World Nursery Rhyme Week
This week has been World Nursery Rhyme week. We have had a great week celebrating our favourite Nursery Rhymes and have focused on a range of different nursery rhymes and we have been singing them (even more!) at carpet times.
Help at home: Sing your favourite Nursery Rhyme and send a video of you singing it for us to share in class.
Odd Socks
On Monday, we wore odd socks to signify our differences and share the message that we are all different in some way. We discussed how important it is to celebrate our differences and respect everyone.
Phonics
This week, we focused on the new GPCs (Grapheme-phoneme correspondence) v, w, x, y.
We’ve also learnt the tricky words; and, has, his, her. Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We start by identifying which part of the word is ‘tricky’.
Please continue to revisit this week’s sounds, by using the learn at home sheets. Thank you.
Poetry Basket
Children love listening to and joining in with poems each week. We learn a new poem every Monday and recite it together throughout the week.
Saying the poems out loud helps us focus on sounds, rhythm and rhyme, which supports our early reading skills. We’ve noticed that some poems have a fast and lively beat, while others are slow and gentle.
Shoes
Before I jump into my bed,
Before I dim the light,
I put my shoes together,
So they can talk all night.
I’m sure they would be lonesome,
If I tossed one here or there,
So I put my shoes together,
For they are a friendly pair.
Reminder
Next Tuesday is our Maths Stay & Learn session for parents. Once the children are settled on the carpet, we’ll invite you into the classroom to watch a short maths session. After that, there’ll be a variety of maths challenges for you to enjoy with your child. To finish the session, I’ll deliver a short presentation all about maths in Reception. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs. Linton and Mrs. Cairnes
Anti-bullying week
This week, it’s been Anti-bullying week. We came in our odd socks to show that we’re all different and that’s a good thing!
We talked about what bullying actually means. If someone is unkind to us once, it’s okay to feel upset and to talk to people we trust. However, recognising behaviour as bullying means:
S – Several
T – Times
O – On
P – Purpose
If we feel this is happening, it needs to STOP, so we should:
S – Start
T – Telling
O – Other
P – People
These people would be trusted adults such as our parents or teachers.
We looked at different situations and decided whether they were examples of bullying or just unkind behaviour.
We also thought about the different types of bullying, such as:
-
Physical – when someone is being physically hurt
-
Emotional – unkind words or negative body language
After looking at some friendship scenarios, we thought about how we might feel and what we could do to make sure everyone felt happy again.
We finished the day by thinking about the things we like. Not everyone liked the same things and that’s what makes us unique!
If someone likes something different, it would be good to try it because you might like it too. J
Help at home: Can your child tell you what both STOPs mean?
Year 2 Trip to the Hepworth Gallery
Year 2 had a fantastic day at The Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. The children loved exploring the gallery spaces and studying the incredible sculptures on display. They spent time discussing line, texture and colour and were fascinated to see some of the real-life objects that inspired Barbara Hepworth’s artwork.
In the afternoon, the class took part in an amazing printing workshop. Using a range of different textures, they created their own unique prints and the outcomes were incredible. There are definitely a few pieces worthy of a frame.
We were especially proud of how respectful and responsible the children were throughout the day. Their behaviour set a wonderful example of our school and they represented us brilliantly.
We’re excited to explore printing even further as part of our art topic this term.
L&L – Anti-bullying week
Earlier this week, Year 4 took part in Odd Socks Day as part of Anti-bullying Week.
What is bullying?
We started by talking about what bullying actually means and how it is different from being rude or mean. We learned that:
-
Being rude is when someone says or does something hurtful, as a one-off and is unintentional.
-
Being mean is when someone hurts another on purpose, as a one-off and is intentional.
-
Bullying is when someone hurts someone, intentionally several times on purpose.
What can we do?
We discussed what we should do if we see someone being bullied including:
- tell a trusted adult,
- stand up for others safely, and
- be kind to everyone.
We learned about the different roles people can take in a situation where someone is being bullied. You can learn more about this here: Anti-bullying Alliance video
The children shared excellent ideas about how they can help make our school a happy and healthy place for all.
STOP
Year 4 showed wonderful compassion during our discussions showing that they truly understand that kindness and respect matter everywhere all the time.
Help at home: Together, watch the video about the different roles in bullying situations. Discuss what bullying is and what your child should do if they’re being bullied or think someone else is either in person or online.
Living and Learning – Anti-bullying week
Power for Good
This year’s Anti-Bullying Week theme is “Power for Good”. We all have a power inside us:
- to choose to be kind
- to speak up
- to help others feel safe
- to include someone
- to STOP bullying
We explored what kindness, supporting others, speaking up and including friends looks like in our happy and healthy classroom and playground. Here are some of the children’s ideas:
- saying nice things
- giving someone a smile so they feel happy
- letting someone go first sometimes
- telling an adult if someone gets hurt
- helping a friend if they’re stuck
- sitting with someone so they have a friend
- telling the truth, even when it’s tricky
Our School’s Definition and Solution for Bullying
Here at St James’ Primary School, we use the acronym STOP to help us remember the definition and solution to bullying.
Bullying is something that happens several times on purpose.
What can we do? Start telling other people (trusted adults) so help can happen.
What is Odd Socks Day?
On Monday, we celebrated Odd Socks Day. On this day, children and adults wear odd socks to send a meaningful message:
- It shows we are all unique and different.
- It helps us celebrate our differences.
- It helps us think about how we can include others and be kind.
We used our odd socks as a talking point to look at how we are each one-of-a-kind, how we treat each other kindly and how we can use our kind behaviour to help friends.
Help at home
- Remind your child of our school’s STOP definition of bullying. What’s the difference between bullying and a fall out between friends?
- Encourage your child to speak up if they see someone being unkind or if they feel sad or left out.
- Celebrate kindness: How your child used their power for good this week?
- Visit our staying safe page with your child.
- Download the Anti-bullying Alliance’s Parent and Carer pack
Anti-bullying
On Monday, we all came to school wearing odd socks to celebrate individuality and inclusion and to raise awareness of Anti-bulling Day.
At St James’, we use the acronym STOP to identify bullying:
We consider bullying when you hurt someone physically or emotionally (including online) Several Times On Purpose.
If this happens, we tell children to Start Telling Other People. To do this, children know they can use the Living and Learning box, tell a trusted adult, email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org or even call Childline (0800 1111).
This year’s Anti-bullying theme was ‘power for good’.
We spent time learning about six roles involved in bullying:
- ringleader
- assistant
- reinforcer
- bystander or outsider
- target
- defender
We watched this video to help us to understand these roles more:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnEjpHzTuwg
We also watched a BBC live lesson which had a range of challenges to help us think about how to stop bullying. The video can be found here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons/articles/zkv6khv
Finally, the children took part in some interactive learning from the Digital Matters website. Here children had to respond to scenarios whilst learning along the way. For example, we learn what the word ‘flaming’ meant:
Flaming is the act of sending angry or insulting messages, often with profanity, over the internet or in online forums.
The interactive online resources can be found here:
https://www.internetmatters.org/digital-matters/modules/?user_type=student
Help at home – Please speak to your child about the things they’ve learnt. Where can they go should they be experiencing bullying? What is ‘flaming’? Watch the videos together and allow them time to access the interactive learning on the Digital Matters website.
Year 3 pause and reflect on Armistice Day
Today, the 11th day of the 11th month, is Armistice Day. Year 3, discovered that the word Armistice comes from Latin and means still. Many of us agreed that we call it Armistice (still) Day because it is a day to stop and be still to remember those who served and sacrificed in war.
We worked out how it has been 111 years since the First World War began, which means it is now out of living memory. Many children proudly shared stories of family members who have served in wars, both past and present.
We were fascinated to learn how the news that the war had ended first reached the UK. A Morse code message was sent from France to the town of Enniskillen in Northern Ireland and church bells rang out there first, before any of the major UK cities knew.
Link to Morse code transcript:
The children were full of thoughtful questions and showed wonderful curiosity and respect throughout our discussions. We ended our discussion with a one minute silence, which Year 3 observed beautifully.
Lest we forget.
Living and learning: I know how to STOP bullying.
It’s anti-bullying week this week and the children have spent the day refreshing our minds on everything around bullying and how to prevent it. To begin, Year 5 discussed the definition of bullying in our school and the different roles that might come an incidence of bullying. At St James, we use STOP as an acronym to remember our anti-bullying policy. This stands for:
Several Times on Purpose
If children were to experience bullying, they should:
Start Telling Other People
From here, we discussed that it’s not only a victim of bullying that should follow this code – it’s anyone and everyone involved. Whether you are a victim, defender or simply a bystander, it’s everyone’s job to help prevent bullying.
The children then looked at some scenarios of made up school situations and had to discuss whether these were bullying behaviours or not. Once decided, the children then offered advice to all parties involved in the scenario. Year 5 did extremely well with this and all pupils were ready to input helpful ideas.
Year 5 have also started our daily friendship and support sessions today – these will happen each day before every break and lunch time to help maintain positive relationships. Today’s learning was: What makes a good friend? The task for the children was to use a positive friendship quality outside and many of them wrote down their examples in our friendship book.
Help at home: Today, we discussed why we don’t use the term ‘bully’ but we might use the term ‘bullying’. Discuss why this might be with your child and see if they can explain.
Answer: The term bully is used to define someone and it becomes part of their identity – we don’t want to be labelling anyone with a negative characteristic. Instead we might use the term bullying to describe words and/or actions instead.
Anti-Bullying Day
Today, Year 3 took part in Anti-Bullying Day. We started by talking about what bullying actually means and how it is different from being rude or mean. We learned that:
-
Being rude is when someone says or does something hurtful, as a one-off and is unintentional.
-
Being mean is when someone hurts another on purpose, as a one-off and is intentional.
-
Bullying is when someone hurts someone, intentionally several times on purpose.
We discussed what we should do if we ever see someone being bullied, including telling a trusted adult, standing up for others safely, and being kind to everyone. The children shared excellent ideas about how they can help make our school a safe and welcoming place for all.
We also talked about cyberbullying, how it can happen online, and the importance of keeping ourselves safe, being respectful and telling an adult if something doesn’t feel right.
Year 3 showed wonderful empathy and maturity during our discussions, showing that they truly understand that kindness and respect matter everywhere, in person and online.
Help at home: Discuss what is bullying and what might your child do if they’re being bullied or think someone else is.
Me & My Money Week
Our first week back has been jam packed with new and exciting learning! This week has been one of our themed weeks all about money! We’ve had a variety of sessions where we’ve learnt a lot about money, different ways to pay for things, saving, fundraising for charity, how our values and advertising can impact our decision making and the cost of everyday items. We can’t wait to show you all of our learning when you come in for our Topic Review on 28th November.
A trip to Antarctica
One of the most fun sessions was an online live lesson offered by HSBC where we planned a trip to Antarctica thinking about the difference between our wants and our needs. We had a budget to stick to and it was tough making decisions between our competing wants.
Help at home – the children were shocked to learn the average monthly cost of household expenses such as electricity and food shopping. Next time you go food shopping, you could challenge your child to use a calculator to add the cost of the food as you put it in your trolley. If they want a bigger challenge, they could use rough prices and add the amounts in their head.