06 January 2023
Our first Talk Time of 2023 has a reading and oracy theme.
I know a poem.
This week, you’re going to be learning a famous poem. It takes great resilience and remembering skills to be able to learn a poem – two of our 8Rs for learning.
Y1,2: Ning Nang Nong by Spike Milligan
On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There’s a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can’t catch ’em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!
Y3,4: Catch a Little Rhyme by Eve Mirriam (CC)
Once upon a time
I caught a little rhyme
I set it on the floor
but it ran right out the door
I chased it on my bicycle
but it melted to an icicle
I scooped it up in my hat
but it turned into a cat
I caught it by the tail
but it stretched into a whale
I followed it in a boat
but it changed into a goat
When I fed it tin and paper
it became a tall skyscraper
Then it grew into a kite
and flew far out of sight …
Y5,6: Daffodils by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
These talking points could be used to support your initial reading and understanding of the poem:
- What’s the poem about?
- Can you work out the meaning of tricky words and phrases by using the clues in the poem?
- What’s the rhythm of the poem? Where do you pause for breaths?
- Are there any rhymes (words ending with the same sounds (eg cat and hat)?
- What other patterns do you notice (repeated words/lines, line lengths, themes/key messages)?
When you have a sound understanding of your chosen poem, turn your attentions to reading it aloud with confidence and clarity. This week’s Remember 2s (R2s) will help with that:
- Speak clearly in a loud voice without shouting.
- Pause for breath at the right places to make sure you read at an appropriate pace.
- Face the reader as often as you can.
Here are some creative strategies that you might use to help you remember the poem – do what works best for you:
- Create actions to go with certain words or phrases.
- Draw a series of pictures to help you remember what comes next.
- Say or sing the poem in a unique or funny voice.
- Echo phrases/lines with someone at home.
09 December 2022
This week’s Talk Time relates to our Science learning. Each class has been finding out about one or two scientists as part of their Science lessons.
I can show off my knowledge of different scientists.
Year 1/2: John Dunlop
Year 3/4: Jane Goodall
Year 5/6: Carl Linnaeus and Sarah Fowler
Have a chat with someone at home about the scientist that you have been learning about in your Science sessions. Some things to consider when talking about a scientist is:
- who they are
- what they did
- why their work was important
- whether their work has an impact on life today
Challenge: Do you know of any other scientists? Can you talk about their work and say how it has impacted on life today?
02 December 2022
This week’s Talk Time poses a moral question:
Is physical health more important than mental health?
What is physical health?
Physical health is about a healthy body. This includes proper nutrition and plenty of physical activity.
What is mental health?
Mental health is about a healthy mind. Mental health is a sense of identity and self-worth; positive family and peer relationships; an ability to be productive and to learn.
Have a discussion with friends and family at home. Consider what physical and mental health looks and feels like for you. Does this match up to your friends’ and family’s ideas?
After the discussion with friends and family, what conclusion do you reach? Do others around you agree?
25 November 2022
This week’s Talk Time relates to this half term’s Art topic.
I can compare and contrast different artworks, architecture and designs.
I can give my opinions, and back them up with reasons.
In our Art lessons, we’re thinking about the work of these artists, architects and designers and we’re using the following vocabulary:
Y1,2 Artists:
George Seurat
Bridget Riley
Vocabulary: pointillism, op art
Y3,4 Architects:
St Paul’s Cathedral, Sir Christopher Wren
London Aquatic Centre, Zara Hadid
Vocabulary: architect, architecture
Y5,6 Designers:
William Morris
Orla Kiely
Vocabulary: pattern, repetition, symmetry, foreground, background
The key to this task is being able to explain thoughts and opinions. It’s worth remembering that the opinions of one person may not match those of another and that it’s okay to disagree.
We’d like your child to speak confidently and passionately about art. Using ‘because’ will encourage your child to think carefully about their own interpretation of the art. Offering your own opinions may also help your child to consider alternative viewpoints and perspectives.
Discussions about the art could take place in a number of ways. Here’s a couple of suggestions:
- Discuss each piece separately before then looking at them side by side.
- Have both pieces side by side from the start.
Whichever approach you opt for, referring to these questions and the vocabulary above will help to focus your discussions at home:
- Explain what you like about each piece.
- Explain what you dislike about each piece.
- How are the two pieces similar?
- How are the two pieces different?
- Considering what is most important to you, which piece do you prefer?
Additionally, or alternatively, you might like your child to consider our current Christian value…
At St James’ CE Primary School, we learn about Christian values that help us to become well-rounded citizens in society. The values are woven into our everyday school life. Each half term, we have a new Christian value that will be embedded into our collective worship and our reflection areas.
This half term, our Christian value is compassion. The definition of compassion is a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is hurting, in pain, or has misfortune and is accompanied by a strong desire to help the suffering. Christians believe that Jesus is the greatest example of someone with true compassion. It’s not always easy to show compassion, especially when we feel like the person deserves their misfortune, but we try to show compassion to all who need it whether they are the same as us or different.
This week’s Talk Time homework is all about showing compassion.
‘If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion’
Dalai Lama
With your adults at home, have a chat about the quote by the Dalai Lama. Do you like this quote? What do you think it means? Does it really help you to be happy by showing compassion? Does showing compassion really help someone else?
Think about your day at school. Think of three times or places where you could show compassion to someone. Or, come up with your own quote about compassion – share it with your teacher so it can go on our Christian Values board in the hall.
18 November 2022
Living and Learning is the focus of this week’s Talk Time.
I know how to STOP bullying.
Our school vision is to be a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe. School will not be a happy and healthy place if we don’t know how to stop bullying.
As it’s Anti-Bullying Week, this week’s Talk Time homework is about what bullying is and how to stop it. In fact, ‘STOP’ is an acronym that provides a clear definition of bullying:
Several Times On Purpose
Getting upset/angry in the heat of the moment or accidentally bumping into someone isn’t considered bullying – as long as it’s a one-off. An example of bullying would be someone saying on multiple occasions that you can’t join in with their game. As part of your discussions at home, ask your child to identify examples of what bullying does and doesn’t look like.
‘STOP’ not only tells us what bullying is, but also how to make it stop:
Start Telling Other People.
The sooner we all tell others, the sooner bullying can stop. As well as give examples of bullying, make sure your child knows people at home and at school who they would alert if they were aware of bullying.
Encourage your child to remember both: Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People.
This week’s Remember 2s (R2s) are actions to take if you see, or are the victim of, an unpleasant behaviour:
- Challenge the behaviour with that person. It may well have been accidental or something not intended to be hurtful.
- Tell that person that you don’t like that behaviour and that you want it to stop.
- If the behaviour occurs again, let a trusted adult know so they can explore the situation.
11 November 2022
Vocabulary is the focus of this week’s Talk Time.
We’ve just begun a new Art topic and with it comes new Art vocabulary.
This half-term, each phase is learning about different forms of Art. Y1,2 are focusing on sculpture, Y3,4 are focusing on digital art and Y5,6 are focusing on printing. Here’s a list of key words that are being learnt and applied as part of our learning. Over the half-term, practise using these words with your child.
Years 1 and 2 Art vocabulary:
- graphite: mixed with clay, graphite forms the ‘lead’ in a pencil
- HB: referring to pencils, HB stands for ‘hard black’ – a medium hard pencil
- H: stands for ‘hard’
- B: stands for ‘black’; these pencils are soft
- primary colours: three colours (red, yellow, blue) that can’t be made by mixing other colours, but can make other colours
- secondary colours: three colours (orange, green, purple) that are made when two primary colours are mixed using paint
- pattern: arrangements of things such as colour, shapes and lines that repeat in a logical way
- texture: how something feels, like smooth or rough
- op art: short for ‘optical art’, op art is a style of art that uses visual illusions
- pointillism: a form of painting where very small dots are used to form colours and images
- forgery: copying another artist’s work and making money from it
Years 3 and 4 Art vocabulary:
- complementary colours: colours that are opposite on the colour wheel (roughly, a primary and a secondary colour can be paired up like this)
- warm colours: roughly one half of the colour wheel, warm colours (like red, orange, yellow) usually represent heat and emotions like anger and excitement
- cool colours: roughly one half of the colour wheel, cool colours (like blue, green, purple) usually represent cold things and emotions like calm and sadness
- form: often used to talk about sculpture or the human body, form is the physical aspects or the shape of the artwork or parts of the artwork
- space: usually used to describe areas or parts of an artwork where there are large blocks of colour or ‘gaps’
- medium: the type of art (eg painting, sculpture, printmaking), or the materials an artwork is made from (plural: media)
- digital art: art that is made or presented using digital technology
- architecture: a specific form of design: buildings and other structures
- architect: a person who designs buildings and other structures
- commission: a person or people chosen to produce something, eg a portrait, a building
Years 5 and 6 Art vocabulary:
- pastel: a coloured drawing medium, usually stick-shaped, produced in soft, hard and pencil formproduced in soft, hard and pencil form
- art: the expression of creativity or imagination, or both
- art movement: a style in art followed by a group of artists, often linked to a time and place or to particular artists (sometimes called an ‘ism’)
- printing: transferring ink (or some other medium) from one surface to another
- Arts and Crafts Movement: a design movement started by William Morris in 1861 which aimed to improve the quality of design and make it available to the widest possible audience
- graphic design: covers a range of design activities including logo creation, advertising and typography (fonts)
- industrialisation: the process of using machines to work that was previously done by people.Some of these words have been introduced already this week but there may be others that are going to be covered in the coming weeks.
04 November 2022
As we come to the end of our Me and My Communities themed week, children are encouraged to consider charities that are community-based.
With your child, have a look at the list of charities below. Ask your child to consider which charity they’d like to be our chosen school charity – make sure they can express their opinions and back these up with reasons.
Below are the chosen charities that we’ll choose from:
Local
St Gemma’s Hospice St Gemma’s Hospice | Yorkshire’s Largest Hospice (st-gemma.co.uk)
The Clothing bank The Clothing Bank
National
Cancer Research Donate to Cancer Research UK | Cancer Research UK
RSPB Join us – RSPB Membership
International
Cool Earth Protect Rainforest | Fight The Climate Crisis | Join Cool Earth Big Life Foundation AREA OF OPERATION – Big Life Foundation
The charities will be reviewed in class on Thursday 10 November. Each class will vote for one charity which will be brought to the Junior Leadership Team who will have the final vote on Friday 11 November.
14 October 2022
There’s a democracy theme to this week’s Talk Time as we think about electing our new Junior Leadership Team (JLT). It’s important for everyone to feel their opinions are important and their thoughts and feelings are listened to and valued. Democracy is about knowing that sometimes we are given the power to choose and make decisions as individuals and as a group. This leads us to this week’s Talk Time:
I can talk about what characteristics a good leader should have.
Thinking about the term democracy, take some time to think about what characteristics make a good leader and the reasons why.
Also, think about situations at home when voting can help solve problems.
Additionally, if you would like to become a member of the JLT…
Use this time to think about your own characteristics and why you feel you would be a good representative for your peers. Use these ideas to prepare a speech to share in school for the upcoming elections.
07 October 2022
This week’s Talk Time relates to the knowledge we’ve gained about History this half term.
I can show off my knowledge of history.
Years 1 and 2 – The Great Fire of London:
I know and can use words and phrases relating to time and chronology (eg old, new, past, a very long time ago, present, ancient, modern).
I know what houses were like before the Great Fire of London and that fires were quite common.
I know that Samuel Pepys’ diary helps us to know what the Great Fire of London was like.
I know why the fire spread quickly and how it was eventually put out.
I know what changed as a consequence of the Great Fire of London.
Years 3 and 4 – Ancient Greece:
I know that ancient Greece was divided into many city states and I know that Athens and Sparta were the most powerful. I know some of the main characteristics of the Athenians and the Spartans.
I know about the influence the gods had on Ancient Greece.
I know about the influence Ancient Greece has had on the Western world (e.g. philosophy, arts, science, maths, literature and politics).
I know that democracy is a Greek word meaning ‘government by the people’ and that our government today is a legacy of the Athenian assembly and council.
Years 5 and 6 – Stone Age to Iron Age:
I know how Britain changed between the beginning of the Stone Age and the Iron Age.
I know the main differences between the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages.
I know what is meant by ‘hunter-gatherer’.
I know about and can name some of the advanced societies that were in the world around 3000 years ago.
I can compare life in Britain 3000 years ago to life in Ancient Egypt.
I know that the Ancient Egyptians had a writing system called hieroglyphics.
I know that the Ancient Egyptians built pyramids as tombs for pharaohs and that the biggest was built around 2500BC.
At school, we refer to 8Rs to promote good learning behavior. Check out the 8R’s for learning. See how many your child knows.
This week’s ‘Remember 2s’ (R2s) directly link to three of the 8Rs:
- Remember – Think back to history lessons, learning, tasks, games etc.
- Reflect – Which facts are you most confident with? Which ones do you need to work on?
- Resourceful – For facts you’re unsure of, how can you improve your understanding? Who could you ask at home or at school?
Additionally or alternatively, you might like your child to consider our current Christian value…
At St James’ CE Primary School, we learn about Christian values that help us to become well-rounded citizens in society. The values are woven into our everyday school life. Each half term, we have a new Christian value that will be embedded into our collective worship and our reflection areas.
This half term, our Christian Value is perseverance.
Perseverance is needed when standing firm in the face of any difficulty. It is the special gift that we have when life is difficult or painful that helps us not to give up. Difficulties might include hardship, persecution or scorn, although we hope these difficulties do not arise in our school. We use it more in the context of ‘keeping going’ and ‘not giving up’.
This week’s Talk Time homework is all about persevering when the going gets tough.
Set yourself a really tough challenge. This could be learning to tie your shoe laces, walking to school backwards, learning to draw a difficult animal or any other ideas that you have.
Talk to a grown up about the challenge you set yourself. Why did you choose this challenge? How did you show perseverance? Tell your teacher all about the challenge you set yourself and how you felt when you needed to persevere.
30 September 2022
There’s a social theme to this week’s Talk Time as we think about our speaking and listening skills.
Agree or disagree: speaking is more important than listening!
Spend a few minutes having a conversation about your day with a someone at home. After the chat, reflect on how much time you spent speaking and how much time you spent listening. Would the conversation be the same if you didn’t speak/listen as effectively?
Below are some statements about effective listening and speaking which may help you when deciding whether you agree or disagree on the above statement.
Effective listening entails simultaneously observing, understanding, and generating ideas.
Effective speaking means being able to say what you want to say in such a way that it is heard and acted upon.
In school this half-term, we’re focussing on some of the physical skills of speaking. In particular, we’re ensuring children project their voice. When discussing this at home, help by making sure your child speaks confidently, clearly and coherently (no mumbling!).