Author: Mrs Hogarth

A massive well done to 5,6B who have won the TTR tournament two weeks in a row. They have worked super hard at home to make sure they are learning their times tables and have worked hard as a team to continue their winning streak. I wonder if it will be three weeks in a row?!

Our living and learning statement this week has been about recognising the importance of sleep. The children talked about what sleep does for our bodies and emotions and how it impacts on our lives. They were able to recognise that sleep helps our memory, helps us to concentrate, keeps our immune systems healthy, it repairs our bodies and it keeps our mental health positive. They could identify how a lack of sleep could impact them at school and how it would make them feel. They generated lots of ideas of how to get a good nights sleep: having a bath, listening to some music, reading and even a bit of drawing.

Help at home: Is your child getting enough sleep? The recommended amount of sleep for primary school children is between 9 and 12 hours. How could you improve your child’s sleep? Encourage your child to read before bed rather than depending on screen time.

We have started some new science learning this week, all about living things and their habitats. The children were introduced to their new vocabulary:

We spent the lesson learning about how plants reproduce. This incorporated some of our new vocabulary – pollination, fertilisation and reproduction. We dissected a tulip flower in order to see the different parts of the plant. The children could then identify the parts using scientific vocabulary and see the function of each part. What part does it play in reproduction?

Help at home: have a go at learning the vocabulary. Give your child one of the  words, can they explain the meaning? Can they draw what the word represents?

Welcome back after the Easter holiday, I hope you had a lovely rest and are ready for another fun-filled term of learning.

Just a few little reminders…

Please encourage your child to read at home daily. This is really important in them becoming fluent, confident readers. If your child isn’t a fluent reader, it can limit their learning in other subject areas too. This reading can be recorded in their journals and these need to be in school every Friday. Please ensure your child has completed their weekly task and add your signature to show you have checked this.

Homework will still be sent home on a Friday. This will contain Talk Time and spellings. The spellings need to be learnt at home ready for a test the following week. Don’t forget that you can make this fun – play some games, create some flashcards!

If you feel like your child needs any further support, please come in and chat to us.

Here’s to a successful half term!

We are continuing to be chemists this half term and we have carried out some great experiments so far. This week, the children planned out an investigation into which ingredients make the best glue. They could choose between baking powder, flour, cornflour, sugar and salt. They could create any combination and mix it with 5ml of water. They mixed their glue and then stuck two pieces of paper together and hung them on a line to dry. When we were convinced they were dry, we had a competition to see which glue was the strongest. This involved a very tense period of time in which they pegged pegs onto the paper until it broke. I think we created a new world record as one group managed to peg on 86 pegs! Who knew that we were so good at making glue!?

Help at home: use the link to investigate the history of glue with your child. There is some gory stuff, so beware!

The history of glue