*Halloween Disco and Dress down day*

DRESS DOWN DAY ON FRIDAY 25TH OF OCTOBER – Pupils should dress down for school on this day and bring in a tombola prize for the Halloween disco (e.g. Halloween sweets or small Halloween toy, cup, craft activity etc).

HALLOWEEN DISCO – Thursday 31st October.  6.30pm – 7.30 pm

Judging will be at 6.30pm prompt in the small hall. On the night there will be Pumpkin lantern displays and prizes, tattoos, tombola and lots of fun and dancing.

Big Maths and Learn-its number progression across all stages

 

BIG Maths is a teaching approach that makes progress in maths easy and fun. BIG Maths has been extremely successful both nationally and internationally with thousands of children learning through daily BIG Maths ‘CLIC’ sessions and the weekly ‘Beat That!’ challenges.

Big Maths firstly answers the question, ‘How do we get children properly numerate as they journey through school?’ It provides us with an accurate and simple, but highly effective, framework that guarantees numeracy progress. This framework is known as CLIC (Counting, Learn Its, It’s Nothing New and Calculation) and is characterised by accurate steps of progression (known as Progress Drives) that make new learning easy and obvious to children by cashing in on the timeless natural laws of Maths.
BIG Maths is therefore a rigorous, systematic and structured approach that provides children with a fun and lively experience as they learn through jingles, songs, games and the BIG Maths characters.

Big Maths puts the child at the
heart of the learning experience.

Don’t be surprised if your children come home talking about Clic, Pom, Pim, Squigglesworth or Count Fourways.

 

Big Maths helps children to understand the links between core numeracy (the basic principles that underly all maths) and outer numeracy which is the application of these core principles.

C L I C Sessions

CLIC stands for ‘Counting’, ‘Learn Its’, ‘It’s Nothing New’ and ‘Calculation’. Maths lessons contain each of these elements.

 

Counting:

Children will count forwards and backwards in all kinds of steps depending on their level e.g. in 1s, 2s, 3s, 6s or even 25s! When practising counting at home with your child, make sure you go forwards and backwards. Don’t always start at 0 – make sure they can count on from 75 to 106 for example.

 

‘Learn Its’:

‘Learn Its’ are addition facts and times tables facts. There are 72 Learns Its in total; 36 addition Learn Its and 36 multiplication Learn Its. These are facts that children need to learn off by heart, so when they are asked ‘What is 6+4 ?’ they are able to give the answer as quickly as they would be able to tell you their name. As soon as they know 3×5=15 they also know 5×3=15 (This is known as a ‘Switcher’).  It is expected that Pupils will know all their times tables by the end of P5 so we need your help with this!  HAVE A LOOK AT OUR LEARN – ITS PROGRESSION TO SEE HOW YOU CAN HELP AT HOME.

 

It’s Nothing New:

This is the most important aspect of CLIC. It is the way children become successful andproperly numerate. The idea that 5-things and 3-things are always 8-things is a fundamental concept. Once children understand this concept, we can change the ‘thing’ to other units, e.g. ‘tens’, so that 5 tens + 3 tens = 8 tens. Children begin to learn the concept by counting random unit e.g. bananas, aliens, cats etc. It then becomes much easier to use standard

measures such as ml, m, cm, kg, whilst understanding the underlying number concepts.

 

Strange phrases such as ‘Jigsaw Numbers’, ‘Smile Multiplication’ and ‘Where’s Mully?’ are all part of this section of Big Maths.



Calculation:

This aspect of CLIC is when the teacher will focus on developing the children’s understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Big Maths maps out which steps children should do in a clear order and helps teachers to identify where to go back to if a child needs extra support.

Let’s meet some of the
BIG Maths Characters!

               

 

                

 

 

 

 

Big Maths Beat That is a weekly timed test of your child’s Learn Its. The aim is to improve their individual score each time!

Here is an example:

 

 

P2 Homework w.b. 7.10.19

Hi all,

Just a reminder that P1/2 are collecting non-perishable food and toiletry items for the Harvest assembly. If you have any donations for this then please bring these in by Friday morning. Remember we are performing the assembly at 11am on Friday morning and there is a limit of two guests per child in the hall. 

Learning Trio appointments are on Thursday after school, please remember that children must be at the meeting too.

The ‘Teach your Monster to Read’ app is free until Tuesday on the app store. This is a fantastic app to help your child with reading and phonics! It usually costs £4.99 to download, so it’s worthwhile getting on your devices while it’s free!

Homework for the week:

Reading: Pages to be read have been written in green reading records.

Spelling: We are revising the sounds we have learned so far this term so there will be no spelling list in their jotters. Instead, children should write a few words with the following sounds in them – ch, sh, th, ng, qu, ar.

School finishes at the normal time of 12:25 on Friday for the October holiday and pupils resume on Wednesday 23rd October. 

Thanks,

Miss Lauren Waller

 

P2 Homework w.b. 30.9.19

I can’t believe October is just around the corner, the weeks are flying in!

P1/2 are performing their Harvest assembly on Friday 11th October at 11am and we would love for you to be there, if you can! I popped a letter into all the P1/2 bags about this, please remember if you are joining us that there is a limit of two guests per child as we have limited space in the hall. If you also have any donations for our Harvest collection, please bring these in ASAP. All donations are going to Women’s Aid. 

A gentle reminder that all children should be coming to school with indoor and outdoor shoes, their bookbags every day, a full PE kit and water bottles should be filled with water only.

Homework for this week:

Reading: Pages to be read have been written in your child’s green reading record. This week we are focusing on expression when we are reading!

Spelling: Our sound this week is ‘ar’ (star, far), please encourage your child to read their spelling words as well as write them in their jotter.

Thank you,

Miss Lauren Waller

Head lice

Hi all,

It’s that time of year again where head lice makes an appearance! Could I ask that parents are aware of this and are checking their child’s hair if they suspect their child has them.

Please ensure it is treated at home until all head lice have cleared to prevent them from spreading. The best time to check for head lice is when your child’s hair is wet and by using a fine nit comb.

Thank you!

P1/2 Harvest Songs

Hi all,

P1 and P2 have been practising the songs for their Harvest assembly this week and a few have been wanting to practise them at home too. I have put the links below that we use in class for these songs and please feel free to practise these with your children!

Harvest Samba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTdIrlTlXks (We stop this at 1:45 and instead of ‘Thank you to God the Father’, we sing ‘Thank you to all the farmers’).

Cauliflowers Fluffy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PukdaXUzgOU

All songs have the lyrics in the video – Happy singing!

Miss Lauren Waller

P2 Homework w.b. 23.9.19

Hi all,

Letters about the P1/2 Harvest assembly and collection will be put into book bags this week. Miss Ramsay and I will also be allocating parts this week, so children who have speaking parts will be given their lines to take home and practise.

Primary 2 are starting drumming on Tuesday 24th September, there will be a number of sessions leading up to a performance for the school before the end of the year.

Just a gentle reminder that learning trio appointments begin on Friday 27th September from 1pm.

Homework for the week:

Reading: Pages to be read for that night have been written into your child’s green reading record. Please sign beside the date to evidence that reading homework has been completed for that night.

Spelling: We are learning the ‘qu’ sound this week (queen, quack), so the spelling list contains words with this sound.

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend,

Miss Lauren Waller

 

P2 Homework w.b. 18.9.19

Hi all,

I hope you all had a lovely and restful long weekend.

Please remember that children must bring their bookbags to school everyday so they have their book for reading and I, or Mrs Tobyn, can sign their reading records when they complete reading in class. This is also where we put important letters etc. I keep bookbags in school over the weekend, so I can check homework and sort out the next weeks worth.

There will be a letter regarding the P1/2 Harvest assembly and collection in your child’s book bag within the next few days.

Learning Trio appointment slips will be in your child’s bookbag on Thursday (tomorrow), if you need to amend your appointment then please do so via the school office. These will take place on Friday 27th September and Thursday 10th October. Please ensure your child is also in attendance as we will be working together with parents/carers and the child to create targets for the term.

There is a curriculum evening regarding our new approach to reporting on Thursday 26th September, 6:30pm – 7:30pm – All are welcome!

Homework for the week:

Reading: Please check your child’s green reading record for the pages to be read on that date, and initial to evidence that reading has been completed at home.

Spelling: We are learning the ‘ng’ sound this week, the spelling list contains words with this sound and our new tricky words for the week (was, be). 

Thank you for all of your support,

Miss Lauren Waller