Our Classes – St Adrian's Catholic Primary School

News from Year 3

What a busy week it has been in Year 3. We enjoyed taking part in the Nationwide Daily Mile this week. At the start of our PE lesson, we all completed eight laps of the field, which is equivalent to a mile. Here are some pictures of us in the action!

We have also enjoyed starting our new Computing unit, We are Presenters. This week, we analysed sports TV and understood what is needed to present an effective sports report. Next week, we will be using digital cameras to practice our filming skills in preparation for filming our own reports in the coming weeks.

Please remember that homework is set on Fridays and due in on the following Wednesday. We do expect to see your homework folders each week. Please also ensure that you are prepared for your lessons and have everything you need including pencils, pens and rulers.

Have a relaxing break over the Bank holiday weekend,

Miss Battams and Ms McCarthy 🙂

Reception – learning about calculation

Dear parents,

Over the past few weeks Reception children have been introduced to the fact that numbers are made up of other numbers. The children’s understanding has been developed through a sequence of 3 steps.

Step 1 – we began by exploring regrouping a whole into different parts and identifying what values are hidden within numbers.

Children are encouraged to use subitising (recognising a small group of numbers at a glance without counting) when looking at groups of objects. For example, in the photo below rows of 3 and 4 were identified.

Step 2 – we talked about combining parts to create a whole. This is the start of calculating – addition.

The children were encouraged to notice and find different parts that can be combined to make the same whole; concluding that there are lots of different ways to make a total. The photo below illustrates how we used a 10 egg box carton to look at multiple ways of making number 10.

Step 3 – calculating the part of a whole that is missing. This is the introduction of subtraction.

In the photo below the children played a game finding the missing number from a total amount of carrots.

In the photo below the children were given a starting amount (the part), a target to reach (the whole) and they found ‘how many more…?’ (the missing part) when building towers with Duplo.

How to can help at home

Talk about how a collection of toys can be regrouped eg. farm animals, all the animals are part of the whole farm but they could be regrouped into sheep, cows, horses, pigs and farmers (humans). Each group is part of the whole farm. Or 7 vehicles could be regrouped as 4 cars and 3 trucks.

Give your child a target number and, using dominoes, can they try to find all the dominoes that have that number of dots altogether where either side of the domino would become a part. Talk about what they notice if one side of the domino shows 0 dots.

At meal/snack time find the total two groups of items. For example, pears and bananas. Ask your child to find the total initially starting with the pears and then adding the bananas, then starting with the bananas and then adding the pears. Talk about how the order of the fruit doesn’t matter when adding.

Introduce a range of different problems that require your child to calculate a missing part.

How many more…? If we need a snack for four people and there are two bananas, how many more do we need?

How many left…? How many cakes left now that Mummy and Daddy have taken their cake?

What is the difference…? You have three sweets and Mummy has two sweets. What is the difference between the numbers of sweets you have?

Play Kim’s game. Show your child a small collection of different objects on a tray and identify the whole (the total number of items). Hide them all and remove some objects. Reveal the objects left. Can your child calculate how many have been taken – the missing part.

The vocabulary of parts and whole has been emphasised throughout our learning. The children’s understanding of equal, more and less and ‘altogether’ has also been developed to describe the whole.

Maths Challenge

Your child may wish to have a go at the following maths challenge:

Collect a small amount of items outside eg. sticks, leaves, stones (10 items to begin and extend to 20 for extra challenge)

Once there are a few items, explore how they might be grouped.

Create groups and then use subitising to say how many are in each group (if the amounts are small enough).

Talk about the parts and the whole and then count to find the total.

I would love to hear about your child’s mathematical discoveries on Tapestry. We always have fun sharing the children’s home learning in class. This also often inspires their friends to also ‘have a go’!

Wishing you all a great bank holiday weekend.

Nicola Palmer

Nursery – Oi Frog!

Ribbit, ribbit! What a froggy week we’ve had! The color was green and we jumped around just like real frogs do. We watched how the tadpoles are turning into frogs and counted frogs in the pond.

The book we’ve been reading this week is called ‘Oi Frog’. It’s a book jam packed with the silliest of animals and rhyming words: cats sits on mats, hairs sit on chairs, mules sit on stools… Here is a link if you wish to hear the story too:

The children were making frogs using split end pins…I must tell you that this was a very tricky job, but we didn’t give up. We were keep trying! Of course we had to paint some ponds for the frogs, using sponges and blue paint.

We learned a new nursery rhyme ‘5 speckled frogs’. It was great fun, because we could rhyme, count, sing and jump at the same time.

In Maths this week we’ve been practicing recognising 1 to 5 numerals and learned that anything can be count…even jumps. Each ‘frog’ had to reach the lily pad by jumping 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 times. Great fun!!!

Letters and sounds:
This week we’ve been thinking about initial sounds and the children were busy sorting ‘s’ and ‘a’ sounds. What a fantastic learning everyone. You are now trying really hard to ‘hear’ the initial sounds in each word. Great job!

Religious education:
On Wednesday the Holy Spirit came to Nursery as we heard the story of Pentacost, when the Holy Spirit first came to Jesus’s disciples. We did a wind and fire dance as we thought about how we can feel the Holy Spirit inside us, but we can’t see him.

The Holy Spirit first comes to us when we are Baptised.
The Holy Spirit is our friend and helps us make good choices.

I wish you all a very happy bank holiday weekend!
Mrs Solakova

Year 4 Class Assembly

This Friday, we will be sharing our class assembly.

We can’t welcome you into school at this time for our assembly, but we would love you to join us online to watch our assembly via YouTube Premiere at 9:00 am on Friday, 30th April 2021.

Our assembly will be removed from YouTube shortly after the premiere.

Nursery – Nursery rhymes

Here at Nursery we absolutely love singing Nursery rhymes. They help us develop key skills and can often be the trigger for hours of creative and open-ended play. They are powerful learning source in early literacy and enable children to become interested in the rhythm and patterns of language. They help us think about numbers, shapes and so much more.

This week was super exciting, because we had a variety of activities around different Nursery rhymes.

In Maths we sang ‘5 green bottles’ and had 5 bottles on top of the shelf. We talked about one less and one more and had a little challenge… arranging the numbers in the right order.

Our playdough table had 5 cupcakes with cherry on top and the children were singing the rhyme while cooking the yummy cupcakes.

We were so busy sticking, cutting, painting and creating and now the Nursery rhymes display looks absolutely amazing.

Letters and Sounds:

This week we revisited the sounds we already learned (S,A,T,P,I,N) and started to blend some CVC words. The children are just fantastic hearing the different sounds and securing their blending skills.

Our role play area is busier than ever… this term the children will enjoy buying and selling different food. We have manager, customers, counter worker… We have paper bags, receipts and customer orders. So much fun and plenty of learning possibilities.

Outside we measured how tall the peas and onions are and recorded them in our journal. We used rulers and practiced number writing.

Relationship and Health education:

This week we talked about Jesus and him being our Role model. We learnt that the Bible isn’t a story book or history book, but a book about all of us. We discussed how our names are in this book, because we are all part of the family of God and the Bible is all about Jesus and his family. We had our special pictures and everyone joined our special Nursery family.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine!
Mrs Solakova

Reception – amazing me!

Dear parents,

As part of our Relationships and Health teaching the children discovered how God created the world and why the Bible is so special.

Last week we read the story of creation and talked about how our bodies were created by God. We are all God’s children and part of his special plan.

The children learnt the following song ‘If I were a Butterfly’

You may wish to share the following class prayer at home:

Dear God,
You made our amazing world and all the amazing things in it.
Thank you for making me and loving me.
Help us to take care of ourselves and the world.
Amen.

This week the children began to understand that the Bible is special because we are all in it and part of God’s family. In the Bible we hear stories about Jesus and that still has meaning for us today.

We acted out a story from the Bible, Jesus and his disciples during the Last Supper. I washed the children’s feet to show the children how Jesus is our role model. Jesus is showing us a way of behaving, he showed love to his disciples and he wants us to show that love to others.

The children made some great suggestions about how they can show love to others “You can take turns”, “You help tidy up”, “Look after someone who is sad”. I made a suggestion that you can give someone a smile.

You may wish to share the following class prayer at home:

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for being my perfect role model.
Thank you for loving me.
Help me to share that love with others.
Amen

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend in God’s amazing world.

Nicola Palmer

Nursery – Welcome back!

It’s been lovely to see everyone’s smiley faces again. The children were super excited to share their holiday news… egg hunt, hundreds of chocolate eggs and one Easter bunny selfie :). Picnics and meeting at the park were also a hit during the Easter break.

There was no time to waste, so we started our learning straight away! As usual the children were ready to learn, full of excitement.

In the mornings we were busy practicing our fine motor skills. We were mixing colors with pipettes, counting and linking camels, writing our names and making patterns using 3D shapes.

This week we enjoyed the sunshine outside while playing on the playground. We did a little bit of gardening and we were pleased to see that the vegetables are growing!!! The peas and onions are doing really well…. potatoes are shooting as well. We took a good care of them by watering them. The sunflowers are also now planted. Thank you for looking after them during the holidays.

We went on a camping by train… We even created an obstacle course.

Letters and Sounds:

This week we learned a new sound ‘n’. We sang the song and looked around the classroom for objects beginning with that sound. We also sorted different objects into 2 baskets, the ‘a’ basket and the ‘n’ basket.

https://www.google.com/search?q=jolly+phonics+n+song&rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB927GB927&oq=jolly+phonics+n+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l6j69i61.7220j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Religious Education:

This week we talked about ‘What is a good news?’. The children learned about the Good News of Easter for the friends of Jesus and that God his Father gave Jesus new life on Easter Sunday. The children shared their personal experiences and how they feel when they receive good news.

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Solakova

News from Year 3 – welcome to the Summer term!

Welcome back Year 3 to the Summer term. We hope that you had a relaxing Easter break. What a week it has been, it has been busier than ever!

This week, we started out Relationship and Health Education (RHE) learning. In this week’s sessions, we focused on the story of Jairus and his daughter, whom Jesus was able to bring new life to. We used this story explore how Jesus loves us and how we can show love to others. To read more about our RHE learning this term, have a look at the previous blog post.

We also started our new PE topic, Athletics this week. We enjoyed focusing on sprinting and taking part in different sprinting stations to improve our sprinting starts and agility. Here are some pictures of us in action:

In English, we started our new learning on newspaper reports. We have been examining a range of reports to find the difference between facts and opinions. We are looking forward to becoming journalists next week, writing a report based on the book ‘The True Story of the Three Little Pigs’.

Please don’t forget to check our Google classrooms for this week’s homework, which is due on Wednesday 21st April. Have a restful and fun weekend,

Miss Battams and Ms McCarthy 🙂

Relationship and Health Education (RHE) learning – Year 3

Week 1

During the first week, children will hear and experience the Gospel story of Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter. The children will learn that they are created by God out of love and for love: they were designed for this purpose, which should inform how they live. Sessions will also contain teaching and time for spiritual development and emotional learning.

Building from the reflective sessions on the account of the raising of Jairus’ daughter, we will unpack the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation. Children will understand that through prayer, the Sacraments and our friendships and relationships with others, we can have a foretaste of heaven.

Week 2

As part of the second week, we will revisit Jesus’ parable of The Prodigal Son. This parable shows that God loves us, and nothing we can do will stop Him from loving us. Through the story of the two brothers, children will learn about different types of sin, and the importance of forgiveness in relationships.

Week 3

In the third week, we will help children to identify more complex relationships in their lives, including family, friends and other people; they will explore how to relate to people within these different relationships. Children will also discuss what it means to be a good friend, and learn some strategies to use when relationships become difficult.

We will also discuss the nature and consequences of discrimination and teasing, and learn how to recognise bullying and abuse in all its forms. This includes physical bullying and emotional online bullying.

Weeks 4 and 5

Integrating the NSPCC Share Aware programme, introducing the digital world as one that children need to take steps to stay safe in, just like the real world. We will focus on how quickly things can be shared around the world online, including photos, passwords and other personal information. Children will discuss how this can be damaging and dangerous, and will learn steps they can use to keep themselves safe.

We then follow on from the previous internet safety sessions, by moving into the real world and considering what physical contact is appropriate and inappropriate. Children will be introduced to the term ‘abuse’ and discuss different kinds of abuse, including sexual abuse, here referred to as ‘abuse of private parts’. Children will be asked to think of trusted adults that they can talk to about any issues they may face

We then move on to learning some key information and facts about drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The teaching is underpinned with the religious understanding that consuming these substances is harmful to our bodies, and therefore God’s creation.

We will also learn how First Aid, quick reactions and staying calm during an emergency can make the difference between life and death. Pupils will role play some ‘Pride of Britain’ style scenarios in which children save lives,

Week 6

At the heart of this this week’s learning is a short film about Lucy and her family. After the film, children will apply Lucy’s story to their developing understanding of the community aspect of the Trinity and be encouraged to think about what the Trinity means for them and their communities.

We will then briefly discuss marriage and likens the love of a family to the love between the Trinity and about the wider Church and its mission to reflect the Holy Trinity through love for others.

To conclude our RSE learning, we will explore how we can put love into action in the communities we live in. We look at how the Church has grown out of God’s love for us and how it can be an example and a means of loving and caring for others.

Reception – The Three Billy Goats Gruff

We have had a successful start to the Summer term with the children all refreshed and eager to learn.

Our focus story for the next few weeks is a traditional tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff.

The children have been learning to retell the story as part of our ‘talk for writing’ teaching. They are learning the words superbly and I hope your child will be able to tell you the story at home.

We talked about key words and phrases within the story. The children asked some very interesting questions: ‘Why did the troll want to eat the billy goats gruff?’, ‘Why did the billy goats gruff want to eat the grass on the other side?’, ‘Why were they hungry?’, ‘Why wouldn’t the troll let them go across the river?’ ‘Why did the troll live under the bridge?’.

The children have also enjoyed listening to different versions of the story kindly brought into school by their friends. If you child has a copy of The Three Billy Goats Gruff at home we would love to read it in class.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Nicola Palmer