Granny and Grandpa watch swimming

General 

Elliott was very good after school and said he'd had a good day at school, apart from Adam taking over games at one point. He had meatballs for lunch.

Activities

After school it was swimming, after we picked up some Transformers in a bag from Natalie, and today Granny and Grandpa came to watch the lesson. He did really well in the lesson and then we all went to Tescos for tea. Elliott had a ham and cheese toastie. Afte tea Granny and Grandpa left and we went home and Elliott did the first 3 questions from his homework and showed Andrea and I how to use the tortoise / turtle technique to do adding and taking away. After this he played with his Transformers for a bit and then it was bath time. After a quick bath he read his school book "Sonny's Wonderful Wellies" and we talked about the pictures and the story and how Sonny made the most of it not raining and used his boots anyway and then it rained anyway. After reading we talked about his favourite book "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy" by Lynley Dodd and we read about her on the iPad and looked at her other book covers. Then he played with Transformers a bit more before a smooth bed time.

Curriculum evening

General 

Elliott was good after I picked him up from Sarah's and said he'd had a good day at school.

Activities

After picking him up we dropped by Sainsburys on the way home and he was really good. Then we had toast and honey for tea before bath. Andrea finished off his bath and he read his school book "Camping" to her afterwards as I popped out to the Year 2 curriculum evening at the school. When I got home he was fast asleep and had been really good. The curriculum evening was really interesting / good and the main points were:

• He needs an art apron and some outdoor PE kit (jogging bottoms, sweatshirt and maybe outdoor trainers) as well as indoor PE kit
• To send notes in put them in his book bag but don't use his reading record for notes as it might not be checked every day
• If other people are picking him up to normal routine let his teacher know (using a note if not dropping off)
• They said home learning should be done at the weekend and is mostly discussion based each week (though may involve making things) as home learning supports topics for the week ahead
• They said homework will primarily be Maths and should be done by Thursday each week (so a bit longer to get that done)
• They said reading often is really important but doesn't have to be lots, could just be a few pages, and make notes in reading record as this year they'll get house points for reading at home if parents have written in reading records
• They said the key to Maths was getting them to understand how different techniques he's learning work not just about them using the technique - they then explained the "tortoise" technique for adding and subtracting as an example (also called "number lines") and gave us a hand out explaining it - I picked up extra copies of the handouts and will post them through your door tomorrow morning
• They also mentioned that when they do Maths homework they should know how to do it using the right technique and if they don't not to teach them a different technique from our childhood, but to make a note on the homework saying they didn't know how to do it and let them know early in the week if possible
• Other Maths techniques they mentioned that are ok are using fingers and using the "number square" (a square of numbers in 10s from 1 to 100, again have a handout for you)
• They suggested also doing 2, 5 and 10 times tables out loud sometimes
• They talked about SATs and said they aren't a big deal and teacher assessments are more important and more accurate often and that when they do SATs tests they don't even know their doing them
• However also said SATs tests are in May so no unauthorised holidays then please - and they also asked that there aren't any holidays during term time if possible because even missing 1 week of teaching can have a big effect - and apparently parents will be fined for unauthorised holidays
• They said we can log in to the LearnAnywhere section of the school website (link top right and login in reading record) and it'll have a copy of home learning each week and spellings - but please don't change login details as they use them at school and if they can't remember the changed details it can cause problems
• They also talked about school trips for Year 2 and planned trips are Joesph and Technicolour Dreamcoat (in High Wycombe in November), a travelling theatre coming in to do 2 shows at the appropriate them times (one about Great Fire of London and one about Florence Nightingale), a star lab in the school in April (recreates the night sky in the hall) and hopefully a trip to Windsor Castle in the summer - altogether they said these will cost about £50.00 and there are Joesph letters and forms in his book bag already (£21.50) so I'll pop those in with the other handouts
• Mr O'Shea also asked if everyone possible could have hot dinner next Thursday in particular as this is when a census of numbers will be taken and some funding is tied up with how many are having free hot school dinners
• Finally there's a questionnaire to fill in about his living arrangements, etc so again I've got an extra copy and will put it the bundle for you and will do one for here and put in his book bag

Those were the main points but the whole presentation will be on the school website as well so might be worth looking at. 

The bingo song

General 

Elliott was good again after school today and he said he'd been doing sewing at school - learning to make "Joesph's coat", although he mistakenly also seemed to think I was good at sewing.

Activities

After school we went straight to swimming. He seemed less keen on swimming today as we bought new goggles last week and I think they weren't quite adjusted right, so we spent some time organising them before the lesson and then his teacher helped as well. He then had a really good lesson, although it was with a different teacher to normal, and seemed to really enjoy it. After swimming we went home and he played with his Transformer cards and Transformers. Then he finished off his maths homework very quickly and got all 4 answers right before bath time. After bath he sang me a very cute song about bingo (after asking if I wanted to hear a song about bingo) and then he read his school book "Silly Billys" and we practiced spellings again, which he was really good at again. Then we watched some Transformer Bot Shot reviews as a treat after all his hard work.

Football training

General 

Elliott was good after school today. He'd had sausage and mash for lunch.

Activities

After school we went home and Elliott had crackers and toast with honey for tea. After tea he got changed for football and then he did 5 more maths homework questions really well and quickly. After the maths questions we labelled his shakers loud and soft with stickers to take to school tomorrow and then we did some football practice before football training - shooting at trees behind the flats. Football training went well and this week they split on to 2 pitches with the Leopards and Jaguars on 1 pitch and the Panthers and everyone else on the other. This worked well and Bertie took training on the pitch where Elliott was and they practiced marking / tackling and shooting. I think it worked better for Elliott and he got much more attention than when they're all together and enjoyed the training. After training we rushed home for a quick bath and bed time and he read his school book "Weather Around The World" all the way through and practiced a few quick spellings.

Making shakers

General 

Elliott was good today with no incidents. He did his homework without too much procrastination and he brushed his teeth without complaining. 

Activities

In the morning we played with Transformers, watched some episodes of "The Penguins of Madagascar" and he wrote his new spellings in his spelling book very quickly and well. Then just before lunch Granny arrived and we had spaghetti bolognese for lunch with Granny. 

After lunch Elliott did more of his maths homework with Granny and he did really - it's adding and subtracting 10s. Then we went to the park and Elliott rode his bike there and around the park as well as playing on the equipment. When we got home Granny left and we looked at his home learning which was talking about loud and soft sounds and making 2 shakers - one that's loud and one that's quiet. To make the shakers we used two empty small plastic Pepsi Max bottles and filled one with dried chick peas (loud) and one with hot chocolate powder and tea poured out of tea bags (quiet). He helped with this and had some fun shaking them. Next it was time for toast with honey for tea before a bath with lots of playing. After bath we read some more of "Mud Glorious Mud" and then practiced his spellings before he watched some Transformer toy review on the iPad and bed time.

Woodley Wanderers Panthers

General 

Elliott was a bit up and down today. During the morning before football he promised to do some homework, but when the time came he got silly about homework and whether he could do it and it ended with him spending some time in his room to calm down. He did do the first part of his homework in the end though. After I picked him up from Sainsburys he was good apart from not wanting to brush his teeth in the evening. We had bought new toothpaste when shopping that he'd chosen and siad he had at your house, but then claimed he didn't like mint toothpaste. So I told him that we'd buy another flavour but it would have to come form his pocket money and he got upset again. However I stood firm and eventually he brushed his teeth with the mint toothpaste with no problems. Then we had a chat about behaving better tomorrow to make it a nicer day so hopefully this will help.

Activities

In the morning we played with Transformers and watched some iPad and then did some homework, although this was quite painful. Then it was time for the big football game at Goals:

In the afternoon after pick up we went to Pizza Hut for tea in Bracknell and Elliott had a cheese and tomato pizza before we did the food shopping. He was very good during food shopping. When we got home it was time for bath and after he'd finally brushed his teeth we watched some Transformers on the iPad before bed as a Saturday night treat.

Fish and chips

General 

Elliott was good after school today and had fish and chips for lunch. He said he'd had a good day at school with no problems at break times. His reading record did have a note about remembering his spelling on Fridays. He had written down some spellings in his reading record in which he'd done really well and his handwriting looked good. He said it was a test but I couldn't quite get to the bottom of when he knows what spellings to learn for the test, etc.

Activities

We went to Asda after school to pick up a an extra present for tomorrow for you, look at toys and have some tea with their kids meal deal. After we got home he played with Transformers and then had a bath before doing some good reading of his school book "Glorious Mud". After he went to bed I read him some "Octonauts and the Giant Squid".

Optimus Prime poem

General 

Elliott was really good after school today and did lots of good homework without complaining. He'd had a baked potato and cheese for lunch.

Activities

We went straight to swimming lessons after school and this time Elliott decided not to have a shower and have a bath later instead. After we got home he watched some Horrid Henry before we had a snack for tea. After tea he did part of his maths homework (counting in 10s) and then we he had his bath. After bath time we talked about poems for his home learning. We found some poems online including a poem about Optimus Prime which he really liked. Finally he read some of his school book "Hurry Up Birthday" before bed.

The end of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

General 

Elliott was good today after school again and he said he'd had a good day at school again.

Activities

After school it was swimming and Elliott enjoyed his lesson. After swimming he had a shower and then we popped in to Tescos to get Andrea's birthday card which he wrote when we got home. He also did some handwriting practice and reading. Then I read the last chapter of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" to him and he got ready for bed before I left for the Parent's Association meeting. He went to bed nicely after I'd gone.

Football training

General 

Elliott was very good today after school again and again he said he'd had a good day at school apart from Adam upsetting him during a break when they were playing football.

Activities

After school we went straight home for an early tea and to get ready for football training. Football went really well. After a bit of warming up they split into 4 teams and played games for the hour. Elliott played in goal for the first 2 games he was in and made some good saves (as well as swinging off the crossbar - but he was always alert when the play came towards him). He played on the pitch in the other games and did a lot of running and tackling. Sally said that his kit should arrive for Saturday's game. After football we went home and he read some of his new school book "The Perfect Pizza" before a quick bath and the penultimate chapter of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in bed.

Ice bucket challenge

General 

Elliott was good today. He was a little hyper and unresponsive at times but when I reminded him about the incident with Sky Claw yesterday and we talked about it being quicker to calm down or be quicker he responded well.

Activities

In the morning we had a lazy time playing with toys and we watched "How to train your Dragon" on DVD. Just before lunch he practiced his handwriting and we also talked about sounds he hears at different times and in different places as this was his home learning for this weekend. Then we had honey sandwiches for lunch. 

After lunch we went to visit Andrea's Mum and Dad because it was Andrea's Dad''s birthday. Graham, Babs, Harry and Jack also came over and Elliott had lots of fun playing with Harry and Jack. We all went for an early tea to The Three Frogs just down the road and Elliott had chicken nuggets, chips and beans. After early tea Andrea and I did the ice bucket challenge in her parent's garden and Elliott, Harry and Jack really enjoyed watching this and had a lot of fun playing outside. Then it was back home for bath time before Elliott read more of his "Hurry Up Birthday" school book and I read him some more "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Sweet pea

General 

Elliott was good overall today. However he did have an incident when we got to the garden centre where he was spending ages transforming Smokescreen in the back of the car when it was time to get out. So after warning him, I stopped him from taking a transformer in with him and he got quite upset for a while. While he was upset I kept explaining and re-inforcing why he was no longer allowed to take a transformer into the garden centre and asking him not to behave like a toddler and he did calm down and apologise in the end.

Activities

In the morning before he went to "Justin's Friends" we played with transformers. 

After he got back we went to a local garden centre where we bought some new sweet pea seeds to grow in his pot now the cress is finished. Then we headed to Bracknell where we found some paper to wrap around his reading record book. After we got home he did some handwriting practice before watching "Attack of the Clones" and playing transformers. We had spaghetti and meatballs for tea and before bath time he read some more of his "Hurry Up Birthday" school book. After his bath I read him some "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and he watched some toy reviews on the iPad.

Smokescreen and Sky Claw

General 

Elliott was really good today after school and also said he'd had a good day at school, apart from Adam being a bit mean during one of the breaks.

Activities

After school we went home to play with Smokescreen and Sky Claw for a while as it had arrived in the post after Elliott had saved up for it. Then we went food shopping and he was really good before a toast with cheese snack for tea and then bath time and reading before bed.

Stage 3 swimming

General 

Elliott was good today. He was a bit nervous before Stage 3 swimming and at first didn't want me to go when it was time for his lesson but his new teacher (a female Andi) was very good and he was in the pool and learning after a few minutes.

Activities

In the morning we went shopping in Wokingham and bought new school shoes and printed out some photos of Elliott with Flat Stanley for school. We also had a look in the toy shop at the Smokescreen's Sky Claw which he is saving up for and had a flapjack and smoothie in Waitrose. 

We went home for sandwiches for lunch and then we played with Lego and Transformers before Elliott's first Stage 3 swimming lesson. After swimming we dropped by Andrea's parents house where Andrea was to say hello, before going home for a chicken fajitas tea. After tea he did his handwriting practice very well before bath time (he didn't have a shower after swimming) and then he read me "I am Batman" and I read him some "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

Football training

General 

Elliott was good today but he did get quite upset at one point during football training. It was at the end when there were 3 teams playing in a game (2 teams on, 1 team off) and while his team were off one minute he was joining in some 6 year old boy banter and then next he was upset and offended by something that was said about him being "Hello Kitty". He took a while to calm down and I had to come on to the pitch to help, but after he had he then played again when it was his teams turn.

Activities

In the morning we played with Lego and other toys and had a lazy time before a nice lunch of sausage and mash. 

After lunch we played some games (Kerplunk, Guess Who and Jenga) and then we went to cycle club at Palmer Park and he bombed around the track despite the drizzle. Then it was football training which went pretty well until he got upset and then it was back for a quick toast snack with luncheon meat before a quick bath, handwriting practice and bed time as it was getting quite late.