Year 3 Authors

In English, we were inspired by the book ‘A River’ by Marc Martin to create our own version of the story. We used descriptive language to describe the journey of the river. Here are some photos of our English display.

Maths

In maths, we explored the perimeter of various shapes. Here are a few snapshots from our lesson.

Logic and nonsense in year 4 for the week before half-term

Both were studied this week – logic in the form of data which the children saved using data loggers, when they worked well in small groups. They were also inspired by Lewis Carroll in “The Jabberwocky” and wrote their own fantastic versions of the nonsense poem which will be made into an anthology. They also made good progress with multiplication, moving onto formal multiplication. It’s been a packed five weeks and I hope everyone has a really good break and rest. I look forward to seeing everyone after the half-term break.

Nursery 16.02.24

This week we read Mr Wolf’s Pancakes. Mr Wolf went to his neighbours to ask for help but they weren’t very helpful. In the end he had a go and ended up making delicious pancakes that the whole neighbourhood could smell. His neighbours decided they wanted to try the pancakes, but did Mr Wolf let them have any?

In Nursery we decided to make our own pancakes. We helped to pour in and stir the mixture together. We waited very patiently while they were cooking, the pancakes were described as ‘awesome’.

In RE this week we looked at how a family gathers at Church for Sunday Mass. We talked about the Bible, the hymn books and even looked at something called a Stoup. We learnt that this is filled with Holy Water for people to bless themselves when entering a Church. We role played entering Church for a service and used the Holy Water to bless ourselves.

In maths this week we continued our work on number 4. We took part in some activities to support this such as frogs on logs, spots on a ladybird and we joined in with Number 4’s sports day by throwing bean bags into a hoop.

Other photos this week:

Important Dates

Parent Consultations – Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th February.

Reading Morning – Join us every Friday for reading morning in the Nursery classroom, 8:45 – 09:00am.

There will be no reading morning on Friday 8th as we will be attending Mothers Day Assembly. Parents are welcome.

Friday 22nd March – EYFS Cake sale after school.

School finishes at 11:45am/ 13:30pm on Thursday 28th March.

Have a lovely half term break.

Miss Taylor

Children’s Mental Health Week in Year 3

This week has been bustling with activities centered around children’s mental health and Safer Internet Day. To kick off our week, we delved into the theme ‘My voice matters’ in class, exploring ways to use our voice to share what matters to us. We took part in a dance and yoga session to help us focus on our physical well being. 

For Safer Internet Day, we immersed ourselves in various activities aimed at enhancing our online safety awareness.

Feeling good on and off line

.. has been the theme of this week. Some of what we have done is in the bulletin. On Thursday, the children also thought of an achievement they are proud of and shared this with their table. Also key to good mental health is a healthy outdoor environment and the Eco Councillors and other children planted some saplings on the field which will hopefully grow to provide shade and a home for birds and other animals.

The children are really enjoying “The Firework Maker’s Daughter” which is a beautifully written story of bravery and adventure, laced with plenty of humour.

Reading rich, varied and creative literature is a key aspect of good learning and the children are also loving exploring nonsense poetry, specifically “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.

They have been learning about data – what it is, the pitfalls of collecting what seems to be straightforward data, and how well-suited computers are to gathering and processing it. They used data loggers, which are borrowed from a local computer hub.

Here is the display of the children’s writing about the (imitation) Roman artefacts we have here and their excellent accompanying sketches the children took great care in drawing.

The children used data loggers for the first time today. They recorded the levels of light and noise and the temperature in different parts of the classroom. Some children went to great lengths to ensure different readings!

Wishing you a relaxing, happy weekend.

What the Romans did for us….

Year IV know just what the Romans did for us and they told us all about it on Thursday. They did it with style, confidence and worked brilliantly as a team. The children learnt their lines off by heart so they could concentrate on delivering them clearly and loudly. Thank you for coming to support the children. We hope you enjoyed their ukelele playing. Thanks go to their teacher, Mrs Newman, who prepared all the music and tuned the ukeles the day before the performance.

We used the visit to Verulamium and the resources we have at school to complete some topical writing and Art which are now proudly displayed on the classroom wall. The children have very much enjoyed reading “Escape From Pompeii” and will start a new book very soon.

Everyone looked amazing on Number Day on Friday. Thank you for your donations to the NSPCC. The children played some games from the nrich website to use their multiplication and division fact recall in strategic problem-solving contexts. Maybe you could play the games with your children at home? The links are :

https://nrich.maths.org/6863 – Times Tables shifts,

https://nrich.maths.org/10094 – Four in a Row (or similar name)

Nursery – 02.02.24

Over the last couple of weeks in RE we have learnt that there was a man named Simeon who lived a very long time ago in Jerusalem. He was a righteous man and he was told that he would see the Messiah. Mary and Joseph came to the Temple with Jesus, Simeon took Jesus into his arms and said a very special prayer.

We acted this out in class

In maths this week we continued to look at number 3. Mr Wolf could only eat 3 things so we found things in the classroom we thought he would like.

On Friday we took part in the NSPCC Number day.

We did a number 3 hunt out in the playground, made triangles using lolly sticks and had some number and shape activities at the writing table.

RE

In RE over the next couple of weeks we will be thinking about our families and all the wonderful things families do together. It would be lovely if the children could bring in a photo of their family doing something together e.g. family wedding, birthday, days out. Photos can be given in to share or uploaded onto tapestry.

Important Dates

Half Term – Monday 19th – Friday 23rd February.

Parent Consultation – Tuesday 27th and Thursday 29th February.

World Book Day – Thursday 7th March – Come to school dressed up as your favourite book character.

There will be no reading morning on Friday 8th March as we will be going to the Mothers Day Assembly – parents welcome.

Friday 22nd March – PTA Break the rules day

Friday 22nd March – EYFS Cake Sale after school

School finishes at 1:30PM on Thursday 28th March 2024.

Summer term begins on Monday 15th April 2024.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Taylor

Year 2 get coding

Over the last few weeks, we have been using games, programmable toys and online coding games to explore algorithms. We have created our own algorithms, tried them out, spotted problems and then debugged our programmes to make sure that they work. This has involved lots of mistakes, discussions and problem solving, which has been great fun!

Year 4 travel back to Verulamium

… was one of the headlines year 4 chose to start their reports on their trip to Verulamium Museum. They also wrote about what they had learnt and their ideas show insight.

It was a beautiful day to walk across Verulamium Park and the interest in the dogs we passed along the way was almost as great as that shown in the Roman artefacts we handled during the workshop session. It was a fantastic opportunity to actually touch the same objects that Romans made nearly 2000 years ago. The children then had the opportunity to learn more about the Roman history of their city by exploring the museum exhibits.

We are very grateful to the two Mums who came with us, midweek; and without whose support we couldn’t do these very valuable enrichment activities. Thank you.

The Roman topic, studied in History and through reading “Escape From Pompeii”, has provided the children with opportunities to learn about vocabulary, practise art and understand the impact of a hugely significant civilisation.

Nursery – 26.01.24

Big Garden Birdwatch

This week we took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch. The children really enjoyed making their binoculars to use and were excited to take them out and use them. We went outside on Tuesday morning, Wednesday afternoon and again on Friday morning to see if we could see any birds in trees or on the field. We were also had a look to see if the birds have been eating the bird feeders we made.

The children will bring their binoculars home today – please ensure they are supervised while using because of the strings.

Other photos this week including the children playing ‘Bertha on the bus’, exploring the objects beginning with ‘g’ and a very long road track which the children have loved.

Important Dates

Monday 29th January – INSET Day

Friday 2nd February – NSPCC Number Day – Wear a math themed outfit

Half term – Monday 19th – Friday 23rd February

Reminders

Please can children have a small keyring on their book bag handle so they can identify their book bag when getting ready for home time.

Jewellery such as bracelets, rings and necklaces are not part of the school uniform – please can children keep them for after school, weekends and holidays. Children are allowed to wear stud earrings if they have their ears pierced.

Have a lovely long weekend

Miss Taylor