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
I know how to STOP bullying is our school living and learning statement this week. On Tuesday, 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.
We read the story Odd Dog Out by Rob Biddulph and talked about how great it is to all be different.
“I am different because I have one white sock and one black sock!”
“I am different because I have a big sister and no brothers.”
“I am different because I have blue eyes.”
Stay and Learn; Maths 1
On Wednesday, we had a wonderful afternoon exploring maths with our adults.
Thank you to all of the parents and carers that were able to join us in the classroom to watch a short lesson, take part in some activities and listen to a teacher presentation.
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 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’s poem is called A Basket of Apples.
I’ve got a basket of apples, picked from a tree.
Apples rosy red for you, and shiny green for me.
Some of them are big, and some of them are small.
Some of them are oval, and some shaped like a ball.
Some of them are sour, and some of them are sweet.
Lots of lovely apples for you and I to eat.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman and Mr. Smith.
Art – Architecture
This half-term we are focusing on architecture in our Art learning.
Although we will be looking at a variety of structures, the two architects we will use as inspiration for our work are Sir Christopher Wren (who designed St Paul’s Cathedral) and Zaha Hadid (who designed the Heydar Aliyev Centre). We will create a collage using a variety of techniques. Watch this space to see our creations!
We’re all different!
This week we celebrated ‘odd socks day’ for anti-bullying week. We all wore different socks to represent the differences in each other and how we’re all unique.
We also read a story called ‘Odd dog out‘ by Rob Biddulph. All she wants to do is fit in, so she goes on a very long journey to find a place where she will be just like everyone else. After months of walking, she finally discovers the place she’s been looking for. But, she soon realises that being who you are is the best way to be!
We also joined in with World Nursery rhyme week. We sang along to familiar nursery rhymes and added these into our provision. We made 5 current buns on the playdough table, a farm for Old MacDonald and we also enjoyed some library time, reading some of our favourite stories.
Help at home: Being who you are is the best way to be! just like Odd dog out. What makes you different? What makes you, YOU?
I love the colour green and I often like to wear this colour! That’s what makes me, ME! – Miss Ward
Have a lovely weekend everyone
The Nursery Team
Gymnastics in Year One
This week in PE, Year One started their gymnastics unit! The children have been exploring how their bodies can move in low positions, thinking about balance, coordination, and creativity. Some brave gymnasts have even challenged themselves to try forward rolls.
To be creative, the children thought about how animals move and worked on imitating these movements. They practiced slithering like snakes, hopping like frogs, and crawling like bears. Everyone worked hard to move with control, especially when traveling in straight lines. What a fantastic start to gymnastics!
Help at Home Tips:
- Encourage your child to practice moving in different low positions at home—can they crawl under a table or slither across the carpet?
- Play a game of “Animal Moves” and guess which animal they’re imitating!
Anti-bullying Week
At St James Primary, we define bullying as:
‘Where you hurt someone, physically or emotionally,
Several Times On Purpose.
If we do experience bullying, we all should:
Start
Telling
Other
People
During Anti-bullying week ,we discussed the importance of being an upstander and standing up and supporting others. We looked at various scenarios and talked about the best ways to deal with often difficult situations.
We also celebrated our differences on Odd-sock Day.
Help at home – What is an upstander? How can you help someone who is being bullied? Where can you go if you feel you are being bullied?
Art: Architecture
Our new art topic this half term is focussed on architecture. Architecture is the art or practise of designing and constructing buildings.
For our first two lessons, we’ve looked at some examples of buildings in different parts of the world. We’ve focused on two main architects – Christopher Wren and Zaha Hadid.
Using their buildings and designs as inspiration, the children were tasked to create a collage. We tried thinking about the following elements of art during the task:
- composition
- space
- scale
- colour
The outcomes were absolutely fantastic! Here’s some of our learning:
Living and learning: I know how to STOP bullying.
At St James Primary, we define bullying as:
‘Where you hurt someone, physically or emotionally,
Several Times On Purpose.
If we do experience bullying, we all should:
Start
Telling
Other
People
As part of our anti-bullying week, Years 3 and 4 took part in an online workshop on bullying and how to agree and disagree respectfully.
During this session, we came up with an acrostic poem to help us remain respectful in tricky situations, so that bullying never occurs. We used the word ‘respect’ to help us.
Remember to listen to others.
Everyone’s ideas matter.
Show support to each other.
Play fair.
Everyone is different.
Calm down and communicate.
Talk to a trusted adult.
Tempo FM visit
As part of Me and My Community week, Year 5 were invited along to visit Wetherby’s Tempo FM. The gentlemen who run the station made us feel very welcome and the children enjoyed reading some of their work, local weather and making song requests.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and some of our children were naturals behind the microphone. I’m sure the Wetherby community thought so too as they tuned in to listen.
Here are some of our radio highlights:
Living and Learning: Odd Socks Day and Anti-Bullying Day
We started anti-bullying day with our odd socks. We wore odd socks to celebrate that we’re all unique and different in some way. This sends an important message that we’re all allowed to be ourselves, free from bullying and helps us to celebrate anti-bullying in a fun and positive way.
We explored our school definition of bullying, created by our junior leaders, by looking at what some of the words meant.
What are the different types of bullying?
Our school definition helped us understand the different types of bullying – physical (hurting our body), emotional (hurting our feelings) or cyber bullying (online).
The children thought about who they would tell if they needed to Start Telling Other People.
Help at home: discuss our school definition of bullying with your child. Do they know the difference between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once?
English: Michael Rosen Day
Today, we celebrated Michael Rosen Day with a live webinar, where we had the pleasure of hearing him read some of his incredible poetry. He also shared inspiring insights and useful tips on writing poetry.
We especially enjoyed his reading of Hot Food. It was fascinating to learn how this poem brings back memories of his family, almost like a photo album playing in his mind as he reads it.
Help at home: Read the poem aloud together and make it interactive by encouraging your child to act out parts of the poem or create movements for certain words.
