Our blogs

Year 1 Blog - Thursday 24th October 2024

Date: 24th Oct 2024 @ 12:39pm

Welcome to your weekly blog!

Home Practice

Sumdog challenge

Maths - Mass - heavier and lighter

Counting - Count in twos from 0 to 20. This can be tricky so adult help might be needed!

Reading - Please try to read each night, it makes a big difference!

Please remember to bring book bags in each day.

English

We continued to learn through the Winnie the Witch story. At the beginning of the week, we focused on Wilbur and how he was feeling. Then we sequenced the story and wrote our own versions in our books.

Phonics

Some of us have been learning the igh and oa sounds.

Some of us have been learning the oe and au sounds.

Maths

We used balance scales to compare mass using the words 'heavier', 'lighter' and 'equal'.

We also solved subtraction word problems using our maths resources.

Geography

We sequenced pictures from our trip to the library and created a timeline.

Forest School

We got the tarps, ropes and mats out to build some shelters.

Have a lovely half term!

Year 4 Blog - Thursday 24th October 2024

Date: 24th Oct 2024 @ 8:52am

Welcome to your weekly blog

We have had a brilliant half term in Year 4 and worked really hard!

Our learning this week:

In English, we retold part of a chapter and attempted to use lots of thoughts and feelings as well as a variety of sentence openers. In addition, we wrote a character description of Kensuke. We write words to describe his character and then used evidence from the text to back up our ideas. 

In Maths, we drew bar charts to present data. We needed to look carefully at the scale given and draw the bars accurately. Additionally, we interpreted data and solved one-step problems from information presented in bar charts.    

In RE, we listened to a story about the life of Oscar Romero. We then considered how his life and work was an example of faith made active in love. 

In Geography, we defined what a river is and discussed its features. We also listed some examples and non-examples of a river.

As it is half term, there is no Home Practice. However, please try and read every single day as this really helps unlock your learning.

Thank you to everyone who came to Parent’s Evening over the past two weeks.  It was lovely to see you and we hope you enjoyed looking at your child’s work.

We hope you have a peaceful and relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 4^th November 2024.

The Year 4 Team

Year 6 Blog - 24th October 2024

Date: 24th Oct 2024 @ 8:37am

Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog! 

This week in Year 6

English

In English, we have written our biographies all about Dame Sarah Storey. We have also applied our learning by writing an independent biography. We chose to research either David Wier or Ellie Simmonds, and worked hard to write all about their lives.  

Maths 

This week, we have been learning how to complete a division by chunking. We began by dividing a four digit number by a one digit number and then divided a three digit number by a two digit number. 

RE

In RE, we reflected on our learning from our 'Creation and Covenant' topic. We discussed all of the scripture that we had shared and chose our favourite, giving reasons for our thoughts. 

Topic 

In Science, we learned how to use a classification key to classify animals. We challenged ourselves to be creative with our questions! We also researched and presented to the class information about different invertebrates. We were very proud of our work!

In PSHE, we learned about why people might choose to get married. We learned that you have to be 18 to get married in England and Wales. 

In Computing, we thought carefully about how we could be safe communicating online. We discussed if communication platforms were private or public and learned about age restrictions on some communication platforms. 

Home practice

Please complete the following tasks by Wednesday 6/11/24 : 

Reading - Use your home reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a reading diary that must be used for the title of the book and any challenges chosen. 

Books may be changed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Spelling -  

Please practise these spellings this week. The rule to practise is looking at -able and -ible endings.  

All spellings are on Sumdog to practise for our test the first Friday back.  

Maths Challenges: 

Sumdog 

Counting: 

This week I would like you to practise counting in powers of 10 - 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000, like we have done in class. 

Choose a starting number and a power to count in. Can you challenge yourself to change your power of 10 as you are counting?

Times Tables: This week there are 100 times table questions to practise on Sumdog!

Maths Task: This week's learning is to revise Place Value facts, such as multiplying and dividing numbers by powers of 10.

Have a wonderful half term break Year 6!  

Year 5 Friday blog 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 4:10pm

Welcome to your Friday Blog

Home Practice

Reading

Please read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Use a dictionary to find the meaning of any words you don’t know or ask an adult.

Spelling

Here are your spellings this week.

accept   except     ball    bawl    berry    bury    grate    great   groan   grown   knot  not  mail  male

peace  piece  scene  seen

Counting

Count out loud in:

3s up to 42 and back again                                            3,6,9, …

40s from 0 to 400 and back again                                0, 40, 80, 120 …

10s from 980 to 1210 and back again                          980, 990, 1000, 1100 …

Times Tables

Please practise your times tables every day.

Well done to Dominic who was our times table rockstar last week.

Sumdog

Maths Competition – individual  

Spelling Challenge  

We have had a fantastic learning week in Year 5.

In English, we have been writing, using relative clauses for extra information. Well done Year 5!  

In Maths, we have been exploring number problems, continuing to use a wide range of addition/subtraction strategies and also trying to answer a variety of arithmetic questions.

We have continued to discover and discuss who our ‘neighbour’ is and how we can help them in our ‘love thy neighbour’ RE topic. We have been writing some lovely prayers to God to help us on our path in life.

In Science, we explored when forces are helpful and when they are unwanted. Everyone came up with great answers for this.

Finally, in Art, we finished our 3D maps of Narnia. They look fabulous displayed in the classroom.

Year 4 Blog Friday 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 12:45pm

Welcome to your Friday blog

Home practice

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Discuss what you have read with an adult. Can you predict what will happen next?

Spellings

These are your spellings which will be tested next week – please practise them

information            preparation           adoration     sensation               floatation

admiration             exaggeration         hibernation  propagation           imagination

concentration        moderation            education     differentiation      taxation

hesitation              litigation               isolation       invitation

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 8’s  

For example, start at 0 and count to 96 and back again

0    8    16   etc                         96   88   80  etc

Now try counting in 100’s from 253 to 1753 and back again

253    353    453    etc              1753    1653    1553  etc

Times tables and Number facts

Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. 

You can practise your tables on TTRockstars, Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk

Please also practise your number facts. 

You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button

It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.

TTRockstars challenge

• A ‘studio’ session

Sumdog challenges

• A spelling challenge based on the words above
• A times tables competition

In English, we wrote a letter to our parents in preparation for parents evening. This week, we also researched the meaning of words using both a physical and online dictionary, and then attempted to use them in a sentence of our own. In addition, we enjoyed using description from the novel to draw our own sketch of the island Kensuke and Michael are living on. Have a look at some of our drawings in the gallery.

In Maths, we consolidated our learning about perimeter. We used what we had learnt to calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes when some lengths were missing. Additionally, we derived and used addition and subtraction facts for 1 and 10 with decimal numbers (for example 0.1 + 0.9 = 1 and 4.8 + 5.2 = 10).

In RE, we listened again to the story of Joseph and then ‘hot seated’ his character. Following this, we wrote a prayer which helped us to reflect on how the virtues of faith, hope and love help us to be a good neighbour.

In P.S.H.E, we discussed who or where pressure may come from and performed this in role play.

In Science, we created a classification key using post-it notes. Have a look at some examples in our gallery.

In History, we were archaeologists! We looked at some Roman artefacts and then considered what they were, what material they were made from, who might have used them and what it told us about Romans / Roman life.

In Art, we used oil pastels to add some colour to our Very Hungry Caterpillar sketches. Have a look in our gallery to see how this has enhanced the story.

The Year 4 team

Year 1 Blog - Friday 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 12:39pm

Welcome to your Friday blog!

Home Practice

Sumdog challenge

Maths - Part whole models

Counting - Count in ones, forwards and back from 0 to 20.

Reading - Please try to read each night, it makes a big difference!

Please remember to bring book bags in each day.

English

We have been learning through the story of ‘Winnie the Witch’. We  produced some amazing writing this week, focusing on Winnie’s thoughts and feelings. We acted in role as Winnie and wrote sentences explaining how Winnie was feeling and why.

Phonics

Some of us have been recapping the ai and ee sounds.

Some of us have been learning the ew sound (oo and you) and recapping the wh and ph sounds.

Maths

We continued to use part-whole models in our learning. This week, we focused on using them to complete subtraction number sentences within 10. We learnt that the largest number must be the whole and one part is taken away from it.

R.E.

We shared some Bible stories together and spoke about how wonderful God is.

Geography

We drew a map of our route to the library. Some of us had a go at labelling the places that we walked past.

Forest School

We stayed in the lodge this week as it was so rainy! We decorated sticks with pipe cleaners and string. This is very good for developing our fine motor skills and builds on the knot tying from last week.

Library

We had a fantastic trip to the library. We listened to stories about giants and made our own plate peaches.

We will be changing reading books on Thursday next week so please have your book bag in school!

Reception Blog - Friday 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 12:37pm

Welcome to Reception's Friday Blog!

Phonics

This week we revisited all of our sounds we have learnt so far.

Drawing Club

This week in Drawing Club we read the Story of The Enormous Turnip. We enjoyed designing our own enormous vegetable and retelling the story using pictures.

Maths

This week we visited Number 3’s Garden.

RE

We revisited the creation story, retelling it using different items. We also discussed how we can look after our planet.

Expressive Art and Design

We printed with vegetables and paint.

We revisited the season of Autumn by making Autumn trees.

Understanding the World

This week we discussed the five senses. We focused on the sense of touch.

We also talked about fruits and vegetables and sorted them into groups.

Physical Development

This week played running games on the track and we practised hopping and skipping.

Forest School

We decorated sticks with wool, ribbon, pipe cleaners and wooden hearts.

We practised tying knots and twisting the pipe cleaners. We looked at some nature books and then went on a walk to test out the magical powers of our sticks.

Library Visit

Our walk to Longton Library was fantastic! A big well done to everyone for super listening!

Year 2 Blog Friday 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 11:42am

Home Practice

Reading: In Year 2, children should read for at least 15/20 minutes every night and talk about the book. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

Spelling: Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Thursday (24.10.24):

Any words from all the previous weeks spellings that you are not sure of. 

Sumdog: Complete the 'Properties of 2-D and 3-D Shapes' challenge. 

Counting: At home, count in 2's, 5's and 10's forwards and backwards. See how they relate to the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.

Follow the link below to play 'Hit The Button' and practise those times tables.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

English

This week we read our owl non chronogical reports to children in Reception, Year 3 and Year 4. We listened to the story of pumpkin soup and identified the contractions such as it's, didn't, I'll and don't. We also investigated noun phrases such as 'old white cabin'. We used our senses and imaginations to write noun phrases about duck's kitchen.We will be continuing with this learning next week.

Phonics

We revised ie as in pie and i-e as in wide.

Maths

The children have been learning about the names and properties of 2-D and 3-D shapes. We then moved onto measuring length, capacity and mass. The class used metre sticks and rulers to estimate and measure different objects around the classroom.

RE

Next week, we will continue learning about Baptism. It would be great if you could talk to your child about their own Baptism and maybe send some photographs (not precious ones) into school. We will use them to further discuss what happens at a Baptism and the importance of being part of the Church family.

The children had a go at drawing some Halloween pictures by following an artist's instructions.

The results were spooky and fabulous!

History

Year 2 read small extracts from the diary of Samuel Pepys and answered questions about what happened during the fire. They found it interesting that Samuel Pepys buried his precious cheese and wine to stop it from burning in the fire!

PSHE

We had a circle time. The theme was' don't do that'. We talked about strategies we could use and things we could say if someone was doing something we didn't like.

Forest School

This week we went out as a group all afternoon. 

We had a discussion about how to keep safe around the fire. We invented our own concoctions from, crumpets, bread, fruit loaf, hot dogs, cheese, pitta bread and wraps. We then toasted them on the fire-delicious!

.

Year 6 Blog - 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 9:17am

Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog.

Year 6 have enjoyed participating in Bikeability on Monday and Wednesday this week. The children worked hard to hone their road safety skills and all children who participated earned their Level 2 certificates. Well done for all your hard work Year 6, and for showing perserverence in the rain on Wednesday! 

This week in Year 6

English

In English, we have been learning all about Dame Sarah Storey, so that we can write a biography about her life. Did you know she is the most decorated female Paralympian in Britain? We have worked hard to research facts about her and started writing our biographies in class today. 

Maths 

This week, we continued with our multiplication topic. We learnt how to choose the most appropriate multiplication strategy to solve a question. Today, we started our new topic about division and learnt how to use partitioning to divide. 

RE

In RE, we created a piece of artwork to help us think about how Jesus restored our relationship with God. We called our artwork 'Jesus the reconciler’ and really enjoyed being creative! 

Topic 

In Art, we continued to scale up our dogs and worked on adding etchings to our images. We can't wait to make them into 3D pieces of artwork! 

In Computing, we learnt all about the different ways we can communicate online. We had to think carefully about what methods of communictation fit different contexts best. 

For PE this week, we have been honing our netball skills by playing matches to apply our learning! 

Home practice

Please complete the following tasks by next Wednesday: 

Reading - Use your home reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a reading diary that must be used for the title of the book and any challenges chosen. 

Books may be changed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Spelling -  

Please practise these spellings this week, which are from the Y5 and Y6 spelling list. 

All spellings are on Sumdog to practise for our test next Wednesday.  

Maths Challenges: 

Sumdog 

Counting: 

This week I would like you to practise counting in decimal steps of 0.01 and 0.02, like we have practised in class. 

Draw a line with some marks on it. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.

Start with different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in 0.01 and 0.02. 

Times Tables: This week there are 100 times table questions to practise on Sumdog!

Maths Task: This week's learning is to practise questions about multiplication and division which will help Year 6 to apply their learning from class this week. For further Maths work, please visit the 'Maths Training' section, where your child will be able to push their learning further with the skills that Sumdog has given them.

Have a great weekend Year 6! 

Year 3 Friday 18th October 2024

Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 8:21am

Welcome to your Friday Blog

We have had a great week in Year 3! We have learned lots of new maths strategies and finished our Charcoal topic in art, using our skills to create some fantastic self portraits.

Home Practice

It was lovely hearing about all the fantastic reading you do at home on parents evening. The children are all making fantastic progress and improving all their reading skills. Keep it up!

In maths this week, we have been learning the formal written method for addition and subtraction. Even though everyone picked up the method really quickly, a lot of us were making mistakes with our number facts. Fluency in these will give your children the best chance to succeed when they meet trickier learning as well as boost their confidence! We have set some number fact Sumdog challenges on Sumdog this week. Accuracy + Speed = Fluency.

Counting Practice - X3 

Your spellings this week all have the same spelling rule. Try and practice a little every night.

crystal   pyramid   bicycle   oxygen   gym   symbol   cymbals   crypt   hymn   syrup   cylinder   lyrics   mystery   typical    gymnast   lynx   myth   Egypt   gymnastics   syrup

This week in Year 3

In English, we started reading the wordless book, Journey by Aaron Becker. We have ben exploring the scenes and learning how to use different sentence openers to improve our writing. Next week, we will be writing the story and visiting Year 2 with our published work.

Year 2 came to visit us with their non-chronological reports about Owls. We were very impressed with their writing!

In PE, we have almost finished our invasion games unit. We have seen amazing improvement in everyone's tactics and ball skills. Next week, will be playing some games and evaluating our team's performances.

To finish our art topic we have created some fabulous charcoal self portraits. We looked at light and shade to create some 3d effects. Well done Year 3!

In Music this week, we have been composing our own version of The Carnival of The Animals. We worked in teams and will perform for Year 4 next week.

In Science, we learned about the skeletons of different animals and whether they had a back bone or not. We sorted these into invertebrates and vertebrates, and talked about how we knew which was which!

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 3 team.

Year 5 Friday Blog 11th October 2024

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 4:04pm

Welcome to your Friday Blog

Home Practice

Reading

Please read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Use a dictionary to find the meaning of any words you don’t know or ask an adult.

Spelling

Here are your spellings this week.

information   adoration  sensation  preparation   admiration   poisonous   dangerous   mountainous

famous  various  tremendous  enormous  jealous  humorous  glamorous  vigorous  courageous

serious

Counting

Count out loud in:

even numbers from 50 to 80 and back again             50, 52, 54, 56, …

60s from 0 to 600 and back again                                 0, 60,120, …

8s from 0 to 104 and back again                                  0,8,16,24, …

Times Tables

Please practise your times tables every day.

Well done to Joe who was our times table rockstar for the second time last week.

Sumdog

Maths Competition – individual  

Spelling Challenge  

We have had a super learning week in Year 5.

In English we have been writing short stories using co-ordinating and sub-ordinating conjunctions. We are also reaching the climax of our Narnia novel where the queen and Aslan  finally meet at the stone table.

In Maths we are continuing to practise addition and subtraction using number lines, compensation methods and partitioning. The children have also been tackling some challenging maths problems and have shown great resilience in searching for the answers. Well done!  

Our topic in RE this week was all about loving God and loving all people. We learnt about how much our little acts of love and kindness every day can make a big difference.  

Finally, in science, we explored the idea of forces working against each other and how to make things go faster through the air. The children really enjoyed making streamlined paper planes and competing against each other to see whose plane could go the furthest.

Year 1 Blog - Friday 11th October 2024

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 3:28pm

Welcome to your Friday blog!

Home Practice

Sumdog challenge

Maths - Place Value - Counting on from a number

Sumdog log ins are in the front of your brown reading book.

Counting - Count in ones, forwards and backwards from 0 to 20.

Reading - Please try to read each night, it makes a big difference!

Please remember to bring book bags in each day.

English

We continued to learn through the story 'How to Grow a Dragon'.

We have focused on using imperative (bossy) verbs in our writing this week, leading up to writing our own instructions about how to grow a dragon.

Phonics

Some of us learnt sh, ch, th and ng.

Some of us learnt aw, wh and ph.

Maths

This week in Maths, we learnt the words 'part' and 'whole'. We used part-whole models to represent different addition number sentences within 20.

We used the 'counting on' method to work out the answers.

R.E.

We continued to explore what ‘prayer’ means to Christians.

We read and explored the letter from Pope Francis about how to look after our world.

Art

We used water soluble pens to sketch objects from the classroom. We then added water to see how it mixes with the ink. Finally we added watercolour paint.

Computing

We recapped the different parts of a computer and laptop. We then used Paintz app and practised typing for the first time! We were amazed that  iPads have a keyboard that we can type on.

If you would like to access Paintz from home, the website is www.paintz.app

Forest School

Reception Blog - Friday 11th October 2024

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 12:36pm

Welcome to Reception's Friday Blog!

Phonics

This week we learnt the sounds m, d and g. We discussed what sounds we can hear at the beginning of different words, like; mat, dog and goat.

We also learnt the game nice to meet you! See the photos here.

Drawing Club

This week in Drawing Club we read the Story of The Three Bill Goats Gruff.

We talked about the vocabulary "gruesome" and what it meant. Then we drew our own gruesome character.

Maths

We visited Numberland this week and were introduced to our second number - number 2! We built number 2’s garden and we found objects that are 'one and another one' to. Rosie Posie the Problem Pixie came and mixed our gardens up, but we remembered where everything needed to go. See the photos here.

RE

We  listened to the Creation Story again. This week we  focussed on the animals and the humans that God created.

We sorted animals that live in the sea and on the land and we talked about our families. See the photos here.

Expressive Art and Design

We printed with string this week, using the primary and secondary colours. See the photos here.

Understanding the World

This week we discussed the five senses. We  focussed on the senses of hearing and sight.

Physical Development

This week we continued with our dough disco and pen disco to help strengthen our hand muscles.

Forest School

We listened to a story about Firey Fox. It taught us how to be safe around a fire. We watched Mr Corbett light the fire and we watched and heard the popcorn pop!

We also had time for some super child-initiated play.

Also, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to the Phonics Workshop - Please find our presentation here.

Year 4 Blog - Friday 11th October 2024

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 9:49am

Welcome to your Friday blog

Home practice

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Discuss what you have read with an adult. Write down the meaning of any words you don’t know.

Spellings

These are your spellings which will be tested next week – please practise them

young           touch           double          trouble        country

courage        colour          couple          southern      encourage

cousins         enough         nourish        countries     rough

cousin          doubling       touched       youngster    troubling

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 4’s  

For example, start at 0 and count to 48 and back again

0    4     8      etc                       48    44    40  etc

Now try counting in 10’s from 146 to 326 and back again

146   156    166    etc                326    316    306  etc

Times tables and Number facts

Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. 

You can practise your tables on TTRockstars, Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk

Please also practise your number facts. 

You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button

It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.

TTRockstars challenge

• A ‘Garage’ session concentrating on the 2, 5, 10, 3 and 4 times tables only

Sumdog challenges

• A spelling challenge based on the words above
• A maths challenge based on perimeter

In English, we read about Michael’s first encounter with Kensuke on the island. We then planned and wrote a diary account from Kensuke’s point of view. We tried to ensure we included lots of thoughts and feelings and made it entertaining for the reader.

In Maths, we measured lengths in centimetres and millimetres, writing lengths to one decimal place eg 4cm 7mm = 4.7cm. In addition, we learnt that perimeter is the measure of length or distance around the boundary of a shape. We then applied our understanding to help us calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes.

In RE, we listened to the story of Joseph who was given a wonderful coat by his father. His older brothers were jealous and sold him to passing merchants on their way to Egypt. We then discussed how Joseph’s decisions were informed by his faith, hope and love in God.

In P.S.H.E, we discussed how in different situations we may have different feelings, and described the physical states our bodies may experience. Have a look in our gallery at our pictures.

In Art, we continued with our retelling of the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ through sketching.  Have a look at some examples in our gallery.

In History, we learnt where the Romans came from, when Rome was founded (753BCE) and when the Roman Empire began and ended (27BCE – 476CE).

Have a wonderful weekend

The Year 4 team

Year 3 Blog Friday 11th October 2024

Date: 11th Oct 2024 @ 8:01am

Welcome to your Friday Blog

Home Practice

Mrs Woof and Mrs Lancaster have been so impressed with the progress everyone has been making in their reading. Keep reading every night for 10-15 minutes.

We have set 3 Sumdog challenges for home practice. A column addition practice, a x3 challenge and a spelling challenge. Your spellings are below. 

Continue to practise your counting at home. To build up fluency with the times tables count forward and back in 3s from 0 to 36.

forget   forgetting   forgotten  begin     beginning     beginner    prefer    preferred   gardening     gardener    limiting   limited   limitation   footballer     writer    writing    reading     reader

These follow the suffix rules and have multiple syllables. Remember to spell one syllable at a time to break up the word.

This week in Year 3

This week in English we enjoyed reviewing The Twits and started our new story Journey by Aaron Becker. We added speech to the wordless story and explored the feelings of the main character at the start of the story.

In maths this week we've been learning how to use the formal written method for addition. We learnt how to exchange our ones when using the column method. Next week we will be looking at exchanging tens and meeting the formal written method for subtraction.

In RE this week we have been reading the prayers written by Pope Francis about how we can take care of our planet. We talked about how doing little things can make a big difference and the children shared some lovely ideas.

We have been studying climate zones and what features each have. We also tracked the hurricane in Florida and had a good conversation about what causes these storms.

We've been further developing our tactics in some 4V2 invasion games. Everyone's ability defying space and working as a team has been fantastic. Well done Year 3!

On Monday, as part of Forest School, we went for a walk through our top field to spot the changes since we were last there. We spotted a few fungi, blanckberries and acorns. We then explored our log circle area.

What a brilliant week of learning!

Enjoy a well earned rest this weekend.

The Year 3 Team.

Year 2 Blog Friday 11th October 2024

Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 7:00pm

Home Practice

Reading: In Year 2, children should read for at least 15/20 minutes every night and talk about the book. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

Spelling: Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Friday (18.10.24):

door, floor, poor, because, find, kind, mind, behind, child, children

Sumdog: Complete the 'Adding Three/Four 1-digit Numbers' challenge. 

Counting: At home, count in 10's forwards and backwards but start on a 1-digit number.

For example, 2, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52 or 7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57 or 8, 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68. 

What do you notice about the numbers you are counting each time?

English

This week we have become owl experts. We read at a piece of non-fiction writing about owls and wrote down all the facts we could find. We learnt about the features of a non-chronological report, wrote a plan and started to write our own report.

Phonics

We revised ai as in train, eigh as in eight, a as in apricot, ea as in steak, ay as in tray, a-e as in take and ey as in grey. We played bingo and we also wrote sentences using as many of the words as we could.

Maths

The children have been adding/subtracting 2 digit numbers, 26+32 or 49-33 using tens and ones apparatus, lines and dots and by mental partitioning methods. We have also continued our work on number bonds to 10, 20 and 100. This came in useful when we were adding three 1-digit numbers together. For example, 3+5+7=15. The children calculated 3+7=10 first, then added the five to make 15.

RE

This week, we have revisited the sacrament of Baptism. The children thought about the signs and symbols of Baptism (white garment, water, Baptismal Candle, oils) and what happens in Church when a baby is Baptised.

The children were busy in our Art lesson, they painted over their oil pastel leaves using water colours. The effect was amazing, they looked really life like! We have some budding artists in Year 2.

Geography

During our lesson, we looked at the continent of Antarctica in more detail. Year 2 St Oswald's 2024-2025 have been included in a time capsule that is travelling on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough headed for the Rothera Research Station in Antarctica. It leaves on 13th October and we will have weekly updates and information about the journey, weather, crew, animals and findings. The children are so excited about it!

Science

This week we learnt about things which are living and things which have never been alive.

Year 6 Blog - 11th October 2024

Date: 10th Oct 2024 @ 11:56am

Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog.

Year 6 have had an exciting end to their week after their taster day at All Hallows today! 

This week in Year 6

English

In English, we have continued being inspired by the novel ‘Wonder’ by R J Palacio. We thought carefully about how different characters percieve August. We have also been inspired to create some poetry based on the themes from the novel - we were especially proud of our palindrome poetry, which is a special type of poem that reads two different messages when you read from top to bottom and bottom to top! 

Maths 

This week, we have learned how to use the grid method to multiply up to a four digit number by a two digit number. We also learned how to multiply mentally using a compensation strategy. 

RE

In RE, we have explored the Nincene Creed, and discussed how Catholics can make a common statement of their faith using this creed. We were then inspired to create some poetry about  ‘A world where everyone is equal’ by considering the ways in which all human beings have innate dignity and equality.

Topic 

For PSHE this week, we explored strategies that we can use to be assertive and stand up for ourselves. We created some amazing posters about our strategies!

In Art, we learned all about scaling up. We have begun to create larger drawings of dogs, so that we can turn them into a 3D model! 

In Computing, we learned all about what a data packet is, so that we could understand how computers transfer data and files between each other. We made our own messaages and broke them down into packets - just like a computer would.

For French this week we continued looking at how to read and say the time. We practised 'Il est heure' and learned 'et quart, et demie and moins le quart'. We matched clock faces to sentences. 

Home practice

Please complete the following tasks by next Wednesday: 

Reading - Use your home reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a reading diary that must be used for the title of the book and any challenges chosen. 

Books may be changed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Spelling -  

Please practise these spellings this week, which are from the Y5 and Y6 spelling list. 

All spellings are on Sumdog to practise for our test next Friday. 

Maths Challenges: 

Sumdog 

Counting: 

This week I would like you to practise counting in decimal steps of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.25.

Draw a line with some marks on it. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.

Start with different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in 0.1:

5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, etc

and in 0.2:

6.5, 6.7, 6.9, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5, 7.7, etc  

Times Tables: This week there are 100 times table questions to practise on Sumdog!

Maths Task: This week's learning is to practise questions about multiplication, which will help Year 6 to apply their learning from class this week. For further Maths work, please visit the 'Maths Training' section, where your child will be able to push their learning further with the skills that Sumdog has given them.

Have a happy weekend Year 6! 

Year 5 Friday blog 4th October 2024

Date: 4th Oct 2024 @ 4:05pm

Welcome to your Friday Blog

Home Practice

Reading

Please read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Use a dictionary to find the meaning of any words you don’t know.

Spelling

Here are your spellings this week.

beginning   beginner   gardening  forgotten  gardener  limiting  forgetting  limitation  basically

angrily    gently  nobly   simply   humbly  dramatically  preferred  usually

Counting

Count out loud in:

even numbers to 40 and back again                             0, 2, 4, 6, …

    40s from 0 to 400 and back again                                 0, 40, 80,120, …

11s from 0 to 154 and back again                                  0,11,22,33, …

Times Tables

Please practise your times tables every day.

There is a competition between Year 4 and Year 5 this week on Times Tables Rockstars. Fingers crossed Year 5!

Well done to Joe who was our times table rockstar last week.

Sumdog

Maths Competition – individual  

Spelling Challenge  

We have had another great week in Year 5.

In English, we continued learning about adverbials. The children wrote some fantastic spy letters to the Queen of Narnia, using fronted adverbials for cohesion in their writing.

In Maths, we moved on to our new topic of addition and subtraction. We have been practising partitioning and considering other suitable methods we could use. 

Our focus in RE this week was the Catholic virtues. We discovered that virtues are simply the habit of doing good things in life.   

Jazz continues to be the theme in music and everyone enjoyed learning a new piece on the djembe drums.

 Finally, in Geography, Year 5 enjoyed going on a virtual field trip to Malham in Yorkshire and learning about the rural aspects of England.

Year 3 Friday Blog 4th October 2024

Date: 4th Oct 2024 @ 3:58pm

Welcome to your Friday Blog

We have enjoyed our harvest celebration this week and finished our Twits class novel.

Home Practice

Read, read and read some more. Everyone is making great progress with their reading and we're very pleased with all the book changing that is happening!

We have set 2 maths challenges for your Sumdog practice. We have been learning about bar charts this week, so there is a challenge to practise these skills. Also, we've set a x2,x5,x10 and x3 times tables practice. Try have ago on both! 

Keep counting as well. Here is a counting playlist to listen and sing along to.

For your spellings this week, we are revisiting the suffix rules. Have a go at practising these words, choose 2 or 3 a day. There is also a Sumdog Spelling challenge on these words.

This week in Year 3

We have loved reading The Twits! Lost of laughs and gasps and great discussion. We have written some play scripts and a letter to the Twits this week and on Monday we will be reviewing the story with our own book reviews.

In maths, we have learning to read bar charts and answer addition and difference questions using the information. The children have shown brilliant understanding with their maths learning this week.

In RE this week we read The Song of The Animals written by Saint Francis of Assisi. We talked about which parts of this poem showed how St Francis was thanking God for his creation and created some lovely art to accompany our ideas.

In art, we have been exploring texture and depth and used our skills to sketch some plants in torchlight. Check out our gallery.

In PE, we have been practising our throwing, catching and tactics in some 4V1 games. We also focussed on honesty and fairness when playing these games. Have a look in our gallery.

In geography this week, we explored the physical features of the UK using different maps. We discussed the differences between human and physical features and created our own physical maps of the UK.

Reception Blog - Friday 4th October 2024

Date: 4th Oct 2024 @ 12:58pm

Welcome to Reception's Friday Blog!

Phonics

This week we have learnt the sounds p, i and n. We have talked about what sounds we can hear at the beginning of different words, like; pin, insect and noodle.

Drawing Club

This week in Drawing Club we have listened to the story of The Little Red Hen.

We drew the Little Red Hen and we created something new for her to bake.

Maths

We visited Numberland this week.

 We built number 1’s garden and we found objects that are on their own to add to it.

Rosie Posie the Problem Pixie also paid us a visit to change the garden. We tried to spot what she had changed.

Have a look at the pictures here.

RE

We listened to the Creation Story this week and talked about all the wonderful things that God has created in our world.

We also visited Church to take part in the Harvest Festival.

Expressive Art and Design

We made pictures which included our own special people.

In Music we listened to the rhythm of instruments.

Understanding the World

This week, we discussed the five senses. We focussed on the sense of smell this week and what we use to smell with. Have a look at us using our sense of smell here.

Forest School

This week we played a game where we hid toys in the nature area. We were in teams and the team who found the most toys was the winner.

We also learnt how to tie knots in strawberry laces. We persevered and realised that the more we practise any skill, the easier we will find it. We made the strawberry laces disappear!

Then it was time for some child-initiated play. We were finding and cooking apples, finding snails and ladybirds, climbing and jumping as well as inventing our own games. We had a lovely review session at the end.

Year 1 Blog - Friday 4th October 2024

Date: 3rd Oct 2024 @ 7:40pm

Home Practice

Sumdog challenge

Maths - Place Value - Representing objects

Sumdog log ins are in the front of your brown reading book.

Counting - Count in tens, forwards and back from 0 to 100.

Reading - Please try to read each night, it makes a big difference!

Please remember to bring book bags in each day.

English

Our story this week was How to Grow a Dragon by Rachel Morrisroe. We’ve had lots of fun exploring the book, creating our own dragons and writing some amazing sentences describing them. The children couldn’t believe that Miss Fisher’s own dragon came to visit school!

Phonics

We have focused on our phase 3 and phase 4 tricky words. We practised writing them and wrote them in some super sentences.

Maths

This week in Maths, we started to learn about measurement and the different ways in which we can measure objects. We measured objects practically using cubes, and compared them using the words taller, shorter and longer.

R.E.

We continued to explore what ‘prayer’ means to Christians.

We wrote our own personalised prayer to God, which acknowledged His actions and purpose.

Science

This week, we focused on our sense of smell. We conducted a smelling experiment, guessing what was in the jars by using our sense of smell alone. The children pulled some funny faces as some of the smells were not very nice!

See our pictures here.

Computing

We continued to learn about different forms of technology. We identified the parts of a computer and compared them to a laptop. Then we had a go at dragging and dropping objects on the iPads and experimenting on the Paintz website.

French

This week in French, we recapped some greetings: bonjour, salut, au revoir, mademoiselle, madame and monseiur. Then we learnt bonsoir and à bientôt.

Forest School

What beautiful Autumn weather for our session. We harvested the seeds from the sunflower heads. We were amazed that one sunflower produces hundreds of seeds which we can plant next year.

Mr Corbett lit a fire for the Kelly Kettle, and we knew the water was boiling when we heard the whistle. We followed all the instructions to keep safe around the fire.

We had a lovely hot chocolate with marshmallows.

We also had time for our own learning - balancing, building, climbing, jumping, bug hunting and running were just some of the things we got up to.

Super teamwork, communication and resilience was shown.

Year 4 Blog - Friday 4th October 2024

Date: 3rd Oct 2024 @ 1:19pm

Welcome to your Friday blog

Home practice

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Discuss what you have read with an adult. Can you spot any co-ordinating conjunctions in sentences?

Spellings

These are your spellings which will be tested next week – please practise them

crystal         gym             hymn            mystery       myth

pyramid       symbol         syrup           typical         Egypt

bicycle         cymbals        cylinder       gymnast       gymnastics

oxygen         crypt           lyrics

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 3’s  

For example, start at 0 and count to 36 and back again

0    3    6      etc                        36    33     30  etc

Now try counting in 10’s from 268 to 428 and back again

268     278    288    etc             428    418    408  etc

Times tables and Number facts

Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. 

You can practise your tables on TTRockstars, Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk

Please also practise your number facts. 

You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button

It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.

TTRockstars challenge

• A ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition against Year 5 – please log on and have a go!

Sumdog challenges

• A spelling challenge based on the words above
• A maths challenge based on the 3 times table which we have been revisiting this week

In English, we learnt the acronym FANBOYS to help us remember the 7 co-ordinating conjunctions. The conjunctions are For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So. We then practised using these conjunctions in sentences. We hope to try and use more compound sentences in our independent writing.

In Maths, we used partitioning and number lines to help us add and subtract numbers when we needed to bridge 10 and 100. This was quite tricky, but with a bit more practise we hope it will become a little easier. In addition, we learnt how to measure and draw lengths as properties of 2D shapes, as well as how to measure in centimetres and millimetres.

In RE, we consolidated our learning of the words - virtue, faith, hope and love. We then read St John Henry Newman’s ‘Mission of my Life’, underlined our favourite line, and explained why we chose it. We also explained how we could relate it to our everyday lives. 

In P.S.H.E, we discussed good and not so good feelings and how they can affect our physical state. We ordered sets of feelings based on their intensity.

In Art, we began to retell the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ through sketching.  

This week, we also attended the Harvest Celebration in church on Friday afternoon. Thank you for your harvest gifts – these will be donated to a local food bank.

Have a relaxing weekend

The Year 4 team

Year 6 Blog - 4th October 2024

Date: 3rd Oct 2024 @ 11:43am

Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog!

Thank you for all the Harvest donations – our box was overflowing in class! Year 6 have worked hard to be a part of the Harvest service at church today. All of the children sang and read beautifully – well done Year 6!

This week in Year 6

English

In English, we have started our new topic all about the novel ‘Wonder’ by R J Palacio. We have worked hard to use our inference and retrieval skills while reading the story together. In class, we have also explored formal and informal letters by writing in role. We researched what Treacher Collins syndrome is, a condition that the main character, August, was born with in the story.

Maths 

This week, we have learned lots of strategies for multiplication. We have learned how to partition to multiply whole numbers and decimals and we have also used the grid method to multiply four digit numbers by one digit, and numbers with two decimal places by one digit.  

RE

In RE, we have explored the signs and symbols linked to Baptism. We have also shared John1:1-5 16-18 and thought about what the words from the scripture meant. We were inspired by the scripture to reflect on the question: "How can I live as a light for others, sharing the grace of God that I received in Baptism?"

Topic 

For Geography this week, we researched all about the four highest peaks in the UK. We learned that the four highest peaks in the UK are: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Slieve Donard. We worked hard to create leaflets to explain all about where the mountains are located and how tall they are!

In Music, we continued to explore the music of John Williams, listening and appraising the score from Jaws. We also played the glockenspiels and learned the theme from Jurassic Park.

In Science, we completed an investigation to determine if micro-organisms are alive. We were able to determine that yeast, and micro-organisms, are alive because we could observe them respiring. You can see our investigation on the class galleries!

Home practice

Please complete the following tasks by next Wednesday: 

Reading - Use your home reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a reading diary that must be used for the title of the book and any challenges chosen. 

Books may be changed on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Spelling -  

Please practise the following spellings this week, which are from the Y5 and Y6 spelling list. 

All spellings are on Sumdog to practise for our test next Friday. 

Maths Challenges: 

Sumdog 

Counting: Practise counting in your multiples! 

Choose a times table. How far can you count in multiples of that number? Can you count backwards as well as forwards?

Times Tables: This week there are 100 times table questions to practise on Sumdog!

Multiples: This week's learning is to practise questions multiples and factors, which will help Year 6 with their multiplication work in class. For further Maths work, please visit the 'Maths Training' section, where your child will be able to push their learning further with the skills that Sumdog has given them.

Have an amazing weekend Year 6! 

Year 2 Friday Blog- 4th October 2024

Date: 1st Oct 2024 @ 5:36pm

Home Practice

Reading: In Year 2, children should read for at least 15/20 minutes every night and talk about the book. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

Spelling: Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Friday (11.10.24):

he, she, no, so, my,some,our, pull, put, push

Sumdog: Complete the 'Adding multiples of 10 ' challenge. 

Counting: At home, play the 'follow me' game that you learnt in class. Count in 2's, 5's and 10's forwards and backwards.

English

This week we wrote sentences about Plop. We pretended to be Plop. We are trying so hard to form our letters with lead-ins.

We wrote a book review.

Phonics

We have been revising eigh as in eight, ey as in grey, a as in apricot and ea as in steak.

SPaG

We have been learning about conjunctions (joining words) and writing sentences including... and, but, because, so. The children are trying to use them as often as possible in their own writing.

Maths

The children have been adding/subtracting a multiple of 10 to/from a 2 digit number, 26+20 or 41-30. We have also worked on number bonds to 10 and 100.

RE

This week, we have read Psalm 139 together. The children learnt that a Psalm is a bit like a song or a prayer. They responded to the Psalm with their own art work in the style of Eva Crawford.

French

Year 2 have been drawing leaves - Fir, Birch, Hazel, Willow, Sycamore and Oak. First they used pencil, then oil pastels. Next week, we will paint over their oil pastel leaves using water colours to see the effect.

Geography

The children know the seven continents and five oceans so well now. During our lesson, we looked at the continent of Asia in more detail. 

Forest School 

Mrs Wood gave every class a bag of daffodils and we planted ours today.

We had a great time in the log circle area- building dens,making obstacle courses, cooking with apples, climbing, balancing, jumping and finding creatures.

We have been using leaves as our inspiration in our art work and we found some of the leaves outside.

Science

We learnt about food chains and drew our own.

Thank you for all your generous Harvest gifts.

Year 5 Friday blog 27th September 2024

Date: 27th Sep 2024 @ 4:09pm

Welcome to your Friday Blog

Home Practice

Reading

Please read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Use a dictionary to find the meaning of any words you don’t know.

Spelling

Here are your spellings this week.

dragged     dragging   stopped  playing   stopping  speedily   sadly   played   completely   usually

finally   frantically  comically  supporting   supported  creatively  happily  working   worked 

accidentally

Counting

Count out loud in:

Odd numbers to 31 and back again                                  1, 3, 5, …

30s from 0 to 330 and back again                                 0, 30, 60,90, …

12s from 0 to 144 and back again                                  0,12,24,36, …

Times Tables

Please practise your times tables every day.

Remember, you can now compete and have lots of fun on Times Tables Rockstars.

Well done to William who was our times table rockstar last week.

Sumdog

Maths Competition – individual  

Spelling Challenge  

We have had a wonderful week in Year 5.

In English we have done lots of challenging and enjoyable writing. We wrote a persuasive letter from the queen of Narnia to the children. Everyone worked very hard on this. We also spent time learning about and using adverbs and adverbial phrases.

In Maths we have been continuing with rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000. We have also been practising ‘what is 100/1.000/10,000/100,000 less than’, using 6 digit numbers.

Our topic in RE this week was all about making the right choices in life so that we stay close to God, our families and friends.

In music we have been listening to jazz music and trying to identify instruments. The children enjoyed learning about Louis Armstrong and his trumpet.

In French the children celebrated European day of Languages and found out about the benefits of learning other languages from Europe.

We conducted another experiment in science this week relating to friction. We measured the newton force required to move shoes along different surfaces. The children worked really well as young scientist explorers.

Finally, in art the children once again showed their creative side by creating drawings on maps. Well done Year 5.