PE days
Hopefully you have read the information in the Autumn for all – Key Info St James’, which also has a link to our uniform policy.
On the days your child has PE, they should come to school in their PE kit. (Track-suit bottoms instead of shorts would be good on colder days. Footwear : black/brown/grey/white flat shoes which are safe to run around in.)
Footwear on PE days could be children’s ‘school shoes’ which are often a ‘trainer’ style anyway, if you want to avoid having to buy 2 pairs of shoes.
Please find below the days each class has allocated PE times, which will be taught outdoors, except in extreme weather.
- Foundation (Miss Marsden) – Wednesday
- Year 1/2 (Miss Harker) – Thursday & Friday
- Year 3/4 (Mrs Welsby/Mrs Rowley) – Tuesday & Friday
- Year 5/6 (Miss Beatson/Mr Mills) – Tuesday & Friday
Summer Time!
It’s the last day of school!
What a crazy school year it has been! We’re sad that we’ve been unable to finish the year together, but we hope that you’ve all enjoyed doing the home learning. Thank you, again, for all of your emails about your lovely home learning moments. Mrs Allen-Kelly and I have loved reading each and every one of them.
I am excited to welcome back the Foundation 1 children returning to us in September.
Thank you to all the Foundation 2 children for being an amazing class and I am sure you will be fab in Year 1. I will pop into your new classroom to say ‘hello’ and see how you’re all getting on.
I would like to wish all of Foundation a happy and healthy summer!
Miss Marsden
xxx
Story time! ‘Recipe For a Story’ by Ella Burfoot
Here is the final story time video of the school year!
Please click here to hear to story
It finishes with a little goodbye message from me.
I just want to add that I am so proud of all of you all and how you have coped with the school year taking such an unexpected turn.
I have loved every day of teaching at St James’ Primary School and will really miss seeing your smiling faces 😊 I will be keeping in touch to see how you are all getting on in your Reception year and Year One.
Have the BEST Summer break Superstars ✨
Mrs Allen-Kelly.
Week commencing 13 July 2020: F1 Home Learning ‘Where’s my teddy?’
We can’t believe that this is our final week of home learning activities. We’re going to finish with ‘Where’s My Teddy?’ written by Jez Alborough.
We often celebrate our learning and the end of Foundation with a Teddy Bear’s picnic party. Sadly, this isn’t going to be possible this year but we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun. So, this week, we’d love it if you could have a Teddy Bear’s picnic at home and send us your photos.
Remember to email your photos to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
We’ll share all of your photographs on the class news page. We thought that this would be a lovely way to end the year – to fill our Class News Page with all of your happy, smiling faces.
Where’s My Teddy
- Did you enjoy the story?
- How do you think Eddy felt when he lost his teddy?
- Do you have a favourite teddy bear or soft toy? Talk to your family members about their favourite toys as children. They may still have an old favourite teddy hidden away somewhere that they can show you.
Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.
Mark Making
Draw or cut out an outline of a bear. Ask your child to add eyes, a nose and a mouth to the bears face. You could encourage them to draw some clothes on the bear or a bow tie and decorate it with patterns. There are also some free printable pencil control activity sheets to download on Twinkl.
Music
Sing along at home to this well-known family favourite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EsIzsl5nLw
Cooking
Find a recipe to bake something to eat at your Teddy Bear’s Picnic this week. There are lots of recipe ideas on the I Can Cook website. Some bears like to eat honey; you might like to make a honey sandwich! Ask your child to help butter the bread and add their choice of sandwich filling. With help, they can cut their sandwiches carefully into squares or triangles.
Understanding the World
Do you like honey? If you’ve never tried it before, have a try. What does it taste like?
Where does honey come from? Maddie Moate knows all about where honey comes from because her parents are bee keepers. Watch these short clips to find out about how bees make honey and how Maddie harvests honey from her bee hives.
Mathematics
1) Top Marks has a teddy bear counting game that children really enjoy playing at Nursery. We help children to recognise the number so that they know how many cupcakes to feed the bear.
2) Ask your child to choose some soft toys/teddies to invite to the picnic. How many have they chosen? How many plates and cups will they need?
Watch
Teddy bears are obviously very popular as there are lots of programmes available to watch all about bears! Here’s an episode from Postman Pat about a Special ‘teddy’ Delivery or you can find out what happens in the town of Biggleton when too many bears arrive for the picnic.
Story time! “Have you filled a bucket today?” by Carol McCloud
A bit of a different story time today. Today’s story will be read by the author herself; Carol McCloud.
“Have you filled a bucket today?” is a lovely way of explaining to children our feelings and how we can help improve the feelings of others.
You can watch the video below:
Today’s activity linked to the story is simple but important. A conversation. This has links to PSED; understanding / talking about our feelings and how we ‘manage’ them. You might ask:
What might you be feeling if you have an ’empty bucket’?
What makes your bucket feel empty?
What can people do to help you fill your bucket?
What might you be feeling when your ‘bucket’ is full?
What makes your bucket feel full?
What can you do to help fill the buckets of other people?
Your child may want to draw some pictures inside a bucket outline of all the things that fill their bucket.
Have a lovely weekend and remember to always try to be a ‘bucket filler’
Busy week!
On Tuesday, we used masking tape to create a pattern. First, the children stuck the masking tape all over their paper. Then, they coloured the shapes in between the tape. Finally they peeled the masking tape off and they were amazed! 
On Tuesday, it was Virtual Sports Day. They all showed great teamwork and determination when having a go at each of the challenges. Take a look at some of their action shots!
On Thursday, we created some stained glass windows. We talked about where you might find real stained glass windows and how they were made. 
Look how amazing they are!
Today, we will be having a ‘circle time’ about our Living and Learning statement… I know how to cope with change. This will allow the children to share how they are feeling about going into Year One.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Virtual School Sports Day – results
Thank you to everyone at home and in school who took part and submitted results. Over 200 schools across West Yorkshire took part. You can see the results below.
Did you get sporty today?
Well, the rain came – just like when we usually have sports day! We hope you managed to complete at least some of the challenges set by the West Yorkshire School Games for the Virtual Sports Day. Don’t forget to submit your results here : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdEX8xOo-PtkFwasg0B7deXM1uzvMQMFAPwpKCU9yEKG6qqg/viewform
07 July 2020 : Whole school home learning (Let’s get sporty!)
Whole school sporting activities
Week commencing 6 July 2020: F1 Home Learning ‘Sharing a Shell’
Whilst going on a big holiday might be less likely this year, we know that everyone loves a trip to the seaside.
This week’s story is another of Julia Donaldon’s popular books, it’s called ‘Sharing a shell’.
You can also listen to Julia Donaldson singing the ‘Sharing a Shell’ song here.
Talk about the story with your child. Have you ever visited the seaside and had a look in the rockpools? You may have some photos that you could look at and talk about what you saw whilst at the seaside.
Here are some activities that you could try that are linked to the story.
Listening skills
We might not be able to visit the seaside as much as we’d like to at the moment, but we can still listen to some seaside sounds. Listen to the beginning of the recording and see if you can guess what some of the sounds are.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/eyfs-listen-and-play-at-the-seaside/zvyf6v4
Fiddly fingers
Can you make a snail out of playdough? Roll a really long sausage shape and then carefully curl it back around to make a snail shell.
If you want to make some shells or sea creatures that you can keep, you could make a batch of salt dough and when it’s dry you can paint them too. https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/starfish-craft-for-preschoolers/
Make a sandcastle
Don’t worry if you don’t have any sand! Have you ever made cloud dough at home? Whilst it can be messy, it’s great fun and very easy to make. All you need is some flour and oil (vegetable oil or baby oil) and to mix them together in a bowl. There’s a recipe here, but you don’t have to add the extras like oranges or cinnamon. Once you’ve made your cloud dough, you can use small pots and spoons (yogurt pots or small containers) to scoop and mould it.
Creative
Have a go at making a flag to go in your sandcastle. You could use a bamboo skewer or find a small stick when you go for a walk. Cut out some paper to make the flag and decorate it with a picture. Will it be a triangle or rectangle shaped flag? Make sure that you keep it somewhere safe so that you can take it to the seaside, the next time you go. You’ll be able to look forward to building a giant sandcastle!
Lego challenge
Build a lighthouse using your Lego/Duplo bricks. How tall can you make it? Is it stable or does it fall over? Here’s a very short clip of Maddie learning about lighthouses.
Role play
Do you like to eat fish and chips at the seaside? You could have a go at creating your own fish and chip shop. Cut out a circle to make a cone and use some dry penne pasta for chips. You could make a fish using some brown cardboard. If you have an old newspaper or magazine, you could use that to wrap them up. Add a note pad to take orders and some money for the customers to pay. Have fun!
Watch
Join Barnaby Bear on his visit to the seaside.
Health and self care
What would you wear to go to the seaside? Being able to get undressed and dressed independently is a really important skill. Encourage your child to get dressed by themselves when you’re not in a rush. Can they put their own shorts and t-shirt on? How about tricky socks?
Floating or sinking
