Electricity
This week, we’ve started our new mini-topic… Electricity. We started our topic by thinking about what is electricity. Each group looked at pictures of appliances and sorted them into electrical and non-electrical appliances. The children then moved on to create a Venn diagram to show appliances that are ran by mains electricity, battery power or both.
Then, we dicussed how electricity works. Each group were given pictures of circuits and predicted whether the bulb would light. The children made their predictions and tested each circuit. There was some fantastic learning, team work and discussions throughout the lesson. I was extremely impressed! The children were very excited and proud when they made a complete circuit and saw the light bulb light up. We then went on to discuss why some of the bulbs were brighter. The children successfully told me it was when there was more power from an extra battery.
The Rainbow Factory
We had a great day out at the Rainbow Factory. When we arrived, we were greeted by three superheroes who told us their friend Willemina had been kidnapped by the Evil Eye. The superheroes needed our help to get their friend back home safely. We were sent to superhero training – we had to complete special tasks to become a superhero.
Throughout the day, we had to decipher cryptic messages to find a missing gem that had been stolen – along the way we tasted mice tea, tried on the Mad Hatter’s hat and showed how brave we were by putting our fingers in the wolf’s mouth!
We used our creative abilities to design a shield and draw a picture of a superhero. We had to decide what our special superhero power would be. We talked about how our special power could be something about us rather than something we do. We came up with ideas such as sharing, being a kind friend and helping others.
We also learnt how to use our shields. Defend, attack and protect!
The staff and volunteers who came on the trip were very proud of all the children. They all behaved brilliantly throughout the whole day.
The Foundation 2 team would like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers who helped support us. We really appreciate all of your help to make the trip possible.
Living and Learning: I can name emotions.
Healthy Minds is the Living and Learning theme this half-term. Being aware of different emotions – both positive and negative – is an important basis for good mental health.
Throughout this week, Year 3/4 have been naming emotions that we feel. We discussed how different emotions make us feel inside and the situations that happen that can change our emotions.
Lovely landscapes!
Mimika theatre came back to school this week – after been cancelled due to the snow. 5/6F and 5/6M both spent an hour in the dome, experiencing the sounds, sights and surprises of a range of landscapes. It was very immersive. Ask your child which landscape or puppet they liked the best and why. My favourite puppet was the flamingo!
School Library
Today, we visited our lovely school library and the children chose books to take home for the week. They were really enthusiastic about choosing their own book to take home. Please ensure your child looks after their book and returns it to school every week. If your child wishes to keep the book for longer then that’s fine, but please note that a new book will not be issued without the return of the old one! I hope you enjoy reading together.
Sun, sun, sun!
Welcome back to Nursery! It was lovely to see so many happy, smiling faces on Monday morning and to find out about your Easter holiday adventures.
It’s also great to finally see some sunshine. Hooray! Please can you make sure you send your child with a sun hat and water bottle and apply ‘Once’ sun cream in the morning if necessary. Please check your child’s folder this week for a letter regarding sun cream application in Nursery.
Living and Learning – healthy mind (strong emotions)
We’ve been talking about emotions and feelings this week. Children were good at identifying fair/unfair, right/wrong and kind/unkind in various scenarios.
We also used a book, Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?, to help us visualise how we can think about the emotions of ourselves and others and how we deal with them. We need to understand and be able to accept our emotions before we’re ready to learn.
Y2 maths methods
Some Y2 parents have been asking about different methods we use in maths. There are some examples below. Please ask if you would like any further explanation.
Gymnastics
Your child will be doing PE on a Thursday afternoon this term. This is because your child will be starting gymnastics with a gymnastics coach. Please make sure your child has their PE kit (white t-shirt and blue shorts) in school on a Thursday.
PE and swimming
We’ll be increasingly using the outdoor spaces for our PE lessons. With this in mind, it would be helpful if children have tracksuit bottoms and suitable footwear for these occasions. Sturdy, well-fastened school shoes (not boots) are perfectly suitable providing they are flat and fit well to enable running, jumping and climbing. Otherwise a pair of trainers or well-fitting black pumps could be sent in with PE kit.
PE days for Summer term 1 (although these can be subject to change):
- 1K (Miss Parling) – Wednesday
- 1,2V (Mrs Latham) – Friday
- 2KL (Miss Lowry/Mrs Wilkins) – Wednesday
Swimming days
- 1K (Miss Parling) – Thursday
- 1,2V (Mrs Latham) – Monday
- 2KL (Miss Lowry/Mrs Wilkins) – Friday