Celebrations
This week, we’ve had a busy week of celebrations. We talked about Halloween, Bonfire Night and we learnt about Diwali. We read the story of Rama and Sita and talked about Diwali and how it is celebrated. Some of the children’s comments are below:
- “…because we want to let the special lady (Lakshmi) into our home…they have lanterns to make her feel welcome.”
- “They lit lanterns to get home.”
- “The King won’t let them home.”
We looked at the similarities between Diwali and other celebrations such as Bonfire Night, Christmas and New Year.
- “They clean up and decorate the house.”
- “They give presents to each other.”
- “They put lights up.”
Two children enjoyed sharing their experiences of Diwali with the class.
- “We put decorations on the floor. It was a temple and a flower.”
- “We lit candles on the table so everyone can celebrate.”
Number bonds
We’ve been working really hard learning and using number bonds of 10 (Year 2s – bonds of 20 and 100, too) recently. Following the CPA approach of mastery maths, we use concrete apparatus, visual representations and abstract number sentences to help us to learn them. Help at home by having a go at playing Hit the Button – great for number bond rapid recall. Check out the Learn More/Calculations section on our website, too.
PE kit
This half term the children will start to get changed for their PE lesson. Our PE day is Wednesday. Please ensure your child has a named PE kit (blue shorts and white t-shirt) and a named water bottle in school.
F2 and Y1 Maths Information Evening
Thank you to all the parents and carers who came to the maths information evening. We hope you found it useful and informative. The presentation and information leaflets can be found below.
A Transport Talk from the Past
We had two very special visitors in school yesterday. They were the grandads of two of our pupils, who came to talk to us about transport when they were a child.
Through asking questions and listening carefully, we learned how transport has changed tremendously over the past 50 years.
Interestingly, one visitor had nearly 40 years service working for Leeds Bus Service and he very kindly brought in many model buses and badges for us to look at. We loved his uniform picture!
The other grandad showed us pictures of old cars bought for just £50, horse-drawn milk carts and coal deliveries, and brilliant steam engines that powered up and down our streets many years ago. We also enjoyed listening to some of his poems.
The children loved listening to the stories from the past and had many, many questions.
You can do this at home too! Do you have anyone in your family who could discuss how times have changed? Talk to your child about generations and the similarities and differences that change over time – they’ll be hooked!
Home Link – Half term holiday adventures
Please remember to tell us about your holiday adventures. You could send us some photographs or bring in a leaflet of somewhere you visited during the holidays.
You could tell us about baking, art activities, trips to the park, swimming, visits to farms/ museums or anything else that your child has enjoyed.
Children love to show their photographs on our interactive whiteboard and tell friends about their adventures. It’s a great way to increase confidence and also provides lots of conversation and opportunities to extend vocabulary.
We’ll look forward to seeing your emails in our inbox: scholesf1@spherefederation.org
We hope you’ve had a good holiday and are looking forward to seeing everyone this week.
Roman Chariots!
It’s been DT week.
We started by putting our measuring skills to practical use.
Learning new skills such as sawing was very exciting.
Everyone followed our safety rules to saw the wood into the pieces. Then constructed the jinx frames. We added an axle, wheels and the card built chariot on top.
The end results are great. Everyone has fulfilled the design brief and created a Roman Chariot. Well done children, they’re fantastic! 
When was the last time you learned and used a new skill? Try something new this holiday. What can you create?
Living and Learning- Democracy
As part of our ongoing work on British values, we have been focusing on democracy. We set up a polling station in the hall and children voted for their new School Councillors. All children had the opportunity to be a candidate. It was an inspiring time, listening to the speeches that children had prepared as part of their homework. Well done to the newly voted Councillors. We are looking forward to the pupils’ voice being put into action.
Colour mixing Tudor Rose
As part of our time travel topic, children have been learning about the Tudors. We decided to design roses to represent our own ‘houses’. First, we practised our colour mixing using only primary colours. After this, we had to draw the reflection of half the rose. To create definition, we used oil pastels. Finally, we painted the roses.
Continue the learning journey at home: You could create your own rose to represent your family; use collage techniques by cutting up magazines or use available textiles.
Adjective Day 14 November
After the success of the KS1 Adjective Day last year, we’re doing it again.
We’re learning more about the functions of words. Hopefully your child has been talking about nouns already!
On Wednesday 14 November, we’re going to have an ‘Adjective Day’. The children will be asked to come in to school dressed as an adjective. The adjective can be as simple or as adventurous as you like. Please ensure that your child is aware of the word meaning and feels confident in sharing this with the class. We have attached some pictures to inspire you, or there are lots of ideas if you search ‘adjective dress up day’ on the internet. There is also a template with the letter your child brought home to write their word and word definition on. Please complete, cut off and bring on the day.
Please don’t go to the expense of buying anything new. Have fun creating your adjective outfit!
Why were some words in the previous paragraph in bold italics?