Updated timetable
Please note the change to our PE days. These will now be on a Wednesday and a Friday morning. Our timetable for the next half term is below.
Year of the Dragon!
This week Nursery have been celebrating the upcoming festival- Lunar New Year!
This year is the year of the Dragon, the children wanted to make a really big Dragon for the classroom, so we got busy practicing our gross motor movements and fine motor skills. The combination of both help to support control and balance, preparing them for early writing.
We asked the children- ‘What is Lunar New year?’
They clean their houses to get rid of the dust- Savannah
Red means lucky – Ella M
It’s a big Dragon- Louie
They have lot’s of fireworks – Mia
We also tasted some traditional Oriental food. We had sweet and sour rice, vegetable spring rolls, and vegetable Bao Buns.
It’s really yummy, I didn’t think I would like it – Charlie
I like the buns, they were fluffy – Ella D
Forest School
We had an exciting time in forest school this week. We made a fire!
The children learnt the importance of not being left alone around a fire as it is hot and dangerous!
Help at home: What 3 things can you remember that you needed to make a fire? .. think about what Shaun needed to put into the fire-pit!
Of course when you have a fire, you have to toast some marshmallows!
This week sound/s was: ‘C’ for Cat ‘K’ for Kite. We know that both letters make the same sound.
Rhyme of the week: Jack and Jill went up the hill
We’ve had a fabulous first half-term, we welcomed some new faces and we’ve all made some new friends. We hope you have a lovely half-term break and we will see you on Monday 19 February.
Miss Ward and Miss Harvey
Living and Learning: I know how how to treat others with respect online.
Years 5 and 6 have been busy this week with lots of our learning based around internet safety.
In our sessions regarding being respectful to others online, we focussed on messages being sent through social media sites and thinking about why people may choose to be unkind. This was mainly discussed in our reading fluency sessions with a text around respect and safety on the internet.
Here are some ideas of what children came up with when asked why people may choose to be disrespectful online:
- ‘It doesn’t feel like real life if you type it onto a screen.’
- ‘People don’t get caught easily and there’s no consequence.’
- ‘You can’t see the other person’s feelings through a phone so you don’t know how they feel.’
- ‘People say things online that they wouldn’t say in person because they can.’
Following these responses, we looked at some top tips to help prevent us from ever taking part in this kind of online activity, and what to do if we are a victim of this.
Help at home:
Check in with your child and their experiences online. Make sure they know that they can talk without worry about their thoughts, feelings and actions online. Could you create some tips at home to help your child feel safe and to continue being respectful online?
Safer Internet Day
As part of Safer Internet Day, Year 1 listened to a story all about staying safe whilst online. The children have learnt about what personal information is and why it is important to keep it private.
Smartie is a very happy penguin who receives a tablet for his birthday and the story is about the situations he finds himself in as he starts to use his new device. He finds a pop-up wanting him to spend money, his brother goes on his tablet and he also plays a game online too. The key message is to go to an adult for help.
Following this learning, the class enjoyed making their own internet safety penguins and singing a very important song.
Help at home by talking to your child about the importance of internet safety and how essential it is to talk to someone you trust if you are ever unsure about an online issue.
Here are some resources to enhance this learning further.
What is Jessie and friends?
Here are some books that are a great buy, too.
Safer Internet Day
Yesterday was Safer Internet Day. We had a jam-packed day of learning, all centred around staying safe on the internet. Here’s what we learnt…
I know that some things online may not be true.
An adventurous little chick goes exploring in the farmer’s house. Soon she discovers that the farmer’s computer is wonderful fun. She buys a frilly blouse, some bees and a motorbike. The farmer is very surprised when they arrive. Chick clicks away and a diamond watch, hundreds of handbags and squillions of shoes arrive at the farm. But she’s feeling rather lonely, so decides to find an online friend. Chick uploads her photo and spots a chicken just like her. After lots of chatting, they arrange to meet in the wood. But Chick’s new friend is really a hungry fox…
- Check who’s posted the information.
- Check the website. Is it a reliable source like the BBC?
- Check another website. Can we find the same information elsewhere online?
If you’re still not sure, speak to a trusted adult.
I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
- first and last name
- birthday
- home address
- photo
- school
Keeping something private means only sharing it with a few people you know and trust.
I know that people should treat others respectfully online.
The children enjoyed exploring and discussing ‘Troll Speaks’ in our reading lesson. It links to our Living and Learning statement for this week and was a fantastic platform for discussion around treating others respectfully online.
“It’s not safe to message strangers even if you think it’s funny.”
“It might be a joke to you, but it could hurt someone else’s feelings.”
“Always be kind to people. It’s never ok to be nasty.”
I know that we should have a balance between being online and offline.
We had a great discussion around all the ways in which the internet is amazing. It seems like you could live your whole life on the internet. The children identified some issues with spending too much time online:
- sore eyes from too much screen time
- not enough exercise
- harder to sleep
- don’t spend enough time with family
- harder to concentrate at school
Help at home by discussing the day’s learning with your child.
- What are the benefits of the internet?
- Do you have any internet safety ‘rules’ specific to your household?
- Are there any negative side-effects of spending too much time online?
- What is the balance between online and offline in your household?
- How do you seek help if something worries you online?
Give Rugby a Try
For the past 3 weeks, we’ve been really lucky to have Josh and Tom from the Leeds Rhinos Foundation visiting St James’ for our PE sessions.
The children have enjoyed learning the basics of rugby, putting their passing and try-scoring skills to the test.
This Thursday (08.02.24), the Leeds Rhinos Foundation are hosting a free rugby taster session in Wetherby. The session is open to children in Year 1 & 2, no matter their ability or experience. Sign up here.
Litter Picking Crew
Thank you to some of our pupils who have been making a difference in our local community by picking up litter on Hallfield Lane. Some of the Year 4 children have noticed litter on the paths as they walk to swimming each week and they feel really strongly that they want to do something about it. Well done for suggesting a great way to keep our streets tidy!
Internet Safety Day
Today, we have learnt about some key aspects of keeping safe online:
- I know that some things online may not be true, either accidentally or deliberately.
- I know it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online.
The internet is such an amazing resource and one we use countless times throughout the day. It can however, be a place that is not always safe and secure. The children in Year 3 and 4 have learnt to be critical users of what we read and that some headlines and news stories may be misleading. We now know how to check the validity of a story and its source.
In addition, we are confident in knowing the dangers of sharing personal details online. We know that there are many platforms on the internet where we may need to share our details and what to do if we are unsure about sharing.
Help at home – Ask your children about some of the fake news stories that we read about today. How did we know that some news stories where misleading? Who should we check with when sharing personal data about ourselves? What might happen if we do share some personal details online?
Pesach in Year 3/4
This half term, we have been learning about Moses and the story of Passover (Pesach). We have learnt about Moses’ relationship with God and how he helped to free the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. We know that Jewish people today celebrate Pesach with a Seder Plate and eat special foods. In class, we had our very own Pesach celebration and tried some different foods from the Seder Plate. Whilst eating we spoke about the significance of each item and thought about how this can relate to our lives.
Supertato
This week has been our second week looking at the book Supertato by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet.
We have enjoyed looking out for the Evil Pea, in and around the classroom and school and we have even left out lots of wonderful trap to try to catch him. We have also enjoyed looking at vegetables close up, by completing some observational drawings and commenting on what we noticed.
” The potato is bumpy and rough and wet inside!”
“Broccoli is cold and prickly!”
Maths
This week, we have continued to look at composition, or the numbers within numbers. We have used the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern) to explore making 5.
Help at Home: Number bonds to 5 game.
- Put 5 things into a bag.
- Ask your adult to take some things out of the bag.
- Then, you take the rest of the things out of the bag.
- How many things do you have? How many things does your adult have?
- How many all together?
Phonics
We have learnt our final Phase 3 graphemes this week (air, er) and the tricky words (are, pure, sure). Next half term, we will revisit all the phase 3 digraphs and trigraphs.
Help at Home: Reading books on line via the Collins site. This will help the children with their fluency.
Poetry Picnic
This week’s poem was an eight-line poem called A Little House
I’m going to build a little house,
With windows big and bright,
And chimneys tall with curling smoke,
Drifting out of sight.
In winter when the snowflakes fall,
Or when I hear a storm,
I’ll go and sit in my little house,
Where I’ll be snug and warm.
Next week our focus book is The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson and we will be looking at the Lunar New Year which this year is celebrated on Saturday 10th February.
Reminders
Stay and Learn Sessions-Early Writing- 05.02.24 2.20pm-3.00pm
Please can we also have some more donations for our Waste Innovation Area- we have such a creative bunch of children we are going through lots of boxes, tubes, pots etc. Please think of us before you fill your green bin!
Don’t forget to email if you have any questions if you can’t catch us at the door stjameseyfs@spherefederation.org thank you!
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon and Miss. Feldman