Penguin Huddle

In our literacy lessons this week, we enjoyed reading Penguin Huddle by Ross Montgomery.  In the story, the penguins huddled together during an icy storm but it was so cold that they got stuck together and couldn’t break free!

Our word of the week has been: huddle.

We located the UK and the Antarctic on a map and found their locations on a globe. We then talked about how they compared  to find similarities and differences.

Maths -composition

This week, children  consolidated their understanding of the composition of 5 using the familiar rhyme ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs.’  By singing the rhyme and moving the frogs during each verse, children investigated part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2.

Phonics

Spring 1 week 3  has focused on the digraphs ur, ow, oi and the trigraph ear.

We’ve learnt the tricky words; my, by, all.    Tricky words are words that should be read by sight. We have also played Tricky Word Bingo this week, which was great fun.

Help at home: please go through the home learning sheet with your child.

Have a happy and healthy week and  thank you as always for your support.

Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mr. Smith.

Reading

This week, Year 3 have been focussing on retrieval. In reading, to retrieve means to find information. To improve this skill, it’s important we read a variety of text types/books that are engaging for the children. I’d like to share a (and authors) that we’ve used this week. The children have really enjoyed the extracts in this book, so it may be something to explore reading at home!

The Boy at the Back of the Class

This is our class novel this half-term, written by Onjali Rauf. This fiction narrative highlights some real world issues for the children, but it written in a fun, intriguing and engaging way for children. Ahmet, the new boy at the back of the class, is a refugee – he has fled his home, a dangerous area, to a new place of safety. So far, we are getting to know more about Ahmet, through the eyes of others in his class. The children are really enjoying this book as they can really relate to the school setting. There are lots of links to our Christian Values, too!

Help at home:

Discuss this narrative with your child. What advice would you give to Ahmet? If your child has really enjoyed reading this book, perhaps look into some other books by Onjali Rauf and really enhance that love of reading!

Reading – unfamiliar words

It was great to welcome you to our classroom this week to share some ideas of how you might practise times tables and reading at home.  If you were unable to join us this time, please let me know if you would like to find out about the ideas we shared.

One of the ideas we looked at was what you can do when you come across an exciting or unfamiliar word when you are reading at home. In class we use a frayer model (pictured below) to gain a better understanding of a word.  At home you could use one part of the model or discuss a couple of the parts.

For example, if you were reading part of our class novel, The Firework Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman, your child might not be confident with the meaning of the word “muttered”.

You could start by looking for clues in the text as to what it means by asking questions such as:

What other word could have been used in the sentence to  make this make sense?

How do you think they might be talking? Would they be shouting? Whispering? Would they be excited? Nervous?

After your child has used the clues in the text, they could use a dictionary or an online search engine to research the meaning of the word.

You could talk about how the -ed suffix shows that it is in the past tense.

Finally, you could challenge your child to think of their own sentence using the word muttered.  Alternatively, could they think of any synonyms (words with the same meaning) or antonyms (words with the opposite meaning)?

Persuasive Writing in Year One

This week, our Year One class wrote persuasive sentences inspired by Clean Up! to encourage everyone to care for the beach and our environment. We’ve been learning how to use the conjunction “and” in our writing and the children practiced giving reasons why we should help. Some of their brilliant sentences included: “Clean up the beach and save the animals” and “Put your plastic in the bin so that the turtles can swim happily”

We talked about why it’s important to put rubbish in the bin and recycle. Rubbish left on the beach or in nature can harm animals, pollute the water, and make our beautiful planet look untidy. Recycling helps save energy, reduces waste, and gives materials a new life instead of ending up in a landfill.

Help at home:

• Discuss how your family can reduce waste and recycle more.
• Look for items around the house that can be recycled and practice sorting them together.
• Spot conjunctions like “and” in books, signs, or conversations.

We are so proud of the children for their thoughtful and creative writing. We are already seeing huge progress in their writing skills this term and they’re all becoming confident little writers!

Living and Learning – I can assess my own risks

In Living and Learning, we’re learning about staying safe. This week, our statement is:

We began by discussing some key vocabulary:

danger – a cause of harm or injury
safety – keeping free from harm or danger
risk – the possibility of something dangerous happening

We spent some time thinking about times we’ve been exposed to risk, how we assessed them and the measures we took to stay safe? We thought specifically about our recent trip to Lotherton Hall.

Risk – getting lost

How did we stay safe? – stayed with our group

Risk – crossing the road

How did we stay safe? – checked for cars, walked in pairs with adult supervision

Risk – animals biting us

How did we stay safe? – not poking our hands through the railings

Risk – slipping on ice in the playground

How did we stay safe? – walking

How can we stay safe at home?

Here are some top tips from the children for staying safe at home:

Stay away from cleaning products. Ask a trusted adult for help. Woody

Don’t play near fire. Poppy

Keep soap away from your eyes. Vallan

Don’t touch plugs. Alfie

Only use sharp knives with adult supervision. Ariella

Help at home by trying this hazard detective game.

Can you come up with top 5 tips for staying safe at home?

Dinosaur Roar!

We’ve been reading Dinosaur Roar this week in Nursery and finding out about dinosaurs.

Can you remember some of the dinosaurs from the story?

“Dinosaur weak, dinosaur strong, dinosaur short or dinosaur very, very long”

We made a volcano in our sand tray, painted dinosaurs using frozen paint and made dinosaur footprints using Playdough.

Next week, we’ll start some new learning about weight. We will be using words such as heavy, light, heavier and lighter to compare different objects.

Help at home: You could continue this learning at home by asking questions during everyday activities.

Which bag from the supermarket is heaviest/ lightest? Which toy is lighter? Can you find something that is lighter than the bottle of milk? Can you find something that is heavier than a packet of crisps?

Forest School

We had so much fun in our forest school session and have been showing our friends new to Nursery what it’s all about.

Year 5 multi sports

Our Year 5 children visited Wetherby High School this afternoon to take part in a multi sports events. We tried lots of new sports/activities and developed new skills. We have some very talented children!

As usually, our children behaved really well and represented our school magnificently.

Update

Another very busy week in Year 5 and 6. Here are some highlights and key messages:

Light

Following on from our light topic in science last half term, we had a Zoom meet with lighting engineer, James Martin. He spoke to us about how crucial lights are in our busy world but also how he works hard to ensure we are using light effectively. We discussed light pollution and how that can impact wildlife and how blue lights, from our devices, can inhibit sleep and cause fatigue and stress.

Help at home – ask your child about how lighting at a swimming pool is carefully considered to ensure safety to all. Can your child reduce the amount of blue light exposure they experience before bed?

Maths – fractions

Converting between mixed numbers and improper fractions is sometimes tricky but it is becoming second nature to us. The children can use this knowledge to answer multi step problems and clearly explain their reasoning.

Help at home – Provide some fractions for your child to add and subtract, can they talk you through the process? Year 6 children, complete fraction pages of your revision booklet.

For some useful games, visit – https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/menus/fractions.htm

Writing

We are in the process of writing a narrative including speech and action. The children have really impressed with their knowledge of dialogue and the key points to remember when punctuating speech:

– inverted commas to open and close direct speech

– direct speech starts with a capital letter

– punctuate your direct speech before closing inverted comma (, ! ? .)

– separate direct speech from reporting clause with punctuation

– new speaker, new line

Help at home – Can your children write using speech at home? Maybe they could write a conversation you have had at home or something they have seen on the television. Try to include a variety of ‘said verbs’, such as boomed or whispered.

Reading

Please continue to hear your child read at home on a regular basis. Children have a reading record with a variety of activities for them to complete. Please ensure reading records are in school every Friday.

Maths

Since coming back in January, we’ve been exploring the numbers from 10 to 20. We’ve focused on understanding these “ten and a bit” numbers by breaking them down into tens and ones, showing how each number consists of one ten and additional ones. We’ve also practiced identifying one more and one less than these numbers.

Today, we extended this learning by working with “ten and a bit” numbers on a number line. Using flashcards numbered 10 to 20, we ordered them, then turned them upside down and thought about where each number would fall on the number line. Finally, we shuffled them and selected three random numbers and arranged them in order from smallest to largest.

Living and Learning: Safety and Risks

Year One Class News: Exploring Risks!

This week in our Living and Learning lesson, Year One took a closer look at risks! We began by revisiting what we mean by danger and safety and explored the meaning of taking risks. The children shared examples of risks they take in everyday life, identifying some around school and at home.

In the classroom, we discussed how small actions like leaving items on the floor or chairs out can create risks and how we can avoid them to keep our classroom happy and healthy. At home, we focused on the kitchen, considering risks such as touching a hot oven or spilling water.

The children also worked together to order different risks by level—low or high. We discovered that some risks, like going up stairs or making a drink, depend on other factors.

Here are some thoughtful comments:
Gracie: “It depends what type of drink you’re making. Is it hot or in a glass?”
Luna: “There could be different hazards in the garden, like a wasp.”
Jolyon: “Going up and down stairs is more dangerous when you’re younger.”

Well done, Year One!

Help at Home

Click here to play an educational game about identifying risks around your own home!