Stamp Competition
This year, Royal Mail are hosting a stamp competition in order to honour the people who have done great things since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Eight designs will be picked by a special panel including none other than Her Majesty the Queen! These winners will be seen by millions of people and there are other cool prizes up for grabs for runners up.
Thank you to everyone who got involved and submitted their creative efforts in appreciation of our COVID heroes. You should be very proud.
Check out some of the many entries below.
We love reading!
So far this year, we’ve enjoyed reading a range of texts in class and picked some interesting books from the library.
Common highlights in our class discussion were:
- Letters from the Lighthouse. “It’s so mysterious and I love reading about WW2,” said Felix.
- Macavity the Mystery Cat. “It’s funny because it’s a cat robbing everyone and the police can’t find a… cat! He can even levitate which is pretty cool,” reminisced Albie.
- The Arrival. “I loved watching the video in our inference lesson,” enthused Emily.
I think these reflections speak for themselves…
Living and Learning: Medicines: Who helps us to stay healthy?
Today, Year 1 have been learning about different medicines and the people who help us to stay fit and well. This was our second lesson introducing age-appropriate drug and alcohol education.
Today’s session focused on medicines; what they look like, how they are used and why people use them. We explored how medicines
are used to treat illness in the short and long term as well as how some medicines can help protect people from becoming ill in the future. The children considered the role of other people in helping them to stay healthy and well, manage, or recover from, illness.
Feel better scenarios
In pairs, the children thought about a time when they felt poorly and what helped them to feel better. Next, the class were asked to think of five different people who help others to stay healthy and well. We discussed
their roles and the kinds of things they do.
A doctor can help to find out why you are feeling poorly,
The dentist keeps our teeth and gums healthy.
Cleaners are important people. They get rid of the germs.
A paramedic arrives in an ambulance. This can get help very quickly.
My daddy is a pharmacist. He gives medicines to people to help them to feel better.
E-safety
We have also been learning about how to stay safe online. The children completed a sorting activity where they had to decide whether various online scenarios were safe or unsafe.
After the activity, the children wrote sentences in their books stating what they each do to stay safe online. Here are some examples of their sentences:
I stay safe online by keeping my username and password private.
I stay safe online by only speaking to people that I know.
I stay safe online by telling a trusted adult if something makes me feel upset or worried.
I stay safe online by playing games that are appropriate for my age.
Programming
This week, we have been using Bee-Bots and Blue-Bot devices to test our programming skills.
The children enjoyed completing a series of challenges where they had to put their algorithm and directional knowledge to the test.
I was really impressed with how well the children worked as a team – ensuring that every child had a fair turn to test their algorithms whilst also helping and supporting their teammates when it was needed.
If the algorithms didn’t work, we used our debugging skills to fix the problem.
Living and Learning: Sleep
In a recent Living and Learning session, Y3 and 4 have been learning all about the importance of sleep.
To begin, the children went on a ‘fact hunt’ around their classroom and discovered some information about why sleep is so important. They found out information such as:
- people who get a good quality sleep are more likely to make good decisions, perform better at sports, learn better, remember more and generally feel healthier
- all electronic screens like the TV, computer, tablet etc should be turned off an hour before bedtime
- drinking or eating anything with caffeine (like energy drinks) or lots of sugar can keep someone awake for a long time
- a messy bedroom can actually affect good sleep – it’s much easier to relax and fall into a deep sleep in a tidy, organised room
- spending time outside during the day and exercising can help someone fall asleep (and sleep well)
- keeping to the same routine is a good idea for good quality sleep, too
- doing something relaxing in the hour before going to sleep can really help (such as reading a book, listening to a story, having a bath or cuddling a pet etc)
- … and much more!
The children then compared their daily routines to the information they found out. We then discussed how we could all ensure we get quality sleep at night.
Finally, we had a quiz to see how much of the learning we could remember from the session.
The children were really honest about what they could do to make sure they get better sleep. There are things that I’m going to include in my routine to make sure I get better sleep as well!
Maths counting
Counting is a daily event in our maths lessons and also at other parts of the day when we have a spare minute or two.
Here are the related counting end of year 1 expectations.
Over the last two weeks, we have been focussing on counting forwards and backwards in 10s and 5s.
Seeing these numbers on a 100 square or a number line can help children to spot the pattern of these counting sequences.
Counting in 10s
The numbers all have a zero at the end.
They are all underneath each other.
There is a pattern – the numbers end in five or zero.
How can you help at home?
Regular counting with your child will help their fluency to recall these counting sequences.
Listen to the Super Movers general counting, counting in 10s and counting in 5s active songs.
Use Paint the squares to highlight the multiples of 10 and 5.
Play ping pong with your child. Choose a number to start from and take it in turns to say a number each in the sequence. The children are familiar with this game.
How will this help my child?
Counting in sequences of 10 and 5 will support your child as they move onto learning times tables from Year 2.
TTRS tournament winners (wb 17 May)
Hello again to all of the Times Tables Rock Stars out there,
Well done for all the engagement with TTRS you’re doing so far – keep it up!
BREAKING NEWS:
The results are in. We have our ROCK STARS OF THE WEEK.
With an outstanding 1675 points, this week’s winners are Y5!
A really close call between Y5 and Y3 this week but Y5 have just managed to hold off Y3 this time! What a great effort!
A massive well done to Y5 for a much improved score and speed with their times tables.
Which class will claim the coveted guitar next time? Will it be your class? There’s only one way to make that happen – go on TTRS!
Remember to give your teacher a nudge as the week goes on if you’ve not yet had a chance to play on TTRS. If you’d like to play at home and would like a reminder of your login details, let your teacher know.
All the best TTRS!
Bean update
Our beans are growing well. This week, the children have written sentences using some scientific vocabulary. They observed the plants carefully using a magnifying glass.
Wow! Look at how tall the stem is!
The plant looks very healthy and the leaves are green.
It is amazing to see the roots spreading out.
The beans are surviving with light and water.
The seeds have split open.
Computing: decomposition
In our computing lessons, we’ve been creating a game using Scratch Jr.
The children had to use decomposition to break the task into smaller more manageable steps . They then worked through each step, using logical reasoning to solve problems and fix bugs.
They were then able to challenge themselves in lots of different ways. For example, by adding different levels, tinkering to make their games the correct difficulty, developing it into a two player game.
