Year 1 & 2 - Tuesday 7th July

Welcome back to Tuesday's blog everybody! Before we get into today's blog, a message from Miss Sharman:








If you send your scores to our email ( ks1@downhallprimary.com) I will forward them to Miss Sharman. Please include your child's house - if you are not sure which one this is I can find out for you, don't worry!

Here is Monday's challenge - I will edit this blog and add in Tuesday's task as well, so if it is not here yet, check back later in the day:


This is the direct link to the Slides file if you wish to follow the file as it is updated or submit your score directly:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1x3dl6ZD4AnjyGHnwa4a9DdPcLD0InOSyISd-v9IYyng/edit?ts=5f02e1e4#slide=id.p



History - Grace Darling

After sharing all your ideas about yesterday's picture, I can reveal that the famous person was the lady in the rowing boat; her name Grace Darling.

Watch this video below to learn all about this remarkable lady's adventure:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p015gmjd

After watching this video, begin to see if you can sequence the events of 7th September 1838 and the wreck of the Forfarshire into an order. Can you sequence them into 6 events? I would start how there was a storm during the night - see if you can continue the next steps (I'll share mine tomorrow). Have a go and we'll do something with these events tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed finding out about someone who displayed true heroism and altruism today.




Maths - Fractions as Division

Yesterday we looked at practical approaches to solve division calculations and identified how finding half is the same as dividing by 2. With this in mind we can use division to find fractions of amounts. All we need to do is look at the denominator (the bottom number in the fraction) and divide the amount into that many groups.

We can use this approach when finding fractions of shapes. Look at the shape below:


We need to find half. First, we can count the number of squares inside the shape.


There are 6.

Now as we are finding half, we share this amount between 2.





That gives us 3.

We can now colour this amount of squares in. It's worth noting that it doesn't matter which squares are coloured, just the number of coloured squares has to be 3.

Year 1's - Try this one. Look out for the quarters - you'll need to share between 4 for these ones:




Year 2's try this one. To find the answer, after sharing between the denominator (bottom number) and checking all groups are even, you need to count the number of groups show on the numerator (top number). So for three quarters, you need to count 3 groups.





Good luck and thank you for all your homeschooling efforts, no matter how small.
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Monday 6th July

Welcome back to a new week of blogs! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

Thank you for all your wonderful breakfast suggestions - in the end I went for an amalgamation of a few ideas (thanks to Jack & Darcey for the initial inspiration) and I had this Sunday morning:


(It's a pancake sandwich with layers of chocolate croissant and strawberries. A thank you to my daughter who "built" the dish as she said my original effort didn't look aesthetically pleasing!)

Don't forget to let us know how you are and if you have any questions about September please email us and we will let you know where we are at the moment:

ks1@downhallprimary.com

History - Individuals From The Past

In continuing our work "At The Seaside" we are going to look at the life of someone from the past. I can't say too much more about this now, as it will compromise the task for today but all will be revealed tomorrow!

Look at this picture below (there is also a copy on our class web page):


Ask your child the following questions:

1) What do you think is happening here?

2) What has caused this to happen?

3) Someone in this picture is famous (that is, still remembered today) - which person do you think that is?

4) Why do you think that person is still remembered today?

If you want to record in writing some of your ideas, that is fine but the discussion is the most important element here. Come back tomorrow and all will be revealed!

Maths - Division

This week we will look at the operation of division. Initially, we understand this operation as sharing equally.

Let's consider the calculation below:

8 ÷ 2 = It looks a bit scary but it really just means I get 8 things and share (divide) them equally between 2 people.

We can do this practically or through jottings:




And we find the answer is 4. It is worth noting that this approach is exactly the same as finding a half of an object and make this clear to your child. Finding half and dividing by 2 is exactly the same thing!

Let's go to our favourite calculation generating website:

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

From the selection screen we need Level 2, Division:




Then, Year 1's concentrate on the  ÷2 calculations and practice some of these.

Year 2's choose some from ÷2, ÷3, ÷4 and ÷5 getting the idea of how we share between different amount of groups to find the answers.

I wish you well!
KS1 Team

Year 1 & 2 - Friday 3rd July

Friday Science Fix

Our activity for Friday science fix is actually more art based today!  I know that you have been working really hard on your collages and that you have probably completed them... well almost... because if you accept today's challenge we have just a couple of finishing touches to add. 

First watch this news report about the 'Washed Ashore' project in America.

News Report - Washed Ashore

It is hard to believe that these amazing sculptures were made entirely out of rubbish washed up from the Pacific Ocean.   The sculptures are really inspiring and also have a very clear and important message about looking after our planet!  

Below are some artworks that also have the same powerful message but are similar to our own collages, made on a flat surface using paints and a mixture of other collage materials.

   

So.... here comes your task.  Can you transform your beautiful collage into one with a clear message about pollution?  Your artwork could encourage people to be more careful with their rubbish so that it does not end up in the sea, or perhaps make them think about using less plastic in the first place!  Think about the type of pollution that ends up in the ocean and the materials you might need to represent it.  

Here are some things I found in my kitchen that I thought might be useful!

The wool could represent some old rope, the different foils could be shaped into old tin cans, the netting could be positioned so that it looks like it is caught around one of your animals and the buttons could look like old bottle tops that a sea creature is just about to eat!  I am sure that you will have even better ideas than me.  Could you make an old flip flop as mentioned in the video about the Washed Ashore sculptures?  I think Miss Langley would like that... although she would never let her flip flops end up in the ocean!

I'm very excited to see what you will add to your collage to give it a clear message about keeping our oceans clean.

For a finishing touch, you need to make a presentation label for your artwork.  The label needs to have the title of the piece, and the name of the artist - that's you!  If you want to you can write a simple sentence to explain the message of your work too.  Miss Langley hasn't included the pollution in her collage yet but I have made a label anyway to give it a clear message:

For those that still want more, try the following to consolidate our previous learning.  Take a look at the living things in your collage and see if you can make a food chain.  Remember you can refer to our previous fact files (here) to help you.  If you don't have a complete chain... what do you need to add to make one?  If you still want more, can you represent the food chain in your collage with a diagram as we did before using the arrows?  Remember this....

If you want to share your completed piece with the additions you have made, the presentation label and maybe even a food chain, then please do so via our email; ks1@downhallprimary.com.  We look forward to seeing your wonderful work!

Best wishes for a great weekend,

KS1 Team

Years 1 & 2 - Thursday 2nd July

Hello :) 

We hope you are having a great week and that the year 1's who have been to school this week had lots of fun! Today we need to finish our collages and write an evaluation of our work. Writing a evaluation helps us to reflect on what went well, what we enjoyed, any challenges we faced and what we would do differently next time. 

To finish the collage we need to add detail to the setting. To make the under the ocean setting look realistic we had to think what we would likely find under the sea and what colours we think they would be. On my collage I added the sea, sand, seaweed and different types of coral to complete my setting. Below are pictures with a list of materials I used to give you some ideas for your own masterpieces. 

Fun fact: Although we add lots of colour to make our collages look more engaging and when we watch films such as Finding Nemo, there are lots of bright colours at the bottom of the ocean in the abyss and trenches this is not actually what is all look like. The deeper you go in the ocean the less sunlight can the bottom of the ocean, therefore it becomes  very dark and murky and there are not lots of bright colours.

Challenge: Can you research 3 creatures you may find in the abyss and trench zones of the ocean. You will be shocked to see how many different creatures live in the depths of the ocean! Below is one I researched which I had not heard of.

                                                                      Vampire Squid

"Though it resembles both, the vampire squid is neither a squid nor an octopus. It is a unique animal that has been separated by scientists into its own group. Like many of its relatives, the vampire squid has eight arms and two tentacles. It does not suck or drink blood, and instead gets its common name from its dark color and the skin that connects the arms, resembling a cape. This species lives in the nearly completely dark waters of the ocean"

Completing the setting:

Sand: I wanted to use lots of different materials to add a variety of texture to my collage. I decided to use brown paper, yellow tissue paper and sponge to create the sand. On reflection I would also liked to have added brown sugar as I think it resembles sand very well.

Coral: I used left over silver wallpaper to create my coral as I think it looks like real rocks and it has a rough texture.

Seaweed: To create seaweed, I shredded green tissue paper and layered it so it would create a moving effect in the ocean. When I have been to the beach and have found seaweed it us usually in big piles which is what I wanted to create on my collage. Luckily I found some seaweed stickers in my craft box which I decided to add to my collage. I used the colour green as when researching seaweed I saw lots of dark green colours. 

Ocean: To complete the final part of my collage I collected lots of different blue materials to create the water. I decided to use a cut up blue and white cloth as I think it looks like the waves in the ocean. I used blue tissue paper as it is slightly transparent like water. I also cut up blue paper to add a different texture to the water. 

And my under the sea collage is complete! We hope you have enjoyed creating your collages! 

Now for the evaluation... 

Have a lovely day, 

The KS1 Team :)

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