RE – Who made the world?
Who made the world?
In RE this half term, we’ll be exploring the question, ‘Who made the world?’.
In our first RE lesson, we learned about the creation story in the Bible.
Christians believe God created the world in seven days.
Each day, he made another part of the world.
He created light to make night and day, and all the land, sky, and oceans. He made humans, animals and all living things.
On the seventh day, God rested.
We then discussed Christianity – What is Christianity?
The children really impressed me with their prior knowledge of Christianity.
We explored the school looking for Christian influence. We were surprised by how many things we found and the ways in which they affect our daily life at school.
- the altar
- a painting of St James
- the cross
- Christian values
- shells
- Bible story
- reflection areas
- candles
- Bible
- cloth
- prayer book
- liturgy
Help at home by discussing the Christian influence we found around school. Here are some questions to spark discussion.
Who is St James?
What do the shells represent?
What are our Christian values? Which (if any) is the most important?
Which of our Christian values have you demonstrated this week?
Recaps
Each week, we’ll start our RE sessions with a recap in which children will recall key facts about 6 religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism):
- symbols
- places of worship
- festivals and celebrations
Help at home by learning some key religious facts. Can your child draw any of the symbols for the 6 religions we’ll learn about?
We’d love to celebrate all the fantastic learning that happens at home – perhaps you could share some drawings of religious symbols with us?
Maths Fun with One More and One Less!
This week in Year 1, we’ve been busy learning about 1 more and 1 less. Using ten frames and colourful maths cubes, the children explored adding or taking away 1 from different numbers. They enjoyed using the cubes to build numbers and then adding or removing cubes to see how the number changes.
Well done, Year 1 – you’re becoming fantastic mathematicians! Keep practising your 1 more and 1 less at home!
Help at Home
To support our maths learning, challenge your children with 1 more and 1 less questions at home. Try asking:
- “What is one more than 5?”
- “What is one less than 10?”
These simple questions will help build their confidence and understanding. Keep it fun and encourage them to explain their thinking!
RE
Our RE topic this term is Creation or Science: Conflicting or Complimentary. We began our learning by listening to The Beginning from Genesis 1. The children drew how they interpreted the reading and wrote down 7 words to summarise their thoughts. Words included prosper, separate, love, light, rest, creation, green up.
Help at home – Ask your child what they remember about The Beginning story. What happened on the third day? What did God do on Day 7? What music do you think would complement the story? Where in the Bible can you find Genesis 1?
Living and Learning – Manners
Earlier this year, we learnt about the importance of manners.
I respect myself and others.
Manners are words and actions that we can use to help us be kind and respectful to each other. It’s important to be polite and use our manners to show respect and kindness to others and treat everyone fairly. Good manners helps us to get on with others.
We discussed what good manners might look and sound like:
We linked this learning to our British Values, particularly Respect and tolerance. The children demonstrated that they could listen and respond to the views of others and respond politely.
We also discussed protected characteristics and the importance of treating everyone fairly.
We read ‘The Goops’ by Gelett Burgess. Help at home by reading the poem with your child. Can you spot the bad manners in the poem?
The Goops by Gelett Burgess
The Goops they lick their fingers,
And the Goops they lick their knives;
They spill their broth on the tablecloth –
Oh, they lead disgusting lives!The Goops they talk while eating,
And loud and fast they chew;
And that is why I’m glad that I
Am not a Goop – Are you?The Goops are gluttonous and rude,
They gug and gumble with their food;
They throw their crumbs upon the floor,
And at dessert they tease for more.They will not eat their soup and bread
but like to gobble sweets, instead,
And this is why I oft decline,
When I am asked to stay and dine!
Help at home by discussing manners with your child. How can you show good manners at home, at school and in the community? Can your child tell you about the British Values or our Christian Values?
Forest School
Year 5 and 6 have had exceptional punctuality and attendance so far this year. As a result, they earned themselves some forest school time out of class. We explored, built, played and worked together. It was a lovely morning out in the sunshine and the children have continued to ‘wow’ us with their positive teamwork and communication.
Reading
Thank you for coming along to our Phonics and Early Reading meeting this evening. We hope you found the session useful. We hope everyone has received their new username and login details and have been able to access the e-books online.
Here is the login page for the new e-book platform.
Please select ‘Login’, ‘I am a primary pupil’ and input your child’s username and password.
If you’re still having trouble accessing the e-books, please speak with us and we’ll be happy to assist.
Homework
Last week, your child will have come home with a purple homework book. This is for you to use at home to practise spellings or for any other homework. These do not need to come back to school.
Each week, we will add a reading and maths focus which is linked to the learning your child is doing in school that week. As well as this, there is a talk-time homework which is an opportunity to chat with your child about their learning.
Finally, we add some spellings to the homework sheet. The spellings stay the same for 2 weeks and at the end of the 2 weeks your child will have a spelling quiz.
If you have any other homework questions please send us an email or catch us on the door at drop off/pick up.
Mastering Number for Key Stage 2 – Multiplication sessions
Year 4 have been working hard this week to represent maths stories using gestures, pictures and expressions.
Help at home: Challenge your child to teach you how to use the gestures and pictures we use in our Mastering Number sessions.
Year 4’s Book Club
This week’s book club in Year 4 has been a busy one! There was much excitement exploring Mrs Poole’s recommended reads and the “Mystery books” were snapped up within minutes. We are looking forward to some new titles entering our shelves with some of our budding authors creating their own books for other children to borrow.
Help at home: Sharing a book with your child is the best way to develop reading fluency and a love of reading. Do let us know what you have reading using the Reading Records and if you need help finding a book to get lost in do come and see me at drop off / pick up for a recommendation.
Reading and Writing: Little Red
In English, we have been having lots of fun exploring the story Little Red by Bethan Woollvin! The children have enjoyed comparing this modern version to the original Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. We’ve had lots of great discussions about the differences in characters and storylines.
We have also started learning about nouns. A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. For example, in Little Red, the girl is a person, the woods are a place, and the basket is a thing. The children have been looking at different pictures and practicing identifying nouns in them. They are really getting the hang of it!
Soon, we will be using these nouns to create sentences!