We are chemists!
Our recent science lesson was all about melting and freezing water. The children held a piece of ice in their hands. They observed what happened to the solid over a short piece of time.
Our hands are warm but the ice is cold. Olly
It is starting to drip. Athena
Next, the class were shown some toys that had been frozen in ice.
How could the toys be released from the ice and what could we use?
– a hairdryer
– a blanket
– a pair of gloves
If we use a hairdryer, it might turn into a liquid. Athena
We need to warm them up to become a liquid. Kupa
The class concluded that adding some heat to the ice made it melt and become a liquid.
The vocabulary used in this lesson was;
- solid
- freeze
- melt
- liquid
- ice
Help at home
Make some ice cubes and then put them in different places to watch them melt. This is a great activity for learning about melting and freezing!
Discuss what makes ice melt and predict where the cubes would melt the fastest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z9ck9qt
Reading with prosody
This week, the children will be using their knowledge of nouns and adjectives to create and write about a monster. To support this learning, we have chosen a monster themed poem to learn.
As well as developing fluency skills, we are teaching the children to add some prosody to their reading too. This simply means to read with expression. Prosody is taught through a variety of texts, not just stories.
On Friday, I (Mrs Freeman) read the text aloud and modelled using prosody and asked the children the following questions.
How have I changed my voice?
Why have I changed my voice and does it help us to understand the poem more?
Am I telling you about the character is an expressive/funny way?
Can you tell who is speaking? The monster or the reader?
Using prosody, gives early readers an insight into what reading for meaning should sound like. More importantly, it shows children how books can speak through readers, and how words on the page can come to life – which our monster poem certainly did!
By modelling this reading skill, children begin to learn how you can change the tone of a sentence simply by stressing different words and phrases.
After listening to me read, the class then echoed my prosody several times.
Help at home
Listen to this recording of the poem and discuss prosody with you child. Let me repeat back each line using expression.
Use prosody in your daily conversations. Emphasise certain words/phrases together.
Topic Review
Thank you to those families that were able to join us today for our topic review. We are continually recapping previous learning and today was a great opportunity for the children to showcase their knowledge. It was lovely to see the children discussing their work with families and friends.
If you weren’t able to attend, here is the quiz that the children did for their review. Topic Review quiz slides December 2023
Upcoming Gymnasts!
This half term, our school PE focus has been gymnastics.
We have been learning and practising fundamental movement skills, such as jumping, balancing, rolling and travelling in different ways. This week, Years 5 and 6 have put their fundamental movement skills to the test on our school equipment! We had to make sure that we followed our safety protocols whilst moving around the hall and using our equipment. Here are some pictures of the children in action!
Barbara Hepworth Art Gallery
Last Friday, we had an absolutely fantastic school trip to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield .
The day included looking around the garden, the different galleries in the art museum and sketching some of the sculptures.
We also enjoyed a print-making workshop which included looking at some Barbara Hepworth sculptures and finding inspiration from their shapes. We learned that Barbara Hepworth was inspired by nature to produce her own art.
Using different materials, we created a tile with different textures, lines and shapes. Then, we rolled ink over our tiles and printed them onto paper.
Our finished masterpieces are on display in the classroom. Please pop in and check them out!
PE: Gymnastics
Year 2 have been enjoying their Gymnastics sessions this half term. We’ve been moving our bodies in lots of different ways. We’ve been thinking about how we can change the height of our body.
Topic: Hepworth Museum
On Friday, we had a lovely trip to the Hepworth Museum. We spent the morning exploring the art gallery. We carefully observed the drawings, paintings and sculptures. We focused on the different colours, tones, textures and shapes.
After lunch, we met Sarah, an artist at The Hepworth. We went back into the gallery and created a picture, taking inspiration from the artwork and scenery around us.
We then worked with Sarah in her workshop to do some print making. We used a variety of different materials to create our print and used the rollers to roll the paint on.
Living and Learning: I can talk about my feelings
We started off our lesson by thinking about how we felt today. We had lots of different emotions such as happy, excited, grumpy and nervous. We spoke about how we can feel lots of emotions in a day depending on what it is we are doing. We looked at a list of different feelings and thought about:
- Where in our body we experience this feeling?
- What might happen to our face when we feel it?
- What might happen to our body when we feels it?
We then worked together in groups to read some different scenarios and think about how the characters would be feeling in each one. We then read some help cards and discussed which of the suggestions would be best for helping the characters.
Help at home: What emotions have you felt today? How did they make you feel? What could you do if you needed some help with your emotions?
Night Monkey, Day Monkey
We have had another busy week in reception, our focus book this week has been Night Monkey, Day Monkey by Julia Donaldson and Lucy Richards.
We have talked a lot about the things we do during the day at school and those we do at night at home.
Our word of the week was: Nocturnal, the children have enjoyed exploring the different animals that are nocturnal and active at night.
“Foxes are nocturnal, they are awake at night!”
“Hedgehogs are night time animals”
Help At Home: Draw a nocturnal animal and label it.
We have also had so much fun exploring shadows, when the sun eventually can out! The children really enjoyed trying to stand on each others shadows, especially on Mrs Kendrew’s head! They even used objects to try to see the shadow shapes they made on the ground. Great work everyone!
Phonics
This week the children have focused on the diagraphs zz, qu and ch and the phoneme z. we have also looked at words with s added at the end like hats, sits.
We’ve also learnt the tricky words: go, no, to, into, his
Help at home: Today, your child has come home with a new ‘learn at home’ phonics sheet. The sheet links to all the phonemes we have covered this week. Please support your child by practising these at home.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite the poem each day. By saying the poem out load we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line.
this week our poem was Shoes
Before I jump into my bed,
Before I dim the light,
I put my shoes together,
So they can talk all night.
I’m sure they would be lonesome,
If I tossed one here or there,
So I put my shoes together,
For they are a friendly pair.
Maths
In Maths, we have begun to explore composition by focusing on the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. The children have explored their own bodies and familiar toys to begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts. We have made whole faces by adding different parts of eyes, ears a mouth and a nose.
Help at home: Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to your grown up and tell them some of the parts you have on your body that make up the whole of you.
Next week our focus book is How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers and we will also be looking at the artist Claude Monet.
Thank you to those families who sent in recordings of the children singing their favourite nursery rhyme, they have been lovely to watch. Thank you also to those who came to the Maths Stay and Learn session, please do get in touch if you ever have any questions. stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org
Reminders
We will be doing PE on Monday, please send your child to school wearing their PE kit and trainers and all jewellery removed. They will stay in their PE kit all day.
Stay and Learn Sessions
This is an opportunity for you to come into school to find out about the Early Years Curriculum and watch your child Learning in school.
Phonics Phase 3- 16.1.24 2.20pm-3.00pm
Early Writing- 05.02.24 2.20pm-3.00pm
World Book Day 07.03.24 -8.50am-9.20am
Learning Journey Drop In’s
An opportunity to “drop into” school and share your child’ learning journal with them.
Times- 8.45am-9.15am and 3.15pm-3.45pm (Tuesday and Thursday)
Week beginning 11.12.23
Week beginning 25.03.24
Week beginning 08.07.24
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman
Forest Forage
This week the children took inspiration from our focus story- Hodge the Hedgehog! We decided to build our own hedgehog house to take into the forest, we have noticed that the hedgehogs have been taking residence near the holly bush. We did some research to see what would make a comfortable and cosy home for a hedgehog and here’s what we got up to …
I wonder..
The children have been noticing recently that some pine cones are spiky and some are smooth. So we did an experiment!
Why do pine cones close their scales in water?
predictions…
because they don’t like getting wet
it’s their coat
so it doesn’t get full of water
The answer is…
To protect their seeds from freezing temperatures and hungry animals!
Help at Home:
Have a go at your own pine cone experiment. What happens to the pine cone in water? What do you think will happen when it dries?
Send us some pictures of your experiment to share in nursery to stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org
What’s happening next week?
Focus story– Whatever Next by Jill Murphy
Nursery rhyme of the week – 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive
Sound of the week – I for Iguana
Parent Consultations:
Tuesday 28 November 3:30-6:00pm
Thank you to those who have booked an appointment. We can’t wait to share your child’s progress with you. It’s still not to late to book if you would like one, there is a booking form in nursery if you wish to come.
Have a happy and healthy weekend!
Miss Ward and Miss Harvey