Living and Learning – Mental Health
We have started talking about mental health this week. Using mindfulness techniques (we like some of the Go Noodle ones) and talking about our feelings, moods and emotions is important. Children need to learn how to take care of their minds as well as their bodies. We read ‘Top tips to keep a healthy mind’ in our reading fluency.
Autumn time and hunting for bears!
This week, we’ve talked about autumn and some of the changes that we’re beginning to see all around us. Please help to consolidate this learning at home by looking for changes as you go out for a walk or on your journey to Nursery. What’s happening to the leaves on the trees? What are the farmers doing in the fields?
In maths, we’re learning to sort objects in different ways (such as by type, colour or size). During group time, we sorted our autumn treasure into different groups including conkers, pine cones, sticks and leaves. We also noticed that the pine cones were different sizes. We sorted them into a pile of big pine cones and little pine cones. Some children noticed a “medium” sized pine cone that didn’t fit into either group!
What can you find to sort at home? You might have some toy cars that you could sort into colours or a tub of buttons that are different sizes.
Children have shown an interest in the popular book, “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”. Listen to the author, Michael Rosen, telling the story here – we love watching it!
We enjoyed retelling the story with our friends using props and we also took advantage of the sunny weather and went on our own bear hunt out side. We walked through the swishy swashy grass, tiptoed through the forest and we even stepped in some squelchy mud and cold snow!
If you haven’t already, please remember to return your ‘autumn treasure’ bags next week. We’re going to learn about Andy Goldsworthy and look at some of his art work; you’ll soon see why we needed lots of autumn treasure!
Maps, Maths and more!…
This week in Reception, we’ve continued to think about Where we live and have even been creating our own maps!
In Maths, we’ve been comparing quantities- saying which group of objects has the most and the fewest. We’ve also been comparing capacity and exploring this in the classroom:
In phonics, we have now learnt our first six sounds; s,a,t,p,i,n. We’ve started to read words consisting of these letters, by segmenting (sounding out the individual sounds, called phonemes) and blending (reading the sounds all together)
When we are segmenting words, we put sounds onto our ‘phoneme fingers’, then swoop across them to blend. Here is Mrs Allen-Kelly with an example:
Can your child show you how we use phoneme fingers, when reading the words in their word book?
We used our robot ‘metal mike’ to practice segmenting words. We’ve also started to write some simple words, by segmenting the sounds first.
Here are some more pictures of our busy week, having fun and learning with our friends:
Next week- Local Walk
Next week, the children will explore using maps as we take a short walk in the village. A letter has gone home with your child today. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your class teacher/s. Thank you.
Home-Link Challenge
Following on from our learning in class this week, have a go at comparing capacity in simple ways at home. Here are a few ideas:
Diary Dates…
Wednesday 13 October- School Photographer in School (Individual Photos)
Monday 18 October- Parent Teacher Meetings. Please book an appointment if you have not done so already.
Wednesday 20 October- Harvest donation collections.
Wednesday 20 October- Parent Teacher Meetings.
Christmas cards
We have completed our designs, sent them off and now received our sample cards. If you would like to order anything, send the money into school with the order form or using the Gateway app by FRIDAY 15 OCTOBER. Thank you!
Cross Country Competition!
Year 6 had a fantastic time last week at the cross country competition, held at Brigshaw High School. The goal for all pupils was to finish the race, no matter their finishing position. Pupils had to run through multiple fields and up steep terrain whilst following the race officials at all times. I’m pleased to say that all pupils successfully finished the whopping 1500m challenge!
Well done to all those that took part.
High School Visit
Last week we visited John Smeaton to experience what learning is like in a high school. We got the opportunity to do a food technology lesson with Mr James. The children were very excited to make some delicious chocolate chip cookies. Some of the children were amazing bakers and no chocolate chips accidentally got swallowed in the making of the biscuits! We then moved onto a Science lesson in which the children investigated the process of evaporation. The children got to experience a laboratory situation and were able to use Bunsen burners and other scientific equipment. The children were aware of how to use this equipment safely. Thank you, John Smeaton, we had an amazing time.
Living and learning : strong emotions
In our Living and Learning sessions we have been talking about our feelings, and in particular, strong emotions. We all have felt angry, sad and happy at some point. We identified emotions on other people’s faces and talked about how emotions can feel overwhelming but will pass over time. Can you guess the emotions that the children below were trying to show?
Visit to John Smeaton Academy
Children in year 5/6 had a great time at John Smeaton Academy. They carried out several experiments in science and even baked their own cookies.
Reading in Year 3,4
Last week’s activity was Question Master! Well done to everybody who brought in their reading records with the Question Master activity completed. There were a range a questions asked – some to the author, and some to the illustrator – but all were well thought-out.
Marianne asked: “How do you create such amazing stories?” and “Where do you get you ideas from?”
Thank you to all the adults who wrote some fantastic comments in their child’s reading records. Remember – useful comments might include what went well, what they need help with or how many pages they read at home.
This week’s reading task is Fact File! The children need to choose a character or person (fiction or non-fiction) from the book and create a fact file all about them.
- What’s their full name?
- How old are they?
- What do they look like?
- What is special about them?
Where I Live
This week the children have been exploring and discussing where they live. We have been discussing the different rooms in our homes and how each home is different. We also learnt the poem – Home by Nancy VandenBerge. We created actions to help remember the words.
Can your child recite it for you?
In Maths, we have explored matching. The children have been finding matching objects which are the same. They enjoyed making matching models, matching objects to the shadows and finding matching pairs.
In Literacy , we have been using our new phonics knowledge to add initial sounds to our pictures.
Check out what else has been happening this week.
Home link
Take a walk around your local area. Can your child spot local landmarks or features. You may choose to make a map of your journey, a bird’s-eyed view of your street or make a model to represent your local area.