The children settled back to School with ease this week. The start of the Summer Term is now upon us and the children have been considering how they would like to use the outdoor area for learning. They created a Spidergram of their ideas and we look forward to creating a space which they have designed. Thank you for all of your kind donations which will help us create the outdoor learning space.

In maths we have been focusing on Fractions. We have been sharing a whole into ‘equal’ parts. If you would like to reinforce the learning at home it would be a good idea to cut a square or circle out of paper and fold it in half. Use language such as two equal parts is a half. Two halves make a whole. Fold it in half and half again. Say this is four equal parts, we call this a quarter. Allow the children to get used to this language. Ask them to fold the shapes into halves or quarters for themselves too. Its a lovely practical activity to do together. You could also use food to demonstrate halves and quarters e.g. pizza and cakes can be divided into fractions (equal parts). Remind the children that it must be an equal part to be a fraction. I have also allocated a fractions interactive game on J2e. Have lots of fractions fun!

RWI is progressing well and the children are enjoying working with their groups.

I hope you’re all having a great bank holiday weekend.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

I would like to say a massive thank you for all of your help and support this term.

I hope you like the Easter Cards and the dioramas the children created of their dream room.

Also, thanks to those of you who sent in boxes, the children created some fantastic dream homes of their own in class which were shared on twitter.

I have uploaded a couple of interactive maths games on J2e and would encourage you to write sentences at home, possibly keep a diary of your holiday adventures. Keep reading and create at least a 15 minute daily routine of work at home with the children. This will allow them to settle back, upon their return to school more easily after a two week break.

I hope you all have an enjoyable couple of weeks.

Happy Easter!

Very best wishes

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

Thank you for supporting our World Book Day event yesterday, the children had such imaginative costumes and it was very interesting to read and share all of their favourite books. They had a super day.

We have been focusing on o’clock and half past the hour this week, once again if you could support them with this at home, that would be very helpful.

We also had a science investigation where we were testing materials for their waterproof qualities. We concluded after testing various materials that the tile was waterproof and would be a good option for a roof on our dream home.

Next week, the children will be making their own dream home in class using box construction. If you could send in any empty boxes, kitchen roll tubes, plastic bottles etc that would be great.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

We have been fortunate enough to enjoy the sunshine this week. Could you please ensure the children have sun hats to protect them, as we plan to do a lot of outdoor learning in the months ahead.

We have been busy in maths looking at days of the week, months of the year and which three months make a particular season. We have also been telling the time with a focus on o’clock. Next week we will extend that by looking at half past the hour. Time can be a tricky concept for the children, please support them at home with this.

Read Write Inc continues to be a success and the children are fully engaging in the lessons.

The children were very excited to make cards, for you to celebrate on Sunday and I really hope you enjoy receiving them.

Have a wonderful weekend in the sunshine.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

It has been a very busy week, filled with celebration and fundraising.

Thank you for supporting Comic Relief, it was an enjoyable day. The children had a lot of fun, we looked at the history of red noses since the very first fundraiser, we voted for our favourite design and collated the results using our knowledge of tally charts and tables. We looked at some of the ways the money raised will help and support people. We had a fashion show, red nose day dance show, cakes, delicious sheep shaped biscuits and milkshake.

As part of global citizenship we were able to investigate, appreciate and celebrate St Patrick’s day. There was a lovely display of Irish dancing in the class which was inspired by the children watching the River dance performance. They were fascinated as they learned about children in Ireland celebrating their patron saint, St Patrick.

Parents evening is next week and I am looking forward to giving you progress updates about the children’s learning.

I hope you’re having a relaxing time in the sunshine.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

The children have been focusing on 3D shape this week and have developed a good understanding. If you Google BBC Bitesize 3D shape, there are some nice activities to look at together at home. I have also added an interactive game to J2e for the children to revise finding missing numbers in a sequence.

Read Write Inc lessons are going well, the children are using their Fred fingers to sound out words during other lessons too. They really are developing confidence with their sentence writing abilities.

During our topic lessons, Home is where the heart is, we have been exploring higher order thinking skills (HOTS). The children have had to explain which was the odd one out when shown a picture of an arm chair, stool and rocking chair. They had to support their answers with a reason using the word ‘because’ in their sentences. They were also asked what were the advantages and disadvantages of having a chocolate armchair, their answers were fascinating and well informed. Maybe you can ask them these or similar questions at home too and also share your answers with them. I’m sure you’ll find it an enjoyable activity.

We’ve also been exploring the differences between the past and present, looking at furniture in houses at the Rhyd-y-car Terrace ,the houses were originally built in 1795; dismantled and rebuilt at St Fagans in 1982/83. We went on a virtual tour of the terrace in the National Museum Wales, which was very intersesting. If you get the chance to visit the Museum as a family its a real treat and a great day out. We had a particular focus on the differences between an old tin bath and our modern day bath tubs, none of the children wished to have a tin bath at home.

It’s Red Nose Day next week which will be filled with lots of fun activities and laughter.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Very best wishes

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

It was great to celebrate St David’s day this week. Everyone looked lovely dressed up in their costumes and thanks to those who brought in welsh cakes and daffodils.

It was a real treat to see the beautiful houses so many of the children made with you at home, they have pride of place in our classroom display and will be returned at the end of term.

In maths we focused on number this week, adding 2, 3, 4 and 5 to a given number. We have been using two digit numbers and it would be great if you could do this at home too. e.g. 20+4=24, 25+3=28 etc Ask the children to put the biggest number in their head and count on with their fingers. This is a skill which may take some time to develop. Some children are still getting confused with the teen numbers for example saying 16 instead of 60 and vice versa.

We have started our Read Write Inc lessons which the children are very enthusiastic about, we start the lessons at 9am daily and they last for one hour. It is interesting and fun to teach with the aid of Fred the Frog!

Next week we’ll be looking at 3D shape, maybe have a look at objects around the home this weekend and explore the shapes of objects. We’ll be looking at Spheres, cylinders, cubes, cuboids, cones, pyramids and triangular prisms. It’s surprising where these shapes pop up when you look around.

There is no spelling test next week but please have a look at all of the spellings the children have been given since September. Test them or ask them to put some of the words into sentences. I noticed this week that a few children are still unsure of how to spell ‘because’ and ‘the’ in their sentences.

I hope that you’re all enjoying the sunshine.

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

Hi All

This week’s message is short as I have just uploaded a detailed request on J2e for work to be completed  at home tomorrow and over the half term holiday. I’ve addressed it to the children directly, if you could read it to them that would be great.

As I’ve said to the children, do what you can and don’t worry if you don’t complete all the tasks with them.

I hope you enjoyed the Valentine flower they made for you this week; they were so excited to take them home.

They also performed a beautiful class rhyme about being kind which is available to watch on Hwb.

It has been an extremely busy half term and the children have made me so proud of them with all of their hard work and effort.

I can’t thank you enough for all of the hard work and support you give the children at home too. It really is lovely to have you reinforce the learning they do in class, at home.

I hope you all have a restful and relaxing half term holiday.

Kind regards

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson and Mrs Doolwela

The end of a very busy week.

This week we had our internet safety day, thanks to Mrs Moran for providing such fun activities.

The children are making a good start with the 5 times table. Please continue to work on this at home allowing them to learn at their own pace.

We have been focusing on addition and subtraction this week. The children are developing their confidence with this. Please reinforce this learning at home. Use blocks, cereal, counters, basically anything you can find at home to count with. Work with numbers to 20 until your child feels confident to use bigger numbers.  Write the number sentences as you go along to match the items you are adding or subtracting. Also, write a one or two digit number down and ask, what is one more, two more, three more. Then ask, what is one less, two less and three less than a number you have shown them.

There are five ‘Tricky’ words to learn this week, we call them tricky words because you can’t sound them out (why, go, said, when, you). Once again if you can use these words in sentences, reinforcing the need to start a sentence with a capital letter, end the sentence with a full stop, sit words on the line and use finger spaces then that would be very helpful. Try writing your sentences with the conjunctions   ‘and’, ‘because’.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson, Mrs Doolwela and Mrs Llewellyn

The children are doing well with the two times table. A few of the children are now developing instant recall. Please continue to focus on this and start the same with the 5 times table. Write the five times table together e.g., 1×5=5 2×5=10 etc.  Give them an opportunity to rehearse it throughout the day. Each child will respond to this differently, some will find it easy, others will need extra time. Please support them to learn at their pace, remembering it’s not a race.

Money has once again been a focus in School and is something that will need continual revision and reinforcement at home. Reminding the children of the value of each coin, asking them to make amounts of money using two or three different coins e.g.  Ask the child if they can collect coins to make an amount such as 13p (10p+2p+1p), explore how different coins can be used to make the same total. Keep this as an ongoing activity at home. It will develop their confidence with money and is an excellent way to reinforce addition skills. We will be focusing on addition and subtraction next week. Maybe explore giving change using money with your child and write a subtraction number sentence together as you do so. An example would be mention that a toy costs 7p but you only have a 10p coin, how much change will I have? 10p-7p=3p etc.

There are five ‘Tricky’ words to learn this week, we call them tricky words because you can’t sound them out.  (my, some, of, who, were,). Once again if you can use these words in sentences, reinforcing the need to start a sentence with a capital letter, end the sentence with a full stop, sit words on the line and use finger spaces then that would be very helpful. Try writing your sentences with the conjunctions   ‘and’, ‘because’. The cat sat on the mat and fell asleep. I am going to the park because I want to run in the grass.

Yesterday, Sri Lanka celebrated their independence day, Mrs Doolwela who was born there, helped us as part of our curriculum, understanding global citizenship, to gain a wider understanding of her country. We saw traditional dancing, which we tried ourselves, heard traditional music and studied the Sri Lankan flag.  I hope you enjoyed seeing your child’s name in their language too, we were very excited to learn about Mrs Doolwela’s homeland.

Have a great weekend.

Miss Hughes, Miss Merson, Mrs Doolwela and Mrs Llewellyn