: Blog items
Date: 10th May 2024 @ 8:09am
It has certainly been a week of hard work and revision!
Classroom displays have been hidden, tables have been rearranged and the children have been informed on how to complete the front page correctly…so there shouldn’t be any surprises on Monday! As per the last few weeks, we have continued to revise our Maths, SPaG and reading skills through the use of past papers, as well as songs, games and activities. The children have worked incredibly hard and we don’t think they could be any further prepared.
To conclude the week, the children went outside for a short break and returned to class to find…it had been transformed into a SPaG rave! Glow sticks were in full force as the children danced around to some of our favourite Grammasaurus songs. It was wonderful to see all the children having fun, but it was even better to see some children, who began the year rather reserved with this sort of activity, showing no shame with their singing and dance moves! What a great way to end the week!
We hope all the children are able to have an enjoyable weekend. In terms of SATs preparation, they should do whatever will help them relax, whether that means doing some final revision to boost their confidence or having a three-day break. Regardless of the outcome, we are extremely proud of all them and the hard work they have shown throughout the academic year.
We cannot wait to celebrate their efforts next Friday on the beach!
Date: 9th May 2024 @ 2:50pm
Well these weeks are truly flying by! The children are having so much fun and particularly enjoying spending time outside exploring the world around them.
This week we were excited to see that over the weekend our caterpillars had gone into their cocoons, so we are just waiting to see how long before we get beautiful butterflies. We have thought about what Butterflies may like to eat and have tried to plant different things in the outside area to attract them. We have also enjoyed lots of different activities around the classroom and particularly making our own butterfly prints and using new vocabulary like ‘symmetrical’ when discussing the patterns on the Butterfly wings.
At the start of the week we also started to discuss what we know about Frogs and completed a class circle map to begin our learning. We will have to see next week how much more we can add to our circle map!
On Thursday it was scooter day! Reception put their helmets, knee pads and elbow pads on ready to take part in a fun session. The children learnt lots of new tricks. It was so lovely to see the children having a go, even if they found it tricky, just like our SHINE friend Leo. Well done everyone!
We wish you all a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.
Miss Dalley and the Reception team
Reminders:
Wednesday 15th May – WOW service 2pm @ St Peter’s Church
Friday 24th May – Break up for half term
Date: 9th May 2024 @ 9:26am
A short, yet productive, week for us in Year 4!
Thinking about the colours we spotted when visiting St. Peter’s church last week, we reflected on why these particular colours are used within the church and the meaning behind them. After exploring what each colour signifies, we connected the colours to events in the Christian calendar such as Advent, Lent and Easter and identified the colour we would associated with each event or celebration.
In Maths, we compared amounts of money and recognised the notes or coins needed to make an amount greater than or less than a given amount. Using our understanding of rounding, we focused on recognising the nearest pound our amounts were closest to and visited the Year 4 TSP Sweet Shop again to check the change was correct when we purchased an item.
After reminding ourselves of the key features of a non-chronological report, we turned our attention to a group of cute Sloths and researched factual information we could use in our very own non-chronological report. Our facts were then grouped into paragraphs, as we allocated a suitable sub-heading to each paragraph, thought of a catching heading and added pictures to match our facts.
We were thrilled to have been given the opportunity to have a Skateboarding lesson on Thursday! With our helmets and knee pads on, we used our balance and coordination skills to not only control the movement of the skateboard but keep ourselves balanced when taking our feet off the ground.
Have a wonderful weekend, Year 4.
Date: 8th May 2024 @ 12:00pm
The children and continuing to amaze us with their phonics knowledge and this week enjoyed learning the sound ‘d’. They have also been exploring 2D shapes rectangles, triangles and circles. Why not see what shapes you can see in the environment if you are out for a walk?
The children are still enjoying our theme ‘Under the Sea’, we have enjoyed singing the song ‘I have a little Turtle’ and learning the actions that go with it. Why don’t you ask if your child can sing it for you? We loved learning about Turtles, we found out that they like to live most of their life underwater but do need to pop up for air to help them breathe. We also found out that the turtles lay their eggs in the sand and when hatched the turtles have to scurry to the sea. We then enjoyed making our own turtle from a paper plate.
We have also enjoyed exploring and learning about Snails – we have enjoyed them inside the classroom holding then and exploring their different features.
We hope you have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Bevin, Mrs Molloy and the Nursery team
Reminders:
WOW Service 15th May at 2pm St Peter’s Church
Friday 24th Mufti Day - Rainbow Raffle Items
Term Ends - Friday 24th May
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 5:52pm
What another incredible week we have had in Year 2! It is safe to say; the weather has truly made it 10 times better too.
PE has certainly been a highlight of the week due to us getting the climbing frame out! The children worked in groups to practice their balances on a series of apparatus as well as on the climbing frame itself. First however, they started by developing their confidence climbing to certain heights, passing through the frame and dismount, even the most confident children were slightly apprehensive! As well as this, we have been developing of our understanding of Net and Wall games and this week focused on developing our ‘block’, using on knowledge from last week in terms of the ‘ready position’ to stop the ball as it moved towards us from a ‘roll’.
In Science, we explored the different types of plants, exploring fruit, vegetables, herbs and plants we do not eat. We were shocked to learn that you would never find a vegetable growing on a tree! The children then discussed the similarities and differences of fruit and vegetables.
In Maths, we extended out learning of Fractions, and explored thirds, first looking at how it was written numerically. After the children solved a series of questions relating to all the fractions taught so far and spotted that only numbers that belonged to the 3 times table could be split into thirds. Next week, we will continue to look at fractions, finishing off this topic by the end of the week!
Reminders
- Year 2 school trip to take place on Wednesday 15th May. Children should be dropped off at the Lifeboat road entrance at approx. 8:40am ready for our session to start at 9am.
- Please can we politely ask that all children bring a water bottle to school each day and where possible, sun hats.
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 12:40pm
A huge well done on another brilliant week Year 1. I am so proud of your fantastic efforts this week.
We began this week with a new Maths topic on Multiplication, we started by counting in 2s, 10s and 5s. We demonstrated fantastic counting skills and enjoyed practicing these by singing some of our favourite counting songs! We then moved onto making equal groups, we did this practically by using small and large hoops within the classroom to group quantities. We focused on new STAR vocabulary this week such as groups, equal and unequal.
We celebrated Earth Day on Monday and created our own Artwork using paint and our colour-mixing skills. We explored how important it is that we help our wonderful world by caring for the environment.
In History, we enjoyed another fun-filled lesson. We began by sorting a variety of images in order of when they would have been played with. We discussed the 3 generations and took on the roles of our parents and grandparents. We talked about the clothes the different generations would have worn, as well as the time frame they would have lived in. We acted out each character and had the chance to play with a very special suitcase full of toys through time! We used our historical enquiry and reasoning skills to explain why we thought these toys would have been played with.
We focused on British Values as we explored some brilliant new books! Our reading ambassadors made some great choices to add to our classroom and KS1 area. We have loved reading books about world religions, we read ‘My Bindi’ and discussed the importance of respecting other people’s beliefs and opinions, are shared some beautiful ideas about how to promote kindness. We also read ‘The Best Diwali Ever’ as a part of our Collective Worship on Reconciliation, we loved learning all about the festival of Diwali and discussed how the character Ariana forgave her little brother.
What a pleasure we had in RE this week, we had the chance to share and discuss all of our Baptism photographs! This was a lovely exercise and allowed us to reflect back on the special day, and use the photographs to consider who was around us, what we wore, and the very special features of a Christening Day.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 4:12pm
Another fantastic week in Year 3!
In Maths, we began the week by exploring how fractions can be represented on a number line and identifying how many equal parts a number line has been split into. We were made sure that we counted the intervals on the line and not the dividing lines. We then moved on to counting in fractions on a number line. Counting both forwards and backwards in fractions and then progressing on to estimating the positions of fractions on a blank number line. Towards the end of our week we explored equivalent fractions by comparing multiple number lines and using double number lines. The key focus was to use the number lines to find equivalent fractions by looking at fractions that are in line with each other (equal in value). We reminded ourselves of our previous learning; when the numerator and denominator are equal, the fraction can also be shown as 1. Therefore, when drawing multiple number lines to find equivalent fractions, the start and end points (0 and 1) must always be in line with each other. We concluded this week’s maths by exploring bar models as another way of representing equivalent fractions. Next week, we will be adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator and moving on to partitioning the whole into unit fractions and non-unit fractions.
During our English writing lessons, we continue exploring our wordless book ‘Journey’. We began the week by studying the forest scene. We worked in pairs to explored the page and write expanded noun phrases about what can be seen. We then used our planning grid to add our expanded noun phrases, verbs and prepositional phrases which helped us write our setting description. We were also introduced to new vocabulary; archway, canal lock, dome, pennant, aqueduct, spire and citadel. We were then able to match definitions/ pictures/ words and decide whether a or an should be used as the determiner for each word. We ended our week by writing a paragraph for the scene when the girl first sees the citadel. We made sure to use our writing checklist to make sure we had included; expanded noun phrases, prepositions, verbs, adverbs and similes. In Guided Reading, we were introduced to the illustrated Atlas showing Britain and Ireland. We started by making predictions using the front cover of the atlas before moving on to clarifying key vocabulary within the book. We moved on to focusing on identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning by looking at the contents page and discussing how it is organised and how we can find certain information on specific areas.
We focused on the ten commandments in RE this week and discussing their impact then and now. We asked thought provoking questions such as; Which of the ten do they think is the most important? Why? Could any of them be left out? We then had a debate where we argued for and against particular commandments. We linked our learning to the British Values by identifying the influence of the ten commandments on the rules/laws of society today. And we concluded our learning by discussing; If God sent a new set of ten commandments today, would they be any different?
Have a wonderful four-day weekend Year 3 and see you next Tuesday 😊
Reminder:
If you wish to complete any additional home learning then you will find Maths, Comprehension and SPAG work on Google Classroom.
Date: 2nd May 2024 @ 9:56am
Another great week here in Year 4!
To connect out learning with a church within our community, we visited St. Peter’s church to identify the common features found inside churches and learnt about their importance to the Christianity religion. Reflecting on our Collective Worship value of perseverance, we set ourselves a goal for the day, week or term and mapped out the steps we would take to ensure we reached our goal.
After reminding ourselves of the key features of a non-chronological report, we identified the heading and factual information about the amazing Amazon rainforest. We were challenged to create a 3 second summary to explain what the page described and create our own sub-headings, for the numbered paragraphs. With so many words ending in the ‘ous’ spelling, we reminded ourselves of the spelling rule when using this ending changing words such as danger and poison into dangerous and poisonous.
Continuing our focus on decimals, we used number lines to round a given decimal to the nearest whole number and ordered decimals from the smallest to largest, also making use of our greater than and less than signs. We then moved on to recognised a half and a quarter as a fraction and its equivalent decimal.
Have wonderful Bank Holiday weekend!
Date: 2nd May 2024 @ 9:38am
This week, we have been working hard on preparing for our SATs papers in just over a week. In Maths, we have continued to practise our arithmetic skills while also revising various topics including: measurement, mean and coordinate problems. We have done this through a variety of activities and games, as well as past paper questions. Our reading practice has continued as well, focusing on ‘impressions’ and ‘genre’.
In Spanish, the children have started their ‘habitats’ topic and have been learning lots of new vocabulary – lots of cross-curricular links to Science and Geography too!
A special ‘well done’ to those children who competed in the tag rugby festival last week at Southport Rugby Club. The team put in a tremendous effort and finished in 3rd place – an incredible achievement!
The children are aware of what their homework for this week is. There are also additional tasks set on SATs Companion if they wish to do any further revision at home.
Have a great (extended) weekend!
Date: 30th Apr 2024 @ 9:36am
As another week races by, it is now chance to reflect on just how much we have managed to fit into this time! Once again, the Year 5 children have worked really hard and with excellent resilience, energy and enthusiasm. Well done to them all!
In Maths, we have been focused on finding and calculating angles on a straight line and around a point. We also practised the language of clockwise and anticlockwise as we took part in some drills which involved us following directions to move North, East, South, West and everything in between. Not only that, a Quiz Quiz Trade activity allowed us to cement our angles understanding and apply our knowledge alongside our friends with support and coaching where needed.
In English, we have been exploring environmental awareness using our focus picturebook, ‘The Paperbag Prince’. The children have been using modal verbs and cohesive devices (such as conjunctions and fronted adverbials) as they have written descriptive paragraphs about a toxic wasteland before then progressing on to writing a letter expressing their outrage to the local council.
We are well underway with our brass instrument lessons with Mrs Hughes from Sefton Music Service. Our first few sessions have been familiarising with our new instruments, whether trumpet, baritone or trombone. We have also enjoyed some old favourites including the Forbidden Rhythm game where we all know, “Don’t play this one back!”
Enjoy the bank holiday weekend, Year 5! See you back in class on Tuesday 7th May!
Reminders:
-Homework continues to be set via Mirodo (as usual) for this week and spellings will continue to be set via Google Classroom.
Date: 22nd Apr 2024 @ 4:37pm
The children enjoyed celebrating ‘Earth Day’, they listened to the story ’10 things I can do to help my world’. They then collected litter from around the school grounds and we discussed ways we can help our environment.
We have also continued to enjoy exploring our theme ‘Under the Sea’, we listened to the story ‘Commotion in the Ocean’. We loved listening to all of the rhyming words and discussing all of the different creatures that live in the sea. We have also enjoyed looking at a variety of objects around the classroom and deciding if they will sink or float? We were surprised to notice that just because an object is big it does not mean it will sink!
Our Catterpillars are now in their Cocoons / Crysalis and we are patiently waiting to see what happens next.
We hope you have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Bevin, Mrs Molloy and the Nursery team
Reminders:
Friday 24th May – Break up for half term.
Monday 3rd June – Return to Nursery.
Date: 21st Apr 2024 @ 8:23pm
And, just like that, we are in our final term of the year! It has been truly a pleasure to see all the children return to school with exciting stories of their Easter adventures! We cannot wait to see what this term has in store for us!
In English, we started our new text, ‘The Last Wolf’ by Mini Grey, and were intrigued to learn that this was certainly not your average Little Red Riding Hood story, it was one with a twist! To help us predict what happens later in the story, we first had to investigate some STAR vocabulary; extinct and endangered, this helped us make sensible, educated predictions about what the story has in store for us. After, we worked on writing a list of rules for Red Riding Hood using contractions to improve our writing. Next week, we will focus on adding the suffixes -er and -est to adjectives to compare later using them for descriptions of the different characters in the story.
Our Maths topic this term is Fractions, and we took this week to connect our learning back to Year 1, building on our prior knowledge, and recognising half whilst simultaneously using the ½ symbol. This week we focused on finding half of given amounts as well as half of given shapes. Next week, we will first look at half in terms of a clock as well as identifying and finding ¼ whilst using the corresponding symbols to match.
In Geography, we connected our learning back to previous topics and Year 1 and reminded ourselves of the 7 continents and the corresponding 5 oceans. This will give us a firm basis to build on when we begin to look at our own coast and beaches and the changes that have occurred overtime.
In Music, we had to say goodbye to the wonderful Miss Dillworth who finished off her fantastic lessons with a wonder practice of our upcoming song for our potential future performance. After, this we also learnt about a fanfare, and how, using tuned and untunes instruments you could build up your fanfare in a group.
We completed 13 laps of our field over the course of the week, in support of the London Mini Marathon. Working together to cheer each other on, we all felt a sense of accomplishment when the last person crossed the finish line!
If you would like to complete extra Maths practise at home, please use this link to access free workbooks covering topics from our Maths learning this year:
https://whiteroseeducation.com/parent-pupil-resources/maths/free-downloads#download
As well as this, there are lots of additional resources on the Learning from Home section on the school website.
Have a wonderful weekend, Year 2!
Reminders;
- There will be a mufti day next Friday as part of the school’s efforts in Uganda, donations of clothes, toys and pencil cases will be greatly appreciated.
- PE days continue to be a Monday and Thursday.
Date: 21st Apr 2024 @ 12:03pm
What a wonderful and busy first week back. It was lovely to see all the children back in and happy to see their friends and teachers.
In Maths, we have been exploring the denominators of unit fractions. From Year 2, the children know about halves, quarters and thirds and are now looking at fractions with other denominators. Children understand that a fraction can be seen as part of a whole and that to find a unit fraction, they divide the whole into equal parts. They then were able to identify the role of the denominator, appreciating that this shows how many equal parts the whole has been divided into. This step explores unit fractions only, with the focus being on the denominator.
‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker is our new English writing book this term. The children were shocked to learn that it is a wordless picture book and they will be creating the story together by looking at the illustrations. To begin the children made predictions about what the story could be about using the cover and the blurb. We were introduced to the protagonist and studied the first two pages, focusing closely on how the author depicted her. We used our thesauruses to find synonyms of sad.
Our History and Art topics align with this term as we focus on the Ancient Egyptians. In History, we used our circle map to first write down anything we already knew about the Egyptians. We worked together to find where the Ancient Egyptians are placed on our class History timeline, and we discovered that the Ancient Egyptian timeline runs parallel to the British Stone Age through to the Iron Age. We moved on to exploring the characteristic features of Ancient Egypt, recognising, and comparing these features to modern day. We look forward to continuing our Egyptian journey and delving further into one of the most colourful ancient civilizations next week.
In Science, we became true ‘Rock stars’ as we started our new topic ‘Rocks and Soils’ this term. We had a fantastic time making systematic and careful observations using magnifying glasses. From our observations, we could compare and group different kinds of rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties.
With 2.6 miles to compete over the week, we took to the field each day to complete 13 laps in support of the London Mini Marathon. We showed true resilience and determination as we motivated one another to cross the finish line.
If you would like to complete extra Maths practice at home, please use this link to access free workbooks covering topics from our Maths learning this year:
https://whiteroseeducation.com/parent-pupil-resources/maths/free-downloads%23download
Super work this week Year 3! Enjoy your weekend and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 😊
Date: 18th Apr 2024 @ 8:24pm
Welcome to the Summer Term! It was great to welcome back the Year 5 children after very varied and exciting activities during the time off that were great to hear about. This week, we achieved so much and really did pick up where we left off. Here are just a few highlights…
A particularly enjoyable and memorable event this week was the #kNOwKnifeCrime campaign run which took place on Wednesday morning. Schools from across Sefton participated in a relay event from school to school where each were handed the ‘bleed control kit baton’ before taking it to the next school. We were so proud to have runners from Year 5 and Year 6 completing the run from Trinity St. Peter’s to Formby High School and the atmosphere and spirit created by all pupils as Freshfield Primary arrived to TSP with the baton was a joy to see. Well done to all involved – raising much needed funds and awareness for the most worthy of causes!
In English, we have commenced our new focus book for this half term. It is titled ‘The Paperbag Prince’ by Colin Thompson. Before reading even the first page, we did a lot of work exploring the upcoming themes and content of this picturebook. Much of this linked to the environment and the importance of reducing both pollution and waste on our planet. To unpick this further, we watched several videos, including David Attenborough’s Blue Planet, which showed the horrors of plastic waste in the ocean and the detrimental effects that this is having on marine life. This led to many passionate discussions and many thinking skills were used as we reflected using green thinking hats and also completed a Diamond 9 model to help further guide our reasoning. We look forward to getting stuck into this book from next week!
Our Maths work has focused on measuring angles with a protractor and a particularly fun lesson involved measuring and checking different sized angles that we had drawn onto our own tables alongside our shoulder partners. Accuracy was the key and this led to many dojo points being awarded too! Next week’s Maths will further focus on angles, including reflex angles as well as recognising angles on straight lines and angles around a point.
In RE, we have focused on different world religions. Linked to our British Values of mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths, we explored the key beliefs and customs of the five major religions in the world. Those being: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism. The children enjoyed discussing each religion and further applied their understanding of the values that are most meaningful to their believers.
Have a brilliant weekend, Year 5 - I look forward to seeing you on Monday!
Reminders:
-Year 5 PE lessons will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week for this half term. Please ensure that your child attends school in their full PE kit on these days.
-Please also note that homework has been uploaded as usual to Mirodo as it will be each Friday throughout this term. As previously, the homework will be set each Friday and should be completed on or before the following Wednesday.
-Weekly spellings have also been uploaded to Google Classroom, which will be tested next Friday (26th).
Date: 18th Apr 2024 @ 8:18pm
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Our final term in primary school has officially commenced!
As the SATs near, we have continued to enhance our reading comprehension this week as we have focused on particular skills such as identifying the genre; giving evidence for personality traits and retrieving specific vocabulary.
As mathematicians, Mr King’s group have been working on measurement and identifying missing angles in various shapes. Mrs Martin’s group have started work on data handling, looking at different graphs such as pictograms. It has become extremely clear to the class that to solve most Y6 reasoning problems, we need to have the knowledge of mathematical facts to then make connections and implement a strategy. Therefore, it is very important that we are taking the time to learn the facts on our knowledge organisers.
Perhaps the highlight of the week has been the kNOwKnifeCrime relay event that has taken place across the whole of Sefton this week - ahead of the London Marathon this weekend. On Monday, we re-watched the assembly by the kNOwKnifeCrime charity; this was led by Laura Hughes, sister of Colin McGinty, who was stabbed to death in 2001. Their goal has been to raise enough money to raise bleed control kits or packs for all Sefton schools with the conclusion of their fundraising being a relay between 80+ schools across Southport, Formby, Crosby, Bootle and Maghull.
This week, all the children made posters in the charity’s colours and even had a visit from Laura herself on Tuesday afternoon, where we were able to give her a standing ovation. Wednesday was the event itself, which saw Freshfield Primary children running to our school to pass over a bleed control kit for us to then take to Formby High School. Upon arrival at our local secondary school, we were greeted by a cheering crowd and choir. It was incredible! Well done to the whole Year 6 class; each one had an important role to play, whether it be running, creating banners or welcoming Freshfield Primary onto our playground. Some of our children were also able to be ambassadors for the kNOwKnifeCrime charity by explaining its relevance and goals on BBC Radio Merseyside!
Even though only a small group could run to Formby High School, all of the class has been running this week as we have been taking part in the annual mini-marathon. On Friday, we were able to conclude our laps on the field…a successful end to the week!
The children are aware of their homework for this week and their weekly spellings have been set on Google Classroom as usual. Mr King’s group have the task of learning as many Y5/6 statutory spellings as possible! Please do also encourage your child to also work through the practice assessments set on SATs Companion.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Date: 18th Apr 2024 @ 5:13pm
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We have had a fantastic week back in Year 1!
We began our week with a new Science topic on Plants! We started by exploring a variety of plants, using our prior knowledge to identify some familiar plants. We discussed our favourite flowers and trees, and had a look at some more unusual plants. We sorted lots of images into plants and not plants, which allowed us to address any misconceptions. We are lucky enough to have a beautiful garden of plants in Year 1, which we explored as part of our learning, we were so amazed with their growth over the Easter holidays! The bright colours make our area look fantastic!
In Art this week we used various resources to practice colour mixing. We learned all about the primary colours and experimented mixing blue, red and yellow tissue paper, paint, coloured crayons and more. We created our own pieces of Art work using colour mixing to see which other colours we could create, it was lots of fun! We then explored this skill further by practising colour mixing throughout the week during Continuous Provision.
We discovered the meaning of Capacity and Volume in Maths this week, as we continued our measuring unit. This topic was excellent for working practically and using our estimating skills. We began by exploring different sized containers, with a focus on understanding the vocabulary – Capacity and Volume. We had a brilliant understanding of this, and quickly put that into practice by experimenting with water. We progressed our learning later in the week to work with various non-standard units of measuring such as sand, water and cubes. We discussed which containers we expected to have the greatest capacity, and compared the volume of different sized jugs and bowls. This has been a really great topic and we have enjoyed using our prior knowledge of non-standard units of measurement to effectively explore new mathematical concepts.
We had an extra special History lesson on Thursday, we introduced our new topic all about Toys! We are going to be exploring toys of the past, as part of our Children then and now unit. We were extremely excited to unveil which familiar toys were hiding in the feely bag, and were amazed to find some very unfamiliar toys were in there too. We used our enquiry skills to work out which toys were from the past and which toys were from the present. Following this we even had the chance to try out some of the old toys, and can’t wait to share all of our learning with our parents and grandparents, we have lots of questions to ask!
Enjoy a great weekend everyone! I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Date: 17th Apr 2024 @ 6:02pm
Welcome back after the Easter break, we hope you all had a lovely time off. The children have enjoyed talking about what they have been up to over the last two weeks.
The children have also spent some time learning all about ‘Eid’, the children learnt that Eid Al-Fitr means ‘the feast of breaking the fast’, which is a celebration that happens when Ramadan ends. We also talked about how we know that Eid Al-Fitr is here when we see a new crescent moon in the sky. The children have also enjoyed recalling previous learning about Ramadan.
The children started to notice that lots of the trees have started to get blossom. We talked about the different changes we notice across the four seasons. The children them had a go at creating their own watercolour painting of pink cherry blossom. Well done everyone!
On Wednesday we all got onto the coach and off we went to Knowsley Safari Park. We enjoyed a guided tour around the park, learning different facts about the animals. We then watched the sea lion show and met two sea lions called Arthur and Louis, who amazed us with their tricks. We then made our way to the Birds of prey display where we saw eagles, hawks, vultures and owls. What an amazing show this was! We then ended our day with a hidden habitats workshop where the children learnt all about the habitats that some of the animals live in. What a fantastic day we had. Reception you were amazing, we are so proud of you all.
Reception took part in a Mini marathon in support of the London marathon. We all ran around our outdoor area throughout the week to complete our laps. Well done everyone.
Reminders
Wednesday 24th April - EYFS profile meeting - 3:20pm in the Reception classroom
Friday 26th April - Mufti day - Donations for Uganda
Date: 17th Apr 2024 @ 12:57pm
Welcome back to our first week of the summer term and we hope you all had a lovely Easter break.
This week we have loved being back with our friends having lots of fun! We have also enjoyed starting our new theme ‘Under the Sea’ we began by discussing what the children thought lived under the sea and how they know these things. The children have also enjoyed making hand-print crabs in our creative area.
They also enjoyed talking about their experiences of going to the beach and paddling in the sea. The children particularly enjoyed using blue, green and white paint to explore the different colours they could make, this will be the fabulous back ground for our under the sea display.
The children have also enjoyed running laps of the big field as part of our ‘Mini Marathon’ event.
We hope the sun shines over the weekend!
Mrs Bevin, Mrs Molloy and the Nursery team
Reminders:
26th April – Mufti Day – Donations for Uganda
Date: 16th Apr 2024 @ 11:34am
What a fantastic first week back we have had! It was so lovely to see all the children back and enjoying spending time with their friends, excited to hear all about the new things we will be learning this term.
This term, our focus turns to looking at different churches in RE and considering if all churches are the same. Through research, we discovered this week that not all church buildings look the same from the outside but some have similar features according to denomination. We also used religious vocabulary to names features of a church we already knew from visiting St Peter’s and Holy Trinity Church.
We have continued to develop our knowledge of decimals in Maths. We now understand that when dividing, numbers can be shifted into the tenths and hundredths and we must show this by using a zero and decimal place before the number. We also recognised how to make a whole using tenths and hundreds. Next week, we will identify the fractions for a half, quarter and three quarters, we identified the correlating decimal and rounded decimals to the nearest whole.
Our new focus book ‘Where the Forest Meets the Sea’ by Jeannie Baker connects to our Geography and Art topics this term and is full of beautiful illustrates to showcase the wonders of a rainforest. We have explored the sounds associated with a rainforest and used descriptive language to outline what our senses could see and hear. Later, we took sentences from the book and changed the pronouns to ensure there was a varying range of pronouns used. Next week, we will be creating our own glossary of words in the book to unpick STAR vocabulary and consider the use of tense when describing the rainforest tin the past, present and future.
The classroom filled with excitement and determination to achieve a BINGO this week, as we explored a range of books from our reading corner in order to find different criteria on our bingo cards and to discover an interesting read to start the term.
In Geography, we focused on identifying the location of rainforests on a world map. We first identified the line of the equator and learnt that the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn are located above and below the equator line and it is within this zone that the rainforests are located. Our Science topic surrounding living things started with the use of classification charts, as we classified living things by considering which of the statements we could agree were associated with each plant or animal.
Using the artist Henri Rousseau as inspiration, we explored his famous painting ‘Tiger in a tropical storm’ and discussed the techniques used in the image. With our sights set on making the animals in the forest scene ‘pop’, we made our colour choices and began making the parrots drawn in our forest scenes stand out amongst the over growth. In PE, we began to take on the sport of Baseball, learning what the game entails and the names of the bases, key players and batting style we need to use.
With 13 laps to complete over the course of the week, we took to the field each day to complete laps in support of the London Mini Marathon. Whether we chose to run, walk, skip and jog, we ensured we motivated each other to cross the line and never give up.
If you would like to complete extra Maths practise at home, please use this link to access free workbooks covering topics from our Maths learning this year: https://whiteroseeducation.com/parent-pupil-resources/maths/free-downloads#download
It has been so lovely to have you back, Year 4! Have a restful weekend.
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 7:07pm
The Easter break has arrived!
Despite being a short week, we still managed to teach plenty of the curriculum…and beyond! This included two excellent workshops on Monday on lifesaving skills and an introduction to sign language. The latter was particularly interested as we had previously watched a news story on CBBC Newsround about sign language lessons being integrated into primary education in the future.
It was a very close 'class vote' to choose our next class novel..especially after the success of "The Final Year"! After looking at the front covers, reading the blurbs and then finally the first page of each potential book, we decided on "The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh" by Helen Rutter.
As computer scientists, we enjoyed some coding practice on Wednesday through our ‘Computing Day’. We explored the game, Crossy Roads, thinking carefully about its features and what makes it a good game. We were then introduced to the iOs app, Hopscotch to allow us to explore some of our STAR vocabulary: event, command, loop, random and range. Following this, we had apply our knowledge by using the app to create our own version of Crossy Roads. All the children were able to do this successfully, with some even managing to set various levels of difficulty and additional levels for their game!
In PE, our yoga and swimming sessions continued. ‘Well done’ to so many of the class, who also opted to participate in the trials for our tag rugby team on Tuesday morning. We think that is the quickest a large group of children have ever grasped the rules of the game!
On Thursday, we attended the whole-school Easter Service at Holy Trinity Church, where we were able to watch the Year 3 pupils perform the Easter story. We also enjoying joining in with several hymns and songs - which we have been practising each week during Sing and Praise - including ‘He Lives in You’ from The Lion King and 'Jerusalem' from The Nativity. The children thought so highly of the service that they sang these songs on the walk back to school!
The children are aware of their homework tasks and please recall that additional tasks have been set on SATs Companion for over the Easter break. The virtual classroom has also been attached to this blog. Please be aware we are not suggesting all of these resources are to be utilised and that the children's mental health is always the priority. However, as some parents and children have asked for additional resources to support them over the Easter break, we are sharing with all in case any other children would like to further revise over the holiday period.
We hope you all have a lovely Easter break!
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 5:00pm
Wow! Another term is complete! What a great Spring term we have had in Year 1, I am so proud of how hard you have all been working. We have made lots more memories and learnt lots of new skills!
We began our final week with a new Maths topic on Mass and Volume. Within this topic, we started by focusing on our STAR vocabulary, learning the meaning of words such as heavier, lighter, greater than and less than, as well as mass and weight. We had a great understanding of heavier and lighter, which was highlighted as we illustrated our ideas of heavy and light objects. We came up with some fantastic examples, for example, the Titanic, small cubes, trees, humans, and classroom furniture. We used measuring scales to have a go at measuring some objects so that we could physically see how the balancing scales work. We had a brilliant understanding of this and shared lots of great ideas as we discussed them as a class. I look forward to continuing this topic in the summer term.
In Geography this week we travelled to our final destination on our trip around the world! We found ourselves in Antarctica, the coldest continent of them all. We explored lots of interesting features of Antarctica and were amazed by some of the fascinating facts. Some of our favourites were that people often only visit for periods to complete research, there isn’t much to do there apart from seeing the animals, it very rarely rains and it is classed as a desert!
We took part in lots of Easter fun this week, getting into the holiday spirit. We got stuck into an exciting Easter egg hunt around our school field, where we ran around to find different coloured eggs that we later decorated with our own designs. We used our creative skills to complete some Easter crafts that we couldn't wait to share with you all at home! Our baking skills were put to the test as we made some yummy chocolate nests, we focused on teamwork during this activity and we took turns creating our tasty treat. We have been utilising all of our Art and DT skills to create beautiful cards and Easter baskets to bring home for you all to see. We really hope you love all of our creations!
Sadly, this term we are saying goodbye to our beloved Mrs Millington, I wanted to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to Mrs Millington for all that she has done for our Year 1 class. We are going to miss you very very much and will cherish the memories we have all made with you this year! We wish you lots of good luck in your next role, we know you will be amazing!
Have a brilliant Easter holiday everyone, you all deserve a lovely break and a restful 2 weeks. Thank you very much for all of your ongoing support, I look forward to seeing you all in the summer term, ready to make some more wonderful memories. Enjoy!
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 2:46pm
The Spring term has flown by! Well done to all the children for their consistent hard work and determination over the past few months. They have embraced new learning opportunities with enthusiasm and resilience. Our classroom has been filled with lots of laughter, learning and singing this term.
We concluded our Design and Technology unit by designing and creating fantastic eCharm pouches. Ensuring we understood the key features of a pouch, with consideration for the overall theme and the user. We used a template when cutting and were able to select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment needed to complete the task accurately. We finished by evaluating our ideas and products against our original design criteria and considered the views of others to improve their work.
We had lots of fun as we became keyboard adventures during our Computing unit this term. In an age of touch screens, we must still learn important mouse/trackpad skills, plus typing quickly and correctly. We were introduced to the QWERTY keyboard, how it got its name, and why it is arranged in that order. We enjoyed testing our typing speed on a computer keyboard versus an iPad keyboard. Of course, we also had a super time playing different typing games that helped to improve our typing speed.
We had been preparing for our Easter service for the past few weeks. On the last day of term, we showed the rest of the school alongside our family and friends just how hard we had been working to make it an incredible service. Our singing, acting and dancing were incredible, and it was a truly wonderful way to end this term.
Before heading home for a well deserved break, we had a visit from the easter bunny who had us all up dancing and singing. We left for Easter break with our hearts full of gratitude and tummies full of easter eggs.
We hope you have a peaceful Easter and look forward to seeing all your smiling faces next term.
Happy Easter from team Year 3 😊
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 1:25pm
Wow, what an amazing term we have had. Reception you are all amazing!
This week learnt all about how people celebrate Easter and the children talked about what they were doing over the weekend. The children then made their own Easter nests and took part in an Easter hunt. On Wednesday we went over to S.t Peter's church for our Easter bonnet 'WOW' service. The children took part in a parade to show off their amazing bonnets that they had made. The children sang three Easter songs with their friends in Nursery and three of the children said an Easter prayer. Thank you to Anne and Caroline for a lovely service.
On Thursday, Reception had a very exciting visit from the Easter bunny! We could not believe our eyes! What fun we had.
I have attached a link for the Reception class Virtual classroom below to access learning related to next half terms themes.
We hope you all have a lovely Easter break and see you all soon!
Miss Dalley and the Reception team
Reminders:
Monday 15th April - Return to school
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 8:32am
A fun and typically busy (albeit shorter) week to bring an end our Spring Term!
In our English learning, we were extremely proud to write up the “top copy” of our biographies on Commander Chris Hadfield for our Author Books. Accompanied by some watercolour artwork, the children worked hard to present their work in the style of a biography whilst also ensuring that their handwriting was neat and showcased their best. After all the hard work actually writing was complete, the children were able to use their creativity to structure and organise their layout and paragraphs as they thought best. Very impressive - take a look at the picture above if you need further proof! We were also delighted that Chris himself took the time to “like” our work on Twitter/X!
In Maths, we have been focused on arithmetic practice and Easter related problem solving. After half term, we will move onto measuring angles using a protractor before progressing onto coordinates and translation of shapes and points.
The end of the week brought lots of Easter fun as we were paid a visit by the Easter bunny, which included plenty of dancing. We completed some fun Easter artwork too and the children also sang beautifully in the Key Stage 2 Easter Service led by Year 3.
A fitting end to the week with Easter just around the corner! The Year 5 children deserve an enormous amount of credit for all of their efforts throughout this term and we hope they enjoy and make the most of their well-deserved break. Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable time with your families. See you in the summer term!
Reminders:
-PE lessons next half term will take place every Wednesday and Thursday.
-There is no set Maths and English homework for the Easter break, however the Year 5 ‘Virtual Classroom’ has been updated and attached to this blog, which includes links to a variety of websites and resources. All pupils' individual passwords can be found on Google Classroom. Don't forget, there is also the ‘Practice’ section on Mirodo where the children can choose any topic they wish to practise for Maths, Reading, SPaG or Science.
-School re-opens on Monday 15th April.
Date: 26th Mar 2024 @ 5:10pm
And just like that, it is the end of the Spring Term!
On Monday, we got into the Easter theme creating our own unique Easter cards. We started by carefully looking at a few designs before creating our own interpretations of chicks to eggs! The Easter theme continued throughout the week with a fantastic, with a fantastic Easter egg hunt and a visit from one very cheeky bunny!
We finished off our DT projects on Tuesday and created some incredible Ferris Wheels, we are so proud of everyone’s hard work and determination in creating their wheels but most importantly we have been blown away by your superb teamwork skills, well done, Year 2!
We finished off our diaries on Wednesday and what fantastic pieces they were! We cannot wait to start our next book, The Last Wolf, by Mini Grey!
It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to the wonderful Miss Lunt who has supported us all throughout the last year. We will forever be grateful for help and kindness and wish you all the best in your new role as a counsellor for children.
From all of us here in Year 2, we hope you have a wonderful Easter break full of love and laughter. We cannot wait to see you in April!
Please don’t forget to utilise the Virtual Classroom attached to this blog!
Reminders
- Our PE days will not change in the summer term and will continue to be on a Monday and Thursday. Please ensure your child comes to school in their PE kits on these days.
- As we approach the summer months, please can we ask that your children come to school with a water bottle and where possible a cap.
- Children can, if they wish, wear the summer uniform when we come back. Please refer to our uniform policy for more information, should you need it.