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?
This week’s bible story
The Lost Sheep: Luke 15.3-7
Have you ever received a card with the words ‘Love from . . .’ written in it.
What do you think the words mean. ‘What does “love” mean?’
The dictionary defines it as ‘a strong feeling of affection’.
Think about things that they love. Who are the people whom they love? Who loves you? How does it feel to be loved?
There are times when everyone feels alone or unloved. Maybe we have done something wrong and are in trouble, or maybe we just feel down in the dumps and it makes us feel like no one cares about us very much.
Christians believe that no matter what happens to us, God always loves us. There are many stories in the Bible about God loving people. One of them is the story of the lost sheep. In this story, the shepherd loses a sheep, but cares for it so much that he looks and looks until the sheep is found again.
Read the story from Luke 15.3-7. The story makes the point that no matter how many of us there are in our school, our family or the world, each one of us matters to God. Remembering this can help us never to feel alone and always to feel special.
Reflection:
Let’s think about the people who care for us and show us love.
Pause to allow time for thought.
Let’s think about the people whom we love. How can we show love to them?
Pause to allow time for thought.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the people who love and care for me.
Please help me to show them that I am grateful and a happier person because of it.
Being loved makes me feel safe and happy. I feel warm inside and special.
Help me to love others so that they may feel that way, too.
Help those people who feel lonely and sad.
May they remember that they are loved by you and are never alone because you are always there.
Thank you for loving me.
Amen.
Learning about speech marks
We’ve been practising how to use inverted commas (speech marks) in our writing.
Today, we added speech marks into an extract of our class novel: Holes (they’d mysteriously disappeared..!). This was great practice and helped us to understand that the punctuation belongs inside the ‘mini elevens’ and that each time there is a new speaker, a new line must be started.
Check out this animation – it really helped make us to feel more confident we were putting the inverted commas in the right place.
Science Update
It’s time for us to be biologists this half term in Science and with this we will be studying evolution and inheritance.
The world renowned scientist, Charles Darwin first theorised about evolution back in the 1800s. He noticed that different species had different traits or characteristics which allowed them to adapt to the environment that they were living in. He came up with the idea of natural selection, whereby animals adapt in order to survive.
Biologists also use fossils to find out about prehistoric times before history was actively recorded. We will be following in the footsteps of famous palaeontologist. Mary Annoying by studying fossils and what they can tell us about the past in our first week.
Keep checking back for more news on this exciting topic.
This week’s bible story
‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13.4-8)
In February, we celebrate Valentines Day. This was originally the day for the Church to celebrate or remember St Valentine, but over time, it has developed into a day to send cards, buy presents or flowers and celebrate love. What do you think love means?
Watch this video of Anna and Hans from Frozen. Anna and Hans have apparently fallen head over heels in love: love at first sight! Ask the children what love looks like to Anna and Hans. There is so much more to love than this. Love is something that we all experience, and in different ways: the love of parents or carers, of grandparents, siblings, friends . . . these are all different types of love, but they all give us a glimpse of what love is.
Reflection:
There is a passage in the Bible that tells us more about what love is like. It is a passage that is often read at weddings.
‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ (1 Corinthians 13.4-8)
This definition sets the bar pretty high! In truth, as human beings, we do boast and we aren’t always patient and kind. However, when we feel love, we get to experience the qualities in this definition, such as patience and kindness.
Christians believe that love is God’s gift to earth, so when Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, he did it to demonstrate this love.
How we can show this love to others. How can we be the people to demonstrate love in the world around us?
Prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for your gift of love.
Please help us to show this love to other people.
Amen.
Merry Christmas from Key Stage 2
Please click on the links below to listen to our Christmas singing.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Our final sculptures
This week, we completed our Barbara Hepworth inspired sculptures. After completing our own individual boxes, we put them together to create a group sculpture.
We set out all the sculptures in the school grounds to create a similar effect to Barbara Hepworth’s Family of Man.
“The thing I like about our sculpture is the negative space- it really shows what the sculpture represents. I think the shape of the cut-outs are not just circles- they actually represent the thoughts.” Scarlet
“I enjoyed painting the sculptures but we had to persevere when making the Verdigris colour because it had to be perfect. In the end, our sculpture looked different to the maquette.” Nicholas
Christmas Dinner
What an amazing Christmas dinner we have all had together. The kitchen staff have been beavering away so that we could enjoy our traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings (plus vegetarian option!) 
We all enjoyed sharing a joke or fact from our Christmas crackers.
It was great to celebrate as a whole school family.
Some of our nursery children joined us too!
Key Stage 2 all made party hats to dazzle us with. You may even spot a few sporting a moustache.
So thank you to our amazing staff!
This week’s bible story
Perseverance despite circumstances: Daniel 6:1-28 (omit verse 24)
Read the story of Daniel (omit verse 24 for younger or sensitive children)
Daniel was captured, along with many more of God’s people, and taken to live in a foreign country. In this country, they had different traditions and customs and it was not acceptable to worship God. But Daniel chose to continue serving God. Even though it meant that he was risking death, Daniel knelt down and honoured God by praying three times a day.
When the king discovered that Daniel was breaking the law by praying to God, he had Daniel thrown into a den of hungry lions. God stood by Daniel and rewarded his unwavering commitment to righteousness by protecting him from being eaten by the lions.
Reflection:
Do you think Daniel was lazy, or a hard worker?
When Daniel found out that he would be thrown into a lion’s den if he continued to pray, what did he do?
Why do you think Daniel continued to kneel down to pray instead of praying quietly in his head so that others could not see that he was praying?
How did God reward Daniel’s perseverance?
Prayer:
Dear God,
We can often end up in situations when life feels hard or difficult or when we feel we are out on a limb compared to everyone else.
Help us to persevere when times are tough.
Amen
Sculptures in art
Our Barbara Hepworth inspired sculptures are well underway! We’ve planned and sketched our ideas in groups and then used boxes to cut out holes to create negative spaces. We’ve started to cover our boxes in tissue paper and paint them white. Our next step will be to mix paints to create a colour which will give the sculptures the colour of Verdigris (a green pigment created when copper, brass or bronze is weathered).
We’re looking forward to putting the boxes together to create our final group sculptures- watch this (negative) space!
