1A-PE
Our PE game this half term is ‘Hulk Smash.’ Through this game we are working on many of our fundamental movement skills. These include: running, jumping, throwing and catching. We are also developing our awareness of rules and tactics when we play this game too. It is fun to play and the sunshine adds to our enjoyment too!
1A enjoyed a little ‘cool down’ time in our wildflower garden after our PE session.
Science-Plants and Trees
We have found so much joy in watching our seeds grow. You may have noticed lots of plants dotted around our school grounds. Each class have provided ‘the right’ conditions for our seeds to grow. We are currently growing: strawberries, beans, peas, mint, chive and willow.
This week we have all been on a field walk to identify deciduous and ever green trees/plants. We used a key to help us look at the leaves and identify the name of the tree. We then thought about if the leaves were waxy and spiky. These two elements often indicate an evergreen plant.
Photo credit: 1A pupils.
Help at home: Can your child tell you what a seed needs to grow? Can they name the parts of a tree and plant?
Living and Learning – 5-a-day
In Key Stage One (KS1) we are always learning about ways to keep our bodies healthy. Sleep, exercise and diet are huge factors. This week we have focused on the health benefits of eating five fruits or vegetables each day. The NHS website has top tips for making sure you are eating the right amount to class as one portion.
Help at home: Why not help your child to make a healthy ‘food swap’. Could a packet of crisps be swapped for an apple (especially on the days that you haven’t yet eaten 5-a-day?)
Wildflower garden – a place for mindfulness
We have been able to enjoy our new wildflower garden area today. It is a space for reflection, enjoying nature and being peaceful.
Thank you to the Garforth and District Lions for donating the benches too.
Tiny tadpoles
Have you seen the tadpoles in Nursery? Children are fascinated watching them wriggle and swim around the tank. We’ve been learning about the life cycle of a frog and know that the next stage in the cycle is for the tadpoles to grow back legs. We keep looking at them closely to check for signs of legs.
In maths, we’ve been singing ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs‘ and have been carefully counting how many frogs are left on the log after each verse.
How many frogs jumped into the pond? How many are on the log? If there are 3 frogs on the log, how many are there in the pond?
Our other learning and interests this week have included:
- Rolling tiny balls of playdough to balance on the suction cups and using the tools to roll the dough as flat as we can before using a cutter.
- Lots of physical activity including balancing and swinging!
- Making more cheesy pizzas in our role play area.
Next week’s learning:
We saw lots of insects this week and there was a lot of interest in a bee that we found. Children enjoyed looking at the wings and stripes closely on it using the magnifying app on an iPad. Next week, we’ll follow this interest and find out about bees and ladybirds.
Sound of the week – Y for yoyo
Nursery rhyme of the week – Ring-a-ring-a-roses
Rumble in the Jungle
The sun is shining and it has been just wonderful to feel like it’s finally Spring time! Here’s what we’ve been doing in our ‘Life on Earth’ topic this week…
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 remembering facts about rainforests. Lots of children are challenging themselves to write more- check out these amazing double-sided writing examples!
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.
Help at home
Use the language – First, then and now to create a number story to match the picture.
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.
Living and Learning- I know the importance of ‘five a day‘
Following on from our discussions about healthy balanced diets, we’ve been talking about the importance of getting your ‘five a day’.
The children spoke about why we should eat fruit and vegetables and what that might look like.
It keeps us healthy- Heidi
It makes us strong- Rupert
You should eat a rainbow- Albie S
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…
Getting ready for year one
We are now over half way through Summer 1 and starting to think about transition into year one. To get the children prepared, we’d like parents/carers to encourage children to come into school through their classroom door independently and wave them off at the waving window. We know there are a few children already doing this, which is great for developing that independence.
We will be asking that after the May half term break, all children come in independently.
Having said this, please know that our door will continue to be open to you for chats and if your child wants to show you their learning.
Thank you for your support.
Reminders and Dates
Thursday 23 May – Farmyard Festival: (Letter sent home) Please don’t go to the expense of buying anything new – creative adaptations of something you’ve already got will be fantastic. Outfits need to be suitable for school, safe and warm/cool enough to be worn all day.
Friday 24 May- School Closed: Training Day
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow- 15 May
Sunshine– 22 May
Year 3,4 Science
This week, we have been Scientists.
Our enquiry question is ‘Does the number of seeds in a pot affect the growth of the plant?’
Each class has set the experiment up, planting either 1, 2 , 4 or 8 seeds in different pots. The children made sure each container had the same amount of soil, was placed in the same position in each classroom and is watered using the same amount of water. We will monitor and record the growth of the plants over the next couple of weeks.
Each child also planted their own sunflower so we can observe the growth over time. 
Help at home by encouraging your child to explain the experiment. Maybe you could plant some seeds too!
Year 3 Maths
This week, Year 3 have been learning how to recognise coins, count money and add amounts of money. We have been converting pounds into pence.
Help at home by counting different amounts of money – remember to check the value of each coin.
Deciduous or evergreen?
This half term, KS1 have been learning all about plants and trees in Science. During the past two weeks, our focus has been on trees in particular. We know that deciduous trees loose their leaves but evergreen trees keep their leaves throughout all of the seasons.
We started off by sorting trees, based on their leaves into 2 groups.
We have also been on the field this week to find out what type of trees are growing. We found out that most of the trees are deciduous. The most common was a lime tree.
We also found one evergreen tree on the field and this was a pine tree. We know pine trees are often found in colder climates. Their waxy coating helps to protect the leaves from ice.
(Thank you parents for allowing our Science lesson to happen by sending children in with wellies this week.)
3,4B Class News
In Geography, we’ve continued to learn about York – comparing it to Venice. We’ve looked at the population of both cities, learnt about the amount of tourists who visit on an annual basis and are now thinking about why tourists want to visit them – moving on to considering the issues raised by overtourism.
In PE this half term, we are developing our skills in basketball. This week we learnt about fitness for basketball and why it is important to keep fit and healthy. We did a carousel of activities around the playground, including star jumps, shuttle runs and burpees.
Help at home by asking us why it’s important to exercise regularly.
This week’s Science lesson was very exciting as we each planted our own sunflower seed. We will measure them on a weekly basis until the end of term and see how tall they grow!
We also planted multiple seeds in the same pot to investigate whether more seeds being planted together will have an impact on their growth. We have four of the same pot – one with one seed, one with two seeds, one with four seeds and one with eight seeds. Again, we will measure these weekly and see what we find out!
Help at home by asking us what conditions plants need in order to grow.