24.10.19 Sandymere Learning Update

Date: 24th Oct 2019 @ 10:26am

Well we are nearly at the end of half term – hooray! Just two more days to get through then a very much welcomed week off.  Your children have worked SO hard this half term and have taken to life in Year 1 like a duck to water.  We are super, super proud of each and every one of the children in our class.  As we shared at parent’s evening, we are seeing developing independence, excellent work ethics and superb engagement in lessons.  We think we are in for a fantastic year ahead!

Speaking of proud – how amazing was the Harvest Festival?  I always love our church services.  They’re so special and welcoming.  Every class put on a wonderful performance and we couldn’t be prouder of Sandymere’s singing of ‘Thank you for everything’.  They sang so beautifully and with great expression.  SHOUT OUT to Eva E and her animated words at the end!  She was very brave to speak out alone with an audience looking on. Also SHOUT OUTs to every child for their performance. 

In other news – this week we have been working on problem solving in our maths lessons by exploring all the different strategies we have learnt for addition this half term and applying these to solving word problems.  Some great mathematical thinking and fabulous selection of strategies.  The number line strategy is proving popular and this will certainly help when we start to use bigger numbers.

In English this week we are recounting Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers version.  The children are writing it completely independently.  Fingers crossed they remember to use their pathway keys – capital letters, full stops and finger spaces! Also in English, the class are learning to use editing stations to check their own work.  This is something we do throughout the school but visit for the first time in Year 1. It’s a little bit like them being a mini teacher and marking/checking their own work looking for key skills and then making improvements.

We have been assessing in phonics this week and checking children’s recall of Phase 5 phonemes.

In geography we have continued to learn about the immediate area around our school and we used our observational drawing skills in our art lessons to ‘draw what we see’ when drawing images of the school building.  After half term we will be going out on to Delamere Street to carry out some field work – letters to follow after half term.

This week your child was handed their individual photograph slip.  It is in their reading folder.  Please follow the instructions on the slip.  If your child hadn’t received theirs then please contact the school office.

In PSHCE we shared a story called A Huge Bag of Worries.  We talked about our worries and how a problem shared can be a problem halved.  The children shared some of their worries and we quickly realised that we could help each other.  Also in PSHCE we discussed the importance of keeping safe and talked through the routines for the fire bell and the use of fire exits.

All library books have been exchanged for half term.  Don’t forget your child can bring their favourite story from home to share with the class if they would like to after half term.

Half term homework is live on the class page.  Go to Homepage – Classes – Sandymere – then the homework tab is at the top.

All that’s left for me to say is – have a fabulous half term break.  Have plenty of rest and we will see on Monday 4^th November.

SIgning out - Mrs Williamson on behalf of Team Sandymere