Dear Parents

Thank you for all you and your children's heroic efforts for making it thorough another successful week - I hope this Friday sees you well!

Home/School Support

We currently live in strange times and those quick chats at the beginning and end of the day are not possible at the moment. All of you would have received reports in February about your child's progress and areas to focus upon for next steps in learning. Once new classes start next half term there will be some form of Parent/Teacher Consultation - we will let you know details nearer the time of how we can make this happen. However, in the meantime if you have any concerns or you would like to know how your child has settled back into school please send us an email via our normal email address and we will get back to you.

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Homework - Looking At Habitats

In our science work since coming back to school, we have been looking at the life processes of animals, the different diets that they have (carnivores, herbivores and omnivores) and the features of their habitats. We have used this website to help give us an introduction to habitats. 

Habitats and the environment - KS1 Science

As a homework task this week, we're asking you to choose one habitat to learn about and watch the video. Any of them will be fine - let your child choose one they are most interested in.

After we watched the video we made notes in the form of a mind map.

If you click on the link at the top of the page entitled "18 Class Clips", you can choose from the video clips that are most appropriate to your chosen habitat to add supplementary notes.

From here you can create a simple report showing what you have learnt about your habitat. This can be as simple as a picture with some labels to a piece of writing with sub-headings and lots of facts. Please send us an email to share anything that your child produces - we love seeing them!

Accelerated Reader

As mentioned last week, we have been placing the children on the Accelerated Reader system this week. This will enable the children to take an Accelerated Reader Quiz (AR Quiz) after they have read a book on MyOn. It is important to note that AR Quizzes test the children's understanding of a text as they do not have access to the text whilst undertaking the quiz. It may be beneficial to the children, therefore, to read the book more than once so that they have very good grasp of the book before taking a quiz.

To take a quiz, hover over the book you have just read, or click on "Info" and then click on "Take AR Quiz."

From here you will be prompted to enter your Accelerated Reader login and password. Don't panic - this is the same as their MyOn login.

Please encourage you child to attempt to read and answer the questions independently as this would mirror how we administer the test at school. Pick a book and give it a try! We will be monitoring MyOn for any potential Star Readers!

Again, any issues please contact us and we will endeavour to sort these as quickly as possible.

Have a wonderful weekend:)

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 25th September 2020

 Happy weekend, everybody!

I hope you are beginning to get back into a groove now and feeling increasingly secure with the routines - the children certainly are in class! Just a reminder that as the weather becomes more autumnal to ensure your child brings a coat to school each day. Due to our staggered lunches we get less time outside so unless the weather is very bad we will always endeavour to still go out at playtime and for our Daily Mile. 

Here are a couple of things to be practising at home to help support your child in reading and maths.

Maths - Addition & Subtraction

During lockdown, we regularly recommended this website:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

This is good for generating calculations for the children to practice different methods to solve them. It is through the constant practice of these skills that children develop the correct methodology to solve these calculations.

Addition - Selection

Firstly, once you have got to the above website, choose the correct calculations for your child. Choose the Level 2 tab:



We have mainly been using "Two-Digit Numbers" however feel free to tailor the level to your child's needs. Try "Two-Digit Numbers With Carrying" if they are super confident! When you have made your choice, use the "Manual" tab so it is not a timed race.

Addition - Methodology

For solving "Two-Digit Numbers" we show the children how to represent the tens and ones to help solve these. This is an approach we have practised lots in class and looks like this:




Lines represent the tens and dots represent the ones. Then count up all the tens and then the ones to get to your answer.

Subtraction - Selection

Again, choose the Level 2 tab and then select "Subtraction" in the second tab. We have been looking at "Two-Digit Numbers" as with addition:

Subtraction - Methodology

For those using "Two-Digit Numbers" the use of tens and ones looks like this:




We make the first number as before but we cross out the number of tens and ones of the second number. So above we are taking away 14, so cross out 1 ten and 4 ones. Always start with the ones first and then the tens.

Reading & MyOn

As mentioned last week, we wanted to give you some guidance on searching the vast library of MyOn more efficiently.

Once you have logged on, click on Library and then Search.

Then click on the filter icon on the left hand side of the box.

This gives you a range of options to narrow the books down. Most simple way of searching is by Year group. Once you choose a year group you must click on the magnifying glass to update the book lists.

(Don't be concerned if the "Your Year" hasn't been updated yet - it will be after half term).

Accelerated Reader

During January and February this year, we began putting some Year 2 (now "Year 3") children on to the Accelerated Reader scheme. If you know what Reading Level your child is you can also search MyOn by this reading level. It calls it the ATOS level. You can only select by whole number, so if your child has a reading level of 2.4, search "2," click the magnifying glass and then all the books from 2.0 to 2.9 are shown. 

Hover over a book and click on "Info" and you will be able to check on the book level (ATOS).

Don't be too concerned if a book is not an exact match, a variance of 0.2 or so is fine. If you cannot remember your child's AR Level please send us an email and we will look it up for you.

This week we have entered the details of all children in Amethyst, Diamond and Emerald class on to the Accelerated Reader system. Next week, we will be administering a baseline reading quiz which will give your child a baseline reading level. In next week's blog, we will explain how you can also take Accelerated Reading quizzes and a more in depth discussion on the nature of the Accelerated Reader Program for those of you to which this system is new.

We have never put so many children on to the system at the same time, so please bear with us as we get this prepared for you. In the meantime, we hope that these new search options make MyOn a bit more user friendly for you all.

Massive thanks for all your support again. Feel free to drop us an email to share any addition and subtraction work your child does and if you have any MyOn questions.

Have a lovely weekend!

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 18th September 2020

 Dear Families

Here we are at the end of week 2 and all the children have settled back admirably! We are all very proud of how they have adapted to our new routines and are all getting down to some very hard work. Here are some announcements for the coming week.

PE

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald class will continue to have PE on Mondays. PE starts next week on Monday 21st - so don't forget to come in PE kit!

Reading

Another reminder if your child has not yet bought in a book to read from home to please bring one in next week. Ideally, this is a book that the children can keep in school as we are doing all that we can to reduce the amount of items that move between home and school each day. Due to this we encourage you to use online platforms to support your child in their reading at home at the present moment:

• MyOn - www.myon.co.uk we are subscribed to this site and if you cannot remember your child's log in please contact us on our email (see below). Type in Down Hall and select our school from the drop down menu (it won't work if you just type it in) and then fill in your child's log in details.

            From here click on Library and Browse by a genre that will interest your child!

            We will provide further details on more specific searches in the near future.

• Collins Big Cat  https://connect.collins.co.uk/school/teacherlogin.aspx

        Log in at this site using these details:

You can choose a text from the colour bands we use at school and some even have some worksheets, which you find if you scroll down on the link above, to work on after reading. We have these books in school so it has the advantage of being familiar to the children.

• Oxford Owl https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page

            You will need to register for this site by clicking on "Join Us" and they will send you a email for you to complete your free registration. From here you can choose a book band and browse the books.

We hope you find some of these resources helpful. Please be assured we are constantly reviewing our reading provision and procedures as a school and hopefully we will be able to return to "normal" in time.

Homework Task

This week we have been talking about the different seasons of the year and the main features of these. Have a look at this video to support the task below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/geography-ks1--ks2-the-seasons/zk8thbk

As a homework task, we would like your child to either choose their favourite season and make a picture or piece of writing explaining why this is. Alternatively, split a piece of paper in 4 and make a collage of images/drawings that cover all 4 seasons. Take a picture and email it to us!

Jumpers & Cardigans

We have been blessed with warm weather since our return to school but the days are beginning to turn. We keep our classroom doors open all day at the moment to provide a highly ventilated environment. It is important, therefore, that the children do have a jumper or cardigan with them in case they get a bit chilly. The weather won't hold forever but we will maintain this clean air flow for as long as is bearable!

Once again, a massive thank you for all of your help and support in these challenging times. If there is anything you need, either call the school office and ask for one of us or contact us through our email:

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a lovely weekend!

KS1 Team