Autumn 2 Week 2 w.b. 06.11.2023

/1 Comment/in , /by

Remembrance

The children brought in photos of their family members who have died and they wish to remember especially in the month of November. We took the time to talk about about our loved ones and prayed for them. It was an emotional occasion as the children were reflective, respectful and demonstrated a maturity beyond their years. Thank you for sending in pictures of your loved ones, they have made a beautiful collection on our prayer table.

We ended this week by taking a pilgrimage around our school and a 2-minute silence to remember our loved ones who have passed and also all of the soldiers who lost their lives in the war. The children showed great respect and understanding during this special time. They also made some poppy inspired biscuits this afternoon, they looked great and I’m sure tasted even better!

RE

This week the children started their new focus for this half term which is Advent to Christmas. They learnt about the importance of preparing for something and being able to recognise some of the symbols of Advent. The keywords for this week were joy, hope, love and peace and why they are so important at this time of year. The children particularly enjoyed sharing how they prepare for Christmas in their homes and discussed all of the things they are looking forward to about this special time of year.

Seasonal Learning

This week the children went on an Autumn Nature Trail to discover what they could smell, see, feel and hear. The children really tuned into their senses and were able to pick up on all the lovely Autumn surroundings. They also enjoyed discussing their findings and explaining what their favourite part of Autumn is.

Home Learning – Due for Friday

Mathletics – please complete the activities set. Children’s log ins are in the front of their reading record.

Handwriting and number formation – please complete the worksheets sent home. These are practice sheets so they do not need to come back to school.

Reading – 5-10 minutes a day.

Reminder – Trip to Potters Bar Museum on Wednesday 15th November. This is just in the afternoon so children will be back in time for pick up at 3.15pm.

Wishing you a lovely weekend.

Mrs Poyiadzis & Mrs Barnes

Friday, 10th November 2023

/0 Comments/in , /by

This week, the children in Year 4 moved onto formal written methods for addition in their Maths learning, using place value counters to represent number sentences and check their regroupings for ones, tens and hundreds. In English, they have written paragraphs using figurative language to describe setting before creating detailed story maps using our shared story, Ice Palace.

In Science, they conducted practical investigations to explain how sound is made.

They later made links between concepts such as vibration, volume, frequency and pitch.

In Art, the class used threads and needles to stitch patterns into paper, mimicking an artist we learnt about previously, as their last step before creating their final pieces in our Drawing unit.

In RE, we looked at a special form of prayer, the Lectio Divina, which we are going to pray in class during Advent. The children learnt about the structure and explained in groups what they will do in each stage, when, where and why. We also wrote prayers linked to Remembrance day and decorated our classroom with poppies.

In PE, we moved on in our gymnastics unit and worked on pair balances and contrasting ways of travelling between mats.

Thank you so much for all parents who sent in junk modelling items to support our Science learning. Next week is still great, if you have any of the listed resources as we are starting our project the week beginning 20th November. Also huge thank you for the tissue donations; these are always welcome and much appreciated, especially during these cold months.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Tuesday, 14th November 2023
Spelling https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Please log onto EdShed and practice this week’s spelling words.

Words ending in -ly
Reading https://readtheory.org/auth/login

Please log onto Read Theory and complete 2 activities. Alternatively, download the attached comprehension tasks.

Games-text

Games-questions

Games-answers
Multiplication https://ttrockstars.com/   (Super well done to Brody, who is already on 179,128 points!!!)

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/

Use the links to practice your mixed tables.
Study Ladder https://www.studyladder.co.uk/

Please log onto Study Ladder and complete the activities in your pod all related to formal addition.

Autumn 2 Week 2

/2 Comments/in , /by

This week we have been learning about Remembrance Day. We have been learning about how we remember the soldiers who died in the war. The children have been making poppies using different materials including paint with sponges, playdough, collage and fingerprint painting. The children drew and wrote about a special memory they have.  Using the sounds that they have learnt, the children wrote beautiful prayers to ask God to stop people fighting and to look after the soldiers. After assembly, the children went on a pilgrimage around the school with their reading partners to look at the beautiful displays for Remembrance. During November, we think about all the people who have died. Thank you to the people who sent in photos of loved ones who have died.

In Maths, we have been measuring capacity using a range of different resources. The children enjoyed filling containers to show full and half full and comparing what containers can hold more and less. Then we learnt about weight, first we estimated which item was heavier, lighter or if it would balance and then we measured it using a balancing scale. We have been encouraging the children to use the words heavier, lighter and equal.

 

In Phonics this week, we have been revising the Phase 2 sounds that we have learnt this term and using them to write words and sentences. Please continue to practise saying and writing these sounds at home. The children have been using magnetic letters to make words and writing words and sentences about pictures. It has been wonderful to hear the children using their phonics to help them to read.

In our Ten Ten lesson, we continued to learn about the Creation Story. We made up a dance for the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and the animals in the land. Then the children drew pictures of some of the things God created.

Over the next few weeks the children will be practising for our Christmas Nativity. If your child has been given some words to learn, please support them with this.

Have a wonderful weekend.

 

Mrs Carey

Year 5 – 03/11/23

/0 Comments/in , /by

Welcome to a new half term!

In Art this week, we used watercolour and wax resist to create these beautiful winter landscapes:

 

In PE, we made a start on our new netball unit and practised chest passes:

This morning, Julia, Phoebe and Sophie led us in a collective worship on the theme of love. Well done girls.

Home learning for this week:

Maths Mathletics assignments – revision of this half term’s place value concepts:

·         Working with negative numbers (Quest)

·         Counting using negative numbers (Quest)
Reading 5 tests on Readtheory or 20 minutes of reading per day
SPaG Assignment on spag.com:

·         Direct speech punctuation (A)
Spelling Log on to Spelling Shed using your EdShed login, and play a variety of games to practise this week’s spelling rule: Words containing ‘-cial’, ‘-sial’ and ‘-tial’

·         initially

·         controversial

·         controversially

·         financial

·         financially

·         commercial

·         provincial

·         initial

·         palatial

·         spatial

Happy bonfire weekend 🎆

Miss Donatantonio

Year 6 Week Beginning: 30.11.23

/0 Comments/in , /by

windrush-child-benjamin-zephaniah-16x9 - Mill Hill Schools

This week, Year 6 began their new writing unit based on the story Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah.

The book tells the story of a 10-year-old boy called Leonard. In 1958, Leonard travels with his mother from Jamaica to England to join his father. The novel follows Leonard as he struggles to adapt to life in Britain.

Although Windrush Child is a fictional story, Benjamin Zephaniah was inspired by historical events when he wrote Windrush Child. He also drew on his own experience of growing up in Britain in the 1960s.

In class, the children have been doing lots of  learning about the Windrush generation, in order to have a better understanding of the themes within the book. They learnt:

The Windrush generation

In the book, Leonard’s father is a passenger on the Empire Windrush. This was a real ship which travelled to Britain from Jamaica in 1948. Many of the people on board had left their homes in the Caribbean having been encouraged to find work and a better life in Britain. They were all British by law so they were all free to stay. This group of people were the first of the Windrush generation. Many stayed and built lives and families in Britain.

The Immigration Act 1971 granted permanent leave to remain in Britain to those who migrated before 1971. This meant that those who were part of the Windrush generation remained legal migrants and could stay in Britain to live and work. However, no paperwork stating that they had the right to permanently remain in Britain was given to these individuals.

In 2017, the Windrush scandal revealed that many people who were part of the Windrush generation, like Leonard, had been wrongly arrested or forced to leave the country because they had no proof of their legal status.

By 2019, the British Prime Minister apologised and promised to pay compensation to the 15,000 people affected. 

In Maths, Year 6 have been solving real life maths problems by working backwards. They also had lots of fun learning and playing a strategic Chinese maths game called ‘Nim’.

In Science this week, the children finished their Animals Including Humans topic by creating ‘Healthy Living’ information booklets for younger children.

In PE, the children had lots of fun participating in a war themed dance lesson!

Home learning this week is:

Mathletics– Four operations

Spag.com– Parenthesis and commas activity and a general grammar quiz based on the learning you did in Year 5

Spelling Shed

Daily reading

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy any fireworks displays you may be going to!

See you Monday,

Ms Pemberton

Friday 3rd November, 2023

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Although this week’s weather has meant a change in lunchtime routine, the children have enjoyed their time inside and outside using the school hall as another area to enjoy playtime where table tennis, lego and drawing are available to them as well.

In Maths the children have moved from working on mental addition using ‘think 10’ to ‘think 100’ and are learning to explore the various ways this strategy can assist them in mental addition.

In English, we have been using the poem ‘The Spider and the Fly’ to build up our grammatical understanding. We have begun by familiarising ourselves with the text by performing it.

In art, the children have spent time using clay to make their 3D art sculpture of their favourite Roald Dahl character…here are some examples.  Can you spot Matilda/the tortoise from Esio Trot/the crocodile?  Next week, the children will spend time painting their sculptures when they are dry.

 

In Recorders, the children have been revising the notes learnt last half term and we hope to be ready for a small concert to show you nearer Christmas.  Date of concert T.B.C.  This week Corrado, the Italian teacher, spent time teaching the children about the seasons and numbers 1-20.

Today in science, we investigated if having longer legs meant you could jump further. We will look at our results next week.

In the month of November, we remember people who have died. If you know some who has died, please send in their photograph (write their name on the back) so we can include them in our daily prayers and add their name/picture to our class prayer corner.

Thank you.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Enjoy the fireworks!

 

Mrs McNamara and Mrs Lines

 

Home Learning

Spellings have been set on spelling shed. Print outs of the spellings for this half term will be given out on Monday. You can also download them here.

Mathletics and TTRS.

Autumn 2 Week 1

/0 Comments/in , , /by

I hope you all had a restful half term. It was lovely welcoming the children back to class and hearing all their exciting news.

In English this week, we have started a non-fiction unit all about sharks. The children have enjoyed reading non-fiction books, writing their own questions about sharks and creating blurbs for non-fiction books.

In Maths they have been using their estimation skills – please use this video to support them at home with their learning https://vimeo.com/732217773

They have also published their Autumn poetry, which I hope you enjoyed reading with them at home. In Art, they have used watercolour paint and crayon to create Autumn pictures.

   

In PE, we have been learning to create counter tension and counter balances.

In the month of November, we remember people who have died. If you know some who has died, please send in their photographs (write their name on the back) so we can include them in our prayers.

Home Learning

Spelling – ing suffix – Please learn this spelling list and complete the handwriting sheet.

skipping

hitting

joking

hoping

hiding

swimming

taking

Reading – please read with your child and return their book on Friday.

Mathletics – activities have been set.

 

 

Autumn 2 Week 1 w.b. 30.10.2023

/0 Comments/in , /by

Welcome back!

Italian

The children are enjoying their Italian lessons and this week have been learning colour names. They played a fun game where they had to look for colours in the classroom and played find the thumbs up in a colour grid. The children are becoming confident in using their knowledge to introduce themselves and how to greet others in Italian!

PE

In PE this week the children have started their Gymnastics topic. The focus was to step in controlled, elegant movements and create a sequence involving stepping and turning. They watched a video demonstrating this before going on to make their own.  The children also had to work in groups to make tunnels and move their way through the shapes and bridges their peers made. I was very impressed with their smooth transitions and the way in which they navigated their way around.

English

This week the children started their new topic on Farmer Duck. They have enjoyed reading the story which we left on a cliff-hanger! They made some fantastic predictions about how the story might end and are looking forward to finding out what happens next. They were very good at remembering their capital letters, finger spaces and full stops in their writing. The children also enjoyed playing in the farm tuff tray and exploring all the different animals. Well done children!

Remembrance

The children started their learning on Remembrance Day this week and wrote some very special prayers, this will continue over next week. They looked at what Remembrance is and why it is so important, the children showed great enthusiasm and respect during this important session. Over the next week they will also write down the name of a special person they would like to pray for during out special prayer time in school and this list will be kept on our prayer table.

Home Learning

Remembrance – could your child bring in a photograph of someone who has passed away and who they would like to pray for.  Please write the name of the person on the back of the photograph and send it in on Monday.

Mathletics – complete the activities set. Children’s log ins are in the front of their reading record. Due Friday.

Handwriting and Number Formation – please complete the worksheets sent home. These are practice sheets so they do not need to come back to school.

Reading – 5-10 minutes a day.

We will be visiting The Wyllyotts Museum on Wednesday 15th November in the afternoon as part of our topic on Toys and The Local Area. More details of this trip to follow next week.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Poyiadzis and Mrs Barnes

Autumn 2 Week 1

/0 Comments/in , , /by

We hope you had a wonderful half term. This week we have been learning about Diwali. First we listened to the story about Rama and Sita to understand what Hindus are celebrating at Diwali. The children drew pictures of the story and wrote some words using the sounds we have learnt. With blocks, the children built a bridge to go over water like the story. The children also drew around their hands and decorated them with henna patterns. We looked at Rangoli patterns and made them with natural materials and drew some on the playground. In our home corner, we had fun dressing in saris. Using clay, the children made diya lamps and then painted them. Hindus celebrate Diwali with fireworks so we learnt about the Gunpower Plot and we made pictures using chalk and paint. When the rain came, we put powder paint in the puddles to make fireworks. Then we made sparklers and junk modelling rockets.The children loved dancing around and making movements with their sparklers. The children also made posters to tell people how to keep safe with fireworks.

In Maths, we have been learning about measuring. We have been measuring with different resources in the class including cubes, blocks, lego and paper clips. The children have been measuring how high tables and chairs are, measuring each other and measuring and comparing their feet.

In Phonics, we have learnt the letter l and diagraphs ll and ss. The children have been practising reading and writing words with these letters. For the next few weeks, we will be revising the sounds we have already learnt and reading and writing words. Please practise saying the sounds and writing the letters.
In the month of November, we remember people who have died. If you know some who has died, please send in their photographs. Write their name on the back so we can include them in our prayers.

This week we started our Ten Ten topic – Created and Loved By God. We read the beginning of the Creation Story and the children drew and painted the things that God made.

On Friday, we enjoyed meeting our reading partners.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Carey and The Early Years Team

Friday, 3rd November 2023

/1 Comment/in , /by

Although the weather wasn’t the best, the children had a lovely, active week back after Half term. In Maths, the class moved onto mental strategies for addition and subtraction and learnt about ‘Think 10/100/1000’ and ‘equal sum’ as two new useful methods to add 3 and 4 digit numbers.

In English, we started our new narrative unit based on Robert Swindells’ wonderful book, titled Ice Palace. The children have shown great interest towards the story so far and enjoyed listening to the often scary and mysterious details of Starjik’s land. This week, the class spent time revising their understanding of figurative language and explored personification, similes and metaphors as ways to improve their descriptions.

In RE, the children wrote letters to a friend to explain to them the actions, symbols and words associated with the final Sacrament of Initiation: Confirmation. They made links with Pentecost when the Disciples received the Holy Spirit and watched video clips to understand the Liturgy.

We attended the All Saint Mass on Wednesday, where the children sang beautifully and their reverence created a deeply prayerful atmosphere.

In Science, we also started a new unit on Sound. The children went outside to investigate the effect of distance on the quality of sound. They used percussion instruments and measured their distance from the source using meter sticks to later allocate a score to the volume of the sound.

In PE, we started Gymnastics, revising our knowledge on point and patch balances and innovative ways of travelling.

In 2 weeks time, the class in going to investigate pitch, frequency and volume as part of their Science learning. In order to do that, they will make instruments in class using junk modelling materials. Please, if you can, support us with this by sending in: clean empty crisp tubes (Pringles crisps, etc), paper tubes from paper towels, thinner cardboard pieces (Some Amazon packaging uses them), empty tissue boxes, small clean glass jars, paper straws, small plastic tubs with lids, beads, pipe cleaners. Any support with this is greatly appreciated.

Have a lovely, dry weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning Due back on Tuesday, 7th November 2023
Spelling Words with the suffix ‘-ation’

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Please log onto EdShed and practice this week’s spelling words.
Reading https://readtheory.org/auth/login

Please log onto ReadTheory and complete 2 activities. ALternatively download the attached comprehension tasks.

Liam the park keeper- text

 

Liam the park keeper-questions

Liam the park keeper- answers
Multiplication https://ttrockstars.com/

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/

Use any of these links to practice your mixed facts.
Study Ladder https://www.studyladder.co.uk/

Please log into your Study Ladder account and complete the assigned English activities in your pod all centered around similes and metaphors. Although they are labelled as Y5/6 activities, they are very much relevant to us.