Living and learning : consent

This week, we have been particularly talking about consent (permission) in our Living and Learning lessons. We talk about consent all the time though, for example, when we’re taking photos or video.

We also talked about different scenarios and how we can respond appropriately.

20 May 2022

Please practise your spellings for another week.

Y1: have   live   give   love   was

Y2: race    ice   cell    city   fancy   knock   know   knee   gnat  gnaw

We love to learn!

Our school vision is to be a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe. This week, we’ve seen so many children believe in themselves and achieve in many areas of their learning.
Even when things were a bit tricky, they persevered and achieved.
Well done  Reception!

In maths, we built on our previous skills to compare attributes and quantities. Through practical activities and games, we thought carefully about which number is more or less. We used linear number tracks to play games that encouraged us compare numbers that are far apart, near and next to each other. (For example, 10 is a lot more than 2 but 5 is only 1 more than 4.)

In the maths area, we continued to explore number bonds to 10. We used part-whole model plates to support our learning.
In literacy, we used our actions to recap Walking through the Jungle. We had a go at writing our own story. Before writing our stories, we made a list of other rainforest animals. We also thought about how they might move through the jungle.
Check out what else we’ve been up to!

Home-Link Challenge
Gary the giraffe has made some number 10 towers. Can you work out the number bonds he has made?
Next week, we’ll be having a fun-filled week of Jubilee activities!
Have a lovely weekend.

This week’s message (Friday 20 May 2022)

This week’s message has two parts: one introduces this year’s annual survey, and the second comes from Mrs Allaway, our Maths Leader.

Annual survey

Every year, we invite you to complete a short survey. Your views matter. They help to shape what we do in the forthcoming year(s).

This year’s survey features a series of questions closely related to what Ofsted might ask parents during an inspection, plus a question about school uniform which we’re asking because of recent statutory guidance from the government.

Complete the St James’ CE Primary survey here. We’ll send a few reminders before the closing date, which is Friday 17 June.

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you raise in the survey something very specific that needs to be addressed, we can’t easily act on this without your child’s name. In fact, the survey isn’t the best place to raise individual, specific concerns – hopefully, you’re comfortable to speak with Miss Beatson or a class teacher about these instead.

Maths matters

Mrs Allaway writes…

As a parent or carer, you give your child their first experiences with Maths. Even if you don’t feel confident with Maths, you can still make a huge difference to how your child’s confidence and ability develops.

Be positive about maths

One of the most important things you can do is to be positive about Maths. Don’t say things like I can’t do maths or I hated maths at school. Your child might start to think like that themselves. Praise your child for their effort – this shows them that by working hard they can always improve.

Lifelong skills

A good understanding of everyday maths will help your child with important tasks, such as making decisions and understanding information. It will also help them develop essential lifelong skills:

• working out how much food is needed for a family meal and following recipes
• converting currency rates when abroad
• managing personal finances, budgeting and saving
• working out which are the best buys in the supermarket, checking change and working out sale prices
• getting to work on time, estimating how long a journey will take, knowing when to fill up on fuel
• knowing if the answer on a calculator is reasonable or if a wrong button was pressed
• keeping score in games and knowing what to aim for in order to win
• splitting the bill after a meal out with friends and working out what tip to leave
• DIY jobs such as painting and decorating or working out how many wall tiles are needed to cover an area
• reading data presented in graphs and tables and interpreting statistics in the news

Maths in everyday life

Point out the maths in everyday life. Include your child in activities involving money, cooking and travelling.

Baking and cooking are great ways for your child to practise lots of maths skills: weighing and measuring in grams and kilograms; reading scales; and measuring out capacities in litres and millilitres. Make the most of shopping trips and other outings. Help your child to recognise coins and count out particular amounts. Talk about working out totals and calculating change. Does your child understand the offers they see on signs or adverts in shops?

There’s a huge amount of maths in sports. Does your child like cricket? You can ask lots of maths questions. If there are two overs left in a game, how many balls does the bowler have left to bowl? How many more runs does the team need to win?

Can they tell the time? Having both traditional and digital clocks around the house will give your child opportunities to practise reading the time. Use timetables and TV guides. Give your child time problems to solve: Tea will be 30 minutes. What time will it be ready?

Being positive about maths and using maths in everyday life will really make a difference.

And finally, don’t forget the importance of knowing simple number facts (like two numbers adding to make 10: 2+8 or 3+7 for example) and times tables.

As always, speak to your child’s teacher if you’ve any questions, comments or concerns about your child’s learning in Maths.

Have a happy and healthy weekend.

20 May 2022

Our Talk Time this week relates to our recent Geography learning:

I know and can use the topic vocabulary from this half term.

Years 1 and 2:

• continent – a very large area of land
• globe – a model of the Earth which shows what it looks like from space
• ocean – a large area of water between continents
• equator – an imaginary line that goes around the centre of the Earth
• physical geography – physical geography looks at the natural things in our environment
• human geography – human geography looks at changes in the environment by humans
• population – the number of people living in a certain place
• national park – a park or area of land looked after by a country’s government

Years 3 and 4:

• climate zones – areas of the world with similar temperature and weather
• hemisphere – a half of Earth, divided into a northern and southern hemisphere
• equator – an imaginary line that goes around the centre of the Earth
• latitude – the distance north or south of the equator, measured in degrees
• tourism – travelling to a place for fun
• economy – how a country or place makes and spends money
• overtourism – when there are too many tourists and it results in conflict with local people who live there
• flood defences – used to prevent flooding in a specific place

Years 5 and 6:

• biome – areas of the world with similar climate, landscapes, animals and plants
• vegetation belt – an area with distinct plant types
• climate zone – areas of the world with similar temperature, weather and precipitation
• natural resources – something that is found in nature and can be used by humans
• exports – goods that are sent to other countries for sale
• deforestation – the destruction of forests by humans
• agriculture – growing and harvesting crops and raising animals; another word for farming
• indigenous people – the earliest or original inhabitants of a place

Encourage your child to think back to their Geography learning so far. The following questions might prompt your child to remember even more about the vocabulary:

• What does this word mean?
• Can you use the word in a sentence?
• Can you (where possible) give an example of this?
• Have you seen a piece of art that links to that word?
• Can you link this word to one or more of the other words?
• Which of these words would you group together?

20 May 2022

This week, the children have been using words with the prefixes ‘mis’ and ‘re’ at the start. Learn the words below ready for a test on Friday 27^th May 2022.

• reappear
• rebuild
• misread
• return
• misbehave
• reapply
• redo
• mishear
• miscalculate
• misprint

For some creative ideas on how to make learning spellings more fun, check out our super spelling strategies guide on the website.

Living and Learning: What is consent?

In this week’s Living and Learning lesson, we discussed the meaning of the word ‘consent.’

It means you agree to something.

I think consent is saying yes.

Following our conversation, the children read an overview about a book named ‘Consent For Kids’ and completed the reading activity below.

LO: RIC

Consent means giving someone a choice about touch or actions and respecting their answer.

Consent (for Kids!) is an empowering introduction to consent, bodily autonomy, and how to respect yourself and others. Consent is like being ruler of your own country…population: YOU. This is a smart, playful guide to consent and bodily autonomy, packed with bright and energetic illustrations. Readers will learn about boundaries and how to set them; ways to respect themselves and others; what to do if someone makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe; and much more. Along the way, they’ll be encouraged to reflect on (and improve!) their own behaviour and to practice consent in their daily lives. Whether you’re looking for a simple guide for teaching consent or searching for a way to talk to your child about what it means to be in control of their own body and respect others’, look no further! This humorous and insightful book is the perfect teaching tool, conversation starter and empowering resource for educators, kids, and families everywhere.

autonomy – letting children know that they have control over themselves and the choices that they make

1. Name 2 things that readers will learn.
2. Look at this sentence.

Along the way, they’ll be encouraged to reflect on (and improve!) their own behaviour and to practice consent in their daily lives.                  

What do you think ‘along the way’ is referring to?

3. Why has the author written two words in red?

Ask your child about this learning. What can they tell you about consent?

Brownlee Triathlon

Children from Years 3, 4 and 5 took part in the Brownlee Triathlon this week. The event started with swimming, followed by cycling and finishing with running. The children represented St James’ exceptionally well and we were very proud of them all.

“I enjoyed the swimming and I could see all the teachers pulling a ‘wow’ face which made me feel proud.”  Harley

“It was great because everyone was cheering each other on. The swimming was my favourite part because I was the first person who made it all around the pool.” Leah

This week’s bible story

Jesus in the temple: Matthew 21:12-13

Have ever been really angry? Is there a difference between being angry because we can’t get our own way and being angry because something really isn’t right or fair? Can they think of a story when Jesus was angry?

The following story probably happened during the week leading up to Easter. Jesus had just entered Jerusalem on a donkey. Crowds of people came to see him and cheered him as a hero. Many powerful people were worried about how popular Jesus had become and some didn’t like his teaching.

The Temple in Jerusalem was a place of pilgrimage, especially at the time of the Passover. People would bring offerings, often of animals, as symbols of thanksgiving or of sorrow for past sins. These animals could be bought at the entrance to the Temple. It seems likely that the people who sold the animals, the money-lenders or merchants of the story, were charging too much and cheating the poor. Jesus may have heard about this, although that is not recorded in the Gospels. listen carefully to the story and think about the following:

How they think Jesus is feeling.
What Jesus does.
What he says.

Read the story of Jesus in the temple.

Reflection:

How do you think Jesus was feeling?
What did he do?

What did he say?

Was Jesus putting himself in danger by expressing his anger? are surprised to hear a story in which Jesus expresses anger. Why do they think he was angry? Are there times when it is right to show we are angry? Is it right to be angry about injustice or unfairness? What was Jesus trying to change by his anger?

Think about a time when you have been angry. Was it right to be angry?

Prayer:

God of all creation,
Help us as we try to understand all our feelings.
Help us to recognize when we are angry
and to see when things we do or say make other people angry.
Help us to see the difference between anger that is selfish
and anger that seeks justice for others or ourselves.
Help us to choose our actions with care, courage and love.
Amen.

Week beginning 16 May 2022

The SATs are over – Hooray. Sorry that you can’t be in school this week. Here are a range of resources linked to what is happening in class. Don’t forget to get in touch with your class teacher if you need support.

Maths

Follow this sequence of maths learning which is linked to fractions.

Lesson 1: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 2: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 3: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 4: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 5: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 6: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 7: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 8: video, worksheet, answers

Lesson 9: video, worksheet, answers

You don’t have to print the worksheet. Your child can write or draw their answers on paper. Your child’s learning will be most effective if you sit with them to pause the clip and check / praise / support your child as the clip moves on.

Practise times tables on Times Table Rockstars, too. Email the class teacher if you need your child’s login and password details.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes of Maths and 15 minutes of Rockstars daily)

Spelling

Look on the homework page to find this week’s spellings. They should choose some past spellings that they feel less confident with. Your child should complete one task each day.

• Day 1: Generate more words linked to the spelling pattern or ‘rule’. You could look out for the words in the book you’re reading at home, or any other text, like a website linked to our science topic of Living Things and their Habitat.
• Day 2: Practise the spellings using two of the ideas in our Super Spelling Strategies guide. (Set yourself and others at home a challenge of using some of the words when you’re speaking, too!)
• Day 3: Write separate sentences, each containing one of the spellings. (Don’t forget to show off really neat handwriting and make sure you sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?).
• Day 4: Repeat Task 2 or 3.
• Day 5: Get an adult at home to test you on your spellings. Practise any you spell incorrectly – you could write them out carefully until you’re sure.

(Suggested time: 15-20 minutes daily)

Reading fluency.

This is the text that we will be using in school. In school, we generally follow this sequence:

• Day 1: Read the text aloud with your child listening. Read it clearly and slowly, pointing to each word as you read. Have a chat about any unfamiliar words.
• Day 2: Read aloud each sentence (a full short sentence or part of a longer sentence), and have your child read it back to you. Do this ‘echo reading’ for the whole text.
• Day 3: Read the text and talk about the effect of the punctuation on how you read it – pauses for full stops and expression for exclamations (!) or questions (?). Your child reads the text aloud.
• Day 4: Read together with expression (just like you practised on Day 3).
• Day 5: Your child reads independently and fluently.

(Suggested time: 15 minutes daily)

Reading comprehension

We’ll be using this RIC text in class to practise comprehension skills. RIC stands for:

• Retrieve: finding information in a text
• Interpret: using clues in the text to unlock information
• Choice: thinking about the author’s choice of words, techniques or organisation that make the text interesting and enjoyable to read

At school, we like to promote a passion for reading. This website has a range of extracts and interviews with different authors. Choose one author each day and read an extract from their book. If you like it, carry out your own research on the author and book.

(Suggested time: 30 minutes daily)

Writing

In writing, we will be reviewing how punctuation is used correctly in our writing. Follow this sequence of lessons on punctuation. There’s a whole series of lessons, but start at Lesson 1 and work through, doing one (or maybe even two) each day. (If you’re self-isolating in your second week, stick with the series of lessons you’ve already started and aim to complete the full series.) Finished? Try this mixed grammar practice.

(Suggested time: 30-40 minutes for each)

Topic

Our topic this half-term is Explorers. In school, we’ll be comparing an area of South America with that of the UK.

Follow these lessons on Building Locational Knowledge: South America from Oak Academy. Follow the lesson sequence. It has 4 lessons so you could do two a week. We’ll also be looking at different biomes.

 (Suggested time: 30-40 minutes)

Science   

This term is all about electricity.

These six lessons from Oak Academy link closely to what we’ll be doing in class this half term. Start at Lesson 1 and work through, doing two or three in the week.

If Science really motivates your child, you could also use look at these lessons all about practical Science.

(Suggested time: 30-45 minutes)

PE

Don’t forget to do some daily exercise!

Do two or three of these Five Minute Moves from Joe Wicks each day – spread them across the day as if they were playtimes, maybe!

Try working through this series of 25 lessons from the Association for Physical Education – do two or three in the week.

(Suggested time: 5 minutes daily, plus 30 minutes for the longer PE lessons)

Extra stuff…

As an extra (or as an alternative, if this helps to motivate your child)…

Geography is our topic-driver this half-term so you could brush up on your locational knowledge. You could explore some online maps and try to memorise some new countries, capitals, rivers and mountain ranges. These three lessons about Europe are worth checking out.

What about some Living and Learning? While you’re away from school, you could check out these lessons on money!