The Hundred Decker Rocket

This week we have been really busy with our focus book The Hundred Decker Rocket by Mike Smith.

We have talked about what we would each have on our own deck on the rocket.

” I would have a bouncy castle because they are fun!”

“I would have an ice cream tree!”

Our word of the week was expedition the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.

“An expedition is a journey.”

“When we go to the Museum we are going on a expedition.”

Help at home: tell your grown up about an expedition you have been on together, what did you see? Where was the destination?

Phonics

This week in our phonics we have reviewed the digraphs er, air

Help at home: Please support your child with the ‘learn at home’ sheet sent home today. Please also keep accessing the ebooks.

Poetry Picnic

This week our poem was Popcorn

Popcorn, Popcorn, sizzling in the pan.

Shake it up, shake it up,

Bam, Bam, Bam.

Popcorn, Popcorn, now it’s getting hot.

Shake it up, shake it up,

Pop, Pop, Pop.

The Classroom Challenges this week have been

• to make an alien
• to draw an alien with a pen and then use the pipette and water to melt it away
• to make a flying saucer
• to write a list of the rubbish we found left on the table
• to order the images from 1-8 on the washing line
• to draw a map outside and ask a friend to follow it

Also this week we have had our first Forest School session, this was so much muddy fun and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

Please can we remind everyone to send their child to school in their PE kits on Friday with waterproofs and wellies in a labelled plastic bag.

Next week our focus book is The Hundred Decker Bus by Mike Smith.

School Trip

We’re very excited about our school trip to the National Railway Museum next Wednesday!

Please can you send your child with a

• Rucksack
• Packed lunch (no nuts or fizzy drinks)
• Water bottle
• Suitable coat

Book bags can stay at home, thank you.

Reminders and Notices

Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.  We really appreciate anything!!

Please can we also ask for any donations of children’s underwear, socks and old school uniform, we work hard and play hard in reception so things can get a little bit messy!!

Stay and Learn Sessions

World Book Day 07.03.24-8.50am-9.20am

Please don’t forget to email any pictures from home stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman

Viking Boy (Class Novel)

This week, years 5 and 6 read  the thrilling finale of our well-loved class novel, Viking Boy.

This book has had us gripped from start to finish! We followed the life of Gunnar and his journey of resilience, growth and fulfilling his oath to his father. The children have thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel as a class – we couldn’t believe the ending!

As we reviewed our novel, we reflected on the choices made and events that Gunnar went through during his adventure.

Here were some of the final comments from the children:

• Not everything goes to plan – it’s important to keep going in difficult situations.
• Gunnar persevered whilst he was made a slave and ended up keeping the promise to his father.
• You have to show resilience at times in your life. Sometimes, you might feel like you’re super unlucky, but in time your luck can change if you don’t give up.

Help at home: Ask your child about the class novel and whether they enjoyed being read to. Use this knowledge to read with your child using different books that they enjoy. Take it in turns to listen to your child read, and to read to your child. This way, you can take some of the difficulties/stresses of learning away from the child by allowing them to totally relax and enjoy the story.

Spellings term 2.2

Times Tables

This week in Year 2, we’ve started learning our times tables. We’ve been focusing on 10s, 5s and 2s. The children have enjoyed using manipulatives to show me what they know.

When times are hard… use base ten!

Help at home by practising counting forwards and backwards in 10s, 5s and 2s. Login details for Times Tables Rock Stars accompany this week’s homework – use this in regular short bursts to consolidate times tables knowledge.

Living and Learning: Being similar and being different

During our Living and Learning lesson, we thought about how we are all similar and how we are all different.

To help us to understand differences we enjoyed the story of Elmer the Elephant.

Though he might temporarily want to be just like all the other grey elephants, Elmer realises that being his own colourful self is far more enjoyable – and everyone loves him, just the way he is.

It’s OK to be different.

I like being me.

There is no one else like me. I am special!

The children recreated their own version of Elmer and each one is DIFFERENT!

Help at home by chatting to your child about uniqueness. We are creating our own large Elmer in the classroom and your child can add details about themselves to a template of an elephant.

This can be images of hobbies, a self portrait or whatever they feel makes them who they are.

Please return the finished elephants to school so they can be added to the large template.

Non-fiction Navigators

We are very lucky at St James’ to have an expansive collection of books to enjoy. Every term, we receive several boxes of brilliant books from Leeds School Library Service. They are all carefully selected to support our curriculum.

In Year 2, we took the time to explore some of the non-fiction books that link to our current science unit – Living Things and Their Habitats.

In our reading skills sessions, we learnt how non-fiction books are structured in different ways. We learnt how to use the contents and index pages to navigate non-fiction books efficiently.

The children enjoyed using their new skills to learn more about the natural world. I was stunned by some of the facts the children shared with me. The oldest tree in the world is nearly 5,000 years old!

Help at home by exploring non-fiction books with your child. Can you use the contents and index pages to navigate to the information you’re looking for?

Design and Technology: Fresh Fruit Salad

Yesterday, we all made a delicious, healthy fruit salad.

There were lots of skills on show during the preparation such as;

• peeling by hand
• draining through a colander
• segmenting
• claw grip (using a fork to secure the fruit)
• bridge hold
• measuring liquids
• mixing

Why not make this again at home and encourage your child to use the correct cookery skills.

Ingredients

(serves 6)

1 banana

1 apple

1 orange/satsuma

strawberries

seedless grapes

1 kiwi fruit

2 x 15ml spoons orange juice

Weekly Poem

Each week, the children listen to and enjoy a poem. We rehearse the verses daily and read it together. The class participate in short discussions about the text and any particular favourite words or phrases.

By recognising the patterns of rhythm and sound, used in poetry, helps to read using prosody. (reading aloud with fluency and expression)

In class, an adult will model good prosodic reading by reading aloud and adding emphasis to particular words and phrases which can really bring a text to life.

Once children have listened to the the adult example, they then practice reading aloud to one another, responding to the modeled cues. It has been fantastic to hear to the children repeating parts of the poem using  prosody effectively.

Here is the poem for the upcoming week .

Help at home by listening to the poem. Model reading it using some prosody and your child can echo read with you.

Cats 

Written by Eleanor Farjeon

Narrated by Mrs Freeman

Cats

On Monday he found a …

Bean!

This week we have started to notice the changes in the weather and that Spring is on the way!

Our focus story this week was  Jasper’s Beanstalk, the children have really enjoyed this story, anticipating what might happen next, retelling what happens and exploring how Jasper is feeling.

Jasper found a bean on Monday and he planted it on Tuesday – Ella D

He waited a long time for it to grow, it made him feel sad because it wasn’t growing quick – Ella M

Snails have a shell and slugs don’t have a shell- Charlie

It’s really long- Elliott

There might be giants – Louie

He needs to climb to the top- Evie

As we approach our ‘growing’ season, we decided to plant our own beans to see how long it will take them to grow. Over the next few weeks we will observe, discuss and draw how our plants have changed. Exciting!

In maths, we’ve been learning about the number 3.  We looked at 3 spots on a dice, 3 counters on a five frame and spotted that there were 3 corners and sides on a triangle.

Help at home: Have a look to see if you can find groups of three things around your home.  Can you spot the number three on any house doors or number plates? We also liked watching this song all about the number 3.

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.

Next week, we’re learning about growing up and looking at how we change as we get older.

It would be great if we could look at some photographs of children when they were babies and toddlers. If you are able to, please send us an email with one photograph of your child as a baby and one photograph of them as a toddler. We’ll use these in group time and will also be adding them to our Home Corner family display.

Stjamesnursery@spherefederation.org 

This week sound/s was: ‘U’ for Umbrella

Rhyme of the week: Baa Baa black sheep

Notice:

Born of the Forest has officially finished for Nursery- so a big thank you to Shaun!  The children have enjoyed it so much we have decided to continue our own forest school sessions, these will now be on a Tuesday starting 27 February. Your child can come in their PE kit or some comfy clothes.

• joggers/jumper
• spare socks
• wellies
• waterproofs/puddle suit

You are more than welcome to leave these at school for the rest of term!

Have a super weekend!

Miss Ward and Miss Harvey

The Train Ride

Welcome to Spring 2!

This week we have started our new topic Let’s Go, our first book is called The Train Ride by June Crebbin. 

We have really enjoyed this story, we have talked about old trains like Stephenson’s Rocket, The Mallard and of course The Flying Scotsman! Plus new trains like the Eurotunnel and The Bullet!

“It is an old train because it has steam coming out of the funnel!”

“It is old because I can see some rust on it!”

We are also very excited about out upcoming trip to the National Railway Museum, we have had lots of discussions about how many sleeps it will be and what we will be taking in out lunch boxes! It is all very exciting!

Our Word of the Week was: Destination, the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning.

“My destination in the morning is school, at night time it is home, or sometimes the park!”

“When we go on our school trip our destination will be the Train Museum.”

Help at home: Talk to your grown up about the different destinations you go to over the weekend.

Phonics

This week in our phonics we have reviewed the digraphs ai, ee, oa, oo/oo, ar, or, ur, ow, oi,  and the trigraphs igh, ear.

Help at home: Please support your child with the ‘learn at home’ sheet sent home today. Please also keep accessing the ebooks.

Poetry Picnic

This week our poem was Pancakes

Mix a pancake,

Stir a pancake,

Pop it in the pan.

Fry a pancake,

Toss a pancake,

Catch it if you can.

Maths

In Maths this week we have looked at comparing and in particular looking at differences and similarities. In our activities we have looked at the numbers of objects in a set, without being diverted by colour, shape or size. The children have then been encouraged to notice when quantities are equal or unequal, and to consider how they can manipulate the number of objects in 2 sets to make them equal. Our stem sentences have been 

____ has more than____.

____has fewer than____.

Help at home: Can you share an even number of objects (e.g. counters, pens etc) between two teddies. Do the objects need to be the same colour, shape or size?

The Classroom Challenges this week have been

• to make a train
• to make a bridge for a train to either go over or under
• to make a large train track outside
• to write a list of the things they go past in the story The Train Ride
• to make the scales balance
• to draw something you can see out of the window

Also this week, we had a visit from MindMate on Monday, who read us the story Ruby’s Worry by Tom Percival. 

We already love this book in reception and have used it a lot when we have talked about our own worries and anxieties. Tom Percival also writes other books that deal with different emotions, they are a great starting point to support young children.

Next week our focus book is The Hundred Decker Rocket by Mike Smith.

Reminders and Notices

PE is on a Monday, please send your child to school wearing their PE kit and trainers they can fasten themselves.

Library Day is on a Friday this term, please can all Library books be returned on Friday ready to swap for a new one.

Forest School is on Friday, please see additional letter sent home for information.

Waste Innovation- Please don’t forget to send in any donations for us to be creative.  We really appreciate anything!!

Please can we also ask for any donations of children’s underwear, socks and old school uniform, we work hard and play hard in reception so things can get a little bit messy!!

Stay and Learn Sessions

World Book Day 07.03.24-8.50am-9.20am

Please don’t forget to email any pictures from home stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Mrs. Feldman