Young Voices

Rehearsals are in full flow and the children are gearing up for their performance next Friday. A parent has let us know that if you have a meal in the mall opposite the arena, they will validate your parking so that it is free! As soon as we have the children's seating allocation, we will let you know.

We had a great surprise in Wrens on Monday when we found a lost penguin called Pingy  in our milk basket in the fridge.   We did some great thinking about where he might have come from and decided he must have come from somewhere cold as he liked it in the fridge!

On Tuesday with the help of Google Earth we explored our planet and identified that the coldest places on earth are at the top and bottom, the North and South Poles.  Pingy said that he liked really cold places and also he was a bit scared of polar bears so we decided he must have come from Antarctica.  When we went to the library on Thursday Pingy found a very interesting non-fiction book called "Can a penguin ride a bike?"  We enjoyed finding out some very interesting facts and then did some fantastic writing to create our own non-fiction book full of information all about penguins!

Pingy has told me that he is a bit worried about staying in school at the weekend by himself and he is hoping the children will be able to take it in turns to look after him. He is bringing home his diary and we would be very grateful if you could help your child to complete a page telling us about his adventures.

In maths this week we have been learning all about zero and we have found lots of different ways of describing and representing zero.  We played a really fun game where the object was to get rid of all your counters and the winner was the first one who had zero!

We have been enjoying our new topic of gymnastics in PE and this week and challenged ourselves to practice travelling and balancing using the large apparatus.

We really enjoyed our "Show and Tell" session last Thursday hearing all about how the children had celebrated their birthdays.  We would like to introduce "Show and Tell" sessions each Thursday afternoon this term.  Please can the children bring items such as a photograph, something they have made, a certificate or medal they have earned or memento from a special trip or event as opposed to just their favourite toy.  If you have any questions please catch me before or after school.

We will be holding a phonics workshop on Tuesday 6 February 2024 at 3.30pm.  We anticipate the session will last about half an hour and provide you an overview of our Little Wandle phonics programme and answer any questions you may have.  Creche facilities will be available for the children.

This week in English we have been focusing on our current book 'WANTED: The Perfect Pet'. The children explored advertisements and discussed in groups the features they all had. Both year groups then produced their own wanted poster for their ideal pet. We have also begun to explore instructions ready for next week's learning. 

In maths, Year 1 did some deep thinking about the numbers 17, 18, 19 and 20. They moved around the room working through different activities. They discovered lots of different ways to make these numbers and were able to identify the numbers in different representations. Year 1 have also been finding 1 more and 1 less with numbers to 20.

Year 2 have summarised their learning on shape. They have been counting edges, faces and vertices of 3D shapes. The children have also been sorting 2D shapes in a variety of ways, such as shapes that have a curved face and those with a certain number of vertices. 

In gymnastics, we imagined we were 'animals in the wild' to travel around the room at different levels. The children used different apparatus which were 'rivers' and 'logs' to practise their movements, ensuring they were controlled and interesting to watch. 

In geography, we began learning about the continents. The children learnt a new song to help them remember them in size order. We then learnt about the North and South Poles and located these on our world map. 

In science this week, we went slightly off topic as we were given the opportunity to join a STEM (Science, technology, engineering and maths) online workshop called Spaceship Earth. This interactive experience gave the children the opportunity to decide the path of an Earth Observation mission, finding out about orbiting satellites and space debris along the way!

In English this week the children have worked really hard at producing lines for their kenning poems. We have explored the use of both alliteration and rhyming couplets to enhance their work. 

In maths, we have continued to consolidate our knowledge of multiplication and division using the 8, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 times tables. The children have developed their understanding of how to set out their calculations in their books to aid them in solving them. 

Timetable

Monday: PE kit

Wednesday: Maths homework due in 

Thursday: PE kit

Friday: Spelling test

We are back on History for this term and we are delving into the fascinating history of the Ancient Egyptians. In our lesson this week we covered the structure of Ancient Egypt's society in the Old Kingdom. 

In science, we have started a new topic which is Humans including animals. This week we looked at how our teeth work and how they connect to the digestive system. We learned what our different teeth do and how they work together. 

In RE we looked at how Hindus live in Britain today and we will build on this going forward.  

We looked at the work Of Claes Oldenburg last week and this week we will be beginning the process of making our own sculptures.   

PE
You may have noticed there was an error in the information you were given last week about Y4 PE days. Y4 will have PE on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

In English this week, we have continued to read 'The Girl Who Stole an Elephant'. The main character, Chaya, is hatching a plan to break her friend Neel out of prison, after he was falsely accused of stealing the Queen's jewels. We have used the details in the book to create a setting description of the places that Chaya is spending time. The children focussed on writing description using their senses and emotions as well as including similes and metaphors.

In maths, we have been learning how to use formal multiplication. The children have shown tremendous skill in picking this up which is fantastic as it can be quite a tricky method to master. I say this all the time, but having a secure times tables knowledge makes this operation so much easier to acquire. 

In Merlins class we have continued to read our class story 'The Shark Caller'. This week, we have been creating interesting descriptions to tell the story of Blue Wing ascending the mountain. The children have created expanded noun phrases, they have used the 5 senses, figurative language and they have written about characters emotional reaction to their setting. Next week, we will be writing our character/setting description of this part of the story using all of these skills. 

In maths this week, we have focused upon ratio. We started the week by exploring ratio language and the ratio symbol. Later in the week, we attempted to solve problems involving ratio and we now understand how fractions and ratio are similar with important differences. At the end of the week, we used our newly acquired knowledge to create scaled drawings using a given ratio.

In science this week, we looked at forces. The children were able to give examples of lots of different forces and how these looked in action. We focussed mainly on friction and there was lots of discussion around when lots of friction was useful and when less friction was preferable. It was lovely to see and hear the children using their prior knowledge to explain their reasoning.

In history, we explored the punishments exercised in Roman Britain. The children gained an understanding of the types of crimes that warranted punishment and how the empire used such punishments to prevent crime due to their severity.  They then went on to act as a Roman judge, sentencing criminals to specific punishments based on what they had done.

In Art this week, we have continued our topic of 'exploring identity'. This week we have been inspired by artist, Mike Barrett. This artist uses multimedia and layering to create pieces of art which demonstrates who he is. This week, the children created a self-portrait using a mixture of media. This portrait will become the centrepiece to their final piece. 

Please see below information from within the community and independent of the school