This week we have been focusing on Art. We have really enjoyed learning about natural sculptures, taking inspiration from renowned artist Andy Goldsworthy.
We started the week by looking at photographs of Goldsworthy’s word. We discussed what the sculptures were made out of and whether we liked it or not. Here are some pictures of us in action:
Taking inspiration from Goldworthy’s natural sculptures, we made miniature models using clay. We thought about the shapes Goldworthy’s used in his own work to help us create ours.
We then did some observational drawings of natural object we found around school. We used magnifying glasses to help us sketch the finer details of leaves, flowers and even some feathers that we found.
We look forward to creating our own group sculptures from natural materials next week.
We love maths every day, but Wednesday was a particularly joyful day, because we were involved in creating a new Guinness World Record as part of an online community of 5362 schools around the country!
The day began with a warm up activity led by Katya Jones, of Strictly Come Dancing fame. That was very exciting, but only the starter as we then joined in with a mass chant focussing on the 5 times table. This was a great way to show that learning times tables can be fun and we were overjoyed when we discovered that enough schools had joined in with the live stream to make a new world record. Throughout the day, we then took part in lots of activities linked to the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. As a finale, we all brought a certificate home to show just how clever we are!
Are you ready, ready to rock? Yes, we are!
We joined in with 5362 schools to start our day with a fun workout.
Over the last few weeks, we have been watching the caterpillars in our class change, as they ate and ate, grew bigger and bigger, developed cocoons and then emerged from their chrysalises as beautiful butterflies. We even created a beautiful bee and butterfly garden in our outside area, which the insects will be able to visit when they need to collect nectar and drink. This week, we were overjoyed to let our butterflies go free – some fluttered away straight away, but some brave butterflies stayed close to us for ten minutes, so that we were able to get a really close look at them. Your challenge as you take a look through the photos is to Spot the butterfly!
This week, we planted up the herbs that came into school as part of the Coronation of Mary liturgy. They smell wonderful and we are looking forward to watching the bees and butterflies visit them once they start to flower through the summer. Take a look at our infant gardens as you pass through them to see what you can spot.
It’s been a busy week again in Year 1. We have really enjoyed being able to get outside in the glorious weather this week!
We started the week off by planting some flowers donated to the May altar in the hall. It was a great opportunity to learn how to plant and care for flowers (pictures to follow). We have also been taking it in turns to keep the plants watered throughout the week, another important learning opportunity.
As the weather gets warmer and the sun gets brighter, please ensure your child applies suncream before leaving for school in the mornings. Then bring in a roll on or spray suncream, labelled with your child’s name to be kept in the classroom so they can reapply it themselves throughout the day.
We also really enjoyed our swimming lesson this week too. We are becoming a lot quicker at changing and love our coach rides to and from the pool!
Our zoo trip is fast approaching, so if you have not made your contributions yet, please do so via Arbor.
The children absolutely love the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, often choosing the story at storytime. We are, therefore, exploring the story sequence in more detail and learning to retell the story.
They became fierce cheeky Jacks, very cross mums and fierce giants in our Giant’s Castle.
A great inspiration for making our own castles.
The children also retold the story using puppets.
We’ve planted beans and can’t wait to see the roots and shoots appear.
Year 3 has been very excited this week as they have all used the new listening post for the first time. I’ll will include some photos next week! This was bought with the proceeds from the cake sale, so many thanks for your generosity. This means that at the daily guided reading sessions a group of six children can listen to a good-quality text together. Currently we have a CD collection of Roald Dahl animal stories, of which “Esiotrot” is one of the current guided reading texts. The children have suggested which other stories they would like to. MORE Roald Dahl stories were suggested and they certainly are good-quality, creative texts which extend children’s vocabulary, imagination and make them laugh! David Walliams was also a popular suggestion.
The children are engrossed in the current “Light and Dark” Science topic and use the topic vocabulary confidently. We are still debating how the moon isn’t a source of light itself, but reflects the light from the sun. We have different resources, such as access to the excellent “Explorify” website which Miss Bannams, the Science lead, told us about, to explore important questions like this in a variety of ways. This week the children made their own “light reflectors” and investigated which was the most reflective material to make a safe coat for night-time use.
The children completed their versions of a mystery story day. The task of writing a mystery story was challenging and the class has used the opportunity to experiment with language, such as expanded “noun sound” phrases – eg the squeaking of the metal hinges. They have incorporated similes, long sentences to build suspense, short sentences for dramatic effect and dialogue in their writing this week. Year 3 spend their writing sessions focusing well with presentation in their books really improving. The excellent level of effort they are showing always leads to progress and they should feel proud of how their writing is improving, like I do.
We started our sewing task this week, re-aquainting ourselves with the pleasures and pain of threading needles. Again, focus and team-work was seen round the classroom. If you do have any pieces of lightweight fabric to use in this projects (as per the mail), I would be very grateful to receive it.
Thank you for the RE homework this week. The range of ideas and presentation are fantastic. If you finish yours over the weekend, please do send it on on Monday. Also, if your child has the “Bingo” homework grid, please email or send it in for housepoints (as per the other email). Well done on those children who completed the MyMaths homework. The spellings and MyMaths for this week are both on Google classroom.
The children have got through the weeks of SATs. They were magnificent in their positive attitudes. The children have worked so hard and have all done their very best. We are very proud of them all.
During the afternoons, we have had some time to do lots of writing activities. In RE, the children wrote radio scripts for an interviewer to interview St Stephen and investigate why and how he was so brave to stand up for his faith despite being persecuted and threatened with death. The children learned he was in fact the first martyr for the christian faith. The Holy Spirit gave him the courage to speak up for what he believed was right and to share his faith with the people who were attacking him.
The children used their scripts to role play their interviews. They displayed great knowledge and empathy for St Stephen.
Today, the children had a relaxed day having studied so hard for their SATs. Rounders and other games were played, the school provided an ice-lolly for each child and much fun was had by all.
Over the weekend, the children will be busy packing their suitcases for our residential trip to the Isle of Wight. We will endeavour to post pictures on this class page through the course of the week but priority will be given to ensuring all children and staff are safe.
Please pray for good weather, happy and healthy children and staff and safe journeys there and back.
During our May Day liturgy, the Chaplaincy Team led us as we gave thanks for Mary, the mother of Jesus. All the children created a poster that celebrated Mary’s role as Queen and these have been used as a prayer focus for all the classes. Thank you so much for all the amazing plant donations that have been used to really show how deep our thanks is to Mary. Our service ended with a tremendous May Pole dance by Year 4.
We are all overjoyed to finally receive our set of new reading books. Here we are, juggling with five books each – it was trickier than we thought to hold the books out and look at the camera at the same time! We shall enjoy reading them at home along with a library book that we choose from our Top 50 reads for Year 2. There are so many books to choose from!
In preparation for our May Day liturgy, we wrote prayers asking for help as we try to keep the peace in our own lives. Here are our beautiful Mary, Queen of Peace posters that we were very proud to show everyone in school. Thank you so much for contributing such wonderful plants for our floral display. We shall enjoy planting and caring for them and then watching them grow across the next few months.
We started May with the beautiful Crowning of Mary. Year 3 drew very careful pictures of the saints for our contribution “Mary, Queen of All Saints”. We talked about saints important to us, such St Adrians and St Albans of course, British and Irish patron saints, St Nicholas and St Francis. Several children in the class reminded us they are named for saints, too.
We celebrated class worship in the hall at the altar of Mary. They children sang Ave Maria, with the harmony very nicely.
The flowers and plants the children brought in looked beautiful and really made it feel like spring could be here. We will continue to mark the month of May with activities.
Last week, year 3 completed the daily mile like other children did. Here they are enjoying the feel-good effect of exercise and exertion.
We are continuing to explore the feelings and events of The Pentecost. The children were thinking and writing about what the disciples would have felt after the Holy Spirit passed over them. They are developing a clearer understanding of how to answer the big question “What’s the use of energy?”
Last week we explored what the experiences of Resurrection and Ascension may have been like for Jesus’ followers by “hot-seating. ” A disciple kindly came to visit us and we asked him and her questions about their emotions and reactions at the events. Here is one of the followers answering questions.
We saw a few pieces of RE homework today, where the children have thought deeply about the subject and used the symbols of the dove and the flame to illustrate their work. Well done and we look forward to seeing more next week.
The children are improving, daily, to say the time correctly. The challenge this week was to say the same time in different ways – eg 11.43am, 11.43 in the morning, 17 minutes to twelve in the morning, 17 minutes before 12 am. An interesting question discussed was – Is twelve o’clock at night am or pm?
We all continue to be intrigued by the mysterious illustrations in “The Mysteries of Harris Burdock”, experimenting with different words and phrases to write alternative titles and captions for chosen pictures.
It’s great to see the children, coatless, racing around on the field. Let’s hope this sunny weather continues. Have a lovely weekend.
