Amazing adjectives!
Today, in Key Stage 1, we had a special adjective day! We all came dressed up as an adjective – some examples include sleepy, sporty, powerful, stripy and smart!
An adjective describes a noun. A noun is a thing, place or a name.
Amazing adjectives!
Today, in Key Stage 1, we had a special adjective day! We all came dressed as an adjective – some examples include sleepy, sporty, powerful, stripy and smart!
An adjective describes a noun. A noun is a thing, place or a name.
We labelled some nouns in our classroom. Then, we thought of some adjectives to describe them.
‘The fluffy pillows.’
‘The snuggly teddy bear.’
‘The red book.’
Ask your child: which is the noun? Which is the adjective?
Digital Art
This half term, the children will have an art themed topic. As well as developing the children’s practical skills, we will be learning about art history. Our art will be created and presented using digital technology.
In lessons, we will be studying some architecture. Spend some time at home discussing these questions and images. What do you like? What don’t you like? What’s the same and what’s different? Which are modern and how do you know? How could you describe these amazing pieces of architecture?
What is an architect?
What job do they do?
Can you name any famous architects?
Below is a list of the vocabulary the children will be using throughout this topic. Ask your child if they know any of these words and can they tell you their definitions?
| complementary colours |
| warm colours |
| cool colours |
| form |
| space |
| medium |
| digital art |
| architecture |
| architect |
| commission |
Spellings
Next week, we will be learning about how to make words plural. Learn the following words for a test on Friday 11th November:
communities
attaches
categories
dictionaries
wolves
hooves
puppies
crutches
Community week
This week, we’ve had lots of visitors into school because it’s been our community themed week. The week got off to a great start when the Mayor of Wetherby visited us and spoke to us about his responsibilities within the local community and how he became Mayor through a democratic vote.
Throughout the rest of the week, we had our local community police officer visit us to talk to us about staying safe in our community; Wetherby in Bloom came into school to talk to us about how they support our local community and our younger children potted some plants with the help of some of their volunteers; Boston Spa, Wetherby and Villages Community Group came into talk to us about how we can help the environment; and Wise Charity spoke to the children about supporting the elderly within the local community with the help of their mascot owl!
Children in Years 4- 6 Zoomed some children at Moortown Primary School to compare our school communities and found out some similarities and differences. A group of children also had the opportunity to speak on the local radio station, Tempo FM. It’s been a busy week!
Thank you to all our visitors for making our week so enjoyable.
04 November 2022
This week, we’re thinking about homophones – words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.
We need children in Year 4 to not only know how to spell these words but to also have the skill of knowing which word is the right one to use at the right time!
hear/here
break/brake
heel/heal/he’ll
berry/bury
whether/weather
buy/bye/by
there/their/they’re
to/too/two
where/wear/were
who’s/whose
St James’ does Tempo FM!
Today, some children did a fab job of representing St James’ on Wetherby’s very own local radio station – Tempo FM!
Maybe you tuned in and heard Dexter deliver the weather or Aubree tell us about local events or perhaps you heard Mrs Bald explaining why our school were visiting Tempo FM…
As part of community week, we joined up with the community radio station. All week, we’ve been thinking about what community means and what it’s like to be a part of a community.
Check us out in action…
Counting in 3s!
This week, in Year 2, we counted in 3s for the first time! We sang songs and used lots of objects to help us. Why not count in 3s on your way to school?
Here is the link to a song you could sing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96IZWctZYA
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
This week’s message (Friday 04 November 2022)
We hope you and your child(ren) managed to have some time over the half-term to rest and recuperate. Now that we’re firmly settled in to the school year, this week’s message has three important reminders, and ends with an invitation to share your views about Leeds admission policy…
Our expectations for attendance
Our attendance rate for Autumn 1 was 94.4% – this is lower than the national figure of 95.1% (subject to change) for primary schools.
Our aim is for the whole-school attendance to be at least 97%. Well done goes to our Reception, Year 2 and Year 3 class – all have attendance over 95%.
The government is trialing a new service – check out national attendance figures, updated regularly.
Read our attendance policy. Remember, we don’t authorise unnecessary term-time absences. Holidays during term time are likely to result in a penalty notice.
Our expectations for home learning
At St James’ CE Primary, we expect every child to read at home, every day. The most important thing you can do at home is to make sure this is happening – reading independently and reading aloud together.
The reading should be at least 10-15 minutes and can include books, comics, websites – any reading! Please comment in your child’s Reading Record at least once a week.
There are two other things we expect your child to do at home each day:
- spend about ten minutes each day practising number facts, like number bonds to ten (eg 3+7 and 4+6) and learning times tables; NumBots (mainly for children in Key Stage 1) and TimesTables Rock Stars (Key Stage 2 children) will support number fluency, as will practice in the car or walking to school (eg chanting forwards, backwards and alternating as you count through can all help)
- spend a similar amount of time practising spellings, using the homework sheet we send home each week to see the weekly list of words to learn in preparation for a test on the following Friday (your child could use the words in written sentences or stories and in conversations)
As well as these three daily activities, there are weekly Talk Time prompts (set out on the homework sheet we send home each Friday and published on our website) and Living and Learning ideas (check these out in the school calendar, usually on Mondays – next week’s is I consider the views of others).
You’ll find occasional extra ideas in your child’s Class News page, too.
Read our guide to all the home learning that your child can do.
Our expectations for uniform
This week in school, we’ve been enjoying a themed week: Me and My Community, a celebration of all the different communities to which we belong. We want our children to come to school proud of being part of their school community – uniform is an important part of this. Please take a moment to check our uniform policy – for example, is your child coming to school with long hair tied back, wearing discreet earrings (if any), and the right shoes?
Of course, we welcome the occasional non-uniform day as a break from routine to celebrate or raise funds. Coming up is the Children in Need fund-raising event for which we’ll have a non-uniform day. However, on days like this, we do still expect pupils to dress appropriately and respectfully for school. Check out the policy for more details.
Leeds Admission Policy
Leeds City Council is running a public consultation on the 2024/2025 admission policy for Leeds community and voluntary controlled schools. Share your views – you have until 07 December.
If you’re celebrating Bonfire Night, have a safe one, and – as always – a happy and healthy one.
04 November 2022
Below are the new spellings for the next two weeks. On the first week, use the look, say, cover, write, check method. On the second week, write the spelling words using dots then connect the dots by tracing over them.
- is
- love
- me
- my
- no
