O'Keeffe Year 1-2

               Welcome to O'Keefe Class

Teacher: Miss Gayson

TAs: Mrs Davies / Miss Willbye (1:1)

Key Information

• PE is on a Tuesday this term. Children need to come to school dressed in PE kits.
• Homework (English, Maths, Spellings, Number bonds (Yr 1 – after October half term) / Times Tables (Yr 2)) will go out on a Wednesday and is due back on the following Monday. Homework will be uploaded onto Google Classroom and should be completed in the homework books.
• Book bags with reading books and reading records are needed everyday. 
• Reading books are changed every Tuesday. 
• Spelling and times tables test will be on Monday.
• Spelling practise will take play on Spelling Shed - https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/
• Times tables will be set via Times Tables Rock Stars (https://play.ttrockstars.com/)
• Year 1s you can practice your number bonds using hit the button (https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button)

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING READING

- Reading books will be changed every Tuesday. They will bring home a free-choice book and a stage-appropriate book.

- The children are expected to re-read the book throughout the week to help build word recognition, fluency and comprehension.

- There may be some occasions where children are given a book they have already had, this is no problem. In fact, it helps the children to build their fluency, comprehension and word recognition to read books over and over. 

- Encourage the children to read the book more than once over the period you have the book. 

- If you have not finished the book, please let me know. It is no problem, it just helps me keep track of the books being sent home. 

- Children should be reading for 20 minutes every day. 

- Ask your child questions about the story and unfamiliar words as they are reading to ensure they understand the book. 

- We will regularly reassess the children's reading to ensure they are taking home stage-appropriate books. 

- Please listen to your child read and sign the reading record. Let me know how they have got on with the book and any words they have found difficult.

- Please read TO your child regularly in addition to listening to them read. This will enhance their language, vocabulary, imagination and enjoyment of more challenging books than they would be able to read independently.  

YEAR 2 

Children need to take a quiz on Accelerated Reader as soon as they finish the book. They can take the quizzes at home. 

https://ukhosted57.renlearn.co.uk/6708488/default.aspx 

- Children will take an AR test to assess their ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) throughout the year to ensure they are being challenged at the right level with their reading. This will be written in their reading record and they will have coloured dots stuck on the front. This is to show which coloured books they can choose from. 

Useful Documents

• accelerated-reader-launch-parents (1).pptx
• Common Exception Words.pdf
• Level 5 Sounds Mat.pdf
• Sound Families Mat.pdf
• t-e-2551141-level-6-phonics-sounds-mat_ver_3.pdf
• t-e-1626345461-phonics-level-5-actions-mat_ver_1.pdf
• T-L-4541-100-High-Frequency-Words-Word-Mat.pdf
• t-l-5995-200-high-frequency-words-word-mat.pdf
• t-l-526871-level-2-and-3-letter-formation-desk-mat-english_ver_5.pdf

                                             Look Up

Our core text this term was Look Up by Nathan Bryon. In Art and DT, we designed and created rockets using recycled materials. In history, we studied the first moon landing and we looked at all the important events in space travel within living memory. In English, we wrote diary entries, facts files, poems and letters. 

                           World Book Day

For World Book Day, O'Keeffe class paired up with Kahlo class. We read the book 'Worst Witch' by Jill Murphy. The children worked together to create their own potion recipe they included lots of interesting ingredients. In the story, Mildred messes up her spell and turns her classmate into a pig. The children wrote their own version of the story with their own spell mishaps. 

                                     Number Day 2024 

On Friday 2nd February, we celebrated Number Day. The children came in with number themed costumes. The money raised was going to the NSPCC charity.

The children took part in a variety of Number Day challenges such as: crack the code, number bond and time table flowers and number of the day. The children had lots of fun and celebrated their work in assembly. 

                                             Anna Hibiscus

We have been reading the story: Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke. The story is about a girl called Anna who lives in Africa with her parents. Anna has a big family that she lives with. Anna and her family travel on holiday. They travel along a lagoon away from the city. They arrive at their destination and the holiday is not as relaxing as they hoped.

The children have created lots of work inspired by this story. They have written postcards, diary entries, stories and recipes. 

                                 African Patterns

The children explored different African patterns and then designed their own in their art books. They then created their design on cardboard with string to create a stamp. Then they painted the stamp and used this to create an African Pattern on fabric. 

                                     Fruit Skewers

The children created Fruit Skewers with African fruits. They chose the fruit that they would like and then used a plastic knife to carefully cut the fruit before placing it on a skewer. They children really enjoyed making their own food and they loved eating it! 

                                           Traction Man 

The children have been reading the story of Traction Man by Mini Grey. The story is set out in a comic book style and the children have enjoyed making comic strips using speech bubbles and captions. The children have also written letters and diary entries as Traction Man. In DT, the children designed and created a new toy box for Traction Man. 

                                  Kindness Week

From the 13th to the 17th of November we celebrated Kindness week. The children in KS1 had lots of brilliant ideas to show kindness to the world. In Warhol class, the children created a Giving Table. This was a table filled with donations from their own toy collections to give to children in Reception. In Murakami class, the children created bouquets of paper flowers to give as a thank you to classes and people in the school. In O’Keeffe class, the children made a Kindness Jar filled with kind notes to bring a smile to people when they are feeling down.