Friday 26 April 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 26th April 2024

  Happy Friday, everybody! We are now fully in the swing of our new project "At The Seaside" where we have been learning about rockpools and the different features of the seashore. We are looking forward to finding out even more as this term progresses!

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 48 & 49.

For Year 1's this focuses on volume. Many of the practical activities discussed around length and mass in previous blogs hold true here - look at the volume of different bottles and cans around the house to compare and order them or use an egg cup to see how many cups it takes to fill different containers. Below is a game that builds upon this idea:

Bubble Bath Game

For Year 2's this focuses on comparing measurements. This gives another opportunity to using greater than (>), less than (<) and equals (=) signs to compare amounts, ordering values and linking units of measure to length, mass and capacity. Below is a game to help read amounts on a labelled scale - start off with the simple challenges and build up to scales where not all the numbers are labelled:


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 lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 19 April 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 19th April 2024

 Happy Friday, everybody, and welcome back to the Summer Term! We started this term with World Art Day on Monday and had an amazing day of lots of different art activities. Please be sure to check this week's newsletter to see what was going on.

New Reading Scheme

Today your child will be bringing home their new reading book from our new Anima Phonics reading scheme. These books are closely matched to our teaching of phonics and all the books are fully decodable which will help the children practise their phonics skills at home. Please read these books little and often at home during next week and record their progress in their reading diary as normal. Please do not be concerned if initially the books seem easier/harder than the books your child used to come home with as it may take a couple of weeks to fully establish the correct pitch as we introduce this new scheme to the school.

As the children will be reading these books in school as well as at home, can you ensure that the book remains in their bag every day, especially on Friday when we collect the books in and give the children their new book. 

New Spelling Scheme

Anima Phonics also provide a spelling scheme to go alongside the reading books so in order to be fully consistent, we will be moving to this scheme this week as well. Along with their new reading book, the children will bring home a spelling sheet of words to be practised throughout next week. Please use the sheet to practise on and bring it back into school with the other homework books. We will test the children on their spelling each Friday and issue them with a new set of words to work on.

Key Stage 1 Email

Just a reminder that the KS1 email account is now closed so any emails sent to this will not be seen. If you need to contact us for any purpose please either see us at the end of the day or use Class Dojo. If there is a change of collection arrangements during the day, please still contact the office.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 46 & 47.

For both Year 1's and Year 2's this continues to focus on mass and ways to measure. This is a fantastic opportunity to do a spot of baking as it will involve lots of practical measuring and reading of marked scales. Take a photo of any of your wonderful efforts (or of course bring us in a slice!) we would love to see them all.

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 lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Thursday 28 March 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Thursday 28th March 2024

 Happy Thursday, everybody! Wow! We find ourselves at the end of the Spring Term! Everyone has worked so hard and achieved so much already this year. We are now looking forward to our last project of the year - "At The Seaside!" Have a look at our knowledge organiser to see the areas we will be covering in the Summer Term:

At The Seaside

Key Stage 1 Email

The KS1 email account will be closed as of today and will no longer be monitored. If you need to contact us for any purpose please either see us at the end of the day or use Class Dojo. If there is a change of collection arrangements during the day, please still contact the office.

New Reading Scheme

As mentioned in our Class Dojo announcement, we have collected in everyone's reading book this week to make way for the new reading scheme we are using after Easter in EYFS and Key Stage 1. The children will have a book which they will use in Guided Reading during the first week back and then on Friday 19th April, they will be bringing this book home as their home reading book. We will also be looking to align our spellings to this new scheme too so we will give you details of this in the first blog back after Easter.

Art Day

Our first day back after the holidays, Monday 15th April, is a special Art Day! On this day, the children will be taking part in a wide range of artistic activities. All the children will not be wearing normal school uniform but some old clothes that you do not mind getting a bit messy! Key Stage 1 will still be doing PE on this day so if they wear comfy clothes that will still be suitable for PE this will be great!

We would like all the children to have a relaxing Easter Holiday, so we are not sending homework books home this week but if you can keep up the reading little and often with books you have at home or at the library this will have a hugely positive effect on their progress.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Much love

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 22 March 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 22nd March 2024

 Happy Friday everybody - what an exciting week we have had in Key Stage 1! 

Colchester Castle

We all had a fantastic day on Tuesday - there was so much to do! We explored the different challenges in the Activity Room - exploring medieval medicines and food, looking at medieval writing and looking at the different people who would have lived in the castle almost 1000 years ago.

We had a story tour of the castle by a costumed guide who took us to places where the public can't go. We even went up on the roof!

We had time to look around all the exhibits and enjoy the hands on experiences - everyone had a great day and the children were extremely well behaved; we are all so proud of them. There are more photos of our day on our newsletter this week.



Termly Update

On Monday, your child will be bringing home a "How is my child doing this term?" sheet. This lets you know how your child is progressing towards their end of year expected levels. There will be an opportunity to discuss this sheet at Parent/Teacher Consultations on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Spelling Frame Homework

Spelling Frame

This week we are looking at Spelling Rule 4. This is the /ay/ vowel digraph for Year 1's and the /s/ sound spelt as c for Year 2's.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 44 & 45.

For Year 1's this continue to focus on mass or weight (we do not make a distinction between the two terms in Key Stage 1). Again, explore this idea practically - get a range of toys and see if you can compare them in terms of how heavy they are. Order these from lightest to heaviest, reinforcing the different language as you go.

For Year 2's this focuses on ways in which we measure. Explore how we use different units to measure different aspects of an object. Try measuring different objects using a ruler to the nearest cm, look at food and drink packaging to see the weight and volume of different objects and use a weather website to see how we measure temperature in degrees Celsius. If you record any of these ideas, pop them in your homework book - we love to see all your efforts at home!

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 super weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 15 March 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 15th March 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! It has been a busy week in school this week, however, all eyes have been on a certain event next week...

Colchester Castle - Tuesday 19th March

Just a few reminders about Tuesday - firstly, the trip will take place within the normal school day and we should be back around 2:45pm so collection time will be as normal. However, please ensure you arrive promptly on this day at 8:45am as we want to be on the coach by 9:00am to depart on time.

Secondly, the only things your child needs to bring is their packed lunch and a drink (unless of course you have ordered a school packed lunch). Preferably, this will be in a disposable bag so the children don't need to bring anything back on the coach with them.

If you have any questions regarding the trip, please just ask us - it will be a fab day!

Spelling Frame Homework

Spelling Frame

This week we are looking at Spelling Rule 3. This is the /oy/ vowel digraph for Year 1's and the "soft g sound" for Year 2's spelt as -ge.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 42 & 43.

For Year 1's this continue to focus on length and height - this time measuring. This is a great chance to become involved in some practical measuring of different objects around the house. Use a ruler/tape measure or use some non-standard  units such as hand spans and find out how long different things are. If you record any of these measurements, please pop it into the homework book as we would love to see this too! 

For Year 2's this focuses on equivalent fractions. Understanding how 2 quarters is the same as 1 half is an important skill for the children and being able to "see" these equivalent makes it easier to understand. The below website lets you explore how different fractions relate to each other by dragging the fraction into circles and then comparing. 

Circle Fractions

Turn On The Subtitles

https://turnonthesubtitles.org/parents/ 


Turn on the Subtitles!


Turning on quality subtitles means your child will read a staggering number of words. Put them on and your child will read the equivalent number of words that are in all the Harry Potter books, all of the Lord of the Rings, all of the Chronicles of Narnia and everything Roald Dahl wrote, combined!
Research has shown that it can double the chance of your child leaving school as a proficient reader. You can turn them on for the whole family or most streaming services will now allow you to do it just for children’s profiles.
Perhaps, after all, there is a magic button…

Maths Workshops For Parents

We are delighted to announce that we are running a number of Maths workshops for adults. You can be a parent, grandparent, carer, aunt or uncle - you are all welcome! Are you someone who feels they need some support with maths? Perhaps your own experience in school wasn’t a good one. Well fear not, we have the solution to this!

Multiply courses are free and fully funded by Essex County Council as part of their Multiply Maths programme.

Each course is 6 hours face-to-face in school. Each session will be between 1pm-3pm on the dates

below:

EYFS 16th / 23rd / 30th April

KS1 18th / 25th April, 2nd May

KS2 10th / 17th / 24th May

Here is the link for you to register your interesthttps://forms.gle/BV9pj1FmAegMRLhw8

WHOLE SCHOOL SUMDOG ESSEX COMPETITION

Calling all of you amazing mathematicians! 

You have been entered into the Sumdog Essex Competition. Taking place 15 March - 21st March

I will be monitoring how well each class is doing. The winning class will be announced in the school

newsletter and will each receive 2 Dojos!

Let's show our Down Hall community what great mathematicians we are!

Good luck.

Mrs Hurley 👍


Justgiving Page

Just a reminder of our justgiving page as a way of donating to our Comic Relief collection today: 

Down Hall Comic Relief Just Giving Page

Thank you for your continued support in our teaching of Children's Rights.  

RRS Article 2:  Children's Rights apply to every child, everywhere all of the time.

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 awesome weekend!

Much love,

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 8 March 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 8th March 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! We all had a fabulous day on Thursday, celebrating World Book Day. It was lovely to see all the children enjoy sharing some of their favourite books with their friends with many going "full book day" and dressing up too!








Colchester Castle Payment

Big thank you to everyone who has already paid for the Colchester Castle trip via Scopay. If you have not done so yet, please do so as payment also acts as consent for your child to go on the trip. If there are any problems, please see the office.

Justgiving Page

As a Gold RRS school we are proud to be raising money to help children achieve their Rights within the UK and in the wider global community.  This year we have set up a justgiving page as an additional way to donate to our collection fund if preferred.   

Down Hall Comic Relief Just Giving Page

On the day children will be able to buy a red nose for £2, bring in some jokes or something funny to share in class and come to school in non-uniform for a donation of your choice.  Thank you for helping us to teach your children about The Rights, and to learn that small actions together can make a big difference!  We are looking forward to a fun Friday taking part in Comic Relief next week!  

RRS Article 2:  Children's Rights apply to every child, everywhere all of the time.

Spelling Frame Homework

Spelling Frame

This week we are looking at Spelling Rule 2. This is the /oi/ vowel digraph for Year 1's and the "soft g sound" for Year 2's spelt as -dge.

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 40 & 41.

For Year 1's this focuses on length and height. It is important to develop the correct vocabulary here; longer/shorter rather than bigger/smaller. Take the time to compare different objects around the home - choose 6 toys/items and order these in terms of their length or height.

For Year 2's this focuses on finding fractions of amounts. As usual, relate this mathematical concept back to the basic operation of division.

Doggy Division


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 brilliant weekend!

Much love,

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 1 March 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 1st March 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! It has been a very busy beginning of the Spring Term in KS1 - we have been looking at non-fiction texts in finding out about people became knights in English as well as looking at the different countries that make up the United Kingdom in Geography. But now on to an exciting announcement!

Colchester Castle - Tuesday 19th 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. You will receive a Google Form via message and email with further details today.

Spelling Frame Homework

Today your child will bring home a log in for the website Spelling Frame. This can be accessed via the link below:

Spelling Frame

Click on login to access the site, entering the details you have received. From here click on your child's Year group and thus week we are looking at Spelling Rule 1. This is the /ai/ vowel digraph for Year 1's and the "soft g sound" for Year 2's.


From the options, you can select "play" to play a range of games to practise these spellings and click on "view words" to see a list of the words that are being tested. At the end of next week, we will be testing the children on these words in class.

This process is followed throughout Key Stage 2 in our school, so we wanted to make the children in Year 1 and 2 ready for this experience when they move up. It will also help their spelling and is great fun too!

World Book Day

Just a reminder that World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March. To promote reading within our school community, for this day the children can bring in a favourite book from home which they can share with the other children in their class.

They can also bring in a prop which serves as a clue to their favourite book/character or come dressed up as a favourite character too if they so wish. On this day all the children will also receive a £1 World Book Day voucher!

Maths Homework

This week, we would like you to look at pages 38 & 39.

For Year 1's this focuses on quarters. Again, it is helpful when discussing fractions to relate it closely to division. So when discussing finding quarter, relate it to the same as dividing it in 4. The game below explores how to recognise halves and quarters in shapes.

Halves and Quarters

For Year 2's this focuses on thirds and quarters. As usual, relate these mathematical concept back to the basic operations of maths - dividing by 3 or by 4. The game below explores finding quarters and three quarters by sharing.

Finding Quarters By Sharing


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 great weekend!

Kind regards

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 16 February 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 16th February 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! Incredibly we find ourselves half way through this current year! Looking back, myself, Miss Smith & Mrs Yuille are so, so proud of all the the progress the children have made - we could not have asked them to work any harder and it is lovely to see the pride the children have themselves for the achievements and successes they have made! Here's to the second half of the year being just as fab!

World Book Day

This year, World Book Day is on Thursday 7th March. To promote reading within our school community, for this day the children can bring in a favourite book from home which they can share with the other children in their class.

They can also bring in a prop which serves as a clue to their favourite book/character or come dressed up as a favourite character too if they so wish. On this day all the children will also receive a £1 World Book Day voucher!

We would like all the children to have a relaxing half term, so we are not sending homework books home this week but if you can keep up the reading little and often this will have a hugely positive effect on their progress.

Have an enjoyable and relaxing week!

Much love

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 9 February 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 9th February 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! Hopefully you will have seen our castles beginning to take shape in this week's newsletter. As we tend to do these sessions at the end of the week, the photos are a week behind where we actually are but suffice to say next week the photos will involve a lot of grey paint!!!

Class Dojo

It is lovely to see so many of you signed up to our Class Dojo app. The children are loving seeing their Dojo points increase and we are all working towards our class goal of 1000 points to get an extra playtime! We will be looking to use Class Dojo's messaging system to replace our Key Stage emails, so if you have any messages for us please feel free to use this. 

A reminder that any messages relating to changes in collection arrangements during the day should still be sent to the office who will bring the message to us. If you need any help in signing up and joining Class Dojo, please come and see us.

Well-being Day

Next Friday (16th February), we will be having a Well-being Day. Children can come to school wearing comfy clothes, not their school uniform. There will be activities planned to enhance everyone's well-being such as mindfulness activities, art, music and yoga!

Maths Homework

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

For Year 1's this focuses on halves. It is helpful when discussing fractions to relate it closely to division. So when discussing finding half, relate it to the same as dividing it in 2. The games below explore how to recognise halves in shapes and how you can find half of amounts by sharing.

Half Not Half Game

Find Half By Sharing

For Year 2's this focuses on doubling and halving. As usual, relate these mathematical concept back to the basic operations of maths - doubles as times by 2 and halving as divide by 2. The game below has a mode for finding half and double of different amounts to help develop a rapid recall of these facts.

Hit The Button


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 super weekend!

Best Wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 2 February 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 2nd February 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! Work on our "The Quest" project is in full swing now and we have been looking at how a trebuchet works for our explanation writing in English. We have also started to turn our attention to the most exciting aspect of our project, the construction of our model castles. There will be lots of pictures of this process in our newsletters over the next few weeks so keep an eye out for those!

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 & Miss Smith

Friday 26 January 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 26th January 2024

 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 traditional tales in English this week, in the shape of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", and looking at all aspects of number and place value in Maths!

Message From Miss Harvey

Buy books, change lives

Want to support our school?

Buy books through LoveReading and LoveReading4Kids and we get  25% of the cover price to buy more books!

 

The LoveReading family — LoveReading, LoveReading4Kids and

LoveReading4Schools — exists because reading matters, and books change lives.

We know that reading for pleasure, and improving reading standards, has a huge

impact on our children’s wellbeing, academic achievements, and future success.

Alongside that, we also know that the current funding crisis has resulted in

devastating cuts to budgets in our schools, which is why LoveReading is redressing

that shortfall through creating an online bookstore with social purpose.

 

 

How it works:

● When you buy any book from LoveReading or LoveReading4Kids, 25% of the

cover price will be given to a school of your choice, such as us!

● Book prices are competitive with at least 10% off the RRP

● After you’ve searched for the books you’d like to buy (after reading reviews

and accessing opening extracts of highly recommended titles), at checkout,

you’ll be able to search for your school, by adding your school name or

postcode, and you allocate that money to us. It will even tell you how much

your purchase has donated to us!

● We can then spend our allocated funds on LoveReading4Kids to get more

books in our classrooms and library.

 

LoveReading has a huge selection of books for all ages, across all genres, at

competitive prices, so make LoveReading and LoveReading4Kids your go-to

bookshops to give our school the chance to access more books.

 

Sounds like a win-win situation - you get great books, while we get funds for great

books to encourage even more reading for pleasure in our children.

Like we said at the start, reading matters and books change lives - buying books

through LoveReading will ensure that continues to happen for students at our

school, and future generations.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

www.lovereading.co.uk

www.lovereading4kids.co.uk

 

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:


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 & Miss Smith

Friday 19 January 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - 19th January 2024

 Happy Friday everybody! We find ourselves in very exciting times as a number of new things are being introduced to our school. Our re-vamped newsletter this week sees the inclusions of photos of what each class has been doing during the week. We are excited to be able to share this with you!

Thank you for the boxes already sent in for our castle construction - if you have any more small boxes, tubes, egg boxes we would love to have them!

Reading Comprehension Homework

Thank you everybody for a great start to our reading comprehension homework. Remember we are working sequentially through the book 1 piece each week, so this week just do the next page!

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!

We hope you enjoy seeing what we have been up to this week in the newsletter. Have a super weekend!

Best wishes

Mr Jude, Mrs Yuille & Miss Smith

Friday 12 January 2024

Amethyst, Diamond & Emerald Blog - Friday 12th January 2024

 Happy Friday everybody and a very Happy New Year to you all! It has been lovely to have welcomed all the children back and we have begun work on our new project for the Spring Term - "The Quest" where we will be exploring the areas of knights and castles!

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 24th 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.

Castle Construction

As part of our project on "The Quest" we will be creating our own model castle. We have boxes that make up the main "body" of the castle but if you could send in any small boxes (mini-cereal box size at the most please), cardboard tubes or any interestingly shaped packaging we would warmly welcome these. Please send these in with your child from next week onwards.

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

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 & Miss Smith