The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Literacy
This week, we enjoyed reading a story that many of the children already know and love — The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Because the story is so familiar, it allowed children to join in with re-telling it, using the language and repeated refrains from the book. It was great to hear them confidently recalling key events and phrases, building their storytelling and early literacy skills along the way.
As a class, we then explored how we could change the story to create our own versions. Together, we came up with new character ideas — including The Very Hungry Bee! The children had great fun thinking of alternative foods that their character might eat, from strawberries and cake to honey and flower petals.
Maths
This week, we have continued to develop our subitising skills (see the quantity without counting) in complex arrangements.
We have explored creating arrangements of 6. The children explained how they could see 6.
I can see 3 and 3. I know that double 3 is 6.
There are 4 spots there and 2 there. 4 and 2 make 6.
That’s not six because there are 6 counters here and I can see one more.
Phonics
This week, we have continued to learn phase 4 words such as frog, shift, chimp and drum.
We’ve also learnt more phase 4 tricky words; some, come, love and do
Help at home- Please continue to work through the weekly learn at home phonics sheets, throughout the Summer term. We’ll continue to send these home each Friday.
Remember, there are lots of ‘tricky word games’ that we’ve shared in the past (see previous Class News posts) to help your child learn and remember these words. Thank you for your continued support — regular short practice sessions really help children consolidate their learning.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we learn a new poem and we recite this poem every 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 Under a Stone. Watch here.
Creative
Children have also enjoyed being creative with clay as part of their Expressive Arts and Design (EAD) learning. Inspired by our ongoing topic on minibeasts, they explored the shapes and features of tiny creatures like ladybirds, caterpillars and spiders. They rolled, pinched and shaped the clay to create their very own minibeast models.
More pictures of our learning this week…
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
In the first two weeks of this half term, we’ve been learning all about health and prevention during our Living and Learning sessions.
Our two weekly statements were:
- I know the importance of personal hygiene; including handwashing.
- I know the importance of sleep.
During these sessions, we explored the importance of personal hygiene and the effects it could have on us if we don’t have good personal hygiene. Help at home: see if your child can explain why good personal hygiene (including handwashing) is important).
We also discussed the importance of sleep and the negative effects it can have on us if we don’t get enough sleep and if we aren’t in a good bedtime routine.
We concluded that these two things can be linked as well – for example: a good bedtime routine would involve brushing our teeth for two minutes on a night which is an example of good personal hygiene.
Help at home: see if your child can list some positive effects of a good nights sleep.
Working with decimal fractions!
This week in maths, we’ve been learning all about decimals—especially how to recognise tenths and hundredths as a decimal. We explored how 1/10 is the same as 0.1 and 1/100 is the same as 0.01. We used number lines and place value charts to help us understand. The classes did a fantastic job connecting their knowledge of fractions to decimals. Well done, everyone!
Help at home by continuing to support your child access TT rockstars
World War II in Leeds
This week year 5/6 have been learning about the Blitz. They studied a map by Leeds Beckett University which showed where bombs hit during the war.
Help at home: Discuss some of the stories from the website. How does this give us an idea of what war was like in Leeds?
Another fantastic week
Well done 2C for another fantastic week in school. It’s been a scorcher this week, but children have been very responsible in wearing sun cream, hats, sunglasses and drinking lots of water.
We have been continuing to measure this week but have focussed more on metres than centimetres. Did you know, our KS1 playground is 27m long and 14m wide?!
The children have produced even more fantastic handwriting this week, using their leading lines and joining up some of their words! Well done everybody, and a special well done to this superstar for winning our handwriting trophy this week!
Our Living and Learning statement this week has been ‘I know the importance of sleep’.
NL – ‘I think sleep is the best thing I do.’
OAS – ‘I definitely get enough sleep because I go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 7am.’
Sleep is very important. It helps our bodies and brains re-energise, ready for the following day.
We are LOVING our current History Topic this half term, learning about Nelson Mandela. Nelson is a hugely important historical figure because fought for what he believed in! He ended Apartheid and this resulted in equal rights in South Africa.
Mad about measurement
For the last 2 weeks in school, the Year 2 children have been learning about measurement.
We know that a centimetre is a small measurement. We each have a 30cm ruler on our desks at school.
SFK ‘I know that 100cm is equal to 1 metre.’
We have been measuring length and height. The length of an object is how long it is and the height is how tall an object is.
We have also been measuring ourselves.
We also measured our school playground, benches and outdoor equipment.
Help at home by using the vocabulary ‘longer’ and ‘shorter’ when discussing objects within the house.
Year 6 maths
In maths this week, year 6 have been using all their knowledge of fractions and applying it to decimals and percentages. They understand that a percentage is out of 100 and that the denominator of a fraction must be 100 in order to convert it into a decimal and percentage. The children recalled their learning of decimals well and could remember their knowledge of tenths and hundredths. They could convert between the two well. The children also applied their knowledge in problem solving and reasoning.
Living and Learning: vaccinations
In Living and Learning this week, Year 5/6 learned about the history of vaccinations. They read about the work of Edward Jenner and how he used cow pox to help find a vaccination for smallpox.
We also discussed how this break through in medical science led the way for modern day vaccinations.
Help at home: read the article about Edward Jenner. Discuss which vaccinations you have had and when you had them.
Welcome to Summer Term
Welcome back ! We hope that you all had a lovely Easter break. We’ve heard all about your Easter holiday trips and visits from the Easter Bunny. The children have returned to Nursery brilliantly and settled in happily to the final term of the year. We’ve had a very busy week in Nursery.
We’ve enjoyed the sunny weather preparing our planters for seeds and planting our beans outside. Thanks for letting us know how the children’s beans are growing at home, we’ve had some fantastic photos sent in.
We created a bike wash following the children’s interest. Using our large muscle movements to scrub with brushes and sponges.
In maths, we looked at the number four. We can show number 4 on our fingers, we clapped and jumped four times. We looked at objects that are all linked to the number four.
Help at home: Can you count objects at home? How many forks or spoons do we need on the table at tea time ? Encourage your child to count carefully, pointing to or moving each object as they say they number name. How many socks do you wear? Can you put 4 bricks/ cars/ pencils away?
We also visited some new friends at home visits. It was lovely getting to know them. Everyone is looking forward to welcoming them next week.
Next week
We will begin our new theme with the story ” The Very Hungry Caterpillar”
We will also be watching our very own ” hungry caterpillars” grow and change.
Our Nursery Rhyme of the week is “1,2,3,4,5, Once I caught a Fish Alive”
Our sound of the week is Vv
Reminders
Can everyone please check that their child’s shoes are named, we realise that sometimes names can rub off. We have a few children with identical footwear this year and they are getting muddled up. Having names in shoes helps us to solve this problem.
We hope that you have a happy and healthy weekend and thankyou for your continued support.
Living and learning : allergies
We learned about allergies in our Living and Learning lessons this week. We talked about allergens and allergic reactions. We talked about how to help other people who may have allergies.
Help at home by ensuring your child knows if they have an allergy.
