What have we been learning this week?
This week, we have been learning all about dinosaurs! We have been reading dinosaur stories, singing dinosaur songs, counting dinosaurs, sorting dinosaurs and even drawing their skeletons. We have also looked at non-fiction books and talked about where dinosaurs may have lived.
Next week, we will be discussing the change of seasons and learning to mix autumnal colours. We will also be talking about our families and would love family photos to include at circle time. These can be emailed to the following address:
stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Things to remember for the coming week:
Please can all children have a named pair of wellington boots in school as soon as possible – we would love to go puddle jumping soon!
Class Novel – The Legend of Podkin One-Ear
Year 3 and 4 are thoroughly enjoying their new class novel – The Legend of Podkin One-Ear.
A mysterious storyteller rolls in from the snow one night and enchants a warren of young rabbits with the tale of Podkin One Ear: the son of a chieftain who went on to become a legend.
As we read this atmospheric tale, we have been discussing some of the words and phrases used by the author that create characterisation, setting and suspense. The children thought about how the author chose the right words and phrases to interest and intrigue the reader. We are certainly interested!
The Gorm
Podkin is son of the chieftain of the Munbury warren but forced to flee with his baby brother and capable big sister Paz when their home is invaded by the terrifiying Gorm, iron-clad monster rabbits turned evil by greed and enchantment.
The Gorm are a frightening bunch of thugs who want to take over the rabbit world and crush all before them. In class, the children were given half an image of The Gorm and, using the words and phrases we had discussed, they briefly sketched the other half.
iron-clad beasts
grinding metal
clump of heavy leather boots
a walking slab of metal and meat
pierced with rusty thorns and nails
jagged, dented iron
cruel shard-like spikes
curved metal horns
shadowy eye slits
dim scarlet pupils
mottled with rusty red veins
The children really enjoyed transferring the descriptive vocabulary into an image. Not the most handsome of creatures!
Talking about Mental Health
It’s becoming increasingly more and more important to talk about our mental health.
Today, Year 5 & 6 have been learning about the importance of talking about their mental health. We watched an animation to help us understand small everyday feelings and when those feeling become too much/too big for us to cope with on our own.
We chatted about our circle of support and the trusted people who we might speak to if our mental health needed a little TLC.
In school, there are loads of ways for your child to ask for help if they need it – can they tell you about our living and learning box? -the adults in school who they would choose to speak to if they needed some help?
Why not try chatting with your child about how you cope with small everyday feelings at home and the things you do when those things become too much…
Phonics screening check
The phonics screening check determines how well a child can use the phonics skills they have learned in year 1, ensuring that they are on track to become fluent readers.
The check was cancelled by the government for year 1 children in June 2021.
In December 2021, the phonics screening check will be taken by all children in year 2 instead. Year 2 pupils who do not meet the expected standard in the autumn check will take the statutory check in June 2022, alongside year 1 pupils.
The phonics screening check contains 40 words divided into two sections. Both sections contain a mixture of real words and alien words.
The children are encouraged to add sound buttons or use phoneme fingers to read a word. Here is a video showing how we do this.
You can help your child at home by reading anything and everything!
This week’s bible story
David and Jonathan: 1 Samuel 18-19
Friendship is a precious gift. Everyone wants to have friends. If we are fortunate, we will have a group of close friends, people with whom we can share our lives. However, sometimes, things go wrong. There can be disagreements that lead to friends falling out and maybe not talking to each other altogether. When David was a young boy, he had been told that one day, he would be the future King of Israel. As he grew up, David became famous for defeating the giant, Goliath, and for being a skilled soldier. He also wrote many songs that are recorded in the Book of Psalms in the Bible.
When David was a boy, a man called Saul was the King of Israel. Saul had a son who was called Jonathan. David and Jonathan became great friends. One reason was that Saul (Jonathan’s dad) was the present king and David was going to be the future king. David was also a great soldier and King Saul became very jealous of him! Another reason is that, if the usual practices were followed, Jonathan would have followed in his father’s footsteps as the future king – not David! Jonathan had a good reason to be jealous of David!
Reflection:
It would have been very easy for Jonathan to be jealous of David. Instead, he always protected him – sometimes, even saving David’s life!
How do we treat our friends?
Do we get jealous when they are successful or if they are better than us at something?
Or do we encourage them? Do we stand up for them? Do we feel happy when something good happens in their lives?
In David’s case, he really did get by ‘with a little help from his friend’.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for friends whom we can trust.
Thank you for friends who stick with us when we need them.
Please help us to be a friend to anyone in need.
Amen.
Gardening club
This term a new group of children are taking care of our garden area. After all the hard work of last term’s children, this new group are beginning to harvest the crops that they have grown. We have tomatoes, peppers and potatoes to enjoy. The sunflowers that last year’s Y5s and Y6s grew are looking fantastic too! We are going to take the potato crop that we have collected so far to our Harvest Festival service on Thursday.
Maths – place value and counting
We’ve been counting forwards and backwards from different numbers. We use a 100 square, number lines and songs to help us.
We have also been using a range of models to represent numbers.
We use real life examples to demonstrate how 10s and 1s can be used. Here we have 12 pens made up of one pack of 10 and two ones.
By seeing and making a range of representations, children are able to secure a deep understanding of numbers.
Most of the following representations focus on partitioning (splitting up a number into parts) a number into tens and ones.
The middle box on the bottom row shows 12 being made by cubes. The second picture in that box is to show how the cubes can be drawn. Children find it far quicker and easier to draw a long line to represent a ten than drawing a rectangle that is divided into ten squares.
Use these at home to support your child’s learning.
What have we been up to this week?
Maths
This week, we’ve been learning all about repeating patterns. We’ve been noticing patterns everywhere. The children even pointed out my patterned dress on Tuesday! Each day, the children were asked to make a repeating pattern using different objects/resources. They were fantastic at talking about their patterns and spotting mistakes – oops!
Phonics
This week, our daily phonics sessions have been a mixture of phase 1 activities. Phase 1 focuses on listening to different sounds and oral segmenting* and blending* skills. We went on a listening walk, made rhyming silly soups, and played I spy. Next week, we will begin phase 2. By the end of next week, the children will know the first three sounds: s, a, t.
PE
The children loved their first PE session! Mrs. Palmer will be teaching PE every Wednesday morning. The children had lots of fun travelling around the hall like animals. Mrs Palmer was very impressed with their amazing listening skills – well done Reception! Even though we only do one PE session a week, in early years we make sure we stay active throughout the week.
Snacks and Water…
Please make sure your child’s water bottle only contains plain water.
Every day, we provide a healthy fruit or vegetable at snacktime. If your child would prefer to bring their own snack, please ensure this contains only fruit and/or vegetables. Snacks from home will stay in the children’s bookbags until snack time at 10 am.
If your child is having grapes for their snack, please ensure that the grapes are cut lengthways.
Chilli challenges
The children have been introduced to the chilli challenges. Each week, there will be six green chilli challenges in different areas. The children will be encouraged to complete the challenges and tick them off on their chilli challenge card (see below). There will also be some red chilli challenges. These challenges are to extend their learning further.
Home-Link Challenge
*Segmenting – breaking down a word into individual sounds.
Blending – combining all the sounds to read a word.
We are geographers!
This week, we’ve been learning how to use six-figure grid references in geography to help us locate places on maps efficiently. We started by using four-figure grid references and progressed onto using six-figure grid references. This was a challenge!
Science investigation
This week in science, we conducted a comparative test on different substances to see if they dissolved. We sorted the substances according to if they were soluble or insoluble. Throughout the investigation, we made observations so we could make a logical conclusion.
