3,4 B Class News
Another busy and brilliant week of learning in 3, 4 B this week!
In maths we have been working hard on rounding 4 digit numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We are now really confident with this skill and can even apply it to solve reasoning and problem-solving questions!
In writing we have been creating a character description of Podkin One-Ear. The children have showed off their super skills – using expanded noun phrases to describe and using fronted adverbials to start their sentences in different ways.
In topic, we have used grid references to locate specific locations on a map. We found it quite tricky at first but we persevered and now feel much more confident.
Well done to everyone who remembered their books and reading records on Wednesday. At home, you can listen to your child read and encourage them to play on Times Tables Rock Stars. Please let us know if you have any problems logging on.
Have a great weekend!
Geography – field work in 2C
On Tuesday this week, 2C did some fieldwork during our Geography lesson. We know that fieldwork means to work outside of the classroom and we go out and find the answer to some questions. Our questions were:
- Is there a ‘conker’ tree on the field?
- Are there any mushrooms growing?
- How many acorns can we find?
We also looked around the field and identified different trees based on their leaves. We found lots and lots of different types of trees including: birch, ash, oak and lime trees. We also counted the trees that are on our school field. We counted 34 trees in total!
Living and Learning – respect
Over the past few weeks we have been discussing respect in school and what it looks like. Last week we discussed how we can respect others at home, school and at clubs. We watched a video about a girl that respects her family in several ways such as:
- sharing and taking turns with her sister
- giving her Mum space when she needs it
- saying kind words about others
This week, the focus has been on how we respect ourselves. We compared ourselves to others by walking around the room and chatting to each other about what was the same and what was different about one another. We respect each others differences and know that we are all different.
We also know that in order to respect ourselves we should:
- keep our bodies clean
- eat healthily and exercise
- work hard, but equally not be too hard on ourselves
- give ourselves a break where we need it
PE: football skills
We’ve been working hard to improve our football skills this half term. We began by learning how to effectively pass a football with the side of our foot to a partner. We developed this further by looking at other ways you can pass a ball. The children recognised the importance of dribbling the ball and keeping it at a good distance so that you have good control. We created our own courses using cones and worked in pairs to develop these skills.
Living and Learning: protected characteristics – BSL
Year 5/6 have been offered a course in British Sign Language. Over the next four weeks, we will join Helen, her interpreter and a few other schools from across Leeds to learn some basic sign language.
Last week, we learned how to have a simple conversation and say the alphabet (link for left handed).
Help at home: discuss the importance of being able to communicate effectively. Help your child to recall some of the signs.
Reading Records
Wow! We are super impressed by how well presented our reading records are. Children are investing lots of their own time into creating a response to their reading. When discussing their books in class, children from 5/6C have been enthustiastic and articulate. Thank you to all the children and parents who have worked hard to ensure that a love of reading is our top priority.
At home, keep up the good work with reading:
- read aloud for at least 15 minutes a night
- discuss stories and make connections between different books/ texts
- get an adult to read to you daily (sometimes this could be through stories which are online)
- recommend books to family and friends
Author visit: Liz Pichon
On Friday, the children in year 5/6 were fortunate enough to attend a live workshop with the author of the Tom Gates series – Liz Pichon.
During the workshop, we learned how to create doodles which matched her style. It was also a great opportunity to get inspired to write our own funny stories for a competition.
At home, take a look at Pichon’s website and get writing your own funny stories.
We’re going on a Bear Hunt
It was great to see some of your autumn ‘treasure’ from the little brown bags that we sent home this week. Children have enjoyed telling us all about the things they have collected and where they found them. It sounds like lots of you have had fun visiting local parks or looking for autumn things on the walk to Nursery. We’ve heard some super descriptive language (shiny, spiky, smooth) and the conkers are providing endless opportunities to talk about size. We love to line them up in size order.
Thank you to everyone who has returned them already. Don’t worry if you haven’t had a chance to fill them yet, there’s still time! Please bring them to Nursery when they’re full and we’ll add them to our autumn tray.
In maths, we’re learning to match objects and to sort objects in different ways (such as by type, colour or size). Next week, we’ll be sorting our autumn treasure into different groups including conkers, pine cones, sticks and leaves.
In our story time this week, we’ve loved listening to one of our favourite stories, ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt‘ by Michael Rosen. Children are really enjoying this story and have been using the props in our story corner to re-tell the story. Have a listen to Michael Rosen telling the story using the link above – it’s great!
Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: Go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.
Reminders:
- We have a few more family photos to print and add to our home corner display this week, thank you for e-mailing us. Please see our previous posts if you haven’t sent us one yet – there’s still time.
- Please make sure your child has a rain coat with a hood at Nursery every day; we never know what the weather is going to be like and we play out in ALL weather! Thank you.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Literacy
This week, our focus book was We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
The children were able to use their knowledge of the story to retell it using pictures and props.
Geography
On Tuesday, we went for a walk in our local area. This involved following a map and looking at different symbols to find landmarks.
Philosophy Friday
Did you know, each Friday morning we take part in Philosophy Friday? In Reception, we use this time to focus on asking questions that encourage the children to think beyond the ‘here and now’. We are starting with some ‘Would you rather…’ questions. This week’s question was would you rather live with chickens in a coop or a dog in a kennel?
Kennel because I love dogs.
With a chicken because I like to eat eggs.
A dog because they are fluffy and cute.
Maths
This week, we have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
We have will learnt that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
Phonics
Autumn 1 week 4 has focused on the new phonemes:
ck,e,u,r.
Ck is our first diagraph ( two letters that make one sound).
We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; I.
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 Falling Apples.
Watch Sunshine Class recite the poem here.
Other learning
Stay and Learn
Our first stay and learn session will be on Thursday 12 October.
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about phonics and watch your child learning in school. There will also be a coffee morning after the session.
3,4 A Class News
In Science, we’ve been learning about different types of skeleton. Today we learnt about exoskeletons and classified different animals using a Venn diagram.
Help at home by quizzing us on these terms – see if we can give you a definition!
- exoskeleton
- insect
- invertebrate
Later on in the day, we went out to see if we could find any of these in the school grounds.
