Time Travel – topic review
We have come to the end of our, history-based, Time Travel topic. We used food as a focus and have read Stone Age Boy, learnt how people cooked in the Stone Age, tried creating ‘cave paintings’ using sticks and stones, looked at food wrappers, sorted cooking implements, investigated how packed lunches have changed over time, used Andy Warhol’s to inspire our own art work and had a camp fire on the playground! We discussed all our exciting learning with children from other classes in our final session last week.
World Nursery Rhyme Week
This week we have enjoyed singing lots of nursery rhymes. The children have brought in books, jigsaws and objects to talk about their favourite nursery rhymes and it has also been great to find out what your favourite nursery rhymes were when you were growing up.
On Monday, our song of the day was 5 Currant Buns. The number 5 was also our new number of the week. The children had fun baking some buns.
On Tuesday, our song of the day was Humpty Dumpty. The children enjoyed sharing their favourite nursery rhymes and books, jigsaws and objects from home.
We also did a very excited science experiment. Professor Myers came to visit and told us that somebody was pushing Humpty Dumpty off the wall and we needed to find a way to protect him! We experimented with different materials to see which material would protect him the most. Before dropping the egg we predicted (a sensible guess) what might happen. The children also had some great ideas of what else we could use to protect Humpty Dumpty.
- “We could drop him on a cushion then he won’t break.”
- “We could wrap him in an apron.”
- “We could wrap him in paper.”
On Wednesday, the song of the day was A Sailor Went To Sea. The children enjoyed playing hand games together.
On Thursday, the song of the day was I’m a little teapot. The children had lots of fun experimenting with different musical instruments when singing the song.
On Friday, the song of the day was Round and Round the Garden. The children enjoyed making circle movements during squiggle whilst we wiggle. Squiggle whilst we wiggle is a great way to develop our gross motor movements that help with letter formation. On a Friday we also do dough disco – this is a great way to develop our fine motor skills that help with writing.
What a busy week we have had!
I know we’re all the same and we’re all different-Living and Learning
We’re all human, we all look pretty much the same, and like and do similar things. We want to celebrate our differences, too! Some of us are shorter, thinner, fairer; some of us have a mum and dad at home and lots of us don’t…
Every child in KS1 has enjoyed finding similarities and differences between themselves and others.
Golden Star
Congratulations to the pupil who received the prestigious Golden Star, in 2KL, this week. 
Homework review – I know how to STOP bullying (Living and Learning)
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came to our homework review session on Thursday. There was some great Talk Time homework and we discussed it in our classes. We had posters, poems and a video news report that was sent to the school email: scholesoffice@spherefederation.org. These were shared and discussed in classes, with children engaged and keen to share or show what they had created.
Please feel free to write comments about how your child approached, found and responded to the homework.
Living and Learning – being the same and being different
Blob tree
This week we have talked about being the same and being different.
We often use a blob tree to reflect on our learning and understand our emotions.
This week, we used a blob tree to identify how we are all the same (the blobs are all the same, in the same community) but can feel different at different times, or in different situations.
What we did:
- Identify two blobs that represent them and how they feel
- Explain the feelings to a partner
- Share our blobs with our peers
- Appreciate the feelings of others
Importantly, children noticed how they almost all had selected different blobs. If children had chosen the same blob, they loved telling each other why.
The blob tree is a powerful learning tool to help children understand their feelings.
Whole school topic review!
This afternoon, children from across the school came together to share what they’ve learned during our ‘big topic’ of Time Travel. It was a fantastic opportunity to practise speaking and listening skills. It’s so interesting to find out what other year groups have been learning about.
Ask your child what they ‘ve learnt? What have they enjoyed finding out about the most? What would they like to learn more about? Maybe you could learn more together, as a family.
Living and Learning: I know how to STOP bullying.
Last week, our Living and Learning statement was ‘I know how to STOP bullying.’ Our homework was to be creative and respond to the statement.
Once again, our children have demonstrated how creative they are. Just look at the range of fantastic responses we got! We were very pleased to share this week’s homework review with some of our parents.
Bullying is a very important area to think about in school and at home. Understanding what bullying is and how to stop it is vital.
Creative Curriculum – toasting marshmallows on a camp fire!
To round off our Time Travel topic in style, we had a camp fire this afternoon! When we were learning about how people lived in the Stone Age, we found out that they cooked on a fire. Although we weren’t eating reindeer or wild boar that we had caught, toasting marshmallows (or pieces of bread if you didn’t like marshmallows), gave us the feel of what it might’ve been like!
We also talked about how toasting marshmallows was a scientific experiment – demonstrating irreversible changes.
Perhaps the most important part though, were our safeguarding discussions about fire safety, what to do in a fire drill and how to stay safe near fire.
A big THANK YOU to Andy Webb (AW2 Developments) who made the amazing outdoor benches we are sitting on too!
Also, thank you to everyone who sent in marshmallows and skewers.
Reading workshop – thanks for attending
Thanks to the Y5,6 parents and carers who came along to our Reading Workshop this week – it is great to know your child is being supported at home in this core life skill.
David Owen, the Sphere Federation English Leader, led the presentation which was also attended by Y5,6 teachers. Read his PowerPoint.
The feedback was really positive:
- ‘We were really pleased we came along. It was a very informative workshop. The slides were great and explained well… All our questions were answered and we were given some great ideas…’
- ‘It was useful to go through the SAT texts… I did not realise how much they needed to read.’
- ‘The workshop was very informative. It set the expectations and explained how we (parents) can help.’
In the annual survey of parents and carers, respondents told us we could do more to provide you with information about your child and their learning. These workshops are an important way to gain understanding and awareness of expectations so you can support your child at home and track their progress alongside school. Please do keep making every effort to attend – thanks again to those who did come along.