Great Fire of London
Our topic this term is the Great Fire of London. We have been learning lots of interesting facts about the fire and some of the reasons why it was so devastating for the people of London. Why not ask your child what they can remember about the fire so far.
We have also been learning a recount of the fire in our English lessons. We have devised some actions to go with the words and are using a story map to help us remember when we are retelling.
I wonder if your child could have a go at telling you the recount at home using the story map below.
Autumn term after-school clubs
Some of our after-school clubs will be restarting next week and they will run until week commencing 05 December. Please note some clubs begin after half term when building work at school has been completed.
Places can be booked via Gateway.
Our physical activity clubs continue to be heavily subsidised through the investment of our PE and Sport Premium.
Each club has a limit on the maximum number of children who can attend. As numbers are limited we ask that you limit your child to one club initially. If there are clubs with remaining places, we will then offer these as a second club.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the clubs or the booking system.
History Topic – The Great Fire of London
We have started our topic and we are learning all about The Great Fire of London. We are using a book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, to stimulate our learning. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
We have started by talking about the topic vocabulary, which you can see below. Help your child at home by exploring the information on the BBC bitesize website.
Poem of the week
In Year 1 we are reading a different poem every week. We read it every day just before lunch time and we have really enjoyed joining in when we get to know it. So far we have read two poems by Michael Rosen and the children are very excited to hear next week’s poem about a boy with bananas in his ears!
Each poem we read is then put in our poetry scrapbook which is available for children to read in the reading corner. I have loved hearing children reading our special poems to themselves.
This week we even watched Michael Rosen himself perform our poem of the week – I am hungry. You can listen too if you click the link here.
I would love to hear about any poetry you have been reading at home too.
Transition: Week 2
We’ve had a wonderful week welcoming groups 2 and 3 into Reception. It’s been great to see a full classroom full of busy learners! We’ve been so impressed with how well all the children have settled.
Every morning, your child will come into the classroom and do their morning jobs. Our cloakroom is only small and can get very crowded on a morning! To reduce the amount of people in the cloakroom, please encourage your child to do these jobs independently.
Snacks and water…
Please make sure your child’s water bottle only contains plain water.
Every day, school will provide a healthy fruit or vegetable. If your child would prefer to bring their own snack, please ensure this contains only fruit and/or vegetables. Snacks from home will stay in the children’s bookbags.
If your child is having grapes for their snack, please ensure that the grapes are cut lengthways.
Parent Partners
Alongside our themes, we try to plan other areas of learning according to the children’s interests. To help us do this, we need YOU! Throughout the year, it would be great if you could send photos of any ‘WOW’ moments or new interests your child has at home. You can bring these moments into school or send them to moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org.
PE
PE starts next Friday. Please make sure your child comes to school in their PE kit.
Me and my family
Next week, we’ll be thinking about families. This is our first theme for this half-term. During this theme, we’ll be getting to know each other, share photographs of our families and make historical links by looking at photographs of families from the past.
Home-Link Challenge
Reminders
Monday 19 September – School is closed.
Tuesday 27 September – Early reading Zoom at 6pm.
I hope you all have a happy and healthy weekend.
Library Books!
Hi everyone,
Our library day will be on a Thursday this year.
This is a chance for your child to take out two books from our library.
Children can have a maximum of two books out at any time and must bring them back if they want to change them!
Happy reading!
Mr Wain
History – Ancient Greece
This week, Year have dived deep into their new topic about Ancient Greece.
First, we looked at the geography of Greece and made fact files about the country using atlases and iPads.
- Hemisphere: Northern
- Continent: Europe
- Capital city: Athens
We then looked at placing Ancient Greece into our timeline. We worked on putting all the time periods and ages into chronological order and adding in Ancient Greece. It happened at the same time as the Iron Age in British history.
Have a look at our timelines that we made! We did a fantastic job even when trying to cut proportionate pieces.
Have a challenge at home and try to remember the chronological order of each time period!
Living and Learning: rules
At the start of the new school year, the children have been reminded about rules and the importance of rules in our daily life.
Before focussing on our school rules, we started by thinking about…
Why do we have rules?
What rules can you think of?
What places have rules?
Who makes the rules?
Rules tells us what to do.
We need rules so we don’t hurt each other.
Rules help us to know what is right and what is wrong.
Rules help us to be happy and healthy.
In our school we have three school rules. Three, two, one, stop is one of the most important instructions the children will hear at school.
We concluded that following our school rules will make our school a happy, healthy and SAFE place to learn.
We also agreed our Living and Learning ground rules.
Finally, we considered our rules about online safety at school. Your child has brought home their Being online – acceptable use agreement for pupils and parents/carers which should be read through, signed and returned to class.
The children have been reading this as this weeks’ fluency text (a weekly text that we read daily).
Any questions, please do ask.
Welcome back Year 3!
Year 3 have had a fantastic start to the new school year! They have all settled in really well and have been ready to learn.
Some key information to note:
Important days and dates
PE – Wednesday (swimming) and Thursday. On these days, please can your child come to school in their P.E. kit. On Wednesday (our swimming day) your child will need to bring a swimming costume, towel and a healthy snack. They may also bring goggles if they prefer.
Spelling and times tables tests – Friday
Reading record review in Book Club – Friday
Class assembly – Wednesday 12th October at 2:40pm
Water bottles
These must be brought to school daily to ensure your child is drinking enough water.
Milk
Please contact the office if your child would like to have milk in Year 3.
Homework
Whole school homework is set every Friday along with new spellings, a times table focus and a reading record activity to complete. On Friday, your child was sent home with a homework book and guide. This should be kept at home and it can be used for practising spellings, times tables or any additional home learning. Homework and spellings can also be accessed from the website.
Reading records
Every week, your child will be given an activity to complete from their reading record. These activities are an opportunity for your child to reflect on what they have been reading in a variety of different ways. The completed activity, accompanied by a signature from an adult at home, should be returned to school the following Friday for a review in class.
Daily practises
Numbots and TTRS – We continue to use Numbots and TTRS in Year 3 (using the same login as Year 2) and certificates will be awarded for children who earn the most coins and who complete the different stages. We also have a weekly class competition for effort on TTRS. Little and often (10/15 minutes a day) is recommended.
Reading – Please ensure that you read with your child for 10 minutes every day. Ask your child questions to assess their understanding whilst they read. Examples of what you could read include; books, magazines, comics, recipe books). Also, turn the subtitles on whilst your child watches television!
Uniform
Please do check the uniform policy to ensure your child is wearing the correct items including for PE days. Earrings must be removed on PE days.
Any questions, please ask!
Miss Needham
Reading, reading, reading!
Reading in Year 1!
In year 1, reading is extremely important and lots of progress can be made over the year. It is essential that your child is reading at home as much as possible in order to reinforce and consolidate reading practice sessions that happen in school.
In Year 1 we continue with using Collins e-books for our reading books. Children will read these books 3 or 4 times at school and then be able to access the same book at home to practise their fluency and prosody (reading with expression). You should have received a letter today explaining the e-books as well as a log in.
Your child will also have brought home a new reading record. This needs to be filled in once every week. We need these reading records in school every day so can you please keep your child’s reading record in their bag.
It is also important that child enjoy books outside of these school books and we actively encourage you to read, discuss and promote books/magazines/atlases/comics with your child at every possible opportunity.