Free White Rose Rugby event for all pupils
Gymnastics
On Thursday, Year 2 enjoyed their first gymnastics session with two gymnastic coaches. We showed great resilience, determination and team work during our PE lesson.
eBooks – an update.
First of all, thank you very much for your support and engagement with our new online reading books. I hope you have seen, as you were reading with your child this week, that they were reading more fluently and more confidently as a result of the changes we have put in place. I would just like to update you all on a couple of items regarding the new system.
Sharing books – the ‘sharing books’ are the books that your child will bring back from the library every Friday. Take time to enjoy these books and talk with your children about the story or information they contain. We have also been working hard on expression in reading so these books are a perfect chance for you to model good expression which your child can copy.
It is very important that these books come back to school every Friday so that your child can bring home two new books.
eBooks – From next week I will assign your child’s new ebook on a Thursday. This is to avoid your child having 3 new books on the same day (Friday).
I have heard that some people have had a couple of problems accessing the books on a laptop or tablet device. There is an app you can download for tablets and phones which would probably make the experience better. Search Collins ebooks to find the app. If you are still having problems, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Reading records – I would still like to see reading records once a week, on a Thursday, as it is an important line of communication about your child’s reading.
Additional books – I will release all the books from your child’s previous reading phase into their ebook library early next week. This is so your child can have additional practice reading fluently and with expression if they want to.
Thank you for all your support with this new initiative and, as always, get in touch if you need to.
Thanks,
Mr McGriffiths
Performing (and remembering) poetry
This week’s homework was to memorise the poem From a Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Y6 performed their poems this afternoon and did so with voice projection, expression and a great pace.
We also had a chat about how we went about learning them. We came up with several different ideas. Some techniques worked for some people but others so it’s important that you try a variety of ways and see which one helps you retain whatever it is that you’re trying to remember!
Other memory techniques could be to come up with actions, make it funny or use the Roman Method of Loci method where you imagine yourself walking around a familiar place and finding items in each section of that place.
Have a discussion at home about what helps you remember something!
What’s been happening this week?
We’re very proud of Reception this week; there have been a lot of staff changes (because of illness and other things) and the children in Reception have been amazing!
There’s been so much learning going on that it is hard to know where to start! They have shown that they’re ready to learn and they’ve shown that they are able to take responsibility for their own learning – brilliant.
Some great PE has been happening this week – here are some photos from a movement lesson:
In Maths, they’ve been finding out all about the number ‘7’ including finding different ways of making 7 and counting 7 objects – they’re now experts so make sure you test their knowledge!
Just a reminder that there is a bit of a change with the books that are coming home. Children will bring a book home to share with you; this isn’t a phonics book but a book that you can just enjoy with your child. They have read their phonics book in school, several times this week, and this can be accessed as an e-book with the details that have already been sent home. This is a very new system for all of us so if there are any issues, please be patient.
A great week for Reception – well done everyone. Have a great weekend.
Topic learning – History
History is the focus of our topic learning this half term. During this topic, we will be ordering significant events in our lives. We’ll be discussing them using historical vocabulary.
As the half term progresses, the children will discuss how significant things have changed over time: the food that we eat, the shops that we visit and the toys that we play with.
So far during our topic sessions, we have looked at ordering key events in our lives on a timeline, ordering events within living memory (the last 100 years) and discussing the key vocabulary past and present.
Writing: using dialogue to convey action
In recent lessons, we’ve been learning to use speech punctuation to create dialogue.
In this lesson, we’re practising using dialogue to convey character. Working in pairs, children have rolled dice to determine the setting, characters and a character trait for each character. For example, they might be writing about a cheerful teacher and an angry robber in a bank. They’ve then written a short narrative with dialogue to convey their characters.
Science learning
Our new science topic this half term is seasonal changes. We are biologists.
Here is the related vocabulary that we will be learning. Ask your child about these words at home, to check their understanding.
When we start a new topic, we ask the children what they would like to find out. We’ve been working on asking scientific questions and here are a selection of the great ones about seasons. We’ll look forward to answering some of the questions during the topic.
Does it snow in summer?
Why is summer so hot?
What happens every season?
How did the seasons start?
Does it snow every winter?
What time is night time?
How cold can it be in winter?
Why are there seasons?
When is winter?
When is it time for seasons to change?
Welcome back!
Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a very restful and healthy holiday. It’s lovely to have all the children back in school again. I have been really impressed with how the children have settled straight back into school. Their behaviour and attitude towards their learning has been fantastic. Well done, Year 5!
This half term, we are historians. We are learning about the Vikings and the Islamic Golden Age.
This is the vocabulary that your child will learn across this history topic:
chronology – arrangement of events or dates in time order
conflict – a series of battles over time
invasion – when a country or region is invaded by an armed force
golden-age – a time when an activity or society is at its best
innovation – an improvement or replacement for something
trade – the exchange of goods and services
caliph – ruler in a Muslim country
civilisation – the society considered most advanced at a time
bias – a particular viewpoint for one thing over another, especially an unfair one
We have also started a new science unit this half term all about evolution and inheritance. This half term, we are biologists.
This is the vocabulary that your child will learn across this biology topic:
evolution – change in living things over time
inherited – the way that a trait or characteristic is passed to offspring from parents
trait – a quality or characteristic belonging to something
adaptation – a small change that a living thing goes through
natural selection – a process in which living things adapt themselves in order to survive, that they don’t have any control over
prehistoric – the time classed is ‘before history’ as it was so long ago it hasn’t been recorded or written
variety – differences between things as part of a whole group
fossil – the prehistoric remains of a plant or animal
Do keep referring back to this vocabulary and asking your child if they can remember what these words mean! It will help them greatly as we progress through both topics.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to ask.
Maths learning
This half term, we are continuing our addition and subtraction learning in maths and most recently, this has included adding and taking away ten from a two digit number.
The children can resourceful by using a 100 square to support them with this learning so they can see the patterns of adding and taking away 10 visually.
In class, we might use sentence frames to explain the highlighted numbers on the 100 square above.
78 is 10 more than 68 and 58 is 10 less than 68.
See if your child can use the sentence frame below to explain some of the other highlighted numbers.
__ is 10 more than ___ and ___ is 10 less than ___
To practise this at home, have a go at the Chopper Squad game (selecting ten more or less 1 to 100).
Using Numbots at home, little and often, is a great way to practise these addition and subtraction skills. The children have a number of different levels to complete and are rewarded with certificates for each level they achieve. We continue to have our weekly leader board for the most coins achieved.
We will soon be moving onto learning about multiplication and starting to learn the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. After half term, we will be setting timetables for the children to start to learn at home using Times Tables Rock Stars(TTRS). Login and access details will be sent out nearer the time.