Learning from David and Goliath
This week in RE, Year One have been learning about David and Goliath. We explored how David’s faith in God gave him the strength and bravery to defeat Goliath. The children reflected on how this story links to our Christian values of perseverance and courage, reminding us that with faith and determination, we can overcome challenges—no matter how big they seem!
Jolyon – “David showed courage because he fought the giant!”
Isaac – “He persevered even though he only had five stones and a slingshot.”
Gracie – “David didn’t give up!”
Reading – The Lorax
In reading, we’re enjoying The Lorax by Dr Seuss. The Lorax is an engaging story with strong themes, told amusingly by way of rhyme. The children have enjoyed exploring the messages in The Lorax about environmental crisis and activism, building on our geography learning from last half term.
One of our favourite reading activities is ‘hot-seating’ in which children play the parts of characters from a story and answer questions. This is a brilliant platform for practising inference skills.
The children really impressed me; questioning, inference, acting – I saw it all!
We made sure to look the part…
Help at home by encouraging your child to think of some questions they’d like to ask characters in their favourite story. Take it in turns to step into character and have a go at answering the questions…
TTRS
Did you know that every week, Year 5 and Year 6 have the chance to feature on our TTRS Wheel of Fame in Achieve and Believe assembly. The lucky winner of the Wheel of Fame challenges a teacher for the ultimate honour of winning the TTRS trophy!
What does my child need to do?
Play 15 minutes of TTRS games in the week leading up to the Friday (when we check how much each child has played.) We recommend little and often. 3 minutes per day every school day might be easier to achieve than doing it all in one go.
Why does it matter?
If children know their times tables they will find the rest of the maths we learn in school much easier. This is true from Year 3 but is particularly important in Year 4 where we learn column multiplication and learn more about fractions.
Questions?
If you have any questions or need any help do let me know. Send me an email / call the school office / speak to me at pick-up. If you don’t like your child to use electronic devices at home let me know and I can provide alternative ways for them to practise their times tables.
I can’t wait to see even more of our superstars on the Wall of Fame and challenging (and answering faster than) teachers in Achieve and Believe!
Writing
We are preparing to write a spooky story based on the online video: Alma.
https://www.literacyshed.com/alma.html
The children were instantly hooked in and have shown lots on enthusiasm towards their work.
As we work towards our final written piece, we have been learning how to link clauses using dashes, semi-colons and colons.
How to use dashes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCg860btDfg
How to use semi-colons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcpaQc8VbU8
How to use colons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2iYA1sQUZQ
Here are some examples of our work:
She looks at the doll – the doll stares back. Honey.
Alma stared at her Doppel-ganger; the doll looked back at her with a creepy smile. Amelia.
Alma tried the door – it was bolted shut. How would she get in? Madeleine.
Alma looked at the clone; it glared at her like it was ready to fight. Kamile.
The chalkboard, filled with names, determined the next victim – Alma wrote her name beautifully. Summer.
As she peered through the frosty window, the doll-twin stared at her – it was as if they knew each other. Valerie.
The doll was an exact relica of her: green eyes, blue hat, pink gilet and red scarf. Chloe.
Alma knew she was alone; so she thought. Aubree.
Help at home – Ask your child to describe when they would use a dash/semi-colon/colon. Can they give an example? Role play them teaching you how to use them. Write spooky sentences using this week’s spellings.
TTRS fame!
Did you know that every week, Year 4 have the chance to get their ROCKSTAR selfie on our TTRS Wall of Fame? They also have the chance to feature on our TTRS Wheel of Fame in Achieve and Believe assembly. The lucky winner of the Wheel of Fame challenges a teacher for the ultimate honour of winning the TTRS trophy!
What does my child need to do?
Play 15 minutes of TTRS games in the week leading up to the Friday (when we check how much each child has played.) We recommend little and often. 3 minutes per day every school day might be easier to achieve than doing it all in one go.
Why does it matter?
If children know their times tables they will find the rest of the maths we learn in school much easier. This is true from Year 3 but is particularly important in Year 4 where we learn column multiplication and learn more about fractions.
Questions?
If you have any questions or need any help do let me know. Send me an email / call the school office / speak to me at pick-up. If you don’t like your child to use electronic devices at home let me know and I can provide alternative ways for them to practise their times tables.
I can’t wait to see even more of our superstars on the Wall of Fame and challenging (and answering faster than) teachers in Achieve and Believe!
Planting Beanstalks
We’ve had a super busy first week back in Nursery. In our OUTSTANDING Early Years provision we know the importance of outdoor play to develop confidence, independence and our problem solving skills.
As part of our learning with ‘Jaspers Beanstalk’ book we planted our own beanstalks. We’ve talked about what our seed will need to sprout and grow, see if the children can tell you.
Help at home: Go on a little spring walk, maybe just to the park and have a look for signs of spring.
Reminder – World Book Day
It’s World Book Day on Thursday 06 March. This year, we will celebrate by bringing our favourite book to nursery to share with our friends. Please make sure that your child’s name is in their book. If you can stay a little bit longer at drop off on Thursday morning, we’d love for you to share a book with your child or to join in with some of the World Book Day activities that will be in provision. It’s always a day that we really enjoy at nursery, so please join in if you can.
Number Fact Challenge
Year 4 have done a great job learning their number facts over the holidays! Children are bringing home the tests they did today to show you how well they’ve done. When you have collected your sponsorship money please bring it in to school and we will let you know how much we have raised as a school!
Maths – Equal Groups
In maths, we’ve begun our multiplication and division learning.
Our focus this week has been equal and unequal groups. Equal groups contain the same number of items; unequal groups do not.
The children have enjoyed making equal groups with multilink cubes.
Help at home by looking for equal groups in the world around us. How many groups are there? How many are there in each group? How many are there altogether?
Topic – Computing
This half term, our Topic is Computing. Yesterday, we discussed what a computer is and what sort of devices we might have at home that have a computer built-in.
Today, we’ve been looking at algorithms. We’ve been learning all about the program ‘Scratch Jr’ and how to create an algorithm. We know how to set a sequence so that our Sprites (characters) move, shrink, grow and turn.
We also learnt how to debug an algorithm that does not work and how to alter a sequence.
We’ve had a lot of fun using Scratch and learning about all of the buttons and how they work. We are really looking forward to using the program again next week and learning more!
We’ve also started to look at our Geography vocabulary, which you can see below.
Help at home: Read through the new vocabulary to support your child with their learning this half term.
Our Daily Poem on Internet Safety
Our Year One class has been enthusiastically practising a daily poem themed around Internet Safety Day. The children love reciting the poem each day, growing more confident and expressive as the week progresses. By the end of the week, they proudly recite it more independently!
Daily poem practice enhances reading fluency, builds vocabulary and boosts memory skills.
Help at Home Tips:
- Read the poem together at home.
- Discuss new words and their meanings.
- Practice with fun voices to boost expression!