Topic – computing
We have thoroughly enjoyed our computing topic this half term.
We learnt about commands, algorithms and programs. After designing and planning our games, we made big versions of them this week and played them using the BeeBots. It was great!
Help at home by playing an algorithm game – giving precise instructions to do something (with a blindfold if you’re brave…).
Science – plants
KS1 have been learning about plants and growing in science this half term.
We have observed closely as peas and beans germinated in front of our eyes. We’ve planted some herbs and watched a cutting from a willow tree sprout roots (which we have now planted).
We predicted what the seedlings will look like after the holidays – watch this space!
Help at home by planting something, nurturing it and watching it grow.
Easter
Although it was a shorter week than usual, it’s been a very busy one!
We enjoyed learning about Easter celebrations and taking part in some traditional Easter activities. Children made their own Easter cards and practised drawing patterns to decorate an egg outline.
We loved making Easter nests and tasting Hot Cross Buns.
Outside, children enjoyed playing egg hunt games with their friends, taking turns to hide and then find the eggs. We practised our counting skills at the same time and compared how many eggs we’d found with the eggs in our friend’s baskets.
How many blue eggs did you find? Who has the most/fewest?
We hope that you have a lovely holiday and we’ll look forward to hearing all about your adventures when we return to Nursery on Monday 15 April.
Rabbits don’t lay eggs!
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
This week, we’ve been reading Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs by Paula Metcalf.
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off auto play – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
The story begins on a farm, with a rabbit named Rupert. All he wants is to be useful but unfortunately, he struggles to find anything he’s good at. Luckily, he soon finds an unexpected job on the farm.
Our ‘word of the week’ is creation – something that is made or created.
“Come look at my creation!”
“The creation of new life, like lambs.”
We also spotted some other adventurous words in the story.
Giggled to laugh lightly and repeatedly (a lot) in a silly way.
“When I told a knock-knock joke. Finlay giggled!” said Rupert.
Glumly to look unhappy and disappointed.
We also talked about writing the story from the farmers perspective. How would he feel waking up to no vegetables? To seeing Rupert running across his field? The children wrote some fantastic stories!
Maths
In Maths, we have been sorting objects by attributes.
They are sorted by colour.
They’re big and they’re small.
Those bears have scarves and they don’t.
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 Tiny Seed.
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.
We always look at two words in the poem and share the definition. This week, we looked at the following words.
sow – plant (seed) by scattering or putting in soil
shower – a short period (time) of rain
We finished the week with lots of Easter themed activities. The egg rolling competition was a real highlight of the day!
Home learning
Can you write a daily diary about your half term? A sentence a day would be fantastic! Please bring your diary in to share when we return to school.
Writing reminder
Remember, it is okay for things to be spelt phonetically. It is important your child grows into an independent learner. Encouraging your child to write the words as they sound rather than always spelling correctly is important. It encourages your child to use their own skills – rather than copy from an adult.
It is important you do not let your child simply copy your writing. They need to use their phonics skills to write. Here is an example of a child’s writing in Reception.
Have a fantastic half term!
Reminders and Dates
SWIMMING DATES- Summer 1
Rainbow Class- 17 April, 1 May, 15 May
Sunshine Class- 24 April, 8 May, 22 May
Egg rolling 2C
See our photographs from our egg rolling competition today. Thank you everybody for getting involved!
Well done Ella for rolling your Incredible Hulk egg the furthest, enjoy your prizes!
Have a wonderful Easter break everybody!
Living and Learning: I know how to cope with change.
In this week’s Living and Learning session, Year 5 and 6 learnt all about how to cope with change.
Change is something that happens to everybody in life and it could include:
– moving to a new school
– moving house
– a friend moving away
– losing a family member
and many more.
We watched a video about a child who had joined a new school and we identified and discussed how he was feeling at different parts of the video. At first, he felt alone and isolated in his new school. We discussed strategies that he could’ve used to cope with this change. These included: talking to an adult, asking to join in a game with peers, sitting on the friendship bench or doing something like reading to focus your mind!
We then saw how some other children approached the new child and involved them in their game – we agreed this would be an inclusive and friendly thing to do to help somebody that was struggling.
Overall, Year 5 and 6 learnt about empathy and how to show consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others – a vital life skill.
Help at home: Regularly talk to your child and have conversations about showing empathy for others and how to cope with change.
Egg-cellent Easter disco
We had an egg-citing time at the Easter disco on Friday. We played an Easter-themed corners game, musical statues and finished off with the obligatory conga and sweets.
Living and Learning – Mental Wellbeing
Throughout this half-term and across the phase, we have been looking at mental wellbeing. We’ve discussed different emotions and looked at different strategies to help us regulate, including mindful listening and mindful breathing. This linked well with our yoga learning in PE! We also talked about the principles of teamwork, recognising that we’re all the same yet all different and how we can work well together. Another theme was kindness – recognising that friends and family are important – and how we can be kind to others.
Help at home by thinking about ways you can be kind and what this looks, feels and sounds like in your daily life. 
Road Safety
The road safety team from Leeds City Council visited the 5,6 phase today. They began by sharing statistics about how much accidents on our roads cost society each year. It was explained that roads and strategies to keep our roads safe, are paid for by the tax payer and we were shocked at the cost implications. It costs a whopping £55, 000 to install and run a speed camera!
The children were given maps of the local area and they had to locate their houses. They had to think about what the roads are like in their area and choose road safety measure that would make trips to the local amenities safer. They were given a budget of £100, 000 to spend and we thought it would be easy! Little did we know how expensive things were, like speed bumps and pedestrian crossings. The activity was enjoyable and also got the children working collaboratively.
3,4A Class News
It’s been another busy week at Scholes as we’ve been completing end-of-term assessments and gearing up for next week’s production.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on Monday for our topic review on computing. We’ve been working on applying different coding concepts using Scratch Jr so it was great to show this in action. Today in 3,4A, we focused on the term ‘decomposition’ – the process of breaking down instructions into smaller, more manageable steps – to create our own ‘crossy road’ game. Please see an example below.
In other news, 3/4A won the trophy this week for the Times Table Rockstars competition across the phase – great work, team! Times tables continue to be a key focus for us.
Help at home by continuing to help your child access TTRS. Y3s, please focus on x3, x4 and x8. Y4s, focus on the times table you feel least confident with.
We look forward to welcoming lots of parents and carers next week for the show – Gladis Baker, Gladiator!
