Reception Mathematicians
Last week the children demonstrated a fantastic understanding of number through a range of activities. They used the language more, less and fewer to compare numbers and sets of objects.
This week the focus will be consolidating their understanding of the composition of numbers. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2. The children will deepen their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts through games and practical experiences.
Writing
It has been wonderful to see the children enjoy writing and having the confidence to ‘have a go’.
Reading
The children are really enjoying their reading practise sessions. I hope you are impressed with their fluency and confidence when reading their e book.
Please let us know if you are having any problems logging in or accessing these books.
Topic- computing
Our topic this half term is all about computing.
We’ve starting with ‘offline computing’ – learning all about algorithms.
We are going to be playing, and making, lots of online and offline games. As this is a computing topic, we’ll be using a range of technology including Blue-Bots and iPads.
Here is a lost of some of the vocabulary that will be taught in the coming weeks.
Big Walk and Wheel
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2022 (the new name for Big Pedal), the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 21 March to 1 April. It’s free and we would love everyone to be involved.
What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event. Park and stride (parking your car further away from school, for example, Marks and Spencer car park and walking, scooting or biking the final part of the journey) also counts.
Why we are taking part
As a happy and healthy school, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
Active school runs also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. Children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.
Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!
Useful resources
To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide packed with advice, games and challenges to help you have hassle-free cycle, walk or scoot to school.
Download your free family guide here.
We are gymnasts!
Last Friday, Year 5 completed a series of gymnastic challenges in the hall.
Check out the pictures below to see some graceful gymnasts!
Times tables
Hello!
Hopefully you have already heard about this from your child but if not, Times Table Rock Stars tournaments are back on! Our focus in Year 4 at the moment are times tables. They’re so fundamental in being able to develop in maths.
Year 4 have just beaten Year 6 in the first round, which is amazing, but we need to keep it up to be able to beat Year 3…
Don’t worry, you don’t need to do anything differently but just make sure your child is logging on to TTRS daily and playing as many games as you can to keep us in the lead. Not only is this fun and exciting for the children but it’s going to improve their rapid recall of their times tables which is essential during lesson time.
Bring on the next tournament!
Cross country runners
Well done to pupils who took part in the Leeds Schools Athletics Association Saturday morning race at Middleton Park. These races are open to Key Stage 2 children. This was the final race for the season but we will continue to offer these races next year.
It was great to hear they were encouraging each other at the event. Great work!
This week in Reception
We had a busy week last week and really enjoyed seeing all of the children’s costumes on World Book Day.
Phonics
We have learnt all the phonemes we need this year and during the next few weeks, we will be practising reading longer words and gaining fluency.
Reading
The children are doing really well with their reading and becoming more fluent and confident. Remember, they will have read their reading practise book four times before it is assigned as an e-book. We are aiming for fluency and your child should not need to blend the words.
I hope you will be impressed with how fluent they are becoming.
Any problems with accessing the e-books, please let me know.
Maths
This week we will continue to look at comparison and using the language of ‘more than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’ to describe the relationships between numbers.
‘Less than’ is used instead of ‘fewer than’ when the focus is on each number’s position in the counting sequence.
Considering equal quantities and equal distribution will prepare the children for the meaning of the equals (=) symbol.
World Book Day
Check out Y5’s costumes for World Book Day! Can you recognise any of the characters?
World Book Day 2022
We had a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day by reading books, talking about our favourite authors and books and dressing up as characters from some of our favourite books.
After a morning of completing activities related to their favourite books, the children paired up across Year 1 and 2 to share their work. It was fantastic to see the collaboration, interaction and enthusiasm for books when the children worked together.
You can find more activities, videos, book recommendations and the brilliant World Book Day song on the World Book Day website.
World Book Day
To celebrate all things books, Y6 had a lovely morning enjoying the library, completing activities related to their favourite books and chilling out and reading.
We looked amazing in our costumes and we all took turns to share who we’d come as, which book we were from and who was the author!
Amber from the Midnight Gang takes her mind off her broken arm.
Gangsta Granny is probably researching another jewel heist.
Mr Poe is giving the competition his best shot – good luck!
If you’d like to still enter, bring in £1 and bring your competition sheet back by Friday 11 March.
And finally…
Where’s Wally?