Science in Year 1
In Science we are learning about the human body! We have enjoyed drawing around our bodies on the playground and labeling our body parts.
Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on the five senses. The children were very inquisitive when finding out about their sense of sight and what it might be like to be blind. Guides dogs and braille came into our conversations. We conducted a little investigation on the playground: Could we accurately throw a beanbag into a hoop if we were partially sighted or blind? Ask your child to retell their findings.
Happy children, engaged in play
This week, many children continued with their transition sessions and have stayed for a full day at Nursery. We’ve had lots of happy faces as children waved good-bye to parents and carers each morning, with just a few wobbles!
Try not to worry too much if your child has a little wobble or struggles to say goodbye in the morning. We often find that a quick hug, a big smile and waving good-bye works best and that most children usually settle very quickly once you’ve gone. We will always give you a call if your child continues to be upset, so if you don’t hear from us, you can presume that your child is happy and busy playing!
Here are a few photos of our play and learning this week – you can see that children are very busy and happily, engaged in play. This is just what we like to see once children have settled into their new environment! We strive to make Nursery a happy and healthy place to learn.
Now that children are familiar with our Nursery classrooms, over the next few weeks, you’ll start to see some changes in our areas of provision as we introduce new small world areas and themes for our learning.
Family photograph
As we’re getting to know everyone, we like to talk about our families and home life. To encourage children to tell us more about their family life, please e-mail or bring a photograph of your child with their family to Nursery next week. These will be displayed in our home corner for children to look at and talk about with staff and their friends. scholesnursery@spherefederation.org
3,4C Class News – Science and Reading
Wow! Another fabulous week of learning, 3,4 C.
In Science, the children have been learning the names of some of the bones in the human body – skull, spine, femur, pelvis and ribcage. This week, we have looked at the function of these bones within the body.
During reading lessons, we have focussed on the skill of retrieving information accurately from a text. We have enjoyed reading about the capital cities of the countries in the United Kingdom and retrieving facts about each of them.
Book Club was today. Well done to everyone who remembered their book and reading record. The children enjoyed celebrating reading, sharing books with each other and persuading others to read their book. At home, keep reading regularly. Please make sure that your child brings in their completed reading record activity and their book next Friday.
Well done class 3,4 C.
The Great Big Book of Families
We’ve been reading The Great Big Book of Families. Through the book, we have explored and celebrated the variety of families.
What is a family?
People who live in the same house.
People don’t have to live in the same house.
They love each other.
Grandma and Grandad because they can live in your house.
In our writing, we created our own family pictures and labelled with initial sounds or words.
Maths
This week, we’ve been using our subitising skills.
When subitising, we can say how many there are in a small group by ‘just looking’ and knowing without needing to count.
We used counters to create our own arrangements of 2 and 3.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) i,n,m,d.
During our phonics learning, we became detectives by searching for objects with the initial sounds s,a,t,p,i,n,m,d.
Each week we will be sending a ‘learn at home’ sheet, which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
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 Chop Chop.
Within the first 6 weeks of Reception, your child will participate in the reception baseline assessment.
“The RBA is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with. It became statutory for all schools from September 2021.”
Click here to find out more.
Help at Home
Sound Detectives – Find objects around your house or outside that have an initial sound we have learnt.
s a t p i n m d
Family photos
Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking about our homes. To help support our discussions and art project, please send in one picture of your front door. You can also email photos to the email address below.
3,4 B Class News
This week in maths we have continued to work hard on understanding the place value of different numbers. We have looked at the different ways that numbers can be represented, compared and ordered. We have also learned new mathematical vocabulary – ascending, descending, most significant digit and least significant digit.
In writing we have focused on the ‘must dos’ for writing. These include:
- Capital letters at the start of a sentence
- Punctuation at the end of a sentence
- Capital letters for proper nouns
Our topic this half term is ‘Where in the world am I?’ and this week we have used maps to locate specific countries, counties and cities.
Help at home by regularly listening to your child read and discussing the content to develop understanding. Feel free to quiz us on some of the new vocabulary we have discussed this week too (initiative, specific, pace)!
3,4 A Class News
This week we’ve been learning about maps as part of our Geography topic – ‘Where in the world am I? We’ve looked at what is a compass is and how we can use one, how to work out which direction we are travelling in and how the key works on an Ordnance Survey map.
Our reading lessons have also tied in with this topic, looking at texts about the four different cities of the United Kingdom to practise retrieving information to answer questions.
Help at home by regularly listening to your child read and discussing the content to develop understanding. Feel free to quiz us on the countries in the United Kingdom and the points of a compass too!
PE in 2C!
Today in PE we focussed on dodging skills and finding space.
We had fun playing a few different games where everybody could get involved!
Living and Learning
This weeks’ Living and Learning statement is ‘I use good manners’.
In KS1 we had a long discussion about what good manners look like and sound like. We thought about lots of ways we can use good manners both at home and at school.
We know that manners are very important. They make us feel good when we use them, and others good when they receive them.
Y2 maths
Year 2s have been learning all about place value in maths. Recognising the value of each digit lays the foundations for all the maths that we will build on this year.
Help at home by playing this game on the Top Marks website. It is great for recognising tens and ones (and is fun too).
