Week ending 9/7/21

Dear Parents,

This is the last full week of the year and what an amazing week it has been.

The Chaggiat Siddur was the highlight of our week. We were all so proud of the children when they performed their presentation and know that each child will treasure their Siddur forever. The children have been using their new siddurim during tefilla which has been such a delight to witness.

This week was Geography and Sports week. In geography, the children learnt that physical features like seas, mountains and rivers are natural and human features like houses, roads and bridges are things that have been built by people. They then looked at a map and photos of our local area and identified some of these features. The children's Euro posters are amazing and they have enjoyed learning interesting facts about the different countries. On Thursday we had great fun learning a Spanish dance. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YCbgfsgVdJPJgwq2NDz0oMYOtLbUtv-w/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B2KlQSTMglhEYCo3mPPIXnu9oGgN7p1Z/view?usp=sharing

On Wednesday and Thursday the children took part in Sports Day activities and we are waiting to hear which country has won. We have been keeping up to date with the football and we hope that England will win!

This week we listened to the Australian tale 'Tiddalik'. He was a frog who drank all the water from a stream,   river and billabong. The children wrote the story in their own words and also learnt a song that told the story.

We played Scoot in maths. This is a whole class game that the children really enjoyed. Question cards were placed around the room and they worked with a partner to answer questions involving addition and subtraction. 

Thursday was an exciting day. Not only was it our second Sports Day, but we had an amazing Funday organised by the PTA. The children loved riding on the merry-go-round, catching ducks, decorating bags ... and many more activities. Uncle Doovy provided all of us with ice creams and slushies! A great time was had by all.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pS31Y2aFujrpFidw8Z6AlkW6xY2gqE1f/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x4jLemgrjuS2xqH7aRBuesYcE8OD3SQm/view?usp=sharing

On Monday the children will start bringing their work home. Please make sure that they come to school with empty bags.

Please note that Mrs Onona's last day will be on Tuesday and that Mrs Borman will be working on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday next week. 

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 2/7/21

Dear Parents,

This week has been the busiest ever!

Our STEM activities have been great fun and have covered different areas of the curriculum.

Science - In the STEM assembly on Monday Mrs Dalwai and Mrs Steel did some exciting experiments. We learnt about acid and alkaline reactions, saw how to stick pencils through a bag of water and learnt how to make elephant toothpaste. In class we made 'Rocket Mice' by increasing the air pressure in a bottle to send the mice flying, We had such fun. On Wednesday we had a CSI Forensic workshop and we had to use clues to find out who stole the dog.

Technology - We learnt that computers have to be programmed and that the instructions have to be in the correct order. We followed the computer instructions to dress a person and found out that they were incorrect. So then we wrote the correct program!  

Engineering - Have you ever lost socks in your washing machine? Well our task was to look along the washing line and find the odd ones. We also had a Kerem challenge to build different structures out of newspaper

Maths - Things are taken away in all sorts of everyday situations. The task was to subtract all the spaces with dots to reveal a hidden creature. We also used different coding methods (the Reverse Alphabet and the Augustus Code) to crack some special codes. Some children in Year 1 are excellent code breakers.

Well done to all those children who have made such amazing posters for our Euro football countries. We still have 2 teams in the quarter-finals!

Next week is Geography and Sports week. All your instructions are on Google Classroom. 

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 25.6.21

Dear Parents,

The children have had a busy and enjoyable week.

They have been practising their poem for our end of year video. Please make sure that they are word perfect by Tuesday. Some children are excited at taking on the challenge to learn the whole poem. They have also started to learn a new song.

On Tuesday please can the children wear the following clothes:

Boys - black or grey shorts, plain black t-shirt

Girls - black or dark blue skirt, plain black t-shirt

If your child has a wizard/witch hat please can they bring that.

In English ( this week and last) the children followed and wrote instructions to make sock puppets. They also listened to the story 'Burglar Bill' and made 'Wanted' posters to describe the burglar. Some children read a book about wild cats and then wrote fact files about the different animals.

In maths, the children have been learning to tell the time. This week they read the o'clock and half past times on an analogue clock. Now is a good time to buy them a teaching watch, perhaps as a reward for a good report, see example below. Children, please remember to Doodle! Can you be a star streaker like Joshua K (213 day streak)?

We had a lovely surprise with our beans in science. We had left them in a sunny place and the beans have grown lots of roots. Some beans have started to grow shoots and a few even have leaves. We recorded the progress in our bean diaries and can't wait to see how big they are next week.

STEM week starts on June 28th and we have lots of exciting activities planned. Please can you send some empty plastic bottles for our experiments (1litre and 500ml).

This morning the children were pleased to meet Miss Mansoor who will be their teacher in Year 2.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 18/6/21

Dear Parents,

This has been another busy week.

It was Kerem World Religion Week and the children learnt many different facts about Buddhism. They wrote facts and coloured pictures to make a class poster for a display.

In maths they learnt to describe full, half, quarter and three quarter turns. Some children also worked out the degrees of these turns. The children also learnt to describe position. They carried out many practical activities with positioning toys. Some children also enjoyed matching their positions to flashcards. They stood next to, to the right, to the left and on top of objects such as chairs. Joshua found himself below the table! Please look at our photos.

In English we read different group books. One group read a story about a sunflower and the children wrote their own instructions about how to plant one. Another group read a book about a boy who went to a car boot sale. They sequenced the story, as well as writing sentences to describe the items which he bought. Some other children read a book about making a bottle garden. They completed a comprehension about the information and also wrote instructions.

Some of the beans that we planted last week in science have grown shoots. The shoots grow down and drink the water for the bean. We have been watering the beans and have left them in the sunlight. We filled in our bean diaries so we can see how they change over the weeks.

Our teams for the Kerem Euro Sweepstake are Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine. We have a chart on our wall and the football fans are excited to fill in the daily scores. If any of our teams win the tournament we will have an ice cream party. We are in with a reasonable chance because Portugal are the holders, but anything can happen. Please see the geography related homework on Google Classroom.

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 11/06/21

Dear Parents,

It was lovely to see the children after the half term break and hear all their holiday news.

This week in maths we have revisited the topic of place value. The children have been counting, partitioning, comparing and ordering 2 and 3 digit numbers.

In English, we have been practising our phonics and tricky words. Some children read an information book,

'From a Bean to a Bar' and then made a flow chart to show how chocolate is made. Today as a special treat we are going to taste the final product! Some children read a play and then wrote their own one.

Our science topic for this half term is learning about plants. We started off by putting beans in a jar with water and leaving them on the window ledge to catch the sunlight. Then we recorded how we set up the experiment in our bean diaries. We also put beans with water in the cupboard, one with no light and one with no air to see if they grow.

We started a new topic 'Transport and Travel' in our history lesson. This week the children learnt how people travelled in the past and looked at a timeline that showed the different forms of transport. I don't think that they can imagine life without a car or an aeroplane.

Reminders

• Caps for break time
• Water
• Please put suncream on your child
• Please empty their bags each day

Shabbat Shalom and enjoy the sunny weather.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 28/5/21

Dear Parents,

The children have had a very busy and enjoyable week.

In maths, they have been learning about money. The children recognised and identified the different coins and notes. They then ordered them according to their values. They also found different ways to make the same total, as well as adding up amounts on shopping lists and showing the coins they would use as payment. If your child didn't play the games from last week on Google Classroom, please let them play them during half term. Here are some more games they might like to try:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Flash.aspx?f=payusingonecoinv3

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/payForIt/index.html

In English the children have been working on their sentence construction as well as writing stories. This week's story was called "The Spaceship". The children enjoy writing stories and are learning to use adverbs and time connectives. We practise our cursive handwriting regularly. Please let your child rewatch the PowerPoint which we sent a while back and encourage them to use this script when writing.

In science we concluded our topic of 'Animals including Humans' by learning about the last two senses - taste and smell. We learnt that the taste buds on our tongue send signals to our brain to tell us how food tastes and the nerves in the nose do the same. This can help to keep us safe, as food that doesn't smell or taste the way it should tells us not to eat it.

We finished our history topic about toys and watched some video clips about toys through the ages. After half term we will start a new topic, 'Travel and Transport'.

In art we made traditional African necklaces (see photos) like the ones worn by the Masai tribe. 

Please see Ms Simon's birthday card competition below.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely half term.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 21/5/21

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a lovely Shavuot.

In maths we completed our topic about fractions and the children learnt about halves and quarters of shapes and quantities. Next week we start our topic about money and you will find some pre-learning in Google Classroom.

In our creative writing lesson we listened to "The Story of Raff* who was a lonely toy giraffe in a charity shop. This was the true story about a little girl called Rachel (Mrs Sondhelm's daughter) who chose this toy when she was a child. The children wrote their own stories based on this. We will be consolidating the Phase 3 and Phase 5 phonics next week and have attached some activities for the children.

In science we continued learning about the senses. This week we learnt about the sense of touch. We found out that we can feel cold things on our neck, soft things on our cheek and hard things on our arms. We then went on a texture hunt around the classroom to find hard, soft, rough and smooth items.

In history we talked about the toys our parents and grandparents played with when they were six. We also described old toys and new toys.

This week (3 days!) was walk to school week and the children discussed how they get to school and the benefits. They were really happy to receive special stickers each day.

Next Tuesday we will be having our class photo. Please make sure that the children come to school smartly dressed and with full, correct uniform, including kippot for the boys and school jumpers or cardigans.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 14/5/21

Year 1 has had a busy week!

In maths we have been dividing by grouping and sharing. The children were given a total and made groups of equal amounts. They explored sharing as a model of division and used 1:1 correspondence to share concrete objects into equal groups. They also learnt about fractions and found a half using shapes and sets of objects. 

In English the children enjoyed reading the different group readers. They completed comprehensions and practised writing their answers in full sentences. Some children also wrote funny stories about a hamster with a bus pass! Please continue to reinforce the words and phonics which we advised on the consultation reports. The relevant links are further down on the blog.

We have started our new history topic, Toys from the Past. The children were excited to talk about their favourite toys. Some children told us about the toys their parents and grandparents played with when they were 6. This week they have history homework to complete about those toys.

In science this week we continued learning about our senses. The children knew that we needed our eyes to see so we tried to find out if we could do some activities without using them. The children had fun drawing a cat with their eyes closed. They then used blindfolds whilst trying to read a book, put a coat on, fix a puzzle and build with lego. Some things were more difficult than when we used our eyes and others were impossible. 

In art the children used their collage animals to make a savannah scene. We had some lovely pictures!

Shabbat Shalom, Chag Sameach and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 7/5/21

Dear Parents

In maths this week the children completed investigations relating to Shavuot. They used their knowledge of addition to crack codes and to build houses covered in flowers.

In English the children are working on their sentence structure and are learning to use descriptive language to add detail about the characters and events in their stories. In creative writing they wrote some interesting stories called The Letter.

In geography the children found out about the people and culture of Kenya. They learnt that the most common language is Swahili and that the Maasai tribe live traditional lives, just like their ancestors have done for hundreds of years. They thought about how their lives are different from the lives of the Maasai tribe. In art the children continued to use collage to make animals for a safari picture.

In science we have been looking at the five senses and we know that each one uses a different part of the body. We listened to some sounds and learnt that we use our hearing to help to keep us safe. We also listened to musical instruments and ordered them from loud to soft.

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 30/4/21

Dear Parents,

Once again thank you to those parents who met with us on Tuesday evening. It was a pleasure to share your children's achievements with you.

In maths the children have used equal groups to find a total focusing on counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. They began to make arrays by making equal groups and building them up in columns or rows. They used a range of concrete and pictorial representations to support their understanding. They also explored doubling and understand that ‘double’ is two groups of a number or an amount. 

In English the children have enjoyed reading and discussing a variety of books with their peers. In creative writing, they wrote their own stories about an animal that escaped from the zoo and used alliteration to create the animal names.

In geography the children explored the landscapes in Kenya and used descriptive language to describe the savannah, mountains, beaches, villages and cities. In art they have started making a collage of a safari scene.

In science this week we recapped all the things we have done so far like the animal groups amphibians, mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. We then talked about a special mammal..... the human! We labelled the different parts of our body and discussed what we use each part for.

Reminders

• 50p for glue sticks
• Please label all cardigans and jumpers

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

English Resources

Phase 2 - 5 Tricky words

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/4990c58ef5d74c49831f6164088f237a/t-l-5593-phase-2-to-5-tricky-words-word-mat_ver_5-3.pdf

Year 1 Common Exception words (Reading and Spelling)

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/a0a5bd80327e46c7ae90551aed6457bb/t-l-5155-year-1-common-exception-words_ver_4.pdf

• T-L-3924-Year-1-Common-Exception-Words-Flashcards_ver_2.pdf

Phase 3 and 5 sound mats, Phase 4 initial blends

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/122723cd2e2b405489e0227bbe21df11/t-l-034-phase-5-sound-mat_ver_5.pdf

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/bef88482967249bcb097d46be344649c/t-l-6401-phase-4-initial-blends-mat-poster-_ver_3.pdf

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/c7e79e439316408788d562563d62fcfa/t-l-016-phase-3-phonics-sound-mat-letters-and-sounds_ver_9-1.pdf

High Frequency word mat

https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/kerem-school/UploadedDocument/e5cbb42ccc864fba848b748c27e8415d/t-l-4541-100-high-frequency-words-word-mat-_ver_8-1.pdf

English games

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/helpAHedgehog/

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/tellATRex/index.html

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/dinosaurEggsHF/index.html

Week ending 23/4/21

Dear Parents

The children have had a very busy and enjoyable week. Thank you to those parents who were present at the Zoom consultations. It was a pleasure to discuss your children with you and share their achievements. We will be resending links for reading and handwriting resources as discussed at the consultations. We look forward to meeting the remaining parents on Tuesday.

In maths the children have been working in small groups. This week we started our topic on multiplication and the main concepts covered were counting in tens and making equal groups. Some children have also been counting in twos and ordering numbers to 100.

In English the children wrote stories about The Seaside. In addition, one group wrote their own version of the Jolly Hungry Jack book they had read and another group used their imaginations to write letters about new inventions. The children also used their knowledge of alphabetical order to find words in dictionaries.

In science this week the children talked about pets and how to look after them. They know that different pets all need food, water, to be kept clean, to have a home and to be safe. Some pets need exercise, cuddles and a litter tray. They then met Penelope, a baby dwarf tortoise who could fit into the palm of their hands. The children enjoyed meeting Penelope and some children held her or felt her shell. They all watched her walk across the table.

In geography the children spotted the different animals on our safari map. They then used compass points to direct different animals around the map.

In art we talked about primary colours and looked at the work of Piet Mondrian. The children made collages using red, yellow and blue.

Thank you to those children who remembered to bring 50p to purchase a new glue stick. If you haven't already done so please send the money on Monday as we use glue most days.

May we remind you that homework is set on Google Classroom every Friday and should be completed by the following Wednesday.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 16/4/21

Dear Parents

Welcome back to the summer term. The children are settling back nicely and have had a busy week.

In maths we have been revising counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. Please practise at home counting forwards and backwards. We also learnt about capacity and volume. 

In English, we wrote recounts of our holidays. Some children wrote stories about flying away with a birthday balloon and others dressed up to act out the story in their group reader.

In science, we looked at what animals eat. We know that carnivores and eat meat, herbivores eat plants and omnivores eat both. We then looked at food chains and how animals eat something below them on the chain. We ordered a bird of prey, snake, bird, caterpillar and a leaf. Then we ordered a shark, seal, fish and seaweed.

The highlight of the week was Yom Ha'atzmaut. We had a wonderful day making lots of different crafts, taking part in machanayim and learning Israeli dancing. See our photos below.

Our glue sticks are running out. Please send 50p for your child for a replacement.

With school holidays and lockdown, some children did not get the opportunity to wear their own clothes to celebrate their birthdays. If your child had a birthday during this time, they can wear their own clothes on Friday 30th April and their birthdays will be celebrated then.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 19.3.21

The children have had a busy and enjoyable week.

In Maths we have been using mental strategies to work out number bonds and the children have enjoyed different games and practical activities. We have also been learning about weight and mass. The children have been comparing the mass of different objects and measuring the mass with non-standard units such as cubes. If you're baking for Pesach please let your child help you as this will complement our work on weight and mass. Also, you might like to try this game https://pbskids.org/peg/games/happy-camel.

In English, the children have been learning and consolidating Phase 3 and Phase 5 phonics. Please practise these with your child https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/poopDeck/index.html. The children have been completing different writing activities including writing stories titled "The Kitten" and making posters advertising a "Toy Shop" sale. Just to remind you that we will endeavour to change home readers daily. 

In Geography we have been continuing with our topic "Let's go on Safari". This week we found out about the different animals in Kenya and placed them on a safari map according to their descriptions. In Science, we continued with our topic of animals and looked at amphibians and fish. We talked about the life cycle of a frog and how an adult frog produces frogspawn containing eggs. These grow into tadpoles, become froglets and then develop into adult frogs and then the cycle repeats itself.

We have also continued with our PSHE Back 2 School Wellbeing programme and the children have enjoyed the different activities and games such as human Guess Who.

Next week is such a short week and we cannot believe that it is already time for the Pesach break. On Monday and Tuesday we are looking forward to some exciting Pesach activities.

We wish you all Chag Pesach kasher vesame'ach.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 12/3/21

Welcome back Year 1! It has been so lovely to see you at school.

The children are settling back with into the routine and we have had a great week together. 

In PSHE, we have been following a special Back 2 School Wellbeing Programme. Each day we have completed a different activity and have played games such as Human Bop-It. We discussed that it's ok to have different feelings at the same time and put our feelings in a jar and mixed them up! As a class we are all connected and we spun a class web by joining ourselves together with wool. We also made treasure chests to store our work about feelings and friendship.

In English this week we've been assessing the children's reading. They all worked hard during lockdown and have progressed well. Next week we will be starting guided reading sessions where the children read together with others at the same level. We will endeavour to change their home readers daily. However, we will not necessarily hear the children read the books which they are bringing home on a daily basis. Please read with your child every night and use the questions on the inside covers of the books. Also, please encourage your child to retell the story in their own words and to ask if they don't understand the meaning of a word. In handwriting, we continued practising our cursive writing.

In Maths we assessed some of the concepts the children covered during lockdown and also continued with the topic of measurement. We used rulers to measure in cms. Next week we will be introducing weight and mass.

In Science, our topic is 'animals and humans'. This week we learnt about the different features of birds and reptiles, for example, birds have feathers and reptiles have dry scaly skin. We also noticed what they have in common, for example, they both have lungs and breathe air. We were surprised to know that they both evolved from dinosaurs!

Reminders

• Water bottle
• Morning snack - please name the container
• PE kit Wednesday and Thursday

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Onona and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 11/12/20

Dear Parents,

The children have come to the end of their first term in Year 1. They have worked hard and are now ready for the winter break. We hope you enjoyed their Chanukah presentation, we are very proud of them.

We linked our English and Science this week and the children started learning about winter. They watched a video about the winter season and enjoyed a winter warm up dance. They wrote beautiful poems called 'I Knew It Was Winter'.

We have continued with our new handwriting programme and have added some practice sheets on Google Classroom. This game also shows the entry and exit lines. Click on the cursive option: https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/skyWriter/index.html

During the holidays please continue to read with your child. There are lovely books on Oxford Owl and you can 'Click and Collect' books from the local library.

In Maths we learnt about repeated patterns using 2D and 3D shapes. We practised addition and subtraction using dominoes and dice. The children also compared addition and subtraction number statements. Our favourite lesson in Maths was finding out that actually you only need CHOCOLATE to learn about 3D shapes!

In PSHE our lessons have been about friendship and playing together. We have been reinforcing 3 important rules:

• kind voices
• kind hands 
• kind feet

The children have enjoyed using the construction equipment, puzzle and games which you bought for them. Many thanks for providing us with these great resources (photos below).

Shabbat Shalom, Chanukah Sameach and have a wonderful winter break.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 4/12/20

Dear Parents,

The children are getting excited for Chanukah and they have been learning about the chag in their English, JS and Ivrit lessons. It's just a shame that we cannot teach them all the lovely Chanukah songs as usual. The children have worked very hard preparing for their end of term Chanukah presentation. They have even written and performed their own scripts.

In English, the children have been learning the lead in and lead out lines for the ladder letters. We have added a PowerPoint below which shows the correct formation of our new scheme (except for b and f). Also, in our scheme v and w have straight lines. We have continued to recap on the Phase 3 sounds and Phase 4 blends and clusters with some children. We have also continued with the Phase 5 sounds and this week focused on 'ou' and noted that it has the same sound as 'ow' (now). The children might like to play the game below.

In Maths we looked at fact families and the relationship between addition and subtraction. The children are learning that there are 8 facts for each family, for example, 2+4 =6  6= 2+4

                                                                                            4+2 =6   6= 4+2

                                                                                            6-2 = 4   4= 6-2

                                                                                            6-4 =2    2= 6-4

We used manipulatives and watched this video https://vimeo.com/468562019. We will continue to learn these facts. We also continued our topic on shape and sorted 2D shapes according to their properties.

The children continue to look forward to our weekly News Bites and especially the quiz.

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Friday 27/11/20

Dear Parents,

It was so lovely to meet you all (without masks!) at the parent consultation sessions. There were similar questions raised at some of the meetings, the answers to which you will find addressed below.

Homework

• Homework is set on a Friday, to be completed by the following Wednesday.

• There has been some confusion between homework and the home learning which the children received during lockdown.

• As discussed at the Meet the Teacher in September, homework (apart from spellings) consolidates the work the children have been learning in class. 

• Home learning during lockdown was a time when teachers were providing new learning and school lessons to be completed at home. 

• Homework is not the same as home learning. Your child should be confident to complete the homework independently as the activities reinforce the concepts which have been taught during the week.

• Homework has been differentiated and assigned according to ability. From now on, Maths tasks will be assigned to all children and you can help your child to choose which activity they feel they are able to complete independently. They should only complete 1 of the differentiated tasks.

Please find below a list of websites to enhance and reinforce the learning which we are covering in class.

English

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/helpAHedgehog/     Phase 3 Letters and Sounds reading practice

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/tellATRex/index.html   Year 1 Phonic Patterns

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/dinosaurEggsHF/index.html  High Frequency Words

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/     Online graded reading books

Maths

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/ten/    

Bonds to 10

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/partPartWhole/index.html

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/addition/robot-addition

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/learning-to-count/helicopter-rescue  

Number recognition and counting on and counting back, 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/number-facts/number-fact-families  

Number fact families

https://nrich.maths.org/

Maths resources to enrich learning

For Maths, apart from our subscription to Doodle Maths, we also have one for TT Rockstars 

(multiplication and division). Please email if you would like a login for your child.

In Maths this week the children explored finding the difference as a form of subtraction. One of the strategies they used was counting on and counting back. Another strategy they used was to make both amounts and visually see how many more or less a number is. The children also continued learning about the properties of 3D shapes. They counted the number of faces on each shape and described if they were flat or curved. They then sorted the shapes according to their properties.

We have continued the theme of kindness in English and finished listening to the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The children also watched Partly Cloudy, which is an animation about loyalty and friendship. The story is about cheerful clouds in the sky that make cute and cuddly babies and give them to storks for delivery. However, one lonely cloud has the task of creating animals that are cute, but not so cuddly. His delivery stork has a hard job and becomes fearful and flies away. The lonely cloud feels rejected, but eventually his stork returns and makes him happy.

The children enjoyed the finger exercises and our Dough Disco. This week they practised more   handwriting patterns before they start to learn the lead in and lead out lines in our scheme. 

As part of our world religions programme, the children started learning about Buddhism. They learnt that Buddha was a teacher and was born in India. They found out that Buddhists pray in a Wat which is a Buddhist temple and that they have 5 morals. Ask your children if they can remember them. The children also learnt that Wesak is the most important Buddhist festival and they made Wesak lanterns (see below).

The children enjoyed their weekly visit to Forest School. They climbed trees and made stick men.

Today we had a short birthday celebration in honour of the children who have had birthdays so far this year - Dael, Harry and Jesse. We played some games and the children had lots of fun!

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Friday 20/11

Dear Parents,

What a busy week we’ve had!
 

On Monday, Anti-bullying week got off to a great start with “Odd Socks Day”, see photos below. First we watched a video about zoo animals and discussed how they differed from each other. We then discussed how we are different and thought about a book we read last week called “Something Else”. In that story the two characters were different, but in the end they realised that it doesn’t matter, the important thing is to accept that you should be friends and be kind to one another. To conclude we made jigsaw pieces to show how we will work as a team so there will be no bullying.

On Tuesday, we watched Topsy and Tim Help a Friend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhH9NCtaZt8

We discussed how Topsy and Tim stopped two mean children who were being unkind to their friend Stevie. We have been working hard to improve playtimes in Year 1. The children have 5 playtime rules which are reinforced daily (please see below) and the Year 1 teachers are spending extra time in the playground looking out for "Good Behaviour". Please discuss these rules with your children. 

On Wednesday the theme was 'Kindness/Chesed'. We talked about the meaning of kindness and watched a video which showed that kindness is catching. Please ask the children to explain what happened in the video. The children made 'Kindness Stones', the idea being based on the Kindness Rocks Project which is a global movement. Have a look at our stones, they are beautiful!

The children have thought a great deal about the activities we have carried out this week and we will continue reinforcing  kind behaviour. Please let us know the kind deeds you children do at home. 

In Maths, we continued our topic of subtraction. The children learnt how to subtract by counting back on a number line and learnt how to set out their work on squared paper, placing 1 number in each square. We also started a new topic about 3D shapes. We learnt to recognise and name spheres, cubes, cuboids, pyramids, cylinders and cones.  

We have started our new handwriting programme and the children are learning the correct:

• pencil grip 
• posture
• position of their paper

Please watch the video which explains the above.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/english/primary-handwriting/handwriting-year-1-age-5-6/.

Homework

This is set on a Friday and as requested here's the link to Google Classroom.

https://classroom.google.com/u/1/w/NzQyNzk4MDcyMjNa/t/all

From next week the spelling test will take place on a Friday. This will give the children a week to learn their spellings. Apart from the weekly spelling patterns (see below), by the end of Year 1 the children are expected to be able to spell some common exception words. Many children can already spell some or all of these words. Well done Year 1!

Many thanks with your continued support. Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 13/11

Dear Parents,

This week in Maths we started our topic of subtraction. We began by introducing the language of subtraction and used the concept of "taking away" to find how many were left in a range of real life situations. We then used the subtraction symbol and created stories about the calculations. We also learnt how to subtract by partitioning. The children continue to use concrete and pictorial representations to deepen their understanding.  

In English the children wrote about the autumn and why they enjoy Forest School. We have been practising the tricky words from Phase 3 - 5 and also the first 100 high frequency words. We have also been practising handwriting patterns so that we are ready to learn the lead in and exit lines for the lowercase letters.

On Tuesday we watched a video about Remembrance Day and found out why people have been wearing poppies. We also stood in silence at 11am on Wednesday11th.

Today is Mitzvah Day at Kerem and the children looked great all dressed in red! They enjoyed making get well cards for the Israeli charity Save a Child's Heart. 

Please note Mrs Shannon was absent this week so we have returned the Aleph Champ books.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 6/11/20

Dear Parents,

The children have settled happily after the half term break and enjoyed sharing their holiday news.

Stop Press - We wish Olivia, Rafael and Mr & Mrs Murciano " Mazaltov!" on the safe arrival of Baby Girl Murciano and Baby Boy Murciano.

Our word of the week is ONOMATOPOEIA. The children listened to fireworks and thought of words to describe the sounds that they made. We then had our own virtual firework display. The children decorated fireworks with these words and wrote sentences about fireworks.

This week we revised the "or" sound and learnt that "aw" and "au" also make that sound. If you login to Espresso there are activities to consolidate these sounds. The children have got their first list of spellings to learn. Please help them prepare for their test.

In Maths we finished our unit on addition and the children used number lines to help with their calculations. They learnt how to add by counting on and now know that that it's easier to start with the largest number. They  also learnt how to find missing numbers in number sentences, such as 8 + ? = 11. Next week we will be starting subtraction.

The children enjoyed catching up with the latest news on Espresso and completing the quiz. Ask them to tell you what news items were discussed.

Next Friday is Mitzvah Day, please see the email and find something red for your child to wear.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon 

Week Ending 23/10/20

Dear Parents

The children have had another busy week!

Our Wake Up Shake Up morning dance gets us off to a good start each day and is enjoyed by all. However, the highlight of this week was our "Dough Disco". Ask your children to tell you more. It involved different moves such as the SPLAT!, PINCH!, SQUEEZE and ROLL. These moves support both body and brain development and help to build fine motor skills in a fun-filled experience. 

In Maths we continued our addition topic. The children used their knowledge of place value and number bonds to compare numbers and number sentences. They also used the part whole model and 10 frames to understand the concept of addition. 

In English the children wrote sentences about their news and practised the curly caterpillar letters. They read the tricky words for phases 3, 4 and 5 and learnt the ph sound. The children can practise reading these words on: https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/dinosaurEggsHF/index.html

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom and an enjoyable half term.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 16th October

Dear Parents

In Maths this week we have been continuing our topic on addition using part-whole models and bar models. The children have been using these to learn the number bonds to 10. We are learning that if we work systematically we will find all the bonds for each number and that the larger the number the more bonds. Please practise at home using equipment such as counters or even pieces of pasta. The children need to learn to become fluent with all the number bonds to 10 so that they will be able to apply their knowledge when adding larger numbers.

Try these games:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://pbskids.org/curiousgeorge/busyday/ten/

In English this week we completed a comprehension about hedgehogs hibernating through the winter months. We also spent time learning about sentence structure. We know that when we write our sentences we must use a capital letter at the beginning and full stop at the end. We also made sure that the words were in the correct order so that our sentences made sense. We had fun practising writing our ladder letters and out curly caterpillar letters. We are continuing to practise writing our numbers. Please ensure that your children are writing these the correct way round. We have learnt some fun rhymes to help us remember. In phonics we learnt that ue, ew and u-e make the oo sound (moon). We listened to some extracts from 'You Choose Fairy Tales' read by the author Pippa Goodhart and illustrator Nick Sharratt. Then we followed Nick Sharratt's instructions and drew our own amazing fairy castles.

Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 9th October

Dear Parents,

We hope you have all had a lovely week of Succot. 

This week the children found out about hedgehogs. They learnt all about their diets, bodies and how their behaviour changes during the different seasons of the year. They enjoyed listening to some lovely hedgehog stories. The children also shared their knowledge of nocturnal animals and hibernation.

In Maths this week we used the number line to count, to see greater and less than statements and to order numbers. We also learnt to use part-whole models which help the children to understand that a number can be partitioned into 2 or more parts. These also help with number bonds and addition. The children had fun using the model to work out some practical problems and we played this game in class. 

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/partPartWhole/index.html

In English, we wrote sentences to describe a succah. We revised the 'oa' sound and learnt the 'oe' and 'o-e' sounds. The children might like to play these game which will help them to practise reading words with the sounds they have been learning. 

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/helpAHedgehog/ 

https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/tellATRex/index.html

We have some lovely photos to share with you, please see below.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach,

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon 

Week Ending 2nd October

Dear Parents,

We have had such a lovely week in school thinking about autumn. We listened to a lovely story about conkers and then in Science we all went on a seed hunt and looked for acorns and conkers. We enjoyed finding out about the life cycle of the horse chestnut tree and the oak tree and how these change throughout the seasons of the year. The children shared lots of interesting facts that they had learnt. In English we learnt the sound for ie and i-e. We also have a beautiful autumn tree full of tricky word leaves. Please continue to practise reading the tricky words at home. Here's a game to practise reading these words: https://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/dinosaurEggsHF/index.html 

On Thursday we had an ACORN day. We used our acorns in our Maths lesson on greater than and less than. We also wrote descriptions of acorns and produced some fabulous modern art pictures using lots of colours to camouflage the acorns. In Maths we also learnt to use ordinal numbers.

At Forest school the children played a fun game of Pheasant and Fox and then enjoyed making jewellery and toys out of seeds that they had collected from the woodland floor. 

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach.

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week Ending 25/09/20

Dear Parents,

This week in Maths we have had ' GREAT ' fun working with the chomping Alligator - ask your children to explain. You can rewatch the videos which are in Google Classroom. We learnt that the Alligator always chomps the largest number. Following on from this, we have been comparing objects and numbers and we have learnt to use the following mathematical language and symbols: greater than > ( greater rhymes with alligator),

less than < and equals =.

This week in English we have learnt the sounds ea (as in read) ey, e-e (swede) and a-e (cake).

We also listened to a story about the seasons and wrote sentences about what we liked to do in each of them. If you have time, listen to this lovely conker song. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhebvq0O4GY

Forest school was lots of fun this week, although a little wet. We still had a great time in our wellies and waterproofs. When it rained, we sheltered under trees and explored the woods. Emma told us a lovely story about Mother Nature helping some bugs and we were able to make our own insects using clay, leaves, twigs and big pine cones. Some children helped Emma build a Bee  Hotel,  which we brought back to school to hang on a tree. We are continuing with our work on seasons and we are beginning to see a change in the weather too and it is getting darker earlier. Please help your children to look out for all the signs of  autumn. 

Shabbat Shalom and Gmar Chatima Tova,

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon  

Week  Ending 18/09/20

Dear Parents,

This week the children have had another busy week at school. 

Well done to all the children who found out what playground games their parents and grandparents played when they were 5. Once the marquees are removed from the playground we will be able to start playing them.

In Maths we have continued with our place value block. We have been counting forwards, backwards as well as finding one more and one less than a number. We used number lines and 10 frames to help us find the answers. In reasoning and problem solving we used the number cards 0 - 10 to find out how many different ways we could complete the statement 

? is one more than ?

In English we have continued revising Phase 3 of Letters and Sounds from last year, as well as beginning Phase 5 and learning that ‘ay’ has the same sound as ‘ai’. At storytime we have been listening to some of the Frog and Toad stories which are a favourite of Mrs Borman.

We have enjoyed learning more about the seasons this week and we can sort and identify different signs for autumn, winter, spring and summer. 

At Forest School we played listening games and the children had fun making leaf necklaces and clay models. They even made a life-size stick person using woodland resources! 

This week we watched Espresso Newsbites and found out about what is happening in the world. We completed the quiz and got 12 out of 12!

Wishing you Shabbat Shalom and Shana Tova Umetuka!

Mrs Borman, Mrs Rosenberg and Mrs Sassoon

Week ending 10.9.20

Dear Parents,

Welcome to the Year 1 blog!

We have had a fabulous first full week at school (please see the photo gallery below). Their smiley faces as they enter each day tells it all! They have been busy learning new routines, such as gelling their hands every time they enter the building and how to line up before entering the classroom. Well done Year 1! We have also been practising good listening skills, which we would be grateful if you would reinforce at home. 

Thank you for joining us on Zoom on Tuesday. It was lovely to share the Year 1 information with you, but just a shame that we couldn't see your faces. Please note that there is a Key Information section on the Year 1 class page which has details about teachers, homework etc. As we were unable to show Mrs Roodyn's video on Tuesday, we have attached it below.

The children have shared their summer news and they wrote about some of the activities that took place. In Maths we began our Place Value block and have been sorting, counting and representing numbers. We have been learning to use a ten frame and we have given the children an online activity for their homework. We were excited to begin our first topic on the ‘Seasons’ learning the names and the months in which the seasons occur. The children sit in groups in the classroom and each table is now named after a season. In Computing, the children have been learning how to ‘log on’. Please can you help the children to learn how to spell their surnames as this will help them a great deal in these lessons. 

We had lots of fun back at Forest School this week, remembering the rules and enjoying the sunshine. The children listened attentively to a story and then had a wonderful time exploring the surroundings and making crowns and glitter worms out of branches. They also made special witches potions using materials from the ‘forest’ and water. 

The JS team asks that all Aleph Champ books taken home last year are returned to school as soon as possible. If you have mislaid your book, £4 will be added to your school bill. Many thanks!

'Happy Birthday Dael!' Thank you for donating tzedakah to Camp Simcha.

We really look forward to working with you and your children. Shabbat Shalom and have a lovely weekend.

Mrs. Borman, Mrs. Rosenberg and Mrs. Sassoon