Staying Safe Week

Staying Safe Week

This week has been a special week at St James’. We’ve been exploring lots of different ways to stay safe. We’ve discussed:

• sun safety
• first aid
• online safety
• staying safe in the community
• staying safe at home
• staying safe on the road
• staying safe on bikes/scooters
• staying safe around animals

The children have contributed their ideas maturely throughout the week and I feel confident that they all know how to stay safe!

We’ve been lucky to welcome some fantastic visitors this week.

Lou, a local PCSO, gave us some fantastic tips about road safety and staying safe in the community.

Mrs Hill from Dogs Trust spoke to the children about staying safe around dogs.

Dave from D:side gave a brilliant workshop on online safety.

Jed, a first aid expert, taught the children about how to call for help and administer some basic first aid. The children had a fantastic time practising CPR and putting bandages on one another’s (very imaginative!) injuries.

Help at home by discussing Staying Safe Week with your child.

• What have they learned this week?
• Can they share a top tip from each of our visitors?
• Are there any safety features in your home?
• Can your child memorise their address and a guardian’s phone number?

Living and Learning – Brilliant Bodies

In Living and Learning, we’ve been learning about identity and body image.

We’ve been thinking about the physical and personal features that make each and every one of us special. We spent some time considering how our names and appearance form part of our identity, including an interesting discussion about how life might look different if we were nameless and all looked the same…

• How would we make friends?
• How would we know who to play with at playtime?
• How would you get someone’s attention?
• How would your family know you were you?

It’s important to know that we’re all unique. It’s something worth celebrating!

It would be boring if everyone liked the same things. It’s good to share each others’ successes and interests.

Not everyone can be good at everything but everyone is good at something.

It can be hard to celebrate our physical features – sometimes, we feel insecure about the way we look. The children showed mature understanding of the physical features they can and can’t change and spent some time complimenting one another. We discussed appropriate ways to respond to compliments; a simple ‘thank you’ or a compliment in return.

Finally, we took a moment to celebrate ourselves and our brilliant bodies.

Help at home by discussing our living and learning statement with your child:

I know that people I see in the media don’t always reflect real life.

Is it healthy to compare ourselves to the people we see in the media?

Science – Sustainability (Plastics)

We’ve enjoyed learning about sustainability in our most recent science unit.

We’ve been learning about how plastic can be helpful and harmful and some of the things we can do to make sure it’s disposed of sustainably.

sustainable – causing no harm to the environment

What is plastic?

Plastic is a man-made material that can have lots of different properties and can be formed into lots of different shapes. This makes it really useful! The children observed that plastic can be:

• light
• flexible
• strong
• rigid
• transparent
• opaque
• and many more…

Some of the children were surprised to learn that even some of our clothes are made out of types of plastic like polyester, nylon and acrylic. After some body-contorting label-checking, we concluded that most of our clothes contained at least a small percentage of plastic.

Single-use plastic

We discussed single-use plastic and had a think about some items we encounter on a day to day basis that, once used, are simply thrown away:

• plastic bags
• plastic straws
• yoghurt pots
• plastic bottles

Plastic lasts a long time in the environment. It doesn’t decompose like paper or wood. The children learnt about how waste is sent away to landfill and some of the problems it poses to the environment, especially when polluted by plastic.

Everyone can help!

After learning of the stark reality of plastic pollution in the environment, we were delighted to learn that everyone can help if we remember to:

reduce
reuse
recycle

Reduce – Use less plastic to cut down on the amount of waste.

Reuse – Use plastic again rather than throwing it away.

Recycle – Dispose of waste responsibly so it can be converted into a material that can be used again.

To tie all of our sustainability learning together, we reused some single use plastic bottles in a way that could help the wildlife in our local area. The children really enjoyed making their bird feeders and we hope the birds in the local area are reaping the rewards!

We’d love to share some photos of the bird feeders in situ. Photographic evidence of avian visitors would be particularly welcomed. Please email them to me: ajnash@spherefederation.org

Help at home by discussing plastic waste with your child.

• What small change could you make to reduce your plastic waste?
• How could you reuse plastic waste rather than putting it in the bin?
• How could you tackle plastic pollution in the environment?

Forest School

The children have thoroughly enjoyed the return of forest school! We’ve spent time exploring the woodland habitat, identifying plants and observing seasonal changes.

This has linked well to our current science unit – we’ve been learning about sustainability and the ways in which we can care for local wildlife.

sustainable – causing no harm to the environment

In our recent forest school session, the children made miniature ‘landscapes’, considering the features of the local area and how they could be represented.

Help at home by discussing sustainability with your child. Why is it important to care for local wildlife? What can we do to help?

Living and Learning – Healthy Diet

Our Living and Learning statement this week is:

This week in our Living and Learning session, we discussed the ‘5 a day’ message. We linked this to our science learning, discussing the scientifically identifying features of fruits and vegetables.

fruit – a part of a plant that contains seeds

vegetable – a part of a plant that can be eaten as food

The children impressed me with their knowledge of fruits and vegetables – we’ve some adventurous palates in our class!

We discussed the importance of fruit and vegetables in providing crucial vitamins and minerals in our diet – these help to keep our bodies and minds healthy. The World Health Organisation recommends 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

A portion is an amount you could fit in your hand.

What counts towards your 5 a day?

Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 a day. They can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced.

Eatwell Guide

As a class, we looked at the Eatwell Guide and discussed what a healthy meal might consist of.

The children then had the opportunity to ‘prepare’ a healthy dinner.

Help at home by discussing the Eatwell Guide with your child. How does this compare to the meals you eat at home? Are there any opportunities to make healthier choices?

Living and Learning: I know the importance of sleep.

Our living and learning statement for this week was:

I know the importance of sleep.

As well as individual class living and learning sessions, the whole school attended our ‘Tuesday Viewsday‘ collective worship to learn more together. We discussed the role of sleep in our lives and it’s importance/lack of importance both personally and collectively (the world).

Children put forward some fantastic points of view to debate both sides of the importance of sleep – here’s some of the quotes:

‘I think sleep is important because it gives our brain a chance to rest so that we can do well in school the next day.’ (JC, Year 6)

‘Sleep is important for us to switch off and not think about things for a while. If we didn’t sleep, we would all just be tired and moody.’ (FJ, Year 2)

‘I don’t think sleep is important because it wastes time. We could be doing other things that we like instead of sleeping.’ (NE, Year 5)

‘Sleep can be important if you have a job, but if you don’t have a job or something to get up for, you’re wasting time in your life that you could use to help others or find something that you enjoy.’ (JS, Year 5)

Help at home:

Discuss the importance of sleep for a healthy, happy lifestyle with your child. Does your child know what a good amount of sleep is? Explore their thoughts on what might happen if they don’t get enough sleep, or they sleep too much!

Welcome Back – Summer Term

I hope you all had a happy and healthy Easter break. The children have come back to school in fine form, ready to achieve and believe this summer term. We’re looking forward to sharing our learning journey with you over the coming weeks but in the meantime, a few reminders.

Reading fluency books

Every Friday, children who are reading chapter books will bring a new book home. We have 4 reading practice sessions a week in which we read the first 4 chapters. Please read chapters 5 and 6 at home and return the book by Wednesday the following week. Books are signed in and out and we can’t send new books home until the previous one has been returned. Although the books are a very valuable resource at our school, returning books mustn’t be a cause of worry or upset for your child, so please contact me directly if there are any issues.

I’ll continue to assign e-books weekly, including chapter books.

Reading records

Please return reading records to school by Wednesday. Make a note of what has been read and any areas you have focused on. This is a great way for us all to keep up to date and an often overlooked way of staying in regular contact! If you have any questions about this, please be in touch.

Library books

Our library day is Friday. Please return library books to school by Wednesday, ready to return to the library in exchange for a new one.

Times Tables Rock Stars

Thank you to everyone who has been playing Times Tables Rock Stars at home. It’s a really valuable resource and a fantastic way of keeping home learning fun. If you need any technical support, please be in touch.

PE days

Our PE days are still Tuesday and Friday. Uniform compliance is excellent in Year 2 – let’s keep it up!

Water bottles

Please make sure your child comes to school with a clean, labelled water bottle every day. Water bottles must go home every day.

If you need any additional support, you can email me on ajnash@spherefederation.org and I will get back to you within an appropriate timeframe.

Happy Easter!

On Wednesday, we went to church for our Easter service.

Reception and Key Stage 1 did a fantastic job of singing the Easter Chicken song we have been practising.

watch here 

Some of Year 2 also read beautifully as well.

We hope everyone has a lovely Easter break. 

Topic – Drop Down Morning

Last week in Year 2, we had a topic drop down morning. This is where we take some time away from our usual timetable to revisit some of our previous topic learning. We revisited history, geography and art.

We started the morning with our most recent topic;

Art

To refresh our memories, we transformed the classroom into an art gallery, adorning the walls with famous works by Leonarda da Vinci, Paul Klee and Barbara Hepworth. Children explored the ‘gallery’ in groups, discussing visual art elements including: colour, pattern, texture, shape, line and tone. There were some passionate opinions to be heard – future art critics, no doubt…

The children then played a game of Vocabulary Chase, practising their retrieval skills with a hint of competition.

Help at home by exploring art with your child. Can they use the visual elements of art to tell you what they like or dislike?

Geography

With art shrinking in the rear view mirror, we moved briskly to geography, starting with a matching task in groups. The children were challenged to match UK countries to their capital city and flag. Disagreements were navigated respectfully and compromises reached…

After a thrilling game of ‘Spot the Missing Sea’ (it will catch on in time, I’m sure), we revisited physical and human features. The children moved around the room, labelling physical and human features in a range of photographs. Super remembering skills were in endless supply!

Help at home by challenging your child to name the capital cities of the UK.

History

To round off our topic drown down morning, we returned to our topic; History – Heroes. We focused on the concept of inequality.

Inequality is being treated unfairly and not having the same chances in life as someone else.

The heroes in the spotlight were Leonora Cohen and Nelson Mandela. After revisiting some key information, the children were tasked with making connections between Cohen and Mandela. We focused on 4 main points:

• equal rights
• beliefs
• protest
• protected characteristics

Help at home by discussing protected characteristics. How many can your child remember?

If you’d like to know more about our current topic, Computing, we’d be delighted if you could join us today (Monday 18.03.24) at 14:30 for a topic review session. Please be prepared to join in!

Living and Learning – We’re All the Same and We’re All Different

In Living and Learning, we’ve been celebrating similarities and differences in ourselves and others.

I know we’re all the same and we’re all different.

This Living and Learning statement links to one of our British Values – Respect and Tolerance. “We are respectful” is one of our school rules and we discussed what this might look like in our school community and beyond.

We had a lot of fun recognising and celebrating our differences. Here are a few ways in which we noticed we’re different:

• physical appearance
• hobbies
• preferences
• families

We’re all unique and that’s ok!

We thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Elmer’ by David McKee and it led to a fascinating conversation. The children then decorated their own Elmers and no two were alike!

Here are some of the questions we tackled:

• What is different about Elmer and the other elephants?
• How might Elmer feel about being different from the other Elephants?
• Why might Elmer have decided to slip away while the other elephants were still asleep?
• Why did Elmer want to cover herself in the berry juice?
• Why did she want to look like the other elephants?

Help at home by reading Elmer and discussing these questions with your child.

Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s 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.

Help at home by celebrating the differences which exist between your friends and family. Encourage your child to tell someone else what they really like about them and why.