Good morning, all. Have you ever tried yoga? Here’s a link to some great yoga moves for children (and adults too!)
Maths: Here’s today’s video lesson from Mrs Rowley, the task and the answers.
Reading: Today we are continuing working on retrieval skills. Here’s today’s video lesson with Mrs Welsby and the task.
RE: This is our third lesson in a series of four lessons on Christianity from Oak National Academy. This lesson, led by Miss Dhillon, is about the parables of Jesus.
Tomorrow’s message is for those parents whose child(ren) are still at home. Today’s message is especially to the parents and carers who have a child back at school – it’s a simple one:
Please respect social distancing.
For most people, this means just three things:
Yes, we know the rules will soon ease up a bit, but that’s not until Saturday 04 July.
Right now, it’s still those three things we all need to follow.
We’re not judging a family or their choices about whether they follow guidelines or not, but the choices made at home have an impact on us in school. My job is to try and keep everyone safe. Asking a family to keep their child at home for 14 days is heartbreaking – it’s not a decision taken lightly at all. The reality is that it’s very upsetting.
If you and your family don’t follow social distancing, we’ll have to send your child home to quarantine for two weeks. This is a great shame for your child, and frustrating for other parents who want their child to be in school.
School is a social place and children chat away – it’s natural for children to want to catch-up and share what they’ve been up to. Imagine how they feel when they’ve been chatting happily and they end up saying something about visiting a friend or family member’s house, maybe for a meal or to socialise.
To be really clear about this: the chats we have with children are social chats – light and cheerful. We obviously don’t intend to make the child feel uncomfortable, and it’s horrible if child ends up feeling confused and guilty, thinking they’ve done something wrong, but not sure what.
The situation can be horrible for the child and difficult for us – but we need to protect all the children and staff and so we can’t just ignore the concern.
Here’s a comment from another school leader this week:
I totally feel for the children in this sort of situation. It’s not their choice at all, but they feel the awkwardness of it, and then have to miss out on seeing their friends and getting some normal school time.
Thank you for helping us to all stay safe.
A group of us who are in school looked at how wide 2 metres was. In our investigations, we found that 2m was the same as the following:
2 Hana’s legs
7 yellow cones
1 ¾ Alfies
16 Emily’s phones
4 stools
42 board rubbers
7 i-pads
18 glue sticks
4 carpet tiles
20 maths blocks
6.4 rulers
10 Mr Stink books
7.8 of Mya’s water bottles
17 pink houses
0.8 football goals
24 sticks
How many other ways could you measure 2 metres?
Happy mid-week. Yes, it’s another Wednesday! Keep going – you’re doing great!
Need some help with your times tables? Or know them and fancy a boogie anyway? Check these videos out: Supermovers BBC
Maths: Today we are doing work about 24 hour clock. Here’s today’s video lesson from Mrs Rowley, the task and the answers.
Reading: Today we are continuing working on retrieval skills. Here’s today’s video lesson and task. We will go through the answers tomorrow, but here’s a copy.
Science: Here is our fourth lesson about plants from Oak National Academy. Throughout the lesson, Miss Roberts will ask you to pause the lesson to complete tasks.
In our message today, we’ve a response to some government announcements made last week, and a reminder about the annual reports we recently emailed to parents.
Annual reports
By now, you should all have received a copy of your child’s annual report.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, teachers wrote the report based on the learning up to Friday 20 March, the date that schools closed. All the information, including the attainment bands and progress, refer to the period from September to March.
We want you to know as much as you want about your child’s learning. If you want to discuss the report, please do contact your child’s class teacher or the Head of School.
Free school meals over the summer holiday
You’ll be aware of the success of Marcus Rashford in persuading the government to provide free school meals over the summer – the government had previously said the scheme would end at the end of the term.
In last Tuesday’s post (16.06.20), we encouraged caution when hearing about government plans. This is a case in point, because at the moment the information about this is that this is for a voucher scheme only. This is different to how we’ve provided free school meals over Easter, when we worked with our regular caterers who provided food hampers. It’s worth knowing so you can perhaps start to find out more about the vouchers and how they work.
If you’ve had a recent change in circumstances – a loss of job or a reduction in earnings, for example – your child might now be entitled to free school meals. Find out if you’re now entitled.
Summer catch-up programme
We ended last Tuesday’s post with reference to the summer catch-up scheme that the Prime Minister has pledged. Some of you have been asking us about this, but – as we said last week – caution is needed. In this case, it seems that the catch-up scheme is no longer part of the government’s strategy. This apparent shift might be due to the government working more closely with school leaders; in an email to members (19.06.20), the NAHT‘s general secretary wrote:
Importantly, previous headlines suggesting a ‘summer of catch-up classes’ appear to have been replaced with a more sensible, long-term plan… Our conversations with the government have not always been easy over the last few months, but I am pleased to be able to tell you that I sensed a real desire to engage with us over this particular issue and to listen to many of our concerns… My initial reaction is that, compared to where we were a week ago, this is a positive step forward for pupils and the profession.
We’re including this here so you’re aware that school won’t be open to operate any sort of summer programme of activity or learning.
As always, thanks very much for your support. Whether emailed, or mentioned to staff in passing, your supportive comments have really helped us.
Good morning, munchkins. If you fancy the Bring Sally Up Squat Challenge for PE today, this is a fun way to get your legs stronger! Let me know if you have a go… my legs were burning after I did it! (Don’t forget, you can stop part way through!)
Maths: Here is today’s lesson from Mrs Rowley, the task and the answers.
Reading: We have the next part of Goosebumps. Here is today’s video learning and task. We will go through the answers tomorrow but here is a copy if you want to mark yours today.
Writing: Today we are going to revise apostrophes for contractions. Follow the Bitesize link to watch the video and do the activities. Can you make your own matching game with two words and their contracted word?
In our post today, we have our regular Monday Living and Learning during lockdown update…
As you’ll know by now, Living and Learning is the name for all the teaching and learning we do around Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE). This half term, our theme is relationships. Each week in school, we have a Living and Learning statement. I tell the truth and say sorry if I need to… is our statement this week.
One of the Sphere Federation Health Leaders writes:
A classic story to support this theme is The boy who cried ‘wolf!’. Listen to the fable here and discuss the moral message with your child.
You may want to consider why people might not tell the truth. It could be:
Telling the truth might seem difficult, but it’s the best way to solve problems and move on.
Apologising or saying sorry in a caring way can make you feel good because you are trying to make things right again and help your relationship (and the other person will probably feel better, too). It shows the other person you have thought about your actions. When you empathise with them, you begin to feel sorry for your behaviour.
What might an apology look like? It might simply be saying, ‘I’m sorry’, writing them a note or doing something for the person you have upset,
You might also want to look at this article about saying you’re sorry – it could be a good read for an older child, and interesting for you to read, too.
Tomorrow’s message includes a response to some recent government announcements.
Hello all. We hope you are feeling relaxed after the weekend and are raring to go. Don’t forget to share what you’re doing at home – we love to hear from you! Thank you to those of you that have emailed in. Our email addresses are here.
kerensawelsby@spherefederation.org and beckyrowley@spherefederation.org
Maths: How is this mini topic on time going? Are you impressing everyone with your time-telling skills? Here is the next lesson from Mrs Rowley, the task and the answers.
Reading: This week we are reading part of a Goosebumps book. Today we are thinking about ambitious vocabulary. Here’s today’s video lesson and text. (These are some suggested answers.)
Art: Today we are going to be doing some sketching and shading.
Spellings: This week we are looking at words containing the sh sound. Here is a link to spelling strategies.
Our final message of the week is an important one for those of you who still have a child at home…
Before lockdown, what did ‘Zoom’ mean to you? A classic ice lolly from Lyons Maid? A timeless tune from the ’80s classic by Fat Larry’s Band? Now, of course, it’s synonymous with online video conferencing. (We know other video conferencing products exist, but here, we’ll refer to Zoom, which has taken off massively during lockdown.)
Before the end of the school year, teachers will host some Zoom meetings for children who remain at home.
The meetings will be with groups of children from the class. They’ll be a one-off chance for children to re-connect with the teacher, classmates and with learning. We think this is important for our friends still at home during lockdown, especially since we now know they won’t be returning until September, all being well.
One or two of you have been asking for teachers to deliver lessons by Zoom since the start of lockdown. We didn’t pursue this for two main reasons: safeguarding and effective teaching. (We have other reservations about Zoom to teach, too, but these are the main ones.)
We’re still not convinced Zoom (or any online video conferencing service) is an effective way to teach large groups of younger children online. It might work well for older children, but the important two-way dialogue that we have in school would be hard to re-create and sustain in a Zoom meeting.
There were some unpleasant stories at the start of lockdown that highlighted safeguarding concerns. However, Zoom has introduced improved security features. We’ve researched how best to secure the Zoom meetings; we’ve consulted colleagues who have begun to use it; and we’ve trialled it amongst ourselves. We’re now confident that Zoom can be used securely.
The next steps are simple…
If your child is still learning at home, and you’d like your child to be part of a Zoom call with their teacher and some of their classmates, email your child’s teacher. By now, most of you will already have emailed – the teacher’s address is something like joebloggs@spherefederation.org (first name, last name and then @spherefederation).
When you email, you’ll need to provide the name that will appear in the Zoom call – the teacher won’t allow anyone into the meeting if they’re not expecting them. Ideally, the name would be the child’s first and last name, but it can be your name. (And please make sure the name is appropriate.)
The teacher will decide a date and time for this to happen – it’ll happen before the end of term. They’ll send an invitation with the log-in details back to you. We’re sorry – there can’t be much flexibility about the date and time.
For younger children, your child’s teacher will have a chat and read a story. For older children (Y3-Y6), the teacher will ask a couple of questions which will include questions related to home learning:
It would be great if your child has thought about these so they’re able to answer a question like that.
Happy Friday!
Maths:
We’re continuing our learning about telling the time. Today, have a go at learning to tell the time to the nearest minute. Watch this video and answer these questions.
Reading:
Love of reading
In class, we’d usually have a Love of Reading session each week where we read something
that we love. Adults use the time to read with children.
Today, I’d like you to…
● Get really comfy: wear some thick socks, a dressing gown or wooly jumper. Sit somewhere soft and relaxing.
● Turn all electronic devices off: TVs, radios, computers, phones, tablets, etc.
● Spend some quality time reading with each other. Read aloud, take it in turns, put on voices for characters, re-read things to improve how you’re reading them.
● Talk about what you’re reading. Which are the best bits? Why? Does it remind you of other things you’ve read or watched? Do you know anything about parts of it from other knowledge that you have? What do you think of the characters? What will happen next? Why do you think that?
Spanish
Have you enjoyed learning another language?
In this lesson, we will recap our numbers and alphabet, as well as saying our name and age in Spanish. We will then expand our number knowledge to learn the numbers up to 31 and the months of the year in Spanish, so that we can say the date of our birthday in Spanish! For this lesson, you will need some paper and a pen or pencil.