St James’ is alive with the sound of music…
Music has been alive in Year 1 and 2 this week. We were lucky enough to have musicians from Wetherby Music Centre in school to run a workshop with the children. The children learned to keep a rhythm before beginning to learn the ukulele. They’ve learned the names of the strings on the ukulele and have begun to learn to strum notes.
Wetherby Music Centre will be running a workshop with Year 1 and 2, weekly, for the next six weeks.
Worm Charming!
This week, we started our Life Forces topic by doing some ‘worm charming’ on the school field. We danced and tapped the ground to encourage the worms to come to the surface. It worked!
Then we used classification keys to identify the different types of worms that we found. It was a muddy experience!
d:side workshop
This week, we had d:side visit our school to talk to us about the bad effects of smoking. He explained to us about the harmful chemicals that are found in cigarettes and how they can damage our health.
“The workshop was interesting because when I am older, I know it will be bad for me and it will stop me smoking.”
Will Ted get wet?
Our class book, for the past two weeks, has been One Snowy Night. In this story, Percy the park keeper has to share his little hut with all the animals because their homes have been covered in snow.
Then, we found out poor old Ted’s home had been destroyed by the snow. We were concerned that Ted would get wet without a home so we set out on an investigation to find him a suitable material for his home.
We had a choice of paper, plastic, foil or fabric for his roof. The children made their predictions as to which would keep Ted dry and then we experimented. The children were shocked to find that the paper kept Ted dry along with the foil and the plastic. The children’s prediction of fabric not working was correct and Ted ended up floating in water.
Will it erupt?
Today, we have been testing variables to try and make the biggest eruption using cola and Mentos. One group changed the temperature of the cola, one group increased the amount of Mentos and one group changed the cola to a diet cola. Which one do you think made the biggest eruption?
Some children thought about some ‘what ifs’ after the experiment, such as: What if we heat up the coke? What if we use a different fizzy drink?
Can you think of any other ‘what ifs’ at home?
SATs in May
The Key Stage 2 tests (commonly called SATs) are in May:
- Monday 14 May: English grammar, punctuation and spelling papers 1 and 2
- Tuesday 15 May: English reading
- Wednesday 16 May: Mathematics papers 1 and 2
- Thursday 17 May: Mathematics paper 3
New style National Curriculum tests were introduced in 2016. This video lasts around five minutes and gives you a useful overview of the tests.
As always, speak with us if you have any questions, comments or concerns.
Chatter and Batter
As part of our themed week, we’ve been visiting people in our local community. ‘Chatter and Batter’ is an event organised by Wise, a charity supporting the elderly in Wetherby, and we went along to have a chat, eat dinner and host a quiz!
A visit from a vicar
This week in Year 1 and 2, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Revd. Stroma, from St James’ church, as part of our Identity week.
We’re looking at the different types of identity that we have, both as an individual and as a school. One of our school identities that we have is that our church identity. We are lucky to have close links with our local church St James’.
The children enjoyed the session, looking at items from the church that make up part of the church’s identity. The children could retell lots of interesting facts.
- “We learnt about things about God and Jesus.” – McKenzie
- “We learnt about festivals and celebrations in the church.” – Fleur
- “Revd. Stroma told us about the stoles, when they wear them and why they wear them.” – Daisy-Mae
- “Yesterday, we learnt about the things that are in the church like the white, pink and blue candles.” – Nicholas
Self-esteem workshop
As part of our themed week and our Living and Learning statement ‘I know who I am,‘ Year 5 and 6 took part in a workshop, linked to the Dove self-esteem project. The children discussed self-esteem, body image and body confidence.
A Christmas Carol
Today, we read a section of A Christmas Carol by candlelight and howling wind sound effects. Creepy…
