Times Tables
As you will be aware, the Year 4 will complete a times table check in a few months. We have been working hard in school to ensure children know their times table facts and can recall them quickly.
Thank you for all the hard work that you do for the children at home. I know that they are practicing lots as times table scores are consistently strong.
Help at home
There are many websites that help children and increase the speed at which they answer:
Maths Frame – https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check
Hit the Button – https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Times Table Rock Stars
The Bad Tempered Ladybird
Welcome to the Summer term!! I can’t believe we are in our final term of the school year, this year has absolutely flown by so far!
This week our focus book has been The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.
The children have really enjoyed this story and have had fun joining in with the repeated lines. In class we have enjoyed making ladybirds and looking at the life cycle of a ladybird. We even discovered some ladybird facts. For example a group of ladybirds is called a loveliness.
Help at home: go on a walk and look out for some ladybirds, see if you can find a loveliness of ladybirds and count how many you can find.
Our Word of the week this week was frustrated the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I was frustrated when I was hungry and my dinner wasn’t ready so my mummy gave me a starter.”
“I was frustrated with my little brother for breaking my Lego.”
In Forest School we have practiced our drilling skills by using the hand drill to put holes in wood, this has helped us to get ready to make a Bug Hotel next week. We also did some litter picking to make sure we keep our school grounds safe for the animals that live here.
Help at Home On Monday 22nd April it is World Earth can you so something with your grown ups to celebrate our wonderful Earth.
Next week our focus book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- We have our last week of Forest School this week. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag. Please can everyone check all clothes that have gone home after forest school, a few items have been misplaced. Thank you.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you as always for all your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman
Welcome to Summer term!
Hello Everyone!
I hope you all had a wonderful well rested Easter break!
We’ve got straight back into being busy bodies in nursery this week! We’ve also welcomed some new friends who have settled really well!
Our theme this term is Wheels, wings and other things
This week our book focus was a favourite amongst nursery and myself- SUPERWORM! by Julia Donaldson
Superworm has lots of different jobs and is very helpful towards his friends, but we need to watch out for that sneaky Wizard Lizard!
In Forest school this week, we made a Wormery!
Help at Home: Can you make your own wormery? What do they need to help them burrow? think about the layers we made and what natural resources we used!
Fun fact: Whilst observing our worms the children wanted to know how they see where they are going? Worms don’t have eyes, they use antenna-shaped sensors to help them move around
This weeks sound is: ‘V’ for Volcano
Rhyme of the week: 5 little ducks
Notice:
Just a reminder …
Tuesday is our forest school session and library book day
Wednesday is PE day (comfortable clothes)
Have lovely weekend!
Miss Ward, Miss Harvey and Miss Feldman
Reading – The Highwayman (by Alfred Noyes)
This week, years 5 and 6 have been getting their teeth stuck into a new poem – The Highwayman (by Alfred Noyes). After reading the poem as a class, we discussed the meaning behind the story of the poem, and which emotions may have driven the way for this sad story.
Here’s what we came up with as a class:
Lots of these ideas derived from Tim the ostler, who’s plan to have the Highwayman killed ended with the death of his beloved Bess, the landlord’s daughter.
The vocabulary in this poem lead to further learning in our writing lessons – we looked at speech between characters within this story and what they may say to one another. The vocabulary used in the poem suggested a formal piece of speech was necessary to suit the purpose and the timeline, so the children have been hard at work practising their formal writing!
Towards the end of the week, the children practised their retrieval skills. One of their tasks was to draw and label the Highwayman, based on information they could retrieve from the text. Below is a small snippet of the text and some fantastic learning the children – do you think they have retrieved information successfully? Which parts of their drawings were retrieved facts, and which elements were their own interpretations?
We read with prosody!
Throughout the day, the children have many opportunities to read and be read to. As part of our daily sessions, we focus on using prosody. The children are quite accustomed to this skill now and can confidently add expression, where appropriate, to really bring their reading to life. The class have listened to lots of prosody being modeled by the adults so why not try this at home?
This week’s poem was yet another chance to showcase this important reading skill.
Help at home by listening to the poem being read by Mrs Freeman. Ask your child if they can hear some prosody being used and can they read the poem to you using their own expressive voices?
Prosody is the rhythmic and intonational aspect of speech that manifests as expressive reading. It comprises timing, phrasing and intonation, and helps to convey meaning and add ‘life’ to reading
Welcome Back – Summer Term
I hope you all had a happy and healthy Easter break. The children have come back to school in fine form, ready to achieve and believe this summer term. We’re looking forward to sharing our learning journey with you over the coming weeks but in the meantime, a few reminders.
Reading fluency books
Every Friday, children who are reading chapter books will bring a new book home. We have 4 reading practice sessions a week in which we read the first 4 chapters. Please read chapters 5 and 6 at home and return the book by Wednesday the following week. Books are signed in and out and we can’t send new books home until the previous one has been returned. Although the books are a very valuable resource at our school, returning books mustn’t be a cause of worry or upset for your child, so please contact me directly if there are any issues.
I’ll continue to assign e-books weekly, including chapter books.
Reading records
Please return reading records to school by Wednesday. Make a note of what has been read and any areas you have focused on. This is a great way for us all to keep up to date and an often overlooked way of staying in regular contact! If you have any questions about this, please be in touch.
Library books
Our library day is Friday. Please return library books to school by Wednesday, ready to return to the library in exchange for a new one.
Times Tables Rock Stars
Thank you to everyone who has been playing Times Tables Rock Stars at home. It’s a really valuable resource and a fantastic way of keeping home learning fun. If you need any technical support, please be in touch.
PE days
Our PE days are still Tuesday and Friday. Uniform compliance is excellent in Year 2 – let’s keep it up!
Water bottles
Please make sure your child comes to school with a clean, labelled water bottle every day. Water bottles must go home every day.
If you need any additional support, you can email me on ajnash@spherefederation.org and I will get back to you within an appropriate timeframe.
Mass in Maths
This week, the children have been introduced to mass for the
first time. They started by holding different objects to compare them, using the language of “heavier” or “lighter”. Then, the class used balance scales
to check their comparisons and showed a good understanding that
the heavier object is lower on the balance scale.
Next, the children used a variety of resources (cubes, stones and sticks) to measure the mass of an object.
The class learnt that when a scale is balanced, objects have the same mass.
The mass of my stone is equal to the mass of 10 sticks. Vincent
The mass of the water bottle is equal to the mass of 9 cubes. Malcolm
Help at home
Look at the websites below with your child. Collect items from around the home, or outside, to compare mass.
Summer Term
Greetings from Year 3 and Year 4. We hope you had a wonderful and restful Easter.
We have quickly settled back into school life and the children have enjoyed seeing their friends and getting back to the school routine. The children have made so much progress since September and we are really looking forward to this Summer Term.
A few updates and reminders:
– PE days continue to be Tuesday (Y4 – swimming) and Thursday.
– Home reading. Please encourage your child to read at home with an adult or older sibling. Reading is an important aspect of a child’s learning and supports their understanding across the curriculum. Please also encourage your child to complete a reading activity in their reading record books each week. Any questions about this, please feel free to see me after school.
– Library books. We are lucky to have access to lots of fantastic books in our school library. Our library day is Monday; if your child wishes to change their book, they can do so on this day. Please also return any school library books that have been read. Any questions about this, feel free to see me after school or ask your child to speak to a Reading Ambassador.
– Water bottles. Please ensure your child has their labelled water bottle in school every day. Bottles need to go home at the end of each day to be washed.
Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs
We ended the spring term with the focus book Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs! by Paula Metcalf.
This is a very funny book, that definitely made the children chuckle! We were also very lucky to receive a visit from the Easter Bunny who kindly left us all a lovely Easter Egg! Thank you so much Easter Bunny and the PTA helpers!
When we come back after the Easter break our Summer term topic is Life on Earth and our First book will be The Bad Tempered Ladybird by Eric Carle.
We will be learning about bugs and will be going on lots of bug hunts. We will be learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and will hopefully set some free! We will be using some hand drills to build a bug hotel for our outdoor area.
Next half term we are also hoping to develop our outdoor space a bit more so if anyone has any old flags, plant pots, tree stumps or gardening skills we would would really appreciate any help. Please drop us an email at stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Reminders and Notices
Forest School- We will be continuing to go to Forest School for the first two weeks after the holidays. Please send your child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag. Please can everyone check all clothes that have gone home after forest school, a few items have been misplaced. Thank you.
Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.
Have a happy and healthy half-term break, and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you as always for all your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman
RE – Why does Easter matter to Christians?
In RE lessons, we have been asking a BIG question!
“Why does Easter matter to Christians?
Easter is a very special time for Christians when they remember the last week in the life of Jesus and their most important belief—that he came alive again after his death.
Ask your child about this question. Can they tell you why Easter is such an important time of year for Christians?
To complete this learning, we created an Easter Garden. The children named all of the religious symbols in the garden and could say what each one represented.
We would like to wish all of our children and their families a very happy and healthy Easter break.
Help at home by going on a walk and look for signs of Spring. Look out for blossom, buds, new leaves appearing. Talk about how these are all signs of new life.