Class News

Topic: Digging Into the Distant Past

This half term, Year 5/6 are stepping back thousands of years as we delve into the fascinating worlds of Stone Age Britain and Ancient Egypt.

We have kicked off our new history topic by exploring what life was like in Stone Age Britain, discovering how early people lived, hunted, built shelters and survived without all the things we take for granted today. Over the coming weeks, we will journey through the Bronze Age and Iron Age, before travelling much further afield to uncover the mysteries of Ancient Egypt.

This week, the children also became historians themselves! They carried out their own independent research into the Bronze Age, using trusted websites to discover key facts and information. It was also a great opportunity to practise an important skill: researching safely online and thinking carefully about which websites and sources we can trust.

There is plenty more to uncover this half term, from hunter-gatherers and early settlements to pharaohs, pyramids and the River Nile!

Help at home: Ask your child about their new topic vocabulary. 

Maths: Bridging 10

What a fantastic start to the year we’ve had in Class 3/4C! It’s been lovely getting to know the children and seeing them settle into their new routines.

This week in Maths, we’ve been recapping bridging 10 when adding numbers.

Bridging 10 is a useful strategy that helps us to add numbers efficiently. We can use our knowledge of number bonds to 10 to make the calculation easier.

For example:

8 + 5

We know that 8 needs 2 more to make 10, so we can partition (split) the 5 into 2 and 3.

8 + 2 = 10
10 + 3 = 13

Therefore, 8 + 5 = 13.

We could partition in another way, too – ask your child how you might start with the 5 and partition the 8.

The children have been using practical resources, drawings and number lines to help them understand this strategy before applying it to calculations independently. We’ve also been thinking carefully about explaining how we know our answers, rather than simply finding the answer.

It’s been fantastic to see the children becoming more confident with their addition strategies and supporting one another with their learning.

Help at home: Why not practise some bridging 10 calculations together? You could try calculations such as 7 + 6, 9 + 4 or 8 + 7. Can your child explain how they could bridge through 10 to find the answer?

Getting to know you.

What a wonderful, busy first week we’ve had in Nursery!

It’s been lovely to welcome back our returning children, who arrived with big smiles and lots of exciting stories to tell us about their holidays. They quickly found their friends, rediscovered their favourite places to play and settled back into nursery life.

We have also been delighted to welcome our new children and their grown-ups to our Stay and Play sessions. It has been wonderful seeing everyone joining in with the fun, exploring our activities and beginning to feel at home in their new nursery environment.

This week, we have been helping all of the children to settle in and become familiar with their new surroundings. It can take a little while to remember where everything is, but the children have been doing brilliantly! They have been busy exploring all of our nursery provision, trying out different activities and having lots of fun.

 What Makes Us Tick

One of our next jobs is finding out what everyone enjoys playing and doing.

You can help us with this by adding a note to your child’s photograph on our “What Makes Us Tick” board. Whether your child loves diggers, dancing to K-pop, dinosaurs, drawing, dressing up or something completely different, we want to know! Please speak to your child’s key person if you would like more information.

 A Few Reminders

Please remember that your child needs to bring a coat every day, whatever the weather.

Please make sure your child’s water bottle is clearly named.

We’ve had a great start to the new nursery year and we’re looking forward to all the learning and fun still to come!

Gruffalo Granny

Today we had the joy of joining a livestream event through the British Library. We joined author Julia Donaldson and illustrator Axel Scheffler as they invited us into their ‘Gruffalo world’. The event started with Julia Donaldson dressing up and reciting the original Gruffalo story. Her enthusiasm along with the characters’ costumes had us all hooked.

After the lovely performance, Julia introduced the next addition to the Gruffalo trilogy. She read aloud Gruffalo Granny and we were all bewitched. We hung from her every word and we all thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Axel Scheffler then talked us through his illustration of Gruffalo Granny. He told us how she has some of the same characteristics as the Gruffalo but how some are different because she is older. Her drooping ears, red prickles and grey fur are all due to old age. He draws with such ease – it was so impressive!

First week in Reception

Our Reception children have settled in so beautifully and are doing a fantastic job getting to know their new classroom, routines and friends. It’s been wonderful to see how much more confident and comfortable they’re becoming each day!

From Monday 14 September, we’d like to encourage the children to start coming into the classroom independently, as they’re now becoming familiar with the morning routine. This is a lovely next step in helping them to build their confidence, independence and sense of responsibility.

We really appreciate your support with this and know that, together, we can help the children feel proud and confident as they begin their mornings independently. If you ever have any questions, concerns or would simply like to have a chat, please don’t hesitate to speak to us, the door is always open and we’re happy to help.

Here we are exploring our outdoor learning space. We have been looking for objects in our nature areas, riding bikes, gymnastics and playing games.

All children need a pair of wellies leaving at school so they can access the grass area year round.

We have had a little taster of our P.E. sessions this week!

Just a reminder that we will be doing a short P.E. session every day in Reception. The children will not be getting changed for P.E., so please ensure they come to school wearing suitable school uniform and comfortable footwear.

Help at home: Practise undoing buttons, taking off jumpers and putting shoes on and off. These are important skills in children’s development and make a huge difference to their independence.

Thank you for a wonderful first week and all your support.

Living and Learning: I know the school rules.

Our School Rules

At our school, we follow three simple rules to help everyone learn, feel happy and stay safe:

We’re respectful – We treat everyone and everything with kindness, listen to others and look after our school community. This includes friends, peers, adults, equipment and more!

We’re ready – We come prepared to learn, give our best and take responsibility for our choices. This could be having our purple pen ready at the start of a session to complete our step ups!

We’re safe – We make sensible choices, follow instructions and help keep ourselves and others safe. This could be during playtime, PE, online and more!

Together, these three rules help make our school a positive place where everyone can thrive.

In Year 5 and 6, the children have made a really positive start to the school year by following these rules.

Help at home: See if your child can remember the three school rules.

Living and Learning: The 8 Rs

This week’s Living and Learning statement is ‘I use the 8 Rs to help me learn.’

We have been discussing each of the 8 Rs and how they are important in supporting our learning. They are:

• being ready
• being responsive
• being reflective
• being resourceful
• remembering
• risk-taking
• being resilient
• being responsible

We then discussed which we felt were most important to us and why.

Help at home by asking your child if they can remember the 8Rs and how they can show them both at school and in the wider community.

Maths – Place Value

In Maths, Year 1 have been practising counting and representing single-digit numbers.

Year 2 have been working on two-digit numbers, starting with multiples of ten.

We have practised representing these numbers with digits and with base 10. We are learning that the value of the digit is different depending on if it is in the tens or the ones column.Help at home by representing numbers with different objects. Could you collect conkers and count how many you’ve got?

Living and Learning: I follow the school rules

Last week, our Living and Learning statement was I follow the school rules.

At Scholes Elmet Primary School we have three school rules:

• we’re respectful
• we’re ready
• we’re safe

Children thought about the importance of these rules and how they are rules that will help them throughout their life.

Help at home: discuss the school rules. Could you add another rule? What rules do you have at home? What happens when people don’t follow the school rules?

Science: Calling All Young Biologists!