This week...

This week we have been investigating ‘magnets’. We have found out lots of information by exploring which objects our magnets would stick to…we have also found out some new ‘wow’ words…attract and repel.

Throughout the week we watched some short videos which helped us to understand a bit more. The childrens favourite was ‘Magnet Man’ and they asked if I would put it on the blog! So here we are, click here.

We also watched a video about two clever mice that used magnets to steal the cta’s cheese and then to escape being caught. Click here

Lastly, we watched how Kit and Pup explore how magnets attracts metal….mmmm but all metals! We had to find out! Click here

Emma’s blog

Hello everyone, 

I hope all of the mummy's had a lovely Mothers’ Day last Sunday.

We have had a very exciting week. We have been learning about magnets. The core of our planet earth creates a magnetic field all around our planet which has a north and south pole. In the same way, all magnets have a north and south pole, with each opposite pole attracting the other. When you place two of the same poles together (north to north or south to south), they will repel each other. The children found this so fascinating. When they were playing with the magnets, the children were going around nursery seeing what their magnets could pick up. They worked out it was just metals like steel or iron, and objects that were plastic were not magnetic. The children had the best time exploring and finding out.

To continue with our thread learning about space, we have been looking at constellations, groups of stars in the night sky that make up a recognisable picture or pattern. It could look like an object, animal or something in your imagination. The children made their own constellations by sticking stars on to paper then drawing lines between them to see what shapes they had imagined.

Here is a short clip all about constellations. Enjoy! Click here

As some days our garden has been out of use due to all the building work going on, we have been going into the school playground to play on the gym trail and the castle. The gym trial is a bit tricky with lots of different obstacles. The children have loved it and have enjoyed the opportunity for challenge, testing their limits, exploring boundaries and pushing these boundaries. 

It was great to see how each child challenged themselves. 

Thank you to our parents I have  seen and spoken to earlier this week. It was nice to chat and catch up on your child's development.

Don't forget to have a look on Purple Mash as I have set some fun activities.

Have a lovely weekend everyone. See you next week for our last full week before we break up for Easter. 

Emma 

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog.

This week we have continued to explore all things alien and have had lots of alien conversations. This is a fun way of exploring different and silly sounds. Why not have a go at having alien conversations at home. This is also a great way of letting your child practise any sounds they may be struggling with in a fun way. Eg. Pnipppopipnipep if they are struggling to pronounce ‘p’. Make it fun!

Our alien display is looking very out of this world with lots of fluorescent aliens with their weird bodies and tentacle arms. The children really used their imaginations to think about how they could make their alien more ‘alien’ looking.

We have also explored the properties of magnets as we try to work out why they attract and repel. 

Mr Nay and Mr Murray have kept us very busy in our PE lessons as we have practised our Fundamental Movement Skills. This week we concentrated on throwing, hopping and jumping. We have also built a giant obstacle course so we can practise our jumping and landing safely on our feet. Have a go at home, make your own obstacle course and practise landing on your feet.

We were very excited to see the garden is nearly finished and ready to use. We have been practising using the monkey bars. It is very tricky but we are not giving up, we keep on trying to swing from one to the other. By developing the muscles in our shoulders and arms and developing core strength we are getting them ready for learning to write in reception and a whole lot more. Here is some information on why developing core strength is important and other activities you can try at home to help your child. Click here

We have noticed that there are some signs that spring is on the way, the flowers are appearing in the garden and there are more mini beasts about. We hope to be very active in our garden over the coming weeks an would like to plant and grow lots of plants. Please think of us if you are having a sort out in your garden and you have any unwanted plant pots or plants, seeds or bulbs or gardening equipment.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend get to spend some time in the sunshine.

Michelle

Parent evening

Don’t forget if you have not managed to book a time to catch up with your childs key person, it is not too late. Drop them an email and we can sort our a time.

Easter Holiday

We break up for Easter on Thursday 28th March at 2pm and return to school on Monday 8th April. It’s hard to believe it will be the last term of the year.

Lenten Boxes

Lenten boxes are being collected week commencing 25th March. Let’s make it a bumper year!

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and that it stops raining!!

God Bless

Barbara

Year 5 Homework- Due Thursday 21st March

Spellings

This weeks focus has been words ending in -cial or -tial that sounds like shul. Plenty of practice will be needed as some words have slighty different endings.

  1. official

  2. essential

  3. special

  4. partial

  5. social

  6. confidential

  7. artificial

  8. initial

  9. financial

  10. torrential

  11. crucial

  12. influential

Maths

We have been looking at rounding at our place value retrieval this week. Complete the following IXL. Jotting will be key to help working these questions out.

A13- Rounding: up to thousands place

Assembly Practice

Scripts have been handed out and stage direction has just begun so it is vital for children to practise their lines and to remember when to come in.

Year 6 Weekly Blog 'A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new' Albert Einstein

It has been so lovely to talk and catch up with many of you last Wednesday. There is no greater joy than sharing your child’s achievements and progress, alongside targets and areas of development. This run up to May is always a crucial one, where we can really refine the skills we need and reinforce any necessary information. So many of you have asked how you can help your child at home and what you can do to give them confidence in the final few weeks. Staying calm and not putting unnecessary pressure on children will ensure that they remain confident and continue to have that ‘I can’ attitude; early nights will be crucial over the next few weeks as they will be tired from all of their hard work and of course keep talking to them about their success but also areas to improve, helping them to set a plan of what they can do to reach their targets. One HUGE way to support your child, is homework. Every week, I spend time organising and planning for the areas that Year 6 need the most, complimenting what we are doing in class. Having a parent work alongside them to do this homework WILL help them. Reading is the other area, reading alongside your child every night- modelling fluency and pace, modelling reading punctuation and asking them questions about what they have read will also have a great impact.

Wow we have been a class full of Isabella Insects this week: listening to advice, celebrating the things we have achieved, looking forward to the things we want to develop next and most importantly not comparing ourselves to others. Such vital skills when we are teaching our children to be independent learners; giving them the confidence to take risks, try different skills and most importantly, be allowed to make those crucial mistakes and learn from them. We have had a few weeks of feedback from our first practice SAT’s papers. This is a huge learning curve for the children, and a crucial one, as it allows them to celebrate their achievements but also, to see for themselves the areas they need to work on. The first paper is never a full reflection of what your children are capable of (especially when your teachers miss out questions), but we must celebrate them whatever mark they got as it is the first hurdle of a journey together. They now fully understand this process, as we have talked at length about how our feelings/ emotions can take control, preventing us to see or read questions carefully, the silly mistakes we make when we feel like we are being timed, the way the questions are worded and decoding ‘what does it want me to do?’ and then the strategies they can use to allow them to become more accurate or efficient. These are just SOME of the barriers, or as we would say, ‘learning opportunities’, that the children need to learn or overcome, before they even then, apply all of their knowledge.

I am so proud of the way Year 6 have approached this feedback. They have faced these sessions with such resilience, determination and maturity. This is why it is so crucial to do these papers at this time, rather than any earlier, as they are now more ready and have the skills to face these challenges. The children have laughed and celebrated at their silly errors, know exactly where they have gone wrong, know what they need to work on and are, dare I say it, even excited to do it again and ‘beat’ their score. These papers will go home with the children next week to share with you. Take the time to go through these papers, to celebrate their achievements, let them explain their mistakes and what they should have done and let them share their targets with you.

 

Enrichment Morning …

Monday morning Year 6 spent some time planting vegetables with Mrs Hotchkiss…

What have we been learning this week?

English - This week we have looked in to the fight scene of Mercuito and Tybalt, as well as continuing to revise the spelling rules for when nouns change from singular to plural and the possessive apostrophe and working on the active and passive voice.

Maths - We have continued to master our fraction work, solving problems, adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions and of course consolidating our arithmetic.

Geography- we spent time looking at the difference between hills and mountains, then found mountain ranges, collecting the data in bar charts.

Computing - This week we have been looking in to creating quizzes online for our reception partners and linking this to our Science work on animal adaptations

PE- This week we have been working on our racket control and rallying skills in tennis…

 

Leading Learners

Well done to Christian and Ruby-Lily this week.

Christian, you have been so resilient in your learning and this week we can see how your hard work is paying off! You have persevered with that deep maths learning of new methods and you have been so determined to complete all your work independently. Your fraction work this week has clicked in to place and you are whizzing through it, as you have such a sound recall of your times tables. We are so proud of your ‘I CAN’ attitude!

Ruby-Lily, we love the way you have took all feedback in your stride. You have been super reflective in your approach, quietly celebrating the areas you have achieved and recognising what you need to work on. This determination and self-reflection will serve you well in the future, keep making all your notes and listening carefully to feedback- well done!

Love and Compassionate butterflies

This half term we will be on the lookout for all the children that stop and notice how others are experiencing their lives, and how they feel, and why they say and believe what they do.  Ultimately, it is what makes us kind and, at a deeper level, opens up the possibility of being loving through our just and merciful actions and forgiving words. This week we thank Daisy for always being compassionate and loving with others.

Lunch Time Awards …

Marvelous Manners awards … Leo

Role Model of the week … Angel

Helpers in the morning

This week we have the following children helping to take the younger children to their class:

Owen Evan Leo Tabby

Notices

  • For those who could not make our ‘Book Look’ this week… the classroom will be open for half an hour after school on Tuesday 19th March, 3:20- 3:50pm, for any parents or grandparents that would like to see their children’s work.

  • Date for the diary- Year 6 Resurrection Assembly is on Thursday 28th March.


Have a lovely weekend.

We will see you on Monday.

Mrs Harrison, Mrs Webster and Mrs Barker

Year 6 Home Learning 14.03.24

Homework is now due back on Wednesdays

Maths

  1. Please could you continue to pracitce converting and telling the time, this is a life skill that needs to be practised. Could you please complete the word problems on time- remember what we say in class ‘when dealing with time, use a number line!’.

2. Could you also complete the arithmetic sheet.

Telling the time website

Spellings

This week’s spelling focus are words ending in ‘ance’. Remember to pratice these thoghout the week and to complete the quiz on Purple Mash.

Mrs Barker’s Group

try turn went why world along

Reading
Please continue reading at home for AT LEAST 20 minutes each night.

Please complete the short comprehension sheet on the ‘The first man on the moon’. This is great practice to improve your fluency and comprehension skills so please take the time to complete it carefully.

Year 3 Homework- Tuesday 12th March

Spellings

This weeks focus is the suffix ation

  1. information

  2. preparation

  3. admiration

  4. sensation

  5. determination

  6. publication

  7. multiplication

  8. operation

  9. animation

  10. donation

Reading
Please continue reading at home for 20 minutes each night, Most children are making good progress towards their reading targets - Remember you are able to log on at home to see the progress your child is making and see their quiz results.

Kindness/Happiness Challenge!

Can you carry out a random act of kindness this week? Can you make someone smile?
In assembly last Friday, Mrs Gregan spoke about sharing things that make us happy with other to spread happiness. Can you spread a little bit of happiness?


Half-Term Judo Club - in school

We are always looking at ways to increase opportunities for our children in school. One of the ways that I have been looking into is wrap-around care and how we can support before and after school, and during the holidays. For the past couple of years, Judo Education has been running clubs for us before school on a Friday; very successfully.

This Easter holiday, they will be running a half-term club from our school hall. Places are limited, so if you would like your child to attend, please click on the link below to book.

Judo half term booking page

Please see info below:

This year will now be run at Our lady star of the Sea Primary School in Lytham FY8 1LB. From the 2nd of April to the 5th April.

Where: Our Lady Start of the Sea Primary School Lytham FY8 1LB

Ages: (4-13) *Must be in Reception 23/24*

Dates: April Tuesday 2nd, Wednesday 3rd, Thursday 4th, Friday 5th 2024

Times: Drop off between 8:30am and 9:30am pick up between 4:30pm and 5:30pm 

Cost: £100 for the full 4 days or £25 per individual day. 

What will my child need: Packed lunch, plenty of drinks and snacks, trainers, and dressed appropriately for the weather, warm Jacket/Sun cream. 

Activities: Judo, Fencing, Archery, Gaming area for break times.Plus multi-sports(football, tennis etc)  

Year 5 Weekly Blog 8.3.24- ' A book is a dream that you hold in your hands'

It is truly one of the most special days in the school calendar! World Book Day brings an opportunity to express themselves through costume and bringing imagination to life via storytelling. Thank you to all of you hard working parents for your help in prepping these costumes and for making the children’s days so special.

We began our day with looking into the ‘Greatest Book in the World’- The Holy Bible. As a class, we discussed some of the most common stories from the bible, in which we retold these stories by designing posters. The children then began to describe their magical object and create description from this- these objects would then play a part in their own story that they created.

After we had finished our story, we created some artwork so reflect our magical object and we paired up with our buddy class to share what we had created. Year 2 also presented a class story that they had created- in which every character of the child’s costume was present in the live retell of the story.

Other than the fun of World Book Day, other aspects of our learning has continued to grow. In Maths, we have continued the hard work with short division and the use of the bus stop method. In English, we have spent the week putting our ideas and developments into formally written paragraphs as a part of our discussion texts.

Let’s Celebrate

  • Ola for being a focused learner: You display this learning characteristic in every single lesson Ola. Even when you have missed a day of school, you don’t use it as an opportunity to get out of learning, you are so keen to catch up on any work.

  • Elsie for being an inquisitive learner: I love your curiosity to develop your vocabulary! You are always asking for the meaning of new words and looking for ways to expand your range of exciting vocabulary.

  • Virtue Butterflies: Our butterfly this week goes to Niamh for being loving and compassionate. You are never one to cause an argument, fall out with anyone or hold a grudge because you handle every social situation with love and kindness.

    Lunchtime Certificates

    • Role Model of the Week- Bella

    • Marvelous Manners- Rose

Notices

  • Parents Evening Appointments- This will take place between 2:00pm-5:30pm over the course of two days, which are Wednesday 13th March and Wednesday 20th.

    Please book your appointments on Mrs Gregan’s blog.

  • Easter Assembly- Our focus in the lead up to Easter will be the Crucifixion, which will take place on Wednesday 27th March at 9:15am.

Year 1 Homework 8.3.24

Reading

Please continue to read regularly at home and sign the challenge boxes, just a reminder it is one box per day.

Don’t forget you have the QR codes for the RWI videos these are great to practise their sounds at home.

Spellings

Our spelling test will be on Friday 15th March.

This weeks spellings are:

our house pull

love come put

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Drummond

This week...

Each week seems to be getting busier and busier, we are running out of time every day. We have and lots of glorious sunshine which has enable us to play in part of the garden. The builders have been hard at work making our new play house, the children think it looks fabulous and can’t wait to play in it. Next week they will be replacing equipment in our builders yard and rebuilding the wooden pathway between Reception and us.

After the Easter holidays we will be focusing on growing and planting, all donations gratefully received!

Worship

As it is world book day on Thursday we have been reading stories from the Bible, and what great stories there are. We particularly enjoyed Noah’s Ark. We used our Noah’s Ark resource to tell the story along side the book. Click here to watch the story at home.

If you fancy reading more Bible stories at click here.

As you would expect we are continuing our deep dive into the Easter story. This week we have discussed further the feelings of Judas, Mary, Jesus and His disciples. The peg people that Mrs Gregan made have help us to understand the meaning of Easter.

World Book Day

World Book Day provides a fantastic opportunity to focus on reading for pleasure, supporting children's autonomy in book choice, and embedding a habit of reading that brings a wide range of benefits.

On Thursday we all came to nursery dressed as a book character. We also joined in the school challenge of writing a story to go into the story telling chest. Our story was a Space story about the adventures of a moon rock!

Emma’s Blog

Hello everyone, 

We have been very busy again this week.

Firstly, we have been continuing our learning thread about space. We have been looking at the different planets and wondering what they look like. Did you know that there are 3 gas planets, and that the planets closer to the sun are the hottest. The ones farther away are the coldest.

The children have been busy making planets with Justine, using lost of different materials and textures to bring them alive.

We have also made our own story about a piece of moon rock that Barbara found on the moon! The children all contributed to the story, they had some great ideas. 

As number 7 is the number we have been leaning about we decided to explore rainbows (as they have 7 colours). The children drew rainbows using chalk, blending the colours.

We investigated how rainbows are made in the sky, we became scientists. We found out that rain and light from the sun together make a rainbow, with the rain causing the light to refract (the bending of light). We did an experiment using a torch, water and a mirror to see if we could make a rainbow, and it worked! The children were very excited to see the rainbow we made.

 Click here to see how rainbows are made.

We also did another experiment using Skittles sweets. We added warm water to the sweets which we had placed around the outside of a plate; we watched the colours creep towards each other, making an amazing rainbow. Have a go at home. I will be sending home some instructions for you to have a try.

We have been outside this week enjoying the Spring sunshine, getting back into our garden. It's not finished yet, as you have probably seen, but the children have been busy making their favourite obstacle courses which has been lovely to watch. 

For all of you mums, have a wonderful Mother's Day and a great weekend. See you all on Monday.

Emma

Michelle’s Blog

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s blog. We have continued growing our brains by learning the names of the planets in our solar system. We are learning that different planets have different properties. Some are big, some are small, some are made of rock and some are made of gas. Here is a fun quiz about planets, why not do it with your child. I am sure you will be surprised by how many planets they can identify from the clues. Click here.

This made us think if there were any other people/ creatures/ aliens living in our solar system. What would they look like? What would they sound like? We have decided to paint lots of aliens to decorate the wall. We read Here Come the Aliens to give us some ideas. Click here to listen at home. We then made our alien and called him Neno Cloudy.

We have continued our role play in our very own space station as we pretend to be astronauts in space. We have also practised our counting as we made an astronaut number line, blasting down from 10 to 0. We explored the one hundred square as we blasted off with the Numberblocks in space Click here.

We developed our physical skills by making a huge astronaut agility course in the garden. It was very big, and included lots of tricky balancing and our favourite thing of jumping off at the end.

This week was World Book Day and we have enjoyed learning about the greatest book of all, the Bible. We have re-enacted on of our favourite stories, Noah’s ark. This led to a discussion about looking after the world and the children had lots of suggestions for what they could do to help keep the planet safe for us all. They said we should not throw rubbish in the sea and we should look after the elephants and the tigers. We then visited the pen recycling centre in school to recycle some of our old pens.

Don’t forget we have parents’ evening for the next 2 weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and sharing all the fantastic progress all the children have been making.

Lastly, please log in to Purple Mash when you get the chance as there are some activities for your child to do.

Have a lovely weekend and we will see you next week.

Michelle

Just a few reminders (sorry)

Check that you have booked a time to meet with your childs key person. I am available too if you need to see me.

Have you been on Purple Mash recently?

Lenten Boxes are being collected week commencing 25th March

Lastly, to all our wonderful mummy’s, have the most wonderful Mothering Sunday. I will everyone on Monday.

God Bless

Barbara