Internet Safety Day
Today is Internet Safety Day. Year 5 have been learning all about how to stay safe online and be critical users of the internet, especially with the rapid advances in computing technology (AI, for example).
The children began by looking at three concepts – misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes.
Misinformation is the sharing of false information by accident (not knowing what you’re sharing is false).
Disinformation is the sharing of false information on purpose.
Hoaxes are false information/claims that are created for effect/impact.
We had a look at some fake website articles (hoaxes) and discussed some top tips to look out for when reading online. When sharing these stories to friends without being critical of what we’re sharing, we may be sharing misinformation.
We’ve learnt all about what personal information is and why it’s important to keep it private, especially when online. The article below gives more info on personal information.
If you’d like to read more from this article with your child, please click the link below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zwbq7ty
Help at home:
Help your child at home to be critical thinkers online. Check websites for…
- padlocks
- http// www.
- known pages
- spam/clickbait adverts (phishing)
Year 3 Publish Their Independent Writing Using Laptops
Year 3 have been working hard on typing and publishing their independent writing based on a recount about the Romans coming to invade the Celts. Once our writing was finished, we took out the laptops and began using our key typing skills to turn our work into a published piece.
At first, some children found typing challenging, but everyone showed great perseverance. As we practised, we became more confident using the keyboard, especially remembering how to make capital letters by holding the shift key and pressing a letter.
The children also learned why touch typing is such an important skill. Touch typing helps us type more quickly and accurately without needing to look at the keyboard all the time. This means we can focus on our ideas and writing, rather than searching for letters and it helps us work more independently and confidently.
By the end of the session, Year 3 showed improved speed, accuracy and resilience, taking pride in seeing their work neatly presented and published.
Help at home:
Practice touch typing at home by using ‘TypingTom‘ . TypingTom is a free online touch typing practice website designed to help people learn to type correctly using all their fingers and without looking at the keyboard.
Lost and Found
Happy New Year everyone! This half term our theme is Fire and Ice.
Our story this week has been Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers and the weather has certainly helped us learn about cold climates.
In the story, a boy finds a penguin at his door and goes on an adventure to try to find his home, as he thought he was lost. Just like the boy, we explored and learnt about where penguins live and extended our vocabulary by learning a new word: iceberg. We used the globe to find the land and sea and Antarctica and enjoyed finding other interesting places.
“The white bit means it’s very cold, because its covered in ice!”
“Antarctica is right at the bottom of the world, nobody lives there its too cold!”
Phonics
We have begun learning our Phase 3 sounds. This week, we have learnt four new digraphs/trigraphs ai,ee,igh,oa.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Let’s Put on Our Mittens.
Let’s put on our mittens,
and button up our coats.
Wrap our scarves snuggly around our throats.
Pull on our shoes and fasten the straps.
And tie on tightly our warm woollen hats.
Open the door, and out we go.
Out, into the soft and feathery snow.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Maths – super subitising!
This week we have been practising our subitising skills. This means, we have been looking and saying how many objects we can see – without counting one by one.
That’s a wrap!
As we reach the end of 2025, it’s hard to believe how quickly this term has flown by! It’s been a lovely, festive finish this week, packed with special moments and lots of smiles.
One of the biggest highlights was a visit from Father Christmas who spread plenty of cheer and excitement. The Christingle service was another memorable moment, bringing our whole school family together to celebrate and reflect on what we value about this time of year. There was also the Christmas party – a perfect way to unwind and enjoy each other’s company – and a jolly Christmas lunch!
Thank you for all of your support and positivity in 2025. I hope you all have a relaxing, joyful holiday and I look forward to seeing you in 2026! 🎄✨
Sculpting with Soap!
To conclude our art topic this half-term, Year 5 have been creating sculptures made from bars of soap. The children began by sketching a few real sculptures, made by our key artists (Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Thomas Price). Then, the children used inspiration from each sketch to make a new sculpture of their own.
The children had a range of mediums to use: a spoon; a pencil, a paperclip; other piercing tools; and a wet paper towel. Everyone listened very carefully when the process was modelled by their teacher and followed each step well. Pupils really enjoyed this hands on task, and have gone on to make multiple soap sculptures each! Here are some images of the children carefully carving:
Help at home:
Some Year 5 children have already explored this activity at home with other family members. Maybe this is something you could do, too? Here’s a list of equipment you’ll need:
- soap
- pencil
- wet paper towel
- dry towel
- spoon
Dictation helps the children develop their spelling, handwriting, grammar and listening skills
Every week in Year 3, we have been working on dictation sentences as part of our daily handwriting practice. After practising how to form the letter ‘m’ correctly, we built on this by looking at words that contain the letter m. One of our favourites was mammals.
Dictation helps the children develop their spelling, handwriting, grammar and listening skills all at once. Here are the steps we follow:
-
Say the sentence (more than once if needed)”All mammals have spines and fur.”
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Count the words together”All mammals have spines and fur. Six!”
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Read with expression (prosody)”All mammals have spines and fur.”
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I model the sentence – using sound buttons or highlighting grammar/punctuation features
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Say the sentence again”All mammals have spines and fur.”
- Cover it (still showing sound buttons and other grammar/ punctuation features) and the children write it
The children have been working brilliantly and are becoming much more confident at listening carefully and writing accurately.
Help at home: Write your own dictation sentences.
Autumn 2-Colour and Light
Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a lovely half term and are feeling well rested. This half term our overall theme is Colour and Light.
We’ll be using the following focus books to help us with our learning
See you all in the morning for some fun and some learning about St James.
JLT
This week, Year 3 took part in an exciting democratic decision, voting for our new Junior Leadership Team.
Over half the class wrote and presented fantastic speeches, sharing their brilliant ideas for making our school even better. Some spoke about helping the environment, others suggested more after-school clubs and many had thoughtful ideas about how to make school life happier for everyone.
We even used a voting ballot, just like in a real election. Every child had the chance to vote fairly and respectfully, showing great maturity and kindness when listening to different views.
It was wonderful to see everyone take part so enthusiastically — what a fantastic example of our British Value of Democracy in action!
Congratulations to Kupa and Harry, our new Year 3 representatives, and best of luck from all your friends in Year 3!
Any Questions
Thank you so much to the all the grown ups who attended our Phonics Stay and Learn session last week it was so lovely to see so many faces. For those who couldn’t come we sent all the handouts home with your child last week. We have uploaded the power point to the class page. If you have any questions please come and catch me at the door, call school to arrange a meeting or send me an email to the early years email which is stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Thank you
Mrs Kendrew
Class Novel with a special, spiky visitor!
This week, we took our reading outdoors for a very special Forest School reading session! We’ve reached the part of The Legend of Podkin One-Ear where Podkin (now with just one ear!) meets Brigid, the witch who lives deep in the woods and helps him while the Gorm are hunting for him.
It was the perfect setting to read this chapter, surrounded by trees, rustling leaves and the sounds of nature all around us. The forest made the story come alive and we could really imagine what it might have been like for Podkin hiding in the woods.
The children loved making connections between the book and their surroundings and many said it felt like they were inside the story!
We also had a special visitor. Do you recognise him?
