All about magnets....

We have all been Curious Clara’s this week and have been finding out all about magnets. First, a discussion about what does a magnets do. The children said they stick to things…mmmmmm all things? Everyone thought magnets would pick up paper, wood and even Barbara’s knee!!

We had to find out more, we had to be curious and active. We had to investigate !!!

A big thank you everyone who has been working hard at home too. We have had lots of Purple Mash work and also the challenges which have been sent home during the week…you are all fabulous. The photos which I have received of the children working at home makes me so very proud. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Here’s a bit of fun for you all to do at home. It’s an action song about Zooming to the Moon! Click here and enjoy your trip!

Worship

Along with Freddy Teddy and Mollie the Cat, we thanked God for our wonderful bodies and discussed how we should look after them. This weeks story involved the children helping Freddy Teddy to make good, healthy lifestyle decisions, including about exercise, diet, sleep and personal hygiene. Click on the button below to read the story at home.

We have also be learning to sing and to sign the song ‘There is someone who knows me’. The children are getting very good. Why not ask them to sing it at home for you? Click here for the music.

Key Person blog

This week our learning has been truly ‘Magnetic’ at Nursery.

We have been exploring Magnets of all different shapes and sizes. The children experimented in lots of different places.  They have made of list of all the items that the magnets pull towards and as you can imagine the list is expanding each day with each new find. We even experimented with magnets in the water and sand.

We watched a short film about a top scientist nicknamed ‘Magnet Man’ with his special magnetic grippers he was able to climb up a tall tower made of steel. Click here to watch him climb…

We also enjoyed a short animation about how mice used fridge magnets to escape from a cat!!! You can click here to watch it.

We have also celebrated Chinese New Year, the year of the tiger, by performing our very own dragon dance, accompanied by our very own Chine drums. The children have made tigers and tasted noodles.

Colette, Michelle, Justine, Frances and Hannah

Next week we will be thinking about planet earth. How can we look after our planet and make sure all the creatures which live on it (including us) are safe? Michelle is also keen to do some upcycling of interesting recyclable boxes and materials. Please send in any items you require up cycling!!

I have also stolen a wonderful idea from Miss Lavelle our Reception teacher. If you have any unwanted picture of photo frames (without the glass and the back) could we please have them? It’s so exciting, when we use them I will share the photos…watch this space (no pun intended).

Please have a restful weekend, as next week will be just as busy as this week. Keep checking to see if your child’s key person has set any games or work ( I think it’s going to be a cold one). Keep safe and we will see you all on Monday!

Barbara

Year 3 Home Learning 28.01.22

Spellings:

Spelling strategy: CHUNK! Chunk each word into parts (not necessarily sounds) for example: act / ion… cele/ brat / ion

This week we re focusing on adding the suffix - ion.

1. action

2. celebration

3. collection

4. invention

5. education

6. hesitation

7. concentration

8. construction

Maths:

Look careful at the examples below, where we are partitioning the second addend. This is one of the most efficient methods, that will help you greatly when we come to bridge over larger numbers. Then complete the calculations, setting each one out like the example below:

In your home learning books please use this strategy to calculate the following:

7 + 6 =

8 + 9 =

3 + 8 =

5 + 7 =

4 + 8 =

Science:

This week we have been learning about the human skeleton. Please have a go at the purple mash 2DO set by creating a fact sheet all about the different bones you can find in the human body.

“We didn’t realize we were making memories. We just knew we were having fun.” — Winnie the Pooh

Memories have certainly been made this week outside on the playground, as they are every week. The children have formed such strong friendships that I am sure many will go on to last a lifetime. The laughter that rings out, the smiling faces and rosy cheeks is testament to how much fun they have as they return to their classes.

We end this week with a touch of sadness, as a highly valued member of the lunchtime team leaves to follow pastures new. Thank you so much Mrs Moore, for all your hard work over the years. We have shared some wonderful times together full of laughter and fun. We hope that you are taking so me treasured memories with you. Please know that you will be missed so much, not only by the staff, but by the children too. We wish you the very best for the future.

 Let’s Celebrate!

Kitchen Team, Class Manners of the Week: Year 5

First Sitting

Class of the Week: Year 3

Role Model of the Week: Benjamin, Y3 and Hollie- Rose, Y5

Jacqui’s Marvelous Manners: Erin, Y3 and Kai, Y5.

Second Sitting.

Class of the Week:  Year 4

Role Model of the Week: Alana, Y1 and Edi, Y4

Jacqui’s Marvelous Manners: Jackson, Y1 and Dominic, Y4

Third Sitting.

Class of the Week:  Reception

Role Model of the Week: Dexter, Reception. Rory, Y2 and Emmanuel, Y6

Jacqui’s Marvelous Manners: Sasha , Reception. Tommy, Y2 and Harry, Y6

Well done and thank you children for making lunchtimes such a lovely, fun filled time of the day!

We hope you have a lovely, restful weekend.

God Bless

The Lunchtime Team

'Whoever is happy will make others happy too' Anne Frank

This week the children have been real Sadie Spiders, showing great resilience in their learning, particularly in Maths where they have come across a new strategy to help them bridge over to the tens column when adding, in preparing for adding two digit numbers. In English, the children have been exploring descriptive language and how we can use adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs to describe snowy settings, like the ones found in the ‘Ice Cat’ novel. Some of their setting descriptions are truly beautiful and reflect just how much they have learnt from out book study over the last few weeks.

Towards the end of the week we have been immersed in our Science learning. The children have developed their co-operative skills by working in small groups to research and find out more about the bones in the human skeleton. The classroom has been buzzing with focus and enthusiasm, as new facts have been uncovered. On Friday our detective hats came on as we discovered a very large handprint. Many questions were asked and we became pretty certain that the handprint belonged to a giant! This led us towards an investigation…“Do taller people have longer handprints taller?”

Let’s Celebrate!

A Co-operative and Enthusiastic learner : Erin

What a bundle of joy you are Erin. Alongside your enthusiasm you are such a caring member of our class family. You work with others with such love and compassion, always supporting your partner and encouraging them to keep trying. Thank you Erin, for always being the kind and caring girl that you are. We appreciate this kindness every day and as we watch you and listen to your words of encouragement… our hearts are full of joy and love.

An Creative learner :Benjamin

Thank you for always taking such care and attention with your work Benjamin, you always put 100% effort and this never goes unnoticed. Every single day, in every discussion we have, you think so deeply and share your creative ideas, which we always love to hear! Thank you for your enthusiasm, your creativity and your focus, you are an absolute delight to teach. Keep reaching for the stars…. You are already shining so brightly.

Notices…

• Homework is given out on a Friday and due in again on a Thursday- there are a number of children who are not completing this, please could you encourage this at home, many thanks.

Year 4 blog Friday 28th January. "Science is magic that works!" (Kurt Vonnegut)

The highlight in our week in Year 4 was of course our trip to UCLAN to find out more about States of Matter in our Cosmetic Chemistry course. The course leaders remarked upon the excellent listening and contributing from the whole class. They are a real credit. We had so much fun - there were a lot of gasps as children watched some spectacular events. They loved to get hands on in the Science lab and many discussed their real love of Science.

We took so many photos of this special day - which we have compiled into a video.

In other news! Swimming was a super success on Monday. Children are making good progress. In English this week, children began by writing another explanation text, linked to their Science, all about the Water Cycle. We are currently learning to recite a Brer Rabbit story off by heart and have been brushing up on many grammar skills such as apostrophes and fronted adverbails. We are also learning how to write similes. This is in preparation for writing our own Brer rabbit stories soon. We have also started our new Geography/Science topic about Volcanoes and Earthquakes. This always fascinates children as they learn about what our planet is made out of!

In maths we have faced some tricky problems to do with length and have begun now work on Perimeter of shapes. It is really important to keep up with all maths work at home, such as IXL so that it reinforces the tricky things we learn in class.

Another thing that has brought great joy this week is that we can now go back to playing with our paired Year 1 class again. Also we managed to have a Key Stage 2 assembly together. We miss gathering together so much and I know that soon you will be invited into school to look at children’s books. It has been such a long time!

Times Tables

In June, all Year 4 children nationally are tested on their times tables knowledge. It is a requirement that they know all times tables facts when they go up to Year 5. They are a vital tool to understanding the upper Key Stage 2 maths curriculum.

With this in mind, I will be setting lots of practice in the form of booklets and also TTRockstars. It is important that this becomes daily practice so that all children have the best chance to master these times tables. I have talked to the children about how they can use facts that they already know to find out ones they dont. We also talked about effort - what you put in is what you will get out of it! They are coming home with their first booklet on the 3x tables this week to use as daily practice.

Let’s Celebrate!

This week, our certificate winners are as follows:

A Roger Robin certificate goes to Harvey for learning to take things in your stride and work through setbacks. You are managing your feelings so much better Harvey and I love seeing your joy in that swimming pool!

A Roger Robin certificate goes to Owen for really growing in maturity and becoming a role model in class. You are sensible and try hard to do the right thing. You are such a hard worker.

A Roger Robin certificate goes to Jay for helping friends to make good choices and being a good role model to them. Also for really working on your own resilience and participation.

Music stars this week were Leo and

Swimming stars were Christian, Aviya, Tabby and Charlie. It was VERY hard to pick though!

Notices

SWIMMING ARRIVAL

Please could I ask that all children are only dropped off at the gate at St. Patrick’s Road on a Monday morning to save us opening both gates early at 8.30. Thanks..

WELLIES! On Mondays we need to have our breaktime on the field when we get back from swimming so that we can maintain distance from the other classes. It would be so helpful if children have wellies in school for this, so that they are not getting damp and muddy shoes.

Have a lovely weekend

Kindest regards,

Mrs Lyons, Mrs Mather and Miss Woodrow.

This week.....the aliens are coming!

A fun week making pet aliens and using alien speak. Colette and Michelle are in the process of creating an alien wall based on the the story ‘Aliens love underpants’. The children even designed their own underpants to hang on our washing line.

Click here to listen to the story.

Have you got any stories at home about aliens? If you have bring them in next week and we will read them! We love a good story!!

We have also been redesigning our outdoor area. Everyone has been thinking about what they would like to see and do in the garden. We have already started by creating a big building site using a mixture of BIG waffle bricks, house bricks and boulders ( rubber of course), large tins and buckets, wooden discs and large chopping boards. We have even put up work site sigs in the builders yard.

Some children wanted to make a cosy reading den. We cleaned out the small shed and put lots of squishy mats inside along with some of our favourtie stories! We have ordered a new storage shed for all our baskets of enhancement resources.

I have even ordered some surprise for the children, shhhhh!

We will continue our revamp next week.

Key Person Blog

Once again the children have amazed us with their learning! This week aliens have landed in nursery! The children used their prior shape knowledge to create aliens and some of us have painted them too! Some alien pets may have made their way home already, if yours has – please take good care of them! I wonder if you will hear any alien speak whilst they settle in? Have you read Aliens Love Underpants?

We have worked on our fundamental movement skills in the hall and can see lots of ’concentrate’ Cooper Crabs with our hopping, jumping and throwing! We are working in smaller groups and taking turns in the hall to really hone our skills. The alternative activity was a wellbeing and relaxation session – we did slow and controlled rainbow breathing above our heads and then led down where we focused on large breaths to move our bodies. Why don’t you have a go at home, click here.

We also had tried BREATHING BUDDIES

Purpose: Calm, Relaxation, Mindfulness of Body

Best for: Ages 4+, groups or one-on-one

What you need: Comfortable clothes, ample floor space (or another place to lie down), a favorite stuffed toy.

1. To practice tummy-breathing, ask your child to lie comfortably and place his hands on their tummy (if they use a stuffed animal, they can hold it on top of their tummy when they lie down).

2. As you count to three, ask the child to inhale deeply through their nose.

Tell them to fill their tummy with air as they inhale; they should feel it get bigger and bigger and bigger throughout the count to three. If the stuffed toy sits atop the tummy, they might see it rise as the tummy “fills with air”.

3. Ask them to exhale to a slow count to four. They might see the teddy fall as the feels the tummy shrinks and shrinks throughout the count to four.

Do five to ten rounds of tummy-breathing to get started.

When ready, ask your child how it felt.

Is there a difference in how they feels now?

What did they notice about the stuffed animal as they inhaled and exhaled?

How did it feel when they released the breath?

Repeat the process as many times as you want.

Enjoy!

The den building has been fantastic this week.  We have also been strengthening our finger muscles by manipulating the clay. This helps us develop the muscles needed to be confident writers. We have had so much fun with mixed resources and our creations have been built on a good bout of teamwork!

Don’t forget we have been thinking about things that begin with ‘p’. We could name loads of words! See what you can find at home?

Colette, Michelle, Hannah, Justine and Frances.

Worship

This weeks session required the children to move around and explore the movements their bodies can make by taking part in a story where Freddy Teddy and Mollie the Cat take a morning walk. It helped us realise how wonderful our unique, God-given bodies are.

Click on the button below to read the story and join in the actions.

As always it has been an extremely busy week at nursery and we have noticed that everyone is getting tired. Only two more weeks then we can have a big rest!

Have the most splendid weekend and we will see you all on Monday. I hope you enjoy doing the home challenges we have sent home this week…don’t forget to send us some photos, we love to share the children’s learning.

Barbara