Hi everyone!

Minty gets his Christmas Tail !!!!!

The dress rehearsal for ‘A Christmas Tail’ was BRILLIANT!!! The Nursery and Key Stage Two children loved the performance. Well done children we are so proud of you.
After the Wednesday evening performance, the children will be able to take their costumes home with them – including all the tinsel and glitter which had adored the carpets this week! May we take this opportunity to thank you for all the time and effort you have put into preparing your children’s costumes. They all look fantastic on the stage and are a real credit to you. You should have all received you tickets a couple of weeks ago. Please do keep them in a safe place, as we cannot re-issue tickets. Each family has been allocated one ticket for each performance. This has been the case for a number of years, in order to help us comply with Health and Safety regulations.

LITERACY

We are continuing with the theme of Instructions. Over the next two weeks we will be looking at the language used in writing instructions: we will be focusing on the tenses used, the sequencing and detailed diagrams.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/lists_and_instructions/eng/Introduction/default.htmthis is a great site! Drag and drop each of the sentences to put them in the right order.

http://ro.zrsss.si/~viljenka/maketea.htmanother way of showing how to put the instructions to make a cup of tea, in the correct order.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php&file=teaseq

http://www.popandco.com/archive/moab/this is strangely fascinating! It shows how a Lego brick is made, giving step by step instructions from granules to the bricks we know and love (and end up under the sofa!) If you have Lego bricks at home, maybe you could get your child to write the instructions to build a scene from a Fairy Tale.

http://www.makersgallery.com/joanirvine/howto.htmlvery simple instructions on how to make a pop-up book. This is also a great idea if you feel like making some of your Christmas cards this year.Some websites to practice spelling patterns:-

http://www.ictgames.com/cluster.htmlspelling game based on the initial sounds they can hear

http://www.ictgames.com/hybrid.htmlit took me a while to figure out how to play this game! To select a word in the word search, click on the first and the last letter of the word you wish to highlight, and the cow will ‘MOO’ if you are correct! A great way to investigate spelling patterns.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/snap/snap.shtmlclick SNAP when the sounds match the word written on the right hand side

NUMERACY

This week we will be looking at money, finding totals of sets of coins and relating it to adding three or more numbers.

By the end of the week:

All children must be able to find totals of sets of coins: relate to adding three or more numbers.

Most children should be able to pay an exact sum using the smaller coins up to two pounds.

Some children could be able to use amounts more than two pounds.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/numeracy/money/index.shtml

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/counting_with_money/index.htm counting to 10p. This is easy for the children, but good for confidence building in recognising coins

http://www.ictgames.com/moneypayer.html pay for the items on the trolley with the coins available

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=MMATCH match coins to the values and calculate the correct change

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/virtualshop/shop1.htm use this as a virtual shop. The instructions on the site will enable you to try a different method of introducing money.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/working_with_coins/eng/Introduction/default.htmhttp://www.ictgames.com/moneypayer50p.html adding coins to 50p

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/snap/index.htm play snap with money

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/lets_party/eng/Introduction/default.htm this is a real challenge and aimed more towards Year 3/4 but I think some children could rise to the challenge! Become party planners...I shall say no more!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/shopping/index.htm drag the correct coins to the till to pay for the items on the conveyor belt. Will they pay for it in time?

HERE I AM

We have started to look at the topic of "Birthdays." We will talking about Advent and what we need to prepare for Christmas. We will be talking about the Nativity and its importance.

Christmas Websites:

http://www.request.org.uk/infants/festivals/christmas/story/story01.htm a lovely re-telling of the Christmas Story.

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/re/b-dag/ngfl-container/re-unit1-en.html some interactive activities to support the Christmas story

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/christmas/nativity/nativity.html this is a great site for children to use to help them to orally retell the nativity story

http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/cdrag0.htm This is a lovely site, which tells the Christmas Story in sequence. If you click on the little characters on the right of the screen, it plays a Christmas Carol to really get you in the mood!

http://www.refuel.org.uk/curric/infant_topics/christmas/christmas.html another example of the Christmas story.

Christmas Lunch

The children will be having their Christmas lunch on 8th December, so if you would like your child to take part in this, and haven’t already done so, please send in the payment as soon as possible. Obviously, children will not need a packed lunch for that day, but please bear in mind, that there will be no toast available at morning break on that day.

Christmas Party

Ooh, get those glittery dancing shoes out for a good old boogie! It’s our Christmas party on 15th December in the afternoon. The children will be allowed to come to school in their own clothes for the day. You should have received a letter last week, requesting £2.50 towards the costs of the food and drinks for the party, as well as a little gift from Santa. We would be grateful if this could be sent into school as soon as possible, as Santa’s elves need to make and wrap over 120 presents in time! If you think you would make a good elf, please let any of the team know as soon as possible.


Operation Christmas Child

If you would like to send a shoebox into school, filled with Christmas gifts, you have been given extra time to do it. The boxes are now being collected on Tuesday 2nd December. You will have received a leaflet explaining the types of things which are suitable to include for each age range. The boxes need to be able to be opened by customs, so securing the lid on with an elastic band is the best way to do this. Please also ensure that you remember to include the correct amount for postage costs.



One advance piece of information, is that on the morning after the evening performance, Mr Barker usually allows the children to come into school slightly later – by 10.30am. If this is a problem for you, then the staff will be in as usual.

Carol Service

We will finish our Christmas celebrations with our carol service, which will once again be held up at Church. It is a lovely celebration and a chance to us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Please let any member of the team know if you are able to help walk the children to and from church on the morning of 19th December.

Panto

Many thanks for all your offers of help for the panto on 9th January. We are awaiting confirmation from Parr Hall on numbers of adults that we need to take. As soon as we receive confirmation, we will let you know. Many thanks.

As you will have read in last week’s newsletter, Mrs Narraway will be starting her maternity leave this Friday and will return after Easter. I am sure you will join us all in wishing her and her family well, and look forward to hearing baby news very soon!! xx

Only 25 sleeps until Christmas!

The Year 2 Team
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