Spring 2 Week 3

This week the children have been scientists for Science Week. Our whole school question was Does taller mean faster? The children predicted what they thought and then gave fantastic ideas to plan how we would find out the answer. The next day, the children got into groups and measured each other. The children made another prediction based on their group. Then we timed each children running the same distance and recorded our results. 4 groups found that the answer was no and one group found that the tallest was the faster.

During Science Week, we have also been learning about seasons. We went on a walk to look for signs of Spring.

We have been predicting and testing whether something will float or sink and sorting obejects into magnetic and not magnetic. We also did some observational drawing.

The children were excited to watch our tallest adult in the school (Mrs Heymoz) and our shortest adult (Mrs Martides) running. Mrs Martides was faster so this was an example of how the tallest does not mean the fastest.

On Tuesday, Michael’s mum (Dr Holly) who is a scientist, came into school and demonstrated lots of different science investigations and then the children got the opportunity to predict and then take part in the different investigations. Thank you Dr Holly for your hard work and giving up your time to support the school. Thank you to Michael’s dad and Freya’s mum for helping too.

On Thursday, we walked to Dame Alice Owens school. The science teacher, Mr Friedlander took us to their Science lab and we did an investigation to find out who had drawn a picture of him. We were very proud of how the children walked around the school quietly and listened carefully. Thank you to Freya’s mum and Aiveen’s mum for walking with us.

In our outdoor shed, we made a police station. We had fund investigating crimes and helping people.

In Maths, we have been learning the days of the week. Please continue to practise at home. I have put the links of the songs we sing at school below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWzDTf0yBc

We have been sequencing the things we do each day, for example, getting out of bed, brushing our teeth and getting dressed. We also played the game, What’s the time Mr Wolf? We read the story Jasper’s Beanstalk and sequenced the things he did each day. We had a challenge to see how many times we could write our name in a minute. Then we tried again to beat our score. Try at home to see how many different things you can do in a minute.

In Phonics, we have been learning the ow, ear, air and ure sounds. We have one more Phase 3 sound to learn and then will be revising the sounds learnt so far and applying them to their reading and writing. Please complete all phonics sheets in their phonics books and practise the sounds that your child cannot remember.

On Friday, it was St Patrick’s Day. We watched Year 3’s assembly and the irish dancing. After, we made painting of shamrocks, made green pictures and made rainbows outside.

Home Learning

Take a Science Selfie! Can you complete a science experiment at home and take a selfie of you and your family? Below are some websites with some ideas. Please bring in a photo to your class teacher.

https://learning.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/resources/kitchen-science/?fbclid=IwAR3pgsL9Z4JzVUVbdci8OqeDSw9x1Dg3i7lxaAUawWtZgMihAmqwjfqZYzE_aem_Admn5arF3jT7xcfVN1DfUBA7wIol_zEdHihfnVfpWenDYAdSWmn7C7TFFUpdPYK4EBU

 

https://pstt.org.uk/resources/science-fun-at-home/?fbclid=IwAR1QCsKUdVQhkCpHGs1GVh1-YSnWJJr6hF8DIGHG0mhUVAA-f3mtgasuD88_aem_AdlWck7NCJkc74ueKc12WHPDa3cPBlycv3YRIcjGlrLE3ECWC1KTmZE-9eWEzrq1-ds

Have a lovely weekend.

 

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team.

Spring 2 Week 2

This week, our story was Jack and the Beanstalk. The children retold the story through role play using masks. They drew maps to the castle and they made beanstalks with clouds. Outside they built castles in the clouds and built beanstalks using bricks and playdough. The children thought about what would the giant do if it came to Pope Paul School. We had breaking the toys, playing with toys, reading a story, playing in the sand pit and with the cars. Then we planted our own beans and we are going to observe them over time to see how they grow. We discussed what they will need to grow so we watered them and stuck them on the window so they will get sunlight.

 

In Maths, we have been learning about length and height. The children have been measuring with cubes, pencils, playdough, counters and lots more. They made different size worms using wool and compared the sizes using the vocabulary longer and shorter. Then they put the sizes in order. Then we looked at height. We estimated who we thought was the tallest and the shortest in the class and then measured by standing next to each other and we made a measuring wall with all the children’s heights.

 

During our esafety workshop, the children learnt the importance of being kind online, what information we should never give to others and what to do if we feel unsafe or upset. Some children took part in role play to demonstrate these important messages.

The children looked amazing on World Book Day. First we had assembly and then we had some visitors to read a story. Thank you to Jack’s gran and Mrs Lines for reading to us. Then we read the story Supertato and decorated potatoes.

 

Savannah’s dad read a story on Friday. The children enjoyed using the props he bought in to retell the story.

In Phonics we have been revising the digraphs we have learnt this term and we learnt the oi sound. Please practise the digraphs we have learnt this term and complete the oi sheet. Next week, we will be learning the rest of the Phase 3 sounds.

On Friday, we listened to the story of Palm Sunday, the children made palms and we acted out the story.

Next week is Science Week. On Thursday, we will be walking to Dame Alice Owen to see what a science lab looks like and  will take part in some activities.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums, we hope you have a relaxing day.

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team

Spring 2 Week 1

Welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful half term This week we have been reading the story Farmer Duck. The children have been predicting what happened to the farmer next. They have been planting vegetables outside and playing in the farm shop. The children took on the role of the farmer or the duck and the other children asked them questions. We have made farms using boxes. The children have been learning about what a farmer does and what we get from some farm animals.

 

In Maths, we have been learning doubles to 10. The children have been playing games with dice to find doubles, sorting dominoes into doubles and not doubles and making doubles using a range of resources. The children made butterflies and ladybirds to show doubles. Then they wrote number sentences to show how we record a double. Can you practise doubling at home?

 

On Tuesday, we had a Reconciliation Service where we thought about the things we have done wrong and asked God to forgive us. We talked  about how imporatant it is to say sorry and to forgive others.

In Religion, we have been learning about Lent. We talked about how Lent was represented with the colour purple and we had lots of purple around the class and in our outdoor area. We thought about the three practices of Lent. Give, Pray and Fast. The children went on a hunt around the classroom and outdoors to find signs of these practices. They found items for the food bank and clothes and shoes for the charity shop to represent giving. We found chocolate and cakes to represent fasting and the children found candles, prayer books and rosary beads to represent praying. Then the children made a prayer area outside to encourage us to pray more during Lent.

 

In our phonics lessons, we have been revising the digraphs we have learnt this term. Please practise using their phonics books because we will be moving onto some new sounds next week.

This week was the start of Fairtrade Fornight. We learnt about why we should buy Fairtrade products. The children made lunchboxes with fairtrade items in and painted the Fairtrade sign. Can you find a Fairtrade item when shopping this weekend?

In Ten Ten, we learnt about how Jesus is our role model and we should be good role models for the people around us. The children made name cards and decorated them to show that we are all followers of Jesus and he loves us.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team

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

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

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

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

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

Autumn 2 Week 8

The last week of the Autumn Term was full of fun! On Monday, we had our Christmas Party. We played lots of party games including musical statues, musical bumps, pin the nose on the snowman and pass the parcel. Then we had dancing competitions and had a raffle where the children won a teddy each. With our Year 6 Reading partners, we danced, decorated and ate cakes and played musical bumps. All the children got to meet Santa and had lots of questions to ask him.

 

 

On Tuesday, we wrote letters to Santa and made snowman pictures. In the afternoon, we watched Pope Paul’s Got Talent. Well done to Leo, Harry, Robert, Savannah, Aiveen, Aryia, Lily and Marina for taking part.

 

On Wednesday, we met our Year 6 Reading partners and gave them the cards we made them.

Thank you very much for all of the cards and gifts that we have received.

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your families.

This has been a wonderful term where the children have settled in well to their new learning environment. It has been lovely to see how they have grown in confidence.

See you next year!

Mrs Carey and the Early Years Team