Questions about next week and the Prezi link

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoyed the lovely half term weather. 

After ten weeks of lockdown there seems to be a lot of changes happening and for some children it may feel strange to witness some of the lockdown rules being relaxed. Adults and children alike are dealing with lots of emotions at the moment and giving your child a chance to ask questions or share their worries can be very helpful. Some families have a worry jar or a worry monster, whereas others find a quiet time for their child to ask questions or share concerns. Finding some time to practice some Mindful Moments may also help you and your child             

Families that are continuing to home school 

If you have made the decision to continue to home school your child I want you to know that we fully support and understand your decision. From what I have heard many of you are doing fantastic activities with your child at home. Your child will always have a place in either mine or Mr MacBean's kingdom should you change your mind about sending them to school in the future.

The Prezi presentations will continue to guide your child through each day's activities and these will mirror what is being taught at school. I will also think of ways that I can further connect all children whether they are at home or in one of the two kingdoms.   

Families that are sending their child back to school part time

The two Kingdoms will be following the content which is set out on the Prezi presentations therefore you will be able to continue your child's learning on the days they are at home. We anticipate that a significant amount of time will be taken up in school establishing routines and helping the children settle and adjust to the changes. Therefore, please don't be surprised if in school we fall a bit behind and don't cover everything that has been set, particularly in the first week or so.    

Families that are sending their child back to school

If you are sending your child back to school from Tuesday 2nd June you may still have lots of questions. This link to Mr Spracklen's letter on the 26th May contains information and further links to other letters that you may find useful. At the bottom of his letter on the 20th May there is some information about the transition back to school that may help.

I will try to answer some of your questions here, although I anticipate you may hear from us again before Tuesday. 

Can I bring my other child on the school run? - To limit the number of people on site, if it is possible, we would recommend you to leave any children not coming back to school at home with an adult. If this is not possible then they may walk with you around the one way system observing social distancing rules. 

Do I need to bring library books and school books back? - Yes please. Please return any library or book bag books you have finished with. We will provide a box for these to be placed in as you arrive in each kingdom. Please only return Power Maths Book 1C (we will use photocopies for the remaining lessons in book 1B). 

What should my child wear? - Your child can wear school uniform or home clothes or a combination of both. Government guidance states that children should wear clean clothes each day and so school uniform expectations for children (and staff) have been relaxed. 

What else can my child bring to school? - Your child will need a drink and a healthy snack each day. Please avoid sending your child with any bags (including book bags). Your child will be told where they can place their drink and snacks on arrival.  

Sun safety - We strongly recommend that you apply day long sun cream to you child before they arrive to school. Please also provide a named sun hat for your child to wear when we are outside.      

  

Lunches - Local Food Links have confirmed they will be re-starting provision for Hot Meals from Monday 1st June 2020. Initially, this will be based upon a limited menu selection which is available to view here . Meals CANNOT BE ORDERED in the usual way and instead we would ask you to email your menu choices through to Mrs Troughton in the School Office - finance@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk. Mrs Troughton can also manage any payments as required. All orders must be made by 6pm on a Wednesday ahead of a new week starting.

Any finally...

To each and everyone of you, please know that we are here for you and want to support you in any way we can. No question is ever too small and I would rather you emailed me than had any doubts or worries c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk 

We care about each and every one of you. 

Take care, 

Love from Ms Browne and the new and extended Year 1 team (featuring Mr MacBean, Mrs Bernard and Miss Street) 

 

Year 1 - Report quotes and NASA update

This evening (Wednesday) there is a joint mission with NASA and SpaceX coming together to send two NASA astronauts to the International Space station. 

I have been assured by my husband that this is a very big deal in the space loving fraternity and since so many year 1 children enjoyed the Space topic in term 3, I thought I'd let you know that this was happening. Assuming the launch is successful you might want to share some highlights with your child by visiting the NASA you tube channel.

The collective love of the space topic has reminded me that I still need to get quite a few quotes and comments from you regarding what your child has enjoyed throughout year 1. In addition to space, they have studied pirates, fairy tales, the zoo or the jolly postman and letters topic. Alternatively they may have enjoyed something else about school such as PE with Mr Treble, Power maths, RWI, computing or playing with friends. 

If you could email me your child's comments about what they have enjoyed at school to me c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk by Saturday 6th June, I would really appreciate it.

I will be in contact with you again soon but in the meantime please get in touch if you have any questions.

Kind regards,
The year 1 team 

Year 1 - Information about June

Today I started calling families to discuss the planned return to school for year 1 and to discuss any questions you may have. I managed to speak to more than half of you today and will try to contact the remaining parents tomorrow (Friday 22nd) when I am next in school.

If it is more convenient for you to email me with your questions or intentions for next term please do so c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk   

As Mr Spracklen has mentioned in his communication with you, we are taking a your child your choice approach to next term. You will still be able to access the virtual school program and we will fully support you if you decide to continue home schooling your child.

I have split the class into two groups. Half of the class have a place with me in the existing year 1 classroom, whilst the other half have a place with Mr MacBean in the existing year 2 classroom. If you decide not to send your child into school at this time, the option of a place with myself of Mr MacBean will remain open should you change your mind.

If you have ANY questions about this or if we can support you in any other way, please get in touch.

Kind regards,
Ms Browne

Year 1 Sunday 17th May 2020

Hello everyone,

We hope you had a good weekend and that you are all keeping well.

In this week's virtual school we will be finishing measuring length and starting weight and volume in maths, whilst in literacy we have some interesting story starters and poetry to look forward to. 
This week's Prezi presentation walks you and your child through the week's activities.

Myself and year 1 team (with help from Mrs Hall) are beginning to write the end of year school reports and I would be grateful if you could email me a couple of lines from your child with a comment about what they have enjoyed about school. It could be about topics (pirates, jolly postman and fairy tales, space, the zoo), friends, PE, the outside play areas, Power maths, RWI or whatever their favourite aspect of school over the year has been.     
Thank you for your help. My email is c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk

Please contact us if you need anything or have any questions. To finish off the week and the term we have another POW zoom disco. I hope to see you there.

Lots of love
The Year 1 team. xx

Year 1 - Monday 11th May

Hello everyone,

I hope you all well and enjoyed the lovely weather we had at the end of last week.

Power Maths
This week in virtual school we will be starting a new topic in maths, Unit 10: introducing length and height. This is a lovely practical maths unit and so if your child has been reluctant to join in with previous power maths units I recommend jumping ahead to unit 10. A ruler and a number line will be useful for this unit and any counting blocks if you have them.

I hope you and your child have fun with this topic. You may like to give them opportunities to compare lengths of toys or measure members of the household using non standard units if measure, for example using cereal boxes or actual feet.

Literacy - writing a story
In this week's literacy children will be invited to write a story set on an island. They are very welcome to make their story pirate related or about another topic that interests them.
It has possibly been a long time since they last wrote a story so giving them a chance to develop their imagination and ideas will be more important than focusing on the number of sentences they record.

It may be helpful to give your child opportunities to talk to you about their story ideas or they may want to act them out. If they are reluctant to physically write their story it is fine for them to draw it in a comic book style or for you to record them retelling it. 

Prezi presentations

This week's Prezi presentation walks your child through the literacy and maths activities and also introduces some other activities such as music and leaf spotting.

If you would like additional music, PE and science activities please visit the all topics prezi 

As ever, please get in touch if you have any questions or comments.

Lots of love and virtual hugs,

Ms Browne, Mrs Cura, Mrs Rogers & Mrs Barrow. xx 

Year 1 - all topics prezi presentation

Hello everyone,

I hope you are having a good week so far.

To help you dip in and out of year 1 learning more easily and to give you some additional activity ideas suitable for year 1 I have put together a Year 1 all topics prezi.

I will add to the pirates and Power maths sections as new activities are released.
Please do not feel any pressure to complete extra learning. The idea is to have everything in one place and also to offer some alternative learning activities, including some less 'formal' maths ideas.

Leaf challenge
In the science section I have set the children the challenge to spot different types of leaves outside. I thought a nice way to connect us in a shared activity would be to share photographs of leaves your child has spotted for other children to identify.

If you are able to take a photo of a leaf your child has spotted please email it to me at c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk I will post this with your child's name on the prezi presentations.

Take care & keep smiling,
The Year 1 team. xx 

Year 1 - First Week of May

Hello everyone,

How are you all doing? I'll admit that my family seem to have found things a bit tougher this last week. I think the change of weather hasn't helped but ultimately lockdown is really hard on our children. I try to encourage my children to be physically active everyday but tomorrow I'm also going to start focussing on some mindfulness activities. Have you had a chance to look at the School's Mindful Moments resources? 

Your and your child's mental health and happiness are far more important than any home learning that you may or may not do so please prioritise this above any learning. As a school it is our job to offer learning activities but please be reassured that we are very happy for you to pick and choose those activities that work best for you. Please don't feel any pressure to 'keep up' with lessons or worry that your child is falling behind.   

Some families are having success by allowing their child to choose a topic to explore. Topics I have heard of include Paw Patrol, Creating and role playing a shop, Egypt, creating a bakery, gardening and planting seeds.

  

VE Day

As I'm sure you are aware this week we are marking the 75th Anniversary of VE day. On Thursday we are encouraging everyone to dress in RED, WHITE and BLUE and the school will be leading a virtual celebration starting at 2pm.

Many of our afternoon virtual school challenges have a VE day focus and we are encouraging children and families to learn the Vera Lynn song 'We'll meet again'.  

Year 1 learning

In this week's Prezi presentation we will continue to look at pirates and where is the world they roamed. In Maths we will be completing the numbers to 50 topic. The following week we will introducing length and height which I hope is a topic you can really have fun with practically at home. 

I am working on putting together all the year 1 activities in one Prezi presentation (in addition to the weekly ones) to make it easier for you to dip in and out. Hopefully I will have this ready for you this week.

Please continue to contact me (or any other member of staff) with any questions, comments or concerns that you may have. I am always very happy to hear from you and to get an idea of how you are doing and what I can do to further support you. 

Love and warm wishes,

The Year 1 team. xx