Autumn 2 Week 4

In Year 5 this week, we have begun our new English unit of learning based on Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance journey. We began by unpacking a bag of items linked to Shackleton in order to learn more about this inspiration figure. I was really impressed with the children’s inference skill and how they used our previous geographical learning to inform their thinking. After finding out who he was and what his voyage entailed, Year 5 then wrote applications to join Shackleton on his expedition. In doing so, the children considered what would make them good candidates and it was wonderful to see them identify so many of our learning powers.

In RE, we continued our Advent learning about the ‘O’ Antiphons. We discussed their structure and their link to Isaiah 11:1. Year 5 also thought about the ways in which the are similar and different to a Jesse tree. We ended our week by creating our own Jesse tree symbols, which look amazing on our RE display.

On Wednesday, the children took part in their final swimming lesson of the year. They wore their shorts and T shirts to learn important water skills and it looks like they had a great time!

Home Learning: Mathletics, Spag.com and 5 readtheory tests.

Week 11: 29th November, 2019

This week we have been busy continuing with our English work on Gods and Goddesses – the children have planned to write their own Roman Myth and today, they wrote their setting.  The children  worked extremely hard to include a variety of sentence openers and as an extension were able to use a thesaurus to improve their word choices.

In Maths the children used place value counters to help them with formal addition calculations with no regrouping.  They worked hard to ‘build’ the number and record their answer using the vertical layout.

In RE this week, the children researched and found out about St Matthew and inserted their findings onto their wall of knowledge.  We had our class Act of Worship with a focus on Advent and each child wrote their Advent promise.

In DT the children made another moving card using levers and linkages.  Look at some of the wonderful designs that were produced!

Kaz, our Djembe drumming teacher has invited the children to take part in the Potters Bar Music Centre Winter Concert on Saturday 14th December.  Letters have been emailed to you and thank you to the parents who have already returned their reply slips. Please support this wonderful opportunity for your child.

On Wednesday, the children and I said goodbye to Ms Varga who has left to prepare for the coming of her baby.  We wish her  well and look forward to meeting her new addition soon!

DON’T FORGET!!  Year 4 Trip to St Alban’s Verulamium Museum on Monday 2nd December.  The children will be back in time for 3:30pm.

The Year 6 Fairtrade team visited our class to tell us about Fairtrade and we found out many interesting facts about fairtrade and how it changes the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions and a fairer deal for farmers and workers in developing countries.  Thank you Nick, Angelina, Tanya and Toni for your enthusiasm about such a worthy cause.

See you all at the Christmas Fayre!

Mrs McNamara

 

Homework:  Mathletics

Learn our class song for the Advent Service: Somewhere Out There.

Somewhere Out There Lyrics Click hereSomewhere Out There song The Fairtrade Team

Our Maths Work on the formal method of addition with no regrouping.

DT – using levers and linkages

Good bye Ms Varga

Year 2 Blog Week 12

This week we have been thinking about how during Advent we are preparing for the coming of God. Year 2 created a beautiful Advent display for our sacred space in our classroom and thought very carefully about their Advent promises.

We have been reflecting on Pope Francis’s call in Laudato Si’ to be stewards of our beautiful world. Year 2 created some wonderful labels for our packets of harvested Runner beans. We are encouraging everyone to sow beauty not destruction and care for our common home. Look out for the Laudato Si’ stall at the Christmas Fair!

We are now in the final stages of preparations for our KS1 Christmas Nativity. Please see below the list of costumes the children require. We have some costume accessories and props in school however if children have a complete costume for their part at home they may use that if they wish.

Storytellers – Red clothes, Christmas hats

Trader – Black or white top and trousers,

Customer – Festive clothes

Angels & Stars – White top, leggings, tights

Shepherds – Black or white top and trousers

Sheep -Black or white top and trousers

Wise Men –  Black or white top and trousers

Herod – Red top and Black or white trousers

Servant & Jester – Black or white top and trousers

Inn Keepers – Black or white top and trousers

Mary – Blue top, leggings, tights

Joseph – Black or white top and trousers

Please bring in costumes by Monday 9th December, in a bag with your child’s name on it, ready for the dress rehearsal on Tuesday 10th December. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Home Learning: Rehearse lines and songs for the play. No spelling test!

Have a lovely weekend.

I look forward to seeing you at the Christmas Fair!

Miss Davey

Autumn 2, Week 4.

We have been busy preparing for the start of Advent this week. This involved making Advent promises and a Jesse Tree. We have also created recycled Christmas cards to sell at the Fair. Please support us in caring for our common home and visit the Laudato Si’ stall, where our cards,  runner beans and homemade Advent angels can purchased.

As part of National Tree week we have researched and made careful observations about the Silver Willow Tree in the KS2 playground. Did you know the Silver Willow can live for up to 300 years! In P.E. (gymnastics) we have focused on points, patches, mirroring and matching – we have a very talented class!

Home Learning: 

Spelling – creating adverbs using ly – exceptions to the rules learnt previously.

truly, duly, wholly, fully, daily, publicly, dryly, slyly, shyly, coyly.

Reading – 10 minutes daily – please sign reading records.

Advent Service – to prepare for our Advent service the children must know the words to the hymn Think of a world without any flowers,

Have a restful weekend

Miss Pringle

 

Year 6 – 29/11/19

Tuesday saw the continuation of our eco-brick project; we even had a few finished bricks after an hour of using all our strength to cram as much plastic as possible into the bottles. It was thirsty work!

On Wednesday, it was Year 6’s final swim so they had the opportunity to participate in the Big Swim water safety lesson, for which they experienced trying to swim and move in the water whilst wearing clothes. It was an extremely valuable session for them.

In football training this week, the class focused on teamwork and strategy, in music they learnt how to notate their rhythms from last week, whilst in art, they painted their ornaments for our Jesse Tree.

We also enjoyed some beautiful acts of worship based on this Sunday’s Gospel to celebrate the 1st Sunday of Advent.

This week’s home learning (due Tuesday 3rd December) is as follows:

English You have each been given a sheet with your writing targets on and a story starter underneath. Your task is to write another paragraph of the story whilst focusing on your targets and attempting to use two of the hyphenated spelling words below.
Spellings Word families based on common word:

temperature

temper

temperament

tempered

tempestuous

variety

vary

variation

varied

variable

Maths

Times tables

(online) Mathletics tasks – factors, multiples and primes

 

Continue to revise all times tables.

Reading Daily reading and recording in Reading Records.

 

How to complete your reading record

As you’re reading, take notice of the language used then. When you’ve finished reading, choose an aspect of language that you really liked, write it into your reading record, and then explain why you found it effective.

Things you might comment on:

·         Effective use of personification;

·         An effective metaphor;

·         An example of ‘show don’t tell’ ;

·         Good use of the semi-colon;

·         Hyphenation;

·         Direct speech that develops the characterisation;

·         Formal language;

·         A new word whose meaning you worked out from the context.

Week 4

A lovely week of learning! This week was tree week. The children looked at the leaves from a tree in our playground and matched it with pictures  and identified it as a maple tree.

In Maths we have been finding the difference between two numbers by using cubes, bears and counters. Find the difference between 6 and 9.

In English we have been learning to follow and write instructions. We had fun making jam sandwiches. Then the children  wrote instructions to tell others how to make jam sandwiches.

In Religion we have been thinking about the good things we want to do during Advent. We made Advent promises in a card to celebrate this special time.

Thank you to the parents who came to our Come and Read

session. I hope more parents can make it next week.

Each day we are learning our Christmas songs and dances. I have sent a letter with your child’s costume list. Please send it in by Tuesday 3rd December. Please practice the songs at home.

Home Learning

Learn the Christmas songs.

Phonics – Reading and writing words with ay, ie, ou and ea sounds.

Have a lovely weekend

 

Mrs Carey

 

Week 11: 22nd November

Another busy week of learning!

On Friday, some of Year 4 assisted with the special assembly celebrating Fr Shaun’s Silver anniversary – 25 Years of priesthood.

In RE we learnt about the genealogy of Jesus and the children started to find out about the Jesse Tree. In English the children continued their work on Gods and Goddesses and looked at how metaphors can add description to their writing. In Maths the children continued to work on understanding the equal difference strategy and playing the game ‘Winner Takes All!’ helped them in a competitive way!  In PE we have started our new unit on Gymnastics and in Music,alongside the drumming, they have added to their understanding of notation and note value.

 

Homework: Mathletics and SPAG

Spellings:

Prefixes ‘in-’, ‘il-’, ‘im-’ and ‘ir-’

irregular, irresponsible, irrational, irresistible, irrelevant, illegal, illiterate, illegible, illogical, illuminate

 

 

Reception Class-Autumn Term 2 Week 3

Reception have been very busy participating in National Nursery Rhyme Week, this week. They enjoyed focussing their learning around the rhymes ‘Doctor Foster Went to Gloucester’, ‘Down in the Jungle’ and ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’.

Nativity production preparations are now well underway and the children are already impressing us with their singing and acting. On Tuesday, the children nominated themselves for the roles that they would like to perform. The school provide the actual costumes, but we will be asking families to provide base layers soon. Please look out for a letter outlining what your child will need; it will be in the book bag later on in the week.

In RE this week, the children have been learning about Advent. They made Advent promises and recorded them on some special paper. These promises will be used as part of the whole class Advent calendar display above our prayer table.

The children also made some crowns to wear to the whole school assembly on Friday to celebrate the feast of Christ the King, the final Sunday of Ordinary Time before Advent begins. Fr Shaun was so impressed with them, that he has asked the children to wear them to mass on Sunday! It was also a very special assembly as the school celebrated Fr Shaun’s silver jubilee. We are very lucky to have such a special priest who continually helps us to grow closer to God.

Reception finished the week with a very special Act of Worship with their Year 6 learning partners . Thank you to Owen, Sofia, Matthew and Mia who led the class in prayer so beautifully.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Theo and Mrs Gymer

 

Autumn 2, Week 3.

It was lovely to see so many of you in assembly this morning to celebrate Father Shaun’s 25th anniversary of priesthood – what an achievement.

Our week has been fun filled and packed with new learning opportunities. In maths we have continued to add mentally and by using regrouping to think 10 and think 100. We have also enjoyed finishing our Willow Pattern Plate Fables and sharing them with Y1. Mrs Joyce and the Y1 pupils were very impressed with the quality of writing and reading! Well done.

All of year 3 are very keen readers, who are extremely good at recommending and selecting books from the library. In class the children have been trying to read books written by our author of the month David Walliams or to read Miss Pringle’s recommended book lists – if you are a member of a Hertfordshire library please look out for these books https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-3

On Wednesday, we enjoyed an act of worship with Deacon Axl about the Lost Sheep – he has asked that the children draw a picture of the lost sheep and write a prayer about forgiveness for next Wednesday.

During RE we have been learning about The Gospel writer Matthew, about Advent and what the the Jesse Tree is – next week we will be making our own Jesse Tree. We have used our knowledge of Matthew/Advent and computing skills to create word clouds on the i-pads.

Home Learning 

Spelling 

basically

frantically

dramatically

magically

tragically

comically

actually

accidentally

occasionally

Reading – 10 minutes daily. 

Mathletics activities have been set too. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle

 

 

Year 2 Blog Week 11

In English we have turned our attention to fairy tales. We have been looking at the tale of Rapunzel. The children generated plenty of amazing adjectives to describe Rapunzel in Beth Woolvin’s version of this tale. Rapunzel is an adventurous, brave and crafty character.  The children wrote some fantastic alternative story endings for this tale.

On Sunday we celebrate The Feast of Christ the King. Year 2 made some beautiful crowns and thought very carefully about the type of King Jesus is.

 

 

In P.E. we have continued work on our balances. We focused on the including different levels in our team balances.

 

Home Learning: Learn lines for the Nativity.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Davey