Week 4 – Jack and the Beanstalk
This week we have been learning more about the fantastic story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We found lots of repeating words in the story and enjoyed joining in.
In provision we created our own beanstalks, made castles and furniture fit for giants and measured different beanstalks using cubes.
We thought about what plants need to grow and decided to see if we could grow our own beanstalks. It was lots of fun getting everything ready and patting the bean into the soil. We learnt that the beans will need light, warmth and water to grow.
We are growing potatoes!
Over the past few weeks we have been reading some fantastic focus books.
‘A superhero like you’ by Dr Ranj and Liam Darcy
The children expressed what ‘real’ superhero they wanted to be when they are older. We transformed our provision into a world of occupations from a farmer to a dentist!
‘The girl is like Mummy’- Savannah
‘They don’t wear clothes like batman’-Deacon
‘I like building with my hammer’- George
‘Oliver’s Vegetables’ by Alison Bartlett and Vivian French
The children enjoyed learning about all the vegetables that grew in Oliver’s garden. We talked about what we have grown at home before and what we would like to grow in nursery. We all decided we wanted to grow some potatoes just like Oliver so we could make our own chips!
‘I grow peppers with my Grandad’ – Ella
‘I got carrots and potatoes’ – Frankie
‘I’ve not had beetroot before, it’s purple’- Austin
‘ Daisy eat your peas’ by Kes Gray and Nick Sharratt
Daisy does not like peas and there is nothing that her mum can do to get her to eat them! The children discussed their likes and dislikes around food. We then started to talk about which foods are healthy and which are not so healthy but in the end we all decided we love ice-cream!
‘Daisy didn’t want to eat her peas and then she tried to get mum to eat her brussel sprouts but she didn’t like them either’- Gracie
‘I don’t like sprouts, I like carrots’ – George
‘ I had sprouts at Christmas’- Austin
‘ I like Yorkshire pudding’- Ella
‘ I like to drink apple juice’- C
‘ Daisy is funny because she didn’t want to eat her peas’- Joshua
Notices
Thank you to those that have booked an appointment for parent consultations, I am excited to share with you your child/children’s progress this term. There are still some appointments left so the list will be displayed in the nursery window if you wish to attend.
Please keep sending in any photos you would like to share with nursery for the children to share in our circle times. The children really enjoy sharing what they have been getting up to at the weekend with their grown-ups!
Our email address is stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Have a lovely happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward
What Are Fractions?
Our brand new topic in Maths is all about fractions! We recapped what fractions are and we know they are part of the whole. So if there are 13 children in Year 3, one of them is one part of the whole.
We looked at how fractions are written and thought about what the numerator and the denominator could be. The children had a go at splitting a whole into equal parts using playdough and wrote out their fractions.
After, we started to compare unit fractions. We know that the numerator will always be 1. To help us compare unit fractions, we watched Miss Gledhill create a fractions wall for our classroom.
We looked at the size of each unit fraction. The children were able to recognise that the more equal parts the whole is split into, the smaller the part. Therefore, if someone loved chocolate they would certainly choose one quarter of a bar over one fifth!
Help at home by helping your child find equal parts. This could be of an object or a drawing. If they were to make a unit fraction, what would the numerator and denominator look like?
Maths: buy one get three free..!
In Year 4, time is dedicated to learning and quickly recalling the times table up to and including 12x.
Did you know that your child knows four facts just for knowing one times table fact. Confused? Take a look at this short video explaining what we’ve been working on…
Writing: spelling practice
Each week, time in class is spent practising spellings. Words are the building blocks to language and it’s important that words are spelled correctly.
Of course, like all things we practise little yet often, spelling practice can get a little dull..! Why not have a go at what we did in class! Spell the words, chop them up into a mini jigsaw then put them back together again!
Money in maths!
This week, we’ve been learning all about money in maths. We’ve counted pence and pounds and we’ve done a fantastic job! We have a great understanding of the value of different coins and notes.
Today, we’ve been choosing coins to make amounts! Miss Kay gave us a team challenge to find all the different ways we can make amounts of money that are the price of Miss Kay’s lunch.
Help at home by looking at coins you may have. Talk about the values and add it all up!
All aboard the Hundred Decker Bus!
This week our focus book has been ‘The Hundred Decker Bus’ by Mike Smith. This story takes us on an amazing adventure with a growing bus!
We used our literacy skills to sequence and retell the great story. We discussed how it might feel if we went on an adventure but didn’t know where we were going! In the classroom we created our own towns labelling the different buildings, we created playdough vehicles and labelled double decker buses.
We loved the idea of each deck on the bus been a different place to do things. We decided to create a class decker bus. Thank you grown ups for our cardboard boxes! We all thought about what we wanted our deck to be and then used different materials to create it.
During our Religious Education lesson we learnt more about the Hindu Festival Holi. Holi is a colourful festival, with singing and throwing of powder paint and coloured water. It is a celebration of spring, love and new life. We decided to create our own friend who has taken part in Holi.
This week for poetry basket we used the nursery rhyme ‘Pat a Cake’ we loved creating our own actions. We hope you enjoy watching it!
Maths: times tables
Year 4 is the year where we really smash our times table knowledge! In class, we investigate the patterns we can spot in the tables as well as frequently chanting the multiples forwards and backwards, highlighting the multiples on a 100sq or multiplication grid, using the multiples on a number line and filling in the blanks of number grids.
This week, we’ve even added singing songs to our repertoire of learning tables! Check out these songs at home to help support your learning of tables! There’s loads of these kind of songs around – maybe you could have them playing at home or in the car when you next take a journey- everyone loves a sing-a-long!
PE
Recently, in PE, we’ve been using our knowledge of controlled movements to climb on and around the large apparatus in the hall. We talked about some of the best ways to move and balance on the equipment and what happens to our body movement as we travel, balance, jump and climb.
Writing: Should playtimes be banned?
In their writing lessons, the children have been learning techniques to help them to write persuasively. Today, we received a letter informing us that playtimes are going to be reduced and possibly stopped altogether! What an outrage!
Tomorrow, the class will put forward their argument and begin to plan a letter stating their opinions. To help with this, we created a ‘Conscience Alley.’
What does conscience alley mean?
Help at home by reading the letter below with your child. Create your own debate for and against banning playtimes.
To the staff, parents and governors
I would like your support with my proposal to reduce break time for KS2 children. Break and lunchtime at (St. James’ Primary School) make up a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes throughout the week. In my opinion, that is a significant amount of time being wasted with children simply running around and not participating in learning. My suggestion is to remove first break entirely and reduce lunchtime from 60 minutes (one hour) to 30 minutes (half an hour), which is adequate time for the children to eat, use the toilet and get some fresh air. Here I have outlined my main reasons for making this proposal.
First and foremost, a school’s purpose is for children to learn; children get to play when they are at home. Some may argue that break-time is vital for children to relax throughout the day. I, on the other hand, disagree because they are able to relax from 3.15pm (when our school day ends) until their bedtimes. Additionally, children have the weekends and school holidays to play. Increasing the amount of learning time is crucial for the children because it will increase the progress they make so it will improve the amount of opportunities available to them when they are older, allowing them to have a brighter future.
Furthermore, statistics show that break and lunch times are when the school has to deal with the most friendship problems and medical emergencies. By reducing the amount of time, the children are at break, we will reduce the chances of children falling out with each other. In addition, the increased amount of learning time will allow us to spend more time teaching Living and Learning and Circle Times, where we can equip the children with strategies to deal with friendship problems in the future.
Finally, I strongly believe that it is a waste of teacher’s time to look after children at break. Reducing the amount of break time will reduce the amount of time teachers have to spend supervising children during unstructured play, and allow them to the job they are trained to do: inspire the children with their learning.
To conclude, I consider it my responsibility to do what is best for the children (even if they may disagree), and reduce the amount of break time. In my experience, the more learning time the children have, the better progress they will make. Consequently, they will perform better in their assessments, have fewer friendship problems and be well prepared for the challenges of secondary school.