3,4A Class News
It’s been great to see everyone back at school this week! In Writing, we have started to look at promotion texts and their features, including present tense, questions, commands and alliteration. We will be writing our own promotion about York. This links in with our new Geography topic – Explorers! We have started off by learning about global climate zones and then focusing in on the countries in Europe. Later on in the topic, we will be comparing the two cities of York and Venice.
On the same theme, we have used a non-fiction text about York to practise different reading skills including retrieval, summarising and understanding the meaning of words in context..
In Science, we have been completing our unit on light. We carried out an experiment to see what happened to the size of the shadow when we moved a light source further away from an opaque object.
Help at home by asking us what we discovered! Feel free to quiz us on the terms opaque, translucent and transparent too.
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
A Tiny Seed
This week, we’ve been reading The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle.
Some of the children recognised the illustrations, knowing that the author also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The story follows the journey of a tiny seed, tracking its journey through the four seasons.
We decided to go on a season walk to find signs of spring. The children spotted buds, leaves, blossom, bees and even the sun.
Miniscule is our ‘word of the week’. We’ve been learning that miniscule is even smaller than tiny!
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been doubling! Ask your child explain how we find doubles.
Phonics
Spring 2 week 5 has been a review of phase 3 sounds. We’ve been reading longer words, words with s in the middle /z/ (like ‘visit’), words ending –s and words with –es at end /z/ (like ‘foxes’)
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 Hungry Birdies.
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.
click here to watch us recite this week’s poem!
Road safety
A visitor came to talk to us about how to keep safe around roads. We discussed what should be on the roads and what/who should be on the pavement. We talked about how seatbelts, helmets, zebra crossings and holding our grown-up’s hand keep us safe. We even sung a seatbelt song to help us remember to always wear a seatbelt in the car.
Science
This week, we have explored seeds and stones that are found in fruits. We looked inside a kiwi, melon, pepper and nectarine. The children were able to describe what they discovered and drew their observations.
Loads of seeds. Myla
It’s a nectarine! Sienna
It’s a tiny seed. Albie
Teeny tiny kiwi seed! Frankie
Reminders and Dates
Learning Journey Drop in Tuesday 26 and Thursday 28 8.45-9.15 or 3.15-3.45
Every child in Reception has a Learning Journey book that celebrates their learning – this might be with photos, our observations, and your updates from home. Come in and share with your child their Learning Journey so far.
Road Safety Lesson
Key Stage One had a special visitor today. Harriet came to talk to the children all about keeping safe on and near the road. She was really engaging and the children ALL listened intently to what she had to say.
She started out by labelling a large picture of a road. She introduced some characters and vehicles to the road picture and talked abut how important it is to stay near a trusted adult and to hold hands when we are walking near the road. We discussed how children should cycle and scoot on the pavement and how you should always wear a helmet. She talked about how useful a zebra crossing is and she was very impressed that we have one right outside our school.
Harriet introduced us all to The Green Cross Code. She explained how there are 4 important rules:
- THINK
- STOP
- LOOK
- LISTEN. We talked about how the listening rule can be difficult at times because we can’t hear bikes and electric cars very easily.
Finally, she shared a story with us about how a little boy called Billy had forgotten to click his teddy bear’s seat belt when they went on a journey in the car. The poor bear fell out of his seat and hurt his head. Billy always tried to remember to click the seatbelt after that! Billy sang a song to help him to remember:
(Tune: Have you seen the Muffin man)
Let’s all do the seatbelt click,
Let’s all do the seatbelt click,
Let’s all do the seatbelt click,
We’re going for a drive.
Beep! Beep!
HELP AT HOME: by talking to your child about road safety. Point out and discuss the times when you hold hands to keep them safe near the road. You could ask them to listen for the click when they click their seatbelt in the car. Perhaps your child would be happy to sing the ‘Seatbelt Click’ song to you at home.
Writing
Year 5/6 have been writing their own tension building texts this week. We used a video called Francis as inspiration. We talked about the use of figurative language, short snappy sentences and repetition to help put the reader on the edge of their seat.
Help at home: Use your child’s favourite TV show or film as a stimulus. Can they write in the same style? What language has been used? How does this help create the world of the show?
Hundred Decker Rocket
This week, we have continued to explore our topic ‘Let go’.
We have been reading the book The Hundred Decker Rocket.
This story is about a girl called Ivy who sets off on a mission to space. On the way, she meets some very messy aliens. When her rocket breaks down, all the aliens help to fix it and make their own deck.
In provision, the children were challenged to write their own sentences about a picture from the book or use their knowledge of the story.
Maths
This week, we have continued to engage in activities to draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. We revisited the concept of cardinality – the last number in the count tell us how many things there are altogether.
Phonics
This week, the children have reviewed air, er and longer words that contain double letters.
Write these words on paper and ask your child to underline the double letters before reading.
hammer shimmer cannot chatter muffin
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try.
Secret password
Write different tricky words on paper and stick them next to different doors around the house.
Each time your child enters or leaves a room they must press and say the tricky word password.
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. Watch here
Music
We began our lesson this week by listening to Beyond the Sea by Robbie Williams.
The children were amazing at recognising the instruments they could hear such as drums and the piano.
Then, they used xylophones to make low and high sounds.
Reminders and Messages
Monday 04 March- Class Trip to The National Railway Museum.
World Book Day 2024- Thursday 07 March Please join us in the classroom (9.00-10.00) where you can relax and read books with your child. We’d also like your child to share their favourite book with their friends. Please send your child into school with their favourite book and please ensure the book is named. As stated on the school calendar, this is a dressing up year. Dressing up is optional. Thank you.
These dates are also stuck to your child’s classroom door or window to view whenever needed.
KS1 visit from our lovely lollipop lady, Sue
Today, the whole of KS1 had a very special visitor. Our beloved lollipop lady, Sue. She came along to inform our history learning and shared her memories of shopping as a youngster.
The children all listened carefully as Sue told us how there were not as many shops as there are now and how there weren’t any supermarkets. You needed to go to lots of different types of shops for your groceries such as a butchers, a bakery or a green grocers. Sue’s father was a green grocer and he started out his business by selling tomatoes from a box which he carried around on his head!
Sweets and pop were a once weekly treat and snacks weren’t really readily available. It was mainly just three meals a day. There was no choice of meals either – everyone in the family ate the same thing and you rarely got to choose what it was. This was the same at school. There was only one choice of school dinner or you could go home for lunch. Meals were seasonal. You had to wait until fruits and vegetables were in season to eat them. You couldn’t get them in the shops all year round like you can today.
The children loved that Sue passed through the gates today to join them in class and the session was very interesting and informative. Thank you Sue!
Help at home – Talk to your child about what shopping was like when you were a child. You could also ask older family members, friends or neighbours to share their experiences with your child just like Sue did. Questions that may help your discussions might be:
- What kind of shops did you buy your food from?
- How did you pay? Were you able to pay with your phone or watch?
- What kinds of foods were available? Was there as much choice as there is today?
- What was your favourite meal? Is it the same now?
- Did you get your shopping delivered?
- Do you have any photographs that you could share together?
Flavoursome Fruit Salad
What a welcome back to school! Yesterday, Class 1A spent the afternoon working on the latest DT project. We made fruit salad… and delicious they were too!
We started the same as we always do with a food project – by washing our hands and making sure that they’re nice and clean. Bye bye germs! The children then worked in groups to prepare fruit for a tasty fruit salad. We thought about the word ‘ingredients‘ and looked at the selection that we had… bananas, oranges, kiwi fruit, strawberries, grapes, tinned pineapple and tinned peaches and orange juice. Mrs Brown demonstrated how to slice the fruit safely and then we used the bridge hold to slice our own pieces of fruit. We also used other skills such as peeling by hand and segmenting fruit.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the process and we shared the resources respectfully. Nearly everyone devoured their fruit salad giving a huge thumbs up. Others gave new fruits a lick to see if they liked it. Mrs Brown was very proud of them all!
Well done for great careful listening Class 1A!
Help at home – under careful supervision, you could give your child experiences of helping to prepare their own foods for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They could help to measure out liquids that you need for a recipe for the family. They could use child appropriate knives to prepare fruits and vegetables for meals or snacks. Perhaps they could begin to help to prepare their own healthy snack to bring to school?
The Magic Paintbrush
This week, our focus book was The Magic Paintbrush.
We began by listening to the story for enjoyment. After becoming familiar with the story, we were then able to discuss the main events and characters.
The children then explored what they would do if they had a magic paintbrush.
After reading, we also learnt about the Lunar New year and how it is celebrated.
They put up lanterns. Libby
They have fireworks. Violet
They have a new animal every year. Austin
Special dinner. Melissa
They clean the house. Sienna
Stay and Learn
On Tuesday, it was great to welcome adults into the classroom to share different ways to develop our fine motor skills.
Lots of activities can be done with items you already have a home!
Maths
During our lessons, we have explored weight using lots objects made from different materials and of various sizes.
We have focused on using mathematical vocabulary to compare different items.
heavy heavier heaviest
light lighter lightest
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 Mrs Bluebird.
Phonics
We use the chunking method to read words with more that one syllable. We have also spotted words containing double letters (e.g. rabbit) – these are diagraphs too!
Ask your child to chunk and read these words.
sunset chicken carpet carrot
Your child will have come home with a grapheme mat and a tricky word mat. If any sounds are highlighted on the grapheme mat, these are those that your child is not yet secure on. Please keep practising these at home.
Tricky words can be just that-tricky! In Little Wandle phase 3, we learnt lots of new words. The children will continue to learn new tricky words fairly rapidly over the Spring 2 and Summer terms. We’ve previously introduced a few fun games you can play at home to practice tricky words. Here’s another you could try!
Musical tricky words
- Write the tricky words on individual pieces of paper, lay them out on the floor
- Play your child’s favourite song for them to dance around to
- When the music stops, your child should pick a word to quickly run to and stand on
- Your child reads the word they have landed on
- Remove that word and repeat until there are no words left!
Internet Safety
On internet safety day and throughout the week, the children have discussed ways they use the internet and how to stay safe online.
Here is a link you may find useful to help and support staying safe online.
More learning
Living and Learning – Internet Safety and harms
On Tuesday this week it was ‘Safter Internet Day’. This special celebration, which takes place in February of each year, aims to raise awareness of a safer and better internet for all, especially for children and young people.
We spent the morning off timetable learning about all of the different ways we can stay safe online and what to do/who to speak to if anything we see, hear or receive online makes us feel uncomfortable.
We looked at:
- the risks of online relationships with strangers
- understanding that everything you see online is not true
- the importance of keeping personal information (such as full name/address/school) private
- ensuring a balance of online and offline
The children engaged really well during these sessions and had lots of great ideas about how to stay safe online.