This week we celebrated National Poetry Day with a special poetry assembly.
Let No One Steal Your Dreams
We’ve been practising our poem by Paul Cookson all week and the children delivered it to parents, families and the rest of the school beautifully. Learning a poem by heart really is quite tricky!
They projected their voices fantastically and recited the poem with great prosody. It has also be a joy to speak to the children about what their dreams for the future are and to see how they have represented them through art.
If
Some children wanted an extra challenge so also performed the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. Some of the words were quite challenging to understand but it was a great chance to think about what you can do to help yourself be happy.
Hearing the last line performed in unison was really impactful!
Why are poems important for children?
Recent research from the National Literacty Trust found that when children consume or create poetry in their free time, they experience important benefits that can impact them in and outside of the classroom.
Children and young people who currently engage with poetry said that poetry:
- helps them to relax
- helps them to learn new things
- helps them to work through emotions
- helps them to understand the views of other people
- helps them to feel more confident
Help at home: visit the children’s poetry archive and explore their brilliant website. Which is your favourite poem?
Daffodils by William Wordsworth
On Thursday, to support national poetry day, the children performed ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth. Parents, teachers and pupils watched the performances, meaning the children had to be brave and show perseverance to learn and perform the poem. Year 5 took matters into our own hands (literally)! We painted our palms as beautiful daffodils to wave gracefully as they do. In the words of William Wordsworth…
‘and then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils.’
The actions, voices and painting of hands were all fantastic ideas from the children – we all really enjoyed our performance.
Help at home:
Enjoy learning poems with your child and talk about the hidden meaning in them. If you wish to continue learning Daffodils, the poem is printed below.
Being a ‘Fungi’ in Forest School!
I (Mr Freeman) had my first opportunity to experience forest school with the children today. The children told me I may be in for a good time, but I perhaps didn’t realise how much fun forest school can really be! First of all, Sarah (our forest school leader) is fantastic – all children respond really well to her words and her knowledge of the forest.
We began the session by exploring our surroundings. We are so lucky to have this space within our school grounds and the children are absolutely making the most of everything on offer. From playing in the mud kitchen to searching for unique mushrooms, it’s fair to say we are learning an awful lot every Friday. Ethan and Connor managed to find a new fungus that we were reading about in one of the books up in forest school – they concluded that we had found yellow brain fungus! Here are some brilliant photos of the children in action today.
Help at home:
Explore your outdoors with your child. They are extremely knowledgeable of their surroundings and might teach the adults something new (they definitely taught me lots today!).
Fitness for football!
Year 5 have been working hard on improving our fundamental movement skills, with football as a framework this half term. As we know, a huge part of lots of competitive sports is high fitness levels. So, Year 5 pushed themselves to their limits in our most recent fitness lesson! We had a circuit of activities in the hall and children had to spend 3 minutes taking on each one. Pupils worked hard, showed great teamwork and perseverance through tough skills and drills! We made sure to pause and drink plenty of water in the rest zone, too. Here are some pictures from our lesson!
Topic – Maps
This week in Geography, we’ve been learning all about maps.
We discovered that a map is a drawing that helps us find where we are or where we’re going. We learned that maps are usually drawn from an aerial view – as if we’re looking down from above.
We explored how maps use symbols to show places like parks, shops and churches, and how a key helps us understand what each symbol means. The children enjoyed using simple maps to find places of interest and talk about what they could see.
Later in the week, we created our own maps, adding human and physical features using symbols and creating a matching key.
Staying Safe
We also talked about what to do if you ever get lost – stay where you are so an adult can find you.
Help at home
- Go on a walk and look for things you might find marked on a map (shops, parks, post boxes).
- Try drawing a simple map of your journey to school or a favourite park.
- Look at a map or atlas and find places you’ve visited.
Science – forces
This week we made parachutes, of different sizes, and tested them to see if the various surface areas had an impact on air resistance.
We tested each parachute six times and recorded an average drop time. With these results, we produced a bar chart to display our results.
The children really enjoy planning, carrying out and recording results during this science experiment. Well done everyone!
Help at home – Ask your child what our results were. Why did we get the results we did? What is air resistance and how do we reduce/increase it? Can they talk about any other forces? Find your own ways to demonstrate the impact of air resistance.
The Number Line 0-100
This week in Year 2 we have been learning all about the number line up to 100. The children practised estimating where numbers belong and explained their thinking clearly.
We drew 100cm number lines and carefully added the numbers from 0 to 100. Using what we know about halfway, we placed important numbers such as 50, 25 and 90.
Here are some of the things the children said:
George – “I know 50 goes in the middle because it is halfway between 0 and 100.”
Austin – “25 is halfway between 0 and 50, so I put it at the quarter mark.”
Luna – “I put 90 near the end because it is close to 100.”
Gracie – “I checked my number by thinking about counting in tens along the line.”
Help at Home
Have a go at practising together at home with this interactive number line: https://mathsbot.com/tools/numberLine
Maths – Part-part-whole models
In maths, we’ve been learning about part-part-whole models.
A part–part–whole model shows how a number (the whole) can be split into two or more parts.
For example:
If we have 5 apples, we could show that as 3 and 2.
3 is a part.
2 is a part.
5 is the whole.
Why are part-whole models useful?
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They help children see number relationships clearly.
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They build understanding of addition and subtraction.
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They encourage children to talk about numbers.
“There are 5 altogether. 3 needs 2 to make 5.”
We’ve been using real objects, pictures and numerals to show different ways to make the whole.
The children have practised describing what they see, helping them to understand that the whole number stays the same, even when split into parts.
Help at home by using everyday items to make different groups and talk about how they combine to make the whole.
PE
Hello
My name is Mrs Freeman and I teach Nursery and Reception every Monday afternoon. This is when the children will have their weekly PE lesson.
I was amazed to see how well the class did during their first session. We discussed how to stay safe and the importance of listening to instructions.
Please see the photos below.
This half term, our sessions will focus on football. The children will be working on developing fundamental movement skills like running, jumping, throwing and catching through some playful activities. We will incorporate simple games that build gross motor skills such as kicking, controlling, and passing, while also fostering social development through teamwork and understanding simple rules.
We have also started some activities using the big parachute – so much fun!
Help at home
Share these photos with your child.
Can your child tell you about their PE lesson?
What did they enjoy?
How did they stay safe?
Reading – Hermelin
This week in Year 1, we’ve been reading Hermelin: The Mouse Detective by Mini Grey. We began by looking closely at the front cover and reading the blurb, then made some fantastic predictions about what the story might be about. After reading, we shared what we liked and disliked. The children loved Hermelin’s clever detective work and the way he helped everyone in the street!
The children had some brilliant discussions and used lots of great vocabulary to explain their ideas.
Help at home
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Ask your child to retell the story of Hermelin in their own words.
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Encourage them to look for clues in pictures or text when reading other stories, just like a detective!
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Visit your local library and see if you can find other books by Mini Grey.