Our blogs
Date: 7th Jan 2024 @ 8:36am
Happy New Year!
Welcome back to the spring term in Year 1. The children have come back with such a positive attitude towards their learning and have grown a little taller as well!
We have had a busy few days back in class - we starting reading our new story 'Threadbear' and used adjectives to describe the main character called Threadbear. In maths we have started to learn about 2D shapes and next week we will be learning about 3D shapes.
In our Connected Curriculum we started to think about our new topic question 'Is the XBox more fun than our grandparent's toys?' In this topic we will be using history, design & technology and art skills to support us. On Thursday afternoon we launched our topic by having a 'Games Afternoon' where we played with various types of toys, board games and toys from the past. We collected some information about which toy/game was our favourite and created a block graph. In 1AI we enjoyed playing with the various board games.
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 7:41pm
Welcome back!
Year 3 have enjoyed their time back in school, and are extremely eager to learn all about the Stone Age.
We begun the week by reading "Stone Age Boy," where we were surprised to learn that there was no electricity and spoken language was different to today. We then launched our history topic through two exciting challenges - becoming archaelogists and searching through sand for a range of Stone Age artefacts, and becoming architects through the task of recreating Stone Henge with biscuits.
See below for our exciting creations!
Year 3 can't wait to learn more about the Stone Age over these next weeks.
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 6:01pm
Welcome back! I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas. We all (including the adults!) struggled to get back used to the early mornings this week but at least it was only three days!
We didn't take it easy in 5HC and got straight back into our maths learning. We have started by exploring perimeter. I was hugely impressed by the class' mental maths skills and how they were able to choose efficient methods of calculation for example, using multiplication to find the perimeter of a regular pentagon instead of repeated addition. Next week, we will be moving on to finding the area of rectangles and compound rectilinear shapes.
Please note that our PE days have changed. We will now be having our outdoor PE sessions on Wednesday afternoons and our indoor PE sessions on Friday afternoon. Please check the PE uniform which was sent out earlier this week in the newsletter.
Today, we sent home a permission letter for our trip to Manchester Art Gallery on Friday next week. We will be taking the tram so we will spend a bit of time next week, talking about manners and protocols for using public transport such as staying close to adults.
We can't wait to get stuck into our Ancient Greece learning! Have a great weekend.
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 5:10pm
We have had a lovely first few days back in Nursery. On Wednesday, we went into our Nursery garden to look for signs of winter using our senses. The children noticed that the weather was colder and there were no leaves on the trees. When we came back inside we talked about how we can keep ourselves warm. These are some of the responses from the children.
“We can rub our hands”
“stamp our feet”
“put a blanket on”
“wear our hat”
“put our gloves on”
As part of our ‘Friday Challenges’, we have been using our senses to explore the new winter resources in the classroom. We also used our fingers to roll small, medium and larged sized balls using the playdough to make snowmen! Finally, we used our subitising skills to subitise to 3 (when we are able to look at a small group of objects and realise how many there are without counting).
Please take a look at all the fun we have been having in the photos below!
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 5:09pm
Happy New Year!
We have had a busy three days and the children have completed lots of work. We have written persuasive letters in wriitng and continued to explore division in maths. The children have worked hard and come bac to school with a really positive attitude. Next week our PE day has changed to Tuesday so the children should come in their PE kit (Black bottoms and white t-shirt) on Tuesdays and Fridays this term. Well done everyone... Its going to be a busy 2024 with SATs on their way and transition to high school so keep up the good work.
Don't forget to do your homework for Monday if you haven't already. The pages are Grammar- pg 8 Maths pg 11 and Reading pages 18/19.
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 1:50pm
WOW! What a week it has been!
On Thursday 4th January, we discovered a mysterious egg on the playground. Parker thinks that might be an alien or T-Rex in the egg. We've been discussing the egg a lot this week, and what we should do about it! We have decided that we will write a letter to Mrs Hughes, to convince her to keep the egg, or to not keep the egg. Some people want us to keep the egg so that we might be able to have a pet, whereas others don't want to keep it incase it is dangerous. Take a look at the egg on the attached document...we're sure it moves!
In our science lesson, we have been learning about solids, liquids and gases which are the three states of matter. Have a look at the attached document for some pictures!
Homework is being sent out this week, so please return it by next Friday.
Date: 5th Jan 2024 @ 11:27am
Our connected curriculum topic this half term is, Why do some animals live in cold places and some in hot? As part of our topic, we have been looking at where different animals live. First, we chose an animal that either lived in a hot habitat or a cold habitat to draw. Then we used half of the animal's face to draw the other half. We had to look very closely at what we could see to ensure we drew the animal accurately.
Design & Technology Competition 2023
Date: 3rd Jan 2024 @ 9:38am
Date: 29th Dec 2023 @ 11:41am
We hope you have all had a safe and happy break this Winter.
Attached is a copy of our Spring overview, which shares all of the exciting topics we will be learning about this half-term.
We can't wait to get learning when we see you all again on Wednesday 3rd January.
Miss Brookes and Miss Higgins
Date: 14th Dec 2023 @ 7:00pm
We have had such a lovely week in our final few days before the holidays. On Monday we had our Christmas party and had lots of fun playing games and dancing. On Tuesday we had a lovely visit from Father Christmas. We asked him questions and sang him a song. On Wednesday we had our delicious Christmas lunch with our friends.
It's been a very magical Christmassey week in school but I think we are definately ready for the holidays!
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 10:14am
It's been a busy week again in school and it's looking very Christmassey!
This week we performed our Nativity 'Baarmy Bethlehem' three times! On Monday we performed our dress rehearsal to Year 3 and 4 who enjoyed it a lot. On Tuesday we perfomed it two times in front of KS1 grown ups from home and Nursery/Reception grown ups from home. It was amazing but a very tiring day!
Next week it will be even more Christmas fun with a possible visit from Father Christmas, Christmas party day, Christmas dinner and lots more Christmas fun and activities.
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 7:30pm
Wow what a busy week!
1HB has been very busy and it's beginning to feel alot more like Christmas! We have made some Christmas cards, our Christmas party hats and table decorations for our Christmas lunch. However the highlight has been performing our school nativity 'Baarmy Bethlehem' We have worked very hard to learn all the songs and remember our lines! Our parents and teachers are very proud of us!
Date: 3rd Dec 2023 @ 8:37am
What a busy few weeks we have had in 1AI!!!
It's looking a lot like Christmas in school and we are busy rehearsing for the Nativity performances next Tuesday. We are very excited to share our singing, acting and dancing skills to EYFS and KS1 grown ups on Tuesday 5th December in the morning and afternoon.
In class we have also been busy writing setting decriptions using some of the settings in the story Stickman. In maths we have continued to find the parts for numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10 in a systematic way. In science we have been learning about the properties of materials and using some vocabulary to describe these properties.
In our Connected Curriculum work we have continued our geography skills by learning about compass points and how we can use them to give directions to get to certain landmarks on a map.
Phew! Lots more to do in the last two weeks before the Christmas holidays!!!
Date: 26th Nov 2023 @ 1:38pm
This week in year 3, we further explored the Amazon Rainforest. We learnt all about deforestation, and argued reasons for and against this - although most of us voted against, we have begun to understand the benefits for deforestation as well (such as space for farm land).
In science, we begun to explore the inside of a plant, and used this to understand the process of pollination and fertilisation - this was very confusing at first, but we continued to explore this until we felt more confident. We will have to keep revisiting the different names for parts of a plant, as there were a lot to remember!
In maths and english, we completed assessments. We're looking forward to moving on with our learning next week, where we will begin to write/read non-chronological reports about animals in the Rainforest, and learn how to compare and order 3-digit numbers.
Date: 26th Nov 2023 @ 1:04pm
Hello,
Well what can I say. I think all the children and the adults would agree that we had an amazing time at the Gregg's factory this week. The children were asked to wear hair nets, special coats and wash their hands before they entered the factory. During their visit they looked at how the bakery makes bread, pizza and sandwich fillings. They compared Thomas farriner's bakery in London 1666 to the bakery's now and quickly recognised that they had dramatically changed! It was a lovely opportunity to see how the bread dough is made, how it is left to rise, how it is baked and packaged and then put on a lorry. The children particularly enjoyed watching how the pizza bases were made and how the toppings were added. They even had an opportunity to put the pizza bases on a conveyor belt, just like the Gregg;s staff. Mrs Cooper and I were extremely proud of all the children. They walked sensibly to the factory, which did take 25 minutes! and were polite and well behaved during the visit. They asked lots of interesting questions and learned so much about how the factory operates. If that wasn't enough the children got to sit and have a drink, eat cakes and decotate Gingerbread people. They had a brilliant time and were so lucky to get this opportunity. Look at how much fun we had!
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We feel so privellleged to be the first school to go on such an amaazing visit.
The children had a wonderful time!
Miss Wolfenden and Mrs Cooper
Date: 26th Nov 2023 @ 12:35pm
Hello,
The children have been learning about Diwali. They listened to the story of Rama and Sita and learned how Hindu families celebrate this special event. The children enjoyed making lanterns, Diva lamps, Diwali cards, door decorations and Rangoli patterns. Have a look at their amazing work!
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The children had an amazing time and learned so much about the Festival of Diwali. Come and look at the work that is displayed in the classroom.
Thanks for your support
Miss Wolfenden and Mrs Cooper
Date: 25th Nov 2023 @ 9:05am
In Geography, we have been learning to use directional language. We learned about the compass points North, East, South and West. In pairs, we used directional language to give instructions. We also learned how to use directional language when using a map! With our partners, we directed the Wolf to visit the Three Little Pigs houses on the map.
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Date: 24th Nov 2023 @ 3:57pm
We're over halfway through the half term! Where is the time going?!
This week was assessment week. The children worked so incredibly hard and really tried even though the tests were not easy. Some felt a little downhearted when they saw their results but as I explained to them, the tests are designed to cover the whole of the year 5 curriculum - much of which I haven't yet taught. They inform my teaching to help me decide what to focus on rather than test the chidlren. I will feed back all results next week at parents evening (please book an appointment via school spider if you haven't already).
We had a little time to finish off our inventions unit this week. I showed the class 'bing image creator'. You have to have an outlook account to use it so I suggested that if they wanted to use it, maybe they should with their parents at home. As a class, we used it to create visual representations of their designs by inputting a short description. The images created were absolutely amazing! I will send a copy home next week so the children can continue to practise their vocabulary and explanations.
We enjoyed a science experiement on Wednesday, testing the hardness and smoothness of different materials to find the most appropriate one for a food preparation area. The class identified that metal was the best choice because it is both hard (durable) and smooth (easy to clean). I've included some photos below.
Have a great weekend!
Date: 24th Nov 2023 @ 2:02pm
What a busy week! We have visited St Cross today (Friday 24th November 2023), where we met Father Chris who taught us a lot about Christianity. This is a part of our RE learning about What it means to be a Christian in Britain today.
Mrs Hughes received an email from Father Chris saying how utterly utterly delightful Y4 were. Mrs Hughes was very proud. Please see some of the pictures below. Because of this lovely comment, we have managed to earn some extra golden time...
Date: 22nd Nov 2023 @ 2:46pm
We have been learning about Diwali in year 6. Last week we rehearsed and performed some Diwali plays as well as a sepcial Diwali dance. Everyone really enjoyed the experience and it is so lovely to wokr with a group of young people that give everything to the task at hand. There are some amazing actors in 6DL as well as some incredible dancers! Well done everybody
Date: 20th Nov 2023 @ 4:28pm
Last week seems a long time ago! I had a very busy weekend as many of us do around this time of year so I'm updating this blog later than usual.
Writing was all focused on our final write about our inventions. The class seemed to really enjoy this piece of writing and did a great job of it as a result! There were some really good attempts to include technical vocabulary such as gadget, prototype or design. The class edited their work on Friday morning and will be completing their final edits on Wednesday.
In reading, we were continuing to identiyf the features of non-fiction texts and how they help the reader. We also worked on the different reading strategies we can use to work out an unfamiliar word's meaning - word parts, prediction, semantic fields and context clues. The trouble was that many of the children in 5HC this year have a really good understanding of word meaning already so it can be hard to find ones they don't already know! Its certainly a good problem to have.
In maths, we started looking at strategies for written multiplication. The class worked through the partitioning, expanded and compact methods. They were particularly confident with expanded but we will now start encouraging them towards the short method as it is much more efficient - especially with increasingly larger numbers. If any parents would like an explanation of the method then please come and see me.
By a long way, Friday afternoon was absolutely the highlight of the week! We had practised the story of the hindu festival of Diwali about Rama and Sita. It became so much bigger than I ever intended because of the children's enthusiasm for the topic. In the end, we performed the show to year 1 and everyone did a great job! It wasn't easy as we had to do it via zoom given the current situation with illness in school but the class really stepped up and I was very proud.
And then to finish our week, the golden activity was trick shots. Each small group of children had the challenge of creating a trick shot and landing the ping pong ball in a cup. There was a little bit of frustration from some of the class but overall, they did a great job! Please take a look at the photos from Friday. We really did have a brilliant time! Our next golden time activity is dodgeball if the hall is free but chrome books if dodgeball isn't possible. Here's hoping the class earn lots of golden time!
Date: 19th Nov 2023 @ 10:00am
For the past couple of weeks, we have been reading different versions of the traditional tale 'The Three Little Pigs' and we especially enjoyed reading about the naughty Big Bad Wolf!
As a class, we decided that we wanted to make a Big Bad Wolf sock puppet. We read some instructions and watched a You Tube video clip on how to make one. The next day we made our very own sock puppets which was very exciting and they all looked fantastic! Look at this one!
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Afterwards we all wrote our own instructions on how to make a wolf sock puppet. We included a title, a list of things you need and sequenced steps to follow.
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This one is Hau Chings!
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This one is Emily's!
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This one is Ayaan's!
Week 3 in 1AI - Diwali, Maths week and Anti-bullying week!
Date: 19th Nov 2023 @ 6:26am
We have had a very busy week in school! We started the week with wearing odd socks and discussing bullying for Anti-bullying week. We used our Jigsaw session to talk about this important topic and designed some odd socks.
On Thursday afternoon in Year 1 we had our Diwali celebrations. We found out about what Diwali was and the story behind this important Hindu festival. We made some Diya lamps out of clay and learnt some Bollywood dancing. Here is the video link for the dance that we were learning if you wanted to try at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fR-VUDvH9g&scrlybrkr=262b57f7
This week was also Maths Week. We were learning how to play some games, sharing and practising the skill of turn taking. We also designed some new board games all about odd and even numbers which will be laminated and put into our maths area for everyone to play.
In writing we also wrote our wolf sock puppet instructions.
Phew it has been busy this week!
Week 3: Maths Week, Diwali and Children in Need!
Date: 18th Nov 2023 @ 7:51pm
This week has been busier than most for year 3.
We began the week by celebrating Anti-Bullying Week. We explored this in assembly, and wore odd socks to school.
We then entered a times tables rockstars tournament against each other, as part of our maths week celebrations. It was a close competition, and we took part every day in hope of being the winning class. In the end, 3CB scored 9,184 points and 3JH scored 4,628 points.
On Thursday and Friday, we learnt all about the festival of Diwali. We then filmed our own play of the story, which we shared with Nursery.
Finally, the week ended with our Children in Need celebrations - including wearing Pudsy/Spotty clothes to school.
Attached is this week's homework, which is due on Friday 24th November.
Date: 17th Nov 2023 @ 2:44pm
In Reception, we have been learning about different types of celebrations. This week has been a very special week as we have been celebrating: Diwali!
First we listened to the story of Rama and Sita. We learned that Diwali is a festival of lights!
Next, we made cards for our grown ups. We decorated them with rangoli patterns. We even designed our own mehndi patterns!
Finally we learned how to perform special dances for Diwali.
It has been such a fun week! Why don't you ask me all about Diwali at home?
