Spring 1 Week 6

Our story this week has been The Elves and The Shoemaker. The children have been describing what they think the elves would look like, designed clothes for the elves and designed magic shoes for themselves to wear. Some children pretended to be the old man, the old woman or an elf and the others asked them questions.  In our creative area, the children have been decorating shoes and making elves. Our outdoor shed has been turned into a shoes making workshop where the children have been making shoes and trying shoes on.

In Maths, we have been learning about pairs. The children have been matching pairs of socks and shoes, finding pairs in the class with their friends and talking about how sometimes there is someone left out.

The second group of children visited Seabrook Retirement Home. The children sang and spoke to the residents. Then they were treated to a drink and a biscuit. They were all amazing.

On Shrove Tuesday, we decorated pancakes and ate them. Outside the children made their own pancakes with flour and lemons.

On Wednesday, the children were fantastic at responding to the prayers and singing during our Lent Service. They made Lenton promises which we added to the hall display in Friday’s assembly.

This week we learnt the sounds ur and the short oo. Please practise the sounds we have previously learnt.

Have a wonderful half term!

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team

Friday, 16th February 2024

The children in Year 4, had a very busy last week to their first Spring term.

On Monday, we solved a real life mathematical problem involving fractions of chocolate,

whilst on Tuesday, we celebrated Mardi Gras day by first researching the festival then decorating Mardi Gras masks and sampling some delicious pancakes with Golden syrup. We also solved a Pancake Maths mystery, whilst performing an impromptu ‘Pancake Dance’.

On Wednesday, the class attended the Ash Wednesday Mass and wrote Lenten promises as a reflection to the service thinking about the three practices of Lent: praying, fasting and alms giving.

On Thursday, we planted bulbs whilst also revisiting learning from Year 3 about the basic parts of plants and their function as well as the life cycle of a flowering plant.

Later that day, in Art, we looked at contemporary still life artists from around the world such as Hiroshi Sato or Hilary Pecis and after studying their themes and technique, the class made visual notes of their impressions in their art journals.

Thank you to all of you who came to see me during Parent Consultations this week; it has been a pleasure to celebrate the children’s achievements so far.

I wish you a restful, healthy half term,

Ms Varga

Spring 1 Week 5

This week has been lots of fun and excitement. On Monday, we received a letter from The Natural History Museum, asking us to look after a rare dinosaur egg. The children wrote letters back to say they would take care of it. They asked questions, for example When will it hatch? What dinosaur is inside? The children made fossils with clay and role played with dinosaurs inside and outside. They had great fun breaking ice cubes to free the dinosaurs inside. On Wednesday, the egg arrived and the children decided that we should make posters to tell others not to touch the egg. They went around the school to tell all the children and teachers not to touch the egg. When they arrived at school on Thursday, the egg had hatched and there were footprints aorund the class. We followed clues to the window which has been left opened. The children wrote desriptions to the police and wanted posters to help find the dinosaur. They used magnifiying glasses to look closely at the footprints and they also found bones all around the class. It was great to hear that the dinosaur was safely back in the Natural History museum.

On Wednesday, a group of children walked to Temple Court Retirement Home to talk and sing songs to the residents there. They were treated to biscuits and a drink. The children were amazing, they made each person smile.  They were so impressed with the chldren, they asked for us to come back. Thank you to our parent helpers. On Tuesday, the other children will go to Seabrook Home. We talked about how we are living out of mission prayer of building a better world.

In Phonics, we learnt the digraphs oo, oa, ar and or. Our tricky word this week was my.

In Maths, we have been learning to make 6, 7 and 8. They children have been using counters, ten frames, cherry models and a range of resources to make these numbers.

In Religion, we continued our learning on Jesus being the light of the world. The children made and decorated candles.

Have a lovely weekend.

 

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Friday 2nd February, 2024

This week in Year 3 the children have been busy with their learning.

In Maths the children have been provided with lots of practical experience of dividing by sharing and grouping.  They looked at how the use of arrays emphasises the link between multiplication and division. They were then supported to develop their understanding of grouping by visualising arrays and have begun to solve worded problems.

In English, Year 3 have begun writing their final piece which is an alternative ending to The Finger Eater. There have been a whole range of ideas on how to stop the troll from doing his nasty habit!

In recorders, the children have been practising the note ‘C’ and revisiting their B-A-G songs.

A highlight for this week was the children’s work in their history topic, The Stone Age.  The focus was looking at  the similarities and differences between the different Stone Age periods.  We looked at musical instruments, hammer stones, pottery and cave paintings and discussed which stone age eras they were part of.  Then the children tried their hand at stone knapping using a bar of soap. In the same way a Stone Age person would knap a flint core into an axe, a bar of soap can be knapped in the same way! The children had great fun doing this!

Click here to see the photos.

In Science we tested the permeability of rocks. By dropping water onto different types of rock, Year 3 were able to observe which ones allowed water to pass through.

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

Home Learning:

TTRs please log on and practise your 2, 3, 4, 5and 10 times tables!

Log onto Mathletics and complete the tasks set

Spellingshed

We will be making fossils next week! The children can bring in a shell, or small toy they would like to make a fossil of.

 

Spring 2 Week 4

This week the children’s learning has been based around the Gingerbread Man. The children made some gingerbread men through collage, playdough and some wonderful pictures. They have been writing about the story, making story maps and writing an alternative ending. Outside the children have been building bridges to help the gingerbread man to cross the water. The children designed their own boats, ensuring it was waterproof and tested them in the water.

 

 

 In Phonics, we learnt the digraphs nk, ai, ee and the trigraph igh.

We completed a science investigation to test what liquid would change the gingerbread the most and the least. We used water, oil and vinegar. Our results showed that oil changed the gingerbread man the least and water changed it the most. We discussed how the gingerbread would be better to go in a boat full of oil than swim across.

On Wednesday, the children had fun making gingerbread men. They were worried that their gingerbread would run away but luckily they did not! When the children ate them, they thought about what part they ate first and we recorded the results on a pictogram. The most popular was the head and the least popular was the arm.

In Maths, we have been learning about the numbers 6, 7 and 8. We looked at the different ways the numbers can be represented. The children have been making posters about the numbers and counting and ordering numbers.

In Religion, we said the Lord’s Prayer together and made labyrinths using different materials. In our Ten Ten lesson, we learnt about the life cycle of humans from birth to adulthood.

Reception led the school assembly today. They told the story of The Presentation of Jesus At the Temple and spoke about how they are going to shine like a light in the world like Jesus. The read, sang and acted beautifully. We were all proud of them!

This term we have been learning about the past. On Wednesday 7th February at 1.30pm,  half of the class will be walking to Temple House retirement home on Mimms Hall Road to talk to people who live their about the past and to sing them some songs.  On Tuesday 13th February at 11am, the other half will walk to Seabrook Retirement home on the High Street. If any parents would like to walk with us, please let us know. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Dice Game Challenge Afternoon!

Click here to see what the Key Stage 2 classes were busy doing yesterday afternoon!

Why don’t you click on Dice Games and try some of the dice games yourself?

Spring 1 Week 3

Our theme this week was The Three Little Pigs. The children have been drawing story maps, making pig faces, writing about different tricks the pigs could have done, writing letters and acting out the story. They demonstrated wonderful sticking and joining skills when using boxes to make their own houses. They have also been scientists, designing and making houses out of a variety of materials and resources to test whether it could be blown down. Outside, the children have been builders, they have been building houses using lego and bricks and cementing it together using soap.

In Phonics, we have learnt the sounds ch, sh, th and ng. The children have been reading and writing words with this digraphs in. Please continue to practise at home.

In Maths, we made the number 4 and 5 using objects and making cherry models.

Then we learnt about measuring the weight of objects and finding the capacity of containers. The children have been predicting, comparing and measuring the weight and capacity.

This week we started to learn the Our Father and spoke about how this prayer encourages us to forgive each other. We thought about times when we need to say sorry and ask for forgiveness.

If your child has been given a reading for assembly, please practise with them.

Home Learning – Please complete the birdwatch activity. Children can bring their tally in to share with the class.  See attached Birdwatch leaflet

Next Friday is our class assembly at 9.15am. If your child has a sibling who is in the Young Voices Concert, could the Reception children be in at normal time so they do not miss our assembly.

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team

Year 6 Week Beginning 26.1.24

This morning, Amelie, Julia and Isabella led the class in a beautiful whole class act of worship on the theme of ‘Peace’.

In response to the bible reading that they carefully selected, the children thought about what peace means to them and reflected on when they last felt this way. Well done girls!

In RE this week, Year 6 have continued their learning about the Exodus story.

In order to deepen their understanding of the significance of the Passover in the story, the class had lots of fun acting it out, before writing about it. They also explored the symbolism found within  Exodus and identified the values, beliefs and attitudes within it too. Year 6 then reflected on how those values, beliefs and attitudes are relevant in their own lives today.

In Maths, Year 6 have been finding the areas of different sized  triangles and parallelograms and in English, they have been writing the first drafts of their Alma narratives, which they enjoyed sharing!

In Science this week, Year 6 have been learning how living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. They also enjoyed some hands-on learning, exploring the properties of real fossils!

Home Learning

26th -28th January

The Big Garden Birdwatch is the world’s largest garden wildlife survey. Every year, hundreds of thousands of nature lovers like you take part, helping to build a picture of how garden birds are faring. We would like Pope Paul to take part. Please follow the instructions on the leaflets attached.

Birdwatch leaflet

Count the birds you see in your garden, from your balcony or in your local park for one hour. Use the tally chart attached and submit your results on  www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

Please send a copy of your results to school.

 

SPaG.com – Please finish the learning set by Mrs McNamara this week- she will be referring to this in her lesson with you, next Thursday.

Mathletics- Finding the area of different shapes

Spelling Shed- words with the short vowel sound /i/ spelled ‘y’

TT Rockstars- Really focus on the tables that you are not secure in!

Daily Reading

Next week is assessment week in Year 6- I have spoken to the children and explained that they do not need to worry about this, or do anything extra to prepare; this is just to help us to distinguish any gaps in knowledge or misconceptions, and identify children that could benefit from extra enrichment classes.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Ms Pemberton

 

 

 

Spring 1 Week 2

This week our learning has been based around Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children have been acting out the story, writing sorry letters from Goldilocks, writing speech bubbles and making wanted posters. We have also been making, mixing and eating porridge. Using their wonderful design skills, children have been making new chairs for baby bear. On Thursday, we found that Goldilocks had been in our class, eaten the porridge and broken a chair.

 

In Maths, we have been finding one more and one less using a variety of resources and playing games. Next we learnt to make the number 5 in lots of different ways.

In Religion, we thought carefully about the star that the Three Kings followed. We made telescopes to look at stars outside and the drew pictures of themselves in a star and described why they are stars.

In Ten Ten, we talked about feelings. We  showed the different expressions on our faces and discussed what they show about how we are feeling. The children explainedwhat they could do to make others happy when they were sad.

In Phonics, we learnt the sounds y, z, zz and q. Please complete phonics home learning for this week and remember to write in your writing books. Please encourage the children to sound out the words using the sounds they know.

Our class assembly is on Friday 2nd February at 9.15am. If your child has taken home a reading, please help them to learn it.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Early Years Team

Spring 1 Week 1

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas. The children were excited to tell us about their holidays.

This week we started learning the Phase 3 sounds. Please complete the home learning each evening to practise saying and writing the new sound. This week we learnt j, v, w and x. If you did not complete the home learning this week, please practise over the weekend. On your child’s reading day they were given a writing book. In this book the children can write about whatever they want. There are more details in the front of the book. Send this back on their reading day so they can share their writing with an adult.

 

It was the feast of the Epiphany on Sunday. This week the children listened to the story of the Three Kings visiting baby Jesus. The children made kings, painted pictures of the three kings, made stars and wrote about the story. On Friday we made star biscuits to remind us that the Three Kings followed a star.

To begin the new year, the children thought about what they wanted to do this year to help to build a better world. They wrote these on stars and decorated them beautifully to go on display in the classroom. Children are already showing their promises in class.

We listened to the story What’s the Time Mr Wolf? Then we talked about what we do each day and the order we do things in. The children sequenced pictures of some of the things we do. Next the children made a list of activities they do each day and what they do during the day and at night.

When it started to snow the children were very excited and filled some pots with snow. Then they left out different containers of water, hoping to find ice the next day! On Friday they thought about ways to keep warm so they built a campfire in the playground.

In Maths, we learnt about the number 0 and went on a hunt around our playground looking for things that showed 0. We found wheels with nothing in them, we compared two crates with some bricks and no bricks, some chairs with something on and nothing on.  Then we looked at subitising- seeing a number without counting. For example the dots on a dice. Then we learnt about different ways of representing numbers. We showed these using pegs, drawings and natural objects.

In our outdoor shed we have a hairdressers. The children had great fun acting out being a hairdresser or going to the hairdressers. They demonstrated great speaking and listening skills.

In our Ten Ten lesson we thought about what we liked, loved and disliked. We discussed how we all like and dislike different things from our friends but that is fine because we are all different but we are all special. The children drew what they liked and what they loved. Click on here to find out more about our Ten Ten topic as part of our RHE (Relationships and Health Education) Curriculum.  If you have any trouble with the attached document please right click your mouse/cursor and click on ‘save as’. Once downloaded click ‘keep’ and the document will show. 

Please send some tissues in as we need lots a this time of year.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team