Philosophy Friday
Philosophy is thinking deeply.
Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.
We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.
This week’s question related to our school vision. Our vision is to be…
…a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.
Read more about our school vision here.
This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.
Healthy is more important because if you don’t stay healthy, you won’t feel very well. – Logan
I think healthy because you need to keep healthy so you can come to school and school makes you happy. – Poppy
If you weren’t happy, it could be a world of everyone being sad. – Izabella
I think healthy because you don’t always have to be happy. – Vincent
If you only eat healthy stuff, it might make you a bit angry and you wouldn’t be happy. – Woody
Our oracy focus this half term is:
Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child. Why is our school vision important? What does ‘happy and healthy’ look and feel like at school, at home and in the community?
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!
We’ve had a great week this week using our focus book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
We’ve made beds for the bear in the workshop area, cut bears out in the funky fingers area and written messages to the bear in the message centre. But the most exciting part of our week was definitely when we went on our very own bear hunt. We listened for lots of different noises on our sound walk: we heard, children talking, birds tweeting, leaves crunching and finally we found a bear!
Our word of the week has been squelch the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I am squelching in the mud!”
“Mrs Rippon made the paint squelch, it was a funny noise!”
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was Falling Apples
Here is the tree with its leaves so green.
Here are the apples that hang between.
When the wind blows, the apples will fall.
And this is the basket to catch them all.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) g, o, c and k. We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; is.
During our phonics learning, we listened carefully to the initial sound in a word and sorted objects by the sounds they begin with.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Maths
This week, we have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
We have will learnt that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
The classroom Challenges this week have been
- to write a message to the bear.
- to cut out the bears.
- to make a bed for the bear.
- to sort the materials wood, plastic and paper.
- to go on a bear hunt.
- to make a collection of up to 3 items and use the stem sentence 1 and 1 and 1 makes 3.
Next week our focus book is Henri’s Scissors by Jenette Winter.
Reminders and Notices
Stay and learn session
Our first stay and learn session will be on Wednesday 9th October 9am-10am. This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about phonics and watch your child learning in school. There will also be a coffee morning after the session.
Please ensure you sign up at the door before Tuesday 8th October or email stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjames@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman and Mr. Smith.
What is happening outside?
Hello everyone!
This week we have been exploring the seasonal changes. We’ve been into forest school jumping in giant muddy puddles and collected some Autumnal objects to add to our tuff tray.
We have been focusing on fine motor control, using pincers to pick up our objects and practising using these skills with our fingers sorting them into baskets.
Fine motor skills involve small muscles working with the brain and nervous system to control movements in areas such as the hands, fingers, lips, tongue and eyes. Developing fine motor skills helps children do things like eating, writing, manipulating objects and getting dressed.
Help at home:
We practice ‘dough disco’ daily to further develop these skills. Here is one of the children’s favourites for you to enjoy at home!
(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
The Nursery team
Innovation in Ancient Greece
We are becoming quite the experts on Ancient Greece and have really enjoyed learning about the innovations made during the Golden Era of Ancient Greece. We conducted our own research and made posters to summarise our findings. We also reflected on what the most important innovation was.
Help at home
Challenge your child to teach you what they have learned about innovation in the Golden Era of Ancient Greece. They could use this website to help them: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/ztxc4xs#:~:text=The%20Greeks%20pretty%20much%20invented,and%20even%2C%20the%20vending%20machine!
Times Tables Rock Stars Wall of Fame
We really enjoyed dressing up for our Times Tables Rock Star photos to create pictures for our Wall of Fame! Congratulations to all the children who are on our Times Tables Wall of Fame this week. To be on the Wall of Fame, you need to have played 15 minutes of Times Tables Rock Stars games over the week. The Wall of Fame is updated every Friday so I can’t wait to see which superstars we will be celebrating next week!
Rumour has it our classroom will be open for TTRS Club on a Tuesday lunchtime for anyone who wants some extra time to play. See you there!
Our learning journey this week
We have been extremely busy learners this week as the children continue to adapt well to life as key stage 2 pupils.
writing
We are well on the way with our first piece of writing and we’ve managed to complete paragraph one of our Athens recount. The children have made sure to include our R2s:
- adverbs
- prepositions
- past tense
Here are some examples of pupil paragraphs:
Poppy
Adam
Carter
Sophie
Elijah
Help at home:
Discuss and practise adverbs and prepositions as we have learnt them in class. If you’re unsure, use the guide below. Perhaps your child could write sentences with an adverb and a preposition?
Adverb = adds information about a verb
I walked fiercely through the town.
Preposition = tells you where something is in relation to something else.
The soldier hid behind the market stall.
Wonderful writing
In Year 5/6 this week, we have been writing a recount about discovering a secret parcel linked to our class novel, ‘Secrets of a Sun King.’
The quality of writing has blown me away and the children have really enjoyed adding tension to their work. They have all been keen to share some of their writing and have chosen sentences/extracts to share:
This was the opportunity as everyone was asleep. I was ready to open it and as soon as I did, I became unconscious – James
As dark as an abyss, I had to grab the flashlight from the truck. Wrapped in dazzling vermillion thread – Aubree
The goosebumps on my body rose as I got to the stairs. The adrenaline levels, in my body, shot up – Evie
Shivering, I felt scared. I was not sure if it was midnight or not – Madeleine
It was locked in a safe, but it only took a kick to open it. The parcel was wrapped in gold with a red ribbon – Liam
Without hesitation, I pushed open my bedroom door trying not to make a sound. I edged towards the bathroom. My heart sank, knowing full-well the only door that could make the ear-twitching sound was my grandparents – Noah
I observed the mystifying parcel wrapped in a beautiful white satin bow. My hands were juddering – Kamile
She entered with an inconspicuous lunchbox. It was in my grasp – Lilly C
I suddenly woke up, now was my chance to get the parcel. I was in trouble, but I couldn’t help myself – Honey
Returning the parcel, I had the biggest smile on my face –Leo S
Something deep inside me told me I knew what it was. It was antique with golden swirls in the corner – Valerie
The box was wrapped in camo and smeared with mud. It was very inconspicuous. I stared at it for a second, it seemed to be burnt slightly – Christian
I was almost certain it was time to go. I opened the parcel to reveal… – Freddie
The full moon was out, it was like a torch shining on me. Inside was a perfectly round crystal ball, it has purple smoke inside – Lily W
I walked as quiet as a mouse, trying hard to not make a sound – Charlina
I cut my hand in the process. Now I was scared – Willow
Without hesitation, I stealthily dashed passed the trees – Umar
We all hurried like hungry mice. At lunch, my friends and I crept cautiously like three spies into the Year 5/6 classroom – Murielle
Stealthily, I tip toed out of my room – Tommy
Slowly, I edged towards the door. The parcel was grey with a beautiful lilac silk bow – Summer
Just shy of dawn… As shy as a fox… Now I start my descent – Ralph
Help at home – Ask your child about some of the various ways they can begin a sentence. Can they write a short passage recounting something they have done? How can they keep the reader intrigued?
Reading
Just a reminder to please encourage your child to read at home.
10 minutes, three times a week would really help your child’s fluency and understanding. Once they have read, please sign reading records to say that they have been heard. Child should also complete an activity per week in their reading records.
Any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Thank you for your support, Mr Kilner.
Living and Learning: Manners
Manners are words and actions that we can do to help us be kind and respectful to others. Good manners help us to get on well with others.
We thought about examples of good manners and thought about when we had used our good manners.
I said thank you when I got my lunch.
I held the door open for a teacher.
I said sorry when I accidentally stood on my friends foot.
I said excuse me to go past someone.
Help at home: reinforce this message about using good manners at home as well as at school. Encourage your child to greet the adults on the gate as they arrive at school.
Also, have a go at this manners quiz to check your child’s understanding.
Topic
Our Topic this half term is History and we are learning about The Great Fire of London (GFoL). The children are enjoying learning some key facts about why the GFoL was so ‘great’.
We’ve been enjoying singing along to Londons Burning and reading the Poem The Great Fire of London by Paul Perro (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip).
We’ve also read the book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip) to stimulate our learning.
Help at home: Ask your child to tell you some of the facts they have learnt so far.
- When was the GFoL? (Sunday 02 September 1666)
- What was the cause of the fire? (A spark from an oven ignited the fire)
- Where did the fire start? (in a bakery on Pudding Lane)
- What did they use to try to put the fire out? (fire hooks, buckets of water and water squirters)
- Can they name the important historical figure who wrote a diary about the GFoL? (Samuel Pepys)
- Why did the fire spread so quickly? (because the houses were made from wood and they were built close together).