St James' CE Primary can take up to one class each year, but actually takes slightly fewer children. Classes have usually around 24 pupils.
Key information about the day-to-day running of St James' Primary School can be found here – everything from the price of a school dinner to important dates in the school year. If there remains something that you still need to know, we’re always happy to answer any questions you may have – call in or contact us.
This section is all about how you can join in and be part of our community.
St James' CE Primary is very much an active community. Pupils, parents / carers and staff at school are all important 'stakeholders' and we want everyone to have their say, to express their ideas and to keep on making our learning community a great place to be.
Every pupil at St James' CE Primary School is an enthusiastic, positive and expressive learner – but it's not just our children! We are all learners: we can keep on learning new methods, new facts, new points of view.
This section is all about learning and how parents / carers can support or join in the learning process.
Use the link above to find the video for each of the trigraphs in phase 3. Watch the video and press the arrows to answer the questions.
Maths
Tens Frame Number Problems
You will need objects to use for counting, two ten frames (print or you can make/draw one)
Can you solve these number problems?
Indie has 12 pieces of chocolate, she gives 2 pieces to Elizabeth. How many pieces of chocolate does she have left?
Thea has 7 pom poms and Georgia has 6 pom poms. How many pom poms do they have altogether?
Charlie has 4 cars, Grayson has 2 cars and Joshua has 3 cars. How many do they have altogether?
Challenge: Iris has 6 oranges. She gives 2 oranges to Francesca and 2 oranges to Dylan. How many oranges do they each have?
Literacy
Yesterday, you watched Mrs Palmer pot a plant. Now it’s your turn. Can you think of something to do/make that you will be able to write some instructions for? This could be making a model, making a smoothie, baking a cake, drawing a picture, washing your hands.
Once you have an idea, talk about what you need to do/make your activity?
Have a go at doing/making your activity.
Whilst you are doing your activity think about what happened first, next, after that, finally?
You can listen to the author, Eric Carle, reading this weeks focus Story;
The Very Hungry Caterpillar below:
Did you join in with the story? There are lots of parts of this story that you can join in with.
Can you help to count the fruit and name each food that the caterpillar eats?
Can you say the days of the week?
Can you remember the words that are repeated in the story? But he was still hungry!
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Watch – We love this animated version of the story. There are some other great animated stories by the same author; we like watching ‘The Very Quiet Cricket’.
Creative – printing
Potato printing is good fun. Carefully cut a potato in half and put some paint on a plate. Have a go at printing a caterpillar’s body using the potato. How long will you make it? Can you make a longer/shorter caterpillar? Give your caterpillar some legs using a paintbrush and add two eyes.
How many legs does your caterpillar have?
You could make butterfly prints; Fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a butterfly shape. Keep the paper folded in half (it helps to stop your child painting on both sides!) and ask your child to paint a pattern (spots, lines, zigzags) to one side. When it’s finished, open the paper out and then fold it over the opposite way and press down carefully so that the paint transfers. Open it out and you should have printed the same pattern onto the opposite side so that you now have a butterfly with symmetrical wings.
Fiddly Fingers
Cut out a paper leaf shape. Can you use a hole punch to munch around the edge of a paper leaf? Children love to use hole punchers and it’s a great way to strengthen their finger muscles for writing too.
Mark Making
Have a go at drawing your own caterpillars or some of the food that he ate. There are lots of printable colouring sheets online if you have a printer. Some colouring pages are available towards the end of this booklet, mixed in with a few activities for older children.
Understanding the World
Can you find any caterpillars hiding in your garden? They might be quite tricky to find. Have a look at these caterpillars that Jess found on a minibeast adventure.
What words could you use to describe the caterpillars?
Talk about what happens to the caterpillar at the different stages in its lifecycle. There’s a game to play here if you have access to a computer.
Listen carefully to the music clip that Melody plays. What did the music make you think of? Did it remind you of a butterfly fluttering its wings? Did you notice the music getting quicker and slower?
Have a go at moving like a butterfly, flying quickly and slowly and flapping your wings high and low.
If you enjoyed this, here’s a butterfly dance to join in.
Mathematics
If you have the story book at home, count the fruit on each page. You could have a go at counting the fruit in your fruit bowl or use toy food if you have a play kitchen. Ask your child to count out some food for The Very Hungry Caterpillar to eat. For example, can you get the caterpillar 4 apples to eat? The Caterpillar wants to eat 3 pizza slices.
Can you make a list of the different things that the snail and the whale see on their journey?
How did the snail save the day, at the end of the story?
This story really got us thinking about all creatures that live in the sea. Perhaps you would like to use some of these activities, to explore more about sealife:
Today’s number is 18 and the warm up / challenge focus is subtraction.
You can watch today’s lesson video by clicking here
You can access the subtraction colouring challenge below. If you do not have access to a printer, please ask an adult to draw out one of the flowers and add the subtraction questions for you.
This week we are sharing a story about a little girl who hurts her knee, but you’ll never guess how she does it! The story is called On the Way Home and it’s written by Jill Murphy.
We hope you enjoy listening to it or reading the book at home, if you have copy.
This story has a repeated refrain throughout. Did you join in with “And that’s how I got my bad knee”?
The little girl had a great imagination. Can you think of your own ‘tale’ to tell? Who else could Claire have bumped into and how could she have hurt her knee?
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Creative – Claire told her friends about many different people and creatures that she’d run into on the way home. Which was your favourite? (Wolf, aliens, crocodile, snake, dragon, gorilla, a giant, a ghost, a witch.) Have a go at drawing or painting a picture of them.
Paper plate snake – Draw a spiral onto a paper plate (or circle shape piece of paper/card) and cut around it. Some children may be able to have a go at this part too. Paint it with spots/stripes and add some eyes and a tongue. Tie a piece of string/wool to the middle of the spiral to hang up your snake. Enjoy watching it swirl around!
Phonics – As part of our phonics learning, we talk about the different sounds that we can hear, but also about the different sounds that we can make with our voices. Can you have a go at making some sound effects from the story? Here are a few ideas and you might also think of some of your own for the dragon, gorilla or giant. Would they be loud or quiet noises?
Wolf – Hooooowwwwwwl
Alien ship – Woooooooosh!
Ghost – Woooo Woooo
Snake – Sssssssssssss
Witch – Hehehehehehe
Going down the slide – Wheeeeeeeee
Getting hurt – Owwwww
Mathematics
– Look at a box of plasters- talk about the different shapes and sizes. Which is the largest? Smallest? Are there any square, circle or rectangular shaped plasters?
– Play a game of ‘snakes and ladders’ (or similar dice game) and encourage your child to work out the number that they rolled on the die by looking at the pattern of dots. They may need to count the dots initially, but the more you play, the quicker they will become at recognising the pattern. Being able to move forward a set number of spaces and remembering to stop, is also a great math’s skill to develop.
Role play – Pretend to be a doctor/nurse and take turns to be the patient, or use soft toys. You could get some old plasters or bandages if you have some, or improvise using some kitchen roll and sellotape! Some of you may have a children’s doctor’s kit that you could use too. Encourage your child to mark-make during play; they could write a prescription or answer a phone call and take some patient details.
Watch – Have you ever watched ‘Get Well Soon’ on CBeebies? There are several episodes available on the BBC iPlayer.
Health and self-care – There’s a lot of talk around good personal hygiene at the moment. Can your child wipe/blow their own nose? Have a go at this. Teach them to look in a mirror at first so that they can see their nose and to ‘pinch and pull’ using a tissue. Some children may find it tricky to blow down their nose into a tissue, but they can still wipe. Remember to talk about throwing your tissue in the bin afterwards and washing your hands well with soap and water for 20 seconds.
Hot and Cold game-
Many of us will have fond memories of playing this game when we were younger. It’s so simple and children always love to play along.
Practise finding 17 on the number line, then show how you would find one more / one less.
2. This week we have been looking at ‘fair shares’ which we also call sharing equally. Have a go at helping Curious George with his ‘Fair Shares’ by completing the online game:
Oh no! The song seems to have forgotten the number 0! We talk lots about the number 0 being nothing but still being a number. Try to add the number 0 when singing the song.
2. The problem blob has been up to mischief – he is stopping things from being shared fairly. The Numberjacks need your help!
