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 :)