Reception Week Beginning 27.6.22

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This week, Reception have been learning about snails and other gastropods. They started off the week reading the story of The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson.

One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. When disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it’s the tiny snail who saves the day! 

In response to the story, the children have:

  • discussed what it would be like to live with your house permanently on your back
  • written about where they would travel to on the tail of the whale
  • found rhyming couplets in the book
  • made maps detailing where in the world the snail and the whale travelled to
  • wrote their own slimy messages
  • made collages inspired by the story and The Snail by Henri Matisse
  • explored spirals
  • recreated places in the book using small world

After some heavy rain on Wednesday, the children were amazed to find snails everywhere!! In fact, the total snail count was around 45!! The children carefully placed the snails onto the class Snail World and  spent lots of time observing them.

Immediately after finding the snails, a frog was suddenly spotted, causing lots of excitement. Mrs Gymer managed to carefully catch it for a very short while, so the children were able to have a good look at it. While this was happening, a butterfly landed on Mrs Gymer’s shoe and wouldn’t fly away! So much excitement!

In Maths this week, the children have had lots of fun solving problems based on the book Mr Gumpy’s Outing. Activities included: making a boat and predicting how many marbles it could hold before sinking, ‘How many legs?’ problem solving, where the children in pairs, had to select a number and explore which combinations of characters would total that number of legs. They were also given the task of working out who could be in Mr Gumpy’s boat, if there were 6 legs in there altogether, then 10, then 12. The children had fun trying to work it out through role play too.

We are all very excited for our class trip to the zoo on Tuesday. Currently, the weather is predicted to be around 23.C and sunny. Please ensure that your child has a bottle of water with them and a hat. Ideally, a rucksack should be brought to carry lunches or a paper bag that can be recycled. The children will be carrying their own bags all day, so nothing too big and bulky please.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Reception Team

Friday 1st July, 2022

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This week we have continued to work on interpreting data in tables in Maths and spent time revisiting percentages and fractions in our fluency sessions.  We went to Our Lady and St Vincent’s Church on Wednesday to celebrate the feast of Ss Peter and Paul.  During Fr Shaun’s homily the children raised their hands on many occasions to answer his questions on Ss Peter and Paul. Well done children.

Yesterday, the class got busy doing design and technology as they have begun their CAMs project.  The children found out things about toys from 1837 – 1901 ad then about mechanical toys.  They have found out that a cam mechanism is made up of three components: a cam, slider and follower and the mechanism that causes components to move.  From our second session, the children investigated the different types of cams which create different movements  and looked at what happens if they replaced the eccentric cam, for example, for another.  They were then set the challenge of drawing the movement of any cam investigated.  They rose to the challenge and from their findings, have chosen two or three cams they would like to use to create their own mechanical toy.  Next week they will be looking at both linear and rotary movement.

In RSE we looked at The Trinity and the importance of the Home, School and Parish links and then discussed what Catholic Social Teaching is.

On Thursday afternoon, we had group of Year 2 children come and visit our classroom.  They were sharing with us their ‘Monster’ stories.  The class listened carefully to each child who read their story beautifully and showed us their monster designs.  It was lovely to see two proud older sisters listen to their sister and brother share their work.

In English this week we have begun a new unit based on Water de la Mere’s ‘The Listener’. We have been exploring the vocabulary and the way it is performed. Today we used instruments to add mood and atmosphere to the poem.

Wishing you and your families a lovely weekend.

Mrs Lines and Mrs McNamara

This week’s home learning:

Mathletics  please log on to see the activities set

Times table Rockstars

Spag.com- 2 activities set

readtheory.org- 5 tests to be completed

Spellings. Today we spoke about the rhyme ‘i before e, except after c’ to help us to remember spellings. This week, we will look at words that follow this pattern

achieve

chief

believe

relieved

grief

receipt

perceive

deceit

ceiling

inconceivable

 

 

Friday, 1st July 2022

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Yesterday, Year 4 had a fantastic time at the Epping Forest District Museum, where they took part in a Tudor Workshop.  After a short introduction, the children built a physical timeline, placing key events on it from Henry VIII’s reign, including the fate of his 6 unfortunate wives. Shortly after that, they have been told about the family who lived in the house that is the current museum built in 1520. The Tailors have been a well off family with 6 children who may have seen Henry galloping by on his horse, on the way to visit the abbot, living in The Abbey at the time. The children had the opportunity to dress up as Thomas and Constance Tailor, and handled artefacts from their house.

After a short snack break, the children learnt about the Tudor alphabet and tried writing their names using quills and ink. They made Tudor bookmarks, decorating them with their own handmade tassels.

After their lunch in the library, the class went back into the museum, where they looked for clues to answer questions about the Tailors’ household items; looked at wooden panellings and the meaning of each symbol; handles pottery pieces and drew their own Tudor plate design as well as looking at and handling  Tudor toys, cutlery and other items.

They had a lovely time and took away a lot of useful information beyond being very well behaved! Well done Year 4!

I would also like to say a huge thank you to you parents for supporting your children in making their absolutely amazing Tudor house models! They look fantastic and it has been lovely to see the children’s pride in their work! They are a beautiful addition to our classroom!

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Please see your home learning bellow

Home Learning Due by Tuesday, 5th June 2022
Spelling Spelling Rule 32 – Word list – years 3 and 4 – or- to pre-

https://spellingframe.co.uk/
Reading https://readtheory.org/auth/login

Please complete 2 activities and update your reading log.
Study Ladder https://www.studyladder.co.uk/

Please log onto Study Ladder and complete the revision activities, assigned to your pod.

Summer 3 Week 4

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In Maths, we have been learning to divide by sharing, grouping and using our knowledge of multiplication.

In English, the children wrote their own poems, edited it and wrote them in neat. The poems were excellent! The children applied their learning on expanded noun phrases, prepositional phrases and alliteration. Below are some examples of what the children wrote.

My Dream School

In my dream school I would put

A spectacular ice-cream parlour with the creamiest ice-cream

An amazing, super special swimming spa,

A tricky rock climbing wall going up very tree.

By Sophie

 

In my dream school I would put

A cute cotton candy cart with a funny cat on it.,

A warm pool with a slippery slide in the pool,

A splendid sweet shop with candy for free

By Sarah

 

My unique school is covered in bubble gum and chocolate squares.,

With lots of lights out on Arsenal players winning against spurs in the final

It’s covered with huge starry night wallpaper and glistening diamonds and topaz.

Behind the diamonds and topaz, there is vanilla, red velvet, chocolate and lemon cake.

By Filip

In Computing the children created branching databases to sort animals. The children thought of yes/no questions to put the animals into groups.

On Wednesday, we went to church for St Peter and St Paul. The children sang, responded and behaved beautifully.

In Design and Technology, the children continued to develop their understanding of making boxes. They made hexagonal prisms and cuboids.

In Science, we made a booklet to describe the different functions of the parts of plants. Then we learnt about the transportation of water and tested this using coloured water and flowers.

Home Learning

Read Theory Complete two activities
Mathletics Complete activities
Spellings – experience, famous, favourite, guard, guide, height, imagine, knowledge, library, material, medicine, mention

 

 Spelling frame
Times table Rockstars Please complete 10 minutes a day.

Well done to Isabelle, Chloe A and Mya for logging on the most to practise their timetables rock stars. Who will be the top three next week?

Have a lovely weekend.

 

Mrs Carey

Summer 2 Week 4

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In Maths, we have been learning to follow number and shape sequences. We have also identified 2D shapes in repeating patterns.

In English, the children wrote their own monster stories with cliff hangers that they edited, wrote up in neat and performed to other classes. Their stories are excellent! The children used adjectives, expanded noun phrases, different suffixes and conjunctions to engage the reader.

Thank you for wine donations for our summer raffle – the children looked great in their odd socks.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Pringle

Home learning

Please read and sign your reading record.

Spelling – common exception words https://spellingframe.co.uk/spelling-rule/109/32-Common-exception-words

everybody
even
great
break
steak
pretty
beautiful
after
father
sugar
Mathletics activities have been set.

Summer Term 2 Week 5 w.b. 27.06.2022

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Year 1 have worked hard this week to understand what it means to have a good set of instructions. They found it funny learning and acting out bad set of instructions! They finished their week by following instructions on where to place Lego bricks and then gave their partner instructions to follow. I have sent them a challenge to see what instructions they can find in their everyday lives over the weekend; be careful though as they may not listen to ‘poor’ instructions. Good luck!

In R.E. Year 1 have continued to learn how to lead a Virtuous Life and this week were full of ideas about how to be a good neighbour. They enjoyed role-playing and acting our good actions and unkind actions to their neighbours.

Year 1’s Geography topic on ‘Why do we like the seaside so much?’ has proven very popular! The children were able to distinguish between urban and rural areas, name some coastal towns and began to learn about Southend. They are very excited for their upcoming trip so they can see the longest Pier!

In maths the children are beginning to learn clockwise and anticlockwise directions in preparation for learning how to tell the time next week. There was not any Mathletics activities to support this so I have set some multiplication and odd and even to revise. I will find some resources to support next week.

Please see the Phonics home learning pack in their bags for the sounds learnt this week.

P.E. kits for Monday (P.E. Tennis) and Wednesday (swimming) next week.

Enjoy the weekend,

Miss Lambie