Living and Learning – I use good manners
This week in Living and Learning, Year 1 have been thinking about good manners.
Manners are the kind words and actions we can use to show respect and kindness to others. They help us to treat everyone fairly and link to the British value of respect and tolerance.
We talked about how it feels when people are polite or impolite. Being polite makes everyone feel happy and cared for but being impolite can make people feel sad or left out.
The children had lots of brilliant ideas about good manners:
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Saying please and thank you
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Being kind and helping people
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Holding doors open
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Sharing
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Saying good morning and giving a smile
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Being welcoming to others
We agreed that good manners help us to get on with each other and they make school a happier place for everyone!
Help at home by thinking of a time you used good manners today. How did it make you and others feel?
Music
In music this week, children have been naming key features of a ballad and using musical vocabulary to do so.
The children listened to the following songs and produced artwork to demonstrate their understanding of each song and the key messages portrayed.:
- Space Oddity by David Bowie
- Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers
- On my own by Smantha Barks
- Everything I do by Brian Adams
- I will always love you by Whitney Houston
Help at home – enjoy listening to these songs together at home.
Science – Exploring Basic Needs for Survival
This half term in Science, Year 2 have started a new topic all about what animals need to survive. We are building on our Year 1 learning, where we explored different animal groups. Now we are thinking more carefully about their individual needs.
All animals need some important things to survive:
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Food
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Water
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Air
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Shelter
Jolyon – “All animals need to have shelter and stay warm to survive.”
Zubi – “Shelter is somewhere that animals can go to be protected from the weather.”
Last week, we began by looking at mammals. We talked about how humans are mammals too, and thought about the things we need to stay alive and healthy. Over the next few weeks, we will be exploring the survival needs of other animal groups, including birds, fish and reptiles.
Help at Home: Ask your child about our new Science vocabulary.
Topic – Capital Cities of the United Kingdom
This half term, in topic, we’re geographers. A geographer is a type of scientist that studies the world around us. They look at the land and the people on it.
- We live on a planet called Earth.
- We live on a continent called Europe.
- We live in a country called England.
- England is a part of the United Kingdom – a union of 4 countries.
This week, we’ve been learning about the capital cities of the United Kingdom.
A capital city is an important city which is usually where the government works (they’re the people who make rules and decisions).
After learning about the capital cities of the United Kingdom, the children were tasked with locating them on a blank map and labelling them. We’ve got some impressive geographers in Year 1!
“Belfast is the capital city in Northern Ireland.”
“I’ve been to London.”
“Cardiff is in Wales.”
Help at home by:
- Map Hunt Find the capital cities of the UK on a map – perhaps in an atlas or on Google Earth.
- Build It Can you build any of the capital cities’ landmarks using blocks or LEGO?
- Travel Talk Have you visited any of the capital cities of the United Kingdom? Tell you child about your trip. What did you see?
PE
We are so lucky here at St James’ that we have so many super sportspeople. The children in Year 6 have already been showing excellent progress in football this half term and are really enthusiastic in each lesson we have. This week, we worked on our fitness and spoke about how improved fitness can positivity impact us.
Help at home – Encourage your child to keep fit at home: this may be a walk/run or some exercises in the home (sit-ups or jumping jacks). Talk about why keeping fit and looking after their body is important.
Writing: What is a squashed sentence?
We have noticed that many of us sometimes write ‘squashed sentences’. This is very common! A squashed sentence happens when two sentences are joined together without a full stop or a joining word.
Here’s how we fix them:
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Use a full stop and start a new sentence with a capital letter.
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Add a conjunction like and, or, so, but, because to join the sentence properly.
For example:
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Squashed sentence: I went to the park I saw my friend.
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Fixed with a full stop: I went to the park. I saw my friend.
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Fixed with a conjunction: I went to the park and I saw my friend.
Remember, fixing squashed sentences makes your writing clearer and easier to read! Keep practising, Year 3!
Help at home: Come up with your own squashed sentence and fix it with a full stop or conjunction.
Our class novel
This term, our class novel is Podkin One-Ear by Kieran Larwood, and we have loved diving into the magical world of rabbits, warrens, and adventures! The story has already captured our imaginations, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.
We have also been practising one of our key reading skills: retrieval. This means finding information directly from the text to help us answer questions. As part of this, we looked carefully at the description of the Bard and used words from the story to describe him. Afterwards, we drew our own versions of the Bard, bringing the character to life with the details we found.
Help at home: Choose a character from a book, find words from the text to describe them, and use these words to help you draw the character.
Our Class Family
It has been a lovely week to welcome all the children to their first full day sessions. The children have continued to explore all the areas of provision inside and outside nursery. The children have been getting to know each other and familiarising themselves with their new surroundings and grown-ups!
Bags, Wellies and Spare Clothes
Don’t forget to bring in your school wellies and a draw string or small bag of spare cloths/underwear to keep in school. Thank you to the parents and carers who have already provided these.
Family Photo
We will soon be talking and learning about different families. To support our learning, please send in a photo of your child with their family. You can bring in a copy of your photo or email it to:
stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Have a happy and healthy weekend.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
Our Class Family
We have welcomed all the children into class this week and we are so proud of how everyone is settling in, getting to know their new classroom and making new friends. There are lots of routines to learn and things to remember at this stage, but we’ve been amazed at how quickly children are settling in.
PE Day
PE will start on Monday 22nd September. Please send your child to school in their PE kit every Monday. ( plain white t-shirt, navy blue shorts, school jumper/cardigan and trainers they can fasten themselves.)
Bags, Wellies and Spare Clothes
Don’t forget to bring in your school wellies and a draw string or small bag of spare cloths/underwear to keep in school. Thank you to the parents and carers who have already provided these.
Family Photo
We will soon be talking and learning about different families. Next week we will introduce out first focus book The Big Book of Families by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith.
To support our learning, please send in a photo of your child with their family. You can send in a copy of your photo or email it to:
stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week we introduced our first poem called Chop Chop.
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop.
Cut off the bottom and cut off the top.
What there is left, we put in the pot.
Chop, Chop, Choppity Chop.
Help at home– Ask your child to recite the poem to you, can they remember the action as they perform it to you?
Phonics
This week, we have learnt our first four phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) s,a,t and p.
During our phonics learning, we listened carefully to the initial sound in a word and sorted objects by the sounds they begin with.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Have a happy and healthy weekend.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
Forest school
Today saw the return of Forest School for our Year 6 children. We had a wonderful afternoon emersed in nature: exploring, creating and learning. The children (and Mr Kilner) made friendship bracelets, build dens, played and honed their bushcraft skills – it was a fabulous end to week two.
It has been such a positive start to the year; the children continue to conduct themselves in a polite, positive and calm manner.
Have a lovely weekend.