Summer 1: Week 3
Literacy
We’ve been reading Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome.
This repeating story was great for retelling. We talked about what a verb is and looked for them in the story: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.
Help at home: Can you retell the story to an adult or sibling at home?
We had a go at writing our own sentences.
Phonics
This week, we focused on reading and writing longer words and compound words. We learnt 4 new tricky words: were, here, little, says.
Help at home: Go on a tricky word hunt around your house. Ask an adult to write some tricky words on scrap pieces of paper and stick them up around your house. How many tricky words can you find and read?
Maths
This week, we consolidated our understanding of the composition of 5 and practised recalling the parts of 5 when 1 part is not visible. We used our fingers on 1 hand to help with the composition of 5. We looked at how many fingers are ‘up’ and and how many are ‘folded down’. We used a rhyme about 5 kittens jumping ‘down’ from the bed to help us with this.
Help at home: Play a game the kittens game with an adult. You need 5 objects (kittens) and a piece of material or paper (bed) Take turns to hide some kittens under the bed. Use the below stem sentence to explain what you can see.
5 is made up of…
… and … makes 5
Poetry Picnic
This week the poem was the classic nursery rhyme, Sing a song of sixpence. We have been watching this video to help us remember it. Click here to watch us.
Living & Learning
Yesterday, we talked about the importance of a healthy diet. We worked with a partner to design a healthy plate. We thought of lots of different healthy foods.
Diary dates
- Monday 23 May – School closed: training day
- Monday 26 May – Friday 30 June – Half-term holiday
- Thursday 19 June – Class photos
- Summer learning journey drop in dates
Tuesday 08 July – 8.45m – 9.15am & 3.15pm-3.45pm
Thursday 10 July – 8.45m – 9.15am & 3.15pm-3.45pm
A sign up letter will be sent out nearer the time.
Topic: Heroes
Our topic this half term, Heroes, focuses on significant people throigh history that have made a difference to others and inspired people. We have been looking real life heroes in particular-Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen.
The children are learning about their lives and beliefs.
They have been using vocabulary such as apartheid and suffragette to describe what these two historic people stood up for and the difference they made to others.
Last week, it was wonderful to see the children dress up as their real-life heroes. From footballers and teachers to members of the emergency services and soldiers, the variety was fantastic. Some children also chose to honour historical figures who have made a lasting impact, including Florence Nightingale, Alan Turing, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and a suffragette.
Science: Which materials make the best shadows?
Which materials make the best shadows?
I predict that opaque objects will be the best at creating shadows because they block all the light.
We then tested different materials: tissue paper, cardboard, glass, wood
Our predictions were correct! The objects that were opaque were the best at making shadows.
The translucent materials did create a shadow but the shadow wasn’t as dark (strong) as the other shadows.
Help at home by having a go at this quiz!
Reading: I can infer a character’s feelings.
Last week, we were reading the story called Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlett. 
It’s a great picture book that depicts Orion having a huge fear of the dark. The children really enjoyed reading this as there’s loads of little bits to pick a part.
We inferred Orion’s feelings as different points in the story by using clues and hints either in the text or pictures!
“We inferred that Orion was feeling anxious because he had never met Dark before and it’s his biggest fear.”
“I can infer that Orion was feeling content because he’s got a huge smile on her face.”
Help at home by showing an emotion through acting and facial expressions. Can you infer what emotion is being portrayed?
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
In Year 5, we have been focusing on vaccinations. We learnt how different vaccinations impact/prevent different diseases and illnesses. The children read about Edward Jenner. He was an English doctor who created the first vaccine in 1796. Did you know Jenner’s discovery came to be known as vaccination from the Latin word for a cow: vacca?
Take a look at his story:
Netball
The weather has been really helping us to enjoy our new PE topic this week. We’ve started a unit of netball which we’re really enjoying so far.
This week, we’ve focused on throwing but mainly catching, using a ready position and sticky feet.
Help at home by asking what sticky feet means!
Netball is a fantastic sport which teaches so many crucial skills like hand-eye coordination, using space and communication.
Living and Learning: health and prevention
As part of our learning about health and prevention, we’ve been thinking about the importance of sleep.
Sleep helps your body work and can help you get better if you don’t feel well.
If you don’t have enough sleep, you feel grumpy, you can’t focus and you can’t control yourself.
If you have a busy brain it can be hard to get to sleep.
We read a story about Mia who had trouble sleeping.
Sometimes, things can stop you getting to sleep.
- loud noises
- lights
- nightmares
- being on a screen close to bedtime
- staying up too late
- being too active before bedtime
- if you are scared
- if you have a worry
To help Mia, we thought about the things that can help you get to sleep.
- calm music
- relaxation and mindfulness
- yoga
- reading a book
- counting sheep
- drinking some warm milk
- thinking of something nice that you want to dream about
- being in a dark room
- tidy away your things to have a tidy bedroom
- having a teddy or toy with you
- stop using a screen an hour before bed
As always, we encourage the children to talk to a trusted adult if they are worried about anything we cover in Living and Learning or write down a worry if they prefer.
Help at home: ask your child what they are going to try and do at home to help them with getting to sleep. We’d love to hear what helps. Have a look together at these sleep tips for children.
Writing: Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen
Year 4 are currently writing a narrative inspired by Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen.
A narrative is a story and its purpose is interest and entertain.
We’ve watched Michael Rosen perform this poem and your children love it! Give it a watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWrOeNKvtHI&t=46s
Our narrative is going to be about sneaking into the teacher’s staffroom and stealing a delicious treat. To help inspire this, your children got to take a sneaky trip into the staffroom to see what it’s really like.
We’ve been practising direct speech lots this week as we want to include that in our narratives. I’ve been really impressed with how well your children have grasped this as it can be tricky!
Help at home: have a brief conversation with your children and ask them to write it down using direct speech. Make sure they use all our R2s above!
Living and learning: sleep
In Living and Learning this week, we’ve been talking about sleep.
We’ve analysed our own sleep to suggest any helpful changes. We know poor quality sleep really isn’t good for us so we want to make the best possible choices to look after our body and minds.
We also debated whether “a perfect night’s sleep is impossible” in Philosophy Friday and came up with some interesting contributions.
Jensen explained, “I don’t think it’s possible for anything to be perfect but there’s always small choices you can make to have good quality sleep. You can go to bed a little earlier, stay away from devices, read and make it as peaceful as possible.”
Summer 1: Week 2
On Monday morning, a parcel arrived at school…
WE HAVE 5 CATERPILLARS!
On Wednesday, we watched a video about the life cycle of a butterfly and talked about the different stages.
Help at home: Can your child remember the four stages? Draw a picture of the life cycle.
Literacy
This week, we’ve been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. We had lots of fun drawing story maps.
After reading and retelling the story, we used our imagination to write our own versions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We changed the main character and the food.
Maths
This week, we continued to develop our subitising skills. We used our understanding of doubles to support our subitising skills when looking at different arrangements. We created arrangements of 6 using different objects. We thought carefully about how we can arrangement the objects so it’s easier to subitise– e.g. 2 groups of 3. We then played a game called Odd One Out. We had to spot an arrangement that was not 6.
Help at home: Make arrangements of 6 using everyday objects. Get your adult to close their eyes and see if they spot if it’s changed.
DT
In the creative area, we’ve been exploring how to use hand drills to make holes in pieces of wood. On Wednesday, we used our skills to build a bug hotel for our outdoor area.
Learning outside
We’ve had a lovely week making the most of the sunny weather. The children have loved building, painting and getting wet in the water tray.
As we enter into the warmer months, please make sure your child comes to school with a hat and a water bottle. Sun cream must be applied before school.