February 2012  Newsletter P.1.

 

Dear Parents:
Your child has a sounds book home every night. The pages they are to work on are detailed every week for you. Please follow the instructions and keep to the set pages. It is of no advantage to race ahead. If you want to challenge your child work within the sounds covered. Can your child name 10 things that have that initial sound? Can they think of words that end with that sound/have that sound in the middle? Can your child form the letters correctly when writing? Can your child put the letters together to make words like at, it, in? Can they read and write all their tricky words?

Your child may be bringing home a reading book. Please make sure this book is returned to school the next day.

Focus for the month: Our main topic for this month is Let’s Build.

Writing:. Writing from left to right. Proper formation of the letters, s a t i p n c k e h m.  Encourage your child to write at their own level: See if your child can write in response to the letter sound. Some might be able to begin writing the simple words they can sound out. Encourage them to think of the first/middle/end sounds they can hear. Practice tricky words such as like, the, my, this, to. Use as many different writing tools (markers, gel pens, chalk, play-dough) as possible.  Some children continue to need practise to improve their manipulative skills. 

Reading
The children are learning about title, page, print, picture, author, illustrator, characters, words, full stop etc. Your child should be using the pictures for clues when reading. We are learning to point to the words on the page as we read
 ( matching spoken to written word). These books have been prepared during shared sessions in school and your child should be able to read them independently. We are focusing on the letters : s a t i p n c k e h m r d g o u lf b and the sound they make in words. The children are beginning to use their sounds to read words around them. They will also be learning about the tricky words that we can’t sound out and have to remember.( like, this, the, we, my, have, here, they, want)

Talking and listening: Talk about houses with your child. Talk about the different types of house ( detached/bungalow/terraced) the different rooms/ materials used. Talk about the rooms in the house and what you find in each room. We will be looking at houses in different countries. We will also be talking about different buildings and their uses.

Maths: Keep counting from different start points as well as forwards and backwards. Clap and count, slap knees and count, jump and count. Look out for numbers around you in shops, front doors, cars etc. We will be working on number and number word recognition to 10. Practice writing the numbers and the number words to10 We will be talking about Length. Encourage your child to talk about what they are doing in their thinking/practical maths in class.

World around us: Houses and Homes. Sorting house types from around the world. Sorting building materials. Going for a house walk up the street. Jobs involved in building a house. Talk about your house. Talk about different types of buildings when you are out and about.

Physical Development: Encourage your child to be physically active, and practise ball control, handling and kicking skills, and hopping. 

The Arts
The children will be involved in singing songs, creating Music and listening to sounds. Don’t forget to go over your Jolly Phonics songs. Their Art work will be linked to Houses and Homes. We will be using our Lets Build theme for role-play. The children will be working on the building site. Encourage them to talk about this.

Religion: The story of St. Brigid. Thank-you God for me. Celebrate things they can do. Families celebrate and places to celebrate.

PDMU : Valentines and people we love. Celebrating Me. What can we do/how are we different/special/my body.

Mid term is the week of February 13th. 
Other notable dates can be found on the school website www.holyfamily-ps.org.uk
Enjoy the mid-term break!
Thank-you
The P.1. teachers.