Christmas hamper

Tickets for the hamper are available at the office.  They will also be available at the Nativity play prior to the draw.

Christmas has officially arrived in Wrens this week.  We have decorated our classroom complete with a very full Christmas tree and our role play has turned into a Christmas Post Office.  We put all our phonics learning to good use to write our letters to Father Christmas and did a great job segmenting the words to spell out our Christmas wishes.  We also thought of some great questions to ask Father Christmas about life at the North Pole and how he manages to deliver all the presents in one night!  We then had a lovely walk to the Post Office on Wednesday morning to put our letters in the post box.  Hopefully they will reach the North Pole safely.

In maths we have been learning about 1 more and 1 less than a given number.  We have learnt to have 1 less we need to take 1 away and our number gets smaller.  When we have 1 more we add 1 and our number gets bigger.

We have been using our fine motor skills to make some lovely Christmas cards and practise present wrapping.  Maybe we can help out with these jobs at home!

Rehearsals for our Nativity play are continuing to progress well and the children are very excited about showing you their performance next Thursday.

This will be the last week that we send home reading books prior to the Christmas holiday.  Please could you check at home and see whether you have any outstanding school reading or library books so they can be returned to school before the Christmas break.  Thank you.

This week in English we read our new book as a class - Christmas Truce by Aaron Shepard. The story is written from the point of view of a soldier in WW1, who is writing a letter home to his sister telling her all about the Christmas Eve truce in 1914. The book fits perfectly with our history topic at the moment and the children enjoyed the story. 

Year 1 focused on the idea of goodwill and kindness to write their own narrative. Before reading the book, Year 2 made predictions using the front cover and blurb. They have also learnt about writing in the first person and how to do this. After reading the book, the children sequenced events from the story.

In maths, Year 2 have been subtracting two 2-digit numbers across a ten. They've been summarising all of their knowledge of addition and subtraction to solve word problems. Also, the children have been comparing number sentences. Year 1 have continued to learn about shape. They have been sorting 3D shapes and we went on a shape hunt around school. They really enjoyed this and recognised lots of 3D shapes! The Year 1s then began recapping their knowledge of identifying 2D shapes and sorted these dependent on size, colour and properties. 

In music, we have been listening to different movements from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens. We have created a soundscape to accompany the story of Layla the Lion and performed it using a variety of different percussion instruments. 

In maths, we have moved onto multiplication and division using 3 and 4. The children have used concrete resources and arrays to demonstrate understanding of how to multiply and divide by both 3 and 4.

In English, we have begun writing our narratives. The children have used a story mountain to plan out characters, settings and problems. They have also looked at how to write with tension and suspense to make their narratives more exciting. 

In science, we have continued our work on food chains. The children were given pictures of different plants and animals and had to create as many food chains as they could. The challenge was set for who could create the longest food chain. Lots of the children told  us that the cookies they baked after our science lesson last week were delicious! Thank you again to Savannah and Sarah for coming in and giving the children such an informative and enjoyable afternoon.

In geography, we looked at how volcanoes can cause earthquakes and the impacts these can have on people living in the area affected. 

For DT this week, we revised our design criteria and we will begin to create our pneumatic toys in the next two weeks. Please could all children bring in a small hinged cardboard box for this purpose. This could be anything from an empty teabag box, egg box or any other cardboard box. Many thanks for your help on this.  

This week we have been working hard to prepare for our carol service as well as our usual learning. The children have been working hard at learning the words to our carols and readings. Kingfishers were also lucky enough to go to The Chantry for a dance performance clinic. The children learned, practiced and performed different types of dances from rock-and-roll to street dances. They all performed amazingly and really enjoyed the afternoon.

In English, we have continued reading 'The Night Bus Hero' and finding out more about the lead character, Hector. He is trying to find the homeless man, Thomas, whose trolley Hector pushed into the lake. Hector suspects Thomas is the thief who has been stealing important monuments around London and wonders if one of these stolen objects was in the trolley that ended up in the lake. We have been learning more about Hector's character and the children have been learning how to write from his point of view. They have used these skills to write an inner monologue as Hector, giving his thoughts about the whole trolley in the lake incident.

In maths, we have started a new topic of area and perimeter. The children have been learning how to find the perimeter of rectangles and have applied this knowledge to finding the perimeter of rectilinear shapes. They took this one step further and were able to work out the perimeter of shapes where the lengths of sides were missing using their understanding of horizontal and vertical to help them. We ended the week trying to solve maths investigations based on our last topic of multiplication. The answers weren't obvious which lead to some fascinating maths discussions.

This week in Merlins class we have read much further into our class book The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. We have reached the point where Peter comes face to face with Maugrim, the white witch's police chief and a terrifying magical wolf. This week, the children have had the opportunity to generate exciting vocabulary and descriptive phrases that they will use when writing their own battle scenes and these have become a feature of our class working wall. 

In Maths this week, we have been finding fractions of amounts using our existing knowledge of division and multiplication. Some children have even been working with large 3 digit numbers and decimals. Later in the week, we were using our knowledge of fractions of amounts to 'find the whole' if we have the fraction. Next week we will move onto our new topic of converting units, both metric and imperial.

In science, we have continued with our topic of 'Humans and other Animals', and this week we learned more about the digestive system. We looked at the route food takes and what happens as it moves through our bodies and how water, nutrients, etc. are taken from it. Did you know that our small intestine is 6m long? Or that it takes 7 seconds for our food to go from our oesophagus to our stomachs?

In DT this week we began construction of our steady hand game. The children worked hard to produce a working circuit which would comprise of all the electrical components that would make their game work successfully. Next week, the children will have the opportunity to finalise these games and play with their own and one another's.

In geography, we have continued our comparison of Abberley and The Alps, producing a Venn diagram to present all of our new learning. We have been comparing climate, biome, population, vegetation, travel opportunities and leisure opportunities. Next week, the children will be producing a travel brochure to demonstrate all their learning over this past half term.

Practices for the Carol Service are in full swing and the hall has been filled with the amazing sound of carols being sung. You may have noticed your children have come home with a lyric sheet and/or a reading. Your help with them learning all of these words would be very much appreciated. We look forward to being able to share this magical experience with you on Wednesday 20^th December at 2pm or 6pm.

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