Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 27th January 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! Work on our "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" is in full swing now and we have been looking at the different characters in our work in English. We have also started to turn our attention to the most exciting aspect of our project:

Designing Chocolates!

The culmination of our project is where we become chocolatiers and the children invent and create their very own chocolates - just like Mr Wonka! During this process, the children will take part in taste testing the different possible ingredients before making a decision about which ones they wish to include in their marvellous creations.

We are aware that some children have allergies/dietary requirements and are happy to accommodate these. We have all the possible ingredients for the chocolate making, so if your child has an allergy to any food, please come and see us after school one day next week and you can let us know which ones are appropriate for your child. We will then get suitable alternatives where needed to replace any that your child can not have.

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this focuses on dividing. This is explored initially as practical sharing equally between 2 people. Begin to explore which numbers can be fairly shared and which leaver an odd one left over. This is good to help your child think about odd and even numbers. 

For Year 2's this also focuses on dividing. As mentioned before, in Year 2 we relate all division calculations back to their multiplication inverse as this is often a more efficient method of solving a calculation.

Both year groups can enhance their knowledge of division through the games below:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/doggyDivision/index.html

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have an amazing weekend!

Best Wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 20th January 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! Time really is flying in Key Stage 1 and all the children have been working so hard in all areas of our project! We have continued to look at the genre of explanation texts in English this week, in particular explaining how chocolate bars are made, and looking at all aspects of number and place value in Maths!

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - REMINDER

As part of our current project we would like to share the 2005 film of "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" with the children. We use excerpts from the film to help us look at character in our English work and use many of the scenes to help our descriptive writing and poetry work.

The film is classified by the BBFC as PG so we are asking for your approval to show the film to your child. If you have any concerns regarding this and you do not want your child to watch the film, please come and speak to us. Below is a link to the film's trailer for an idea of the film's tone:

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this focuses on multiplying. The first step in confidence with the times tables is practising counting on in different steps e.g. 2, 4, 6, 8 etc or 10, 20, 30. Grouping objects such as socks or gloves is a good way of showing this in practical terms. Regular practising of counting on in multiples of different numbers will also help - maybe count the steps upstairs but in 10's or 2's instead of 1's?

For Year 2's this also focuses on multiplying. Remember, practicing little and often at times tables facts will help your child gain confidence in this area. We talk about this in class as "squeezing the orange" - the more effort you put in, the more juice you get out!

Both year groups can enhance their knowledge of multiples of different amounts through the game below:

Coconut Multiples Game

The interactive number square below is really good to "paint" the multiples and explore the patterns that they make too:

Paint The Squares

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day - we would love to see you!

Have a relaxing weekend!

Love & joy

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 13th January 2023

 Happy Friday everybody! We have had a very busy in our first full week back in Key Stage 1. We have been exploring the genre of explanation texts in English and finding halves, quarters and other fractions in Maths!

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

As part of our current project we would like to share the 2005 film of "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" with the children. We use excerpts from the film to help us look at character in our English work and use many of the scenes to help our descriptive writing and poetry work.

The film is classified by the BBFC as PG so we are asking for your approval to show the film to your child. If you have any concerns regarding this and you do not want your child to watch the film, please come and speak to us. Below is a link to the film's trailer for an idea of the film's tone:

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

Reading Comprehension Homework Book

Your child will be coming home with a comprehension homework book this week! Just like with the maths homework book, we ask that you complete one page (double page where the task is spread across 2 pages) and bring the book back to school by Wednesday.

In the blog from 25th November (scroll down to remind yourself of this blog) we spoke in depth about all the key skills involved in comprehension and how reading is more than just mechanically reading the words on the page. The activities in these homework books will help develop these skills. Again, please come and see us if you require further advice on this area.

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this focuses on adding and subtracting. The ability to switch between these different operations is very important for the children, so take particular care to look at the sign when solving these calculations to decide which approach to use!

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

For Year 2's this again focuses on times tables and their related facts. All that we mentioned last week holds true for this week too. Just like reading or riding a bike, practicing little and often at times tables facts will help your child gain confidence in this area.

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

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a super weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille

Amethyst & Emerald Blog - Friday 6th January 2023

 Happy Friday everybody and a very Happy New Year to you all! It has been lovely to have a 2 day week to ease everybody back into the swing of things (teachers very much included) and it has given us an opportunity to wrap up our "999 What's Your Emergency?" project before we begin working on "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory."

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 28 & 29.

For Year 1's this focuses on subtraction. As with all the different operations in maths, as much practice as possible is key in learning the approaches to solving these calculations. Try number lines, try concrete objects - toys, pencils, spaghetti - anything!

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

For Year 2's this focuses on times tables. All Year 2 children are expected to know their 2, 5 and 10 times tables by the end of this academic year. This also includes the related division facts, so if we know that 4 x 2 = 8 will also know:

2 x 4 = 8

8 ÷ 4 = 2

8 ÷ 2 = 4

The more eagle-eyed of you will realise that this is just the same as addition and subtraction being the inverse of each other and, yes, we can represent it on a triangle!

And again, the game below is good for reinforcing this idea:

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

Next week we will also be sending a second homework book home but we will explain this in next week's blog.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development. Keep using the range of questions we have discussed previously as well!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a great weekend!

Much love

Mr Jude & Mrs Yuille