Story time! ‘Recipe For a Story’ by Ella Burfoot

Here is the final story time video of the school year!

Please click here to hear to story

It finishes with a little goodbye message from me.

I  just want to add that I am so proud of all of you all and how you have coped with the school year taking such an unexpected turn.

I have loved every day of teaching at St James’ Primary School and will really miss seeing your smiling faces 😊 I will be keeping in touch to see how you are all getting on in your Reception year and Year One.

Have the BEST Summer break Superstars ✨

Mrs Allen-Kelly.

17 July 2020: Home learning

Good morning children. It’s Friday. It’s the last day of the summer term! Sadly, the year hasn’t ended in the way in which we would have loved. We’ve missed out on our usual treats and fun. Mrs Welsby and I are missing it as much as you but we will make up for it when we see you in September.

School Trip

A fun school trip just because! Today, head to Walt Disney World. Have fun looking around. Find your favourite ride or attraction and write a review. Why should someone go and visit it? What was the best bit? How could it be improved?

Reading

You all know how much I love a good musical – this one was my favourite as a child and I used to watch it nearly every day on repeat!

Sing along with this song. Read the words as you go.

So long, farewell (from the Sound of Music)

There’s a sad sort of clanging
From the clock in the hall
And the bells in the steeple, too
And up in the nursery

An absurd little bird
Is popping out to say coo-coo
(Coo-coo, coo-coo)

coo-coo Regretfully they tell us
coo-coo But firmly they compel us
coo-coo To say goodbye
To you

So long, farewell
Auf wiedersehen, goodnight
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight
So long, farewell
auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu
To you and you and you
So long, farewell
Au revoir, auf Wiedersehen
I’d like to stay
And taste my first champagne
Yes?
No!

So long, farewell
Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave
A sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye
I’m glad to go
I cannot tell a lie
I flit, I float
I fleetly flee, I fly
The sun has gone
To bed and so must I
So long, farewell
auf Wiedersehen, goodbye

Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye

Now, write a list of any words that are new to you. Can you find out what they mean?

17 July 2020: Home learning

It’s Friday! It’s the last day of term!

This has been a tough year and you should be proud of yourselves and the way you have all coped with the changes and challenges.

Maths

For a lot of the lockdown learning, we have been doing challenges on a Friday so it’s only right that for our final maths lesson we do a final challenge Friday! Head to BBC bitesize for your last home learning maths lesson.

Living and learning

We’d love to hear your views about this year. Finish these sentences and send them, by email, to your Mrs Welsby and Mrs Rowley:

• I feel I improved the most in…
• Something important that I learned this year was…
• My favourite subject this year has been…
• What I enjoyed learning the most this year was…
• Something I’m proud of accomplishing is…
• Something I’ve learned about myself is…
• Something I will miss is…
• I will never forget this year because…

Goodbye Year 2s

Goodbye to my Year 2 children. I have recorded a message for you here : https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYiXl257at

Love from Miss Harker

Have a great summer!

16 July 2020: Home learning

Good morning – it’s your penultimate day of year 3 and year 4. How are you feeling about having finished (nearly!) the school year? It’s been a funny old year and Mrs Welsby and I are definitely missing teaching you all.

School trip

Today, we’re jetting off on a plane all the way to Seattle. Seattle is a seaport on the west coast of the United States. We’re heading to Seattle Aquarium.

Once you get to the aquarium, you have a choice: you can either watch the live feeds or join in on their virtual field trips.  Once you’ve completed the trip, have a go at one of the following activities.

• Carry out a research project on Seattle aquarium.
• Create an information brochure for the Seattle aquarium.
• Create a poster advertising the place.
• Create a fact file using what you have learned in the video or about one of the animals you saw.

Maths

Gnome Valley is a beautiful, well-cared for garden. It is home to the happiest community of gnomes ever to grace a garden. Or at least, it was.

All is not well in Gnome Valley. Over the past few nights, there have been strange things happening. First, a group of fisher-gnomes had their rods stolen. Then, the ‘Welcome to Gnome Valley’ sign was hidden in a tree. Last night, while all the gnomes were sleeping, the gnome guards had their red uniform hats decorated with yellow spots! This morning, Gnome News has reported that a naughty gnome is the only explanation for these strange situations. Gnome Valley Police are worried and have called in Detective Gnome to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

Can you help Detective Gnome solve the problems to discover which
naughty gnome is behind the devious deeds?

Week commencing 13 July 2020: F1 Home Learning ‘Where’s my teddy?’

We can’t believe that this is our final week of home learning activities. We’re going to finish with ‘Where’s My Teddy?’  written by Jez Alborough.

We often celebrate our learning and the end of Foundation with a Teddy Bear’s picnic party. Sadly, this isn’t going to be possible this year but we didn’t want to miss out on all of the fun. So, this week, we’d love it if you could have a Teddy Bear’s picnic at home and send us your photos.

Remember to email your photos to stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org

We’ll share all of your photographs on the class news page. We thought that this would be a lovely way to end the year – to fill our Class News Page with all of your happy, smiling faces.

Where’s My Teddy

• Did you enjoy the story?
• How do you think Eddy felt when he lost his teddy?
• Do you have a favourite teddy bear or soft toy? Talk to your family members about their favourite toys as children. They may still have an old favourite teddy hidden away somewhere that they can show you.

 Here are some activities that you can try that are linked to the story.

Mark Making

Draw or cut out an outline of a bear. Ask your child to add eyes, a nose and a mouth to the bears face. You could encourage them to draw some clothes on the bear or a bow tie and decorate it with patterns. There are also some free printable pencil control activity sheets to download on Twinkl.

 Music

Sing along at home to this well-known family favourite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EsIzsl5nLw

 Cooking  

Find a recipe to bake something to eat at your Teddy Bear’s Picnic this week. There are lots of recipe ideas on the I Can Cook website.  Some bears like to eat honey; you might like to make a honey sandwich! Ask your child to help butter the bread and add their choice of sandwich filling. With help, they can cut their sandwiches carefully into squares or triangles.

Understanding the World

Do you like honey? If you’ve never tried it before, have a try. What does it taste like?

Where does honey come from?  Maddie Moate knows all about where honey comes from because her parents are bee keepers. Watch these short clips to find out about how bees make honey and how Maddie harvests honey from her bee hives.

 Mathematics

1) Top Marks has a teddy bear counting game that children really enjoy playing at Nursery. We help children to recognise the number so that they know how many cupcakes to feed the bear.

2) Ask your child to choose some soft toys/teddies to invite to the picnic. How many have they chosen? How many plates and cups will they need?

Watch

Teddy bears are obviously very popular as there are lots of programmes available to watch all about bears! Here’s an episode from Postman Pat about a Special ‘teddy’ Delivery or you can find out what happens in the town of Biggleton when too many bears arrive for the picnic.

Welcome to Year 1 and 2 (2020-21)

Hi to my new class for 2020-21!

Here is me and our new class mascot.

I would love to see a photo of you with your favourite toy. If you can take one and would like to send it, you can email it to me on katieharker@spherefederation.org
Also, if you would like to vote for our class dog’s name, email me with your choice by 16 July and I will announce the name on 17 July on the Year 1 and 2 Class News page. Here are the choices :

• Pickle
• Nora
• Heinz
• Felix
• Slinky
  

  Have a great summer and I’ll see you in September!

Story time! “Have you filled a bucket today?” by Carol McCloud

A bit of a different story time today. Today’s story will be read by the author herself; Carol McCloud.

“Have you filled a bucket today?” is a lovely way of explaining to children our feelings and how we can help improve the feelings of others.

You can watch the video below:

Today’s activity linked to the story is simple but important. A conversation. This has links to PSED; understanding / talking about our feelings and how we ‘manage’ them. You might ask:

What might you be feeling if you have an ’empty bucket’?

What makes your bucket feel empty?

What can people do to help you fill your bucket?

What might you be feeling when your ‘bucket’ is full?

What makes your bucket feel full?

What can you do to help fill the buckets of other people?

Your child may want to draw some pictures inside a bucket outline of all the things that fill their bucket.

Have a lovely weekend and remember to always try to be a ‘bucket filler’

Busy week!

On Tuesday, we used masking tape to create a pattern. First, the children stuck the masking tape all over their paper. Then, they coloured the shapes in between the tape. Finally they peeled the masking tape off and they were amazed! 

On Tuesday, it was Virtual Sports Day. They all showed great teamwork and determination when having a go at each of the challenges. Take a look at some of their action shots!

On Thursday, we created some stained glass windows. We talked about where you might find real stained glass windows and how they were made. Look how amazing they are!

Today, we will be having a ‘circle time’ about our Living and Learning statement… I know how to cope with change. This will allow the children to share how they are feeling about going into Year One.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Virtual School Sports Day – results

Thank you to everyone at home and in school who took part and submitted results. Over 200 schools across West Yorkshire took part. You can see the results below.