Primary 1 Yester Primary School 2014/2015 

I’m looking forward to working with the children ALL DAY on Monday! Everyone has settled really well and I’m amazed at how much work we’ve managed to get through already.

Just a few reminders about Monday…

• The photographer from the East Lothian News will be in school on Monday morning to take our photograph for the paper.
• We will be going for lunch with our P7 Buddies for the first time on Monday. Please make sure that your child brings a NAMED packed lunch box or purse. The price of a school lunch is £1.90. It might be a good idea to go over the menu choices with your child before they come to school. (We also have a pictorial menu system in school and I will be around to encourage the children to enjoy their lunch.)
• I have had to take away some of the beautiful drawstring bags that children had hanging up in the cloakroom for storing gym kit. Unfortunately, some of the drawstrings are quite long and I have been worried that one of the children will take a nasty tumble against an iron peg or wooden bench….an accident we really wish to avoid. I have provided a small, named bag with handles for everyone to store their bits and pieces instead.
• We will be going to gym on Monday afternoon, so if your child hasn’t got PE kit in school, please send in ASAP.
• Our milk order starts on Monday. We usually have our drink after playtime.

Today, we learned about letter “a” and the number 3. We made ants for the wall to crawl up the little boy’s arm! (Maybe the boys and gorls caould sing the song about “a   a   ants on my arm!” for the grown-ups at home?)

We also made some butterflies for pur number display.

A few letters posted in to schoolbags to day – including a FREE teatowel! For the children who attended Yester Nursery last session, you might be able to see your face on it!

When we write someone’s name, we use a capital letter at the beginning. In our school, we use a green pen for capital letters. (This is a good visual clue for children – green for go/the start, and later on we will use red pens for full stops.)

I have sent home a little tracing book for you to practise with at home – all instructions included! This homework should be spread over a week or so – not designed to be completed in one night. Please try to help your child hold their pencil correctly and form their letters properly.

As usual, if you have any questions, please get in touch. 🙂

Today, listened to a story about Ticklish 2, the swan in our Number Zoo. We practised writing number 2 and made these beautiful swans. It was fun (and a bit messy) making the handprints!

 Ticklish Two on PhotoPeach

Today, Lesley and I gave some of the children pencil grips to help them hold and control their pencil properly. This is an important skill which the children need to make pencil control and letter/number formation easier.

It would be very helpful and beneficial to the children if you could support this at home. Here is a whistle stop guide to the correct “pincer” grip the children are encouraged to use at Yester Primary School.

1. Make  a crab’s pincer shape with the thumb and pointing finger.

2. Ask your child to grip the pencil/pen with their pincer. Try to encourage a bend in the joints at the thumb and top part of the finger. If your child is finding this bit tricky, ask them to “pull” the tips of their finger and thumb closer to their hand.

3. Curl the other 3 fingers around the back of the pencil. Please try to make sure that the side of the third finger is  supporting the pencil rather than sitting on top of it.

Good luck! I realise this may be a little confusing – if you would like a personal demonstration, please don’t hesitate to ask!

Some children have enjoyed making some snakes at the art table today. Mrs Jamieson hung them from the ceiling and added them to our “S” wall display.

If you look in reading bags and schoolbags today, you should find a book that the Primary 1s made with their P7 Buddy this morning! We were learning how to read some of our keywords and the P7s helped us to make a book. Maybe you could read it to someone at home?

Keywords Book on PhotoPeach

A letter was put into schoolbags today about hometime arrangements. Please complete and return to school as soon as possible. Thank you. 🙂

After all the hard work this morning, we went to explore some of the exciting things we have to play with in Learning Areas…..
Our First Learing Areas on PhotoPeach