Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Yesterday, we visited Yorkshire Sculpture Park. This was a great experience to see some fantastic sculptures in real-life. In our art topic, we are learning about Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth and it was fantastic to see their work and be able to compare and contrast their sculptures. It gave us an opportunity to take some inspiration for our own sculptures that we will make back in school too.
Lots to look forward to…………..
This half term, we have lots to look forward to.
Writing
We will be learning all about nouns, adjectives and expanded noun phrases.
What is an expanded noun phrase? An expanded noun phrase adds more detail to the noun by adding one or more adjectives. An adjective is a word that describes a noun.
Following this, the children will complete a descriptive piece of writing.
Maths
We will be using some known facts to find a 2 digit number and a 1 digit number that compose 100.
What are known facts?
For this learning, the children need to be secure with their knowledge of number bonds to 10. Please practise these at home with your child.
Today, a few children demonstrated how they can use their number bond knowledge effectively.
The children are currently learning their 3 times table.
Topic – Art
The class are going to study the work of two very different artists.
Wassily Kandinsky (Russian artist)
Kandinsky believed that painting did not need a particular subject, but that shapes and colours alone could be art. Over several years, he began to paint what would become known as Abstract Art. Kandinsky felt that he could express feelings and music through colours and shapes in his paintings. The shapes he was most interested in were the circle, triangle, and the square. He thought the triangle would symbolise aggressive feelings, the square calm feelings, and the circle spiritual feelings.
Discuss this painting with your child.
Martha McDonald Napaltjarri (Australian artist)
Napaltjarri used intersecting lines softened and contrasted with concentric circles. Her imaginative and beautiful interpretation of landscapes led her work to become highly sought after. Her work is held in universities across Australia. What are your thought about this painting?
As part of a reading lesson, we thought about some questions we would ask Martha about her life as a famous artist.
Who inspired you to get into art?
Do you have a favourite painting?
Do you have any children and do they like art?
Why did you choose this style?
How did the landscape inspire you?
What do you think of Kandinsky’s work?
Finally, a quick reminder.
Some of the children have been asked to make sure they have their reading books in school every day. Please encourage your child to read at home, too.
If there is anything we can help with then please either pop in before or after school. Alternatively, call the office to arrange to see us. We are always glad to help where we can.
This week’s bible story
A persistent builder: Genesis 6:5-22
God gave Noah a pretty big job; God asked him to build a huge boat. Even though he didn’t live near a lake or ocean, Noah persevered in finishing the job that God gave him.
Someday, God might give one of us a hard job to do, too. God might ask you to be friends with a kid who everyone else is choosing to ignore. He might ask you to forgive a brother or sister who teases you every day. God was pleased with Noah’s perseverance, and God will also be pleased with you when you persevere in doing what is right.
Reflection:
What is the biggest project that you have built out of Lego, wooden blocks or something else?
How long did it take? Did it take much perseverance to keep going and finish the project?
What would have happened if Noah had given up and left the ark half built?
Prayer:
Dear God,
There are times when we face some hard challenges. Sometimes those challenges seem so big for us to do and to finish. Help us to persevere and remember that we can do it.
Amen
A wonderful end to a fabulous half-term!
A big ‘Thank You!’ to all the Nursery Class children for a wonderful first half-term. Mrs Cairnes and I have had a fantastic time teaching you and we’ve seen lots of fabulous learning in our classroom. This week, we have finished reading ‘Room on the Broom’ and the children were able to re-tell the story as a group. We’ve been doing lots of mark-making, mixing more autumnal colours and even had the chance to do some puddle jumping! We have sorted animals by colour and category and have also talked about the textures of bark, leaves and rocks. On our last afternoon, we also taste-tested some lemons and limes and discussed our reactions!
Many thanks to all parents and carers for your support over the last half-term; we look forward to seeing everyone on our first week back after the holiday. If you have any photos to share from half-term, we would love to talk about them in class. You can email them to us at:
stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
Have a happy holiday and see you soon.
Apologies!
Oops!
We forgot to hand out the next word passport words. These will be sent out on Monday 01 November. Sorry!
Have a good half-term!
A fantastic end to a fantastic first half-term!
What have we been up to this week?
We had a long discussion about all of the autumn treasures in their brown bags.
We went on our local walk around Wetherby to look at landmarks.
In literacy, we made missing posters to help find Leaf Man.
We used the leaves from our brown bags to make Leaf Man.
We read Funny Bones and used chalk to draw skeletons.
Check out their amazing drawing skills!
On Tuesday, the children found three frozen hands with spiders trapped inside. Of course, they were eager to rescue the spiders! We heard lots of great discussions about how to melt the ice.
“We need warm water.”
“Break it up into small pieces.”
“I’m going to squeeze it in my hand so it gets warmer and melts.”
In maths, we talked about more and fewer. The children picked up a handful of bears and compared their amount with a friend. The children were encouraged to use these stem sentences when explaining their answers:
… has/have more than …
or
… has/have fewer than …
Word passports
The second set of words to go in word passports have been sent out today. Please practise blending these words at home over half-term.
Finally…
It was lovely to speak to all of the Reception parents at the parent-teacher meetings. You’re doing a great job with the home-link challenges – thank you! I hope you all have a wonderful half-term. Don’t forget to send me lots of photos of what you get up to. Make sure you recharge your batteries ready for another jam-packed half-term starting Monday 04 November.
Latin
This term, Year 3/4 have started to learn Latin. Sounds hard, doesn’t it? But we’ve been having great fun! We have been using our new-found knowledge of Latin words to create our own inventions. Using the translation sheet, can you work out what these new creatures can do?
New inventions translation sheet.
Ralph’s Aquacanine, Emilija’s Magniporci, Eliza’s Aquacent and Aubree’s Magicani.SKM_C554e21100514040
Kamile’s Primoporci, Dexter’s Magicani, Edward’s Aquacanine and Summer’s Porcimagi. SKM_C554e21100514041
Olivia’s Magniped, Caleb’s Aquacane, Jack’s Subaqua and Casper’s Magniped. SKM_C554e21100514042
We hope you enjoy reading these as much as we did making them!
RE: creation stories
In RE this half term, we have been learning about creation stories from different religions, looking at their similarities and differences and if they are relevant today. The class has been discussing the importance of rest.
Muslims have a day of prayer on a Friday.
Jews have a day of rest – Shabbat – every Saturday.
Christians have a rest day every Sunday.
Sikhs often have their day of worship on Sundays in the UK.
Here are some of our class’s thoughts about what they’d do on a rest day. Click on each link to see their work.
SKM_C554e21101308430 SKM_C554e21101308440 SKM_C554e21101308400 SKM_C554e21101308431 SKM_C554e21101308441
We love reading!
The children have had a delivery of some brand new reading books. These books have been carefully chosen and are for the children who are free reading. We have put some of the books on display and the children can select a new book whenever they require one.
For those children who are not yet free reading, we are encouraging them to read more. We are listening to individual children read as much as we can. If your child requires a new book they need to bring it back into school and place it in the basket.
If you have any queries surrounding your child’s reading, please speak with us.
Finger gym Friday!
Finger gym activities are designed to work out the smaller muscles and fine motor skills in children’s hands and fingers. Every Friday the children will explore a range of fun activities to help get their fingers ready for writing.
