Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 28th January 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody; how time flies! We are already 4 weeks into the Spring Term and all enjoying our project of "The Quest." Castle construction is beginning in earnest this week - there are some photos of the early stages of construction in Amethyst Class at the end of this blog!

Phonics & Comprehension Homework

Thank you again to those who have been keeping up with the new homework books. Year 1's, please continue to complete the tasks inside your purple phonics homework book. Year 2's, please complete the next excerpt with questions from your comprehension books.

In terms of the comprehension books, we wanted to explain some of the strategies and tips we employ in school to help your children develop this important reading skill. Firstly, it is meant to be challenging! Year 2 reading is focused upon understanding, not whether the children can just read the text. When answering questions, here are some things to consider:

• Skimming & scanning - this is a skill which we encourage the children to use in comprehension. For example, if the question is "What does the dog do with stars?" then we need to scan the text for the word "stars" and this will help us get to the answer quicker.
• Avoid it/they - in giving an answer, avoid using vague terms such as it or they. Be exact - we don't know what is inside your mind unless you tell us!
• Does it answer the question? - always check your answers fully answer the question. If the question is "Where did the children meet for a drink?" The answer "They had a milkshake" does not match the question!
• Explore word meanings - the simplest words to read can have more complex meanings. The question "What crops grow on the farm?" relies on an understanding of the idea that a crop is something (usually food) being grown to be collected and sold or used. Always take time to explore the meanings of new words encountered and link this new word with a word already known.

We hope this helps and remember to ask your child to hand homework books in by Wednesday/Thursday for us to mark ready to hand out again on Friday.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 36-37.

For Year 1's this looking at halves. Finding half of shapes and numbers are both covered and it is useful if children can link the idea of half with last week's homework of dividing by 2.

For Year 2's, this is looking at double and half. dividing. Again, link this idea to multiplication and division - doubling numbers is the same as multiplying by 2 and halving is the same as dividing by 2.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/multiplication-and-division

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a relaxing weekend!

Much love

KS1 Team

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 21st January 2022

 Happy Friday, everybody - we hope that you are all well! This week in Key Stage 1 we have been continuing to share, compare and create alternate version of traditional tales; this week it was the turn of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." In maths, we have been looking at doubling numbers and keeping an eye out for patterns in number that can help us in calculations.

Thank you very much for all your donations of construction materials for our castles. We have more than enough now so please recycle anything else you were planning on bringing in. We will blog pictures of our castles as they are being made!

Phonics & Comprehension Homework

Thank you to those who have been keeping up with the new homework books, it is very important to practice these skills at home as well as in school. Again, we ask that you do the next page/task, wherever you are currently up to and then ask your child to hand the book in by Wednesday/Thursday for us to mark  ready to hand out again on Friday.

If you have any questions about these new books, please send us an email and we will get back to you.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 34-35.

For both Year 1's and Year 2's, this is looking at dividing. We look at this mathematical operation initially as sharing fairly and ensuring everyone gets an equal amount. Think about dividing by 2 or 3 as just sharing between this amount of people.

If you wish to extend this task, have a look at the games on Top Marks - we recommend "Fair Shares" and "Doggy Division Dinners" as a nice practical reinforcement of these ideas.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/multiplication-and-division

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a superb weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 14th January 2022

 Happy Friday everybody! It has been a very busy beginning of the Spring Term in KS1 - we have been looking at a range of traditional tales in English and been re-telling and revising the stories of "Jack & The Beanstalk" and "The Gingerbread Man." In Maths, we have been looking at reasoning about number and exploring fractions of shapes and amounts. But now on to an exciting announcement!

Colchester Castle - Tuesday 15th March

As part of our new project, "The Quest," we will be visiting Colchester Castle! This is a great opportunity to provide a real life experience to underpin all our learning about castles and knights. We made the same trip 2 years ago and know that it is a valuable and highly enjoyable day for the children in Year 1 and 2. We will send a letter out with further details before half term but thought you might like to put the date in your diary now for everyone to look forward to!

For more details about the work we cover in this term's project, feel free to have a look at our knowledge organisers on our class webpage; here is a link:

https://sites.google.com/downhallprimary.com/year1-2/our-projects/year-a-spring-the-quest?authuser=0

Phonics & Comprehension Homework

Thank you to everyone who completed the first page of these new homework books. Because, for the Year 2's, there are different books for different children, we will not be able to say "do page x" so we ask you just to do a page/task per week and then ask your child to hand the book in by Wednesday/Thursday for us to mark  ready to hand out again on Friday.

If you have any questions about these new books, please send us an email and we will get back to you.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 32-33.

For Year 1's this is looking at multiplication. Initially this is practised by counting on in steps e.g. 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. It is also important to understand how 2 x 4 for example is 2 groups of 4 objects. Try making collections of objects in 2's or tens and then relate these to a multiplication statement.

For Year 2's this is continuing to look at multiplication. Here we are relating multiplication with the idea of repeated addition. Just like reading, practising these times tables little and often helps embed understanding. There are lots of games on Top Marks to further explore these ideas:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/times-tables

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 7th January 2022

 Happy Friday everybody and a very happy New Year to you all. We hope you have had a very lovely Christmas Holiday and are feeling well rested for the Spring Term!

Model Castles

During the Spring Term much of our work will be linked to our project, "The Quest," in which we learn about Castles and Knights.

Our Design & Technology project is to plan, make and evaluate a model castle. If you could send in any boxes or packaging that might be helpful to such a construction project, please do so as soon as possible - this would be much appreciated! Egg boxes, kitchen roll tubes and any other shape smaller boxes and packaging can be useful - nothing too big please!

Phonics & Comprehension Homework

Today, all the children will be bringing home a new homework book along with their usual Maths homework book:

• Year 1's have a phonics homework book;
• Year 2's have a comprehension workbook.

For Year 1's, there will be instructions inside the small purple book which will explain what tasks are to be completed each week.

For Year 2's, each week the children need to do a page or read the text on the left hand page and answer the questions on the right hand page. Comprehension is all about locating the answers within a text, so spend time looking back and underlining where an answer can be found.

If you have any questions about these new books, please send us an email and we will get back to you.

Maths Homework

This week we would like you to look at pages 30-31.

For Year 1's this is looking at addition and subtraction. It is important that the children get used to looking for the symbol within calculations which tell them if they should be adding or taking away. They can then use the correct strategy to help them get to the answer. There are lots of practical games on Top Marks if you wish to consolidate these skills further:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/addition-and-subtraction

For Year 2's this is continuing to look at multiplication. There is an expectation that by the end of Year 2, children are fluent in the multiplication facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Just like reading, practising these times tables little and often helps embed understanding. There are lots of games on Top Marks to further explore these ideas:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/times-tables

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home. We cannot emphasize how important to your child's general progress in all aspects of their learning regular reading is. It remains one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do to support your child's education at home. We are still updating the Big Cat online library for all our children as they move up reading levels, so don't forget to use this resource if it is useful to you.

As always, we are available on our Key Stage 1 email. However, we are also available if you have any quick questions at the end of the day on the playground. Just give us a wave and we will pop over! 

ks1@downhallprimary.com

Have a super weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille, Mrs O'Connor & Miss Langley