A Brand New Mr Hoppy and Mrs Silver!

Dear Parents/Carers

This week, the children have worked very hard and every table has earned all of their letters towards our class surprise; a trip to fish ponds woods. Letters have gone out today going over this and it’s links to next week’s book week. Their are new spellings up on Spelling Shed and we will be having our spelling test on Thursday as Friday is an inset day.

This week we have been consolidating our knowledge of the 5x table and using number lines for addition and subtraction in maths. In English, the children have been rewriting Esio Trot, but changing the characters of Mr Hoppy, Mrs Silver and Alfie. We had pirates, witches, explorers, scientists, adventurers, princesses and a lot more in our own versions of Roald Dahl’s classic. In Guided Reading, we read the books Mixed, Heart and the Bottle and Gorilla, developing our inference skills. In RE, the children learnt the story of Siddhartha and the Swan, a Buddhist tale about kindness and the value of life. In Art, the children learnt about the American artist Alma Thomas, attempting to replicate some of her artwork using varied paint mixing skills. In Science, the children learnt about how animals depend on various aspects of their habitats to survive and thrive, and what happens if any of those important links are taken away. In history, the children learnt about the development of hospitals before and after Florence Nightingale.

Next week is our annual book week. The theme is back to nature, and the children will be having various fun activities surrounding nature and literature throughout the week. The book we are using to drive our learning is The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane. Everyone in the school will be writing an acrostic poem linked to this poetry book.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend,

Mr Stocking, Mrs Killy and Mrs Fenwick

Plastic in our School

This week, we have continued to learn about the plastic problem and what we can do to help. We wrote letters to Mr Quinn,  explaining what the plastic problem is and what we can do as a school to help. We look forward to receiving his reply.

In maths we have continued to learn about fractions. We know that fractions means equal pieces. We have learn how to divide shapes into quarters and how to find a quarter of an amount.

In history we have been learning about The Victorians and this week we had a go at making our very own Victorian toy; ‘Cup and Ball’.

 

In science we have been learning about our senses and how we interact with the around. We tested our senses, although not everyone was a fan of the taste test.

In phonics we have been reviewing the following sounds:

aw (yawn, dawn)

or (door)

ea (tea)

u-e (huge)

There are words containing these sounds for the children to practise available on the Spelling Shed website: https://play.spellingshed.com/#/login

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Luetchford and Mrs Sharon 🙂

 

 

Inspiring women and geographical wonders!

Dear Parents and Carers

We have now been back for a month and the children are settled and working hard. They show they same excellent enthusiasm 4 weeks in as they did the first week back. This week the children have spellings to look at on Spelling Shed. If you are not able to access the spellings at home, please let me know and we can sort a paper copy for you. The children will also be practising their spellings in school.

This week in English the children have been writing shape poems about Mount Everest, inspired by the mountaineer Junko Tabei (the first woman to climb the mountain). We researched what it would be like at different points on the 8849 metre journey up Everest and created descriptive sentences for our poems. In maths the children have continued their learning on position and direction, concluding with a small quiz today. In RE, the children learnt the Buddhist story of the Monkey King and explored what the word sacrifice means. In History, we learnt about the brilliant Mary Seacole and her inspiring determination to help people. In Science, we explored large habitats from around the world, such as deserts, oceans and rain forests.

We also had our first Relationship education lesson, in which the children discussed gender stereotypes and talked about which objects and colours they thought were for girls, boys and everyone. Everyone came to the conclusion at the end of the lesson that all of the objects listed can be used by everyone if they want to use them.

Next week, we are consolidating our knowledge on multiplication and division, starting with arrays. In English, we are retelling the story of Esio Trot. In RE, the children will be reading and learning about more Buddhist stories. In History, the children will be looking at Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole together and the impact they both had on nursing. In Guided Reading, we are spending the week focusing on arrays. In Art, the children will be learning about a new artist and practising painting in a particular style.

We hope everyone has a lovely weekend,

Mr Stocking, Mrs Killy and Mrs Fenwick

A Plastic Problem

This week we have been learning about plastic pollution in our oceans.

Did you know that scientists predict there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish by 2050 if we don’t do something soon? In Willow Class we felt that this is something we need to change.

We designed persuasive posters to explain to people what is happening and how people can help. Next week we will be writing a letter to Mr Quinn informing him about how we can be a plastic smart school.

This week in maths we have been learning about fractions. We have learnt that fractions means pieces and that the bottom number (denominator) tells you how many pieces to make. We used playdough and counters to help us make half of a shape and an amount. Next week we will be moving on to quarters.

In art we have made a beautiful clay pot with a shell print. Next week we will be painting our clay pots to bring home.

In phonics we have been reviewing the following sounds:

 

ur (nurse with a purse)

oa (goat in a boat)

ow (blow the snow)

o-e (phone home)

There are words containing these sounds for the children to practise available on the Spelling Shed website: https://play.spellingshed.com/#/login

We hope the sun reappears and that you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Luetchford and Mrs Sharon 🙂

Moving in the correct direction!

Dear Parents/Carers

Apologies that this blog post is a few days late. I was unwell on Friday and unable to post it. Spellings have now been set and the children have come home today with their book bags. If the children read the books they’ve been given over the next few days and are ready for new ones, then they can be brought back in on the normal days of Wednesday or Thursday. If the children would like to continue reading their book, they can keep their book bag at home for this week and bring it in next Wednesday. I forgot to remind Mrs Wheatly on Friday to send the book bags home, sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

Last week in maths, we started learning about position and direction. The children became more secure on their left and rights and gave each other instructions to move around blindfolded.  In English we started the week with some publishing, in which the children wrote up a fiction and non-fiction piece of writing that we have completed previously after editing it (and in their best handwriting!). We finished the week by looking at poetry. The children performed a couple of poems in groups excellently. In Guided Reading, we continued reading Esio Trot, nearing the end of the story. Mr Hoppy had managed to trick Mrs Silver into believing that Alfie had grown bigger himself.

In art, the children drew their famous woman they had been researching on a bigger piece of paper and coloured them in using oil pastels. In science, we learnt about micro-habitats, exploring different areas around the school to see what mini-beasts we could find. In PE, the children practised different football skills before applying them in a game.

This week we are thinking about describing turns and comparing direction and position between two or more objects in Maths. In English, we are planning and writing our shape poems about Junko Tabei. In History we will be learning more about Florence Nightingale and the impact she has had on modern nursing. In RE, we are continuing our study of Buddhism. In Guided Reading, we are finishing the story of Esio Trot and writing book reviews for it.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend,

Mr Stocking, Mrs Killy and Mrs Fenwick

Poetry and Division

In class we read the book ‘Flotsam’ by David Wiesner. In the story a young boy finds an old camera discarded on the beach. He decides to develop the photographs and when he looks at them he realises that the camera has taken photographs of magical underwater worlds.

 

Using the book as inspiration we wrote poems describing animals’ movements and sounds.  Next week we will be learning about the plastic problem facing our oceans.

In maths we have been learning how to divide amounts. We have learnt that division means sharing. Using counters and pictures we have learnt how to solve division equations such as 18 divided by 2.  Next week we will be learning about doubling, halving and finding a quarter.

In phonics we have been reviewing the following sounds:

ear (hear with your ear)

air (that’s not fair)

are (care and share)

ire (fire, fire)

There are words containing these sounds for the children to practise available on the Spelling Shed website: https://play.spellingshed.com/#/login

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Miss Luetchford and Mrs Sharon 🙂