Category: Our Classes

Year 4 explored this today. The Land of the monks is St Albans Cathedral and its surrounding area – nowadays a parkland, the stamping ground of squirrels, dogs and their owners, cathedral visitors and worshippers and people en route to somewhere in town or walking to enjoy the scenery. Several centuries ago it was the site of a bustling, crowded complex of buildings where the various Abbey activities took place. Apart from some walls, nothing remains of the life led by the monks above ground. Today, the year 4 children used topographical (map) evidence and compasses to find where some of these activities took place, and also to find out a bit about the lives of the monks and the Abbot. Everyone found out really interesting things about Medieval monastic life. We also used found the cathedral, the school and local towns on Ordnance Survey maps. Our local knowledge was also enhanced by our walk to the cathedral, when the children walked smartly, showing manners to any members of the public and enjoyed seeing the sights and sounds of St Albans on a typical Friday morning.

Can your children tell you how to use a compass? And can they explain what happened in a scriptorium, Chapter House, refectory or dormitory? What other parts of the abbey can they name?

A massive thank you to the Mums – Mrs Miller, Mrs Watson and Mrs Worsley – who accompanied us and helped with the learning inside and outside. It wouldn’t be possible to do these valuable enrichment activities without this voluntary support. Thank you for offers of help from other parents and I will let you know of other trips later in the year.

It’s been another busy week in Year 1! From internet safety in Computing to comparing dogs and humans in Science, we’ve covered it all it seems in Year 1 this week.

We started off the week with some e-safety in Computing. We discussed what information we should share, including personal information like our home address or other information such as our favourite colour. We then worked in groups to sort the information we should share and not share.

In Maths, we have been using part whole models to help us find all the ways to make a particular number (number bonds). We have enjoyed using the models and the counters to help us find these number bonds.

Thank you all for your generous Harvest donations. If you do have anymore donations, please can we have them in by early next week. We have been practising our Harvest song ready to perform in the Harvest assembly next week too.

Miss Battams 🙂

This week we had a belated celebration for St Adrian’s 60th birthday! Even though we did not attend the Mass on the day, we said some special prayers in class and had a popcorn party in the afternoon! We even got to watch a film as a special treat.

We also got to plant some very special flowers around a tree, planted after the special birthday Mass earlier in the week. We really enjoyed being able to be a part of the Mass in our own special way.

Now we have reached October, it means that we can celebrate Black History Month. During every week of October, we will be marking the month with a range of activities from crafts to singing.

Please see the below video to help inform children about the importance of Black History Month: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnt_0A5ROrs

Miss Battams 🙂

We loved the Mercy Mass on Wednesday and sang beautifully as well as performing a moving dance to the Circle of Mercy song. We all wanted to perform in front of everyone, but there just wasn’t space for all of us in front of the altar, so we are looking forward to everyone being involved in performing it for you during our class assembly next year.

After the mass, we planted some viola plants under our new Mercy Tree and we were all promptly rained on, which stopped our camera working. At least the plants and tree enjoyed the rain!

Last week, we attended the District Schools Award Ceremony and were very pleased to be awarded runner up in the Plant to Plate category. All through the year, we enjoy caring for the gardens outside our classroom and it was lovely to achieve this award as our outdoor spaces are so important to us and our wellbeing.

Every child in year 4 was a credit to themselves and their school at Wednesday’s Mercy Mass. Along with the rest of the school, their singing was beautiful and rousing and they participated fully and respectfully in the service.

After Mass there were some celebrations inside and out. The children planted violas round the commemorative tree which had been planted earlier in the day. They then chose activities in the classroom, with many children deciding to play “Interland”, the game where the children learn how to be safe online. We also started our learning about Black History Month, learning about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King from “Horrible Histories” and sharing what we already know about these famous icons.

The classroom is looking bright and interesting with the children’s learning on the wall, including the home learning about Joseph. The paintings were done – carefully – in acrylic paints, throughout the week. Thank you for the painting aprons, at short notice.

It has been another busy week for Year 1. From a new book English to drawing the human body, it’s been a varied week in Year 1!

We started the week by looking at the human body. We played a game of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ to get ourselves warmed up! Then, we drew and labelled our own bodies! We worked in small groups and drew round a real person, it was so much fun. We then labelled the different parts of the body together.

We also started our new text, Naughty Bus by Jan Oke. This endearing books includes lots of photographs and simple text to describe the adventures of a toy London bus, as a young boy plays with it throughout the day. Have a look at the video below to see the book come to life.

Thank you to the children who have already submitted their home learning via the Google Classroom. Now you all (finally!) have your log ins, I look forward to seeing lots more home learning.

Miss Battams 🙂