: Blog items
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 2:37pm
Year 3 have had another busy week!
We have begun to plan our disaster stories, using inspiration from 'Escape from Pompeii.' Children were able to use their imagination to create their own characters, settings and disasters - we can't wait to finally begin writing it next week!
In maths, we have continued to learn about fractions. This week, we have focused on non-unit fractions of amount. We made connections to our previous learning on unit fractions, and were able to use both concrete and pictorial representations to support us.
One of our favourite lessons of the week, was history. This time, we explored how the Roman's built their empire. We used role play to re-enact the Romans taking over other countries, so that they were strong enough to invade Britain - we then researched all the benefits Britain had to offer for the Romans. Learning all about the Romans has been a highlight of our Connected Curriculum topics so far, and we are all very excited to learn even more.
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 10:51am
In science this week we have been learning about the different types of flowers including wild flowers and garden flowers. We went out into our school garden to search and collect wild flowers and we also looked closely at some garden flowers. We were able to name the flowers using identification charts, discuss the difference between wild and garden plants and share the different places wild and garden plants will grow. We really enjoyed looking closely at the flowers especially as the sun was shining for us!
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Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 4:44pm
Nursery had so much fun in their P.E lesson with Zahra from City in the Community. They listened so well and followed Zahara's instructions. They loved pretending to be 'cheeky birds' in the farm game. Well done Nursery!
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 3:34pm
This week in Reception, we have been reading and writing our very own poems!
A poem has rhyming words! Why not have a practise at home of making up some rhyming words of your own?
Try together to carry on the rhyming strings, it doesn't matter if some of your words dont make sense:
Cat, bat, dat...
Jug, mug, hug....
Junk, dunk, bunk...
It is very fun to make rhymes, especially the silly ones!
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 3:33pm
We have been busy in computing tinkering with stop motion animation. We are going to be planning our own short film to make in the next few weeks so we had a go at making a simple one first with objects from around the classroom. The class worked beautifully well together, making sure that each photo was taken after just a small change.
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 1:00pm
This week in Science we went on a vertebrate hunt in school in order to create a classification key. We found lots of millipedes, centipedes and worms. We were also lucky enough to see the premier league trophy! Have a look at the attached pictures.
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 7:26am
As part of our science learning this half term, which is about living things and their habitats, we have had some Caterpillars arrive in each year 4 class. Watch closely over the next couple of weeks to see their glorious transformation!
Date: 2nd May 2024 @ 3:50pm
Reception have finished our unit on minibeasts so we took our CC time to start learning about our new focus topic: gardening! We learned about the stages of plant growth and what a plant needs to grow to be healthy. To top it all off, we planted some cress seeds to grow ourselves! The planters will be placed in the sun and watered twice a week. Hopefully we have some cress soon!
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 8:28pm
Today Mrs Ganner's Class explored the garden and worked with our resident gardener, Stuart. He knows lots of things about gardening and he's going to teach us lots of interesting things.
We were amazed by how many flowers had bloomed in our school garden since the last time we visited. There were so many different shapes and sizes and colours to look at.
Stuart showed us how to sow a line of peas. We're going to come back in two weeks to see how much they have grown. Before the end of term we'll be eating our own peas!
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 8:16pm
This morning, one of our Friday Challenges was to look at and then talk about the progress our sunflowers have made. We planted them nearly two weeks ago and we are beginning to see some progress. We counted only four seedlings but we think the others are growing roots. We can't see the roots because they are under the soil. The seed coat opens up and the roots grow down then the shoot grows up.
Here are a few photos of our challenge:
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 3:07pm
We launched our CC topic this week; Why is weather so wonderful?
We shared what we have learnt about the weather so far and posed questions about what we would like to learn during our topic. We looked in the rainbow bag and found items related to the weather. We discussed and shared what they are used for and what type of weather they relate to.
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 7:26am
For our Art this week, we analysed pictures of Castleton and identified features of the landscape and how it is different
from Clayton. We then developed our skills in cutting and attaching in order to create balanced freestanding sculptures.
We developed awareness of composition within a 3D context and thought about pattern to create our Castleton Composition. Have a look at the attached pictures of our fantastic models :)
Date: 25th Apr 2024 @ 8:31pm
To finish the end of an amazing unit learning about planting, we created flowers using our own choice of media. we snipped, tore, coloured, glued and we are very proud of what we made.
Just look at how stunning our sunflowers are 🤩
😃 A fun filled return to school 🏫
Date: 25th Apr 2024 @ 8:28pm
Our return to school has involved lots of exciting learning experiences. We've been planting, looking after the babies, visiting our new florists, having a BBQ grill and picnic, making flower gardens and creating patterns. Playing outside in is such a lot fun. We love to play together and we don't mind it when it rains (we know the plants need a drink) but we love playing in the sunshine the most ☀️
4AK Art- Helen Musselwhite’s paper cutting.
Date: 23rd Apr 2024 @ 1:31pm
For our Art this week, we analysed pictures of Castleton and identified features of the landscape and how it is different
from Clayton. We then developed our skills in cutting and attaching in order to create balanced freestanding sculptures.
we developed awareness of composition within a 3D context and thought about pattern to create our Castleton Composition. Have a look at the attached pictures of our fantastic models.
Date: 21st Apr 2024 @ 6:46pm
Welcome back to the Summer term in Year 1! I can't believe we have started the final term of Year 1!
The children have come back raring to get on with their learning. The children have started the term with a positive attitude towards their learning and have got stuck in with all areas of their learning.
In our Connected Curriculum we have started to think about the new topic question 'Why is weather so wonderful?' by thinking about what we already know about weather and sharing our favourite weather conditions. We have also created the front covers for our books.
In Science we have started to think about plants and what we know about this area in science. Children were introduced to the activities in the Science area and have started to explore them.
In Writing we started our new text 'Oliver's Vegetables.' We used our sense of smell, touch, sight and taste to explore different vegetables from the story. We used adjectives to describe how they looked, felt and tasted. We read the story, sequenced pictures and wrote sentences in the correct order.
Phew! That was just a little snapshot of some of things we have done.
An exciting first week of the Summer Term!
Date: 21st Apr 2024 @ 11:53am
What an exciting week back year 3 have had!
Children were eager to return to school on Monday and began their learning with enthusiasm and smiles.
Our history learning this half-term is all about the Romans, with the focus question of "Why were the Romans so powerful?" We launched this exciting topic with a dedicated 'Roman Day!' The children looked amazing in their costumes and were all eager to play the role of a Roman. We spent the day learning Roman Numerals, creating amazing continuous line drawings of Roman Busts, creating laurel wreaths and our favourite activity...tasting Roman Food. The children particularly enjoyed tasting the mackerel - even though they didn't like the look of it at first, the majority of children asked for seconds and even thirds! We can't wait to learn even more about the Romans now.
Aside from our history learning, we also had some exciting RE lessons. This week, the children explored the celebration of Ramadan. As some children celebrated Ramadan over the half-term, they shared their celebrations with the rest of the class. In 3JH, the children also taught others how they pray when they visit a Mosque. It was wonderful to see the compassion in which the children both asked and answered questions.
In maths, the children continued their learning about fractions. This week, we focused on unit fractions, and explored how we could use every day objects to create unit fractions (such as 1/2, 1/3, 1/4). In english, we read the story "The pebble in my pocket," and have begun to write a setting description about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
This half-term has started off full of excitement and a joy of learning. We can't see what next week brings.
Date: 19th Apr 2024 @ 4:17pm
We have had the loviliest of weeks this week. The children have come back from the holidays refreshed and apparently much matured! We have spent the week getting stuck into our new topics and trying to get outside in between the short breaks in rain!
In English, we have started studying a book called Curiosity, the Story of a Mars Rover. We are learning all about what happened to the Mars rover in its mission to land successfully. Next week, we will be writing diary entries from its point of view and we had some fantastic interpretations of it during our drama. Gerard was a wonderfully smug robot who never doubted his own ability!
In maths, we have been learning about prime, composite and square numbers. I am so proud of how far the class have come in their mathematical knowledge. They are excellent at asking questions and are greatly improved in using systematic approaches.
Our CC launch this week involved using our bodies in small groups to make models of old or new transport. The children were excellent at establishing roles within the groups and thinking about being a part rather than the whole on their own.
Golden time this week was parachute games. Whilst they are usually for the younger ones, 5HC seemed to really enjoy themselves. I won't be repeating it any time soon though, I don't think my ears can take it!
Date: 19th Apr 2024 @ 3:08pm
The children returned after the holidays to a selection of items in the classroom. A small scroll covered in muddy paw prints which read: You will need… . some mud, a pot, seeds, gloves and a watering can. We looked inside of the bag to find some gardening tools, some pots, a small pouch of seeds and an empty packet of cat treats. We gathered ideas to think who could have sent us these things.
The children worked together to plant a seed for the cat. After reading our new story Jasper's Beanstalk, we discovered Pete the cat had not come back but it was a different cat called Jasper!!
When we asked the children what Jasper had asked them to do this week, they said:
"Plant a seed" "Grow a beanstalk" "We put water on it"
"Put it near the window" "sunlight"
We hope you enjoy looking at our pictures!
Date: 19th Apr 2024 @ 2:36pm
Although it has been a very rainy and wet first week back at school, spring really has sprung!
This week Reception have been out in the garden to look for MINIBEASTS! Take a look at what we have found...
Next we wrote sentences all about our favourite insects and worked really hard to draw carefully, details and anatomically correct drawings of what we found.
Date: 19th Apr 2024 @ 2:25pm
After a restful Easter break, Reception have come back ready to learn all about our new topic: minibeasts! We have been practicing describing what minibeasts look like and used our new knowledge to do many fun activities. We went on a minibeast hunt with our checklists and created an observational drawing. Lots of fun and many more minibeast adventures to come!
Date: 19th Apr 2024 @ 2:16pm
What time is it? Summer time - well the Summer term at least, despite the weather!
Our geography learning this half term is about Castleton and Clayton, and we began by conducting field work around the school. Furthermore, we conducted a traffic survey, a field sketch and explored human and physical features in Clayton. We will compare these to Castleton in a few weeks once we visit there. Letters will be sent out next week about this trip.
We've continued with our fractions learning this week, and have been busy multiplying fractions.
We began this half term's artwork this week, and there will be some pictures uploaded next week of this.
Additionally, we will be visitng Alma Park Primary School next week Friday, so if you have not brought in your letter yet, please make sure that you bring it in by next Friday.
Homework has been sent out today, have a great weekend!
Date: 11th Apr 2024 @ 2:59pm
This morning Mrs Ganner took the butterflies back to our school garden.
One of the butterflies flapped its wings and then it landed on her finger! Another one flew off high up in the sky.
Have you seen our butterflies flying around Clayton? Make sure you wave and say bye bye if you see them.
Click on the links to watch the butterflies discover the Nursery garden
Date: 10th Apr 2024 @ 9:06pm
All 3 butterflies have been happy sipping the sugar water and the fruit in their enclosure. They love to sit in the net Mrs Ganner put inside.
Tomorrow is release day for them. Don't worry, we'll video it for you so you don't miss it!
Date: 7th Apr 2024 @ 2:15pm
I missed the final butterfly emerging too! So sorry Nursery.
Here is our 3rd butterfly resting and a picture of the darkened Chrysalises after a week of changing fromcaterpillars onto butterflies. It's called metamorphosis - can you say that word?
Clap the syllables like we do in phonics
met - a - mor - pho - sis (5 syllables)