Class News

Odd sock day

Posted on Tuesday 14 November 2023 by Mrs Hogarth

As part of anti-bullying day, the children (and adults) came to school wearing odd socks. This is to raise awareness of bullying and what can be done about it. The socks represent that we are all different and that’s ok – we should embrace our differences and celebrate them. We talked about the different types of bullying, including online behaviours and where to get help if needed – trusted adults, Childline.

1A – Design Technology

Posted on Monday 13 November 2023 by Fiona Brown

This afternoon Class 1A learnt how to make a banana sandwich. Before we started on the task, we discussed what we needed to do to keep safe and we discussed how to keep everything as hygienic as possible. The children knew that we needed to wash our hands to keep the germs at bay and we talked about how we should also tie long hair back and roll long sleeves up. After washing our hands thoroughly, we set off for The Hub. The children listened carefully as Mrs Brown demonstrated how to make a banana and cream cheese sandwich. Everyone followed the instructions well and practised good patience whilst waiting their turn for the equipment. Mrs Brown spotted everyone using their great DT skills of peeling, slicing, spreading and arranging. She was very proud of the class… and they were very proud of themselves too. One child even gave themselves 10 out of 10! Well done 1A!

Adjective Day REMINDER – Tuesday 14 November

Posted on Monday 13 November 2023 by Mrs Latham

Remember to dress as an adjective tomorrow!

Adjective Day Tuesday 14 November

Dear parent/carer

After the success of the KS1 Adjective Day last year, we are doing it again. We are learning more about the functions of words. On Tuesday 14th November, we are going to have an ‘Adjective Day’. The children will be asked to come in to school dressed as an adjective. The adjective can be as simple or as adventurous as you like. Please ensure that your child is aware of the word meaning and feels confident in sharing this with the class. We have attached some pictures to inspire you or there are lots of ideas if you search ‘adjective dress up day’ on the internet.

Please do not go to the expensive of buying anything new and have fun creating your adjective outfit! Their outfit needs to be suitable for school, safe and warm enough for them to wear all day. (For 1A – easy to change in and out of for swimming too.)

Regards,

KS1 Term

Living and Learning-needs and wants

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mrs Wilkins

This week has been such a great time to focus on money. We have had so many insightful conversations about the differences between needing and wanting something.

I really want sweets sometimes but I don’t need them.

We all need food and water.

I want computer games but I do already have some.

I already have lots of clothes. I don’t really need any more, unless I grow!

We played a sorting game to help us identify further items that we may ‘need’ or ‘want’.

1A have thoroughly enjoyed our Maths lessons that have focused on recognising different coins. We have been getting to grips with the fact that 2p+1p=3p and that it doesn’t just make 2p because there are 2 coins. Similarly 5p+1p doesn’t equal 2p just because we have 2 coins!

Please see our photos of participating in the money trail too.

The whole of KS1 have had a brilliant start to a new half term. It has been great to be back together.

Bonfire Night celebrations

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Nursery Team

Everyone has quickly settled back into Nursery after the break and children were very excited to tell us all about their half term adventures and Bonfire Night celebrations.

We began the week talking about children’s experiences of Bonfire Night. Children enjoyed launching the rocket into the sky in our Bonfire themed small world area. Whooooosh!

We watched firework videos and talked about the colours, patterns and noises that we saw and heard. Outside, we listened to some firework sounds and pretended to be fireworks, dancing with ribbons.

What noise did the firework make? Pop! Bang! Whizz! Crackle, crackle! Fizz!

In the shallow sand tray, we looked carefully at the firework cards to try and create different patterns and shapes.  There were crosses, zig-zags, spirals and wavy patterns.

Children also talked about the bright colours that they’d seen in the sky and enjoyed using chalks and brightly coloured paints, to make firework prints and pictures.

As part of our phonics learning, we’ve introduced the letter ‘s’ this week.  At this point in Nursery, children are learning to HEAR the sounds in words.  We took turns to pull some objects out of a bag that all started with the letter ‘s’. There was… a star, stick, snowman, sock, spoon, snake and even a sloth! We talked about the ‘s’ sound that we could hear at the start of each word. In Nursery, we focus on our listening skills. We’re not learning about letter formation just yet, that will come later in your child’s phonics journey.

Here is a link to a video to show you how we pronounce the letter sounds that we will be learning over the next half term. (The video is to help show how to pronounce each letter clearly, using the pure sound. Children don’t need to be able to recognise the grapheme (letter) yet, although they might begin to.)

Help at home: What can you find at home that begins with the letter ‘s’?  Go on a sound hunt together and look for some…. ssssssocks, ssssssslippers, sssssssoap. We often exaggerate the sound at the beginning of the word when we’re first learning to listen for initial sounds and then we repeat the word afterwards, saying it as it should be. Sssssocks, socks.

What’s happening next week?

  • It’s ‘Odd Socks Day‘ on Monday so your child might like to wear odd socks for the day to celebrate what makes us all unique and spread kindness!
  • Looking for a school place for September 2024?  There is an Open session in school on Thursday 16th November at 1.30pm, so please come along to find out more and visit some classrooms.
  • Friday is a non-uniform day as we’ll be taking part in some spotty Children in Need fun!
  • It’s been much colder outside this week and some children have been a bit chilly whilst playing outside. As we spend lots of time in our outdoor area, please make sure that your child has a warm coat, a hat and some gloves to wear. Don’t forget to add names!

Nursery rhyme of the week – We’ll be singing lots of popular rhymes as it’s World Nursery Rhyme week! If you’d like to send us an email with your child’s favourite rhyme and we’ll try to sing it at Nursery next week.

Sound of the week – T for tiger and teapot!

Festivals of light

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Reception team

Welcome to Autumn 2! This half term, our theme is light and dark.

We’ve covered lots of important events and topics this week…

Bonfire Night

We’ve been learning about why we celebrate Bonfire Night, with an introduction to The Gunpowder Plot.  The children enjoyed sharing their experiences of Bonfire Night and how they celebrated at home or out and about.

In the construction area, we’ve been building replicas of The Houses of Parliament. We explored casting shadows of our models with torches and used colour paddles to make the shadows look like fire!

Diwali

We found out about the Hindu festival of lights, that will be celebrated this weekend- Diwali.

Our focus book was Binny’s Diwali by Thrity Umrigar

We also found out about the festival through sharing non-fiction texts and watching cbeebies- My first festivals

Take a look at some of the activities we explored, when learning about Diwali.

Our word of the week is: festival

Remembrance Day 

We discussed when and why we have Remembrance Day. We learnt about the meaning behind different coloured poppies. Lots of children wore a poppy to school and could speak about its meaning. We made poppies in class and poppy art using small parts outside.

Me and my money week 

For Me and my money week, Reception were introduced to coins by paying for snack at the market stall! Each item cost 1p and the children had to decide whether they needed 1p or 2p. They could also decide to pay for 2 items using a 2p coin or 2x 1p coins. We counted the amount each day to say how many ‘pence’ the market stall had made.

On Friday, we used all of your kind donations (thank you!) to create our charity penny trail. Can you see what we made using the coins?

During philosphy Friday, we asked the children What would you do with your last £1? 

Keep it, otherwise I’d have no money!- Reggie

Take it to charity- Liezah

Get it on an amazing toy- Finlay

Keep my money because I want £20. Then I can buy things for Mummy, Ellie and me!- Albie T

Get a real duck!- Ryan

Maths; identifying and composing 5

In Maths, we’ve been using our fingers to identify 5. We ‘grew our fingers’ using the peas in a pod song-

Five little peas in a pea pod pressed,

One grew, two grew, so did all the rest,

They grew and they grew and they did not stop,

Until one day the pod went pop!

Later in the week, we used 5 frames and 5-die frames to explore the different ways to compose 5.

Phonics

Autumn 2 week 1  has focused on the new digraphs ff, ll, ss and the single letter phoneme j

We’ve also learnt the tricky word; as

Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We start by identifying which part of the word is ‘tricky’. In as, the ‘s’ is tricky because it makes the /z/ sound.

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 Cup of Tea

We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm.

Click below to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!

Cup of tea

Help at home; World Nursery Rhyme Week

Next week, we’ll be celebrating World Nursery Rhyme Week

If your child would like to, we’d love to share a recording of them telling their favourite nursery rhyme in class. Please send your videos to the email address below.

Dates for your diary

Odd Socks Day- 13.11.23 To support anti-bullying week, please send your child to school wearing a pair of odd socks (Monday only)

Maths Stay and Learn – 15.11.23 – 09.00 – 10.00 Please join us in the classroom to watch a short maths session and enjoy some maths activities with your child.

Swimming

 

Year 3,4 Living and Learning Money Week

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mrs Wadsworth

Me and My Money Week

This week we have been learning all about money! The staff have been truly impressed by the mature discussions the children have engaged in about:

  • making spending choice based on priorities, needs and wants
  • developing an awareness of the price of some everyday products
  • the different types of coins, their value and how to count money
  • different methods of payment
  • different types of bank accounts
  • that sometimes people borrow money
  • that sometimes people donate to charity and why they might decide to
  • the range of jobs available – paid and unpaid
  • the themes in the book ‘It’s a no-money day’

Well done year 3,4. At home, tell your adults what you have been learning.

Key Stage 2 Coin Trail

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mrs Wadsworth

Thank you to everyone who donated money towards the penny trail to raise funds for Cancer Research UK. The Key Stage 2 classes had a lot of fun as you can tell from the pictures. We are still counting the money raised so we will let you know the grand total next week!

THANK YOU!

 

THANK YOU – charity collection coin trail

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mrs Latham

Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 created this amazing coin trail with all the coins you kindly donated. Counting is still in progress and we’ll let you know how much we raise for Cancer Research when we have finished counting all the coins.

THANK YOU!

 

School Gateway App

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Nursery Team

Make sure you keep up to date with the latest school information and news using the School Gateway App.   You can select alerts on your app to ensure that you are reminded of key dates and important information.

If you haven’t logged on to the School Gateway App yet, look out for an email next week with more details or please contact the school office for further information.