Weeks 5 and 6: Cooking up a storm

English

We have been reading "The Emperor's Egg", which is all about Emperor Penguins and packed with facts about their lives, which the children have loved learning about. We discussed new vocabulary and used our retrieval skills to answer questions about the penguins. We then made a class mind map of all the information we could remember and used this to write our very own fact files all about Emperor Penguins. We discovered that Daddy Penguins hold the egg on their feet for 2 whole months whilst the Mummy goes off to swim and eat lots of fish. When she returns, the chick has been born and she feeds him her sick - they loved this! Penguins huddle together to keep warm and we had a go at doing this in the classroom - there was a surprising amount of warmth generated for those in the middle! 

Maths

We finished our learning on place value to 20 and have now been adding and subtracting with numbers within 20. The children have used a variety of concrete objects and have been using their knowledge of number bonds to 10 to help add and subtract, whilst learning number bonds to 20. Great learning Year 1, well done!

History

We have been looking at different explorers, including Amelia Earhart, who was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and Ernest Shackleton who attempted to be the first person to reach the South Pole. We also looked at how transport has changed over time and looked closely at how cars have changed from the past. 


DT

The children learnt about axles and wheels and used this knowledge to build their own cars, working in small groups. They tested them to see if could be pushed along a smooth surface and a rough surface before deciding what they would change next time. We had some great creations! 
We also made explorer cakes ready for our Explorer Wow Day. The children worked by the recipe, carefully weighing out the ingredients and mixing it thoroughly. They worked well in groups and the cakes were delicious! 

Geography

We were so lucky to have an actual explorer come in to talk to us about her travels to Antarctica and the Arctic. She kindly shared photographs with us showing her boat trip and some of the many animals she saw on her travels, including whales, penguins and lots of different sea birds. She also showed us some of the clothing that she wore and brought in a variety of books in that the children really enjoyed looking through. She had maps to show us her long journey down to Antarctica. The children sat beautifully and listened very carefully and they had some fantastic questions to ask at the end, including "where is your favourite place you travelled to?" and "how did you get there?" 

Computing

We continued our computing lessons using "kleki.com" paint programme and we looked at Georges Seurat who painted pictures in the pointillism style using lots of small dots to create sunflower pictures. The children concentrated very hard whilst doing these and came up with some beautiful creations. 


Reminders

Our PE days are changing to a Wednesday after half-term so please send your child into school with their PE kit on those days. 

There will be no outdoor learning for this half-term so full school uniform on Fridays please. 

Our question we will be answer next half-term will be "What's at the Bottom of our Garden?" and we can't wait to get learning! 

Have a fantastic half-term and we will see you on Monday 19th February. 

The Year One Team

Year 1 Go Exploring! 

Today was our Wow day to end our learning around our question "Why Go Exploring?" and Wow! we were so very impressed by the children's fantastic outfits - a big thank you goes to all our wonderful parents for their imaginative outfits. 

We started the day with a science experiment after looking at another explorer - Isambard Kingdom Brunel - who was an engineer of boats, bridges and railways. We made predications about a range of materials as to whether they would float or sink. We then tested the materials in water to see whether we were right or not. Having tested the materials, they decided wood was the best material as it was floated but it was also strong. 

Yesterday, we had baked explorer cakes - these are packed with dried fruit for energy when exploring. The children weighed out the ingredients and took it in turns to mix them together, carefully spooning the mixture into the cases. They were yummy and went down very well with everyone this afternoon. 

This afternoon, we went on a parade around the school to show off the children's amazing outfits - thank you so much for your efforts - they looked fantastic and loved showing them off to the other classes. There were cheers and clapping and many high 5s as we moved around the school! 

We loved having you all in this afternoon to celebrate our learning over the half-term. I think you'll agree, they sang beautifully! Although it's been a shorter term, we've filled it with so much learning - from continents, to explorers, to Emperor Penguins - we hope you enjoyed seeing what we've been learning. 

Have a wonderful week off and a good rest and we look forward to seeing you back in school on Monday 19th February. 

The Year One Team.

Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday 6th February it was Safer Internet Day.

This is a worldwide event which raises the children's awareness of staying safe whilst using technology.

The Year 3 children have learnt a lot about staying safe online by accessing information, playing games and creating posters.

Earlier in the term, 3B shared some of the SMART rules in assembly.

For further advice on how to keep your children safe online have a look at the latest SCOMIS newsletter by clicking the download below.

Dear Parents and Carers,

You may have noticed that we have reduced the number of observations on Tapestry recently. We have received further Tapestry training and this has been a great opportunity to reflect on how we were using this platform. As a team, we realised we were using Tapestry more as a blog and round-up of the week; however, this is the purpose of our class blog on our school website. Tapestry is used for WOW special events as a class (such as school trips and cooking) and to help celebrate key milestones and achievements of your child individually.

We continue to thoroughly enjoy you uploading your own observations of special moments and key learning and development on your child from home. We can also share this as a class in show and tell time. This supports us in celebrating the wonderful accomplishments of your child!

Tapestry will additionally be used to share important messages and information.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Reception team

Spring 1 - Week 6 - feeling artistic! 

English
Over the past week, we have completed a small unit of learning focused on performance poetry. We watched a selection of brilliant performance poets and developed our own success criteria to answer the question ‘What makes good performance poetry?’. We got into small groups and rehearsed a poem, considering our success criteria. We then performed our poems to our friends down in Year 2 – a big thank you to them for being such a great audience.

Maths
We flew through the decimal unit and we’re now linking our learning about fractions and decimals. Soon, we will learn to understand and work out percentages. 

Art
We looked at the work of Mark Hearld and Angela Harding. These two artists create beautiful prints that are inspired by nature. Taking inspiration from their work, the children sketched out their own designs. These designs had to include animals or plants or both! The children then picked their favourite design and traced this onto a linoleum block. They then began to, carefully, carve out their designs. After half term, we will use these blocks to create prints.

PE
We had our final session with Mrs Ball up at Wadebridge School’s sports hall which involved the children taking part in two circuits: a skills circuit and a fitness circuit. The children showed great enthusiasm and determination and they finished their lesson with a huge game of dodgeball which was great fun!

Reminders
For homework this week, children need to complete: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs and Adverbs (pages 4, 5, 6 & 7) in their SPaG books and Written Adding and Subtracting (pages 10, 11 & 12) in their maths books. If you haven’t already – please return the permission slip for the ‘our girls can’ day on the first Monday back after half term.

Have a fantastic half term.
Best wishes,
The Year 6 Team

Spring Term 1 - Week 5 - Hear Ye, Hear Ye...

English

In English this week, the children planned their persuasive letters. They thought carefully about the devices, skills and knowledge they needed to include in order to be successful. Then using their plans, the children wrote to His Majesty, King Charles, persuading him to place Katherine Johnson on the honours list. The children drafted, edited and improved their letters, before checking their work against their success criteria. Once checked, the children ticked off their toolkits and shared/constructed feedback with their teacher. Next week, for the final week of term, the children will begin their performance poetry learning journey, they will discuss, learn and add actions to their poems and perform for their peers.

Maths

In Maths, the children finished their second fractions learning journey and completed their end of unit assessment. We then introduced the children to their new learning journey of decimals. The children looked at decimals up to 2 decimal places. With Mrs Callister once again, ahead of the game, the children had already been exposed to these and completed the questions with confidence. This allowed great opportunities to grapple with problem solving questions and explore decimals in different contexts. On Friday, we had a skills session where the children ‘Find their weakness and destroy it’ – The children looked at a range of arithmetic questions, selected their area of focus and engaged with the challenge. Mrs Callister took a group of children off to look at %’s of an amount and Miss Beckett supported addressing ‘silly mistakes’ – The session had great purpose and lots of children had their ‘Ah Ha’ moment.

Wider curriculum

In wider curriculum, we have come to the end of our Science learning journey. The children showed off their learning in an end of unit assessment. It was amazing to see all the wonderful learning from across the past weeks, come to the surface. The children were proud of their ‘Sticky Knowledge’. Next week we will begin our DT journey.

Music

Every Wednesday, the children have had an opportunity to place a range of brass instruments under the lead of Tony our music man. The children have been exposed to different instruments and have explored reading notes and playing. We looked forward to next week, where our journey will continue.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

Best wishes,

Spring 1 - Week 5 - Serious about seven

We have been learning all about the number 7 this week, and the children have taken their number formation very seriously. They filled up their whiteboards with as many number 7s as they possibly could. They absolutely loved this challenge. We extended our learning to find out all the different ways we can make the number 7. First, we used our knowledge of part-part- whole models and next we used the numicon. The children loved finding all the different ways they could add this way. 

In phonics, we have all shown how fabulous we are becoming with our reading and letter formation. Please keep reading the book that the children bring home with them in their book bags as this helps to embed the sounds that the children are currently working on at school, and encourages them to feel confident when we read as part of out phonics sessions. 

In our wider curriculum areas the children have been super busy creating clay animals and habitats, construction, writing and talking about polar animals and helping our little penguins escape from the block of ice!

Next week, we have our exciting trip to Eden. Please bring in your children at the normal time dressed in their school uniform. They will also need a waterproof coat, hat and gloves. If you have not ordered a packed lunch for that day, please ensure your child brings their own packed lunch. Also, don't forget to pack a water bottle. We will return back to school for the usual collection time of 3:10. 

We hope  you have lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

The Reception Team 

This week we have been learning about branching databases in Computing. We started off by learning how to gather data about objects by asking yes or no questions (closed). This allowed us to group them. Then we tested out some ready made branching databases to see how they work in action! We took it in turns to secretly select a picture and then used the yes/no questions to see if it was the chosen picture. Towards the end of the week we had a go at creating our own branching databases with the starting question ‘is it a fruit’. We then had to come up with further questions about texture, colour and size to create the branching database. Here is a link to have a go at home JIT5 (j2e.com)

This half term we have been thinking about pathways in our gymnastics. Each week we have learnt a new element to create our own gymnastic routines. We started making shapes with our bodies such as a pike, straddle, lying dish. Then we thought about travelling (bunny hop, snail, crocodile, frog). Then we added a balance (T- balance, battement, front support, kneeling). Lastly, we added a roll (log roll, egg, teddy, dish). After learning all 4 elements we planned a small routine to preform to the class. Each week we continued to think like gymnasts by showing tension in our bodies and pointing our toes and keeping hands straight.

Please don't forget to sign and return the trip letter for the Eden Project.

Have a good weekend,

The Year 2 Team

Fantastic work in Year 4!

Science
This Spring Term, we are exploring 'States of Matter' in science.  We learnt that there are three states of matter - solids, liquids and gases.
To show our learning, the class split into three groups and used role play to show the three states of matter.  We found that solids vibrate gently and are close together, in rows.  Theo described how liquids move freely within a contained space and  Evie-Rose explained that she was in the gases group and had to stay further apart and move freely.  
Can you see which photograph represents which state of matter?

English
Over the last two weeks, we have been writing biographies.  We have used our knowledge of Queen Victoria to complete an interesting biography of her life and in the process, have enjoyed discovering interesting facts about her life.

Maths
Multiplication and division have been the focus of our math's learning in Year 4 over the past few weeks.  We have learnt to multiply and divide a three-digit number by a one-digit number and multiply three numbers together to find its product.

PE 
DT Sports have taught us how to play netball.  We have learnt how to pass and receive the ball in different ways; find space and mark our partner effectively. 

History
We have now come to the end of our history topic on Victorians and have made some decisions about our topic question - 'Were the Victorians always on track?'  We have explored what life was like in a Victorian workhouse and made some shocking discoveries about the ages of the inmates.  We also learnt how Victorians led the way with their inventions of new transport and how they paved the way for the vehicles of today.  We all had different opinions of the Victorians based on what we have learnt.  Some of us felt that the Victorians were too strict and didn't treat their poor very well but others felt that, by providing work and shelter, they had a better life than being on the streets.  Some of us decided that the Victorians have helped us develop the transport that we use today whilst others felt that they cut through the countryside and began to spoil it for us.

Pirates and Merfolk
We are very excited to announce that we will be performing a grand, Year 4 play for parents and friends in school.  
The play is called 'Pirates and Merfolk'.  The children have decided which parts they would like to play and rehearsals have already begun.  It's looking good so far!
We will send out further details about costumes soon but it might be a good idea to keep a look out for appropriate bits and pieces.

We have a new member of our team!
We would like to welcome Miss Bragg to our team in 4B.  Miss Bragg is studying for her BEd Primary and will be helping to teach throughout Spring 2.  

Best wishes,
Year 4 Team

Spring 1 - Week 4 - We came, we thawed, we conquered. 

This week we had fun exploring the question 'What is ice?'. The children had some lovely ideas of where we might find ice, and some had an idea of what ice was. We discussed what ice was made from, and talked about how we could make ice ourselves. We then looked at a cup of water that we had left in the freezer overnight and discussed how it had changed from the day before. The children absolutely loved to feel and look at the ice. They explained that it had frozen, that the water wasn't a liquid any more and that it felt hard to touch. We left the ice in the classroom for the rest of the day to see what happened. The children were delighted to tell us that the ice was melting and getting smaller, and that there was now water in the bowl. 

To continue our icy theme, the children used ice cubes which had paint in to do large mark making in the creative area. They also designed and made snowmobiles and had fun in our investigation area with the fake snow and polar bears.

In maths, we explored the number 6 looking at how to write it, where we can find the number 6 around us, how we can make 6 with our part-part-whole model and how this leads into combing numbers (adding). 

The children have had an absolutely fantastic time in our outside area this week, where we have been able to put out some new equipment and resources. They have been so respectful and careful with all their new things. They have particularly loved the new water tables, ramps and den making equipment. 

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes,

The Reception Team 

Weeks 3 and 4 - Kadinsky creations

English

We continued our learning around adjectives and moved on to describing an image of the northern lights. Children used a wider range of vocabulary to describe the image, such as “sharp, pointy mountains” and “glistening, sparkling lights”. They then used their descriptions to write interesting sentences. We then came together as a year group and created our own adventure story with a problem and a solution. The children are very proud of their story, “The Rainforest Explorer”, which they brought home to read ready to write their own stories this week. Wow! We have been blown away by their story writing and the descriptions they have included. We can’t wait for them to share them with you on our Wow day on Thursday 8th February.


Maths

We have continued our learning about numbers to 20 using various concrete objects, such as numicon, dienes and rods and tens frames. We have also been learning how to use a number line to 20, building our own number lines, finding missing numbers from number lines and finding numbers greater or lesser than a given number. The children have relished these challenges and have been able to explain their reasoning, for example “I know that the missing number is 14 because it comes after 13 and before 15”.

Science

After making our windsocks last week, we took them outside to test them twice this week. Children made predictions before we went outside as to what would happen to their windsocks – “I think it will blow away”, “I think the wind will move it”. Despite all the high winds that we’ve had, the 2 days we went outside, there was only a slight breeze but, like real scientists, we recorded the weather conditions each day and pressed on. The windsocks did move when the wind picked up a little and they were able to discuss which direction it was blowing in. The question we posed to the children beforehand was “does the wind always blow in the same direction?” and they were able to answer that no, it does not. The wind changes direction and this was demonstrated by the movement of their windsocks. They will share their findings with you on our Wow day!

Computing

The children have been really enjoying our computing lessons  where we have been exploring "kleki.com", an online paint programme. We have looked at the different tools and how we can use them for different effects. Each week, we look at a different artist and their work and try to recreate it on the paint programme. This week, we look at Kadinsky and his colourful abstract art he created using squares and circles. The children tried to create squares on their blank page either by using the shape icon or using a pencil where they needed to be careful that the corners met. They then chose the "fill" tool and chose a colour to fill the squares with before drawing circles with the paintbrush, changing the width of the brush for different sized circles. There was a lot of concentrating whilst they attempted this and explored using different sized brushes and experimented with different colours and some of their creations were amazing! 


PE

We were very lucky to have Caja from Arena in on Monday 15th to deliver a Healthy Hearts and Healthy Minds session. We started by talking about how we keep our bodies healthy “eat healthily”, “hydrate”, “exercise” and “go to sleep”) and how we keep our minds healthy (“do some colouring in”, “exercise”, “play with our friends”, “have lots of hugs”). The children were fantastically behaved and she commented on how well they engaged with all the activities. We started by reading a book about moods and how these affect us physically and mentally before going outside to recreate some of the coloured mood movements outside. We then built volcanos with sand and added “dragon blood” and “dragon snot” (green and red food colouring!) to them along with bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to create a colourful erupting volcano – in the words of one child “That’s sooo cool!” We made rockets and attached straws to them to take them outside and “launch” them with a big breath – there was quite a bit of competition to see who could get theirs the furthest! We then had some Zumba in the hall – we had 3 very lively dances and I think we all agreed our favourite was the cowboy dance to “Cotton Eyed Joe”! Finally, we talked about what happens when things worry us and the effect that can have upon our mood or our body and mind. The children were given a worry monster to colour in that they could keep to tell their worries to – the worry monster likes to eat worries so it would take their worry away. We talked about the importance of sharing their worries with a friend or an adult too who would be able to help them to work through their worry.

Reminders

Our Phonics workshop is on Monday 5th February. We will run through what phonics looks like in Year 1 and give you details of the upcoming Phonics Screening Assessment – a statutory assessment that takes place in June. We will be talking about what you can do to support your child with their phonics learning.

Our Wow day in on Thursday 8th February – your child is welcome to come into school dressed as an explorer. Please do not buy a new outfit for them to wear – they can dress as though they are going to explore the arctic (warm clothes!) or space or the jungle. They are welcome to bring a small explorer rucksack in with a few items they might need for their exploration. Toilet rolls and string make excellent binoculars!

Have a wonderful weekend and we’ll see you all on Monday!

The Year One Team

Last week, the children were so excited to see snow as they arrived at Nursery. For some, this was their first experience of snow. 

Here are some photo's of the children having fun catching the snow. When we went inside, the children joined in with some wake and shake songs to warm us up. 

The children are learning about things that change and for the next few weeks, we are going to be focusing on how the weather changes. The children watched a PowerPoint about the weather and we discussed which weather is their favourite and why. We have a class weather chart on the wall and over the past few days the children have been changing the pictures regularly!! The children have been busy making their own weather spinner to use at home. The class have listened to weather sounds , drawn pictures of what they can hear and tried to name them. Some of them were tricky but the children listened well. The children used their fingers to paint a rainbow. They matched colour squares to a rainbow sheet. The children talked about different weather and how it made them feel.

Spring 1 - Week 4 - Ground control to WPA! 

English

This week in English, the children have continued their learning journey, with the focus text of ‘Hidden Figures’. The children started the week, by writing their main body of their newspaper articles. In the main body, the children had to give context to the event, explaining to the reader what happened. They then had to use their skills and knowledge of direct and indirect speech to embed within their paragraphs. The next day, they then reflected upon their main bodies, editing with blue pen before writing their conclusions. Finally, the children edited, drafted and improved their articles before writing them up in best! On Thursday, the children explored the key features of a persuasive letter. They identified the structure and the language. On Friday, they then composed their own formal sentences that they will use in their persuasive letters next week. The letters will be written to King Charles requesting him to put Katherine Johnson onto the honours list. This is the final piece of our learning journey!

Maths

In Maths this week, the children began the second part of their Fractions learning journey. To begin the week, the children were multiplying unit fractions – With Mrs Callister challenging us in our Morning work, the children had already been exposed to these types of questions, and therefore completed with ease and confidence. Next, the children multiplied by and integer, multiplied non-unit fractions and then began to look at finding a fraction of an amount or of a quantity. To end the week, the children explored finding the whole, it was a lively lesson, grappling with some tricky questions but the children were don’t stop Darwin’s and worked together to problem solve. Next week, we will continue to explore these types of questions in our Morning work.

Wider Curriculum

Science, science and more science! The children have had a fantastic week, the wider curriculum lessons started off with a bang when we had a visit from ‘Space Odyssey’. The children entered a space dome where they had an opportunity to show off their learning and gain some new knowledge! We were amazed by the sites and experiencing some of the wonderous space events that have taken place over the years. The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Moon and its phases and enjoyed being able to decipher some of the star’s constellations. Because of this incredible experience, the children were eager to find out more throughout the rest of our week within our science lessons. On Thursday, the children explored the relationships between the Moon, Earth and Sun. They created mechanisms and models to demonstrate their proximity and movement. On Friday, the children looked at the Sun’s movement across the sky and how this related to day and night! It’s safe to say that the children are loving our new inquiry question, please ask your children about their experience this week, I know they’d love to tell you!

Have a SPACEtacular weekend,

Best Wishes,

English this half term is all about Roald Dahl. Throughout this learning journey the children will explore texts written by Roald Dahl with the eventual aim being a piece of writing in the style of the Dahl. Across the learning journey, children will have the opportunity to make predictions using adverbs, identify key features of a Dahl text and compare Dahl’s writing to that of other children’s authors. The children will have lots of opportunities to showcase their literary creativity through tasks such as; adding speech to James and the Giant Peach characters, inventing dreams in the style found in the BFG and by writing additional paragraphs to Roald Dahls original work.

In Maths, we have started part 2 of our multiplication and division learning journey. This term we will cover multiplying 2 digit by 1 numbers with and without exchanging by using partitioning, multiples of 10 and related calculations. Following multiplication, the children will take on dividing 2-digit numbers by 1 using portioning into 10’s and 1’s and sharing into equal groups. Children will use part-whole models and place value counters to represent the calculations and support their understanding. It is important that children divide the tens first and then the ones.

‘Did the Age of Stone pave the path to Rome?’ is the enquiry question for the new wider curriculum journey. Throughout the learning journey children will be asked to ‘think like historians’ to understand what, why, when, who and how things took place millennia ago. The children will be get to handle Roman Artefacts, order timelines, investigate what people ate and design and make a device which uses leavers and pulleys the same way our ancestors did.

Thank you for your support in ensuring that children are looking smart for school each day and for following our uniform policy. It has been noticeably different when walking around the school this week. Just a reminder that there is a rail of clothing in the Reception area (and lots more upstairs!). Last weekend I took a huge bag of jumpers home for a wash and they are now on the rail. Please do take one! 
You can also purchase ties in the school office. Just make sure everything is named so that it can be returned to you. 

There have been many great learning opportunities across the school this week, but the most exciting has got to be the Space Odyssey dome that Y5 and Y6 experienced on Wednesday. The dome provides a live and interactive experience for the children. In the words of a Y5 pupil, "It was the coolest thing ever!"

As part of a 'Learning Walk' this week, I spent some time in each classroom. I saw some fantastic reasoning skills in Maths lessons (where children were grappling with some challenging concepts) and some brilliant oracy skills in English (where children in Y3 were having a thoughtful debate about a topic in their class reading book). I finished my time in Reception where the children were taking part in a 'Drawing Club'. 'Drawing Club' is a new initiative that we are trialling in Reception. So far it is proving to be a brilliant opportunity for children to immerse themselves in the magic of storytelling and to extend their vocabulary. The Reception children were using words like adored, galloped and elated. Impressive! 

It is always a pleasure walking around the school and seeing how the children's knowledge, vocabulary and skills develop as they travel up through the school. In each classroom there was a purposeful 'buzz' and some great interactions between the children. 

This term is whizzing by so quickly! Just a reminder that the final day of school is Thursday 8th February. Friday 9th February is an INSET day and the following week is half term. The first day back for the second half of the Spring term is Monday 19th February.

Don't forget to book into Bridge Kids for the half term. The team have planned some great activities! 

See you bright and early on Monday morning! 

Mrs Lee- Elkins