Primary 1 Yester Primary School 2014/2015 

We enjoyed using the lap tops last week. We learned how to open them up and switch them on. We had to put in a user name and password!

We have enjoyed using this game to help us with our addition over the last few days.

http://www.ictgames.com/funkymum.html

At the moment, the children are using counters to help them add. Later in the week, we will be learning how to use a number line to add before moving on to adding with our fingers.

Children learn in different ways – there is no right or wrong way to do it. My aim is to introduce a range of strategies, and the children can then choose the strategy they prefer. Before removing the “scaffolding” these strategies provide, they need to fully understand how addition works, the relationship between numbers and the patterns they make….so if you see your child using their fingers or asking for buttons, please don’t discourage them!

The children should have brought some homework home today to help them prepare for our Burns Celebration on Thursday 23rd January.

Each child in school is encouraged to learn a Scottish Poem or song. In Primary 1, we are going to perform the Scots version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes…

“Heids, shooders, knees and taes,

Knees and taes.

Heids, shooders, knees and taes,

Knees and taes,

And een and lugs and mooth and neb,

Heids, shooders, knees and taes,

Knees and taes.”

Here is some music to go along with the words!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsR9I2MeU1E

Primary 1 and 2 have got together and have been very busy practising their ballroom dancing, getting ready to put on a show for you – Strictly Come Dancing (Yester style!)
Formal invitations will follow, but we are planning to hold the event on Thursday, 6th March 1:30 – 2:50. You are very welcome to join us!

We have already started learning some Charleston steps…..
* stand on the spot
* put one foot forward
* go back to the spot
* put the other leg behind
* go back to the spot

Use the music and pictures to help you practise at home!
Charleston on PhotoPeach

We have also been learning the “Hand Jive.” We have to count eight beats for each movement.

* face you partner
* tap hands on thighs to start
* hold elbow and spin finger (repeat with other arm)
* mashed potato (repeat with other arm)
* hand slide (repeat with other arm)
* roll arms forward
* roll arms back
* clap
* join hands and turn partner

Click on the link for some hand jive music so can join in at home….

We had some fun singing about parts of our bodies today….Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!
Enjoy singing along at home!

We already know about our heads, shoulders, knees and toes and can show you where they are on our bodies.
However, do you know where your kidneys are, or your pelvis or your lungs?
This is what we are going to find out. We started to make life-size bodies today with our talking partners. We are going to use these to help us learn about our organs and bones.

We all enjoyed an exciting performance of “Stig of the Dump” this afternoon. Look closely at the actors….you might recognise some of them from other classes!

To help us find out about our bodies from information books, we learned how to read a diagram in whole class reading this morning. We also used this online activity, which you could try at home.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks1science.html

Also , some fabulous work at Learning Areas…look at this fantastic skeleton drawings at the art table!

We have made a start on our next set of sounds. Over the next few weeks, we will be learning how to recognise, write and word build with g,o,u,l,f,b.
Here are the songs that go along with the sounds if you would like to join in at home….

For the next few weeks, the children will be learning about addition and how to record calculations in different ways.

In order to ensure the children don’t get confused, here is the terminology that I will be using in school with them. It would be very helpful if you could support this at home too.

• +   add/adding sign (rather than plus)
• =   makes (rather than equals)
• We will talk about calculations rather than sums. (The reason for this is, technically, sums only refer to addition – the word “sum” is another way of saying “add,”  in a similar way that you might add to find the total, how many altogether etc. The term “subtraction sum” is mathematically incorrect!) Since we will be learning about subtraction later in the term, I would like the children to use the correct language from the outset.

Today, we talked about adding and what we knew about it. We used adding butterflies and counters to help us add amounts of objects together and recorded our calculations on whiteboards.

We used this little game to help help us work out and record addition calculations.

Why not try at home too?

http://uk.ixl.com/math/year-1/addition-with-pictures-sums-up-to-10

Happy New Year and welcome back to school!

Just a couple of reminders for you……

• Please return all gym kit and indoor shoes to school as soon as possible. They were sent home at the end of last term to be washed and checked.
• Please remember to send lunch money in a NAMED PURSE. Loose change in schoolbags tends to get lost in transit!
• Letters about milk money and Active Schools were put into schoolbags today. I know places in the Active Schools Clubs tend to get filled very quickly, so if your child would like to take part, you should get organsied as soon as possible!

THE SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHER IS COMING TO TAKE CLASS PHOTOGRAPHS IN PRIMARY 1 AND PRIMARY 7 ON WEDNESDAY, 8TH JANUARY.

We will try our best to make sure the children look as neat and tidy as they were when they left the house!