Looking for minibeasts
As a part of our current science topic, we’ve been learning about habitats and micro-habitats. We searched micro-habitats around the school playground to see what we could find!
Book Club – Oracy Book Wars
In today’s Book Club, we had a debate to find out who truly has the best book in the class.
Moh said, “Some R2s for debating are to use powerful, persuasive vocabulary, to speak loudly and clearly and to keep calm!”
We used sentence stems to make sure we were responding to others’ arguments such as “I hear what you’re saying but I disagree…” and “While you make a good point, I firmly believe…”
To develop our oracy skills, we made sure we were speaking fluently, at a good pace, projecting our voices and giving reasons for our choices.
Miss Wilson set the challenge and stated why her book was the best.
Next, we made notes to prepare for the debate.
Finally, we used our oracy skills to complete the Book War!
Special mention goes to Albie, Sami, Harris and Will who all debated excellently, as voted by the class!
The beating of drums
African drumming is proving to be a huge success in Year One. The children are enjoying learning about the African djembe hand drums. 
As each child plays on their hand made drum, they discover a whole world of history, tradition and culture – not just by passively listening or reading, but by actively playing and participating. 
This way they really experience the ethnic tradition and culture of West Africa.
Design and technology: bridges
In order to get the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse (from our class novel) across the river, we’ve made bridges!
We had to work in pairs to make our sturdy structures!
We had to make sure we were reflecting on the design criteria and testing it every so often.
Stay tuned for the finished articles!
Phonics
Reception are loving their phonics lessons and are all gaining confidence in forming letters and making words.
Please practise the phonemes at home and encourage them to practise writing the letters and their name.
You can see how we form our letters here.
Learn how we teach phonics.
Phonics
We have begun phase 2 of our phonics learning and have learnt the phonemes s, a, t, p.
This week we will continue with set 2 g, o , c, k, ck
Has your child been talking about ‘phonemes’ and ‘graphemes’ yet?
Don’t worry- you can learn about these terms and how we teach phonics here.
As we learn new letters and their sounds, we also learn how to write them.
You can see how we write the letters here.
If you have any questions please email and remember to let us know about those ‘wow’ moments at home.
moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org
Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning
In this half term, there has been a focus on the 8Rs for learning.
During one PE session, we focused on showing resilience. The children were set an extremely tricky task of trying to hit a tennis ball into a box from a distance. What made it unexpectedly harder was the wind blowing the boxes around! The children struggled to get the ball into the boxes but never gave up and some eventually managed it.
They all showed great resilience!
This week’s learning
Maths
This week we will continue sorting and comparing sets of objects and talk about which set has more and which has fewer.
We will also learn all about the number 2.
Why not watch Numberblocks with your child and talk about 2.
English
We will be reading the story, ‘Leafman’ and drawing a story map. The children will be encouraged to think about the events in the story and use language such as first, then, next and finally.
As children gain confidence in phonics, they will be encouraged to label their drawings.
Encourage your child to ‘have a go’ at writing their names and labels for drawings. Remember- at this stage we want to encourage their confidence in having a go.
Being Reflective
On Friday afternoon, we spent ten minutes reflecting on our week. We reflected on what went well, what was tricky and what we enjoyed.
Olivia said:
When I saw our maths learning objective: ‘counting in 50s’, I was worried that it was going to be really tricky. When you taught us that it was really similar to counting in 5s, I found it a lot easier than I thought I would and now I get it!
This week, we also begun creating our own maze games based on ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’ – a Greek myth.
The children in Year 3 were so excited about this project. When we were reflecting on Friday, many of them put their hands up straight away to show it was their favourite part of the week.
One of your five a day
In Reception, Year 1 and 2, the children benefit from the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, a government programme that entitles every child to a piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.
Fruit and vegetables are key to a healthier lifestyle for all of us and experts recommend that everyone eats at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables in a day.
Eating fruit and vegetables every day helps children and teenagers grow and develop, boosts their vitality and can reduce the risk of many chronic diseases – such as heart disease, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer and being overweight or obese.
The children enjoy a variety of different fruit and vegetables and these all contribute to their 5 a day. We even tried radishes last week!
To ensure no food waste, sometimes the children may bring home a piece of fruit or vegetables. Change 4 life provides more ideas for achieving 5 a day.
If you would prefer, you are welcome to send a snack with your child for playtimes but this should only be fruit or vegetables.