Learning animal names – in French!
This afternoon, Mr Blomley (with the help of his trusty guitar) has been teaching us how to say the names of some animals in French!
Animals visit Year 3!
This morning, we had a surprise visit from some animals. Mags from Animals In-tuition brought in a variety of animals – both familiar and unfamiliar – for us to learn about. We even got to hold some of them!
It wasn’t just the children who it to hold them. Look at these pictures of me and Mrs Sherriff:
17 January 2014
The spellings this week are all animal topic words which we will be using in both topic and literacy lessons next week.
| 1. | diet |
| 2. | habitat |
| 3. | animal |
| 4. | location |
| 5. | prey |
| 6. | carnivore |
| 7. | herbivore |
| 8. | omnivore |
| 9. | appearance |
| 10. | creature |
17 January 2013
For all children in Year 1 to Year 6, the homework this week is Talk Time:
Which two charities should we support at school and why?
It’s time for children to think about our school charities. Currently, we support Dogs Trust and Water Aid. A previous School Council selected these because they wanted to help animals and people, and wanted to help nationally and internationally. These charities were chosen because pupils passed on to School Councillors very clear and strong arguments to choose them eg Dogs Trust help us by visiting, so we have the chance to re-pay this, and everyone has a basic human right to water.
We’ve helped these charities for two years now, so it’s time for a change. We need you to have a discussion at home about which charities would be best for us to support. Each class will then discuss this and then the councillors will bring the views and ideas together to decide on the charities.
Once your child has decided on a charity, make sure they have clear, powerful reasons to support their views.
You might want to discuss whether we support…
- a local charity
- a children’s charity
- a charity which helps a vulnerable group in our community – this would link back to vulnerable groups we thought about in last summer’s Community Week
- should we ensure the new charities are very different to the current ones or previous ones?
- should we need to have charities at all?
- if your child was to set up a new charity, what would (s)he choose, and (as always) why?
An energetic start to the new year
Year 1 have been very active in their first week back with our new PE lessons for this half term. In the first of our two weekly PE lessons, we are working with Mr Lynch, a local dance teacher, to develop our movement and dance skills. By the end of the first lesson there were some great partner performances showing a range of actions.
Our second weekly PE lesson is with Mr Catherall, one of our teaching assistants and also a qualified sports coach, who is developing our skills needed for invasion games such as basketball, rugby, football and others. Ask your child how they use their sticky pads!
PE is usually Monday and Tuesday so please ensure your child has their PE kit at school, to get the most out of these lessons.
10 January 2014
This week’s homework is creative homework.
A mini-topic based on a book called Meerkat Mail has led to lots of research about animals and different countries. Year 1 have shown excellent research skills and have shown a lot of interest in atlases and maps. This homework will let them show what they have found out but don’t forget to let those creative juices flow – it can be presented in any form.
I can show what I know about an animal from another country.
This homework needs to be handed in by Wednesday 15 January 2014.
10 January 2014
|
Red Group |
Yellow Group |
Green Group |
|
moon |
beard |
description |
|
night |
clear |
mission |
|
coin |
spear |
invention |
|
rain |
dear |
chemist |
|
chin |
gear |
character |
|
shop |
year |
fiction |
|
ear |
city |
|
|
fear |
success |
|
|
cylinder |
||
|
bicycle |
Here are this week’s spellings. There will be a spelling test on Friday 17 January 2014.
10 January 2014
The homework this week is practice makes perfect and is due in on Wednesday 15 January.
I can write an algorithm to solve a problem.
As we have been learning about computing in our mini-topic, we thought it would be a good idea to practise our programming skills by writing an algorithm to solve a problem. An algorithm is a set of instructions designed to solve a problem or perform a specific task. Computer programs use algorithms to carry out different functions. However, for this homework, we won’t be needing any digital devices!
Stuck in the children’s books is a 5×5 grid with a start and finish point on it. The children have to write an algorithm (set of instructions) to guide a sprite (a computer graphic – but for this you could use a coin or a counter with an arrow marked on it) from the start to the end point. Their algorithms should contain the following vocabulary: forward, 90 degrees, clockwise, anti-clockwise.
Computer programmers strive to write the simplest algorithms so children should be encouraged to find a route with the fewest steps possible.
Once they’ve finished this, they could write another algorithm to guide a family member from one part of the home to another.
Please drop in to see me if you have any questions!
10 January 2014
The spellings this week are all topic words which we have been learning about in our computing mini-topic. Throughout the week, the children have encountered all of this vocabulary so will be able to tell you the meaning.
| 1. | computer |
| 2. | mouse |
| 3. | keyboard |
| 4. | monitor |
| 5. | input |
| 6. | output |
| 7. | program |
| 8. | debug |
| 9. | digital |
| 10. | algorithm |
10 January 2014
We’re kicking off with practice makes perfect this week, focusing on the skills we have learnt in our maths lessons.
I can use my number skills.
Work through the tasks in your homework book to partition, sort and round numbers. Remember what we’ve learnt this week!