21 January 2022

This week, we’ve been learning about contractions. Contractions are when two words are combined a letter(s) is omitted – and replaced with an apostrophe. We use contractions in our writing and our speech to be less formal. Your child should practise spelling these contractions…

1. do not/ don’t                               6. he will/ he’ll
2. will not/ won’t                           7. she will /she’ll
3. could not /couldn’t                  8. they will /they’ll
4. should not /shouldn’t            9. has not/ hasn’t
5.  I am/ I’m                                     10. is not/ isn’t

We’ll test ourselves on Friday 28 January 2022 to see how we’ve got on.

For some tips and tricks on how best to practise your spellings at home, visit the Y3,4 spelling page on our website and click here.

Lost and Found & more…

In literacy, we continued reading the story Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.
We began by re-reading the story and talking about what we already know about Antarctica.

IM – It is very cold in Antarctica.
ZS – Penguins live in Antarctica.
CW – Antarctica is at the bottom of the world. It is also called the South Pole.

We talked about what the boy and the penguin would need to pack for their journey. The children came up with lots of fantastic suggestions.

FJ – A coat to keep them warm.
JD – A bowl to put their snacks in.
PB – A hat to keep the boy’s head warm.

For our writing challenge this week, we pretended we were going on a journey to the South Pole. Everybody successfully wrote a list of things they would pack in their suitcase.

On Tuesday, we closed our eyes and imagined what we would do if a penguin was standing at our door. The children shared their ideas using the stem sentence: If I found a penguin, I would…

SF – take it to the park and put it on the swings and slides.
OR – give it breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then put it to bed under my bed.
PB – take it shopping for some pretty dresses.
RF – play lots of games with it.

Some of the children had a go at writing their idea. Check out their amazing writing!

In Phonics, we recapped all of the phase 2 sounds. The children are really starting to show off their amazing phonics skills when doing their independent learning in the areas of provision. Thank you to those that have managed to get online and read your child’s eBook with them. A new book is issued each Friday.
Little Wandle has some great resources for parents, including videos and information sheets. Click here to find out more about supporting reading at home.

Reception had a fantastic PE lesson this week! We practised bouncing, throwing, and catching a ball. The children initially practised bouncing and catching the ball standing still. When they felt confident with that, we tried bouncing and catching the ball on the move. After that, we practised throwing and catching skills. A lot of children found this very tricky, but they didn’t give up!

And more…
Take a look at some more amazing learning from this week:

Diary Dates…
Tuesday 15 & Thursday 17 February – Parent-Teacher meetings
Monday 28 February – School closed: training day
Thursday 03 March – World Book Day

Home-Link Challenge

This week’s message (Friday 21 January 2022)

This week’s message kicks off with a repeat of one we sent on Wednesday, in case you missed it.

With the government’s announcement about the ending of Plan B restrictions next Thursday, it might seem that things are getting back to normal, and it might seem like most people with Covid have a relatively mild illness compared to previous strains.

In our schools, we’re struggling.

We’ve far more cases across all three schools (and across Leeds, from what we hear) than ever before amongst our children and our staff.

For pupils, when the number of positive cases of Covid rises, we have to consider isolating the class (‘bubbling’), and even move to home learning.

For staff, we’re committed to keeping the classes open. This is starting to prove really difficult – the more staff we have absent, the harder it is to cover. (And it’s really difficult to find supply teachers right now.)

Either way, this means learning is disrupted.

You can help us:

• Please continue to test your child often.
• Please continue to keep your child away from school if they’re not well, and make sure you test them.
• Please make sure you’re up-to-date with guidance, including self-isolation periods.
• Please be patient – we’re working really hard right now to manage the disruptions as best we can.

If your child’s at home…

• Please use the home learning materials we publish each week on our website – go to the Learn More section, choose Home Learning, and then click on your child’s year group.
• If you’re entitled to free school meals, please let us know – we can arrange for some food to be prepared.

The things I wish my parents had known…

This might seem like something more useful for older children, but the advice here could really help avoid issues later on…

The Children’s Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza DBE, has recently published a guidance document for parents helping to support them to understand online sexual harassment. It’s a sensitive topic, and not one all parents feel comfortable discussing with their children.

The commissioner’s team brought together a group of 16 – 21 year olds and asked them to talk about what they think parents should know, and what they should say to their children when talking about sexualised bullying and the pressures of growing up online.

Key advice from the young adults in the focus groups included:

• Start conversations early, before your child gets a phone or social media account. Keep the conversation going over time, adapting to your child.
• Young people want their parents to learn about new technology and trends, including risky behaviours and dangerous spaces online.
• Create a safe and trusting home environment. Young people told us the home environment is key, they want to share things with their parents but don’t always feel able.

Needing help?

We all need a bit of help from time to time…

The Family Lives charity aims to offer all parents somewhere to turn before they reach crisis point. Crisis support, provided for over 40 years through their helpline, has always been at the heart of what they do. The parents’ helpline is available Monday to Friday, 1.30 – 9pm: 0808 800 2222

Their website also offers help parents with the ups and downs of family life.

…And now it’s the weekend! Have a happy and healthy one, whatever you get up to.

21 January 2022

This week’s spellings are words which all use the co- and re- prefix.

• Please learn them for a test on Thursday 27th January.
• co-operate
• co-own
• co-ordinate
• co-exist
• co-pilot
• re-enter
• re-emerge
• re-invent
• re-tell
• re-ignite

21 January 2022

We have a new list of spellings this week from the common exception words list. Try putting them into a pyramid.

Here is an example

Year 1: was  we  were  where  you  your

Year 2: every  everybody  eye  fast  father  find  floor  gold  grass  great

21 January 2022

Our Talk Time this week relates to the vocabulary that we’re learning about in our current History topic.

Thinking about the new topic vocabulary, I can begin to use the words at home.

Years 1 and 2 History vocabulary:

• past – something that has already happened
• present – something that is happening now
• ancient – very old
• modern – the present day
• similarity – when something is the same
• difference – when something is different
• sequence – put in the correct order
• put in the correct order – the buying or swapping of products and services
• timeline – a list of important events arranged in order

Years 3 and 4 History vocabulary:

• chronology – arrangement of events or dates in time order
• empire – a large group of countries or states ruled by an emperor or empress
• invasion – when a country or region is invaded by an armed force
• settlement – a place or area where a group of people live
• to resist – to stand up to or fight back against something
• primary source – a source of evidence created at the time of the event (eg diaries, letters, photographs, newspaper article, artifacts, ruins)
• secondary source – a source of evidence created after the time of the event (eg replica objects, text books, illustrations)
• prehistory – before written records
• kingdom – an area of land ruled by a monarch (a king or queen)

Years 5 and 6 History vocabulary:

• chronology – arrangement of events or dates in time order
• conflict – a series of battles over time
• invasion – when a country or region is invaded by an armed force
• civilization – the society considered most advanced at a time
• caliph – ruler in a Muslim country
• golden-age – a time when an activity or society is at its best
• innovation – an improvement or replacement of something
• trade – the exchange of goods and services
• impact – the effect one thing has on another
• bias – a particular viewpoint for one thing over another, especially an unfair one

Some of the words may not have been covered in class as of yet so be sure to refer to the definitions for words your child seems less confident about.

Encourage your child to think back to their history 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?
• Can you link this word to one or more of the other words?
• Which of these words would you group together?
• Are there any synonyms (words with the same or similar meaning)?
• Are there any antonyms (words with the opposite meaning)?

This Talk Time provides the perfect opportunity to apply some of the oracy skills that we’ve been working on so far this year. These R2s will help your child to speak about the vocabulary confidently, fluently and at a good pace:

• Make eye contact and have good posture when speaking (and listening).
• Recall learning from class to help you remember the words you’ve used so far.
• Take time to think about each word before trying to explain it.

Challenge yourself to play the ‘Erm…’ game. Start a stopwatch when you begin talking about a word. Keep the time running until you say a filler phrase like ‘erm’, ‘umm’, ‘you know’, ‘like’ or pause for more than a few seconds. Have a couple of attempts for each word to see if you can improve on your timings. How long can you talk for?

Ordinal numbers

In Maths, over the last few weeks Year 1 have been busy learning all about ordinal numbers and matching the written word to the number.

To help them learn their ordinal numbers we have done lots of practical activities. They have organised themselves into first, second, third, fourth and fifth depending on the number they were holding. They’ve matched the numeral to the word e.g. 1st – first and they’ve ordered objects too.

We looked at images and discussed which position people were coming in the race. Can your child tell you what position Amy is finishing in the race?

Living and Learning: identity

In this weeks Living and Learning session we thought about things that make each person special and different. To do this we played a game of ‘Creature Creations’.

“We all drew different parts and passed them around.”

“…because we’re all different people and have different ideas.”

We talked about the word unique, what it means and what makes us all unique.

Can your child tell you something about themselves that makes them unique?

Class Novel

Year 3 and 4 are enjoying the new class novel: Queen of Darkness by Tony Bradman

This historical adventure story is set during the life of Queen Boudica and is really helping to bring our current history learning to life!  Young Rhianna is relived when Queen Boudica takes in her and her sister when their parents die. But there’s a darkness in Boudica that’s waiting to be unleashed and the Romans will suffer for their crimes against her. Soon Rhianna witnesses much more than the kindness that Boudica has shown her and her sister. There’s a battle coming… and a terrible aftermath.

Help at home by asking your child about what they’ve read at school:

• What’s happened so far?
• What do you predict will happen in the end?
• Who is your favourite character? Why?
• Would you recommend this book to ______? Why / why not?

As always, when you’re having this conversation, don’t forget to talk in full sentences – this really helps with our oracy (speaking and listening) skills.

Let’s reflect…

Each class has a reflection spot. This is an area for your child to spend time thinking, reflecting or having some time to themselves. Children are invited to complete challenges linking to our Christian value or they can write a prayer.

Today, some Year 5s ventured into the area for some calm time and to show that they were thinking of others.

This is a great way for your child to connect with their emotional side and to take time to think and reflect. Why not have a chat about this area at home? How does your child use our reflection spots?