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Year 1 Friday Blog 8th October 2021

Date: 7th Oct 2021 @ 10:01am

Welcome to the Year 1 Friday blog!

In English this week, we have finished Dogger and linked the story to our PSHE lessons. We have explored how the characters (especially Bella) have been kind and why they chose to be kind. We loved writing a special thank you note to Bella from Dave thanking her for getting Dogger back. The class have produced some super sentences!

In Phonics, we have been making comparisons between phase 3 and phase 5 sounds, in particular ai and ay. We are now more able to question which sound to use in our writing.

In Maths, we have been making the numbers 11-20 using tens frames, straws and cubes. We have learnt to make a group of ten and then count on to our specified number. We have used our mathematical reasoning to solve problems and make number sentences.

In Science, we have been comparing different animals and spotting their similarities and differences. In P.E. we have been developing our running and bouncing skills in the hall and worked together as a team to pass the ball to each other. 

We have done some French with Mrs Quilliam and Music with Mrs Winter. 

In R.E. we have started our new topic of Belonging. We have talked about the groups that we belong to and how we can work together as a team!

Thank you for all your Harvest donations, we have filled two boxes in our class! All our collective worships this week have been about Harvest. We had a lovely Harvest Celebration in golden assembly.

Lost items

We seem to have children losing their jumpers and cardigans each day. Please can you make sure each piece of clothing is named.

Look on the class gallery to see our golden stars for this week.

For your Home Practice,

Please read for at least 10 minutes every day. It really does make all the difference. We change the books on a Friday, please sign the diary.

There are also tricky words on green card which your child needs to be able to read on sight. Play games with these words, match them, find them when you are out and about.

Sumdog challenges this week...

Phonics-ay and ai

Maths- 1 more, 1 less

Please do lots of counting in 1s.Start at different numbers, count forwards and backwards. When you stop at a number what number is 1 more? 1 less?How do you know?

Have a go at counting in 10s. Start at 20 and stop at 80, start at 50 and count back in 10s to 30 and so on. Write the numbers on pieces of paper, order then then remove one. What number has been removed? How do you know?

Have a lovely weekend!

Reception 1st October

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 3:57pm

What a super week we have had! 

This week we have been reading 'The Three Little Pigs'. During literacy, we have drawn story maps, sequenced the story with pictures, acted out our own version of the story and followed instructions to make piggy biscuits.

We have been looking at the numbers 1-5 in maths and have loved watching the numberblock stories to help us understand the amounts. We have loved looking back at our baby pictures thinking about the differences from then to now. 

We took our first visit up to the school pond, it was amazing to listen and look at all the different things we could see up there. The children really enjoyed themselves. 

Year 2 Home Practice Friday 1st October 2021

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 3:49pm

We have had a great week in Year 2, well done to everyone for trying so hard with their learning. Our new novel is Burglar Bill by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. The children made some great predictions about the story and created a list of ideas to help Burglar Bill with the baby. In Maths, we started the Red Rose Mastery scheme, the lessons focused on number and place value. In Geography, the children have drawn and labelled the school grounds and explored the key features of maps. In RE, they wrote their own Psalms thanking God for our friends. The portraits they drew were fantastic, very colourful and in the style of Picasso.

Keep up the good work everybody, we are looking forward to next week, and have a great weekend.

Reading

In Year 2 we aim to read for a minimum of 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an older sibling or adult to help deepen your knowledge.

Please sign and leave a small comment when you read with your child.

Reading books are changed every Monday.

Reading resources:

Oxford Owl – This resource has an exciting range of carefully levelled books to help children learn to read, and love to read.

If parents and children decide to use this resource, we ask they access phase 5 books. Go to https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ and select ‘my class login’. Scroll down to the red box ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’

Username: sto2

Password: 1234

Resources for questioning your child while they are reading - https://www.literacyshedblog.com/uploads/1/2/5/7/12572836/ks1_reading_vipers.pdf

Spelling – Your child will know which group they are in for phonics. Please learn the correct set of spellings below.

This week we have been learning how to spell words with the ‘ue’ sound.

Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Friday. A sheet will go home every Tuesday with the spelling lists on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.

This week’s spellings are:

Miss Gravili’s Phonics Group Spellings

statue

glue

tubes

flute

screw

nephew

juice

afternoon

super

you

do

Miss Bennison’s Phonics Group Spellings

fair

dear

pure

rain

ship

tweet

church

fork

goat

cow

 Mrs Whitworth’s Phonics Group Spellings

 no

go

into

the

he

she

Maths

This week our focus in maths has been number and place value. Activities have included; understanding tens and ones in a two digit number and representing numbers using a range of apparatus.  Please have a go at the challenges set on Sumdog.

At home count in 10’s forwards and backwards. Some of you might try counting in 10’s from any given number forwards and backwards, for example 7, 17,27,37.

Sumdog

Well done to the 19 children who had a go at their Sumdog challenges this week.

Sumdog can be played from home, as well as in the classroom. To log in from home, students use the same details as they do in class. We will add them into reading diaries next week.

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Sumdog challenges:

Multiplication –  x5 tables

Maths – Place value

Spellings – ue, oo, ew, u-e, u and ui

Thank you for all your support.

The Year 2 team.

Year 6 Blog and Home Practice Friday 1st October 2021

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 3:33pm

Another super week of learning from Year 6. Since the beginning of the term, we have continued with our ‘Daily Mile’ exercise, rain or shine, and I have been impressed with everyone’s commitment to it. Well done to 87% of you for changing your Home Reading book this week – remember that reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve your learning.  

As a reminder, these groups can change their books on the following days:

Monday – Roller Coasters

Tuesday – Big Dippers

Wednesday – The Waltzers

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have practised the 4 and 8 times tables, rounding numbers to 10, 100 and 1000, and even discussed various strategies of adding, which we will be exploring next week.
• In English, the children did an amazing job creating their own Aladdin sequel story, ‘The Return of the Moor’. We then started a new novel, ‘Clockwork’, also by Phillip Pullman, and used evidence from the text to describe the characters of Karl, Fritz and Dr. Kalmenius.
• In our topic of Mountains, in Geography, we have used the atlases and maps to find all the main mountains in Europe.
• For RE, we have completed our topic of ‘Unconditional Love’ through creating our own Beatitudes to help make our school a better place.
• In PE, we moved our learning of invasion games to the sport of tag rugby, where we are learning the rules, ready for our first sport competition in over 18 months.
• In Art, we have continued to use Keynote to complete our self-portrait art. You can see some of this great artwork in our Year 6 gallery page.
• In Music, we played the Boomwhackers to a song called, ‘Paris’.
• In French, we learnt the vocabulary for the seasons of the year.
• In Science, we completed our research into different plant groups and presented our findings as a poster. We then revised vertebrate classifications: birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

• Spellings (-ious and ous words) which will be looked in detail from Monday:
  • cautious, various, vicious, precious, conscious, conscientious, gracious, suspicious, perilous, hazardous, marvellous, adventurous, dangerous, glamourous, famous

• Sumdog challenges:
  • Times Tables x4 / x8
  • Rounding numbers to 1, 10, 100 and 1000
  • Spellings (-ious words)

One month completed, Year 6, congratulations! Keep up the hard work in October.

Year 3 Friday 1st October 2021

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 1:09pm

Year 3

Welcome to your Friday Blog

We have had an amazing week of learning in Year 3. Everyone is showing a brilliant attitude to everything we do and we are very impressed!

We have finished reading The Twits now and can’t wait to start reading Mr Stink by David Walliams next week. We loved writing about The Twits and have been improving our writing by including inverted commas (speech marks) and by writing in paragraphs.

 Everyone is trying their best to improve their writing. Amazing effort everyone!

In our maths we looked at adding and subtracting 10s and 100s from three digit numbers. We found this tricky but nobody gave up. Super resilience Year 3! Check out Sumdog for your maths challenge to practise these skills. Well done to everyone for their practise last week. 

This week we have continued learning about The Stone Age and learnt some great facts about the Palaeolithic period and early human life. We had some great questions and had an interesting discussion on transport, food, shelter and clothes.

In computing, we learnt how to to debug algorithms to help Scrat find to his nut. Super problem solving and teamwork. 

• Algorithm - A list of steps to finish a task.
• Bug - Part of a program that does not work correctly.
• Debugging - Finding and fixing problems in an algorithm or program.

In Science we have been looking at different types of rocks and learning how fossils are made. We learnt that fossils can only be found in sedimentary rocks.

Fab Fact! - Sedimentary rocks are formed over millions of years from sediments (bits of other rocks and remains of plants or animals).

I wonder if we will be able to find any while we are out and about?

Home Practice

On Sumdog we have set three challenges. Well done to everyone who went on last week. We could see how all the practise is helping with understanding in our lessons.

The spellings this week all have the /j/ sound spelt –ge at the end of words.

 Carriage       Challenge        Change        Village       Arrange    

  Range      Orange      Courage    Stage

You can practise these spellings on Sumdog.

Continue to read to someone every night for at least 20 minutes.

Remember -  We will change the books whenever you need a new one.

Your maths challenges are on the 5 times table and adding and subtracting ones, tens and hundreds to/from a three digit number.

10 minutes Sumdog practise every night will improve number fluency and understanding.

You will be tested on your spellings and 5x times tables on Tuesday 5^th Make sure you practise every night.

You can also practise your number facts by playing Hit the button. Its a great game for improving speed and number fluency.

Have a fantastic weekend

The Year 3 Team

Year 4 Home Practice 1st October 2021

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 1:07pm

Year 4

Home Practice 1^st October 2021

Another great week of learning in Year 4! Well done to everyone who has been on Sumdog during the last week to practise their tables and spellings.  The more you practise, the more confident you will become.

This week, we have practised counting in 5’s, 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s. In addition, in maths we have learnt how to compare whole and decimal numbers using the words ‘is less than’ and ‘is more than’, as well as the symbols < and >.  We also learnt more about multiples of 10 and 100 as well as rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. In English, we have read some more stories from our class novel ‘How the Whale Became and Other Stories’.  Following this, we wrote a letter from Polar Bear to Peregrine Falcon, and planned our very own story which we will be writing next week. In History, we discovered that Celts lived in ‘roundhouses’ and considered the similarities and differences between Celtic homes and our own!  Why not ask us what roundhouses were made of!

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Times tables

You have been given your own individual times table target.  Please make sure you continue to practise your times tables in preparation for your test next week, on Thursday (7^th October 2021).  Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?  

Remember - you can also practise your tables playing ‘Hit the button’.   

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 5’s and 100’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class.  You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you’ve got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 5’s

For example, start at 0 and count to 60 and back again

0   5   10   15 etc                     60  55  50    etc

Start at 80 and count up to 125 and down again

80   85   90    etc              125  120   115    etc

Count in 100’s

Start at 0 and count to 1200 and back again

0  100  200    etc           1200  1100   1000  etc

Start at 455 and count to 1455 and back agin

455   555    655   etc                1455   1355   1255   etc

Spellings

The spellings this week explore words which have an ‘o’ sound after a ‘w’, ‘wh’ or ‘qu’. For example, the word ‘what’ sounds as if it should be spelt ‘wot’ using an ‘o’ instead of an ‘a’, the word squash sounds as if it should be spelt ‘s-qu-o-sh’. Please practise your spellings each evening at home.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (7^th October 2021).  We have discussed in class different strategies you could use to help you learn them and you could always use ‘Look say cover write check’.

what            quality         quantity       squash         squad

squabble      squander      squadron      wanted         swallow

quad             swap            swapped       wallow          wasp

Sumdog Challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 2 and 3 times tables
• A grammar challenge based on punctuation at the end of sentences (remember there are 4 types of sentences – questions, statements, exclamations and commands)

Please make sure you log on and have a go!

Year 5 Friday 1st October 2021

Date: 30th Sep 2021 @ 5:23pm

Welcome to the Year 5 class blog

We have had a great week, the children have worked hard and remained well behaved despite a week with wet plays.  They have carried out a friction experiment, written a missing chapter to our class novel and looked at ways they can use their special gifts to help others in RE.

This week in year 5

We have looked closely at decimals this week. We have explored the place value of decimals; place value of decimals, sorting decimals, rounding decimals and addition of decimals.   We also investigated increasing and decreasing numbers to the power of 10 to help with addition problems. 

In English we have worked so hard planning, developing and writing a missing chapter to Goth Girl, featuring their own villain.  The children learnt about adding tension to their writing through the vocabulary that we use and the length of our sentences.  They have used our similes and metaphors and added dialogue between characters.  We have finally reached the end of the book and have really enjoyed the action throughout.

In History we have continued our topic about the Ancient Greeks and this week focused on the similarities and differences between our life and that of the Ancient Greeks.  We examined Greek homes, food, jobs, toys and clothing.  We also discussed slaves and the reason why people became slaves in Ancient Greek civilization. 

In DT this week we continued our work on Greek cuisine.  We read a number of different Greek recipes and decided upon items we would include in our class Greek feast.  The children had to identify and describe the ingredients and equipment they would need and how they would stay safe throughout, including food safety (hygiene/allergies).

In RE we have been completed our first topic 'Ourselves'. We looked at scripture and made links to how we could live our lives as children of God, how we could share the gifts we had with others to help them and read the poem Footprints and discussed how God is always there for us, even though we don’t always realise it.

In PE, our topic is invasion games. Sadly due to the rain we had to remain inside but Mrs Cookson organised an action packed game of dodgeball, encouraging the children to work together as a team.

In Science we investigated friction this week. We carried out an experiment using different materials to find which one would cause the greatest amount of friction.  The children had to spin a bicycle wheel and use tinfoil, bubblewrap, sandpaper and fabric as brakes.  They had to use a stopwatch and think about variables and how to perform a fair test. 

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning. These are the tasks to be completed:

Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed.

You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

Spellings (words with silent letters). We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.

doubt, lamb, debt, thumb, solemn, autumn, column, knight, knuckle, knot.   

Sumdog challenges

times tables x3/x6

maths

Spellings (words with silent letters)

The children have worked very hard this week and used their manners.  They have impressed other teachers with their amazing story writing.

Reception Meet the Teacher 2021

Date: 30th Sep 2021 @ 3:33pm

Year 1 Friday Blog 1st October 2021

Date: 29th Sep 2021 @ 2:21pm

W/C 27/09/21 Year 1 blog

We've had another super week of learning in Year 1! The children have been so busy and we are so proud of them all.

We continued to read our 'Dogger' story and we learnt that Dave's favourite toy Dogger was found on a toy stall at the fair! We wrote about our favourite toy and Miss Fisher even brought in some of her favourite toys. 

In Phonics, we have practiced using the 'ee' and 'ea' sounds in our sentences. We had some brilliant sentences in our morning work which made us giggle, such as 'The bee had teeth and went to the beach.'

In Maths, we have started to use the mastery approach in our learning. We have been looking at ways to make 10 and how teen numbers are made up of  1 group of 10s and some 1s. We have also been learning about  1 more and 1 less. All of the children have responded really well and have been doing lots of problem solving and they have also enjoyed being responsible for their own resource packs.

In Science we have been grouping animals by their features. We have been continuing our Geography learning by talking about the changes in our locality over time by comparing photos of Longton to seeing what has changed and what has stayed the same. We had P.E. in the hall this week and we did really well with our fundamental skills. In French we learned how to say colours. We also celebrated European Languages Day by singing a song with ways to say hello in different languages.

In our collective worships we have been thinking about how we can look after God's world. We have talked about practical choices we can make every day. In R.E. we have been listening to psalms and we wrote a thank you prayer.

Thank you for all the donations you have sent in for the Harvest.

Look on the class gallery to see our golden stars for this week.

For your Home Practice,

Please read for at least 10 minutes every day. It really does make all the difference. We change the books on a Friday, please sign the diary.

There are also tricky words on green card which your child needs to be able to read on sight. Play games with these words, match them, find them when you are out and about.

Sumdog challenges this week...

Read and write numbers to 20

Please do lots of counting.Start at different numbers, count forwards and backwards. When you stop at a number what number is 1 more?,1 less? Ask your child how they know.

Reading challenge sh,th and ch.

Have a great weekend!

Friday 24th September Year 2 Home Practice

Date: 24th Sep 2021 @ 4:11pm

We have had a brilliant start to Year 2. Well done everybody for trying so hard to follow the Golden rules and class routines. In English, our novels so far have been ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ and ‘The Day the Crayons came Home’. We have written some super postcards and have planned a story for Esteban the Magnificent. In Maths, we have focused on place value, number skills and arithmetic. The children have thoroughly enjoyed going outside for Forest School lessons. They have made some lovely natural print patterns, cross sticks with wool, a bug habitat and wood art. We have attached some photos of the great learning we have done so far in Year 2. Keep up the good work everybody.

Reading

In Year 2 we aim to read for a minimum of 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an older sibling or adult to help deepen your knowledge.

Reading books are changed every Monday.

Reading resources:

Oxford Owl – This resource has an exciting range of carefully levelled books to help children learn to read, and love to read.

If parents and children decide to use this resource, we ask they access phase 5 books. Go to https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ and select ‘my class login’. Scroll down to the red box ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’

Username: sto2

Password: 1234

Resources for questioning your child while they are reading - https://www.literacyshedblog.com/uploads/1/2/5/7/12572836/ks1_reading_vipers.pdf

Spelling

This week we have been learning how to spell words with the ‘ee’ sound.

Please practise these spellings ready for your quiz every Friday. A sheet will go home every Monday with the spelling lists on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.

This week’s spellings for Miss Gravili's Phonics group are:

three

bee

clean

steal

thief

chief

happy

penny

she

me

Spellings for Miss Bennison's and Mrs Whitworth Group will start next week.

Maths

We have been looking at place value. Please have a go at the challenges set on Sumdog.

At home count to 100 forwards and backwards. Some of you might try counting in 2s, 5s and 10s forwards and backwards.

Sumdog

Sumdog can be played from home, as well as in the classroom. To log in from home, students use the same details as they do in class. We will add them into reading diaries next week.

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Sumdog challenges

Multiplication –  x10 tables

Maths – Place value

Spellings – ee y ie  e  ea

Well done to the children who went up in Golden Assembly this week.

Thank you for all your support.

The Year 2 team

Year 1 Meet the Teacher

Date: 24th Sep 2021 @ 12:42pm

Here is the presentation from the meeting.

Reception Friday 24th September

Date: 24th Sep 2021 @ 9:54am

This week we have been reading lots of different Elmer stories. We have enjoyed thinking about all the ways we are all different to each other. 

We have discussed how to be a lovely friend in PSHE. In Understanding the World, we have been talking about the changes we go through from when we are babies to what we can do now.

Our focus numbers this week in Maths have been the  numbers 1 and 2. We have also been having a go at lots of counting songs and investigating making the numbers.

In Art, we have explored colour mixing, focusing on the primary colours, Red, Yellow and Blue.  

We introduced Phonics to the children this week, learning the sounds s ,a, t - all the children have been amazing with their sounds and joining in the different games we play. 

Another super week Reception, Well done to all of you :) 

Year 4 Home Practice Friday 24th September 2021

Date: 24th Sep 2021 @ 8:29am

Year 4

Home Practice 24^th September 2021

Welcome to the Year 4 Blog.  Each week the blog will include a brief summary of our learning and the children’s Home Practice to be completed during the week.

Year 4 have made a super start to the new school year.  They have transitioned well into their new routines and been enthusiastic about their learning.

This week, we have practised counting in 2’s, 10’s, 100’s and 1000’s. In addition, in maths we have learnt more about whole numbers upto 4 digits as well as decimals (tenths). In English, we have read some more stories from our class novel ‘How the Whale Became and Other Stories’.  Following this, we wrote our own questions about a story for someone else to answer. We went outside during Science and looked at different trees and their leaves. Back in class, we grouped the leaves in different ways, for example, according to whether they were a large or a small leaf, or serrated or lobed.

Reading

Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home.  Make sure you discuss the story and the characters.  Find the meaning of any new words too.  Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding. 

Times tables

You have been given your own individual times table target.  Please make sure you continue to practise your times tables in preparation for your test next week, on Thursday (30^th September 2021).  Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?  

Remember - you can also practise your tables playing Hit the button   

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 2’s and 10’s – draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class.  You could write the numbers down as you count up.  When you count down, cover the numbers up, say the number, then reveal what you’ve got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 2’s

For example, start at 0 and count to 24 and back again

0 2 4 6 8 10   etc                     24 22 20 18 16    etc

Start at 90 and count up to 114 and down again

90 92 94 96    etc              114 112 110 108    etc

Count in 10’s

Start at 0 and count to 150 and back again

0 10 20 30 40    etc           150 140 130 120  etc

Start at 55 and count to 185 and back agin

55 65 75 85  etc                185 175 165 155 etc

Spellings

The spellings this week explore different letter patterns for the same ‘ei’ sound. Please practise your spellings each evening at home.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (30^th September 2021).  We have discussed in class different strategies you could use to help you learn them and you could always use ‘Look say cover write check’.

prey            wait             bait             afraid          grey

eight           weight         sleigh          neighbour    freight

paint            eighteen      eighty          reign           vein

Sumdog Challenges

You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 2, 5 and 10 times tables
• A maths challenge based on 4 digit numbers (and place value) and tenths

Please make sure you log on and have a go!

Year 4 Meet the Teacher

Date: 24th Sep 2021 @ 8:08am

Welcome to Year 4.

Thank you to all those who made the 'Meet the Teacher' meeting.  For those who were unable to attend please have a read through the slides attached to this blog.

Should you have any queries, please contact the school via email or telephone and we will get back to you as soon as we are able.

Mrs Tipping

Year 5 Friday 24th September 2021

Date: 23rd Sep 2021 @ 5:42pm

Welcome to the first Year 5 class blog

The class have had a fantastic start to the new school year. They have settled in nicely with the new routine and new teacher and have shown an excellent attitude to learning.  Our Greek feast, parachute experiment and creating a villainous character have been a lot of fun and the children have enjoyed all of them.

This week in year 5

We have been working a lot on place value and number in maths. The children have been looking at the value different digits have in a number, ordering numbers, rounding numbers up to 10,000, partitioning numbers and understanding decimals up to hundredths.  They have used place value tables, counters and talk partners to help embed this understanding. We have also had a challenge day, where the children moved around the room, taking part in a number of challenges and problem solving activites to check their understanding.  

In English we have been reading Goth Girl by Chris Riddell and reached an excting part of the book. The children cannot wait for the concuding chapters next week.  We have created a video tour of Ghastly-Gorm Hall, where the children have imagined they are tour guides, explaining the different rooms of the hall.  We watched them in class at the end of the week.  We have also created a new villain for the book and written a descriptive piece.  As part of our writing, we have been working on using similes and metaphors in our work.

In History we have been learning about the Ancient Greeks and looking at how artefacts and architecture helps us understand what life was like in Ancient Greece.

In DT this week we had the long awaited food tasting lesson. There were mixed reviews on the Greek cuisine but we have agreed that as a class that we mostly enjoyed pitta breads and tzatziki, so we will plan recipes in the coming weeks.

In RE we have been exploring our first topic 'Ourselves'. We have looked at the different talents and qualities we have, how we can use these to show we are children of God and how we can use them to help others.

In PE, our topic is invasion games. The children have been learning different passing techniques including chest pass, bounce pass and shoulder pass. They have then used these skills to play an informal game with Mrs Cookson.

In Science we are learning all about forces. We have a good understanding of gravity and how air resistance works against gravity.  We have made parachutes with different variables and tested them to find the most effective parachute.  

Home Practice all relates to this week's learning - These are the tasks to be completed

• Reading - You all have a Home Reading book for year 5 so reading every night for 15-20 mins is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be completed and signed.
  • You can change your reading book on any school day (book bags to be left on Mrs Mulgrew's desk)

• Spellings (words with endings that sound like /ow/ and /oo/ but spelt with ough).  We will look at these in more detail in school next week, They should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday.
  • though, although, thought, bought, dough, brought, through, fought, throughout, breakthrough.

• Sumdog challenges
  • times tables x4/x8
  • maths
  • Spellings (ough words)

The children have been very kind, well-behaved and polite during their first few weeks. They have made me feel welcome and settle into my role here at St Oswald's.

Year 6 Friday 24th September 2021

Date: 23rd Sep 2021 @ 4:15pm

Welcome to the first of the Year 6 weekly blogs.

Well done to all the pupils for completing the first few weeks of Year 6. They have all been exceptional in transitioning into the routines and getting used to the expectations of this new year. Congratulations to everyone for receiving a leadership role, whether that be as school ambassadors, sports captains, eco team, reading ambassadors, school council, science ambassadors or digital leaders. Also, Year 6 created a short story targeted at a younger audience and had a super time reading them to Reception.

This week in Year 6:

• We have improved our place value knowledge in Maths through identifying, comparing and estimating whole numbers and numbers up to two decimal places.
• In English we are reading ‘Aladdin’ by Phillip Pullman. The children have enjoyed writing as the various characters, showing that they understand how they might be thinking and feeling. We have recently planned our own version of the sequel, ‘The Return of Jafar’.
• In Geography, we have begun our new topic 'Mountains', searching atlases and maps to find the longitude and latitude of various coordinates.
• For RE, we have also begun our first topic of ‘Loving’ and how God’s unconditional love can affect our lives.
• In PE, invasion games is our theme for the next 5 weeks, focusing on improving our throwing and catching skills and starting to develop advanced tactics to give an advantage for the attacking team.
• In Art, we have used the Apple version of PowerPoint, Keynote, to create some brilliant self-portrait art.
• In Music, we have been learning to use the Boomwhackers to various songs.
• In French, we have learnt to introduce ourselves with things we like, starting with, ‘Je me presente’. We have listened to a French pop song, ‘Papoutou’ and tried to decipher what it was about.
• In Science, we revisited the classification key about trees and improved the vocabulary of them. We also became ‘research biologists’ investigating different plant groups: mosses, ferns and conifers.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – You all have a Home Reading book for Year 6 so reading every night for 30 minutes is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your reading book are:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (words ending in ly) which will be looked in detail from Monday:
  • really, hardly, happily, finally, suddenly, angrily, safely, truly, carefully, frantically, slowly, rapidly, reluctantly, swiftly, enthusiastically

• Sumdog challenges:
  • Times Tables x3 / x6
  • Place Value Week 3
  • Spellings (ly words)

Around school, teachers have noted how you are respectful, polite and shown considerations for others – a great start as the ambassadors of the school.

Year 3 Friday 24th September 2021

Date: 23rd Sep 2021 @ 1:12pm

Welcome to your Year 3 Blog. 

Here you will find out about all the fantastic learning we have been doing throughout the week and see your home practice for the coming week. This will help your children with all aspects of their learning. We will set weekly spelling and maths challenges with the focus on regular practise of key skills.

We have enjoyed reading The Twits in English and have done lots of amazing writing. We have been focussing on using exciting words in our sentences.

In Maths we have been learing about ordering, partitioning and counting three digit numbers. Everyone showed great persistence and resilience with their learning this week as it did get tricky. We have set a Sumdog challege to consolidate the skills taught in class. Do a little maths practice everyday to make all our new learning sticky!

In History we have been learning about the Stone Age. Everybody has loved this topic so far, lots of us have already learnt lots of facts from books we have been reading at home.

In our Science we studied lots of different rock types and explored how different rocks have different properties. We also looked at what rocks were used for during the stone age.

Home Practice

Read to somebody at home every night for 20 minutes. Talk about what you have read.

Remember, your books can be changed any day so remember to pop them into the red box. 

Here are your spellings to practise this week. We will have a spelling test on Tuesday. These Spelling rules are also on your Sumdog Spelling challenge to help you practice. The words will be different but the rules will be the same. Remember our rules for past tense verbs.

walked     talked     clapped   wrapped      breathed      described      halved       partied       worried       floated

For your maths challenges this week we will be practising our numbers to 1000 and your times tables. Make sure you complete these challenges before Thursday. Good Luck! 

Practise the following skills for Maths – even if you already know them, you need to be quick. Click the links below to access the games. We will have a tables test on Tuesday.

Number facts 

2x tables 

It was lovely seeing so many of you at our Meet the Teacher meeting on Thursday. We hope you found all the information useful. Below we have attached the slides from the presentation. Don't hesitate to contact the school office with any questions you might have.

Have a lovely weekend

The Year 3 Team

Year 1 Friday Blog 24th September 2021

Date: 23rd Sep 2021 @ 10:12am

Welcome to your first Year 1 blog!

All the children have settled in so brilliantly. Well done, everyone! Thank you for sending  the Summer Scrap Book in with your child- we will look at every single one of them.

This week we have been listening to the story of Dogger by Shirley Hughes.We have been writing sentences about the story and making posters to find Dogger. In our Phonics we have been learning the long oo sound as in roof and the short oo sound as in look. We have been reading as well.

In Maths we have been doing lots of counting up to 20, forwards,backwards and from different starting numbers. We have also been investigating ways to make 10 and writing our numbers correctly. We have been ordering numbers to 20.

This week we celebrated the International Day of Peace in our collective worships. We talked about how we can be peaceful. In R.E. we have been learning about how we care for our families and how God cares for us. In P.S.H.E. we have been discussing how we belong to different groups.

We looked at photographs of buildings in Longton and talked about all the different things in our locality. We are going to have a good look around when we are outside.

We have really enjoyed our P.E. outside practising our fundamental skills, hopping,skipping and jumping. We had a great time learning French with Mrs Quilliam and Music with Mrs Winter.

We had a lovely Golden Assembly with Mrs Wood where we celebrated another super week of learning. We will take a photo the children who receive an award and post it in the Year 1 gallery each week.

Thank you for attending the Meet the Teacher meeting. If you couldn't attend, the presentation is attached to the Year 1 blog.

Please read for at least 10 minutes every night and sign the diary. We will change the books on a Friday.

Practise counting forwards and backwards from 0 to 20. Start at different numbers, count fast and slow, make it into a game.

Sumdog Challenges this week are...

Maths - 1 more and 1 less

English - Recognising and having a go at writing Tricky Words.

Meet the Teacher information Year 6

Date: 20th Sep 2021 @ 4:25pm

Hello and welcome to Year 6.

Thank you to all those who made it to the 'Meet the Teacher' meeting but for those who could not, please have a read through the slides attached to this blog. 

Any queries, please get in contact with the school via email or phone and we will be happy to answer them.

Look out for our first blog of the year on Friday 24th September.

Mr Mears

Friday 17th September

Date: 17th Sep 2021 @ 2:12pm

We have enjoyed our second week at school. We introduced morning jobs with lots of funky finger activities. 

We have explored being outside making nature faces. We have been reading the colour monster goes to school this week and thinking about all our different feelings. 

Mrs Wood was shocked how amazing we were in our first Golden Assembly too.

Well done Reception.

Back to School Online Safety

Date: 14th Sep 2021 @ 11:55am

With your children returning to school, it is a great time to review online safety in your homes and make sure we are all up to date with developments in the online world. At St Oswald's, all classes will be beginning their Online Saftety learning where they will learn all about safe practices online in the following areas. 

Self image and identitiy

Online relationships

Online bulllying

Health, Well-being and lifestyle

Online reputation

Managing online information

Copyright and ownership

We will blog regularly to keep you updated with developments in the online space, sharing platform guides and links to expert training for you to keep your children safe when exploring the internet. Below you will find a guide on some back to school online safety tips for children.

To access a huge range of information on the National Online Safety website click the link below and join our school online safety hub.You will get access to videos, training and guides to keep you informed of the best practices in keeping your children safe online.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

First Week At School

Date: 10th Sep 2021 @ 3:36pm

Wow! We have all settled into school really well and have completed our first week of school.

Well done to all the children in Reception for coming into school by themselves, making new friends and joining in all the new routines. 

Have a look at some of the things we have been up to. 

Welcome to Reception

Date: 3rd Sep 2021 @ 5:32pm

We are very excited to welcome our new Reception class to St Oswald's. Here is a sneak peak of our Reception classroom. Have a look around and see some of the lovely learning areas we have ready for all your super learning.

Year 2 Final Blog

Date: 16th Jul 2021 @ 12:42pm

We would like to thank each child and parent for all the warmth, memories and learning that we have shared this school year. We have both found this year extremely rewarding and the children have been fantastic, each and every day. We wish them all the best as they transition into Year 3. Thank you to all the parents and carers for the support you gave during lock down, it can’t have been easy. Finally, a huge thank you for all of our wonderful gifts, we really appreciate your generosity.

We hope you all have a wonderful summer holiday. Have fun and stay safe.

Mr Ingram, Miss Bennison and Mrs Woof.

Reception Final Blog

Date: 16th Jul 2021 @ 11:58am

Wow! What a fantastic year we have had! 

All of Reception have been amazing, all year round and we will miss you all a lot!

We hope you have a lovely summer holidays and continue your love for learning into Year 1. 

We have enjoyed a wonderful final week together in Reception and here are some photographs to remember it. :) 

The Seesaw accounts will continue to work over the weekend and will be deactivated at 12noon on Monday.

If you wish to download any pictures you can by using the 3 dots icon in the bottom left of all posts and selecting the share or save option. Your child's account will continue next year in school and their learning posts will be shared through our school website.

Thank you for all our lovely gifts and contiuned support over the whole year. 

From Miss Collinson, Mrs Robinson. Mrs Maguire-Dorr and Mrs Cliffe