The Three Little Pigs
We’ve had a busy week using our focus book The Three Little Pigs.
We read the story and made our own houses for the pigs to live in. We enjoyed talking about the story.
‘I have this story, but the wolf runs away at the end.’
‘I would make my house with the bricks, it is strong.’
‘I’ve got no puff left in my mouth.’
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
The Everywhere Bear
This week we have had great fun with our focus book The Everywhere Bear by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb.
In the story the Everywhere Bear goes on lots of adventures with the children and a huge journey when he gets lost! We added actions to help us to remember the ten different place he went, this helped us to remember and say them all. Great work reception!
Our word of the week has been journey the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning. We also went on a journey around school visiting all the different classes we even visited Miss Beatson in her office. It was so lovely to be greeted by so many happy smiley faces.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been using Polly Parrot to demonstrate accurate counting. We’ve been reminding Polly to…
- “stop at the stopping number” and recall the the total amount- cardinality
- only count each item once- one-to-one correspondence
- know that objects can be counted in any order- order irrelevance
We’ve also been looking at ways to make counting easier, such as moving objects or lining them up. We’ve been counting things that cannot be seen (such as sounds or actions) and things that cannot be moved.
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the phonemes (the sound a letter makes) g, o, c and k. They have also been practicing writing the graphemes (the written letter).
We have started reading words, by putting sounds onto our phoneme fingers.
We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; is. Tricky words are those we have to ‘look and say’ because they have ‘tricky’ parts that we cannot sound out.
Please continue to use the ‘Learn at home’ sheets with your child, to review our new sounds and tricky words each week.
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
Maths – Groups of objects
In maths this week, we’ve been learning about what it means to have a whole group.
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First, we looked at trays of cakes. If all the spaces are full, we know we’ve got the whole group.
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Then, we noticed that a whole group doesn’t have to look exactly the same. A box of eggs with different colours is still a whole group if none are missing.
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Next, we learned about not whole. If something is missing, like a cake from the tray, it isn’t the whole group anymore.
The children have been brilliant at explaining their thinking using stem sentences:
“This is a whole group of ___ because…”
“This is not a whole group of ___ because…”
This is a whole group because all the seats have children sitting in them.
There’s 1 missing. It’s not a whole group.
Help at home by exploring groups of objects:
- At the table, ask your child if the cutlery is a whole group or if something is missing.
- Look in the fridge: is the egg box full? If not, how many are missing?
- When tidying toys, count if you have the whole set.
Writing
This week, Year 6 have been learning about parenthesis and how to use it in their writing.
Parenthesis is the use of a phrase, word or sentence that’s added into writing as extra information or an afterthought. It’s punctuated by brackets, commas or dashes.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7hppg8
Here are some of the examples the children came up with or adapted themselves:
St James’, a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe, is in Wetherby. Valerie
The whole family – even Sam – is going on holiday. Willow
Samuel (who has a yappy dog) liked going for long walks. Chloe
Colin loves watching golf, with his friends. Lily
The school trip (to London) was a disaster. Christian
Samuel (who is a great athlete) liked going for long walks. Freddie
Mr Kilner – who was silly – fell off the ladder. Madeleine
The suitcase – bulging and heavy – wouldn’t fit in the boot. Leo S
The snow (six feet deep) meant we stayed at home. Ayah
The River Wharfe, which flows through Wetherby, is approximately 65 miles long. Leo M
The Amazon Rainforest (home to some of the most dangerous animals in the world) is in South America. Tommy
St James’, a wonderful school, is in Wetherby. Charlina
The dog – a German shepherd – loves chasing squirrels. Teddy
Help at home – ask your child what parenthesis is. Why is it used? Which punctuation do we use and why? Think of some together as a family. I’d love to see/hear what you can come up with at home.
Football Skills in PE
This term in PE, Year 2 are developing their football skills. We began by learning how to control the ball by stopping it carefully. The children then practised moving slowly around each other, keeping the ball under control as they navigated the space.
Working in pairs, they learned how to stop the ball with their foot before passing it back using the inside of their foot. Finally, the children started dribbling the ball to each other, focusing on keeping the ball close and controlled.
⚽ How you can help at home:
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Practise stopping the ball with your foot.
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Try short passes with a family member, aiming to use the inside of your foot.
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Set up small obstacles (like cones or toys) and practise dribbling slowly around them.
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Talk about the importance of control rather than speed.
Living & Learning – I know that rights come with responsibilities
We are very excited about the new Sandringham Park but disappointed that not all users have taken care of it. This led us to reflect on our Living & Learning statement I know that rights come with responsibilities and how this links to using the park.
We’re going to send our suggested rules to Wetherby Town Council and see if they would like some hand made posters to encourage users to make the park a happy and healthy place to play!
Reading – The Enchanted Wood
In reading, we’ve been enjoying Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood. We’ve read the first two chapters and met Joe, Beth and Frannie as they moved into their new home near the mysterious wood.
The children have loved imagining what it might be like to discover such a magical place. We’ve been busy making predictions about what could happen next:
- Who might live in the wood?
- What secrets will the children uncover?
- What adventures might be waiting at the top of the Faraway Tree?
Everyone has been eager to share their ideas and it’s been wonderful to see such creativity and excitement in our discussions. We can’t wait to read more and find out what happens next.
Help at home by discussing the story with your child. Can they summarise what has happened so far? Help your child to make some connections – does the story remind them of something they’ve done, seen or read before?
Retrieval practise in reading: The Spider and the Fly
With national poetry day coming up next week (02.10.25), Year 5 have been reading The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt. To summarise, this poem reveals a cunning spider’s evil plan to lure the fly into his trap by using flattering words. The fly at first is very wary of the spider, but, in time, the spider’s kind words are too enticing for the fly to ignore. The fly enters the spider’s trap and does not meet a happy end.
When reading aloud, the children have blown me away with their fantastic oracy skills, such as tonal variation and voice projection when pretending to be the spider and the fly. In our most recent retrieval lesson, children were tasked with drawing the spider’s parlour based on facts in the text. The accuracy of their illustrations and annotations was brilliant and the children managed to include everything!
Here are some brilliant examples:
Help at home:
Practise reading aloud with your child and focus on different ways to use voices. With national poetry day just around the corner, perhaps use a poem to read together?
Living and Learning: I know that rights come with responsibilities
This week, our Living and Learning statement is I know that rights come with responsibilities.
In Year 3, we have been learning that rights are the things that everyone deserves (like being safe, cared for and listened to) and responsibilities are the things we should do to make sure we and others can enjoy those rights (like following rules, showing respect and helping others).
The children discussed examples of rights they have at school, such as the right to learn, play and feel safe. The responsibilities that go with them, such as listening carefully, taking care of equipment and being kind.
Help at Home: Talk to your child about their rights and responsibilities at home. For example, they might have the right to play with toys but the responsibility to tidy them away afterwards. Sharing examples together will help to strengthen their understanding.
Tens And Ones
Our maths learning has been all about multiples of 10. We’ve been practising counting in 10s and adding 10 more and finding 10 less. Although adding multiples of 10 sounds tricky, if we know that 3 = 4 = 7, then 30 + 40 = 70.
We started to think about tens and ones. We’ve been making 2- digit number using Base 10 to represent the tens and ones.
We then looked at groups of objects and thought about how we could figure out the amount by grouping the tens and counting the left over ones.
Help at home: Choose a 2 digit number with your child and see if they can make or draw the number. You can find virtual Base 10 online if needed.