Awesome, ace and amazing adjective day
We had a fabulous day learning about word classes today and, in particular, adjectives.
We all dressed up as an adjective, learnt a song about adjectives and made some interesting expanded noun phrases.
Help at home by talking about your favourite adjectives. Mrs Latham’s is discombobulated, Miss Lowry’s is flabbergasted and Miss Young’s is plump!
Bonfire night
Last week in 2C we looked at Bonfire Night. In PE we created dance routines to ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry. We sequenced moves that reminded us of fireworks such as spinning, jumping and moving our arms.
We also looked at the safety aspects of Bonfire Night in English and were able to answer key questions about how to keep safe.
In art we created some fantastic and colourful chalk drawings of fireworks on a black background.
Welcome back Class 5/6A
Hello and a big welcome back to all of Class 5/6A pupils after what I hope was an enjoyable half-term break. It’s great to see everyone again. Let’s catch up on what we have been doing this week.
Our Topic focus for this half-term is Art, in particular the works of William Morris and Orla Kiely. We are building up towards creating our own printed floral picture. To provide us with inspiration, we have been comparing examples of Morris’ work, looking at their colours and patterns; and ended the week with some direct observational drawing of leaves. These leaves will form the basis for our printing work later in the term.
In Writing, we have begun to look at figurative writing; using similes, metaphors, expanded noun phrases and alliteration to help engage the reader. The pupils were like a walking dictionary with all of the different figurative vocabulary they used, and I was as pleased as punch to be able to read their work.
We have had a couple of visitors into class this week as part of our Community themed week. On Wednesday we were joined by a member of West Yorkshire Police Force to speak to us about hate crimes, and what we can do to be more aware of and respect the various members of our community. Thursday saw two guests from Selective Silhouettes join us to talk about the LGBTQ+ community.
Year 5 pupils will have brought home a new reading book this week: Kensuke’s Kingdom. This half-term we will be reading the same text in class, and homework will be set based on this. It is very important that pupils are keeping up to date with their reading targets, homework, and bringing their reading records to Book Club on a Friday.
There’s just time to check out our certificate winners this week:
Great Learning – Esme. Always ready to learn. Calm, collected and organised, she sets a great example for our class.
Living & Learning – Louis W. Louis provided some very mature and insightful comments during our Community discussions this week. Well done Louis!
P.E – Ella. Full of energy, and with a smile on her face, Ella is always looking for fun and innovative ways to make P.E fun for her peers and herself.
Have a very happy and healthy bonfire weekend!
Mr. Robson
Living and Learning : Community week (being respectful)
We have talked through some scenarios this week in our classes, deciding whether they were showing being respectful or not. Some classes sorted them and others played a game where you moved to a certain side of the room to show what you thought. What do you think about these scenarios? Are they respectful or not?
Lighting the way into Autumn 2!
We’ve whizzed into Autumn 2, with a super busy week! We’ve been learning about Diwali, Guy Fawkes; The Gunpowder Plot (linked to Bonfire Night) and fire safety.
Diwali
During half term, there was a very special celebration- Diwali! We watched a video of children celebrating the Hindu ‘Festival of Lights’ and read the story Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar, which tells the story of a child sharing the celebration with her class.
We’ve been exploring the Diwali interest table, making Rangoli patterns, designing and painting Mehndi on a friend’s hand and making diya lamps at the dough table.
What can your child tell you about the festival of Diwali?
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) ff, ll, ss and the phoneme j. They’ve also been practising writing the graphemes (the written letters)
Can your child tell you where you would find these digraphs (ff, ll, ss); the beginning, middle or end of a word?
You could challenge your child to write these words, by supporting them to segment the sounds that they can hear:
Maths
This week, we’ve been composing 5. We often use our fingers to represent numbers and to practise our subitising skills. Using a ‘high five’ hand, the children were introduced to an easy way to represent the number. We used hand images to make collections of 5, placing an object on each finger. We also used five frames, die frames and objects of different colours to explore which numbers can be added together to make 5.
“I have three green pom poms and two blue pom poms… that makes five!”
Light and shadows
We’ve been exploring how light can be used to create shadows! We made large models and projected a light across them, observing the shadows made on the whiteboard. Next week, we’ll be looking at light again, as we explore the differences between day and night.
Fire safety
On Thursday, we met some real life superheroes! As part of our whole school ‘Me and my community’ week, local firefighters came to talk to Reception. We were lucky enough to take a look at the fire appliance and the firefighters equipment and we even got to use the powerful hose (with a little help from the firefighters, of course!)
The children were keen to share their knowledge:
“I know about fire alarms…the smoke goes in them and it sets off an alarm for the fire”- Keira
“You save people in the water!”- Daniel
“Those are called ‘jaws of life’”- Jack
And they asked some questions about things they’d like to know:
“Have you got a mask for breathing?”- Alyzah
“Do you have a life boat?”- Bethany
“How do you get people out of water?”- Olivia S
The firefighters spoke to the children about fire alarms. We learnt that they should be tested every month.
We also spoke about fire safety on Bonfire Night. Can your child talk about some of the ways to keep safe?
You can find out more about how to keep safe this Bonfire Night, here
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.
This week’s poem is Pointy Hat
Ask your child to tell you the poem at home! Can they remember it by heart?
Learn at home phonics sheet
Today, your child has come home with a ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet. The sheets link to our current learning in phonics and will be sent home each Friday. Please support your child by practising their new sounds and reading skills at home.
Home-link challenge
Following on from our maths learning this week, please support your child to make a collection of 5 at home.
Discuss what you can see- is it 5 of the same object? If not, how many are the same/ how many are different? Your collection of 5 could be made from objects of two different colours. What does your collection tell you about the numbers we can add together, to make 5?
Reminders
Early Maths- Supporting your child to become a confident mathematician 14.11.22, 6.00pm
Attendance via Zoom- a link will be sent next week.
Maths Stay and Play 17.11.22, 9.00-9.30am
Join your child in the classroom and explore some maths activities together.
Swimming Dates
Please send swimming kits on the following dates:
Rainbow Class- 2 Nov, 16 Nov, 30 Nov
Sunshine Class- 9 Nov, 23 Nov, 7 Dec
Celebrations
This week, we’ve been talking about some different celebrations. Children were very excited on Tuesday when they returned to Nursery; there was a lot of talk about witches and bat costumes and tales of trick or treating in the dark. We also learnt about Diwali, the festival of lights. We watched some short video clips to find out about how some people prepare for Diwali and enjoy celebrating with family. We learnt about rangoli patterns and loved looking at the special sweets that were part of the celebrations.
In the dough area, we made our own Diva lamps by rolling a ball and pushing our thumbs into it to make a ‘thumb pot’. We added patterns with the tools and put a candle inside. In the garden, we created some rangoli patterns on the floor using chalks.
Outside, children helped to tidy the garden after the holidays; there were a LOT of leaves that needed sweeping up!
In phonics this week, we listened to sounds in our environment. We enjoyed reading ‘Peace at Last‘ and hearing all of the noises that stopped poor Mr Bear from getting to sleep. In the Nursery garden, we heard a helicopter flying above us and the leaves rustling in the wind. What can you hear in your house? You could also listen to the different sounds that fireworks make if you go to see any. Do they pop, crackle, hiss, sizzle or BANG?
Finally, towards the end of the week, we began to talk about another celebration that lots of children might take part in at the weekend – Bonfire Night. We talked about how to stay safe and next week, we’ll continue our learning as we’re sure you’ll all hear and see lots of fireworks in the sky this weekend!
If you have joined in with any Diwali celebrations, or are going to take part in Bonfire night celebrations, please send us a photo of your child celebrating for our ‘Home learning’ display. Children love to share their photographs and talk about their adventures. Email us at scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
Have a good weekend and stay safe!
Increasing/changing sessions for January
Thank you to those parents/carers that have contacted us after receiving the letter regarding increasing or changing your child’s hours (if your child is currently attending for less than 30 hours) in January.
If your child is moving from morning sessions to full days, we will send you further details of a short transition plan soon.
Parent Teacher Consultations
Nursery Parent Teacher consultations for Nursery children will be held on the following dates:
- Monday 21 November from 3.30pm until 5.10pm
- Wednesday 23 November from 5pm until 6.50pm
Living and Learning: Me and My Communities
What a fantastic week we’ve had! This is one of two Living and Learning themed weeks each year – this one’s a celebration of community.
Each day, the children have been learning about a different theme:
- Diversity
- Identity
- No room for Racism
- Same but Different
- We’ve had visitors from our community share their roles within the community of Scholes.
- Here are some children being active in the village community. There are vouchers to win for the best active photo!
