Lostock Gralam C of E Primary School
22.10.20 Swallows Class Blog
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 9:53pm
Hello everyone!
We have reached the end of the half term and our lovely little Swallows have absolutely smashed it! Thank you all for your hard work and determination so far this academic year. Swallows are the most fantastic team and Mrs Elson and I could not be prouder of our fun, creative and determined super learners.
We hope the children all have a lovely rest over half term as they have worked so hard over the past 8 weeks.
As you are aware, Swallows class have been learning to play the ukulele during their music lessons this half term. We wanted to create a video to showcase their outstanding learning. Here is a link to our very own YouTube video. We hope you enjoy listening to us play.
As we look ahead to the first week back after the holidays, we will be continuing to focus our writing on the fantastic story ‘Troll Swap’. We will be writing our own diary entries as Tabitha, writing letters to Timothy from the trolls and using drama to consider what the characters could be thinking and saying about each other.
In Maths we will continue to focus on using our knowledge of place value to add and subtract 2 digit numbers. Swallows loved using column addition to solve problems this week and particularly liked the speed and simplicity of the written method.
Swallows will enter new Read Write Inc groups after the half term. Please watch out for a sticker in your child’s diary informing you of their new group and Read Write Inc teacher.
Home Reading
Thank you to everyone who has been reading at home this week. We have had lots of diaries signed and consequently the children have been given raffle tickets for our special reading raffle. We have enjoyed a consolidation week in our Read Write Inc lessons this week and will be bringing home two new reading books tomorrow. Please remember the importance of rereading texts for fluency.
Spellings
Thank you so much for taking the time to learn your spellings at home this half term. We have attached a breakdown of personalised spellings in your reading diary this week. Please continue to learn any highlighted words from the list over the next week weeks. Here are some fun ways of making learning spellings more fun at home.
Cloud Writing
Say a target spelling word and then your child has to write the word in the air whilst saying each letter aloud. The movements can be as big and as exaggerated as he or she wants. The bigger the movements, the more fun they’ll have!
Lily Pad Spellings
A fun and physical way to reinforce target spellings. Write all the letters of the alphabet on pieces of paper or sticky notes and lay them out (in any order) on the floor like lily pads on a pond. Say a word for your child to spell and they then have to step from one letter to the next spelling out the word correctly. If he or she gets a letter wrong, pause at the incorrect letter and remind him or her of what letter should come next. Then, start again from the beginning of the word. This can be made into a game by giving a point every time a word is spelt correctly or a time limit within which he or she has to spell the word, i.e. 30 seconds. Alternatively, allow your child to hold the spelling words and test you to see if you spell them correctly. This will help your child to think of the letters sequentially as they check if you are stepping on the correct letters in the correct order.
Chalk Words
Use chalk to write your spelling words on your driveway or on an area of outside paving. With our typical British climate, it isn’t long until the words will be washed away by the rain ready to start again. Children love this activity as it allows them to write where they wouldn’t normally be allowed to!
Words on your Back!
A fun and sometimes ‘tickly’ way to learn words. Sit with your back facing your child and ask them to write one of his or her spelling words on your back. If spelt correctly, he or she gets a point. If spelt incorrectly, provide the spelling on paper or say each letter aloud so your child can write it on your back correctly. Allow your child to check if you can spell the word correctly too by swapping roles.
Spell-Leader
Pretend to be a cheerleader and spell out the words by saying the letters individually and then the word altogether. Use a high cheer for tall letters (like t, l, h, etc.), put hands on hips for letters that sit within the line (a, e, n, c, etc.) and a low cheer for letters that drop below the line (y, g, j, etc.). You could even buy or make pom-poms to make it really authentic!
Spell Text
Many children love to use phones and tablet computers so why not let them practise their spellings on them? Ask your child to write all their spellings in a text or as message and send it back to yourself or another phone owner within the household. Check the spellings once sent. Encourage them to re-send any that they get wrong. Alternatively, you could ask your child to text or message a silly story with their target spelling words in. They often love the opportunity to engage with technology and write nonsense stories!
When we return to school, you will receive an email asking you to book a parent-teaching phone call using School Spider. Swallows phone calls will take place on Tuesday 10th November. Our appointments will be 10 minutes long and will take place between 8:30am and 5:45pm. Please don’t worry about booking your slot yet, you will receive more information about this when we return to school after the half term.
Unfortunately one of our lovely Swallows lost a PE hoodie during our lesson with Mr Ault last Friday afternoon. It would help enormously if you could all double check to ensure that your child has the correct hoodie at home. Thank you for your help with this.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy half term break. We can’t wait to see you smiling faces ready for another half term of laughs and learning.
Lots of love from
Miss Gillam & Mrs Elson