Festivals and Remembrance
This week we have been talking about Diwali- The festival of light. We explored the meaning of Diwali and what happens during this festival. We also talked about Bonfire Night and why we celebrate this day.
The children were very creative this week and got stuck into lots of messy activities. We made Diya lamps from clay and decorated them with lots of bright colourful paints and glitter. We also made some firework pictures using our favourite colours. We made a cut out using a tube and used this to make prints on our paper to look like fireworks.
Help at Home: Next week is World Nursery Rhyme week.
We have been learning lots of new nursery rhymes since the start of September. Can your child remember which ones we have learnt and can they sing their favourite using the actions?
This Sunday is a special day where we remember all those who faught in the war. This can be a sad time for many, so here is a little video that the children in Nursery have watched this week to help them understand more. From this, we made our own poppies to display on our wreath in Early Years.
Notice:
- World Nursery Rhyme week.
- Tuesday 12 Nov– ‘ Odd socks day’ this is to symbolise that we are all different and that children should be themselves and be accepting of one another.
- Friday 15 Nov – it is non-uniform day for Children in Need.
Have a lovely weekend
The Nursery Team
Community Week – Identity
In transition week during the Summer Term, Year 4 used the book The Barnabus Project to consider how we are all unique and are ‘perfectly imperfect’ in our own way.
It was exciting to return to this learning as part of Community Week when we considered ‘Identity’ in more detail. We enjoyed considering what makes us special and recorded this in an identity map. The children were wonderfully creative and found lots of things that they have in common with each other as well as features of their identity that make them unique.
The importance of attendance
What did you do today? ‘We just played’…is the answer many parents of Reception children get. But here’s just a few of the things your child would miss if they’re absent for five consecutive days.
Phonics: Children learn four new graphemes and three tricky words each week.
Reading: Children practise reading books that closely match their phonics, plus loads of stories are read aloud and celebrated. We visit the school library once a week to choose a book to take home.
Poetry picnic: There’s a poetry session every day –another valuable activity which helps children learn to read.
Writing: We write every day using the graphemes that we’ve learned.
Handwriting: Children learn how to form letters correctly, otherwise joining letters will be difficult in Key Stage 1.
Maths: We’ve four maths sessions a week, setting the foundations for children to be successful in using and applying numbers in the future.
Alongside all of this, children learn Science, Music and other subjects. Even more importantly, children learn to concentrate in a large group, to share resources, take turns when speaking, answer in full sentences, regulate our feelings and prepare ourselves for future learning.
There’s a lot happening when ‘we just play’!
Living and Learning: I folllow the school rules.
Our Living and Learning statement for our first week is:
I follow the school rules.
Our three school rules are short and snappy to remember:
We are respectful.
We are ready.
We are safe.
As a class, Year 3 have discussed what the rules mean and how to follow them in school. We know that being respectful covers lots of things, such as listening to others, being kind to everyone and using our manners in school.
Help at home:
Talk about the three school rules with your child. Which is the easiest to follow? Which is the most difficult? Come up with some top tips on how to follow our school rules every day.
Pie Corbett (Wings) inspired writing
In our reading sessions, years 5 and 6 have been practising our reading fluency, using the poem ‘wings’ by Pie Corbett. In this poem (below), Pie Corbett uses his senses to influence his ideas on what he would do if he were to have wings.
The children were really inspired by his work, so we decided to create our own versions of the poem. We still focussed on our senses to guide our writing. Have a look at some of our fantastic pieces below!
Seaside Poems
This week our focus book has been Seaside Poems.
We have really enjoyed looking at the rhyming words and reading the different poems. We also talked about and compared two environments, a city (Leeds) and the seaside. The children did a great job talking through their ideas.
“A city has lots of tall buildings. At the seaside you see boats.”
“I can see lots of people in the city. I can see lots of sand at the seaside.”
Our world of the week this week was City the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I have been to a city called Leeds, it is bigger than Wetherby.”
“London is a really big city. I have been there.”
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was I Have A Little Frog
I have a little frog,
His name is Tiny Tim,
I put him in the bathtub,
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water,
And gobbled all the soap.
And when he tried to talk,
There were bubbles in his throat.
The classroom Challenges this week have been
- to sort the images of the seaside (coast) and the city.
- to write an I can see sentence about what you can see in the seaside picture.
- to pick two animals and add the amount of feet they have together.
- to find the tricky words hidden in the outdoor area.
- to use the loom bands to make a shape in the board.
Next week our Focus book is Sharing a Shell
Reminders and Notices
Class Photos- are on Wednesday, please send your child to school in their school uniform. We will still do PE, but in our school uniform for this week.
Forest School- Is on Thursday please send your child to school in their PE kit with their forest school water proofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Please can you send your child to school with a sun hat and sun cream already applied on sunny days.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjames@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman.
One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab.
Welcome to Summer 2! Our theme this half term is Seaside and Cities and our first focus book has been One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab by April Pulley Sayre and Jeff Sayre.
This book is a counting book that counts familiar animals and how many legs each one has! We have had lots of fun with this story making up our own lines.
“5 is a snail and a dog!”
“6 is a dog and a man!”
“11 is a snail and a crab or 5 people and a snail!”
“100 is 10 crabs or 100 snails!”
Our word of the week was country the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I went to another country on my holiday.”
“We live in the country called England.”
Help at home: how many different countries can you name with your grown ups? can you write a list?
Also this week we released our butterflies, Mrs Rippon looked after them for us over the holidays and we had two to set free on Monday. It was great fun to watch them fly!
The classroom Challenges this week have been
- to write a message to the school fairies
- to join two materials together
- to find some shapes in the outside area
- to draw a shell or crab
- to order numbers from 1 to 10
Next week our focus book is Seaside Poems
Reminders and Notices
PE- is on Wednesday, please send your child to school in their PE and in trainers they can fasten themselves.
Forest School- is on a Thursday please can you send your child to school in their PE kits with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.
Please can you send your child to school with a sun hat and sun cream already applied on sunny days.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjames@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman.
A new Science topic – Growing and Cooking!
This half term, the children in Year 1, are learning about growing and cooking in science. They will be exploring the difference between fruit and vegetables and where they come from. They will also be preparing a simple meal!
Today, the class started by learning about the difference between fruit and vegetables. They recalled how plants are grown and discovered which parts of the plant we can eat.
We investigated the differences and similarities between a strawberry and a carrot. The children thought about smell, taste and texture.
The children identified that the main different between a fruit and a vegetable is that fruit has seeds. Which means that cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes are in fact fruits!
Science – Plants
Enquiry questions:
How do plants transport water?
Does the number of seeds within one plant pot affect the growth of the plants?
Working scientifically:
I can set up a simple practical enquiry.
Ask relevant questions and use different scientific enquiry types to answer them.
This afternoon, we carried out various science experiments that encourage us to observe over time whilst ensuring our tests are fair.
We placed a white flower into a pot of red water. We made predictions based on our prior knowledge and understanding. Tomorrow morning, we will be able to view the results and see if our predictions were correct.
The fun didn’t stop there. We then began an experiment to see what would happen if we planted one sunflower seed in a pot compared to two, four and eight. Again, we made predictions; we will take measurements over the coming weeks.
Finally, we planted our own sunflowers. We really enjoyed getting our hands dirty and it was so lovely to see the excitement in children.
Let’s hope for lots of sun and the children will be able to bring some tall sunflowers home.
Help at home – try planting some seeds of your own at home. Can you grow something you can eat? What does a plant need to grow? What is the function of the roots/stem/soil? What happens in the leaves?
Send pictures in and we can display in the classroom.
PE- Multiskills
We’ve made a great start to this week in Reception. In our PE lesson we have been working on our throwing and catching skills. First we worked on our own to bounce the ball in the hoop and then catch it. Then we worked pairs to bounce the ball to each other and catch it. It was very tricky as first but we persevered and our skills improved so much! Great work Reception!
Our Focus book this week is Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome we can’t wait to share our learning with you at the end of the week.