Walking Through The Jungle
We have been so busy with our focus books Walking Through The Jungle by Julie Lacome and Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz.
The children have really enjoyed learning about jungle animals. We have talked about the difference between jungle and desert animals. We have travelled like animals in the outside area and even had a go at making our own jungle animal in the waste innovation area.
Our word of the week this week was Rainforest the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“These trees are the rainforest, my train is going through the jungle.”
“Tigers live in the rainforest and gorillas.”
Hep at Home: Tell your grown up about some of the other animals that live in the rainforest? Find some facts about one of your animals to share with everyone.
Next week our story is Farmyard Hullabaloo by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz.
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- The children have enjoyed Forest School so much we have decided to continue to take them, our new Forest School slot will be on a Thursday so please can you send your child to school in their PE kits with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
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.
PE- Multiskills
We’ve made a great start to this week in Reception. In our PE lesson we have been working on our throwing and catching skills. First we worked on our own to bounce the ball in the hoop and then catch it. Then we worked pairs to bounce the ball to each other and catch it. It was very tricky as first but we persevered and our skills improved so much! Great work Reception!
Our Focus book this week is Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome we can’t wait to share our learning with you at the end of the week.
Living and Learning: I know the importance of sleep.
Our living and learning statement for this week was:
I know the importance of sleep.
As well as individual class living and learning sessions, the whole school attended our ‘Tuesday Viewsday‘ collective worship to learn more together. We discussed the role of sleep in our lives and it’s importance/lack of importance both personally and collectively (the world).
Children put forward some fantastic points of view to debate both sides of the importance of sleep – here’s some of the quotes:
‘I think sleep is important because it gives our brain a chance to rest so that we can do well in school the next day.’ (JC, Year 6)
‘Sleep is important for us to switch off and not think about things for a while. If we didn’t sleep, we would all just be tired and moody.’ (FJ, Year 2)
‘I don’t think sleep is important because it wastes time. We could be doing other things that we like instead of sleeping.’ (NE, Year 5)
‘Sleep can be important if you have a job, but if you don’t have a job or something to get up for, you’re wasting time in your life that you could use to help others or find something that you enjoy.’ (JS, Year 5)
Help at home:
Discuss the importance of sleep for a healthy, happy lifestyle with your child. Does your child know what a good amount of sleep is? Explore their thoughts on what might happen if they don’t get enough sleep, or they sleep too much!
The Bad Tempered Ladybird
Welcome to the Summer term!! I can’t believe we are in our final term of the school year, this year has absolutely flown by so far!
This week our focus book has been The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.
The children have really enjoyed this story and have had fun joining in with the repeated lines. In class we have enjoyed making ladybirds and looking at the life cycle of a ladybird. We even discovered some ladybird facts. For example a group of ladybirds is called a loveliness.
Help at home: go on a walk and look out for some ladybirds, see if you can find a loveliness of ladybirds and count how many you can find.
Our Word of the week this week was frustrated the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I was frustrated when I was hungry and my dinner wasn’t ready so my mummy gave me a starter.”
“I was frustrated with my little brother for breaking my Lego.”
In Forest School we have practiced our drilling skills by using the hand drill to put holes in wood, this has helped us to get ready to make a Bug Hotel next week. We also did some litter picking to make sure we keep our school grounds safe for the animals that live here.
Help at Home On Monday 22nd April it is World Earth can you so something with your grown ups to celebrate our wonderful Earth.
Next week our focus book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- We have our last week of Forest School this week. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag. Please can everyone check all clothes that have gone home after forest school, a few items have been misplaced. Thank you.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you as always for all your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We ended the spring term with the focus book Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs! by Paula Metcalf.
This is a very funny book, that definitely made the children chuckle! We were also very lucky to receive a visit from the Easter Bunny who kindly left us all a lovely Easter Egg! Thank you so much Easter Bunny and the PTA helpers!
When we come back after the Easter break our Summer term topic is Life on Earth and our First book will be The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.
We will be learning about bugs and will be going on lots of bug hunts. We will be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and will hopefully set some free! We will be using some hand drills to build a bug hotel for our outdoor area.
Next half term we are also hoping to develop our outdoor space a bit more so if anyone has any old flags, plant pots, tree stumps or gardening skills we would would really appreciate any help. Please drop us an email at stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- We will be continuing to go to Forest School for the first two weeks after the holidays. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag. Please can everyone check all clothes that have gone home after forest school, a few items have been misplaced. Thank you.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy half-term break, and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you as always for all your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman
Happy Easter!
On Wednesday, we went to church for our Easter service.
Reception and Key Stage 1 did a fantastic job of singing the Easter Chicken song we have been practising.
Some of Year 2 also read beautifully as well.
We hope everyone has a lovely Easter break.
Jack and the Beanstalk
This week our focus book has been Jack and the Beanstalk.
We talked about how it is is an old story and has lots of different version, the children really enjoyed the Jack and the Jelly Beanstalk version! During the week we have been busy planting our own magic beans. We have also completed some beautiful drawings of some tulips. In our PE lesson we mastered our balancing skills and even managed to move from one balance to another. Fantastic skills everyone!
Our word of the week was gigantic the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
‘My tower is gigantic, it is taller that me!’
‘I am going to pick the gigantic carrot at snack time!’
Help at home: find some things that are gigantic and tell your grown up about them.
Phonics
This week in our phonics we have focused on longer phase 3 words, words ending in -ing and compound words (words made up of two words i.e. rooftop) We have also been reviewing our tricky words.
Help at home: Please support your child with the tricky words sheet sent home. Please also keep accessing the ebooks.
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was Spring Wind
When the spring wind blows,
In her gruff and growly way,
She’s saying keep your mittens on,
I’m blowing cold today.
But when the spring wind blows,
In her soft and gentle way,
She’s saying take your jumper off,
I’m blowing warm today.
The Classroom Challenges this week have been
- to make a ramp and push and pull a vehicle up and down it.
- to draw the spring tulips.
- to make a repeating pattern using the paint dabbers.
- to make a track outside and play a dice game with your friends.
- to make a map to the railway museum.
- to make an enclosure for the animals using the small blocks.
Forest School this week was another muddy one and included toasting marshmallows, these were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!
Next week our week our focus book is The Tiny Seed by Eric Carl
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Please can we also ask for any donations of children’s underwear, socks and old school uniform, we work hard and play hard in reception so things can get a little bit messy!!
Please don’t forget to email any pictures from home stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman
World Book Day
Thank you so much to all the grown ups who came to our special ‘World Book Day’ stay and learn. We hope you had a lovely time, we’ve had a brilliant day celebrating.
This morning we had a whole school costume parade, we showed off our wonderful World Book Day Costumes as we danced to the ‘World Book Day’ Song by Mc Grammar. Then the teacher’s all swapped classrooms, Mr. Kilner who usually teaches in Year 3/4 came to read us a story. We loved listening to him and we loved his different voices!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful support in celebrating World Book Day, you’ve certainly helped us to raise the profile of books and reading. Reception absolute LOVE story time!
Help at Home by sharing a story.
The National Railway Museum
Wow! What a fantastic day we had at the National Railway Museum and the children were fantastic, an absolute credit to you and our school.
We enjoyed looking at the trains in the Great Hall, including the Mallard, the high-speed Japanese bullet train and the replica of Stephenson’s Rocket. We found The Flying Scotsman in the North Shed and an old sign for Wetherby Train Station, plus a sign for platform 9 3/4!
A big thank you to the parents and helpers who came with us and made our day out so special.
The Hundred Decker Rocket
This week we have been really busy with our focus book The Hundred Decker Rocket by Mike Smith.
We have talked about what we would each have on our own deck on the rocket.
” I would have a bouncy castle because they are fun!”
“I would have an ice cream tree!”
Our word of the week was expedition the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“An expedition is a journey.”
“When we go to the Museum we are going on a expedition.”
Help at home: tell your grown up about an expedition you have been on together, what did you see? Where was the destination?
Phonics
This week in our phonics we have reviewed the digraphs er, air
Help at home: Please support your child with the ‘learn at home’ sheet sent home today. Please also keep accessing the ebooks.
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was Popcorn
Popcorn, Popcorn, sizzling in the pan.
Shake it up, shake it up,
Bam, Bam, Bam.
Popcorn, Popcorn, now it’s getting hot.
Shake it up, shake it up,
Pop, Pop, Pop.
The Classroom Challenges this week have been
- to make an alien
- to draw an alien with a pen and then use the pipette and water to melt it away
- to make a flying saucer
- to write a list of the rubbish we found left on the table
- to order the images from 1-8 on the washing line
- to draw a map outside and ask a friend to follow it
Also this week we have had our first Forest School session, this was so much muddy fun and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!
Please can we remind everyone to send their child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Next week our focus book is The Hundred Decker Bus by Mike Smith.
School Trip
We’re very excited about our school trip to the National Railway Museum next Wednesday!
Please can you send your child with a
- Rucksack
- Packed lunch (no nuts or fizzy drinks)
- Water bottle
- Suitable coat
Book bags can stay at home, thank you.
Reminders and Notices
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative. We really appreciate anything!!
Please can we also ask for any donations of children’s underwear, socks and old school uniform, we work hard and play hard in reception so things can get a little bit messy!!
Stay and Learn Sessions
World Book Day 07.03.24-8.50am-9.20am
Please don’t forget to email any pictures from home stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman