Science: You can’t use a floppy fork!

This half-term in Science, we are looking at materials in KS1. This week, we looked at some objects that could be made using different materials. We studied each object and their properties to work out which material was best for each object and why.

We tested; forks, plates and cups.

Here’s what we found out:

1A

‘The best material for a fork is metal because it is strong.’

‘The worst material for a fork is fabric because it is floppy.’

1/2B

‘The best plates are ceramic if we are at home because they are hard but plastic in school because they are safer.’

2C

‘Paper is not a sensible material for a cup because it leaks.’

‘Plastic is the best material for a cup because it is strong but will not smash if it is dropped.’

Help at home by looking at objects and what they are made of. What are the properties of the materials used?

Geography – local walk

Today, we visited 5 different places in our local area. We followed a route on a map to find local landmarks. This is because we are being geographers this half term and studying our locality. We looked for both human and physical features in our locality. We kept safe by wearing our high vis jackets, staying with our partners and listening to the adults.

Help at home by supporting your child to learn their address and postcode.

PE: moving

We were very excited this week to get the apparatus out for PE. The children set up stations in which they would have to use different moving skills. They were using balance and coordination to move safely across the apparatus and even thought of creative ways to move across the equipment. The most popular activities were the rope ladders and ropes. These both require a lot of upper body strength to get to the top. The 8 Rs for learning were definitely applied in this lesson! Some children faced their fears too – overcoming their fear of heights to tackle the activities. An important part of the lesson was also talking about how to be safe on the equipment so no-one got injured – the children knew how to safely move the equipment.

Leeds United Positive Choices Workshop

This morning, year 6 had a visit from Vicky at Leeds United. During the session we discussed a range of topics: anti social behaviour, legal ages,  making positive choices, using social media safely and consequences for our actions.

Class 5/6A News

A whirlwind week in Class 5/6A has seen us travel all around the world and beyond, plan to rob a train, and get to grips with multiplication.  Let’s take a closer look.

In Maths,  Year 5 have begun to look at multiplying four digit numbers by a one digit number.  Having a solid knowledge of times tables will be essential for our pupils to succeed with this learning.  How to help: Support your child’s learning by encouraging use of Times Tables Rockstars at home on a daily basis.  The Soundcheck option allows pupils to test all of their times table knowledge, or they can choose to focus on a particular number.

Our Writing focus has been on using speech to convey a character’s personality and advance the plot of a story.  The pupils have been using the short silent-film ‘Ruckus’, based on two thieves looking to rob a train to steal a jewel, to come up with a script to develop their skills in advancing the plot.  They then acted this out in front of the rest of the class.  I was really impressed with the quality of their dialogue, mix of colloquial expressions, and variety of ways to convey feeling.

In Topic we have looked at the effects of climate change on two separate parts of the world; Greenland and the Solomon Islands.  The concept of interdependence, and how events in one part of the world can affect another, was our focus, as the melting ice caps in Greenland, are contributing to the rising sea levels which puts island nations such as the Solomon Islands at risk.

During our circle time as part of Living and Learning, we have been continuing our discussions around understanding what a drug is, and providing strategies to handle peer pressure.  We had a very enthusiastic and thought-provoking discussion around how young people can be influenced by many different parties when it comes to drugs, and role-played being able to make good choices around our health.

Science saw us explore the planets within our solar system, and come up with memorable mnemonics to help us remember the order.  My personal favourite is My Very Elderly Mother Just Served Us Nachos (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune).

There’s just time to congratulate our certificate winners this week.

Great Learning – Gene.  Consistently showing a great attitude to learning, and excellent presentation.

P.E – Esme.  A real team player.  Gives 100% in each task, and wowed with her basketball dribbling.

Living and Learning – Bethenny.  Mature, composed and considerate, she is a valuable contributor to each of our group discussions.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Robson

P.S below are two incredible pieces of artwork by Esme Clarke in Year 5.  She has drawn some superb pictures of Wednesday and Tyler from the film “Wednesday”.

Getting to know each other

We’ve enjoyed welcoming all of our new children to Nursery this week for their first sessions. It’s been lovely to see our older children helping to show them around and making new friends.

We listened to ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and re-told the story in the book corner using props. Children tried to remember some of the repeated phrases in the story. “Grandma, what big eyes/ears/teeth you have!”

In group time, we learnt about the number one. We showed one on our fingers, did one hop, one clap and one jump. We found a number one on a domino and looked at a unicycle with only one wheel. Have a look for ‘one’ in your house. You might see one handle on the door or one mirror on the wall. Can you find a numeral one on a house door or number plate?

Winter

Winter

This week, we’ve been talking about typical signs of winter. We’ve been reading a range of winter themed fiction and non-fiction books. We have also been discussing animals that live in a cold climate. Climate is our word of the week!

Rainbow class have been writing about typical signs of winter.

Sunshine class have been writing about Arctic animals.

In Literacy, we’ve also been discussing the features of fiction and non-fiction books, sorting them into groups. Here are some thoughts that children shared during the activity.

Fiction books

“They’re fun to read and they can make you laugh”- Sonny

“Some books can be scary”- Mollie G

“They’re good for your brain because they make you feel good”- Maddison

Non-fiction books

“If you don’t know about something, you can read about it and find out”- Georgie

“I got a non-fiction book from the library because I wanted to find out about pyramids”- Keira

Maths: The staircase pattern

We’ve been counting to find ‘how many’.

With the help of our Numberblocks friends, we’ve revisited the ‘stable order’ principle of counting (Understanding that number names are said in order)

We’ve  been learning about the ‘one more’ relationship between consecutive numbers. We discovered that when you represent numbers in order using cubes, it makes a ‘staircase’ pattern!

Phonics

This week, the children have learnt some new digraphs – a digraph consists of ‘two letters that make one sound’. Ask your child to tell you the sounds the digraphs below make.

oo      oo    ar   or

You may have noticed that one of our digraphs is repeated. That’s because the ‘oo’ digraph makes two different sounds! It might take a bit of investigating in our reading to see which one fits the word. Please support your child with this when practising their ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet.

Before reading a word, we always look for any digraphs (two letters that make one sound). Then, we say the sound the digraph makes. Finally, we sound out the word and blend it together – using our phoneme (the sound a letter makes) fingers! This helps your child identify the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) before reading a word.

Penguin observations

Over the past two weeks, the children have loved observing the ‘penguin cam’ at Edinburgh Zoo. They’ve been watching closely, making notes about what they look like, how they move and what they have in their enclosures to keep them happy. We discussed how this is not their natural habitat and what their environment would be like in the Antarctic.

Living and Learning

This week’s Living and Learning statement is: I know that some drugs are harmful.

In Reception, we’ve focused on our  PSED (Personal, Social, Emotional Development) statement “I know that I must only take medicines when an adult is with me”

The children shared some fantastic knowledge of why they must be with a trusted adult when using medicines.

“To make sure it’s not out of date”- Jack

“To look at the label to see how much you need”- Olivia

“If you get the wrong one, it could make you more poorly”- Skyla

“You might take too much”- Alfie

PE

On Wednesday, Rainbow class enjoyed their first fun-filled PE session led by Foot-Tech Academy

This half term, our PE skill focus is dynamic (moving) balance and static balance.

In Friday sessions, we’ll be using a variety of apparatus in the hall to develop these skills.

Inspiration on a rainy day

It’s been a very dreary, soggy week outside but, as ever, the children’s curiosity led to some fantastic exploration. After a conversation about rain, flooding and potentially needing a boat to get around (ha!) the talk soon turned to types of boat and learning about canal boats. The children watched some short clips of ‘Rosie and Jim’ and a group were inspired to build their own canal boat in the outside area. They showed great team work and story-telling. This spontaneous, child-led interest and construction carried on throughout the week.

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. This week’s poem is ‘I can build a snowman ’.

We talk about how a poem sometimes has rhyming words and sometimes doesn’t. Can your child tell you the rhyming words in this week’s poem? We also talk about how a poem can have a fast rhythm or a slow rhythm. Can your child tell you if this week’s poem is fast or slow? We know that learning to recite poems, helps our reading in lots of ways.

Click here to watch Reception recite this week’s poem!

Celebration assembly

Reception have started attending Friday celebration assemblies with KS1. Each week, we’ll be awarding sports, living and learning and great learning certificates. If your child receives a certificate or award outside of school, they can also bring this in to share with everyone in the assembly.

Reminders

• Reading- Please remember to bring in library books on Thursdays and reading records on Fridays.
• Funky phonics Phase 3 stay and play- Monday 16 January/ Wednesday 18 January 9.00-9.30am Please only attend the session you have signed up for and please remember that we have space for only one parent/carer at this session. We’ve taken on board your feedback from previous stay and play events and have split the session over 2 days, to lower numbers and ensure a  calmer learning environment for all.

We are looking forward to welcoming you all back into the classroom and showing you how much our phonics has developed!

We are Geographers!

This term our theme is all about planet Earth and our local area. We have been learning about the 4 countries that make up the UK and the capital cities of each country.

We also recapped what human and physical features are! Human features are man-made, whereas physical features are naturally occurring.

Help at home – Ask your child to give you an example of a human and physical features around your local area.

Next week in Geography KS1 will be going on an exciting tour around our local area – Scholes! The children are very excited. We will be stopping at places very close to school and observing the areas. We will decide to what extent we like each location and will be monitoring how clean Scholes is, by counting (and collecting) any litter we spot!

Topic: What are the causes of climate change?

The children are busily enjoying the geography topic and have this week been learning about the causes of climate change.

The children read articles and watched a video about how increased food waste, deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels are contributing to the increasing temperature of the Earth. Methane and carbon dioxide are the main contributing gases that are destroying the ozone layer. The year 6’s were given the opportunity to show off their creative sides and create a booklet that shows their knowledge of this topic.

Here are some lovely examples of what they produced.

Help at home: Ask your child about the causes if climate change. Do they know the vocabulary for this term? Can they give you any definitions?

Science: materials

This term’s Science topic is materials. This week we have been looking at the different materials that objects can be made from. We have noticed that some objects are made from more than one material. We sorted items from our classroom using hoops to make a Venn Diagram.