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
Gobble, gobble, munch, munch, SCRUNCH!
We’ve been busy as usual in nursery over the last two weeks. We’ve been getting our stomp on!
Over the last two weeks our focus story was ‘Dinosaur Roar‘ by Paul Strickland. The children enjoyed exploring our dinosaur swamp, creating dinosaur skeletons and retelling the story through simple pretend play using vocabulary and key phrases from the story.
My favourite was Dinosaur grumpy, I really enjoyed been able to show the children my grumpy face and voice! Which one did you like?
Forest School
Some of our children have had the opportunity to attend forest sessions with Børn of the Forest. A place where they can explore, create and imagine within the natural world. We’ve made Stickman, dinosaurs and even helped care for our forest by litter picking. We also checked up on our hedgehog house and it looks like its made a nice little home for some very lucky hedgehogs.
This week sound/s was: ‘g’ for Goat ‘o’ for Octopus
Rhyme of the week: Row Row Row your boat and Ring ‘o’ ring ‘o’ roses
Help at Home: How many nursery rhymes do you know? Sing your favourite with your grown ups and make up your own actions. Singing nursery rhymes supports children with their listening and communication skills to prepare them for reading and writing as they get older.
Notice:
We are running low on spare clothes. Early years would really appreciate if you would be able to donate any of the following items that you no longer need;
- pants (3-4 and 5-6)
- socks
- joggers
We hope you have a lovely weekend, here is a clue for next week’s learning. I wonder what it could be?
Miss Ward and Miss Harvey
Getting creative with classical music
Each Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Bald teaches music with Year 1. The children have enjoyed listening to and exploring a new piece of music by a British composer named Gustav Holst.
The class watched and listened to Mars by Gustav Holst, a British composer.
Through this music, the composer is telling a story all about the planet, Mars. The children shared their thoughts and asked a few questions.
I wonder if Mars is big or small?
I wonder what is happening on Mars?
Using drums and other instruments, Year 2 were asked to play them in different ways such as a really smooth way or by drawing circles on the drum with their palms.
After listening to the piece of music again, the children thought about how they would travel to planet Mars.
Of course, by rocket!
We must prepare for take off!
3, 2,1 …………………….
Help at home by listening to Mars by Gustav Holst with your child and discuss the instruments that can be heard.
Science – Plants (light and dark)
As we donned our science hats to start 2024, we turned our attention to plants and their requirements to survive and thrive.
Our enquiry question has been:
Do plants grow healthier in the light or dark?
The children have planned a comparative fair test to observe the results for themselves. They have made their predictions and are looking forward to seeing what happens!
We have chosen to plant cucumber seeds (the fantasy of a fruitful harvest proved irresistible) and will keep 2 plants in the sun and 2 plants in the cupboard. This morning, we gathered our equipment and – one (cu)cumbersome bag of compost and a few plant pots later – planted our seeds.
The children will be observing the plants and recording their progress… watch this space!
Help at home by discussing the investigation with your child:
- What was their prediction?
- Why did they make that prediction?
- How have we made sure our investigation is fair?
- How often will be observe the plants?
- What will we measure?
Living and Learning – speak out and stay safe
In Year 3 and Year 4, we have been learning about ways that children can stay safe if they are experiencing abuse.
We watched an assembly produced by the NSPCC and engaged really well throughout. We have learnt about the 5 types of abuse that children can experience and know that this is never OK. We know who we can talk to if we are worried about something and where we can get help if needed.
The Childline website is a useful place to visit if we need help and their phone number is easy for us to remember – 0800 11 11.
Help at home – Ask your child what NSPCC stands for. What are the 5 types of abuse that children can experience. What does each one mean? Who are their trusted adults? Is there an easy way to remember the Childline phone number? Who is Buddy? What does Buddy represent?