This week’s bible story
Persevering in life: Hebrews 12:1-2
Click the link and read the story all about Patrician St John.
Reflection:
Think about what you want to do this year, what you want to achieve. I’m not talking about impossible things, but maybe learning a new skill, or doing better at something, reaching the next level. What if it isn’t so easy, what if it doesn’t seem to be working out straight away – will you give up? Are you willing to fail before you succeed? If you believe in God, what difference will that make?
Just a moment of silence while we think about these things.
Bible Bits:
Listen to what the Bible says about persevering:
“Be determined and confident! Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)
“Let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus….He did not give up…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Prayer:
Thank you, Father, that you have given me the ability to succeed, not in everything, but in many things. Help me to play my part by working hard and not giving up. And thank you that you will give me extra help if I ask for it and trust in you. May what I learn not just help me but others too.
Amen
Science
This half term, we are being physicists as we are studying physic. Our topic is all about light. On Thursday we were understanding about darkness being an absence of light. To do this, we created a darkness den in the classroom and all had a turn experiencing it.
Although not completely dark, it was pretty close!
If we did it again, we agreed that we might use a few more blankets to shut out the light.
Follow this link to see our science vocabulary for this topic.
Another great week of learning!
This week in Nursery, we have been continuing to learn about Autumn. Our artist in focus for this term is Andy Goldsworthy and the children have created some transient ‘land art’ based upon his ideas. After collecting lots of leaves, the children worked together to sort them into different sizes, shapes and colours to create wonderful works of art. We have also looked at the habitats of hedgehogs and tried to create a place for ‘Ned’, our class (cuddly toy) hedgehog, to live. The children have also been ‘fishing’ for conkers and leaves, planting bulbs, learning to handle clay and looking at the textures of natural objects like bark. For the past couple of weeks, we have been sorting groups of objects by colour, size or type and we have learned to use ‘fewer than’ and ‘more than’ when comparing groups of different amounts.
Dates for your diary:
- 19.11.21 – ‘Dress up as a character from a nursery rhyme’
- 24.11.21 – Nursery Class Parents’ Evening (details to follow)
Remembrance Day
This week across the school, the children have been learning about the meaning of Remembrance Day. From reading activities to art, we have covered an array of learning. The Year 6s have been collecting for the poppy appeal daily and the donations have been very generous. On Thursday 11th we had a minute’s silence in the playground in remembrance and the children were all really respectful.
Remembrance, Chilli Challenges and more
This week, the Chilli Challenges have been a big hit! Many children had a go at some of the challenges and many completed all of the challenges – a big well done to those children!
Here are some of the Chilli Challenges in action:
Using our cutting skills to make a paper plate Poppy.
Making the correct amount of playdough poppies. We enjoyed subitising and talking about how we arranged the poppies onto the playdough mats.
“Two poppies here and one over here… three poppies altogether”
“Four poppies and one more equals five poppies.”
“A group of two and another group of two… four poppies.”
“One and another one makes two.”
Using cubes and rulers to measure our feet. They particularly enjoyed comparing the size of each other’s feet.
Using a drawing app on the iPad to draw pictures of the poppies growing in Flanders Fields.
Phonics
We’re almost at the end of phase 2. Next week, the children will be taught the final 3 phonemes: l, ll, and ss. This week, we’ve noticed lots of children using their phonics skills when doing independent learning activities.
Using our segmenting skills when writing a sentence about Remembrance Day.
Using our blending skills to read captions.
Reading cvc words on a word hunt.
PE
On Wednesday, Mrs Palmer taught four animal gymnastic positions: cat, seal, frog, and butterfly. To end the lesson, the children moved across the mats like animals. Mrs Palmer told me about how fabulous they were at stretching their arms and pointing their toes.
Notices
- Please return your child’s yellow sound book on Monday 22 November so we can stick in the phase 3 sounds.
- It’s Anti-Bullying week next week. To kick off the week, we are taking part in Odd Socks Day. Children can come to school on Monday wearing odd socks!
- It’s also Nursery Rhyme week. All week we’ll be learning about different nursery rhymes. To finish the week, we ask children to come to school dressed as their favorite nursery rhyme character. (This is also a non-uniform day for Children in Need – they’ve clashed!)
- Please make sure your child’s Christmas production clothes are in a named carrier bag.
Home-Link Challenge
Finally…
Thank you to all the parents that came to the Reception drop-in session. It was lovely to see lots of proud children sharing their amazing learning with you.
Observational Drawing and Colour Wheels
As part of our Art topic, the children have been participating in some observational drawing techniques.
Topic learning – art
We are studying and comparing the artists Paul Klee and Leonardo da Vinci in our art lessons. We have sorted their pictures and learned about primary and secondary colours. We will be creating our own prints in the coming weeks.
Adjective Day!
The children have had a fantastic day dressed as adjectives. We have had children dressed up as sleepy, lethargic, sporty, spotty, pretty, beautiful, exhausted, spooky, scary and many more! We used the adjectives in our writing. The year 2’s were challenged to use two adjectives separated with a comma. They used their own adjective and a friends adjective to make a sentence.
“The spotty, sleepy girl was not very well.”
“I can see a spotty, blue jumper.”
“The magical, colourful unicorn was jumping in the sky.”
We also sung the following adjective song to help us remember what an adjective is.
Adjectives can tell you more
About a noun and that’s for sure
Ad-jec-tives
Well done, Year 1 and 2. What a fantastic adjective day!
This week’s bible story
How much can we remember?
Let’s start by asking ourselves some questions about today.
– What did you do as soon as you got out of bed?
– What did you eat for breakfast?
– How did you feel when you got to school this morning?
Next, let’s think about last weekend.
– What did you do on Saturday afternoon?
– What did you eat on Sunday?
How about last week?
Have you noticed how it becomes more difficult to remember events the further back in time they are?
These events may have happened quite a long time ago, but they are remembered because they were fun. Happy times tend to stay in our memories for a long time.
Sad times can stay in our memories for a long time, too.
Click the link to read all about Remembrance day and why we remember.
Reflection:
Have a look at the pictures of the poppy. Think about why wearing a poppy is important to people. Wearing a red poppy means, ‘We are remembering together.’
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for the many happy memories that we have.
We are sorry that some people have sad memories at this time of year
As they remember those who have died for our country.
May we wear our red poppies with love and compassion,
And may we remember and be thankful.
Amen.
Welcome back!
This week, we have been very busy looking a little more closely at Autumn. One of our focus books for the past week has been ‘Leaf Man’ by Lois Ehlert and this has been the inspiration for lots of learning in our classroom. On Tuesday, we took a trip around the school field to collect lots of leaves which the children sorted and then made into leaf crowns. We have also used conkers to create wonderful mark-making and some of the children have made their own ‘leaf people’. We have also been reading ‘It was a Cold, Dark Night’ by Tim Hopgood and this has given us the opportunity to talk about nocturnal creatures and their homes. Next week, we will be looking at the work of environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy and the children will be creating their own collaborative autumnal pieces of art.
Have a safe Bonfire Night, a lovely weekend and we’ll see everyone next week.
