Year 6 Pizza Party
After a testing week of SATs, year 6 relaxed and enjoyed almost too many slices of pizza.
They want to say a huge thank you to FOSP for funding such a fun afternoon.
Year 3, 4 Topic
Year 3/4 took part in an exciting drop-down morning where we journeyed through Geography, History, and Art all in just one morning!
In Geography, we explored the theme ‘Where in the world am I?’, learning about the countries and capital cities of the UK and the surrounding seas. The children impressed us with their map skills and were able to use grid-references to locate areas on a map.
Next, we travelled back in time in History, diving into the fascinating worlds of the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons. Pupils explored what life was like during these periods and discussed the lasting impact these civilisations have had on our lives today. We played a game of cops and robbers where you were able to steal facts from other teams and add it to your own!
In Art, we looked at the amazing work of George Seurat and Bridget Riley. We compared and contrasted Seurat’s pointillism and Riley’s optical illusions.
It was a fantastic morning of discovery and we were so proud of the enthusiasm and teamwork shown by everyone!
Heroes day – Thursday 22 May
We are celebrating our ‘Heroes’ history topic by having a dress up day next week (if your child doesn’t want to dress up, they can come in school uniform).
We are going to dress as a real life hero (no superhero costumes, please). Here is the Heroes day letter and some ideas below.
Rumble in the Jungle
Rumble in the Jungle
This week, our focus book has been Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz.
The book is a collection of fun animal poems. Whilst reading, the children enjoyed listening for rhyming words and noticing the patterns made with the words.
Our word of the week is Rainforest. We’ve been learning all about geographical features of rainforests and about some of the animals who live there.
In our writing, we’ve been writing facts about rainforests. Lots of children are challenging themselves to write more and use finger spaces!
Maths
In maths this week, we’ve continued to develop our understanding of the composition of numbers to 10. Using the rhyme ’10 Fat Sausages’, we have found different ways to represent 10.
We have also used 10 frames and dice patterns to show ‘5 and a bit’ numbers to 10.
Phonics
This week we have continued to read longer words as well as compound words such as windmill, handstand and lunchbox.
We’ve learnt the tricky words; there, when, what, one.
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
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 A Little Shell.
More learning from this week…
Reminders and Dates
Friday 23 May- School Closed: Training Day
I know the importance of 5 a day
This week KS1 have really being getting into our school motto, ‘Scholes is happy and healthy’. But what does it mean to be healthy?
We can keep our bodies healthy in lots of different ways. It is important to keep active and fit.
We do this each week by taking part in WUSU, PE and swimming. Lots of the children also take part in after school clubs.
Our diets are equally important to keep our bodies healthy. We know we need to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables each day. 
Our fantastic school library service has also brought us some fantastic books about keeping active and healthy. We are really enjoying making our way through them!
Help at home by discussing what it means to eat a healthy diet and encourage children to help prepare food where appropriate.
Walk to school week
Next week, we are taking part in ‘Walk to school week!’
The children are being encouraged to be more active next week and avoiding travelling to school in a car. We would love the children to walk, cycle or scoot to school. We would really appreciate parents support on this. If you live further afield, maybe you could park near to school and walk the last part of your journey.
The children will be signing a pledge in their classes this week and will receive an activity book they will complete in school. Each day the classes will tally up the active journeys. If you have any photographs of your children completing their active journey to school, please send them to sarahhogarth@spherefederation.org.
Let’s make next week active, happy and healthy!
Help at home: If you are interested in finding out more, check out the following website.
Year 5 Historians Explore World War II
This week, Year 5 have been hard at work as young historians, diving into fascinating research about life in Britain during World War II. As part of our research project, the children have been exploring three key areas: life on the Home Front, the Battle of Britain, and the evacuation of children.
Working collaboratively, Year 5 used a variety of carefully selected websites to investigate each topic, gather facts and create to detailed fact files. It’s been great to see their enthusiasm and curiosity as they uncovered how families coped with rationing, how the RAF defended Britain in the skies, and how children just like them were evacuated from cities to the countryside.
Each lesson has involved group discussion, research and teamwork. We’ve also spent time reflecting on the resilience and courage shown by people during the war and how their experiences still teach us important lessons today.
Help at Home: Ask your child about their brilliant research.
Incy Wincy Spider
This week, children have been searching for spiders in Nursery and looking for their webs. We sang Incy Wincy Spider and made spiders in the malleable area using playdough. First, we had to roll a ball to make the body and then we rolled sausage shapes to add on the legs. Some children managed to count 8 legs to put on their spiders!
In the maths area, we counted spiders carefully to match the numeral written on each web. During group time, older children counted spiders and looked at which web had the most/fewest spiders. We also talked about what happened if we had ‘one more’ or ‘one less’ spider on the web. For example: ‘There are 4 spiders on the web, 1 spider runs away. How many will be left? How do you know?’
In the creative area we made our own spiders webs by rolling a marble backwards and forwards. It was lots of fun and we were very happy with our silky webs.
In the sensory area we used tweezers to pick up our own spaghetti worms.
Help at home.
Have a minibeast hunt in your outdoor space or at the park. Can you find any minibeasts ? How many legs can you see ? Do they have a pattern ? Do they have wings ? Let us know at Nursery what you find.
Next week
We will continue reading “Mad about Minibeasts”
Our Nursery Rhyme of the Week
Ring-a -ring of roses
Our sound of the week
Yy
Reminders
Please remember to put your child’s named sun cream in their group basket on the days that you want it to be applied.
Your child needs a coat every day. The weather is changeable at the moment and a sunny morning can often turn into a chilly afternoon.
Walking Through The Jungle
This week our focus book has been Walking through the jungle by Julie Lacome.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.This repeating story has been great for re-telling and exploring different ‘action words’: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.
In our writing, we’ve been re-telling parts of the story in our own words.
This week, our ‘word of the week’ is leaping – to jump quickly or suddenly a long way.
Did you know?…
We have a new morning activity. After we’ve put our things away, found our names and chosen our dinner, we are writing about an interesting picture. We have been showing some spectacular independent writing. We are getting so confident to write on our own. Check out some of our writing below!
Design and Technology; using a tool
We’ve continued working on the parts we are going to use for our ‘bug hotel’. We’ve been carefully using hand drills to create holes in wood, holding the tool firmly in place and using our strength to wind the handle.
We kept safe by wearing our safety goggles.
Maths; composing 5
In Maths, we’ve been composing 5 and using the song ‘5 little kittens’ to explore the parts that make the whole number. These are also called number bonds.
We’ve been using full sentences to explain what we can see on our fingers, as we move through the song:
“There are three kittens on the bed, there are two kittens under the bed, there are five kittens altogether”
In our partner work, the children had 5 counters. Taking turns, they hid some of the counters behind their back and their partner had to guess how many it was by looking at how many they could see!
Help at home– Can you play this game at home?
Encourage your child to repeat the below phrases.
5 is made of ____ and ____.
____ and ____ make 5.
Please email us a quote from your child or a photo when playing the game.
Phonics
Summer 1 week 3 has focused on phase 4 words with short vowels and longer words. We’ve learnt the tricky words; were, here, little, says
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Poetry Picnic
One week in every half term, we focus on a traditional nursery rhyme. This week we’ve been reciting Sing a song of sixpence.
Watch us sing the nursery rhyme here!
Art; using and representing nature
We’ve worked on collaborative and independent art pieces this week.
We used large leaves to print a large-scale jungle scene, before adding our jungle animal drawings.
We used fine paintbrushes and watercolours to create some observational paintings of plants.
Reminders and Dates
I know the importance of a healthy diet
In Living and learning this week, KS1 have been looking at what a healthy diet is.
We know that we need to eat food from different food groups to create a ‘balanced diet’.
We also know what we need to do to keep our bodies healthy such as exercise and get enough sleep.
As part of our ‘being healthy’ focus, the children also came up with some brilliant games to play at playtime, to help count towards the 60 minutes of exercise they need each day.
Help at home by talking to your child about the importance of a balanced diet and encourage them to tell or show you what that might look like at tea time!