Year R  

Kerr Class are now really in the swing of school and this half term. In phonics they have learnt 2 new sounds ‘h - down the horse’s head to the hooves and over his back’ and ‘sh - sshh said the horse to the hissing snake’. As many of you saw during our open morning, we love this sound and the rhyme. In maths, we have been finding different ways of making 4 and recording the results. In art we have been creating poppy paintings and trying to replicate Van Gogh’s starry night.  In PE, we have continued to learn and practise some gymnastics moves. The planets and the sun have been the focus of our learning in science and in English we have been completing the story map and innovating the story of ‘Whatever Next’.  We also looked at some sad stories about people and animals in the wars. We had a beautiful two minutes silence today to show our respects to those wonderful people and animals that died for us.  

 

Year 1  

Donaldson Class has had another great week. 

This week we wrote our own journey tales based on The Detective Dog after learning about using capital letters for names and adding ‘ed’ to a verb to make it past tense, like ‘whizzed’, ‘sprinted’ and ‘whooshed’. In Maths we have started looking at numbers to 100 and counting in both 1s and 10s. In PSHE we learnt about eating a healthy diet. We now know it is important to eat a balanced diet. That means we can have things like cakes and sweets, but only small amounts, and to balance it out with fruit and vegetables. This week in Art we continued learning about line and this time the different media or materials artists can use to make line.  

We are really looking forward to our Year 1 open morning on Tuesday 15th November, it will be from 9:00-9:30 and we would love to see as many parents as possible. 

 

Year 2 

We have had an awesome week in Year 2.  

This week has been Year 2 Challenge Week – all pupils have had the opportunity to access and complete a sample of Year 2 SAT Papers in reading, grammar, spelling and mathematics. These have been marked and then we have begun to work through our answers collaboratively to identify the areas where we can improve. Once we have looked at them all I will be sending them home for you to look through and discuss with your child. This is a very important part of the process, since it will ensure you are fully aware of the high expectations at year 2 and also how to best support your child and also give you a chance to ask any questions you might have too.  

On Tuesday, we thoroughly enjoyed our Year Parent’s Open morning and I cannot thank you enough that so many of you could join us and the feedback too has been extremely positive. We're pleased you enjoyed it as much as we did, thank you.  

In Music we have been looking at the tempo and dynamics in music and learning about how music teaches us about the past. This week’s piece of music we have been learning to sing is from the genre of Jazz, called ‘Sparkle in the Sun’ and is about a unicorn.  

It has been such a busy week; I am not quite sure how we have managed to fit everything in!  

Have a fantastic and restful weekend, the children have definitely earned it! 

 

Year 3 

We have had a fantastic week in Year 3, this week. We have begun our unit of work on multiplication and division by looking at arrays and grouping and sharing. We have been working specifically on the Year 2 times tables (2’s, 5’s and 10’s). Next week we are moving on to learning the multiplication and division facts for the 3 times tables so it’s a good time to start practising. We have even fitted in some outdoor maths too! In English we have been learning how to write direct speech and how to punctuate it correctly with inverted commas and other punctuation. In PSHE we talked about different kinds of feelings, how to recognise them and ways that we can deal with them. For our history work we found out what daily life was like for the Ancient Egyptians and learnt about the social hierarchy. We read and retold the story of The Unforgiving Servant in RE. In Geography we compared and contrasted The River Thames and The River Danube. For our computing lesson we considered how we use online games and apps and looked at some of the potential dangers and what to do if we have a problem. We have been making our own mini-sphinx sculptures in art. Our science work involved us looking at how plants change through the seasons. We have been learning the names of musical instruments and the numbers from one to ten in French. It has been such a busy week, I am not quite sure how we have fitted all that in! Have a fantastic and restful weekend, the children have definitely earned it! 

 

Year 4 

In English, we have been looking at text and writing our own stories based on a similar structure. 
Maths has been fun. Some of us have been really trying hard with number bonds and column addition and subtraction. This morning, we have used our number knowledge to make enclosures for penguins - it was a challenge we all accepted. 
We have been looking at animal teeth in Science. Did you know that a lamb only eats grass, so doesn't need sharp teeth? 
Miss Davies has taught us that if we cut ourselves, we need to apply pressure to stop the bleed. We think that this is a really good skill to have. 
Space in Art is very different to space in Science - we learnt this last week. We are going to see what we have remembered about this topic this afternoon. 
To help us relax, we have done practised yoga with Mrs Bull during PE. 
 
from Lexi and Freya 

 

Year 5 

This week, we have continued our work on Street Child. We have been using a range of drama techniques to explore key moments and emotions. We thoroughly enjoyed completing a 'conscience alley' activity, sharing thoughts that Jim might have about escaping from the workhouse. We are excited to see where Jim goes next in the story! In maths, we have been learning about prime, square and cube numbers. We have also been learning about multiplying numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000 and why it is not simply a case of 'just add a zero'. 

In Geography, we spent some time learning about the Alps and the 5000-year-old ice mummy, Otzi, who was discovered by hikers. It was fascinating to see how much could be discovered from studying his preserved corpse! In PSHE this week, we have been learning about puberty, mostly the physical changes that occur. Thank you to those who joined us on Monday for the Y5/6 crafty cuppa! 

Here is the link for next week's homework club: 

https://forms.office.com/r/mtZ1Lfwxe2 

Have a lovely weekend! 

 

Year 6 

This week we have been very busy finishing our Remembrance/war poetry unit. We have studied Dulce et Decorum est written by Wilfred Owen outlining the harsh realities of war. We then planned and wrote our own war poems, the children really tapped into their emotive writing and prior knowledge of the war. In Maths, we have added, subtracted, multiplied and divided fractions. The children are much more confident with these skills now, it is lovely to see their confidence shine through. In Geography, we have learnt about time zones and compared the Artic and Antarctic circles. In PSHE we looked about personal growth and achieving aspirations.   

Thank you to all of the parents who joined us for our Open Morning on Thursday. The children really enjoyed showing you their arithmetic skills that they have been working so hard on this term.  

Thank you for your continued support with homework, I do appreciate the time and resilience this sometime requires. This week’s homework week will run from today (Friday 11th) to next Friday (18th). We do have high expectations of the homework, just like we would in class learning, behaviour, attendance etc. We strive for the children to be the best they can be! 
 
Here is the link for next week’s homework club: https://forms.office.com/r/mtZ1Lfwxe2  

This is a quiet space for children to attend after school in order to complete their homework. Please only sign up for homework club if is it necessary (ie. if your child has not yet completed the homework tasks set or need additional support). As always, I am happy to work with children during the week if they need it too. 
 

As explained on my post earlier in the week, here are the links for the after-school booster sessions next week; 

Maths Booster: https://forms.office.com/r/DGfKanhwh2  

Reading Booster: https://forms.office.com/r/qSULeH9a9K  

 
Have a lovely weekend everyone, thank you for your continued support.