Oh no, we’ve got to go through it!
This week our focus story has been ‘We’re going on a bear hunt‘ by Michael Rosen.
Throughout the week, the children have been able to predict and recall key parts within the story.
We decided to join in and create our own sensory walk!
Help at home: Can you tell your grown-ups the different environments the family had to go through to find the bear?
Sticking to our outdoor theme, we talked about the artist Andy Goldsworthy. Andy is a British sculptor and land artist; he finds his inspriation from nature and uses this to create his art. The children enjoyed looking at the bright coloured leaves and enjoyed trying to figure out what materials Andy had used.
We had a go ourselves. Here is some of our own Andy-inspired artwork!
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
The Nursery team 🙂
Henri’s Scissors
It has been another fun filled week in reception this week, our focus book has been Henri’s Scissors by Jeanette Winter a biography about the artist Henri Matisse.
We have been artist and created our own piece of artwork in the style of Henri Matisse. We used our cutting skills to cut up shapes to add to our pictures just like Henri did.
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was Leaves are Falling.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
One fell on my nose.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
One fell on my toes.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
One fell on my head.
Leaves are falling, leaves are falling,
Yellow, Orange, Red.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) ck, e,u and r. We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; I.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been using our subitising skills to identify patterns to 4. We even tried to listen to how many sounds we could hear – without counting. We have investigated different ways of making 4, using multilink cubes. This was lots of fun and definitely bit of a challenge.
Next week our focus book is Leaf Man by Elois Ehlert.
Help at home – autumn leaves and conkers.
If you go on a walk this weekend, we’d really appreciate donations of dry leaves to help us with an art project next week. We also need some conkers to use in our maths learning – see how many you can find! Thank you for your support.
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjames@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman and Mr. Smith.
The Creation Story in Year One
This term in Year 1, we have been learning about Christianity and the Creation Story. The children have explored how Christians believe that God created the world in seven days, shaping everything from light to animals and people. We discussed why the Creation Story is important to Christians, focusing on the idea that the world is a gift from God.
“Thank you for the world so sweet, thank you for the food we eat, thank you for the birds that sing, thank you Lord for everything. Amen.” – End of day prayer
We discussed why we say the end of day prayer and what this means to us.
We have also been thinking about ways we can look after the world too, such as recycling, saving water, and protecting nature.
Help at home
– Talk about ways you can care for the environment together.
– Try a nature walk and discuss how you can protect the plants and animals around you.
– Encourage recycling at home and talk about why it’s important.
Take the caring for our world quiz with your child here!
Living and Learning: identity – self-respect
This week, we thought about what makes us and others special, valuing the similarities and differences between us.
Things we thought about included:
What eye colour do we have?
What hair colour do we have?
Who lives at home with us?
What language do we speak?
What is our skin like?
What is our favourite thing to do?
We discussed how there are things that are the same or different that are immediately obvious (physical features) as well as things you cannot see such as things you like doing. There are lots of things the same about us all but everyone is different too –nobody is exactly the same, everyone is unique. No-one is good at everything but everyone is good at something.
Have a look at our drawings. We thought about a friend and what made them special.
She is special because she is a kind friend to me.
He is special because he is really good at football.
He is special because he is good at drawing.
Help at home: Listen to the story It’s ok to be different by Todd Parr (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip). Afterwards, have a conversation with your child and talk about what makes them and others special. Can they say why they are special and/or why someone else is special using the following sentence stem?
Something special about me/you is ________.
Mindmate – Self-esteem
We had a visit from the Mindmate team this morning and we had a focus on developing our self-esteem and our positive thinking.
We spoke about negative thoughts and how we can turn these into a positive. We learnt about the ‘Power of Yet’. Ask your child what this means. Can they give examples?
We drew our ‘Brain Bully’ and what we can say to defeat it.
Social media can also cause negative self-esteem. The Mindmate team gave us some top tips when using social media.
PE – fitness
We simply love PE in Year 5 and 6. Every lesson is positive, and the children have enjoyed developing their hockey skills.
Due to the recent poor weather, we have taken our lessons inside and have focussed on building our fitness for hockey. We have completed circuits of press ups, sit ups, plank, shuttles, star jumps and the dreaded burpees!
We have again impressed Mr Kilner with our attitude and perseverance even when we have felt tired from our exercise.
Help at home – How do you keep fit and healthy at home? Ask your child what their favourite exercise was. Can they teach you it? Are there other ways to stay fit and healthy apart from exercise?
Awe and Wonder
We enjoy celebrating the natural world in Year 5 and 6. Yesterday morning, children couldn’t wait to tell me about the beautiful spider webs that were just outside our classroom door.
We also had a classroom visitor, which caused a mixed reaction.
Help at home – what makes you stand back in awe and wonder at home?
Lotherton Hall trip!
Years 3 and 4 had a fantastic time on our first trip of the year to Lotherton Hall! The aim of this trip was to support our ongoing science learning about animals, their habitats and their bone structures.
Mr Freeman and Mrs Poole were very impressed with the responses from the children during the workshops – children could confidently talk about the following:
- 5 animal groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians)
- characteristics of animals within each group (classifying)
- vertebrates and invertebrates
- animals with skeletons and exoskeletons
Outside of the workshop, the children had chance to explore the wide range of animals at Lotherton. We found some very interesting bird types with unique characteristics and also noticed lots of animal names had originated from Latin roots!
Here are some great pictures from our trip – enjoy!
Philosophy Friday
Philosophy is thinking deeply.
Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.
We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.
This week’s question related to our school vision. Our vision is to be…
…a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.
Read more about our school vision here.
This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.
Healthy is more important because if you don’t stay healthy, you won’t feel very well. – Logan
I think healthy because you need to keep healthy so you can come to school and school makes you happy. – Poppy
If you weren’t happy, it could be a world of everyone being sad. – Izabella
I think healthy because you don’t always have to be happy. – Vincent
If you only eat healthy stuff, it might make you a bit angry and you wouldn’t be happy. – Woody
Our oracy focus this half term is:
Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child. Why is our school vision important? What does ‘happy and healthy’ look and feel like at school, at home and in the community?
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt!
We’ve had a great week this week using our focus book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury.
We’ve made beds for the bear in the workshop area, cut bears out in the funky fingers area and written messages to the bear in the message centre. But the most exciting part of our week was definitely when we went on our very own bear hunt. We listened for lots of different noises on our sound walk: we heard, children talking, birds tweeting, leaves crunching and finally we found a bear!
Our word of the week has been squelch the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.
“I am squelching in the mud!”
“Mrs Rippon made the paint squelch, it was a funny noise!”
Poetry Picnic
This week our poem was Falling Apples
Here is the tree with its leaves so green.
Here are the apples that hang between.
When the wind blows, the apples will fall.
And this is the basket to catch them all.
Phonics
This week, we have learnt the phonemes (the sounds a letter makes) g, o, c and k. We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; is.
During our phonics learning, we listened carefully to the initial sound in a word and sorted objects by the sounds they begin with.
Help at home: Look out for a ‘learn at home’ sheet which recaps the phonics learning from the week. Please look at this with your child and complete the activities.
Maths
This week, we have explored how numbers can be composed of 1s.
We have will learnt that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.
The classroom Challenges this week have been
- to write a message to the bear.
- to cut out the bears.
- to make a bed for the bear.
- to sort the materials wood, plastic and paper.
- to go on a bear hunt.
- to make a collection of up to 3 items and use the stem sentence 1 and 1 and 1 makes 3.
Next week our focus book is Henri’s Scissors by Jenette Winter.
Reminders and Notices
Stay and learn session
Our first stay and learn session will be on Wednesday 9th October 9am-10am. This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about phonics and watch your child learning in school. There will also be a coffee morning after the session.
Please ensure you sign up at the door before Tuesday 8th October or email stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Have a happy and healthy weekend and please don’t forget to email any pictures from home to stjames@spherefederation.org thank you as always for your support.
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman and Mr. Smith.