My apologies for not updating this yesterday.

This week we will be covering the following learning objectives in:

Writing

This week we will be continuing to work on the Chinese folktale ‘The Magic Paintbrush’. We will be planning an alternative story based on The Magic Paintbrush and writing our own warning tales magpieing ideas from each other and the original story. We will be sharing our stories with our friends and asking them for their opinions. We will be editing and making our stories better.

I am looking forward to reading the warning stories the children wrote as part of their homework.

Reading

We are really enjoying The Hodgeheg by Dick King-Smith. We have already learnt lots of exciting new vocabulary. Our favourite word last week last week was ‘catapulted’.

Phonics/ SPaG

We will be focusing on the spelling of a range of words using alternative spellings this week to check and consolidate our understanding.

Maths

We are continuing to look at money.

We are focusing on finding the total of amounts and finding the difference (giving change). The final part of our maths learning will be on two-step problems.

The children will need a strong understanding of place value (even over 100) for calculating with £’s and pence. They will also need to practice counting in 2’s, 5’s, 10’s and 20’s for more efficient strategies.

At the end of the week/ the start of next week we will be starting the new concept of multiplication and division. We will start by look at how to make equal groups by sharing and grouping.

PSHE

We have started the Zippy’s Friends project which will run for most of the year. After each of the six modules we will send home an activity for your child to complete. This will give you an insight to what it is all about. Please speak to your child about these sessions as they are all very excited about the project! So far we have discussed things that make us feel happy/ sad and what we can do to help us feel better. In this module we will also be looking at anger, jealousy and embarrassment. I was extremely impressed with the maturity shown by the whole class.

P.E.

We are going to be doing dance on a Monday and doing circuit training on Thursdays.

Science

We are starting to look at differences between plants and animals and variation between animals.

Homework

A polite reminder that I have been setting homework every week on mathletics. The expectation is that this is completed by the Tuesday of the following week.

Important information

This Wednesday (24^th January) there will be a parent workshop in the main hall focusing on how to keep your child safe online. Please attend if you can as it is bound to be very informative. We have been talking about the safety of online games in class and what makes a safe username (i.e does not give out personal information such as names, date of birth or school name).

Our learning objectives for this week (beginning Wednesday 15th January) are:

Writing

Here is the story of The Magic Paintbrush.

The Magic Brush

Long, long ago in Ancient China there lived a poor boy, who was called Chang. Although he loved drawing, Chang was too poor to have a paintbrush so he used a stick instead. He would draw in the sand or scratch marks on the walls.

Early one morning, Chang saw a large, silver fish trapped in the tall reeds by the riverbank. The fish were struggling to get free. He helped to release the fish because he felt sorry fot them.

Later that day, Chang was sleeping. In his dream, a man dressed in a silver cloak spoke to him. “You are a kind boy Chang. I am giving you a magic brush. Use it to help the poor.” Chang woke with a start and lying beside him was a paintbrush.

So Chang painted the shape of a butterfly and to his amazement it changed into a real butterfly and flew away. Chang was delighted with this gift. He ran straight back to the village to see how he could help the poor people.

First, he painted a donkey for the young mother to help her carry her goods. Next he painted an ox to help the farmer pull his plough. After that he painted a hoe for the old lady to weed her garden. Everyday he found a new use for the paintbrush.

Unluckily, the Emperor heard of Chang and his magic brush. He sent for Chang and ordered him to paint a field of gold. Chang didn’t want to obey the greedy Emperor so he drew a sea with a tiny island in the distance.

 “Where is my field of gold?” shouted the Emperor, angrily.

“Just here,” replied Chang, drawing a tiny field on the island.

 “Paint me a boat so that I can travel to the island,” snarled the Emperor. So Chang painted a boat. The Emperor climbed onto the boat. Chang drew the north wind blowing towards the island.

 “I’m going too slowly,” roared the Emperor. “Paint stronger wind.” “So Chang drew a storm. Suddenly, the waves grew rougher and rougher until the boat capsized and the Emperor disappeared. Then Chang drew a white horse so that he could ride home and tell his friends what had happened to the Emperor who wanted too much for himself.

 

Hungerford Class have loved looking The Magic Brush’ story so far. This week we will be retelling the story through drama. We will then be using the ‘warning tale toolkit’ to box up the story into different sections.

Maths

We have now moved onto money. We will be counting coins and notes. We will also be finding different ways of making to same amounts.

What could you do at home?

Give your child a handful of coins. Can they tell you the most efficient way to count it?

Play shops- ask them to make 23p in several different ways.

I am confident that all of our previous work on number and place value and addition and subtraction has formed a secure foundation for our work on money.

Homework

I will be continuing to set homework on Mathletics. I am aware that some people have had issues with adobe flash player. This is something you need to enable on your computers. If this is the case then please let me know. I am happy for the children to complete the task after eating their lunch on Mondays (as an adult has to be there for their health and safety).