Primary One Homework – clarification.

Hi all,

I hope you and your families have had a wonderful October break and are rested and ready for another term at Loanhead!

One of the most common pieces of feedback that came up at parents evening was that there was some confusion regarding homework and what should be done and when. I apologise for any confusion but here is a list of everything you should have.

READING BOOK

Every child has a reading book. Some may have words and some may not. This  depends on how quickly your child has picked up their sounds and tricky words.  Reading is done every day in school so it is essential that your child’s book bag is in school every day. Book bags are also where all letters and school correspondence is placed. If a book bag is not there you may miss some information. If you find your child has maybe missed a new book on a Monday due to having forgotten their book bag or something please let me know ASAP. I do keep a list but it does get difficult to keep track of 25 books amongst everything else and I want your children to be excited to get their new book each week.

KEY WORDS

Stage 1 Key words- Picture and early reader books.

Stage 2

Every child should have a set of key words that look like this. These were handed out last term. If you find that you don’t have a copy please contact me. Once your child has been able to confidently and independently identify a key word 3 times they can colour that word in on their sheet. This lets me know when they are ready to be assessed for the next reading stage. I am going to send home small flash cards of these words this week. Feel free to use these as you please. I will send them home in sandwich bags however these aren’t ideal and are easily damaged. If you have any small Tupperware containers such as these below can you please transfer the laminated cards over.

You may find you also get home a small list like the one below. These are the same words as the lists above but they just tell you what the focus key words of this weeks book are so you can focus on them at home. If you do not receive one of these every week don’t worry just continue to revise the words on the Key stage 2 sheet/flash cards.

READING JOURNAL

This is in your child’s book bag as a way for us to communicate with regards to your child’s reading. For example if there is a key word I think should be the main focus at home this week that they have been struggling with in class I will leave a short note. Similarly, feel free to write any notes or questions you have in the journal. However, I do ask if it is something urgent or of great importance please catch me at drop off and pick up times or send me an email at k.ramsay@mgfl.net.

HELP SHEET

The extended stories and questions are sent home as a list of suggestions to help you to encourage a variety of reading skills at home. They may not be available for every book but where they are they are sent home.

TRICKY WORDS

A copy of this was given to most parents at parents evening. If you don’t have them let me know and I can get you a copy. Tricky words are words that can’t be sounded out and just has to be learnt as a whole word. They are used an incredible amount in reading and writing and if your child doesn’t learn them it can really impact upon their progress. We learn two new tricky words a week. We are currently working on the red list and we will be starting back this week on the word ‘be’. Similarly to sounds, these are taught one on a Monday and one on a Wednesday. These can be written on flash cards, used in pairs, snap or pong or written in sand, foam, play dough. The possibilities are endless. If you feel you are out of ideas look at Pinterest; it is a brilliant resource.

SOUND SHEETS

Each week in class we learn two new sounds. This week our focus is going to be on ‘o’ and ‘u’. Ideally one sheet should be completed on a Monday and one on a Wednesday as these are the days we learn our new sounds and these sheets will help to consolidate learning from in school. However that is not to say they MUST be done then, please make it work for your family life. Every child should have a booklet with the jolly phonics sounds order on the front and flashcards for each sound that you can cut up.

 

THIS WEEK

Our Sounds: ‘o’ and ‘u’

Our Tricky words: ‘be’ and ‘was’

Reading books.

Chips: The Water Fight

Biffs: Kipper’s Birthday

 

Kippers: The Swing Ball

Floppys: The Swing Ball

 

FINALLY…

I know this is an incredibly long post but I really wanted to clarify for all who were a bit confused what each item is for as I know it is a lot. Please don’t feel that you have to do everything every night. Maybe on a night with a phonics sheet forgo a reading book and hunt for key words in a story your child has selected or play a game with key/tricky words. Input at home is so crucial and all of your help at home is appreciated and makes a world of difference to your little ones learning.

Book bags are collected in on a Friday and must stay in school so I can look through homework jotters and change over books.

Thank you to everyone who came along to parents evening it was lovely to share our learning with you and everyone will receive their written strengths, areas for development and targets by the end of this week.

Looking forward to seeing your little ones  back and ready to learn on Wednesday!

All the Best,

Miss Ramsay

Phonics Information

JOLLY PHONICS


WHAT IS JOLLY PHONICS?
Jolly Phonics is a fun and child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children. The letter sounds are split into seven groups, as shown in the Letter Sound Order chart below.

HOW DOES JOLLY PHONICS WORK?
Using a synthetic phonics approach, Jolly Phonics teaches children the five key skills for reading and writing. Complimented by Jolly Readers and Jolly Grammar, it provides a thorough foundation for teaching literacy over three years in school.

LETTER SOUND ORDER
The sounds are taught in a specific order (not alphabetically). This enables children to begin building words as early as possible.

THERE ARE FIVE SKILLS TAUGHT IN JOLLY PHONICS

1.LEARNING THE LETTER SOUNDS
Children are taught the 42 main letter sounds. These include alphabet sounds as well as digraphs such as sh, th, ai and ue.

2.LEARNING LETTER FORMATION
Using different multi-sensory methods, children learn how to form and write the letters.

3.BLENDING
Children are taught how to blend the sounds together to read and write new words.

4.IDENTIFYING THE SOUNDS IN WORDS (SEGMENTING)
Listening for the sounds in words gives children the best start for improving spelling.

5.TRICKY WORDS
Tricky words have irregular spellings and children learn these separately.

THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS OF LEARNING TRICKY SPELLINGS:

  • Look, Cover, Write and Check. Look at the word to see which bit is tricky.
  • Ask the child to try writing the word in the air saying the letters.
  • Cover the word over and see if the child can write it correctly.
  • Check to make sure.
  • Mnemonics. The initial letter of each word in a saying gives the correct spelling of a word. For instance, ‘laugh’ – Laugh at Ugly Goat’s Hair.
  • Using cursive (joined up) writing also improves spelling.
  • Say it as it sounds. Say the word so that each sound is heard. For instance, the word ‘what’ is said w – hat.

*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:

 

 

P6 – Information

Hi everyone,

Information for the remainder of the week beg: 7.10.19

 

Harvest donations 

P1 and P2 are having their harvest assembly on Friday 11th October and any donations must be in school by no later than Friday morning. All donations will be greatly received.

Card designs

  • The annual card design activity is upon us. Children will design a card at school and bring it home for you to view and order a set of cards if you wish. This is a great fundraiser for our school.
  • The cards must be returned to school with the exact amount of money to cover the cost and inside an envelope or poly pocket. The school office is not able to provide change.

Thursday 

  • Parent/Pupil/Teacher Learning trios – child must attend.

Friday

  • School finishes at 12:25 pm for the October break.
  • Pupils resume Wednesday 23rd

 

Thanks for your support,

Mr. Nelson

P5 Homework and information 9.10.19

This week pupils will have spelling homework and reading every day as usual.  Please remember to look in their blue homework diaries for their homework.  Spelling words (issued Monday and due Friday) should be written 3 times and sentences written for each word (in their purple jotter).  These can be silly sentences or stories too!

Maths – No maths sheets home this week but pupils should continue with their SUMDOG challenge – their log ins can be found in their blue homework diaries.  Also pupils should continue number bonds (quick fire recall) and times tables – being able to recite and answer random facts out of order.  Your help with this is much appreciates as we continue to work on short division where multiplication knowledge is essential.

PLEASE CAN ALL PUPILS HAVE A FULL CHANGE OF PE KIT (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

HOPETOUN HOUSE payment and slips have been handed out (trip date is Oct 30th)

HARVEST ASSEMBLY – This friday, P1 and P2 are collecting for Womens’ Aid, all donations to be in school by Fri mornning.

Once again, we look forward to seeing learners and parent/carers at our learning trio meetings on Thursday.

Have a relaxing break and remember pupils  return to school on Wednesday 23rd October.

P4 Homework w/b 07.10.19

Homework

  • Spelling: there will be no spelling homework sent home this week due to the October holiday
  • Numeracy & Maths: there will be an adding activity sheet to complete this week to reinforce classroom learning
  • Readingmost groups will take reading books home to continue reading from class and this should be returned by Thursday 10th October

Additional Information

Thursday 10th October 2019 Learning Trios 3:45pm to 7.15pm

Please ensure your child accompanies you to this meeting as targets can only be set with all present (teacher, pupil and parent/carer)

Friday 11th October 2019 Break-up for October Holiday 12:30pm

Enjoy this holiday and we look forward to welcoming you back on Wednesday 23rd October

PE – Tuesday and Thursday

Many thanks,

Mrs Watts & Mrs Roy

 

 

P6 – Homework – Week Beginning 7.10.19

Hello,

Homework this week consists of reading, spellings and a numeracy worksheet and this is due on Friday 11th October.

  • Reading has been set for all reading groups. The book  title and the page numbers can be found in the pupils’ reading diaries.
  • Spellings for this week have been copied into pupils’ homework jotters.
  • Numeracy worksheets have been allocated to each pupil, with a focus on multiplication by 1 digit and 2 digit numbers.
  • Times Tables. I continue to encourage practicing times tables each evening, as this will really help with class work on multiplication and division.

Thanks for your support,

Mr. Nelson