Hunter-gatherers
This week, we’ve been enjoying our history topic all about the Stone, Bronze and Iron Age. One of the words we’re learning from our history vocabulary list is hunter-gatherer. We found out that hunter-gatherers were pre-historic nomadic groups who would move around searching for food for basic survival.
Hunter-gatherers would rely on hunting and fishing animals and gathering for wild vegetation and other nutrients like honey, for food.
The early hunter-gatherers used simple tools. During the Stone Age, sharpened stones were used for cutting in order to hunt and gather.
So, we decided to become hunter-gatherers in our school grounds but focused on the gathering of plants!
We found out that there were lots of plants that hunter-gatherers would eat/drink that are not as popular today. Some of these include dandelions, beechnuts, acorns, nettles and hawthorns.
Celebration certificates
It was great to see (nearly) everyone back this week. Lockdown will not get us down!
As we can’t have our usual celebration assembly on a Friday at the moment, I will be posting the certificate winners on here each week.
For great learning…
Murielle: for great learning in writing this week – using adjectives in your sentences about the Great Fire of London.
For living and learning…
Aubree: for showing perseverance in your first week at St James’. You are a brilliant role model.
Our First Week Back
Foundation have had a great first week back!
Thank you to everyone who sent in photos of their half-term activities and adventures. It was lovely to see what you got up to! Please continue to send in home learning moments – they are really useful.
Literacy
This week, we’ve been reading The Three Little Pigs. The children have enjoyed acting out the story in every area of the classroom! They used different vocal expressions especially when being the big bad wolf. In the construction area, the children built new houses for the pigs. We talked about the different materials the pigs used and why the stick and straw house blew over straight away. 
On Thursday morning, the children found footprints near the writing area. We used magnifying glasses to look closer. Throughout the day, they found other clues.
“Look Miss Marsden! There’s scratches on the ceiling.”
“There’s a hole – the wolf must have done it.”
“There’s another scratch here. Wolves have really sharp claws.”
After spending the morning investigating, we all came to a conclusion and agreed that the footprints belonged to the big bad wolf. The children made wanted posters to stick up around the classroom.
Bonfire Night
We had lots of fun making and creating things to help celebrate Bonfire Night. We made fireworks in the playdough area, rockets at the creative table, moved like fireworks in PE and printed fireworks using bubble wrap.
Lunchtime
The lunch menu has changed and the children are loving the new choices!
Maths
This week, we have finalised our learning on number two. The children know what 2 is and what it looks like in the everyday environment.
On Thursday, we made number two stories.
Here’s an example…
First, there was one frog sat on a log.
Then, another frog joined him on the log.
Now, there are two frogs sat on the log.
We also went on a number one and two hunt. The children compared the pictures and explained why it was one or two.
On Friday, the children played hide and seek with Sammy St James to help them understand prepositional language.
“Sammy is hiding behind the shed.”
“Sammy is hiding under the table.”
“Sammy is next to the Miss Marsden.”
Phonics
F2 have started to write captions in phonics. When we are writing we….
1. Think of a caption or sentence.
2. Say it out loud.
3. Count the words.
4. Segment the words.
5. Write the caption or sentence.
6. CHECK!
F1 Group Time
Every morning the F1 children have their group time. This is what they’ve been up to this week…
On Monday, they had a talk time session all about Bonfire Night. The children loved drawing what they might see and hear.
Careful counting on Thursday.
Home-Link Challenge
Have a lovely weekend!
Nursery Rhyme Week
16th – 20th November 2020
World Nursery Rhyme Week is fast approaching and we are delighted to confirm we will be taking part. The initiative, which was launched in 2013, promotes the importance of nursery rhymes in early childhood development and education with a particular focus on how nursery rhymes boost early language and literacy skills.
We have a number of activities planned throughout the week including: making a cup of tea using little teapots, building a wall for Humpty Dumpty, hopping like the Five Little Speckled Frogs and helping Incy Wincy Spider. We will be doing lots more activities linked to other nursery rhymes!
Singing nursery rhymes is a wonderful activity you can enjoy doing together at home and all of the resources are available for you to download. You can access all of the free resources at: www.worldnurseryrhymeweek.com
Thank you!
Miss Marsden
History topic – The Great Fire of London
We have started a new history topic. Lots of our learning will be linked to The Great Fire of London. We are reading this book to support our learning:
You could search for a video of it on You Tube or there is a slideshow of the story here that you can read with your child at home.
We will be learning about where and how the fire started, why it ended up being so ‘great’ and what happened afterwards. We will also be learning about fire safety.
Help at home by asking your child about what they have learnt about The Great Fire of London so far.
Reading detectives
Many mythical creatures were made up of different animals combined to make one beast. In our reading lessons, we have been using our inference skills to work out which animals were combined to make up these mythical beasts.
First, we listened to and read the description and tried to draw the beast.
The Sphinx was a female monster with the body of a lion, the breast and head of a woman, eagle’s wings and a serpent-headed tail.
Triton was a fish-tailed sea god, the son of Poseidon, king of the seas. He is blowing a conch-shell trumpet. In his other hand, he holds a staff.
Pegasus was an immortal, winged horse which sprang forth from the neck of Medusa.
Then, we matched the images to the description – the monsters were easy to match because the text gave us key information (tail, wings, horse).
The Three Little Pigs
This week, we’ve started our first focus story for this half-term.
Today, Foundation practised retelling the story using actions.
Check out our amazing story telling here!
Story Maps
The F2 children drew their own story maps and were really good at remembering the structure of the story.
Parental Partnership Presentation
Click on this link to view the Parental Partnership Presentation.
If you have any questions after reading the presentation, please email or chat to me on the gate.
stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Christian Value: Friendship
This half term, our Christian Value has been friendship.
We have thought about how we can be a good friend and what we can learn from the Bible about friendship. We learned that Jesus teaches us to be a good friend to all – he told a story about how the good samaritan was a friend to someone who was supposed to be his enemy.
In our reflection areas, we had two challenges: a friendship flower and how to be a good friend.
For our friendship flower, we thought about who was a good friend or someone we were thankful for and wrote or drew a short thank you thought or prayer for them.
We took the friendship finger challenge and thought about all the things that make a good friend. We thought about how we could be a better friend.
Foundation stage have also been learning all about our Christian value of friendship. They’ve created a friendship tree and friendship stones whilst thinking about the qualities they would like in a friend.
Look out for next half term’s Christian value: perseverance.
Living and Learning – mental health
We have been looking at mental health over the last few weeks. Using mindfulness techniques (we like some of the Go Noodle ones) and talking about our feelings, moods and emotions is important. The SMILERS 7 steps to wellbeing is also a simple self-help guide.
