Class News

3,4O: Super Scientists

We continued our learning about sound by carrying out an investigation into the relationship between volume and vibrations.

First, we observed the vibrations when we played the musical instruments louder or fainter.

We found that the louder the volume, the bigger the vibrations – remember, the vibrations cause particles in the air to vibrate which in turn creates sound.

Then, we carried out a more scientific investigation using a decibel metre. Decibels are the unit we use to measure sound. We played the instruments and recorded the volume.

Finally, just like scientists would, we created a graph to show our results. Take a look at a few of ours…

Isolating at home? This learning is for you.

Here is some home learning for when you can’t be with us at school.

Remember to send pictures of your child’s home learning to scholesf2@spherefederation.org.

Maths

For this week’s maths learning, we are continuing to learn about the number 5. Spread the activities across the week, at your own pace. For video sessions, your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Sessions 1-3 – White Rose Maths Alive in 5!

 Number 5 picture story

One way that we learn about number bonds and number composition in class, is through number stories. Look at the picture below and ask your child what they notice about the picture (‘There are 5 elves’/ ‘There are 5 presents’)

Next, have a look at the differences and talk about them in full number sentences, for example:

Q: How many elves are wearing trousers, and how many are wearing skirts?

A: There are 2 elves wearing trouses, there are 3 elves wearing skirts. There are 5 elves altogether.

Q: How many elves are wearing belts and how many are not wearing belts?

A: There are 4 elves wearing belts, there is 1 elf not wearing a belt. There are 5 elves altogether.

What other features, questions and number sentences can you come up with?

Phonics

This week we will be continuing to recap our phase 2 sounds.

Watch and join in the Jolly Phonics songs.

(This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)

Lesson 1– Blending

Read each word by saying the sounds then blending together.

Lesson 2– Recapping sementing to write and digraphs at the end of words

 Grab a piece of paper and a writing tool. Ask your child to write the following words- Remind them the think about which representation of the sound they should use at the end of a word:

Lesson 3– Recap Phase 1- listening for blends.

Play ‘eye spy’ together, by sounding out things you can see in the environment. For example:

“eye spy with my little eye, something that sounds like t-a-p” and the child would say “tap”

You can swap roles so your child has a go with both sounding out and blending words.

Lesson 4: These are our tricky words we have learnt so far. They are tricky because we can’t use our phonics to help us read them.

Can you read each word?

Play tricky word pairs. Write the word twice and lay face down. Take turn to find matching pairs of the words. Ensure you both say each word you turn over.

Literacy

This week, we are reading The Jolly Christmas Postman

Lesson 1– Read the book if you have it at home or watch the story below, read by a VERY special reader!

Make a story map of the Postman’s journey. Which characters did he visit along the way?

Lesson 2– In the story, some characters are sent cards. Make your own Christmas card with your own design on the front. Don’t forget the important features:

• We write To and the person’s name, so that the person who the card is for, knows that the card is for them.
• We write From/ Love from, and then your name so the person who the card is for, knows who has sent them the card-you!

Lesson 3- In the story, The Jolly Christmas Postman meets Humpty Dumpty. Can you make a list of things that Humpty Dumpty needs to be repaired and to feel better, after his fall.

Lesson 4- Which is your favourite character that the postman meets in the story? Talk about why they are your favourite. Can you use your imagination to come up with a Christmas adventure for your favourite character? Tell an adult your story and create a story board of pictures.

Topic

Choose some of these activities to complete throughout the week. These are based on our topic – Christmas.  They may spark other interests and ideas that result in other learning opportunities. Let your child lead the learning!

New books!

Recently, we made a significant investment in some new ‘dip in’ books for all classes across KS2.

It was very exciting when they were delivered and our book shelves are now full to the brim with exciting and engaging non-fiction / poetry books.

We spent some time this week enjoying them – it was awesome to share what we were learning with other people in the class.

3,4O: certificates

We’ve enjoyed another great week in 3,4O. We’ve been historians, writers, mathematicians, athletes, friends, team mates – the list could go on!

Here are this week’s certificate winners…

For great learning…

Ethan – You’ve smashed your learning across all subjects this week. You’re ready to learn and you always try your hardest.

For living and learning…

Jessica – You’re a great friend to many people and a generally awesome member of Team 3,4O. Keep being kind!

For sport and physical activity…

Harry – For demonstrating excellent teamwork during our PE lessons. You are passionate about sport and help others to enjoy it, too.

For Times Table Rockstars…

Noah – You consistently use TTR to improve your times table recall and have done for some time. Keep it up!

Living and Learning: Relationships

Here is the picture of our Relationships – Living and Learning from today.

The children were demonstrating how threads of friendship get stronger the more they do things that support the friendship.

We discussed aspects of friendship:

• not laughing if they didn’t get a goal or basket
• checking they were ok if they fell over and
• being good learning friends meant working as a group
• not bossing everyone in the group
• making sure people were listened to, respected and heard

Living and Learning: Friends

Over the next few weeks, our Living and Learning topic is RSE (Relationships and Sex Education).

In class, we read some scenarios about friendships and discussed the good bits about each one. We asked –  What makes a good friend?

Here are some of our thoughts ….

Cameron

Sam

Lily

Arthur

Harrison

And Georgia

Brilliant Buccaneers!

Ahoy, Me Hearties!

What a swashbuckling, super turn out we had on pirate day! THANK YOU to our incredible children and parent crew-mates of the good ships Sunshine and Rainbow, for joining in with your amazing costumes.

We had fun playing buried treasure in our phonics lessons, continuing with our pirate themed activities (making flags, counting treasure, reading pirate stories and role play), listening to pirate songs and going on a QR code ‘treasure’ hunt outside.

We have also been busy with all of these activities this week…

Home-Link Challenge

Next week, we start preparing for the festive season! We will be reading the story of The Jolly Christmas Postman. 

Challenge 1- We would like you to either write a letter to Santa/ Father Christmas or to a friend. This can be on any topic you like- it could be your Christmas list or writing to a friend about what your plans are during the upcoming school holidays.

Your child should write independently, recording any sounds they can hear in sequence. They should also record any tricky words they know.

Challenge 2- Now we are in December, we have entered the season of Winter. Talk to your child about what you might see in the environment during winter. You might be able to see these signs of Winter outside. Please take a photo of anything you spot, that we can then share and discuss in class.

Christmas has arrived in Nursery!

You may have noticed, whilst peeping through the waving window, that ‘Christmas’ arrived in Nursery on Tuesday morning. Children have been full of excited talk about what their cheeky little elves have been up to at home and have been busy making toy lists.

Here are a few of the festive things that we’ve enjoyed this week.  In the home corner, we have a mini Christmas tree and a selection of decorations for children to use as part of their role play.  We also have Santa’s house at the North Pole in our small world area; this has been really popular with everyone and Santa has been flying around Nursery in his sleigh!

During group time, we enjoyed mark making on Christmas tree shapes. Children practised lots of different patterns, using zig-zags for tinsel and circles for baubles. In Nursery, we encourage children to draw and write in many different ways and to experiment with patterns.  Some children will have already developed a preference for using one hand, others will swap and draw with both hands. Similarly, some children will still be using their whole hand to hold a pencil in their fist,  whereas other children may use two fingers and their thumb and may be developing more control.  All children develop differently; the best way to support their writing skills is to have fun drawing together.  You could paint, draw pictures in the bath with bath crayons, use giant chalks outside, draw inside a large cardboard box or simply draw or colour in a picture. Talk about the marks you’re making. What do they show? What do they mean?

In our outside area, children have enjoyed playing with the Winter Wonderland small world area and using decorations to decorate  trees in our garden. Trying to hang baubles on the branches is a great fiddly fingers activity! 

Important reminders

• Please make sure that your child has a festive or brightly coloured top at Nursery for their first session this week.  Children will wear them whist we video our Christmas songs, beginning on Monday.
• Packed lunches– We’d like to politely remind you to follow our school’s guidance regarding healthy packed lunches. Packed lunches must NOT contain nuts or products containing nuts – this includes Nutella products. Also, please ensure that you limit sugary treats and leave chocolate bars and sweets for home time. Thank you for your cooperation.

Certificates 3,4E

This week’s certificates go to these wonderful children:

For Great Learning: Dolly – for trying so very hard with column subtraction all week with super progress.

Sport and physical activity: Bobby D – Good attacking and defending skills in hockey – a great effort!

For Great living and learning skills: Georgia  – for always taking a safe risk in class by putting her hand up and asking and answering questions.

TTRS – Aaron Ranasinghe for effort and dedication to times tables practice this week.

5/6B Certificate Celebration

Here are our certificate winners this week…

For great living and learning…

Daisy Mae – During mathematics, you’ve shown a real mixture of our 8 R’s for learning. Your resilience to overcome a task is fantastic – you are also the first to recognise and celebrate success for your peers, too. Great work, Daisy!

For sport and physical activity…

Emily – During our latest basketball session, you showed some great movement and catching skills. You played a key roll in your team and supported others regularly. Well done, Emily!

For great learning…

Joseph – Every day, you present yourself as a fantastic role model in our school. You are polite, funny and kind to everyone. Your learning attitude has been particularly fantastic lately – you are sharing all your ideas and taking safe risks all the time. Keep it up, Joseph!