History – Invitation for grandparents
As part of our History topic, Toys and Games, we’d love to invite a grandparent into school on Tuesday 03 February at 1.20pm to share memories of the toys they played with during their childhood.
During the visit, the children will ask questions such as:
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What was your favourite toy when you were growing up?
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What materials were toys made from in the past?
If a grandparent or family member is able to spare some time to join us, we’d be delighted to hear from you. Please contact the school office or speak to Mrs Palmer if you’re able to help.
Living & Learning: emergency services
Today in L&L, Year 4 were learning all about the emergency services. We began by defining what an emergency is and how would we know if we’re in one.
An emergency is a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.
In the UK, we have four emergency services who are highly trained people whose job it is to keep us safe from danger:
- Fire Service
- Police Service
- Ambulance Service
- Coastguards
We spoke about what we should do if we’re ever in an emergency…
CALL 999
In the UK, we call 999 in an emergency. However, if you call the American number (911) you’ll still get put through to 999.
After discussing how a 999 call goes and how to make a good one, we used this to practise making the calls. One of us was the caller and the other was the handler.
Help at home: practise a pretend 999 call with your child.
Packed lunches
Does your child have a packed lunch at school? If so, please download our Guide to Healthy Packed Lunches.
Did you know that popcorn and whole grapes are a choking hazard for children under 5? Lot’s of people don’t! The Food Standards Agency. has published the following advice on how to prepare food safely for your young child.
Living and Learning: rule of law
In our Living & Learning lessons, for the past few weeks, we have been thinking about the different British Values (Democracy, Respect & Tolerance, Individual Liberty and Rule of Law) and how they affect us.
This week, our focus has been rule of law.
First of all, we used this opportunity to recap our school rules.
We’re respectful.
We’re safe.
We’re ready.
Whether rules are at home, school or out and about, they are there to keep us safe and to make things fair. We should respect these rules.
We considered the consequences of not following rules and laws.
You might get into trouble.
You would get told off.
You might hurt someone’s feelings.
It could be dangerous.
Finally, in our Philosophy Friday session, we thought about what it would be like to live in a place with no rules and laws.
People wouldn’t respect each other.
It wouldn’t be safe.
Cars would travel too fast.
We could use matches which are dangerous for children.
People would get hurt.
Help at home: think about different rules that you might have at home. How to they relate to our school rules?
Poetry Basket: Jack and Jill
This week’s poem is a well-known nursery rhyme, Jack and Jill.
Who knew that paper and vinegar was a remedy for a banged head?!
Reading: The Tiger Who Came to Tea
This week in school our wonderful Year 1s have been reading The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr. They were tasked to think of some questions to ask each character from our story, around information they would like to find out that isn’t told in the story. They did an amazing job on this and the children came up with some great questions. Our favourite question is in the picture attached below.
One more week done, well done Year 1!
Living and Learning: British Values
In Living and Learning, we have been discussing the different British values: democracy, individual liberty, rule of law and respect and tolerance. This week, we have focussed on individual liberty and respect and tolerance.
Year 5 answered these questions:
We are all free to do what we want but this has to be within the law.
What would happen if everyone just did their own thing?
What do we have the right to?
We have the responsibility to…
Whilst we have individual liberty as one of our British values, we need to ensure we are showing respect and tolerance of others.
Why is this important?
What would our country be like if people didn’t show this?
Help at home: Discuss how respect and tolerance link to the protected characteristics. How would you answer the questions above?
Spring 1: Week 3
This week in our literacy lessons, we enjoyed reading Penguin Huddle by Ross Montgomery. In the story, the penguins huddled together during an icy storm, but it was so cold that they got stuck together and couldn’t break free!
Our word of the week was huddle. To help us understand the word, we made our own huddle in class. Ask your child if they can explain what huddle means and use it in a sentence.
We also talked about how Antarctica is different from the United Kingdom. We looked at photographs of Antarctica and compared them with images of the UK, identifying similarities and differences.
Maths – Composition
This week, the children consolidated their understanding of the composition of 5 using the familiar rhyme 5 Little Speckled Frogs. By singing the rhyme and moving the frogs during each verse, the children explored part–part–whole relationships. For example, they discovered that 5 can be made up of 3 and 2.
We talked through examples together:
There are 5 frogs on the log and 1 frog in the pool. 5 is made up of 4 and 1.
There are 3 frogs on the log and 2 frogs in the pool. 5 is made up of 3 and 2.
We also used our fingers to represent this, holding up 5 fingers and then putting one down each time. Fingers pointing up represented the frogs on the log, and fingers pointing down represented the frogs in the pool.
Phonics
In Spring 1, Week 3, we focused on the digraphs ur, ow, oi and the trigraph ear. We also learned the tricky words my, by, all. Tricky words are words that should be read by sight.
Help at home: Play Tricky Word Splat
- Write a selection of tricky words on paper or sticky notes
- Place them on the floor or table
- Say a tricky word for your child to splat
- You could jump on the words, splat them with a masher, or create your own fun ideas!
Here’s a snapshot of some of the learning that’s taken place across the areas this week.
Assembly stars
Well done to all the children for their Year 2 class assembly yesterday.
We are very proud of how the children learnt their lines, using their oracy skills to project their voice and worked together to support each other during our practices.
We hope you enjoyed seeing some of the learning from Year 2.
History: I’m a Roman emperor!
During our history learning, we’ve learnt about the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was huge and spread across Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Emperor Claudius was leading the Romans when they successfully invaded Britain (then Britannia).
We read a speech that Claudius may have given to the people of Rome (then Roma) while he was emperor. The children then had the opportunity to write their own speeches as Claudius themselves!
They stood in front of the colosseum and shared how they can successfully invaded Britain.
Here’s some photos:
Help at home by asking your child what benefits there were for the Romans to invade Britain.
Some clues:
Resources like cattle, tin, i_ _ _ and g _ _ _.
The Romans wanted land and p_w_r.