30 March 2012
It’s the Easter holidays and, in line with our Homework Policy, teachers do not set spellings or homework tasks. Instead, enjoy the sunny weather by getting active: a trip to the park, a game of football, a cycle ride or a long walk!
During the holidays, two of our teachers will visit Italy, one will be in Russia and one will be in…Barry Island!
23 March 2012
This week’s spellings are ‘problem connectives’ that can be used as openers for a sentence related to the previous sentence or paragraph. For example: “Jessica really enjoys going swimming. However, she prefers playing football.”
As you can see, the reason we call these ‘problem connectives’ is because they lead to a statement that disagrees or offers an alternative to the previous sentence. I’ve included a comma after each because that’s how they’d often be used.
| LO: problem connectives |
| Yet, |
| However, |
| On the other hand, |
| In spite of this, |
| Nevertheless, |
| Nonetheless, |
| Although, |
| Despite this, |
These connectives will really help with the children’s writing next week. They are developing their persuasive skills and are beginning to use the other side of an argument to justify their points. For example, “Some people believe that the school day should be longer. Nevertheless, a large majority of parents disagree.”
16 March 2012
This week’s spellings are connectives that can be used as openers for a sentence related to the previous sentence or paragraph. For example: “The acting in the Lion King was amazing. In addition, the singing was superb!” They have been separated into two groups:
- adding connectives – add more information to the previous point
- reason + result – gives a consequence to the previous point
| LO: connective openers |
| adding connectives |
| In addition, |
| Furthermore, |
| Moreover, |
| Additionally, |
| reason + result connectives |
| Consequently, |
| As a result, |
| Therefore, |
| As a consequence, |
These connectives will really help with the children’s writing next week as they are learning how to persuade someone to do something.
09 March 2012
This week in our spellings we are learning to drop the ‘e’ for ‘ing’. All of the words this week are verbs.
By adding ‘ing‘ on the end of the verb, we have to drop the ‘e’ from the route word. For example, explore with an ing added becomes exploring.
| route word | ing added |
| explore | exploring |
| decide | deciding |
| announce | announcing |
| stroke | stroking |
| vote | voting |
| advise | advising |
As all the variations to the words are similar, I’ve included more words on the list. Any of the words in the list above could come up on the test on Friday 16 March.
02 March 2012
This week in our spellings, we’re learning to drop the ‘y’ for an ‘i’. We’re also looking at variations of word endings when dropping the ‘y’.
By adding ‘ier’ on the end of the adjective, we infer that something is more of that adjective than something else. For example, “A carrot is healthier than a chocolate bar.”
By adding ‘est’ on the end on the end of the adjective, we infer that something is the most. For example, ” Jacob Marley was the scariest fancy dress costume on Thursday.”
| adjective | more | most |
| crazy | crazier | craziest |
| funny | funnier | funniest |
| scary | scarier | scariest |
| healthy | healthier | healthiest |
As all of the variations to the words are similar, I’ve included more words on the list. Any of the words in the list above could come up on the test on Friday 09 March.
24 February 2012
This week’s spellings all require your child to double up for short vowel sounds.
| LO: To double up for short vowel sounds. |
| bottle |
| swimming |
| suddenly |
| immediate |
| opposite |
| attack |
| kettle |
| aggressive |
It’s the holidays…
…so there are no spellings or homework activities.
Instead, enjoy a winter walk, the marvellous Muppets movie, some cool culture at a gallery or museum… Enjoy the half-term break.
03 February 2012
This week’s spellings are slightly different. Instead of a list of words, I simply want your child to be able to distinguish between the two forms of no:
no – For example: No, I don’t want to play.
know – For example: I know my times tables.
We’ll be looking at this through the week, but if you could practise these activities at home it will ensure your child has a thorough understanding:
- On piece of paper, write no on one side and know on the other. Read out a sentence and they have to show the correct no.
- Have some sample sentences where they write the correct form of no. For example:
- I know my spellings. (know)
- There is no way through. (no)
If you have any questions, feel free to speak with me any time.
27 January 2011
This week’s spellings are all verbs in the past tense that end with ‘ed’.
The suffix ‘ed’ features in a lot of past tense verbs which will help your child with their narrative writing at the moment.
| LO: Words that end with ‘ed’. |
| attacked |
| relaxed |
| talked |
| touched |
| clicked |
| remembered |
| approached |
| surrendered |
20 January 2011
This week’s spellings are slightly different. Instead of a list of words, I simply want your child to be able to distinguish between the two forms of its:
its – belonging to something, no apostrophe
it’s – a contraction, like we learnt last week, of ‘it is’
We’ll (another contraction!) be looking at this through the week, but if you could practise these activities at home it will ensure your child has a thorough understanding.
- On piece of paper, write its on one side and it’s on the other. Read out a sentence and they have to show the correct its.
- Have some sample sentences where they write the correct form of its. For example:
- Whose coat is this? ____ mine! (It’s)
- The cat wagged _____ tail. (its)
A good way to distinguish between the two is to check whether the sentence sounds correct if you substitute the word for ‘it is’. If you can do this, then the correct form is it’s. If it doesn’t seem to make sense, then the correct form is its.
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to come and speak to me.
