Class News

This week in Foundation…

Posted on Friday 11 December 2020 by Mrs Wood

We filmed the Christmas show on Monday and the children all looked fabulous and did some amazing singing. Make sure you check out the Foundation Class News Page on Tuesday – you don’t want to miss it!

This week has been another busy week full of lots of great learning.
Here are some of the things we’ve been up to this week…
We made and decorated salt dough baubles. The children will be bringing them home next Wednesday. The children enjoyed navigating the Bee-Bots around the mat to different Christmas pictures. They had a go at drawing some maps to show how the Bee-Bot got to one of the pictures.

This week, our focus story was The Christmas Story. The F2 children drew a picture of their favourite part and retold the story using the finger puppets in the reading corner. Some of the children made a stable using the outdoor construction resources.

Getting messy in the sensory area!

Click here to watch a snapshot of what we do when we are learning in the areas.

Next week is a going to be another hectic week.
We have lots of fun activities planned for the children.
Don’t forget it’s our Christmas party next Friday. The children can come in their party clothes.

Home-Link Challenge

 

RSE lessons

Posted on Friday 11 December 2020 by Miss Beatson

This week, we’ve been learning about how our body changes as we go through puberty. The children have participated really well and asked some brilliant questions. This is how a few of the pupils felt about the sessions this week:

“I learnt about what happens to my body during puberty. It’s been helpful because now I know what is going to happen to me.” Y6 pupil

“I liked that we found out different ways to cope with puberty.” Y5 pupil

“We found out about the changes we go through during puberty.” Y6 pupil

To find out more information about our RSE curriculum visit our website: https://www.stjameswetherby.leeds.sch.uk/learn-more/sre/

 

Living and Learning: I know how to be a good friend

Posted on Friday 11 December 2020 by Miss Beatson

In RSE (relationships and sex education), we’ve been thinking about different relationships we have with people and how we can have positive relationships. In particular, we focused on friendships and the influences they have on us. In groups, we acted out scenarios where friends are pressuring others into certain situations by using a range of techniques: put downs, rejection from a group or situation, huddle, looks and giving reasons to do or not do things.

We followed this up by discussing what feelings the person being pressured might have in the scenario and how they could deal with it in the best way. We all agreed that telling a trusted adult is a really good idea.

Greek vases

Posted on Wednesday 09 December 2020 by Mr Roundtree

We have had great fun today in Class (more…)

Christmas celebrations

Posted on Monday 07 December 2020 by Miss Beatson

As we approach the final week of term, it’s time to get Christmassy, but as you know, it’s going to be very different.

We can’t invite you in to share any Christmas celebrations so instead we’re going to share Christmas with you in a different way. From Tuesday 15 December, there will be a video posted on Class News of your child’s class taking part in some Christmas celebrations. We know that this doesn’t compare to what we normally do but we hope that it helps in some way.

During the final week of term, there will be a virtual pantomime performance that children will be able to watch at school. Thanks to the PTA who have paid for this.

Christmas lunch will be on Tuesday 15 December and all children will get a Christmas cracker!

On Friday 18 December, there will be Christmas parties in classrooms. Children can come to school in non-uniform. There will be some goodies coming home which have kindly been bought by the company who provide and maintain our photocopiers and printers.

It’s a very different Christmas this year but we’ve worked so hard to stay safe that we don’t want to spoil it now.

We hope that you have a happy and healthy, enjoyable and restful time with your families over the Christmas holidays.

Wonderful writers!

Posted on Friday 04 December 2020 by Mr Roundtree

These past few weeks, we have been learning all about writing a setting description. We learnt all about using interesting adjectives, writing expanded noun phrases and using prepositional phrases. Year 3 and 4 have written some fantastic setting descriptions. They have transported the reader to Ancient Greece with the language and vocab they have used.

 

Here are just three (and it was hard to just pick three as there were many many pieces that were amazing!) of our setting descriptions. If you click on the child’s name you can see the original with their purple pen (editing after writing) and the highlights where they have spotted their fantastic vocab.

 

Jacob

This was it. I was here to eat good food because at my town, it barely has any. As I looked around, I saw large mountains, some massive temples and people sitting in small houses. I could always hear people shouting and moaning at each other and fire burning. I could smell delicious food and the burning fire all day. I felt really embarrassed because I was really new and didn’t know anyone. I was the only one who didn’t know how to fight too. 57 beautiful houses covered the town, it was like a maze. One mountain was so big it went above the clouds and the largest temple wasn’t even inside the clouds! Some people were trying to break through the mountain. It probably isn’t possible though.

 

Leah

This was it. I was here to save a child who was being enslaved by the harsh King and has been there for many, many years. As I looked around, I saw an immense temple stood on top of the gigantic hill. Lots of colossal mountains were falling apart. I could smell fish from the market and all I can hear is the King shouting at his slaves whilst the wild animals fought with each other. I looked up at the spectacular, bright blue sky while the harsh wind blew in my face relentlessly. I felt inquisitive mostly because I really wanted to know what’s going on with Athens. Finally, I found her! I found the child! At night, I took her home, Back to her parents. She lived happily ever again and hopefully, I get to go on another adventure like this again.

 

Jack

This was it. I was here to defeat the eagle. As I looked around, I saw that the eagle was hungry. I took out my bow and then the eagle attacked! I was frightened but I persevered and did it. The eagle screeched loudly. The eagle was too powerful. I took out my golden sword. I took a shot and then another. It was finally dead. I went in the mountain and then a bat flew out. I carried on till I found the king eagle! He took a shot and I fell out but I survived the fall. But a tornado came. I ran away just in time. I put a sign down so nobody came round in the next day. I came back to defeat the tornado. The tornado broke the top of the mountain. I had changed my mind until I found special boots. I put them on then I thought I thought it could get rid of the tornado. I jumped in the tornado then I span around. I killed in the tornado in one shot.

Foundation Parents

Posted on Friday 04 December 2020 by Mrs Wood

In the most recent guidance that has come out this week, it specifically mentions that schools in Tier 3 shouldn’t perform in front of an audience.  Even though we had planned to sing outside to parents/carers, we feel we should follow this guidance in the strictest way.

We will still send you a video of our Christmas performance taken place in school that you can share with family members.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Christmas theme continues…

Posted on Friday 04 December 2020 by Mrs Wood

Foundation have been very excited for Christmas this week. I think it is because we got to start opening our Class Advent Calendar.
On Tuesday, Beau opened the first door for coming into school with a big smiling face.
On Wednesday, Vinnie opened the second door. He was chosen because he is trying really hard in phonics.
On Thursday, Mrs Small chose Amelia for working hard all day.
Today, Bobby opened the fourth door. He is trying really hard to be independent at home time.
Gabriel and Jacob were chosen to open the 5th and 6th doors for trying really hard in maths.

On Tuesday, the F1 children got to decorate the school Christmas tree. Mrs Small said, “They are were really sensible and helped each other when putting the baubles on the tree.”

Phonics
The F2 children finished learning all of the phase 2 sounds last week! So, this week we’ve been recapping all of the sounds in our phonics sessions. The children love phonics and are all phonics superstars! After Christmas, we will start phase 3.
Here are some of the phonics activities and challenges the children have been doing this week…           SPLAT the phoneme!
Playing phase 2 Snakes and Ladders with our friends. The children needed to blend the words they landed on.

Musical Blending – The children danced around to the music. When the music stopped, they jumped on a word and blended it. This is an easy game to do at home.

Tricky Word Twister – The same rules as Twister. However, each coloured spot had a tricky word on for the children to read. The children were also encouraged to practise writing the tricky words on the chalkboard wall.

Finding phoneme baubles in the tinsel and making cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words with them. F1 Group Time
On Wednesday, the F1 children made up silly rhyming stories about their puppets. Mrs Small started the story and paused at different points to see if the children could think of a word that rhymed.
For example,
Are you poorly Lizzy? Oh dear.
Fizzy, Wizzy, Lizzy is feeling sick and dizzy.
Bob is very excited. Today he is going to be a builder. Hob Tob Bob has got a new job.

Home-Link Challenge

While poking, rolling, and squishing playdough, children develop the small muscles in their fingers and hands to help them become amazing writers! When you play with the playdough at home with your children, you’ll discover the most important reason of all: it’s fun!
F2 Parents – Please encourage the children to segment the sounds independently. 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 encourages them to use their own skills – rather than copying an adult.

 Have a lovely weekend!

 

Living and Learning : NSPCC PANTS rule

Posted on Thursday 03 December 2020 by Miss Harker

We have been talking about pants again! Children love talking about pants and find them funny but we use it in school to deliver a serious safeguarding message. The NSPCC have created some fab resources for us, and you, to use when teaching our children how to keep themselves safe. Ask your child about the PANTS rule and sing along to the catchy song!

Living and Learning: Friendship is important!

Posted on Thursday 03 December 2020 by Mr Roundtree

This week our Living and Learning statement is “I recognise friends and family are important.” Here’s what Y3/4 think about friendship.

Friendship is important because…

you’re not alone.
if you didn’t have friends you would be alone.
if you have a friend they can cheer you up.
if you don’t have a friend you won’t have fun.
so that you are not lonely for your entire life.
you might get left out if you didn’t have friends.
so everyone will be included.
so that they can take care of you.
if you are an only child you can play with someone.
you will have people to play with.
you are loved.

We also looked at which values we think are more or less  important within friendships.