The sun has got his hat on.....

A huge welcome back to the last half term of the year. It is hard to believe that we have been together for a whole year already.

Wow, what a glorious (and hot) week. Although the sun certainly has been shining we have found it too hot at times and decided to stay indoors. The children are very sensible and hunted out the shaded spots in the garden. Luckily we have a lovely canopy of trees!

Barbara and Emma’s blog

Hello and welcome back. I hope you all had a fabulous half term enjoying the sunshine.

 We have been busy this week working our brains and bodies. We have been practicing our sports’ day games, getting ready for next Monday. We have been throwing under and over arm, catching, jumping over mini hurdles and running. We saved the best until last, an obstacle course. We have definitely been working our bodies and have had lots of fun doing it!

 As it is a new term, we are starting to explore ‘mini beasts’ (as per the children's request). The children got their explorers backpacks on packed with all their investigating equipment inside. They had cameras, binoculars, notepads, pens and magnifying glasses. We went outside hunting for bugs under rocks, stones and plants and we found all sorts of mini beasts; slugs, woodlice, a green spider, and a family of snails! We talked about how many legs they had, where they lived, how many eyes and what they ate. We even learnt a new ‘wow’ word - arachnids! We found out that arachnids have eight legs and insects have six legs. The children loved being little bug investigators.

 

The children have enjoyed playing a ladybird game on the touch tv, counting spots and helping with their counting and number recognition. The link below is for the game should any of you wish to play it at home. Click here to play at home.

 We are really excited to welcome back some of our sunflowers. We were surprised to see how much they had grown! Well done everyone! The children have enjoyed digging large holes ready to plant their flowers.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I am looking forward to finding more bugs with our intrepid bug investigators next week.

 Emma

Michelle’s blog

Welcome back everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful half term break. We have started our final half term this year with a bang, we can’t believe we only have a few weeks left before the end of the year. This week we have carried on with learning about the sun, and how to keep safe in the sun.

Here is  a song about putting on suncream. Click here.

We then watched a story about the wind and the sun, and how they argued about who was stronger. We predicted who we thought would win the competition. Click here to watch

We have had lots of practice for Sport’s Day this week. We are so excited to take part on Monday afternoon.

This week has been so hot but we have found lots of ways to cool down, our favourite was the foot spa in the garden.

We have begun our new topic of minibeasts this week and we were very excited when one of our friends brought in their butterflies that have just hatched. We are looking forward to hatching our own butterflies.

Have a lovely weekend,

Michelle

Steph’s blog

Hello everyone

What a lovely week in the sunshine! We have spent so much time playing with the water in the garden and keeping cool under the big trees at the end. We especially love using the syringes and shooting the water in the air to cool us all down.

We have enjoyed telling our friends and the nursery ladies what we got up to in the holidays. It was lovely to hear about all your adventures and we are so good now at waiting for our turn to speak as we go around the circle. We are definitely getting ready for Reception!

We have started our mini beast topic this week and started with a quiz. The children enjoyed seeing if they could guess the mini beast after one clue, but sometimes we needed two or all three clues! Here is the quiz if you like to have a go at home: Click here

We have been ordering numbers this week to complete our mini beast puzzles. If we get them in the right order then the mini beast picture will appear! We also tried this game ordering numbers on the caterpillar: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/caterpillar-ordering . We chose sequencing and numbers 1-10. Let me know how you get on!

Have a lovely weekend and I’ll see you next week!

Steph

…..and just a few from Justine!

Worship

Living in the wider world

Living in the Wider World helps the children to extend their understanding of the communities we discussed last term and about the responsibilities we all have to people, places and the planet now and increasingly as we get older.

The children will begin to explore the working world of jobs, focusing on their current strengths and aspirations. Money is also introduced, with both underpinned by the religious understanding that our true value comes from God.

Click here to visit the parent portal.

Sports’ Day

Don’t forget that Foundation Sports’ Day is on Monday afternoon (weather permitting). Everyone is welcome!

If it is not your child’s usual session please ensure they are in nursery no later than 1.00 pm (and if you could collect them promptly when it has finished that would be great). Children are to wear shorts, t shirts, suncream and trainers. We have the children's bespoke sports’ day t-shirts here at nursery, we will change them when they arrive.

PLEASE NOTE: BEFORE WASHING THE CHILDREN'S DESIGNED T SHIRTS YOU MUST IRON THEM FOR 3 MINS TO SEAL IN THE COLOUR!

Sunflowers

Well done and a big thank you for nurturing the sunflower seeds we sent home last term. The children have planted them in the garden and have been watering them daily.

Lastly, have a wonderful weekend, let’s hope the sunshine continues. We will see you all on Monday.

God Bless

Barbara

Year 3 homework to be handed in on 22.6.23

Maths IXL

Please complete the subtraction strands: F1, F2 and F3

English - Expanded noun phrases

This week we have focused carefully on expanded noun phrases and we are now super confident in not only identifying these, but also writing these in our stories and sentences.

Use your homework books to have a go at improving the following sentences by adding expanded noun phrases.

Ingredients for Food Tech

Miss Neves has asked that the children come to school with the following ingredients next Wednesday.

Sports day warm up!

In our obstacle race we have a tricky skipping section. Why not get out in the sunshine and practise your skipping skills. Can you do 5 consecutive skips or more?

Year 1 Homework 16.6.23

The children have worked very hard this week and deserve a treat so my homework is to enjoy your weekend and have lots of fun, hopefully it stays sunny.

 Once again thank you for all of your support, the children have made so much progress this year and I am incredibly proud of them :)

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Drummond

Year 2 Weekly Blog Friday 16th June 2023 - Shine like the sun!

Year 2 Weekly Blog Friday 16th June - Shine like the sun!

Welcome back! I hope you’ve all had a lovely half term, it was great to see the children come back into school refreshed and ready to learn. The last half term is always busy…we’ve already got the Gym Jam Jog, Sports Day, a library visit and a trip to the zoo booked in. You’ll find all the dates you need for your diaries at the bottom of this page.

The start of a new half term has meant the start of new topics in science and geography.
In science we will be learning about materials, their properties and their uses. We started the topic thinking about what we already know and what we’d like to learn. The children had some interesting questions including: How are bricks made? What makes paper strong? How do you make concrete? How are materials turned into objects?

Our attempts to grow beans has been a partial success! When we returned to school on Monday some of the beans had grown over the half term holiday, we’ve continued to water and care for them and hopefully we’ll see some more beanstalks appear.
The children were excited to tell me about the sunflowers they have been caring for over half term - please send any photos you have to lmarham@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Our new topic in Geography is ‘Around The World’, this week we were introduced to Bobby the Bee, who lives in the UK. Bobby explained that he would like to visit a country in each continent over the next 6 weeks. This week the continent was Europe and the county we focused on was France. We heard about lots of famous french landmarks and types of food that are popular in France. I wonder where Bobby Bee will take us next week?

In music, we learned to play glockenspiels to ‘The Friendship Song’. Check out our video!

Video Block
Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

In Maths we’ve continued working on our 5 and 10 times tables and we’ve managed to find a 5 times table song to the tune of one of our favorite songs! The children have really impressed me with the times table knowledge - I wonder if you can challenge them at home with the 2s, 5s and 10 times tables.

We’ve nearly reached the end of our Aladdin topic in English - this week we have looked at The Cave of Wonder. We identified items that Aladdin and Abu came across in the cave and wrote noun phrases. On Thursday we used these noun phrases to independently write a description of the cave. Next week we’ll be joining Aladdin and Jasmine on their magic carpet ride, thinking about what they can see and hear on their magical journey.

On Monday we had a relaxing indoor PE lesson, we made use of our lovely big classroom and took part in a yoga session.

On Wednesday morning, we practised our kicking skills on the school field. We set up a number of stations and the children worked in small groups focusing on kicking and stopping a ball with control, Kicking the ball with accuracy between 2 markers and kicking the ball in a straight line.

Let’s Celebrate

Well done to our certificate winners this week!

Lena
Lena, what a ‘Curious Clara Clownfish’ you have been this week! You have been asking some great questions in lessons to clarify your understanding and extend your learning. You are growing in confidence every week, well done!

Heath

Heath you have come back to school focused and ready to learn. You have been making sensible choices and managing any distractions around you. I’m really looking forward to a successful and productive last half term with you in Year 2.

This week’s Star Readers are Nathan, Joseph and Martha.

Butterfly - Alana for being intentional.

Notices

Our PE days are Monday and Wednesday
KS1 Sports Day - Tuesday 20th June 1.30pm - PE kits to be worn please.
Gym Jam Jog! - Wednesday 21st June 8am
Visit to Hope Street Park Bowls - Friday 23rd June (1st Group)
Visit to Hope Street Park Bowls - Friday 30th June (2nd Group)
Library visit - Wednesday 5th July
Zoo trip - Thursday 13th July (more info to follow)


Reminder - We try our best in school to be a ‘nut free’ zone, there are a number of adults and children in school who have severe nut allergies. Please ensure that snacks and packed lunches are nut free.

As the weather gets warmer we’re hoping to spend more time learning outdoors. Please send your child in with a suitable sunhat with their name in it and apply suncream before school. Please ensure your child brings a water bottle into school.

Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Marham, Mrs Maano and Mrs Carragher

Year 2 Homework Friday 16th June

Maths -
Complete the 5 times tables activities in your home learning books.

Science -
Research famous materials inventors - what did they invent? What is their invention used for?

Geography-
Can you find some fantastic facts about France?

Keep logging on to numbots - click the image below to go straight to the numbots website.

You can also log in to TT Rockstars using your Numbots log in, Click the image below to go staight to the TT Rockstars log in page.

Please continue reading at home - 20 minutes daily.
Reading targets have been reset for our final half term.

This week’s spelling for spelling quiz Friday 23rd June
around wanted going well kind path gold money door wild

Amazing opportunity for budding actors!

An exciting opportunity is on offer at the Grand Theatre that you may be interested in. Between 26th-29th July, they will be hosting a free Musical Theatre workshop day for children aged between 11-17.

 

You’ll get to learn songs from your favourite musicals with expert practitioners and have your say on the arts in Blackpool.

 

Here is the digital invite and document that provides more information…

 

Places are on a first come first serve basis. Please share this widely with any young person you think might be interested. They can register their interest here: https://forms.office.com/e/tCdqJH4Z4P

"I would advise young artists to paint as they can, as long as they can, without being afraid of painting badly." - Claude Monet

This term in year 4 the artists learnt about sculpture and the many ways you can do sculpture.

We learnt about Magdalena Odundo and tried to recreate some of the 2D shapes used in her sculpture to create vases, we used different colour soft pastels in black paper for contrast.

Year 4 artists also learnt about Barbara Hepworth a British artist and Sculptor, we had a go at sculpting soap bars , this was proven to be tricky but so much fun and the classroom smelt amazing for days!

Looking at sculpture and the ways it can be made we had a go at modelling wire to create our own sculpture, this has given the children a variety of mediums to explore sculpturing with. Many sculptures can be made from found objects and reused materials too.

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

In year 2 this term was busy but very creative. The artists experimented mark making using charcoal, the children experimented how different ways of holding the charcoal can create different marks, charcoal is so messy but so much fun! We tried to create a texture from different objects in the classroom using a variety of mediums, the children were encouraged to touch and discuss what they could feel and how they would recreate that texture in their sketchbooks. Following this the artists brought their favourite toy and had a go at observational drawing, drawing only what they could see and trying to recreate the texture on paper, these were amazing! On our last week we looked at illustrations and how illustrators show their characters feelings. We looked at which parts of our face show our emotions. Eyebrows, eyes and mouth help us to understand how a character in a book or film is feeling, we had a go at creating our own feeling emoji, there were some very creative emojis!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." - Vincent Van Gogh

What a busy term in year 3! In art we have travelled back in time and looked at prehistoric art, starting by learning how the pigments for painting came from. We looked at cave paintings and these were drawing with little detail. The artists were asked to draw common British animals in charcoal and later to enlarge them on to an A3 size using only cave painting colours, we knew that cave painting people only had natural resources and not a great variety of colours, we used a more earthy colour wheel.

The artists went on a hunt outdoors for natural resources and were able to experiment which would give a nice pigment when painting with. Year 3 had a go at making their own Prehistoric palette by mixing flour and water and by adding different condiments we obtained different colours, we used paprika, nutmeg, turmeric and cinnamon, some worked better than others but they all smelt amazing!

The children created their own cave wall to paint in, for this we used cardboard as a base, we glued sand, couscous and lentils and once dried we were able to add our favourtite British animal, we had so much fun doing this.

To end our term we did a virtual visit to the caves in France “Chauvet cave” and looked at the hand drawings and tried to recreate our own hand paintings , positive(paint on hand to print) and negative (hand on paper and paint around hand creating a negative hand print). This was very messy and children really enjoyed the process!

"The painter should not paint what he sees, but what will be seen." - Paul Klee

This term the artists in year 1 have explored mixing primary colours to make secondary colours and inspired by the artist Jasper Johns style we painted our own “0 through 9”: experimented Lego printing and discussed all the patterns that the Lego created and had a go at trying to print our names initial.

Year 1 have looked at how a colour can have so many different shades and had a go at creating different shades of green creating a hand using the shades obtained.

The artists got to know about Clarice Cliff and his circle tree ceramics and tried to create their own inspired by the artist way of painting.

To end our term we did paint by the sound of the music, I played a couple of tunes and asked the children to first dance how the music made them feel and then using their paint brushes as their ballerinas to recreate that feeling on paper and thinking carefully on the chosen colours for that same music and feeling, it was a the perfect lesson to end our term!

"Art is a harmony parallel with nature." - Paul Cezanne

This term the artists in Year 5, have been learning of portrait drawing, for this they have used mixed mediums and different techniques. They had a go at drawing King Charles III portrait ready for the coronation and these looked amazing!

We also had a visit of an artist and had a painting workshop “ Art without thought”, by Jack Crayton. Jack has told us about his journey in the army and how art has helped him in his life. Jack has taught us to draw/paint in perspective and the final masterpieces were amazing and in the end the children asked amazing questions and were so polite. On our final week we had a charcoal workshop too, the children were showed different techniques that could be use with charcoal, by drawing with the rubber and had lights to midtones and creating contrast , charcoal is a great and inexpensive medium to work with, although a little messy!

Year 1 Homework 26.5.23

We have been working on accurate reading rather than speedy reading in preparation for our Phonics screening, there are three things to remember: special friends (ai, igh, o-e), Fred Talk(sound it out loud), read the word. I have given everyone flashcards to practise their accurate reading it is not a race, it is important that they take their time, find the special friends first and say each sound this will help them blend properly. Try and practice words with chatty friends ( a-e, e-e, o-e, i-e, u-e) these are harder to find and alien words as we want to make then into real words. Words like whike, stroke, smung and spran are tricky as sometimes the children want to add extra letters (smung: smug/ suming, spran: sprant, or mix up ‘ro’ and ‘or’ stroke: storke). If you have any questions please email me and I can help.

Here are some more flashcards that you can use, if needed. There is no need to print them off you can show them on an iPad or computer.

Alien words
Real words
a-e flashcards
i-e flashcards
o-e flashcards
u-e flashcards
e-e flashcards

Spellings will continue after half term so your child can focus on their phonics, please access these helpful resources below and use the websites the children love playing the games. If you any extra support, information please email me and I can help you.

 Thank you for all of your support the children have made so much progress this year and I am incredibly proud of them :)

Have a lovely break.

Miss Drummond

Year 1 Weekly Blog 26.5.23 'Not trying is much worse than failing.'

‘Not trying is much worse than failing.’

A World Without Failures by Esther Pia Cordova


What another busy week we have had, we have been incredibly focused in our RWI sessions to help prepare us for our phonics screening, this will take place the week we return to school Monday 12th June- Friday 16th June. It is really important that you use your phonics pack to practise and maintain their hard work at school as 2 weeks is a long time. It doesn’t need to be hours just a quick 10 minutes daily (if possible) or as much as you can, something is better than nothing at all. Once again thank you for all of your support at home, it is wonderful to hear how excited the children are to share their learning with you at home. I have been told about phonics lessons at home and I can see how proud they are, and we are too :). Here are the links again we love these games.

Phonics Play
Phonics Bloom

Maths: We have continued writing ‘equations’ (e.g. 5 + 2 = 7), we have been checking that the plus and equal symbols are in the right place. We have been telling our own number stories to each other and writing the correct equations to match.

English: We have been amazed by all of the children’s writing this week, they have used their innovated story maps to retell their own story independently. It has been great that they have been focused and have not given up when they have found it difficult and most importantly applying their phonics knowledge to support them.


 PE: We loved our extra PE lesson on Thursday afternoon with Year 2 to practise our sport day activities. We did it again today and are excited to show you when it is our sports day.

Music: look at our brilliant performance of us and down, this time we used musical instruments.

On Thursday I set the children a challenge, could they play with somebody they don’t normally play with in our class. At first we were a bit worried, but we were up for the challenge. I was so pleased to hear all the lovely stories and games they played together, most children decided to sit next to them at lunch time and most importantly we all had fun. I am so proud of all the lovely friendships we have developed in our class and we are being kind friends to each other by making sure nobody is by themselves.

Upcoming Trips:

Library

Our final trip to the library will be on Friday 23rd June, please bring in your library cards, if you would like your child to take a book home.

Ridgeway Farm:

On Tuesday 4th July we will be visiting Ridgeway farm, I will provide more details after half term.

Let’s Celebrate:

Congratulations to our awardees: two ‘Bobby Bees’ for their fantastic innovated independent stories, well done.

Henry is going home with this person for always making good choices and being brave and playing with new friends, well done :).

Reading Challenge: Well done to these children who received their certificates, there are so many that are very close, keep up the hard work :). I will be creating some new certificates for next half term for those who have achieved their platinum award.

Reminders:

  • Preparing for the weather: As the weather is improving children are allowed to bring in a sunhat, which can be worn at break times and any sun cream that is brought in must be applied by the child themselves, roll on sun creams are easier to apply. We also ask that no sunglasses are to be brought into the school. Thank you.

  •  Please can you try and bring in healthy snacks for your children to eat at break times, we always have fruit in school that the children can have.

  • Please can you double check that all items of clothing are labelled.

  •  Please bring in spare clothes for your child.

  • Please check the home learning section for the homework,

  • Please make sure you don’t bring any nuts in for snack or in packed lunches, thank you.

  • Please can you ensure that your children do not bring any valuables into school as they can easily go missing.


Have a lovely break

Miss Drummond, Miss Johnson and Mrs Carragher