Author: Mrs Hayes

This week, as part of their learning in Design and Technology, the children have been making Christmas decorations.

To start the week, they worked in pairs to weave ribbons and create huge baubles, which can be seen hanging in the classroom.

Next, the children carefully measured pieces of paper to make strips that could be joined together and made into paper chains.  Building on from last week’s learning, they made sure that their paper chains included both a colour and number pattern.

The week ended with the children reading and carefully following instructions to make lanterns to decorate the class Christmas tree.

These creative activities have developed the children’s English and Maths skills as well as improved the accuracy of their cutting.  The decorations look wonderful as does the whole classroom as we share our Christmas preparations together this Advent.

We look forward to seeing you in school next week when the children perform their Christmas play, A present for the baby.  Bring your child into school at 6.30pm on Thursday 14th December ready for their evening performance, which will start at 7pm.  Please ensure that any requested clothes for costumes  are brought into school by Monday at the very latest.

Have a wonderful weekend.

This week, the children have been developing their understanding of patterns, focussing on creating and continuing patterns that are not just colour based, but also include changes in quantity, size or shape.  The children have been encouraged to name the repeating pattern once, rather than read what they have created over and over again.  This is trickier than it sounds and the children have worked hard on their repeating patterns.  This learning will help the children as they begin to explore patterns in numbers later in the year.

The children created patterns on their Christmas decorations and these can be seen on the class display in the main hall.

In science, this week, the children explored different foods and found ways to sort them.  These included sorting them into foods that are good for you, or not so good for you, as well as sorting them into vegetables, fruit or meat.  Please talk about where food comes from at home, so that children can learn more about this.

In maths, the children have been finding ways to show 6, with the additional challenge of recording these using pictures, words and symbols.   The children explained their thinking to each other to show that they understood their calculations.

On Thursday, we will be celebrating harvest in school with an assembly that you are warmly invited to at 9am.   Please send in your donations for our local food project, Feed on Wednesday or Thursday.  Further details about this charity can be found at: https://www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk/feed

This week, the children have been exploring their hair colour and sorting themselves into groups.  This can be quite tricky when you can’t see your hair unless you are looking in a mirror!

We look forward to seeing you at tomorrow’s Mercy Mass (11am) which will be followed by a picnic.

Next Friday 29th September is Fitness Day at St. Adrian’s.  The children will bring home their PE clothes on Monday, so that they can come into school wearing them on the Friday for all the fitness focussed learning.  It would be great if you could ensure that these PE clothes are returned on the following Monday (2nd October) ready for your child’s PE lesson.

Now that autumn is here, this week we started our year long science topic all about Plants and Seasons.  The children were all given a tulip bulb and described it carefully, coming up with some wonderful observations.  In between the rain showers, we planted the bulbs and then imagined what the flowers would look like in spring once the bulb has grown.  We will look for shoots as the bulb grows over the winter, into spring.

Thank you very much for coming to the welcome meeting on Monday.  You will find notes from the meeting here: Information for parents

Dates for your diary (timings tbc):

22nd September – Mercy Mass and picnic

12th October – Harvest Assembly

1st/2nd November – Consultations (5 – 7.30pm)

14th December – KS1 Christmas Play (7pm)

The Year One children are settling into their new classroom very well and have responded enthusiastically to the learning.  This week, we have focussed on counting and measuring accurately, creating patterns  and writing independently.

The Year One meeting with parents is scheduled for this Monday morning at 9am – I look forward to meeting with you all in the Year One classroom.

I hope that you have all had a wonderful summer break and are looking forward to Year One.  Thank you very much for all of the postcards that were sent to me over the holiday.  They have been wonderful to read and don’t worry, it’s not too late to send them if they haven’t reached the post box yet!

Please ensure that your child returns to school with all their belongings clearly named, including a book bag, full drinks bottle, coat and St. Adrian’s PE bag.  If you have any messages, I will be available for you to talk to once all the children have come into school in the morning or after school once all the children have been handed over to their adults.  Alternatively, feel free to write your message down in the form of a note.

There will be a meeting for Year One parents/carers soon so that you can find out a little bit more about Year 1 life.  I look forward to meeting you all once again.