Home Learning
Published 08-06-20
I have really enjoyed seeing a variety of year one children over the last week. They have been working hard and I am sure those of you at home have been working hard too! As a school, we are now moving away from the 'Show My Homework' platform. All work will be uploaded for you to see on the Home Learning section above the class pages (the webpage before this one). If you wish, please send in your completed 'Friday task' at the end of the week so that the year one team can see what you have been working on. You can send this to the following email address: year1homelearning@stalbans.cheshire.sch.uk
Miss Bailey.
Published 01-06-20
From this week, I will be in school full-time. I can't wait to see all of the new children that are returning and look forward to remaining in touch with those of you doing home learning. As I will be teaching full-time, responses to any queries on Show My Homework will not be as immediate as they have been. If you have a message or question that needs a speedy response, please ring school and someone will get back to you/pass the message on to me.
Miss Bailey.
Published 18-05-20
Good morning home learners, unfortunately getting through all of the first set of phone calls took longer than anticipated last week and there are still a couple of families who I have not managed to get in touch with. I intend to begin phone calls again later this week for those of you that I have already spoken to once, just to check in again and make sure everything is still okay with you and your child. I am sure that you are aware of the announcement made last week by Boris Johnson, that schools will potentially be opening to more children from the 1st June. Many of you have questions and opinions on this. Teachers and headteachers alike only found out about these plans as they were revealed on live television, and guidance as to how this may look in a classroom has been gradually released over the last few days. Our school is therefore still working hard to consider how more children can be welcomed back to school without putting those children, parents and staff at undue risk. More details will follow, but unfortunately I do not yet know the answers to your questions about how things will work in our school specifically. I hope that you are all still embracing and enjoying time with your family during lockdown, I look forward to being in touch will all of you again soon.
Miss Bailey.
Published 07-05-20
It has been amazing hearing from lots of parents and children this week. I have begun calling all families of children in my class, just to check in and hear about how you are all getting on in this strange situation. It has been a very long task but one that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Those children that I have spoken to have shared all of the fun activities that they have been getting up to and it is lovely to hear how many siblings are becoming best of friends whilst spending time together at home. I have not been able to get in contact with all families this week, but have left an answer phone message where possible. Over the next few weeks I will begin phoning families again. If you would prefer to have calls less regularly for any reason (eg. you have multiple teachers calling you and it is too much), then please e-mail the school admin and the message will be passed on to me. I hope everyone enjoys their VE day bank holiday tomorrow - I have loved seeing all of the preparations the children have done for their celebrations at home.
Miss Bailey
Published 01-05-20
Another week of home learning completed! Well done to all children, parents and family members - you have worked so hard and have successfully finished your sixth week of lockdown. Unfortunately, today I have noticed that some of the submissions to Show My Homework have not been providing me with a notification, so I have not always realised when children have sent me work. Due to this, you may have received messages from me today responding to work from earlier weeks of home learning, as I have gone through every child's account on each previously set task to make sure I have seen everything. The children have been working so hard and I don't want anything to go unnoticed! On another note, I have been so impressed with the time capsules that children have been creating. I am sure that they will find them truly fascinating when they open them up in years to come, and see how adaptable people have been in these challenging times. It has also been wonderful doing our first ever virtual show and tell today. I have loved hearing about (and seeing photos of!) some of the fun things that the children have been up to, and talking to them about something other than work. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to talk in a more informal way soon. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Miss Bailey.
Published 24-04-20
Today I have had quite a few messages off parents saying that they have had difficulties getting their child to concentrate and complete work. After having responded to them, I thought it best to post a message to you all, to reassure you that you shouldn't be worrying about the volume of 'school work' that you child is completing. The most important thing is that your child and family are happy and healthy. Any formal learning is a bonus. Learning also takes place through playing, helping with jobs around the house and other ‘normal’ family activities! Show My Homework is a way for us to provide optional activities that your child can engage with, that follow on from previous school learning. However, we are not judging what is completed by who and when - different things will work for different families. Some children will thrive in a timetabled routine, as close to school life as possible, others will struggle with this. Some families will use all of the activities provided by school and seek out extras, whilst others will do neither. As teachers, we will get all of the children to where they need to be when we return. In the mean time, do what works best for you and your child! I hope everyone enjoys their weekend.
Miss Bailey.
Published 20-04-20
Normally for me, the start of a new term begins with a line of little faces pressed up against the classroom window, eager to see if anything has changed in their classroom over the break. The classroom door opens and the room is filled with excitable chatter and talk of the adventure and fun that has been had over the time off. I most certainly have missed that this morning, as I’m sure many of the children have. Whilst this is definitely the strangest start to a new term that I have experienced during my teaching career, the children in year one have still made it a joyous one. I have absolutely loved logging back into Show My Homework and seeing some of the letters the children have been writing to key workers. It has been a pleasure to find out about how many families and friends of families are embracing the current situation, and even more so, seeing how proud the children are of them. Well done to the children for spreading happiness through your letters and artwork! I hope everyone has had a happy and healthy half term. More fun home learning activities are planned for the next few weeks, and as ever, complete those that you feel would benefit your child the most. I look forward to communicating with you all soon,
Miss Bailey 
Published 03-04-20
Good morning! This week, everyone seems to have really taken home learning in their stride. I have loved seeing the work that children have completed and I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about how you are all getting on at home. I have had questions and messages from children and parents alike, which have been lovely for keeping in touch and helping teach from a distance. Well done for all of your hard work (both children and adults)! I am very proud of everything I have seen and heard from you over the past two weeks. I hope everyone enjoys a well deserved rest over the Easter holidays, and I look forward to resuming home learning afterwards on Monday 20th April.
Miss Bailey
Published 30-03-20
Well done to everyone for completing your first week of home learning! On reflection of the tasks from last week, we have decided to set a variety of 'flexible' tasks (those that don't require submission of work) and 'homework' tasks (those that ask for a file submission). This is because the tasks are set as a guide and something to work through with your child over the coming weeks. We do not want children or families to feel overwhelmed with the work or under any pressure, however some interaction between parents/children and teachers is necessary to continue to support the home learning - fingers crossed a variety of tasks will enable us to keep this balance. I hope you enjoy the second week of your learning from home :)
Miss Bailey
Published 26-03-20
It has been lovely hearing from so many of you on the Show My Homework platform! Whilst the system is not completely fixed in terms of log ins, I have been informed that some children have been able to access the activities set through their parents accounts, which doesn't allow submission of work. Don't worry about submitting work if this isn't possible - the main aim of the platform is for us as teachers to be able to provide you with activities so that your child can continue to learn at home and to help you to organise your child's day during this difficult time. As parents, prioritise the tasks you feel would be manageable, beneficial and enjoyable for your child. There is no need to complete everything if that is not feasible - everybody's situation is different. This is not a time when we want you to feel under extra pressure. Just do work as and when you can and remember that children learn through play and home activities too - so non-structured activities or helping with jobs around the house can be equally beneficial for your child. That being said, some parents have requested more activities as they have found themselves with extra time. I have created a list of lots of educational websites and apps (below) to support various areas of the year 1 curriculum. Use these to supplement tasks set through Show My Homework if you please.
Miss Bailey
Published 25-03-20
Good morning, I hope you are all feeling well! Just a quick update - there seems to have been a delay with providing log ins for all parents. In particular, there has been difficulty providing different log ins for those parents of multiple children needing to access the Show My Homework platform. I can see this is not the case for all, as 6 of you have already logged in and begun to access the resources. The year 1 team will refrain from uploading too much whilst not everyone has access, but in the mean time, the school admin team will be e-mailing out the current set tasks. A few helpful documents have been uploaded below, including the handwriting lines that can be printed out if you do not have the home learning pack (or want to use something other than the exercise book that was provided for a particular task / need more lines at a later date if you run out of pages in the exercise book).
Thanks for your understanding, hopefully we will be all sorted really soon!
Miss Bailey
Published 24-03-20
Good morning home learners! Show My Homework has now been set up for both staff and children, and your first tasks have been uploaded onto the system. You should recieve an e-mail/parent mail regarding your new account very soon. Have a go at logging in and try navigating around the website to familiarise yourself with it. We are all learning how to do this together - if you encounter any difficulties there is an option to send a message to me and I will do my best to help. Tasks will all be set with a deadline for the end of the week. 'Submitting' any work clearly cannot be done in person, so feel free to photograph it and send this through the platform. The setting of tasks will be evaluated and modified as we all get used to this new way of teaching and learning.
Thanks again for all your support,
Miss Bailey
Published 22-03-20
On Wednesday 18th March at 5pm the British government made the decision to close schools to the majority of children due to the outbreak of covid-19. To the parents and carers of children in Year 1 Hawthorn - thank-you for all of your support and help so far this year and in this difficult time. I really appreciate it! I will really miss all of the children in my class during this period of home learning. Many of you may be anxious about how you’re going to help your child with their education during this time, but try not to. Just try your best. All children and parents are in the same situation. Work will be provided through 'Show My Homework' (more information to follow in the coming week - accounts are currently being set up for all staff and children). However, don’t worry if some days are more productive than others. This isn’t forever - it’s just for now! Look after each other, and I look forward to seeing all 25 smiling faces again sometime soon!
Miss Bailey 
Useful documents
Useful websites
Reading
www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page - Create a free account and then access a wide variety of age appropriate e-books.
www.teachyourmonstertoread.com
www.vooks.com - Streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks with a free 30 day trail.
www.jojognome.com/story-podcast/
https://authorfy.com/ - Activities to make reading and writing interactive, accessible, engaging and fun.
https://www.storylineonline.net/ - A vast selection of stories read aloud for children to listen to.
www.storytimefromspace.com - While in space, astronauts have videotaped themselves reading books to the children of Earth.
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen - Free audiobooks for children.
https://readon.myon.co.uk/ - Free books online.
Phonics
www.letters-and-sounds.com - At school we use the letters and sounds phonics scheme. Look at their website to read a bit more about the scheme and phonics itself.
www.monsterphonics.com (username: login password:homelearning)
www.phonicsplay.co.uk (username: march20 password:home)
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks
www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds
Youtube channels/clips
Mr Thorne, Geraldine the giraffe - https://www.youtube.com/user/breakthruchris
Mr MC super power words - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsdYvjsNxA&list=PLWee7c-xY-eRRDiyMBjhMqtTk8Qr1KJBY
Boom shake the alphabet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emb2yvwAHtc
Epic phonics - https://www.youtube.com/user/teachinguk
Epic phonics tricky words song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0
Phonics apps
Hairy Letters app
Mr Thorne - Geraldine’s Phonics Land app
Mr Thorne - Phonics safari app
Jolly Phonics app
Pirate Phonics app
Twinkl Phonics app
Pocket Phonics app
Readwithfonics app
Eggy Words app
Eggy Alphabet app
Sir Linkalot - an award winning spelling app
Writing
www.teachhandwriting.co.uk/index.html
www.doorwayonline.org.uk
Maths
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks
www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberjacks
www.ictgames.co.uk/maths
Other
‘BeeBot’ app - for computing
Cosmic Yoga for fun and mindful P.E sessions - www.youtube.com/user/cosmickidsyoga
Go Noodle for a variety of energetic and reflective routines/ activities - www.gonoodle.com
Daily P.E lesson live streamed from 9am with Joe Wicks (The Body Coach). Also available after live streaming by searching through his most recent uploads - https://www.youtube.com/user/thebodycoach1
Jump Start Jonny for P.E sessions - https://www.jumpstartjonny.co.uk/free-stuff