Welcome to Toucan Class Website!

11.1.21- Remote Learning Information

Good Morning Toucans! I hope that you have all had a lovely weekend.

As Miss Todd stated in her App message at the end of last week things are going to be a little different with home learning this week and for the weeks going forward while we are at home.

Instead of one email a week I am going to email you each school day with a brief timetable of work for the day, the email will also include resources that you will need for the day (I plan to email this the night before in case you want to get any resources ready before the next day). This plan is only a guideline as to when you could complete the activities, it is completely up to you and your parents as to when and in what order you complete the work. (Parents- I have put the work into a timetable purely so it follows Government Guidance to set daily work which is similar to our school day and covers the 3 hours of learning that we are required to set. Please do not feel that you have to follow the timetable (or that I am telling you when to have your break and lunchtimes!), it is purely to reflect our school day. It is of course up to you as a parent when you complete the work and it can be as flexible as you wish.) In Monday's email you will also a recieve a timetable of the activities that are to follow for the rest of the week.

I will now only be setting work via your tabecat email address and I will not be putting it on here as well. I know that most of you have already been accesssing your email accounts but if not here is some information to help you to get logged in.

In order to access your emails please click on the email link on the tabecat page. If you do this on a device or phone as this is a google account it may automatically bring up your other gmail accounts in which case you will need to add your email.

The email address is username@tabecat.com and the password is the same as your log in.

Please keep sending any completed work to me, I love seeing it! If possible please send any work over to be by Thursday so that I can send feedback on Friday about how your home learning has gone for the week.

Have a lovely week, any questions please ask,

Mrs Nethersole

Below is some information that Mr Handy sent out earlier this year about how to access your emails.

A reminder of how our pupil emails are set up that will hopefully help:

Since 2010 we have used G Suite for Education (GSfE) for all staff & pupil email addresses. This is a Google product designed for educational use and does not have adverts. Each element of a usual Google account (Gmail, Drive etc.) is mirrored in G Suite for Education. The difference is that as a school we have greater control over what can and can not be done with each element, for example restricting access or filtering content.

Every pupil at Holy Trinity has a Google account using GSfE. The username for that account is their Tabecat email address. (In the same way an adult's Google account username is their Gmail address.)

Imagine a pupil called Bob Bobness (it's the imaginary person I use in lessons!) His Google account username is bobbob@tabecat.com - his email address.

So, when Bob wants to access his email and clicks on the email link on www.tabecat.com he is taken to a GMail/Google Account login page - because his school email address is part of his Google account.

The username is bobbob@tabecat.com and the password is the usual password for other logins.

If as a parent you are already logged into your GMail/Google Account you can choose to logout or "add another account" - in this case add means login as bobbob@tabecat.com

You do not need to register a new email account.

On a Chromebook your child can login using their Tabecat email address & usual password.

On an Android device you can add a new Google account and use your child's Tabecat email address & usual password for this.

Your child's Tabecat email address is a GMail/Google account.

child@tabecat.com works the same way as parent@gmail.com

Your child can only email within the people at school: to & from other @tabecat.com (pupils) and @holytrinithalstead.com (staff) email addresses. Some Google features are switched off for e-safety reasons.

Note 1: Logging into the Chrome browser or a Chromebook using your child's Tabecat address comes with extra e-safety protection as adblockers and content filters are automatically pushed out as they are at school. It can't be as strict as using our broadband at school with its extra filters, but it is useful.

Note 2: Tabecat is our e-safety mascot, which is why we have a Tabecat page and the chidren's email accounts are @tabecat.com

I know that this seem quite a lot to take in, but the bits in bold are the key bits. From the emails we've been receiving I know that a lot of pupils have been accessing their email accounts at home, but I understand that if you don't know your child's email is a Google Account it can cause some confusion.

Please let us know if you are still having problems and we'll try and help.

Wishing all of our Toucans a very Merry Christmas!

We know these last two weeks have been different to how we would have all liked them to be in school, but we really do hope that you have enjoyed the time at home with your families and are now very much in the Christmas spirit.

Thank you to all the parents that have supported us with home learning, we know that it is not always easy.

We look forward to seeing you all back in school in January, have the best Christmas!

Mrs Nethersole, Mr Handy, Miss Smith and Mrs Mann x

4.12.20

I hope that you have enjoyed your last couple of days off Toucans, you even got snow!

Thank you to those that have emailed me over work so far that they have completed.

Here is your work for Monday to do whilst you are at home.

Maths

To compare different amounts of money. https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-2/week-11-measurement-money/

Watch the video and work through the pause and think questions. Ask a grown up to sort a few coins (and notes if feeling really confident) into two piles and see if you can work out which is the biggest amount. Can write the correct greater than >, less than < or equals to =, symbol between them? (Don't forget the crocodile likes to eat the biggest amount/ number!)

Phonics

https://lettersandsounds.org.uk/for-home/y2-phonics-screening-check-revision With the phonics screening check coming up any of these revision lessons will be helpful for you to have a look at. However these are the sounds that we often find tricky-lesson 11 ue blue, lesson 12 ew chew, lesson 13 u-e use, lesson 14 aw, lesson 24 u unicorn, lesson 27 wh, lesson 28 ie field and lesson 29 g gem, so could be a good starting point.

Computing

Login to Purple Mash and create an animation. The first week we made a shape get bigger and smaller. Then we moved a shape around the screen. This time try to make TWO things happen! Maybe one changing size and the other moving, or both the same - it's up to you. Remember you need to create at least 30 slides to make your animation look great.

Access Purple Mash via www.tabecat.com using your usual login details - just like you do in class! Please save your work as ani4 and I'll have a look at them next week.

RE

We are coming to end of our topic on Special Places. As you're at home, talk to an adult about their special place or places. Ask them why the place is special to them. Is it because of a memory, or it is because it's a beautiful place? Is it a physical place, or does it depend on who or what is there? Tell your adult about your special place, compare it to your adult's favourite place, and tell them why it's special to you.

Don't forget to keep reading as well! I have checked and all of you have got books available on Bug Club and if you happen to run out send me an email (nnethersole@holytrinityhalstead.com) to let me know and I will update them for you. Any reading you do will be added into the reading raffle next week.

We look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday,

Toucan Team

27.11.20

Good afternoon,

As always we have had a busy week in Toucan Class this week. In English we have been busy writing postcards based on the story 'Meerkat Christmas', the children have wowed me with their writing and have been getting excited about writing something Christmassy! We have had to include commas for lists and apostrophes for possession and contraction which has been a little tricky! It would be great if you could have a little practise of these. We have sat Maths assessment papers this week and in Maths next week we'll be learning about money.

In maths over the next couple of weeks we will be working with money. We will be recognising and counting coins and notes, comparing amounts, finding totals and difference, and working out some problems. It would be really helpful if you could talk about coin values and show how you use money for paying for items at home. I appreciate it is difficult at this moment to go shopping and pay with coins but perhaps you could set up a little ‘shop’ at home and have a practise of paying and getting change. This will help to reinforce the work that we are doing in school and give them some ‘real life’ context.

Thank you so much for your support with our reading raffle it is clear to see those children that are reading at home regularly and it is really helping them to make great progress! Well done Toucans!

Have a lovely weekend, keep practising those play words!

Toucan Team

14.11.20

Happy weekend Toucans!

We have had another busy week here in Toucan Class. In English we have started looking at postcards, I wonder if your child could tell you the features we have been looking at and maybe draw some of the symbols we have used to represent these symbols? We have looked at how we can keep ourselves safe in PSHE, especially fire safety and we have also been mastering adding together two digit numbers in maths using column addition, which we all feel very grown up about! We also had a great time watching the duck race yesterday, even if some of us were a little disappointed that our ducks didn't win.

The children have enjoyed showing their first lot of homework to the rest of the class this week. We had lots of lovely Great Fire of London pictures and lots of effort on Sumdog and Bug Club. We were very impressed with how many children completed their homework, well done Toucans!

This week we started our reading raffle and it was lovely to see so many children really making the effort to read each night and we have lots of raffle tickets in the box. Events of Friday afternoon meant that we didn't do the reading raffle on Friday but Mr Handy will draw it on Monday instead. Thank you so much for all the support at home with this.

This week your child has been given their part in the KS1 Nativity. They will have brought a script home and their part will be highlighted in their script. It would be extremely helpful if you could help your child to learn their lines. (Mum and Dad characters will be able to read theirs, but it would be helpful if they are very familiar with them!) We will be doing lots of practising in school so please could we ask that scripts are always popped back into bags once you have finished practising at home so they are ready to be used at school.

Well done Toucans a great week, have a lovely weekend,

Toucan Team

23.10.20

Wow! We have had a fantastic half term in Toucan Class. It has been lovely getting to know our Toucans this half term and it seems to have flown by!

We have really got stuck into learning about The Great Fire of London this week and I am sure that your children will have come home talking about Samuel Pepys and his diary (and maybe about him burying his wine and cheese in the garden as that is their favourite thing at the moment!) The really seem to be enjoying this topic and finding out all about the fire.

This week we have had Harvest Festival and the children made fantastic scarecrows which are now up on display around the school. I was very proud of their reading of The Dingle Dangle Scarecrow, they were so loud and clear and everyone has commented on how well they did, great work guys!

This afternoon your child will have come home with some maths games to play over half term. There is something for everyone on there and most of them can be played with limited resources or the resources that are in the pack. If you would however like to borrow a die from school or a set of playing cards then please let me know and I will send some home with your child when we return to school.

We have been revising all of the Phase 5 sounds this week in phonics. If you want to practise more phonics over half term don't forget we have Teach your Monster to Read on the tabecat page of the school website that you can log in to play. You can also check out https://www.phonicsbloom.com/ or https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ for more games which the children will be familiar with.

After half term to encourage more reading at home we will be starting a 'Reading Raffle'. Every time your child reads at home they will be given a raffle ticket (separate to the whole school main raffle) and at the end of the week we will pick out a winner who will receive a small prize from our class raffle box. We hope that this may encourage children to read at home as much as possible. We know that family life is very busy but we would really appreciate it if you could find some time to dedicate to their reading each day or as much as possible, it really does make a difference.

We hope that you have a wonderful half term and enjoy a well earned rest from school.

Take care and see you all soon,

Toucan Team

9.10.20

We have had a great week this week. It was lovely to see so many different things that the children collect on Tuesday and the children had fun talking about these and asking each other questions about their collections. They had fun and worked hard during their 'Walk for the Walkway, Run for the Covers!' today and hopefully will have raised lots of money for the new walkways and covers needed around school.

This week in Phonics we have been looking at the or sound and some it's alternatives (aw and au). The children have been brilliant at spotting these in words and we have practised writing lots of these words too. It would be great if you could try and spot these sounds in their reading or remind them to use the right representation when writing these words. We have also done some general phase 5 revision this week and the children will be bringing home an activity booklet that they have started in class that they can finish off at home.

Although the children haven't been set any formal homework yet (this is coming soon), I would really like for all the children to try and read every day! If they forget their reading book one night then please remember that they all have books available on Bug Club or they can read their library book or any story from home instead.

Don't forget.......

• Essex Sumdog contest this week, log in and have a go!

• individual photos on Monday (12th).

• to bring in any sponsorship money form the 'Walk for the Walkway, Run for the Covers!'

Have a lovely weekend, see you on Monday,

Toucan Team

25.9.20

We have had a really busy week this week. We have completed some food tasting and used this to gather lots of vocabulary for our writing, we have done lots of work looking at numbers and their place value in Maths and we have learnt about how we grow and change in Science. In phonics we have looked at the igh sound and some of it's alternatives (i-e and ie) and the oe sound and some of it's alternatives (o-e, oe and ow). We have practised reading and writing lots of words with these sounds in, it would be great if you could try and spot these words in their reading or remind them to use the right representation when writing these words.

Although originally we said the children could only change their reading books on a Monday or Thursday this didn't seem to work so well in class, so we are reverting back to them being able to change their book whenever they need to. We have a separate box that the children add their books into and books will stay in 'quarantine' for at least 48 hours before being put back. Please remember though it is useful to read the books more than once as repetition is a great way for your child to learn those unfamiliar words and develop fluency in reading. It is also important to talk about the books to ensure that your child understands and comprehends what they have read. If your child wishes to change their book it is their responsibility to make us aware, however if your not sure your child will remember please put it in their Toucan diary as these are checked daily.

As you may of heard from your child we didn't go on our walk on Friday due to the bad weather and traffic chaos around Halstead, Mr Handy will be taking them on Monday the 28th September instead.

Another great week, enjoy your weekend,

Toucan Team

Welcome to our Class Website Toucans!

Here is where you will find lots of information about things that are happening in school and this is where your homework will be set once we are a little more settled! Please keep an eye on this web page as well as the school app for updates specifically for Toucan Class as we will update it regularly.

A few notices from the first week...

This week your child will have come home with a Toucan communication book and a school reading book. As you know, reading at home really does make a huge impact on your child's reading progress and we encourage as much reading at home as possible. We know that family life can be very busy but if there is one thing that you can find 10 minutes to do then please read with your child. Any reading is brilliant whether it be a comic, phonics game, magazine or a book from home, we would love to know about it so please record it in their communication book. It doesn't always have to be them reading to you, it is also just as important for them to hear you reading them stories, they may seem too big for a bedtime story but they will love listening to you read!

Along with the reading, please record any messages for us or any other work that they have been doing at home, we would love to hear about it. Whilst we will try our best to look at the communication books every day if there are any urgent messages please let us know on the door or email us.

Our PE day is a Thursday, please make sure that your child comes to school ready in their PE kit, that earrings are removed or taped up and long hair is tied back. Mr Wiskin will be doing PE outside as much as possible so it would be useful for your child to have a plain, dark sweatshirt and jogging bottoms/ tracksuit when the weather gets chilly.

We know there has been a little confusion about water bottles but these are going to be coming home daily so that you can wash and refill them.

Please, please, please make sure that you name all of your child's school uniform, we will absolutely make sure that your child's uniform gets back to them if it is named, it makes that job impossible if it is not. We have already had a few missing cardigans or jumpers so please check.

Any questions about anything, please just ask on the door or email us on nnethersole@holytrinityhalstead.com or khandy@holytrinityhalstead.com

Please bear with us, things are a little different for us all at the moment and we are getting used to a different 'normal', your children have been brilliant with all the changes and we are very proud of them all. We have had a lovely first week in class and we are enjoying getting to know all our new little Toucans, have a lovely weekend and we will see you all on Monday!

Toucan Team,

Mrs Nethersole, Mr Handy, Mrs Mann and Miss Smith