Year 1 & 2 - Wednesday 1st July

Welcome to July - wow! How did we get here?

Thank you to all of you have sent an email letting us know how you are, it is lovely to hear from you!
Please, please, please, if you haven't sent an email yet click on the link below and send us one (including your child's suggestion for a fab breakfast if you wish!). Go on...it really won't take long:)

ks1@downhallprimary.com

English - Persuasive Writing

I hope you have had fun creating your poster this week. We created a poster for Southend but you could have created it for any place that you and your child enjoy visiting. It could have solely been about Adventure Island or another place you have visited during a holiday.

Today you could create a second poster for a different location or you could try to create a piece of writing about our Southend poster. Let's just remind ourselves of the features of persuasive writing from Monday:



Year 1 - The simplest way to create writing about our poster will be to give a reason for why you think one or more of the places is fab e.g.:

I like Adventure Island because it has exciting rides.

You can write a sentence like this for as many of your pictures as you wish.

Year 2 - If we look at the "Structure" box we can see that it asks for an opening statement. So this could be:

Southend is an amazing place to visit.

Now if we want to use the language features of emotive language and using opinion as fact we can big this up a bit:

Southend is the most amazing place to visit for all the family.

After the opening we can elaborate on each point. We could use the points we added under our pictures last time.

Adventure Island has some of the most exciting rides in the world which will scare the life out of you. It also has some of the tastiest food in the whole town whether you like burgers or hot dogs.

Again the amount of writing created is not as important as understanding the intent of the writing. Be led by your child - hot July is not always conducive to masses of writing!

Maths - Multiplication Squares & Number Sequences

To wrap up our work on multiplication this week, we will look at number sequences with Year 1's and a simple multiplication square for the Year 2's but again choose the task that you feel best suits your child.

Year 1 - Have a go at completing these missing number sequences. Decide which number steps you are counting on in and then count in these steps to find the missing numbers. Numbers sequences are all about patterns so on one level you will be counting on but also look for patterns to help you.




Year 2 - Multiplication squares are a kind of extension to the above idea. Here you need to look at the number on the left (this is what we are counting on in) and the number at the top is how many times you count this number.

There are 2 multiplication squares to choose from. The second has the numbers across the top jumbled up to help quick recall of these facts. I have also included a blank one so you can choose your own tables to practice.



For clarity, I have partially completed the squares so you can see what you are heading for.



I wish you all a happy day.
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Tuesday 30th June

Welcome back to Tuesday's blog, I trust you are all well!

As I said yesterday, we would very much like to hear from you all this week to let us know how you are doing. Good news, bad news, questions, worries, celebrations and successes, we don't mind what you tell us but we would really love to hear from you.

I've had some great suggestions for breakfast ideas so far and I'm developing a shortlist. Could you ask your child to email me their suggestion for their favourite breakfast so that I never skip it again? I will post a picture of me eating the most interesting, crazy and tempting suggestion. Get creative and let me know - and tell us how you are doing too!

ks1@downhallprimary.com

English - Persuasive Writing

Yesterday, we looked at the different attractions that you could visit at Southend. We shortlisted them down to 4 - we are going to use these to create a poster (which doubles as a writing plan too). Here is our blank poster:





We can put "Southend" in the middle and then in each of the boxes put pictures showing our 4 favourite attractions. Here is my version (I chose Adventure Island, Sea Life Centre, the Pier and Chalkwell Beach):



You can use drawings or, if you have printer access, use photographs. You could also create a page on the computer and email it to our KS1 email to save ink too.

Year 2's, to extend your task place a couple of bullet points underneath to just note why it is an amazing attraction - here's mine:





Enjoy creating your poster!

Maths - Multiplication Problems

Yesterday, we used arrays to solve various multiplication calculations and today we will apply these skills to worded problems. Choose one set of problems from below and follow these steps (the word RUCSAC can help remember them):

• Read the problems;
• Understand the problem (what are we trying to find out?);
• Choose the correct calculation (+, -, x, ÷);
• Solve the problem using an efficient strategy (e.g. arrays);
• Answer the question;
• Check!!

Here are the problems, watch out again - they might not all be multiplication!

Year 1 - These focus on the 2x tables (look out for the + problem!)

Year 2 - These use a range of multipliers (again look out for the + one!)

Super Hard Black Belt Challenge - these ones will require our partitioning skills to split these up into 10's and ones before multiplying e.g.:

Good luck:


I wish you well in all your home schooling today!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Monday 29th June

Welcome back to this week's blog - I hope you had a lovely weekend.

We would very much like to hear from you all this week to let us know how you are doing. Good news, bad news, questions, worries, celebrations and successes, we don't mind what you tell us but we would really love to hear from you.

To give you a bit of a push, I need your child's help with something. Mrs Jude is always telling me off as I'm afraid I always skip breakfast. I know - this is terrible, most important meal of the day and all that. Could you ask your child to email me their suggestion for their favourite breakfast so that I never skip it again? I will post a picture of me eating the most interesting, crazy and tempting suggestion. Get creative and let me know - and tell us how you are doing too!

ks1@downhallprimary.com

One last thing - I have put on our class page all the resources for Monday-Wednesday that you might need. If you want to forward plan your week, this might help a bit!

English - Persuasive Writing

This week we will be looking at the genre of persuasive writing. This poster should help you identify the key features of this form of writing:



So we need a context for our writing. We will use the seaside as our vehicle for this. Our final goal will be to create a poster and a short piece of writing to encourage people to visit Southend once lockdown is over. Today we need to research the different things visitors could do when they visit. Share this website of 15 places to visit in and near Southend:

http://www.lovesouthend.co.uk/landmarks-attractions/southends-top-15-attractions-according-tripadvisor.html

Today's job is to reduce this list down to 4 best things to visit/do in Southend. This is up to your child but they need to choose their favourite things so they can best persuade others to visit. Make a list of your 4 chosen places and maybe research these to identify what makes them so fantastic.

Maths - Multiplication

This week we will be re-visiting the operation of multiplication. Have a look at this blog to refresh your memories for the strategies we used:

https://dhps12.blogspot.com/2020/04/year-1-2-monday-20th-april.html

Today we can use the arrays method to solve multiplication calculations.

Year 1 - have a look at these fruit and vegetable arrays:










Choose one and see if you can represent it as a multiplication calculation.

For example, look at the peppers picture above. First, count how many we have in the top row? 7

Now how many rows of 7 do we have? 2

We have seven two times. 7 x 2 =

Now to find the answer, we count ALL the peppers: 7 x 2 = 14.

Have a go at some of your own - copies of these are on our class page if you want a physical copy to cut out but equally you could just use the images here.

Year 2 - If you are confident on the above, try to create your own arrays to solve multiplication calculations generated through Top Marks:

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

From the 3 tabs at the top choose Level 2; Multiplication; Then choose which times table you wish to practice. Remember: 2x, 5x & 10x are end of Year 2 expectations but feel free to experiment!




I wanted a challenge, so I tried the 6x table. I got this calculation:




I made this array:




Once I counted all the dots up, I found the answer 24! Hope you have just as much fun as me!
We miss you all!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Friday 26th June

Last Friday's complete food chain answer:

Sun → Sea Lettuce → Limpet → Starfish → Lobster → Seal → Shark 

You may have stopped here thinking that the shark is the apex predator in the ocean, which is correct!  However, some of you may have thought about the fact that even though we don't live in the ocean, shark can be eaten by humans! In this case you may have added human as the apex predator, which would also be correct!

Good morning all and welcome to Friday!  

Today's learning is about finding out, talking, discussing and understanding.  Some key terms we are exploring are; interdependence, endangered and extinct.  

Now that we all know how food chains work, it is time to think again about this...

🤔Have a chat about the following questions:

           Why is it important for us to learn to respect the environment?

           What might happen to the animals if we don't respect it?

           How could a food chain be affected?

Today we are learning about the term 'interdependence'.  This seems like a long word but its meaning can be put very simply; all parts of the food chain need each other to survive.  They rely on each other.  Here are some examples to talk about:

Sun → Sea Lettuce → Limpet → Starfish → Lobster → Seal → Shark

According to our fact file, limpets eat sea lettuce.  This is a simplified example, but consider what would happen if sea lettuce could no longer grow because of pollution?  Would the rest of the food chain be able to survive?  

We looked at pollution last half term, but if you missed it or want to recap you can revisit our blog from Thursday 21st May where there are links to 3 short films to explore.  Aside from plastics and pollution, there are other things that threaten our animal's habitat such as intense farming, climate change and the use of pesticides.  

When an animal is under threat of disappearing from our world, it is called endangered, if it disappears completely, it is called extinct.  Watch these short information pieces: 

Extinct - some images of extinct animals and plants.

Endangered Species  - some examples and some reasoning to explain why animals become endangered.

If you want more you can further explore specific endangered animals on the WWF site here - Animals in Danger.  The photographs are amazing on this page and children can click on the endangered animal of their choice to see further photographs, maps of where the animal is from and find out the reason that it is an endangered species.  Help will be needed with reading but even just looking at the pictures will be informative in terms of learning about the animals that are on the brink of extinction.

Finally a task to do.   Using the information from the short clips and the WWF website, illustrate these two sentences with pictures.

I am extinct.

I am endangered.

Here's one I made earlier:

The important part of this lesson is understanding.  If your child is enthusiastic and a confident writer, they may want to write some factual sentences also, but they do not have to.  Understanding the key words and concepts of the lesson is more important so encourage lots of talking and explanation of what they are drawing.  A simple verbal explanation is fine as long as meaningful, ie; 'there are not many polar bears left so we need to look after our world or they will all die.'  Some children may be able to articulate in much more detail the reasons why some animals are endangered and talk about the possible consequences of a broken food chain. Other children might be able to explain some things humans could do to try to make a difference and some children will be in between all of these! 

I do hope that you enjoy the learning journey today and as always, remember that you can contact us to share work or for any further questions or advice via our email - ks1@downhallprimary.com.

Best wishes for a fab weekend,

KS1 Team

 

 

Years 1 & 2 - Thursday 25th June

Hello, we hope you are all having a lovely week and enjoying the sun. 

Today we will be continuing with our collage creations, creating an under the sea picture makes me excited that we can now visit the beach and go for nice walks along the seafront. If you do visit the seaside it would be a nice idea to see if you can spot anything you have added to your collage. Last week was all about planning and preparation and today it's time to start adding detail. 

The first thing I did once I had finished the plan was colour the different parts of my collage, this will help when selecting the correct colour materials for the picture. 

Next I decided to focus on the 3 fish I had selected. I selected my materials and used different techniques to create my fish. This is your time to put all your planning into action, gather your materials and start creating your fish. I will add details about the fish I created for suggestions, however you may have selected different fish and materials and do not need to use the same as me.

I created my clown fish by using an orange plastic bag, white tissue and I added detail using a black felt tip pen. To make my fish look more realistic I decided to layer the material so that you could see the scales. I found a googly eye as it looks like a real fish eye. 

As I wanted the collage to have lots of different textures to create my blue tang I used blue shredded paper to make my fish look 3D. I added detail using yellow tissue paper which I cut to the correct shape. Remember to use all of the different cutting, tearing, squishing, folding and other techniques when using your materials. This will help add lots of detail to your collage. 

Finally to make my royal gramma, I cut some pink paper to the correct size and then teared a yellow sponge into different shapes for the tail. I think it makes a good 3D affect for the scales. I used googly eyes for all my fish but I am looking forward to seeing what materials and objects you use to create different parts of the fish. 

Next I decided to add detail to my octopus and I chose a red felt as I think a collage is more effective when using a variety of materials and textures. I also like layering as when researching collage designs lots of the pictures had used the layering technique. You could also use lots of different materials in the same colour to create your sea creatures. 

Finally I added details to the other things I thought you may find on the ocean floor, this part of the ocean is also known as the trench and abyss. I selected a ship wreck and a treasure chest, as I once went on a submarine and saw a shipwreck, therefore I knew you sometimes see these at the bottom of the ocean. You may also like to research other treasures people have discovered in the ocean. 

To create my ship and treasure chest, I found lolly sticks, shiny gold paper, card and sequins. I had to cut my materials to the correct shapes. I had to get some help to make my treasure chest and it was very difficult to make the correct shape. I thought about giving up and not including it in my collage and then remembered what we learn at school, if something is tricky, persevere and try, try and try again as great effort leads to great progress. If you find an activity challenging you must not give up as once you have completed the challenge you will feel very proud of yourself. 

We hope you are all enjoying this creative activity and we continue to look forward to seeing your end designs. 

Have a lovely day, 

The KS1 Team

A message from Miss Langley

Hello :) 

As you may be aware I am very close to meeting my baby girl who is due on the 9th July. My last working day is this Friday 26^th June and then I will be starting my maternity leave. For the parents and children of Emerald Class please continue to share work or ask questions in our KS1 email and Mr Jude and Mrs Yuille have said they will happily reply to everyone.

This was not the goodbye I wanted and I wish I could give all my children a big hug! It is such a shame I did not get to spend the last few months with my class, however please let them know I am so proud to have been their teacher this year and I will be back to school for a visit with the baby as soon as it is safe to do so. I am so excited for my next chapter of being a Mummy, however the thought of not being at Down Hall when all the children return makes me feel very emotional.

Under such unusual circumstances, I can imagine lots of you have questions about September and I would like to reassure you that plans are currently being put in place for Emerald Class and as soon as things are finalised Mrs Nelson will update you all.

I would just like to say a huge thank you to you all for your well wishes and checking how I am during my pregnancy, we are so lucky to have such amazing parents and children at Down Hall.

I will keep you all updated on the baby news and will post lots of pictures and videos once she has arrived.

See you all soon,

Miss Langley :) 

Year 1 & 2 - Wednesday 24th June

Happy Wednesday everybody, I hope you are well!

Just to let you know that this Friday, Miss Langley formally begins her maternity leave. This will mean that she will not be in a position to respond to emails from this date, however, please continue to send emails, Emerald class, as myself and Mrs Yuille will be reading and answering any questions or concerns that you might have.

I am sure you will join me in wishing Miss Langley well in this very exciting time for her and her family - she can't wait to share pictures when baby arrives!

English - Explanatory Writing

Today, we will be continuing on with our explanatory writing. Do as much as you feel your child can cope with. In school it is not always a demand to "finish." Even if you did 3 steps of the explanation the concept is understood, the skill is practised. Completion is the cherry on top.

Below I've modelled the sentences that might be produced. I've tried to show the levels you can strive for. Black for the base sentences, orange for the next level of detail and red for maximum detail. I hope they help:

First cream, powdered milk and sugar are mixed together so the ice cream is ready to be cooled.

Then the ice cream is heated so any germs are killed.

Next the hot mixture is cooled and flavour is added.

After that the ice cream is chilled and whipped so it can become solid.

Once this is done the ice cream is put between chocolate wafers which have been made from chocolate cake ingredients.

Finally the ice cream is sealed in a colourful wrapper so it is ready to be sent to shops.

If you want to add any other details, don't forget that you can include pictures or diagrams that help explain the process. Have fun and have an ice cream if you need to research the process further!

History - The Pier

The final program from our Magic Grandad trilogy is all about Seaside Entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exFmcLMjKsw

Watch the program and after make a list of all the forms of entertainment that the program featured. For each item ask these questions:

1. Would you enjoy this?

2. Do we still have this at the seaside today?

3. If yes, how has it changed?

4. If no, what has replaced it?

Seaside entertainment will form the basis for our English work next week, so this will be good preparation.

Have a lovely day!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Tuesday 23rd June

A very warm welcome to all of you this Tuesday; whether you dip in or out or you are here day in day out I salute all your efforts. Remember - you do make a difference and always be kind to yourself:)

English - Explanatory Writing

Continuing from our explanatory writing planning from yesterday, we will now begin to write our explanation. To achieve this successfully we will use the grid below to highlight the features of explanatory writing:


Today we will try to write a title, introduction and the first step - this mirrors how we would approach the task in school.

Title is straight forward - what are we explaining?

How Ice Cream Is Made

An opening statement gives an overview to the explanantion. It could be general:

Ice cream is a tasty treat we all enjoy at the beach.

Or you can use the video for inspiration:

100 years ago, home freezers were invented so everyone could enjoy tasty ice cream treats!

Now we can move into step 1 (look at your plan from yesterday - it is a picture of the ingredients being mixed together). The main way we would adapt this for the range of ability is the level of detail in each sentence.

1. Simplest - just explain the step:

Cream, milk and sugar are mixed in a pot.

2. Trickier - add in time connectives (first, then, next, after that, finally) to help show order and adjectives for detail. It is worth noting that explanations do not use numbers for steps as instructions would do:

First cream, powdered milk and sugar are mixed together in a pot.

3. Trickiest - add a causal connective (because, so, which) to explain why each step is performed:

First cream, powdered milk and sugar are mixed together so the ice cream is ready to be cooled.

And that is that for today - spending time on the first step should ensure the subsequent steps are easier tomorrow.

Maths - Fractions of Amounts

Yesterday we talked about finding half and quarter of an object by dividing it in half. Today we will extend this to finding half and quarters of an amount of objects. If I am finding 1 half of 8, I can take 2 approaches:

1. Practical sharing - first gather a number of objects equal to the amount you are finding half of (counters, pegs, pasta tubes, pencils) - in this case 8.

Secondly, look at the bottom number of the fraction (the denominator) - this tells you how many groups we share between.

Finally, count 1 group - this is your answer. Two points here: first check - are all the groups equal? Secondly, (and really only for Year 2's) the top number of the fraction (the numerator) tells you how many groups to count to find the answer. Normally this is only 1 but it helps explain later how we find three quarters of amounts.

2. Drawing method - if you do not have resources or you want a potentially quicker/easier way to solve these problems we show the Year 2's in particular this approach. First look at the bottom number of the fraction (the denominator) - this is the amount of groups we share between so we make a set of boxes to match this number. Then look at the amount you are sharing and draw in this amount as dots, putting 1 in each box as a time. So if I was finding 1 half of 8 it would look like this:




Here are some problems you can have a go at solving using the above approaches:

Problem 1 - A good starting point. Watch out when in changes to quarters! To make this task easier, only focus on finding half.

Problem 2 - A bit trickier. Look carefully at the denominator so you know how many you are sharing between.

Problem 3 - Super hard! Calculate the amounts and then make Mr Crocodile eat the biggest amount!



Good luck and I wish you all a fabulous day!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Monday 22nd June

Welcome back to another week, everybody - I hope you are well!

Just a reminder for Year 1 parents if you did not see the letter from last week regarding wider opening for Year 1's, to check it here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B398SMmjV73PlsxI658Qaxzz7teWT3l6/view?usp=sharing

As time passes by, more and more resources have become available online and I have been mindful not to deluge you with too many places that you could visit. However, variety can be important so you might want to look through this website if you haven't already stumbled across it:

https://classroom.thenational.academy/year-groups/

This website is endorsed by the Government and is made by the Oak National Academy. Choose your child's year group, then click on the subjects tab and from there see which areas interest you and your child most. I hope this helps further inspire all your wonderful home schooling efforts!

English - Explanatory Writing

This week we will be looking to plan and write a piece of explanatory writing, that is writing that explains how something happens or is made. Explanations are slightly different from instructions in that they describe the steps in a process rather than steps to something that you are personally going to go and do.

I will continue to try to spend a bit more time this week in showing the range of levels of detail that your explanations take so you can find the pitch that will work with your child - apologies if I have not been clearer in this in previous blogs.

In keeping with out seaside theme, we will be explaining how ice cream is made! We can draw upon our summarising work from last week to help us show a number of steps in this process. First, lets watch this video clip (only watch up to 3 minutes 10 seconds):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KaBJlGuw3c

Have a chat with your child - what were the main steps?

Don't try and included everything (I wouldn't worry about the stabilisers and emulsifiers nor the homogenising process) I would include 4 main steps (with 2 extra steps):

1. Mix cream, powdered milk and sugar together.
2. Heat it to kill the germs.
3. Cool and add flavouring.
4. Chill and whip to make it solid.

+5. Ice cream placed between 2 chocolate wafers.
+6. Sealed in a wrapper.

I would share these steps with your child and then help them sequence the steps which will also act as our plan for this week's task. There are a number of ways you can go about this.

Firstly, select whether you wish to do a 4 step or 6 step process and use a grid similar to the ones below:














Secondly choose whether you will use pictures, written notes (don't be too detailed, save that for later in the week!) or you can cut and sequence the pictures below:


All resources will also be on our class page - happy sequencing!

Maths - Fractions

This week we will be looking at fractions. Now this can seem initially daunting to children but once they get the concept then it can become quite straight forward. Have a look at this video - stop at 2 minutes 15 seconds!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08bswcj/bitesize-57-year-olds-week-3-7-teacher-talks-fractions

The most important aspect of fractions is to understand that the bottom number (denominator) is how many pieces there are altogether and the top number (numerator) is how many pieces you get/eat!

Spend some time today seeing what items you can divide into fractions. Make a sandwich, pizza, cake and see if you can divide them into halves and quarters. Take a photo and send it to us at our email address:

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a lovely day!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Friday 19th June

Good morning all and welcome to Friday!  Before we launch into our science, if you are a year 1 parent then click on the link below to see details for the wider return of Year 1 children.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B398SMmjV73PlsxI658Qaxzz7teWT3l6/view?usp=sharing

Friday Science Fix

Begin today by putting your learner in the 'hot seat' to recap. (This is a game often used in class, it's basically a seat that you pretend is really hot because of the tricky questions... are they brave enough to sit in it and have a go?)  Answer 3 questions about our previous learning to earn a small reward, ie; a sticker, a milkshake, 10 mins extra playtime, or something that you know will motivate them!

Possible questions:

• Tell me one type of animal diet?
• What does a herbivore eat?  
• What does a carnivore eat?
• What does an omnivore eat?
• Owls eat mice - which animal is the predator and which is the prey?
• Can you remember anything about the term, 'food chain'?
• What is the special term for the animal at the top of the food chain?

In class 3 correct answers earns a small reward, but you can give support or as many clues as you want to to get there!

If you haven't already covered it, then remind yourselves of the following.  A food chain quite simply shows who is eating who and starts with the sun, and if you are able to track the food chain completely you might find an apex predator sitting at the top of it!  

For example: 

The sun gives energy to the plant to make its own food, the flower is eaten by a caterpillar, the caterpillar is eaten by a bird, and you could continue; the bird is eaten by a cat... and so on.  The arrow means 'is eaten by'.

The short clip below shows a small section of a food chain in action (just two animals).

Secret Life of Rockpools

Your mission today is to try to fill in the missing parts to complete this food chain.  Use the seaside fact file below to help you.  Using the information fields 'food' and 'predators', you should be able to trace the food chain in either direction, by asking questions such as; What does a limpet eat? Who eats a starfish? and so on!  

At The Seaside Fact File

There is a lot of information in the fact file so give as much help as needed. Once you have traced the chain and noted it down, then you can record it as the example above using a piece of A4 paper cut in half length ways and folded to give 4 sections.  

Some children in class would be supported in this task with reading and writing, and perhaps just be asked to complete 4 stages of the chain.  

Some children would work independently and some might be asked to find all 7 stages (yes, there are 7 so you will need 2 strips of paper for the whole thing).  

Some children, if they are enthusiastic, might be extended even further and be asked to use the fact file to find a food chain of their own. 

Any one of the above is perfect, but if it is not a day for recording do not worry!  The task is about consolidating understanding of food chains and investigating what an underwater food chain looks like.  Looking at the resources with lots of discussion and asking/ answering questions can also achieve this. 

Here is the link to the interactive game again, just in case you missed it last time, or enjoyed it and want to have another go!

Food Chain Challenge Game

Best wishes for a lovely weekend everyone.

KS1 Team

Years 1 & 2 - Thursday 18th June

Hello :) 

Today we are going to start our plan for our final art creation, our under the sea collage. I am going to post a picture of the final collage I have created and then over the next few weeks there will be step by step instructions on how I completed each step, filled with lots of sea creatures and wonderful treasures you may find if you were an underwater explorer. 

As the children will tell you, any successful creation will always start with a detailed plan! 

Hopefully you will still have some materials left over from last week, as you will need a variety of different materials to create your collage. 

I have been on a material hunt around the house and these are all the materials I found which I will be adding to my collage. This project will be continuing over the next few weeks so you have plenty of time to gather any useful materials you may need.

Once you have gathered your materials, you need to draw out a plan so you have an idea of what you are going to add to your collage.  First I thought about the setting and what I would need to include. I added some sand, water and coral. Next I selected my fish and sea creatures, I chose a clown fish, blue tang and royal gramma from the list of fish we researched. I then thought of some of the other things you may find under the sea.

Some things you may like to include:

• shark 
• ship wreck
• octopus 
• treasure chest 
• jellyfish 
• coral 
• star fish 
• crabs 
• submarine
• diver 
• pearls 

Once you have decided on what you will include, it is now time to draw up your plan. A plan is a rough guide and can be changed at anytime. You do not need to include detailed drawings as they will eventually be covered over with material. The bigger the piece of paper or card the better as you will have more room to stick and layer your materials however any size is fine.

After I completed my drawings (with a little help) I added labels so I knew which colours I would need and which materials I was going to use to best represent each creature and object. I mixed and matched different materials as this will create a great layering affect to your collage. 

To help you complete your plans, below are a selection of links, giving step by step instructions on how to draw under the sea objects and creatures although with our fantastic artists, I think you will be able to create super drawings yourself. 

Octopus - https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/how-to-draw-an-octopus/

Turtle - https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/how-to-draw-a-turtle/

Clown fish -  https://www.wedrawanimals.com/how-to-draw-a-clownfish/

Blue tang - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4QIDCEsaeY

Boat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH5Io_Wg2T8

We look forward to seeing your plans and what things you are going to include. 

We hope you are all having a wonderful week and we would again like to say a big well for all your effort during homeschooling! 

The KS1 Team :) 

Year 1 & 2 - Wednesday 17th June

Good morning teachers and welcome to today's blog!

Hopefully, you have seen the announcement on the school's website about preliminary plans for September 2020. Please understand that these have been made in light of the current Government guidance of a maximum class size of 15 pupils. As this guidance changes then the current plans will also be reviewed. However, we felt that it is better that you know where we currently stand rather than no news at all.

One thing that is definite at this stage is that your children will return to Amethyst, Diamond and Emerald class in the same class as they currently are in. This will, hopefully, alleviate any concerns your children might have about returning to school, especially the Year 2's who may have been concerned about moving straight into Year 3.

Maths - Addition and Subtraction

Bringing together all our work from the last 2 weeks is the idea of how the operations of addition and subtraction are the inverse of each other - that is opposites! The way we show 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 add 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.

Choose one of the sheets below and have a go. Year 1's, to make the task easier, see if you can generate just one add and one take away calculation. To make the task trickier, choose the ones where the triangle is missing a number; you need to add or take away the other numbers to find the missing number first.

Year 1




Year 2

Use your tens and ones method to find the missing top number. You'll need to subtract if the missing number is on the bottom.




Black Belt Challenge - only for the brave!!!




History - The Beach

Continuing on from our Magic Grandad series last week, we can watch Episode 2: The Beach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWgnpY4L9so

Again whilst you are watching, think about the similarities and differences between now and then. Think about the question - would you have enjoyed a Victorian holiday? Why?

If you want to try a task related to this, have a look at the sheet below:

The 10 pictures show 5 aspects of a holiday, one from the past and one from the present day. (I made the present day pictures black and white so it's not too easy!) See if you can find a pair of pictures that show:

A - How we get there;
B - Where we stay;
C - On the beach;
D - Building sandcastles;
E - In the sea.

Here's my completed sheet to help:




My hugest respect to you all - you are amazing!
KS1 Team