Our blogs

Year 1 Blog-Friday 18th March 2022

Date: 17th Mar 2022 @ 9:58am

Welcome to your Friday blog! We have been noticing lots of signs of Spring.

English

Farmer Duck. Click here.

This week we have been learning through the story of Farmer Duck. We looked at all the jobs the lazy farmer wanted the duck to do. We made puppets and props to re-tell the story. Ask your child to re-tell the story to you with their puppets. We dressed up as the farmer and the animals and then wrote a letter from the animals to the farmer. Some of the letters were quite angry!

In Phonics we are continuing to look at the split digraphs.

Maths

In Maths we have been counting in 10s. We have also been learning about money again. We looked at all the coins up to £2 and learnt that there are new and old versions of each coin. We also had a look at some notes. Please show your child some real money for them to look at, desribe and sort.

Play Helicopter Rescue. Click here.

Play coin sorting. Click here.

R.E.

This week, we learnt all of our school prayers off by heart and recorded ourselves on the iPad. If we were confident enough, we stood in front of the class and recited the Our Father to everyone. We all showed that we are great listeners and learners!

Science

We went outside to collect leaves. We looked for leaves of different shapes, sizes and colours. We also looked at the hedges which are starting to grow leaves and also buds on the trees.When we got back into class we chose our 3 best leaves and examined them closely. We compared them and described them to our partner. Our drawings of our leaves showed great detail. 

French

We learnt the words for the parts of a plant in French and learnt and recited a poem with actions about how plants grow. We checked on our French beans to see if they had started to germinate. 

P.E.

We had our final underarm throwing lesson this week. We have definitely improved since the beginning of the half term! We can now throw more accurately and can work as a team to throw a ball to each other. Some even chose to throw a bean bag!

History

In History, we learnt about the Wright Brothers and how they flew and invented the first successful aeroplane. We wrote some information down about them and then followed instructions to make our own paper planes.

P.S.H.E.

We talked about acts of kindness and how they cost nothing. We talked about the ways we can show kindness to other in our everyday lives.

D.T.

Our D.T. lesson was very fun! We have planned our fruit smoothies! We chose to have either 1, 2 or 3 ingredients and thought about what we will need to make the smoothie. Next week we will write the instructions and make the smoothies.

Freddy Fit

We were so excited to meet Freddy Fit. He put us all through our paces. We copied his movements and showed amazing teamwork skills when making a den out of hula hoops. We then did some hula hooping....who knew Miss Fisher is such an expert hula hooper? He was really impressed with how we listened as well.

The chicks visited us for the whole day on Wednesday. We were amazed how much they had grown in just a few days. We got them out of their box and held them. They have gone back to their farm now.

Don't forget the pop-up Mother's Day shop next Wednesday.If you want your child to visit the shop send their money in in a named envelope. Everything is priced at £2.50.

Home Practice

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have been looking at our friends of 10. Ask your child for the ways to make 10 by adding 2 numbers, 0+10,1+9 and so on. Quick recall of these will really help your child. Keep practising counting in 1s,2s,5s and 10s. Say a sequence of numbers to your child and miss out a number. Can they tell you which number in the pattern you have missed out? How do they know?

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - Split digraph u_e

Maths - Recognising coins and notes

Year 4 Sacramental Programme

Date: 14th Mar 2022 @ 3:36pm

The children had another successful session in the church this week. Everyone was thoughtful and respectful and listened attentively to our learning.

This week we explored our names and why we were given them. We talked about how Jesus gave new names to some of his disciples and what that meant.

The children took part in a treasure hunt this week looking at all the statues, memorials and paintings and learning about their significance. They also created an acrostic poem using their name and features/traits that they have. Please have a look at the sheets that they brought home. There is an activity to complete together on the acrostic page and some discussions to have on the double page worksheet. 

We appreciate your time and support in helping your children understand the significance of the work they are completing as part of their Faith Journey.

Year 3 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 4:00pm

We have had a fantastic week of learning this week!

On Tuesday we visited Fr Michael for Mass, the first class mass for over two years. The children were very respectful and listened to all the readings and prayers.

We also have had some chicks in year 3 this week for our Science Week on Growth. The eggs arrived on Monday and each day we've watched them hatch and observed how they have changed as they have grown. The children have been very excited and interested in our new arrivals. See our gallery below.

In our Engligh learning this week we have started our new novel, Journey to Jo'burg by Beverly Naidoo. To provide the children with some context for the story, we researched Nelson Mandela and South Africa during apartheid. The children wrote some fantastic biographies and asked some very thoughtful questions. We are already enjoying the story!

In maths we have been learning to multiply by 10 using a number of strategies. The children have grasped these quickly and are applying their learning to solve problems.

In our geography learning this week we have been using digital maps to help identify the cities in the UK. The children enjoyed exploring our country and finding out the names of some new cities.

Home Practice

Reading

Read out loud to somebody every night for 20 minutes. Talk about your favourite parts and why you like them.

Spellings

Your spellings this week are words ending with -se and -ce.

Make sure you practise a little bit every day. 

announce     palace     device     advance     silence     evidence     increase     decrease     pause     disguise     hoarse     refuse

Times Tables

It is important that the children know their times tables fluently to access the learning over the next weeks so can you practise these at home. (x2, x5,x10, x3, x4 and x8) 

Sumdog

Go onto Sumdog and complete the challenges and training.

You will be tested on your spellings and times tables on Tuesday 15th March.

Have an amazing and happy weekend! 

From the Year 3 team

Reception 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 12:58pm

This week we have started our new story, Jack and the Beanstalk. At the beginning of the week we found a lot of items that had fallen from the sky, we were detectives finding out how they had arrived. 

In maths we have been practising doubling of numbers.

In French this week we have practised our vegetable words again by building a pizza in time with the song Je suis une pizza! It's quite fast so we really had to listen to and understand the French words!

In Science we have observed dried and soaked pea seeds to see how they had changed. We left them sitting on plates of wet towels so we can observe when they start to germinate. We also made friends with a fruit tree in our school orchard so we can watch how it changes through the seasons. 

In Art, we have beem drawing different fruits and vegetables focussing closely on what we could see and drawing the shapes.

We have also had the chicks come and visit, which was really special.

Year 2 Home Practice Friday 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 12:54pm

This week’s highlight was our trip to ‘Bring Yer wellies’. The children had a fantastic time and learnt so much. The day was packed with activities like planting herbs, den building, playing on the sand beach and watching our model Tudor Houses burn, as though it was the real Great Fire of London! Year 2 had lovely manners and listened so well, a real credit to the school. In Maths, we have been focusing on arithmetic. In English, the children have written letters to Grandad about the pet dragon and looked at commas. They have also written a crime report about one of the villains in a traditional tale of their choice. Our D.T. day was busy but very productive. The Tudor Houses looked amazing, the children did so well designing and building them. What an exciting week!!

Reading

In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult or older sibling. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

You could write down these new words in a word book and find out what they mean. It is amazing to see the list grow, something to be very proud of, especially when children realise how many more words they understand and can use!

Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.

Reading books are changed every Monday and sent home on Tuesday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.

Reading resources:

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

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 ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’. You could also explore the rest of the site and read books from the Oxford Owl eBook library or listen to audio books.

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

In addition to this, reading a good bed time story to your child is so worthwhile and really helps towards a lifelong love of reading.

Spelling

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

It is useful to write the words down on the spelling sheet, but also to call the words out and spell them out loud using the letter sounds or names. Other ideas include breaking the words up and writing them down in different colours (multiply) or think of your own ways to remember the word for example, spell it aloud using a tune or song.

You will have a Sumdog challenge on these words to complete by next Friday.

This week’s spellings are, the sound ‘igh’ spelt with a ‘-y’:

cry                      sly

fly                      shy 

dry                     terrify

try                      sky

reply                    multiply

Maths

At home, count forwards and backwards in 10s. Start at different numbers each time. For example, start counting forwards from 24 or backwards from 39. See if you can count past 100!

Practise 2-, 5-, 10- and 3-times tables on a game called Hit the Button. Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

You will have an addition challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.

Sumdog

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 2 Team.

Year 6 Friday 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 12:42pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog. This week, the Year 5/6 Indoor Athletics team completed another Athletics Finals in Blackpool. The competition was extremely tough as we were against the top 15 schools in Lancashire. Everyone did brilliantly and we are still awaiting the final results.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have been learning how to work out the perimeter of different shapes, whilst improving our fractions knowledge (counting, adding and multiplying fractions).
• In English, we learnt that one of the main characters of Skellig, Mina, is home schooled. We discussed this in detail and learnt how to debate and write up a balanced argument of Home Schooling vs Public Schooling.
• In RE, we continued our new topic, ‘Unity’, by investigating the ‘Our Father’ and how it sums up everyone’s prayers and hopes. We then designed a bookmark with some of the words from the Our Father and how we apply the prayer to daily life.
• In PE, we completed our gymnastics topic using a range of travels, balances, jumps and rolls, whilst working in a group of up to 4. We then evaluated each other’s performance giving accurate praise and areas to work on next time.
• In Music, we learnt a song for Science week, ‘Everything starts with a seed’. We used recorder to practise ‘The boat song’, using a new note, E.
• In French, we practised conjugating and using regular ER verbs in the present tense. We wrote some super sentences by looking back at previous lessons and using vocabulary and connectives from other topics.  
• In Science, we began by reading and discussing answers to our questions that Dr Ahna Skop sent from America. We then reflected on what we have learnt from our interaction with her. She has really made us realise that anybody at all can be a scientist and there are many different ways to communicate science so that it is accessible to all. Our learning this week was about medicines and drugs such as caffeine and alcohol. We looked at their effects on our bodies but also how they can affect behaviour and the other people around us. Next week, we have a visit from a hospital pharmacist who will talk about her job and answer questions about medicines. 
• In PSHE, we continued the theme of ‘becoming independent’ with more games and scenarios to help with any worries, as we think about the challenges of Tower Wood.

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

• Reading – Continue 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.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (challenge words)
  • Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 4 Prefix dis, un, im)

disadvantage, disappear, disappoint, discovered, dishonest, unacceptable, unachievable, unbelievable, uncomfortable, unforgivable, immature, impatient, impolite, impartial, impossible

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in fraction steps. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. 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 these numbers: 5 ¼, 7 1/5, 13 3/5 and count up 10 times then back again in 1/4s:

5 ¼, 5 2/4, 5 ¾, 6, 6 ¼, 6 2/4, 6 3/4

and in 2/5s :

7 1/5, 7 3/5, 8 8 2/5, 8 4/5, 9 1/5

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 8 = 14, 8 + 7 = 15.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (8 + 6, 6 + 5, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.8 + 0.6, 0.06 + 0.05, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

• Sumdog (Perimeter)
  • Throughout this week we have used strategies to find the perimeter (the length all the way around the outside of a 2D shape) of simple shapes like rectangles and triangles to complex rectilinear shapes. Make sure you count how many sides the shape has before you add the numbers together.
• Sumdog (Adding and Subtracting Fractions)
  • For this challenge, make sure you check whether the question is an add or subtract. Try to see the relationship between the two denominators and change them if they are different, just like we do in class.

Maths and Spelling Training.

Spend some time training so the program can learn the skills your child needs to work on and practise. 

This feature is great for anyone wanting to challenge themselves further.

Year 5 Friday 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 12:38pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog.

This week in Year 5:

In Maths, we have been learning how to plot coordinates with simple shapes and how to translate them (move them around the coordinate grid). The children have been remembering to to move along the corridor (x axis) and up the stairs (y axis).

In English we have completed our novel, ‘Why the Wales Came’. The children really enjoyed this book with the main characters learning about trust and friendship. The children have written superb book reviews, which will be sent to Sir Michael Morpurgo.

In Science this week, we have celebrated National Science Week (with the theme being on Growth). We carried out a pattern seeking investigation to test the hypothesis that people with longer legs can jump further. We though we knew the answer already but we had to provide the evidence to prove it. Our scatter graph showed that there is indeed no link between leg length and how far you can jump.

In RE, we have discussed the forty days of Lent and made a Lenten calendar to help us prepare for Easter.

In French, we learnt that there are 3 words for the –le, la or les, depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine or plural. We practised choosing the correct form and giving our opinion of different things. We also read some short texts in French and tried to understand them. We realised that you can work out what unknown words mean from the sense of the sentence.

In PE, the children had a very successful hockey session, focusing on how to work as a team when attacking and defending.

DO NOT FORGET

Borwick Hall trip next Friday. A kit list has been explained in detail on the newsletter.

All children need to provide a disposable bag for their packed lunch.

Please meet at school at 7:45am for prompt leave at 8:00am.

We return to school at 9:00pm.

Home Practice

This week’s tasks:

• Read every night for 15-20 minutes
  • Reading is the key to unlock all your learning potential
• Maths
  • Every child knows their tables target so please practise this daily
  • Counting – decimal numbers
    • Start from the number 4, 7, 9 and count up and down in 0.2s, 0.02s and 0.002s. Write them out, just like we do in class.
  • Sumdog
    • Spelling challenge
    • x6 and x12
    • Shapes, translations and angles

YEAR 4 Home Practice 11th March 2022

Date: 11th Mar 2022 @ 10:25am

Year 4

Home Practice 11^th March 2022

Reminder - Sunday 13th March 2022

There is a Sacramental Preparation Mass on Sunday 13^th March at 10.30am for the children in Year 4 who are taking part in the Sacramental Preparation Programme. We look forward to seeing you there.

Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week ….

In English, we learnt more about inverted commas and practised using them in our own writing.  We also discussed how Michael’s emotions changed throughout a chapter of the novel.  In addition, we wrote a powerful description of a thunderstorm using our senses to help with our narrative.

In Maths, we continued to learn about hundredths, discovering how to write fraction and decimal equivalents of halves, quarters and three quarters. We also made links between decimal notation and money. Finally, we used our understanding of equivalences between tenths and hundredths to recognise that a number with 2 decimal places can be represented in different ways. Again, another tricky concept – well done for working so hard in maths Year 4!

In RE, we started our new topic ‘Self-discipline’. We shared a story and discussed whether or not the main character had shown self-discipline.  We also considered times in our own lives when we needed to make choices which required self-discipline.  In addition, on Monday, we attended church for the first session of our Sacramental Journey.  Please see the blog posted on Monday for more information about this.

We learnt that in French, the adjective has to match its noun. So if the noun is feminine or plural, the adjective has to be feminine or plural too. We practised this by drawing shapes and adding a colour, making it agree. We are working towards doing a piece of artwork and describing it in French.

In Music, we learnt a new song ‘Everything starts with a seed’ for Science week. We will be singing this in Golden Assembly on Friday. Following this, we played the rhythm game from last week - ‘Pat, click, clap, groove’.  Finally, we played a musical challenge which involved body percussion, reading symbols and counting in 4’s.

In Science, we carried out an investigation into the viscosity (thickness) of liquids.  We poured equal volumes of different liquids into separate cups.  We then chose 2 liquids to ‘race’.  Before we began the race, we made a prediction, then we carried out the race and recorded our results.  We tried racing different liquids and then attempted to order the liquids from thickest to least thick.

This week’s Home Practice ….

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 (17^th March 2022). 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’ and https://www.timestables.co.uk/

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

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 9’s and hundredths – 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 have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 9’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 108 and back again (this will help with your 9 times table)

0   9   18   27  etc               108   99   90  etc

Count in hundredths

For example, start at 0.05 and count up to 0.14 and back again  

0.05    0.06    0.07   etc              0.14    0.13    0.12    etc

And start at 0.57 and count up to 0.72 and back again

0.57   0.58   0.59  etc                0.72    0.71    0.71  etc

Spellings

This week’s spellings are irregular plurals.  Each time ‘ves’ needs to be added to the word ending in ‘f’ or ‘fe’, to spell the plural.  Please practise your spellings each evening at home as many of you are still not doing this.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (17^th March 2022).

calf              calves          half             halves          knife           knives

leaf             leaves          shelf            shelves        thief           thieves

yourself       yourselves    themselves

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 3, 6 and 9 times tables
• A decimal equivalents challenge – recognising and writing decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundredths

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Number bonds are very important and help with many aspects of maths. The more confident you are with these, the easier you will find addition, subtraction, mental calculations etc.  Therefore, please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Please continue to use the maths and spellings training sections as these are tailored for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult.

Year 1 Friday Blog-11th March 2022

Date: 10th Mar 2022 @ 10:04am

Welcome to your Friday blog. It's lovely to hear about what the children have found on the blog and some even go back to look at past blogs.

English

This week we  have been learning through the story of The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle. We also talked about another great book by this author, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We worked together to retell the story of the seed's journey in words and pictures then we worked on our own to plan and write a story where one thing happened to the seed in each season. This gave us a great opportunity to talk about life cycles and the seasons.

Phonics

We have been looking at ee as in tree, ea as in meat and ey as in monkey. We have also looked at our split digraphs again, a-e as in cake and o-e as in nose.

Sing your digraphs! Click here.

Maths

This week we have been using the scales to measure the mass of objects. We did some fabulous team work. We then focused on counting in 2s and 5s again. We learnt the number patterns and challenged ourselves with missing numbers on a number sqaure.

Counting Caterpillar game. Order numbers from 0 to 100. Click here.

Science

This week we went outside into our beautiful grounds to see what flowering plants we could find. Can your child tell you what they found?We recorded what we had found by drawing and labelling. We also looked at the parts of a plant and made our own flowering plant.We labelled the stem, roots, petals,flower and leaves.

In Year 3 the children have hatched some chicks from eggs. The chicks came to visit us-we asked some great questions!

French

 This week is National Science Week and the theme is Growth. To celebrate this in French, we read the story of Jacques et les haricots magiques (Jack and the Beanstalk) and we put some French bean seeds in bags to watch them germinate. We chose whether to put them inside or outside according to where we thought they would start to grow quickest. The children all chose outside because of the sunlight and rain; the adults chose inside. Let's see who's grow first!

R.E.

We learnt about the Last Supper this week and added speech bubbles to the picture of Jesus and his Disciples. We linked the Last Supper to Holy Communion and learnt about what happens in church!

P.E.

We moved onto our third thowing and catching lesson. We tried throwing and catching to each other this week (which was quite tricky!)

Music

 We learnt a song about a seed growing. We got a huge round of applause when we sang it in Golden Assembly.

Eileen from CAFOD came to talk to us about the people of Sierra Leone. The children were very respectful and showed thoughtfulness in their answers to questions.

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have also been doing lots of counting. We have mainly been focusing on counting in patterns of 2s, 5s  and 10s .Don't always start from 1, we encourage starting from different numbers. We use a number square in class to help us with this, we have learnt to move left/right one place for counting in ones and up/down for counting in tens. Feel free to search '100 square' in Google to find one online. Highlight the patterns on the square.

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - Split i-e digraph.

Maths - Using more than,less than and equal vocabulary.

Sacramental Programme Session 1

Date: 7th Mar 2022 @ 4:59pm

Sacramental Programme – Session 1

This week, Year 4 started their Sacramental Journey. 

Our journey started with a visit to church on Monday afternoon during which we worked with Father Michael and the Catechists from St Oswald’s. During our visit, we explored the church and discovered some of the treasures to be found within.  Father Michael and the Catechists spoke to Year 4 about the Holy Oils, the Sanctuary Lamp, the lectern, the Easter Candle, the Baptismal Font, the altar and the Reconciliation Room.   Year 4 were also able to walk around the church and look at the Stations of the Cross and various statues and paintings.

All Year 4 children, whether they are taking part in the Sacramental Programme or not, will take part in these sessions.  The children will bring a folder home each week which will contain a worksheet.  Those children completing the Sacramental Programme will also have a booklet called “Thank God for Mass”. Please support your child in their journey by reading the worksheet and the booklet with them.

The children not completing the Sacramental Programme will learn about the Sacraments as part of the RE curriculum and to support their friends on their faith journey.

Points for discussion at home

Father Michael spoke to the children about Baptism, which begins a journey of faith which lasts a whole lifetime.  He asked the children to discuss their own baptism with their families, for example, who was there?  Who are their Godparents?  Have they seen the baptism of a baby, child or adult? What happened at that baptism?

Father also discussed how Christian names may have been chosen. In Father Michael’s family there is a tradition of naming babies after a Saint that has a feast day in the month in which they are born.  Since Father Michael was born in September and the feast of St Michael is on 29^th September, therefore, he was named after this saint.   Please have a chat with your child about how you chose there name - there may be a family tradition or a family name which is passed down through generations, or you may have named them after someone special.

Reminder

There is a family mass on Sunday 13^th March at 10.30am for the children taking part in the Sacramental Programme, and their families. We look forward to seeing you there.

Year 3 Friday 4th March 2022

Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 3:57pm

Welcome to your Friday blog.

We have had a great week of learning in Year 3. We finished reading our novel, The Butterfly Lion. The children really enjoyed the story and we had lots of deep and thoughtful discussions about the book. The children created some lovley pieces of writing this week. We wrote a persuasive piece to welcome people to the Cirque Merlot, a character description of Bertie and a newspaper article abour how Bertie recieved the Victoria cross. The children remembered how we write for different purposees and what they had to include in their writing. Well done Year 3!

Next week we will begin our new story. We can't wait!

In our maths learning we have been learning new ways to add and subtract using three digit numbers. We explored our strategies, how we use our jottings to show our thinking and how we can find the most efficient way to solve problems. We have been very impressed with everyone's attitude in maths, especially when the learning gets tricky!

In our DT this week we have developed our ideas and created a prototype of our moving picture. The children showed great perseverance and creativity in their work.

Here is a snapshot of some of our learning.

As it was Mardi Gras this week, and the theme of the Carnaval de Nice this year is Roi des Animaux, we made some animal -inspired face masks. They're great! Next week, we'll try to describe them in French. Have a look below at our amazing display.

We also started our new topic in Science this week. We will be learning all about forces and motion. We investigated some of the new words we will meet. See what you can find out at home.

contact      non-contact     pull     push       friction       air-resistance        drag 

On Thursday, the Year 3 Science ambassadors ran their own science breaktime investigation on the playground. They showed how light and colour mixed and what is happening when light passes through coloured plastic.

Have a look here at some of our light learning from the last half term.

Year 1 paid us a visit to share their own stories on Friday afternoon. Year 3 were a great audience and gave year 1 some super comments on their books. See below.

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 are from the Year 3 common exception word list.

 continue     decide    island     minute     difficult     earth     consider     enough     really     February

You can practise these spellings and more 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 3 and 4 times table and adding using the column method.

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

You will be tested on your spellings and times tables on Tuesday 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 Friday 4th March 2022

Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 3:45pm

Year 4

Home Practice 4^th March 2022

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS TO THE TIPPY TOES UKRAINE APPEAL – YOU HAVE BEEN VERY GENEROUS

Welcome to this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week …

In English, we started to investigate inverted commas and how to punctuate speech correctly.  In addition, we wrote a diary extract from Kensuke’s point of view and his feelings towards Michael, especially about the fire he had started.

In Maths, we continued to learn about hundredths, writing fraction and decimal equivalents. Year 4 have worked hard on their maths this week and shown a very good understanding of a tricky concept. Well done Year 4!

In RE, we learnt about different parts of the Mass, such as the Penitential Act, the Communion Rite and the Concluding Rite.  In addition, we wrote Lenten Promises which we took to Golden Assembly, and we went to church on Ash Wednesday when Father Michael blessed us with ashes.   

As it was Mardi Gras this week, we had a pancake themed French lesson. The children practised saying what kind of pancakes they liked and then they wrote some excellent sentences in French about this. Well done

We started learning a new song called ‘Boudicca’ from the musical ‘Rockin’ Romans’ in Music this week.  We also played the rhythm game, ‘Gimme 1’, and continued with the cup game, ‘Mambo Cup Rhythm’ from last week.  Finally, we began to learn ‘Pat, click, clap, groove’ – we needed lots of co-ordination for this!

In Science, we deepened our learning of ‘states of matter’. We were given a range of items, such as flour, rice, jam, toothpaste, a raw egg, milk etc which we needed to classify into the headings ‘solids, liquids and gases’. Some of these items were tricky to classify and overlapped 2 of the headings!  In addition, we carried out some science experiments to find evidence of gases around us.

This week in PSHE, we talked about how feelings change over time, including throughout the day, and how everyday things can affect our feelings. 

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight, we talked about the difference between needs and wants.  We discussed what we need to survive and to live a happy and healthy life, as well as what we ‘want’, which isn’t necessary, but nice to have.  We also listened to a story about a cocoa bean farmer who lives in West Africa and how joining Fairtrade means she is paid a better price for her cocoa beans.

This week’s Home Practice …

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 (10^th March 2022). 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’ and https://www.timestables.co.uk/

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

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 4’s and 8’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 have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 4’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 48 and back again (this will help with your 4 times table)

0   4   8   12                          48   44   40  etc

Count in 8’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 96 and back again (this will help with your 8 times table)

0   8   16   24   etc              96  88   80    etc

Spellings

This week’s spellings all have the suffix -ation.  A suffix is a letter or group of letters which is added to the end of a word which makes a new word.  The suffix -ation is added to verbs to form nouns.  For example educate becomes education. Please practise your spellings each evening at home as many of you are still not doing this.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (10^th March 2022).

education               creation                frustration            conversation

celebration            punctuation            calculation             hesitation

imagination            invitation               location                 investigation

sensation               explanation            determination

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 4 and 8 times tables
• A decimal equivalents challenge – recognising and writing decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundredths

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Number bonds are very important and help with many aspects of maths. The more confident you are with these, the easier you will find addition, subtraction, mental calculations etc.  Therefore, please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Please continue to use the maths and spellings training sections as these are tailored for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult.

Reception 4th March 2022

Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 12:31pm

This week we have continued our learning about Oliver's Vegetables. We have been learning the story and have enjoyed sharing our own versions with Year 2. 

In maths we have been practising taking away within 10 and finding less than a number.

In French this week we have practised a few questions and answers about ourselves and looked at the names for vegetables in French too.

We made our own butterflies and caterpillars in art, using lots of different colours and materials. 

We read the story of Handa's Suprise and talked about the similarities and differences between our country and Africa. We also discussed all the different fruit in the story. 

Year 2 Home Practice Friday 4th March

Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 10:44am

A busy week in Year 2, the children are enjoying their learning, listening well and asking lots of good questions. They enjoyed colouring Ukrainian flags for our window display. Thank you to everyone who brought in donations for the people of Ukraine, the children felt so happy to help. In English, we have read, The True Story Of The 3 Little Pigs! By Jon Scieszka. The children had to decide if Mr. A. Wolf was innocent or guilty and justify their opinion in a character profile. They also wrote some great Wanted Posters, using interesting vocabulary.

We have continued our work on place value and number in Maths. The children placed numbers on partially filled number lines, worked on adding and taking 10 from two-digit numbers and rounded numbers to the nearest multiple of 10.

In RE we learnt all about Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday and went to Church to receive the ashes. It was lovely for the whole school to spend time together in Church again. In PSHE the children have learnt about healthy eating, it generated a great class discussion.

Reading

In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult or older sibling. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

You could write down these new words in a word book and find out what they mean. It is amazing to see the list grow, something to be very proud of, especially when children realise how many more words they understand and can use!

Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.

Reading books are changed every Monday and sent home on Tuesday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.

Reading resources:

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

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 ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’. You could also explore the rest of the site and read books from the Oxford Owl eBook library or listen to audio books.

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

In addition to this, reading a good bed time story to your child is so worthwhile and really helps towards a lifelong love of reading.

Spelling

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

It is useful to write the words down on the spelling sheet, but also to call the words out and spell them out loud using the letter sounds or names. Other ideas include breaking the words up and writing them down in different colours (pedal). You could look for words within words (metal)or think of your own ways to remember the word for example, spell it aloud using a tune or song.

You will have a Sumdog challenge on these words to complete by next Friday.

This week’s spellings are, the sound ‘l’ spelt ‘-il’ and ‘-al’:

pencil                      pedal

fossil                      capital 

nostril                     hospital

pupil                        animal

metal                       oval

Maths

At home, count forwards and backwards in 3s to 36. Start at different numbers each time. For example, start counting forwards from 12 or backwards from 30. What patterns do you see? What numbers do you say each time?

Practise 2-, 5-, 10- and 3-times tables on a game called Hit the Button. Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

You will have a number challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.

Sumdog

Log in at www.sumdog.com

We are looking forward to our class trip next week on Thursday 10^th March.

Have a lovely weekend.

Year 2 Team.

Year 6 Friday 4th March 2022

Date: 4th Mar 2022 @ 8:35am

Welcome to another Year 6 blog. We cannot believe we have been in Year 6 for 6 months – how time has flown! This week, we prepared our Lenten promises and took part in the Ash Wednesday mass where Father blessed us with ashes. Year 6 did a brilliant job of supporting the Receptions on their first whole school mass.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have been learning how to describe the features of 3D shapes and create them using various nets. We then used our recent learning on area and volume to understand how to find square and cube numbers.
• In English, we created our own adventure story using various scenes as the stimulus. We focused on introducing the story by either describing the scene, the characters, using dialogue and starting with action.
• In RE, we continued our new topic, ‘Unity’, by creating images/symbols in a stained-glass window design to show that even though we are different, we may all be one with Jesus Christ through the gifts we have been given.
• In PE, during to the poor weather, we focused our learning on improving our skills in athletics: running, long jump, high jump, triple jump and speed bounce.
• In French, as it was Mardi Gras this week, we had a pancake-themed French lesson. The children practised using all parts of the verb 'aimer' with various pancake fillings orally, then they wrote some sentences using all the different subject pronouns and the correct verb endings. 
• In Science, we learnt why each of the food groups are important to keep us healthy. We planned a healthy meal plan for a day, checking that over the day, there was a balanced diet, not forgetting plenty of water! Then we researched different deficiency diseases and worked out what you would have to do if you were suffering from any of them. We also read the information on some food packaging and weighed out the amount of sugar in each. The jam was shocking, but it was also surprising how much sugar is in some carton juices which are supposedly healthy. 
• In Design and Technology, we began our project (Design and make a healthy Granola Bar) by tasting and evaluating a selection of shop-bought granola bars. We read the nutritional information on the box to see how much sugar each contained. We decided which was the healthiest bar, and which was our favourite. Next we'll make some, following a recipe. Finally, we'll adapt the recipe to make it our own.
• In PSHE, we discussed the themes of ‘responsibility’ and ‘becoming independent’ and how they interconnect with each other, especially as we approach our residential trip of Tower Wood. We looked at different scenarios and discussed the advice we would give if someone was worried about becoming independent and what they might do to overcome this feeling.

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

• Reading – Continue 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.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday, Tuesday Wednesday. Anyone from any group can change their book on these days.

• Spellings (challenge words)
  • Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 2 Short /y/ sound)

rhythm, system, physical, symbol, mystery, oxygen, symptom, hymn, myth, physics, syrup, cylinder, pyramid, syllable, symmetry

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in decimal steps. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. 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 these numbers: 1.4, 2.64 and 3.726 and count up 10 times then back again in 0.3s:

1.4, 1.7, 2.0, 2.3, 2.6, 2.9, 3.2, etc

and in 0.4s :

2.64, 3.04, 3.44, 3.84, 4.24, 4.64, etc

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 8 = 14, 8 + 7 = 15.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (8 + 6, 6 + 5, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.8 + 0.6, 0.06 + 0.05, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

• Sumdog (Square and Cube numbers)
  • Throughout this week we have investigated different square and cube numbers and the notation for both. This practice will help in you understanding them better and recalling which are square and cube numbers.
• Sumdog (Identifying 3D shapes from nets)
  • For this challenge, look carefully at each net. You will eventually see a pattern. It will be the same pattern that we looked in detail at on Friday. Lots of this practice will help in you being able to recognise nets of 3D shapes quickly.

Maths and Spelling Training.

Do not forget to keep using this extra feature: the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult. Once your challenges have been completed, use this feature to challenge yourself in both spelling and maths.

Spend some time training so the program can learn the skills your child needs to work on and practise. 

Year 5 - Friday 4th March 2022

Date: 3rd Mar 2022 @ 5:25pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 class blog

Is it really only week two; we have been so busy!

This week in year 5

In Maths this week we have completed lots of work on decimals. We have been multiplying and dividing decimals by 100 and 1000.  We have also looked at number families and what happens to them if one or two of the numbers in the family are decreased by 10 or 100, how does this affect the other numbers? Really tricky work but they were able to understand and work out a number of calculations.

In English we have made amazing progress in our book, Why the Whales Came, and plan to complete it next week.  We have completed a diary entry as Gracie and edited it. Then we have worked really hard on collecting words to help us write a descriptive piece about either the sudden arrival of the fog or the sighting and discovery of the fire beacon.  They will be publishing these and displaying them in class next week.

In Science, we carried out another investigation.  This time we practised our science skills through investigating reversible changes by separating materials.  They had rice, flour and salt.  We had different combinations to firstly mix together and then reverse the process.  They did this by means of sieving, filtering and evaporation – we will conclude the experiment next week when the water in our salt solution has evaporated.

In RE, the children have begun their Sacrifice topic.  This will take us throughout Lent and help us prepare for Easter.  The children have each made a Lenten Promise and these were offered at Friday’s Golden Assembly.  The children tried to think of something they could give up to show sacrifice or something they would commit to do more to help or affect others in a positive way.

In French, as it was Mardi Gras this week, we had a pancake-themed French lesson. We read a poem about Les Crepes, focussing on correct pronunciation of the sounds ou and oi. Then children practised using all parts of the verb 'aimer' with various pancake fillings. A final treat - we ate Crepes au chocolat!

In PE, we developed our athletics skills.  This consisted of practising the relay including the difficult baton change, speed bounce, standing long jump, vertical jump and the triple jump.  Mrs Cookson and I were extremely impressed with their developing skills. Some children were chosen to represent the school in an Athletics Final next week, however, next year I am certain there will be a huge cohort that will get the opportunity.

In PSHE we carried on our emergency situation sessions.  This week we learnt about what to do if we had a casualty with burns and scalds and also a casualty that was bleeding.  We also linked these to casualties developing shock.  Once again the children were really good and learnt some great skills for life.

Please see the separate gallery from our trip to Judge’s Lodgings.  What a great day out!  The children (and staff) had an amazing experience.  I have added all the photos in the gallery (check out the Victorian Mrs Mulgrew in the background in her fetching mop cap!)

DON’T FORGET

Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.

Please bring in a cardboard box for DT. (Many thanks to those who already have.)

All reply slips etc to be returned for Borwick Hall.

There is also an amendment to the Borwick trip, details can be found in the newsletter. The children must bring their own packed lunch on this day.

Common exception words will be being tested before the end of term.

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. Some children had a break from reading over the holidays but please ensure this is made a priority now that we are back at school.  Practise is vital to improve in all areas of English.

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

Maths – please ask your child what their times tables target is and help them practise this in order for them to progress.

I’d also encourage you to do a daily count with your child.  This week they can count in 10s and 100s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 10s or 100s, this week concentrating on subtractions.  To challenge them give numbers in the higher 1000s.

Spellings words with an ‘or’ sound spelt ‘au’. We will look at these in more detail in school next week, they should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

pause, cause, sauce, fraud, launch, author, August, applaud, astronaut, restaurant, autograph, cautious, daughter, thesaurus, pauper

Don’t forget the children have a big list of Common Exception words to learn, these can be practised each week to push your child further.  You should all have received a sheet with these words on by now, I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Christmas. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before Easter.

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Please encourage your child to complete the Maths and Spelling Training.  As you know, we set weekly challenges that are linked to the learning that takes place in school.  As an extra feature, the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.  Many children have still not completed the diagnostic section.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set activities relating to multiplication and division mentally using known facts.  If 40 divided by 5 = 8 then 400 divided by 5 = 80 and 4000 divided by 5 is 8000.

Spellings words containing ‘or’ spelt ‘au’.

Year 1 Blog- Friday 4th March

Date: 3rd Mar 2022 @ 10:05am

Welcome to your blog for this week.

This week we talked about how we are in the month of March. We have also been writing the short date on our work i.e. 2nd March is 02.03.22. We have been talking about what the numbers mean and how they change.

English

We continued learning through the story of Where The Wild Things Are. We watched and talked about different versions of the story and also looked at other books written by Maurice Sendak. We wrote and illustrated our own books and read them to the children in Year 3. They were very impressed!

Phonics

We have been looking at ee as in tree and ey as in monkey. Phonics songs. Click here.

Maths

We have been very busy this week in maths. We have been learning about adding and subtracting 10. We looked at the 100 square and talked about the patterns of numbers. We represented numbers with practical equipment, Base 10, 10 frames, bead strings, bundles of straws and Numicon.We had a go at representing numbers with lines and dots, a line for tens and a dot for ones.

We also looked at the pattern of 2s and 5s.

Shark numbers game. Click here. Choose numbers up to 99.

Science

We talked about what kinds of plants grow in our school grounds. Next week we will be going to have a look. Have a look at what's growing around where you live.

P.S.H.E.

We continued to talk about precious items and how they are of value to is in a sentimental rather than monetary way. We had a look at the story about the girl who took her mum's ring to school without permission and discussed what she should have done to make the right choices.

R.E.

We learnt about Shrove Tuesday and what Lent is. On Ash Wednesday we went to church and Father Michael blessed us with ashes. We made our Lenten promises and took them to Golden Assembly.

D.T.

We have started our food topic in D.T. The class are very excited as we are going to be making our own smoothie in a few weeks! This week, we learnt about how our food is made - where it starts and how it ends up on our plates. We made a simple flow diagram to show this.

P.E.

We continued to learn how to throw a beanbag using an underarm throw. We are quickly becoming experts! We were challenged to aim at a target (a stop sign and a hoop) and we were very successful. We loved playing the throwing games in our groups.

French

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have also been doing lots of counting. We have mainly been focusing on counting in patterns of 2s and 5s so please practise counting in ones and tens at home. Don't always start from 1, we encourage starting from different numbers. We use a number square in class to help us with this, we have learnt to move left/right one place for counting in ones and up/down for counting in tens. Feel free to search '100 square' in Google to find one online. Highlight the patterns on the square.

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - split digraph o_e

Maths - counting in multiples (2, 5, 10)

Year 4 Home Practice Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 4:01pm

Year 4

Home Practice 25^th February 2022

Welcome back to school and this week’s blog. Here’s what we have been learning in school this week ….

In English, we continued reading Kensuke’s Kingdom. We are thoroughly enjoying the book so far and are keen to find out what will happen to Michael.  This week we have written the continuation of a chapter and drawn and labelled a map of the island using description and vocabulary from the text.

In Maths, we learnt more about place value – we rounded numbers to the nearest thousand, labelled negative numbers on a numberline, and investigated hundredths.  In addition, we practised our tables and counting in 3’s and 6’s.

In RE, we learnt about the joys and demands of giving and receiving as well as what happens at the beginning of the Eucharist and the reasons for these actions and symbols.

In French, we practised the phonic sound 'ou' with a song called Mon Petit Loup then we looked at the Carnaval de Nice which takes place every year at this time. The theme this year is Animaux. We admired the massive floats and the amazing costumes. Quelle spectacle!

We started learning the song “Rockin’ Romans" in Music this week.  We also played the rhythm game, “Gimme 1”, and learnt a cup game, “Mambo Cup Rhythm”.  Again, a busy and enjoyable Music Lesson – thank you Mrs Winter.

We began our PE lesson running 4 times around both playgrounds without stopping.  We then practised baton changes when running in relays.  Following this, we practised bouncing a ball whilst running and then passing it to our partner.  Finally, we used these skills in a friendly game of handball.

This week’s Home Practice ….

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 (3^rd March 2022). 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’ and https://www.timestables.co.uk/

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

Counting

This week, please practise counting in 3’s and 6’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 have got written down to check you’ve said the correct number.

Count in 3’s

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

0  3   6   9                          36   33   30  etc

Then try counting from 30 to 66 and back again

30   33   36     etc              66  63   60   etc

Count in 6’s

For example, start at 0 and count up to 72 and back again

0   6   12   18   etc              72   66   60    etc

Spellings

The spellings all have the ‘k’ sound, which is spelt ‘ch’. These words are usually Greek in origin. Please practise your spellings each evening at home as many of you are still not doing this.  You will be tested on them next Thursday (3^rd March 2022).

scheme        chorus         ache            echo            chemist

stomach       anchor         monarch       orchid          school

chaos           character    technology   mechanic      chemistry

Sumdog challenges

You have been set 2 challenges on Sumdog:

• A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
• A times table challenge based on the 3 and 6 times tables

Please make sure you log on and have a go! Many of you are still not accessing Sumdog on a daily basis. Little and often is the key to success!

Number bonds

Number bonds are very important and help with many aspects of maths. The more confident you are with these, the easier you will find addition, subtraction, mental calculations etc.  Therefore, please continue practising your number bonds / addition skills playing Hit the Button

The game you will play will help with your number bonds and quick addition skills. For example:

8 + 6               you could partition this into         8 + 2 + 4 = 14

This is because 8 + 2 is a pair to 10, then add the 4 to 10

Click on the link above, then on Play Game.

Click on Number bonds

On the left-hand side you will see the words ‘Up to 20’

Click on Addition within 20

See how many you can get correct in 1 minute. Then have another go and try and beat your score.

Maths and spelling training

Please continue to use the maths and spellings training sections as these are tailored for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult.

PLEASE REMEMBER

Year 4 will shortly begin their preparation for First Holy Communion. There is an Enrolment Mass on Sunday 27^th February at 10.30am for the children who will be undertaking this journey, and their families. We look forward to seeing you there.

Year 6 Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 3:52pm

Welcome to our first Year 6 blog since the February half term. This week we have been busy improving our leaderships roles around school: our reading ambassadors have continued to support the Reception team with daily reads; the Sport Captains have planned the next term of sporting events and competitions; the Science ambassadors have continued their role with more play time experiments; the class have been going above and beyond with helping the infants during lunch times; and the Golden Team have completed their first whole school assembly, which was a super event welcoming all the school together for the first time in years! Well done Year 6 – keep it up.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have learnt how to calculate area of simple 2D shapes, rectilinear shapes and solved problems with them. We have also improved our strategy of how to find percentages of numbers.
• In English, we have begun a new novel, ‘Skellig’, and learnt how to use dashes when writing informally as the main characters.
• In RE, we started our new topic, ‘Unity’, and discussed and created an information text for ways to be a good friend to others.
• In PE, we continued our learning of gymnastics by creating a group routine of jumping, rolling, travelling and balancing using all the equipment, including the climbing frame.
• In Music, we listened to two versions of the same song, ‘You’ve got a friend’ by Carole King and James Taylor, and discussed the similarities and differences between them. We learnt a new song, ‘Everybody loves Saturday night’. We have also started learning recorders again, since Year 5, by recapping B, A and G to the song ‘Sailor, sailor on the sea’.
• In French, we researched the Carnaval de Nice which takes place every year at this time. The theme this year is Animaux. We admired the massive floats and the amazing costumes. Quelle spectacle!
• In Science, we were invited to ask Dr Ahna Skop, a cell biologist and science artist in Wisconsin, some questions about her background and research – which we did by learning about her work in genetics. We then videoed the children asking questions and sent it to her. Hopefully she will answer our questions soon. This was a brilliant opportunity to find out about a new aspect of Science, but also stress the importance of diversity and inclusion in science which Dr Skop feels very strongly about. Also, for our topic on ‘Healthy Lifestyles’, we discussed ways to make a balanced diet and the dangers of eating too much or too little of certain food groups.
• In PSHE, we continued our topic of online safety by learning about the age ratings system for films and other media. We can now recognise the different symbols related to the age ratings for films and can explain what each mean.

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

• Reading – Continue 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.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (challenge words)
  • Sumdog (Year 6 Sp 2 wk 2 -ture / -sure)

adventure, capture, creature, furniture, future, immature, mixture, measure, nature, signature, treasure, leisure, pressure, pleasure, enclosure

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in single digit steps to prepare us for future division learning. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. 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 these numbers: 1, 2 and 3 and count up 10 times then back again in 3s:

35, 38, 41, 44, 47, 50, 53, 56, etc

and in 6s :

365, 371, 377, 383, 389, 395, 401, etc

• Number facts:
  • To help your maths even more, please continue to learn your numbers facts, 6 + 8 = 14, 8 + 7 = 15.
  • The best way to do this is to simply have someone in your home quiz you with questions like (8 + 6, 6 + 5, 3 + 8, 5 + 9, etc)
  • Then get them to change the place value of these digits (0.8 + 0.6, 0.06 + 0.05, 0.3 + 0.8, etc)

• Sumdog (Multiplication 2 and 3 digit numbers by 3)
  • We have practiced a lot with these types of questions over the past month. Make sure you read the numbers in the question correctly and you should be able to work them out mentally.
• Sumdog (Area of 2D shapes)
  • For this challenge, make sure you read the measurements in the questions. For example, if the measurements are cm x cm then the answer would equal cm squared (with the 2 next to the cm). The same goes for mm x mm.

Maths and Spelling Training.

Do not forget to keep using this extra feature: the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words that they find difficult. Once your challenges have been completed, use this feature to challenge yourself in both spelling and maths.

Spend some time training so the program can learn the skills your child needs to work on and practise. 

Year 3 Blog Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 1:12pm

We have had a great first week back after Half Term and have done so much learning already. 

In maths we have been learning to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes. We used an app on the iPads for extra practice called 'What's the time Mr Wolf?'. 

We have also been placing numbers on a number line and using this to round to the nearest 100. Next week in maths we are going to be adding and subtracting. 

In English we have read some more of The Butterfly Lion. We wrote a letter as one of the characters talking about our time in the trenches. The language we used by finding good words in the book was fantastic. 

In geography we have been learning about different biomes in Africa. We defined a biome as:

A large region with its own distinct climate, plants and animals. 

We have used maps and fact files to find out about the different biomes in Africa. 

We have started our new topic in PSHE. It is called 'What makes a community?' So far. we have spoken about the different groups and communities that we belong to. 

This week we have also started the design stage of our DT mechanisms project. We are choosing a picture from a story we know to bring 'to life'. Everyone showed great creativity and perserverance with their first designs.

Home Practice

Reading

Read out loud to somebody every day for 20 minutes. Talk about what you have read. 

Counting

Count out loud in 5s from 0 to 60 and back again. 

Count out loud in 1s from 98 to 108 and back again.

Count out loud in 1s from 109 to 120 and back again. 

Sumdog

You will find 3 challenges on spellings, time and x8 this week. Remember to access the training feature as well to practise skills.

Times Tables

Continue to practise the 8x tables. You can listen to songs on YouTube. Make sure you know them without having to count. 

You will be tested on your 8x tables on Tuesday 1st March. 

Telling the time

Practise telling the time at home. Try to read the time to the nearest 5 minutes. 

Telling the Time Game

Spellings

Your spellings this week all in end -sure. 

We have discussed the meaning of the words in class, try to discuss the different meanings with somebody at home. 

measure         treasure          pleasure          enclosure          displeasure          composure          leisure          exposure          closure          disclosure 

Tests

You will be tested on your spellings and 8x tables on Tuesday 1st March.

Have an amazing weekend :)

Year 2 Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 25th Feb 2022 @ 8:35am

Year 2 have had a great first week back after half term. They have been working really hard and have produced some fantastic pieces of work, a big well done to everyone. The book award books have been a success and the children have enjoyed talking about them and taking them home to read. I wonder which one will be their favourite! In English, we have become journalists and done some interviewing, recount writing and learnt about the third person, past and present tense. We have continued reading the novel, The Boy Who Grew Dragons and done some great descriptipns using interesting adjectives. Our new topic in Maths is place value and the children also looked at time, please ask your children to tell the time now and then at home, especially o’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to. In RE we read the story about The Last Supper and thought about our Lenten promises. The children did a survey in Science and looked for different materials around their tables, in class and outside. In Geography, we have started our new topic all about Australia. We began to learn the words for some vegetables in French through games and a song. We practised our colour and number words too. 

Reading

In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult or older sibling. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.

You could write down these new words in a word book and find out what they mean. It is amazing to see the list grow, something to be very proud of, especially when children realise how many more words they understand and can use!

Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.

Reading books are changed every Monday and sent home on Tuesday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.

Reading resources:

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

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 ‘eBook Library for Letters & Sounds’. You could also explore the rest of the site and read books from the Oxford Owl eBook library or listen to audio books.

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

In addition to this, reading a good bed time story to your child is so worthwhile and really helps towards a lifelong love of reading.

Spelling

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

It is useful to write the words down on the spelling sheet, but also to call the words out and spell them out loud using the letter sounds or names. Other ideas include breaking the words up and writing them down in different colours (camel). You could look for words within words (tinsel)or think of your own ways to remember the word for example, spell it aloud using a tune or song.

You have a Sumdog challenge on these words to complete by next Friday.

This week’s spellings are:

camel                       tinsel

tunnel                       bagel 

squirrel                     hazel

travel                        vowel

towel                         jewel

Maths

At home, count forwards and backwards in 5s to 60. Start at different numbers each time. For example, start counting forwards from 20 or backwards from 50. Look at how this relates to the clock and telling the time.

Practise 2, 5, 10 and 3-times tables on a game called Hit the Button.

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

You have a time challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.

Sumdog

Log in at www.sumdog.com

Thank you to all those who have brought in cardboard boxes for our D.T project. We will be making houses from 1666 and taking them with us on our trip (Thursday 10^th March). 

Have a great weekend.

Year 2 Team.

Year 5 - Friday 25th February 2022

Date: 24th Feb 2022 @ 5:57pm

Welcome to this week’s Year 5 Class Blog

The children have settled back into the school week and worked hard this week.

This week in year 5

We have learnt a lot of maths this week.  We have recapped factors and factor pairs and investigated common factors of two numbers; this also helped us to recap work on prime numbers.  We used a lot of our divisibility facts to help us with this.  We have also managed to spend time working on the grid method.  We have completed 2 digits by 2 digits and even worked on 2 digits by 3 digits.  There are YouTube videos if you aren’t familiar with this method and want to help you child practise at home.  The children also enjoyed 'Twosday' this week and had fun looking at the extraordinary date.

In English we started a new novel, Why the Whales Came by Michael Murpurgo.  We have used reading skills to find characteristics of the Birdman so that we could draw and describe him, we have completed reading comprehensions and used evidence from the text.  We have been given extracts of the book without punctuation and tried to correct it whilst our partner reads the book aloud emphasising the pauses and breaks. Finally, we have written a diary entry as Gracie from the story.

In Science, we investigated substances, whether they were soluble or insoluble.  They carried out a series of experiments and recorded their results.  They wrote fantastic conclusions relating to their findings.

In RE, we have finished our Mission topic.  The children have looked in detail at the work of the diocese, the family, the school community and their own role in helping to share the mission of Jesus.  They finished by writing a prayer for Christian Unity. They have been very respectful and thoughtful.

In French, we looked at the Carnaval de Nice which takes place every year at this time. The theme this year is Animaux. We admired the massive floats and the amazing costumes. Quelle spectacle! We researched some facts about it - we said we'd love to visit one day!

In PE, children worked on their relay skills.  They had to think about how to hold out their hand when receiving the baton, how to place it in their partners hand when passing the baton and where they needed to be looking at all the different stages.  The improvement in just one session was amazing; their speeds increased on each practise.  They then worked on attacking strategies within the game of Handball. Everyone developed considerably during the games and showed their teamwork skills and competitiveness. 

The children have started a new DT project where they will be learning about, planning and making a moving animal in its habitat, using cams and followers. They researched a number of vulnerable or endangered animals, looking at their appearance, habitat and movement.  Then we went on to look at a cam and follower mechanism and how it works.  They really listened carefully and were able to explain how the components work together using rotary and linear motion.  I have asked if they can all try and bring in a box to make their model with. Any box around a shoe box, cereal box or large than a cube tissue box will suffice.

In computing we discussed positive and fun interactions online.  We discussed how we interact with others online when gaming and how this can be kept safe, fun and positive.  We designed our own interactive computer game and had to explain how people could interact in a positive and safe way.

In PSHE we carried on our emergency situation sessions.  This week we learnt about what to do if we found someone choking.  The children practised 5 back slaps in slow motion on one another and felt on their own bodies where they would give 5 tummy thrusts to someone who was choking.

DON’T FORGET

Additional warm clothes for PE sessions.

Please bring in a cardboard box for DT.

All reply slips etc to be returned for both Judges Lodgings and Borwick Hall.

Packed lunch required for Judges Lodgings next week.

There is also an amendment to the Borwick trip, details can be found in the newsletter. The children must bring their own packed lunch on this day.

Common exception words will be being tested before the end of term.

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. Some children had a break from reading over the holidays but please ensure this is made a priority now that we are back at school.  Practise is vital to improve in all areas of English.

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

Maths – please ask your child what their times tables target is and help them practise this in order for them to progress.

I’d also encourage you to do a daily count with your child.  This week they can count up in 6s and 0.6s. Give the children a number to start from and they must continue to count from that number in 6s or 0.6s, either forwards or backwards.  A strategy we use is bridging e.g. if the number is 45 and we are adding 6 we would use 5 to bridge it to the next 10 first – 50 and then add the remaining 1.  If subtracting we would again subtract to the nearest 10 – this time subtracting 5 to get to 40 and then subtracting the leftover 1.

Spellings words with an ‘or’ sound. We will look at these in more detail in school next week. They should be practised at home, ready for the test on Friday. 

forty, scorch, absorbent, decorate, afford, enormous, category, tornado, accordingly, opportunity, abnormal, before, forgotten, performance, vigorous

Don’t forget the children have a big list of Common Exception words to learn; these can be practised each week to push your child further.  You should all have received a sheet with these words on by now. I have highlighted the words that your child wrote correct in a spelling test before Christmas. This will give you an indication of how well they are remembering these spellings. We will be assessing the children on these words before Easter.

Sumdog challenges

PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THE SUMDOG CHALLENGES, MANY CHILDREN ARE STILL NOT ACCESSING SUMDOG.

Please encourage your child to complete the Maths and Spelling Training.  As you know, we set weekly challenges that are linked to the learning that takes place in school.  As an extra feature, the maths and spelling training sections will provide a tailored challenge for your child to practise skills, facts and words they find difficult.  Once the diagnostic challenges have been completed Sumdog will set challenges to aid improvement and development in the appropriate areas for your child.  Once you have completed the class challenges, please use this feature for extra challenge in both maths and spelling.  Many children have still not completed the diagnostic section.

Times tables have been set to reflect class targets

Maths the children have been set activities relating to factors and prime numbers.

Spellings words containing ‘or’.

Reception 25th February 2022

Date: 24th Feb 2022 @ 3:47pm

Welcome Back! 

We have had a great first week back at school after half term. We have started our new topic, Growing. 

We have been investigating this week. On Monday, a basket of vegetables arrived in our class, we had to explore what they felt like and what they looked like on the inside and learn all the different names.

In Science, we have been looking at different types of plants and talking about the similarities and differences betwen them. We also went outside to look for things that are alive/not alive and thought about how we know the difference. We had a great discussion about what things need to be able to grow. 

In Maths, we have been finding one/two more than a given number and looking at the addition symbol. practising adding together two parts to find the whole amount. 

We are beginning to spot the signs of Spring, we drew pictures of the thing we are most looking forward too. 

Year 1 Blog Friday 25th February

Date: 24th Feb 2022 @ 10:06am

Welcome to your Friday blog!

We have been noticing signs of Spring.

This week we have got straight back into all of our busy learning. It has been so lovely to hear what the children have been up to during the break.

English

We started a new story called Where The Wild Things Are. We listened to and watched the story. We made our own wild thing masks and became a wild thing in our wild rumpus! We wrote about our wild things using great descriptive words. We are continuing with this story next week and we are writing our own books.

Where The Wild Things Are read by Maurice Sendak Click Here

In Phonics we have been looking at oe as in toe and oa as in goat. We have also looked at our split digraphs again in cake.

Maths

We have been learning to compare amounts using vocabulary such as fewer, equal to and more than. We have been looking at patterns of numbers on the 100 square. In particular, we have been focusing on 1 more/less and 10 more/less from any given number on the number square. The class have learnt that to count in ones, we move left or right by one on the number square and to count in tens we move up or down one.

Interactive 100 square. Click here.

R.E.

We have started our new topic in R.E. - Special Meals. We talked about how people, objects and meals could be classed as special and how they are special. We shared our own examples of special meals and drew pictures of them.

Science

This week we started a new topic all about plants and growing. We investigated different fruits to find the seeds. We talked about what was the same and what was different about the seeds.

P.E.

We have finished gymnastics and have moved onto our throwing and catching in P.E. We recapped how to throw a bean bag underarm and competed against each other to see how many bean bags we could get into a hoop from a distance. We had a lot of fun!

PSHE

We have been learning about things that are precious to us and how this is not about monetary value. We also had a discussion about being truthful.

Music

This Friday we had our very first whole school Golden Assembly and we got to play the boomwhackers for everyone. We put on a briliant performance of "You Are My Sunshine" and got a huge round of applause.

French

 We began to learn the words for some vegetables in French through games, story and a song. 

History

This week, we have learnt about Florence Nightingale and why she was so important to nursing. We quickly found out that hospitals were very dirty, overcrowded and full of diseases until Florence helped to change things. We compared the hospitals before and after Florence's work and learnt all about her life.

Fairtrade Fortnight

This week we talked about the difference between needs and wants. We sorted pictures and then had a discussion about what we really need for our lives to be happy and healthy and what we want. We listened to a story about a cocoa bean farmer who lives in West Africa and talked about her needs and wants and how her life compares to ours.

Home Practice

Read for at least 10 minutes every night. This is so important. please sign the diary so we can change the books. Keep practicing reading the Tricky Words on sight. Please just write a note in the diary if you need the next set.

We have also been doing lots of counting. We have mainly been focusing on 1 more/less and 10 more/less so please practise counting in ones and tens at home. Don't always start from 1, we encourage starting from different numbers. We use a number square in class to help us with this, we have learnt to move left/right one place for counting in ones and up/down for counting in tens. Feel free to search '100 square' in Google to find one online.

Sumdog challenges

Phonics - split digraph a_e words

Maths - one more/one less

Year 4 Half Term Blog

Date: 10th Feb 2022 @ 4:03pm

Year 4

Home Practice 10^th February 2022

Welcome to the last blog of this half term. These 6 weeks have flown by with all the learning Year 4 have been doing! Here’s what we have been learning this week ….

In English, we planned and wrote a letter. We revised the features of an informal letter and then wrote a letter from Michael to his best friend Eddie, which included details from the novel.  Year 4 have worked hard to improve their writing this week – well done. 

In Maths, we finished our division topic. We revisited the chunking method, learnt the effect of dividing a 2 digit number by 10, and solved division problems using strategies we had learnt.  Super work Year 4 as division can be quite tricky – you have shown a much greater understanding this week.

In Music, we played a rhythm game called ‘Give me One’.  Then, we practised the chords C, F and G on the ukuleles.  We played along to ‘Lean on Me’ using these chords, and tried to improve our chord shapes and chord changes. Mrs Winter was so impressed with our playing that she asked us to perform in Golden Assembly!  Fantastic Year 4, you should be very proud!

This week in French, we looked at the atlas to find the Francophone countries in Africa. Then we read an interview with Sadio Mane, the Senegalese football player, whose team have just won the African Cup of nations.  We then asked and answered questions about ourselves.

This week was Children’s Mental Health week and the theme was ‘Growing Together’.  We celebrated lots of things we are good at, things that we have achieved and how we have grown both physically and mentally.  We also enjoyed seeing all the outfits you wore on ‘Dress to Express’ day! You all looked amazing!

As always, a very busy week in Year 4. Over half term, please continue to read every day, as well as practising any times tables you know you find especially tricky.

Have a lovely holiday – relax and recharge your batteries.

See you all on Monday 21^st February

Mrs Tipping and Mrs Dexter