Autumn 1: Week2
The children have now completed their first full week in reception.
They have all settled in beautifully and enjoyed getting to know each other as well as exploring their new environment.
Next Friday and the subsequent Fridays, I will be sending home a Little Wandle phonics sheet. This is a sheet showing you the phonics that we have been learning for the week and our tricky words.
I will also be sending home our poem of the week. This will be a poem that as a class we will have explored each day. The children can then enjoy sharing the poem with you at home.
Living and Learning: 8Rs
This week, Y6 discussed each of the 8Rs and how they help us to learn.
We also had an honest reflection about our strengths and areas of improvement.
“I think I need to be more resilient at times,” share one person.
“I’m great at being ready at the start of lessons but sometimes I forget towards the end,” explained another.
I really appreciated this mature honesty. It was nice to celebrate the strengths, too.
“I have a great memory so I’m good at remembering things,” beamed a different Y6.
Another shared, “I am nervous about risks but really good with taking safe ones.”
Help at home by having a look at the picture above and spotting which two Rs need to swap places!
History: The Great Fire of London
In year 1, we have started out History topic and we are learning all about The Great Fire of London. We will be using a book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, to stimulate our learning. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
We have started by talking about the topic vocabulary, which you can see below. We have also talked about how people know what has happened in the past even though no-one alive can remember it. We discussed using paintings, maps, books or diaries and artefacts from the time that have been found.
Help at home by exploring the information on the BBC bitesize website.
History: The Great Fire of London
In year 2, we have started out History topic and we are learning all about The Great Fire of London. We are using a book, Vlad and the Great Fire of London, to stimulate our learning. (This is a YouTube link. Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog along the play bar and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.)
We have started by talking about the topic vocabulary, which you can see below. Help your child at home by exploring the information on the BBC bitesize website.
History: Athens vs Sparta!
Today, Year 4 held a debate over which Ancient Greek city state was better – Athens or Sparta.
The children used the city state fact files they’d made in the previous lesson to debate over topics including the economy, education, women’s rights and the government.
We learnt some top tips for debating:
- Have confident body language.
- Prepare arguments to counter your side’s weaknesses.
- Use key debating vocabulary (e.g. “You make a good point. However…”).
- Listen carefully to the other side so you can respond appropriately.
- Project your voice.
Although Athens won the debate, all children demonstrated brilliant debating and oracy (speaking and listening) skills. It was fantastic!
Help at home: Practise the top tips for debating at home. Should children have to go to school on weekends? Should video games be allowed in school?
Autumn term clubs
Handwriting and spelling
In Year 2, in preparation for joining their letters, we are beginning to teach the children cursive handwriting.
This handwriting guide, which the children have brought home this week, shows the order in which we will be practising these letters.
Well done to Seerat who has already had a go at writing the alphabet using cursive handwriting at home.
Also, in addition to the weekly spellings, we have been checking the children’s spelling of the tricky words from Year 1. These are words that are commonly used in writing but you can’t always your phonics knowledge to help to spell them.
The children will be bringing this learning home so you can see which of these words they need to work on. Putting these words in sentences would be great practice to do at home.
Any questions, please do come and ask us.
Help at home: use these prompts to ask your child what we have been learning so far in Year 2.
We are historians!
Y6 have kicked off their history topic in style!
We’ve learnt about the Stone Age and Bronze Age so far where we have created some fact files of key information.
We presented our findings to our classmates which also really helped us remember the key information.
Help at home by discussing the main differences between the Stone and Bronze Age. What were the key innovations?
Living and Learning – I follow the school rules.
The first week back to school brings lots of new routines and ways of doing things but there are something that haven’t changed!
Our three school rules:
1. We’re respectful.
2. We’re ready.
3. We’re safe.
We reminded ourselves of these rules in Year 3 and what these rules might look like across school. Here’s what we came up with:
How can we be respectful?
- We can listen to each other.
- We treat each other fairly.
- We look after the school and its belongings.
- We use kind words.
How can we show that we’re ready?
- We can have eyes on the speaker.
- We can have empty hands.
- We can have silent voices when someone is speaking.
How can we be safe in school?
- We can walk inside and outside when moving from one place to another.
- We can have kind hands and feet by keeping them to ourselves.
- We can stay where an adult can see us.
These three school rules are really important for everyone in school, not just the children. They make school a happy and healthy place to be.
Help at home: How can be safe at home or while out somewhere? Discuss what you could do to stay safe and what can be done if you ever feel unsafe!
Science: We are Physicists!
In Science, we have been exploring the impacts of friction and air resistance.
Here are the definitions:
We first tested which object would have the least amount of friction on a surface: an ice cube or wooden cube? Our prediction was that the ice would be the quickest therefore it has the least amount of friction. Our scientific enquiry type was ‘fair and comparative’ tests.
The children then went on to test air resistance (or drag). We tested that if our surface area increased would it slow us down or speed us up? Bin bags were our equipment of choice, have a look at our experiment:
Not only did we found out that an increased surface area means more air resistance therefore, we ran slower with the bin bag than without, but we also had a lot of fun doing it!
Help at home: Discuss different scenarios that are impacted by friction and air resistance.