PE – Castles and Cannonballs
We are really enjoying our PE lessons this half term. We are learning a new game – Castles and Cannonballs. We are practising our fundamental movement skills by throwing balls, aiming and working collaboratively in a group. Over the next few weeks, we are going to change and adapt the game; adding different rules, using different equipment and using different parts of our body
Reading: Book Club
Every Friday, your children share their love of reading in our Book Club sessions. As part of their homework, they complete one activity in their reading records each week, relating to the book they’re reading. This week it was ‘Predict the Future’.
We then discussed our class novel ‘Greek Myths’ by Geraldine McCaughrean – specifically the myth of ‘Daedalus and Icarus’ which we’re half way through. Your children shared their own predictions of what might happen:
I predict that Icarus is going to get too close to the sun and burn.
I predict that Icarus’ wings are going to fall off and he is going to fall but then Daedalus is going to catch him.
I predict that Icarus’ wings are going to melt off and he is going to fall but one of the guards is going to catch him and lock him up again.
We’re all very excited to finish the myth and find out if our predictions were correct!
Help at home: Read with your child daily and encourage meaningful conversations about their books. What do you think will happen next? Who is your favourite character and why? If you had to describe this book in three words, which would you choose?
Scooter Training!
Today, Year 3 have been scooter training! Using a scooter to travel, rather than driving in a car or on a bus, is much more active and clean. It’s good for us and the environment.
First, we reminded ourselves of the Green Cross Code:
- THINK
- STOP
- LOOK
- LISTEN
We then practised using this code outside while scootering around. We had some fun practising our stopping using our break.
Then we stopped and walked while crossing a ‘road’ and looked behind us while crossing a ‘driveway’.
Help at home by choosing an active way to travel. When crossing a road or driveway can you use the Green Cross Code to keep you safe?
Living and Learning: rights and responsibilities
This week in Living and Learning we talked about rights and responsibilities. We watched a video of a little girl explaining all the things she has to do to take care of her dog. We then thought about what responsibilities we have and what we do at home to help out. The children then drew all the things they are responsible for at home. I was very impressed with how responsible and mature Year 1 are!
Help at home by talking about your child’s responsibilities and giving them a job or task to be responsible for.
Marvellous Maths
We have been really deepening our understanding of numbers to 10 this half term so far in Maths. We have looked at how different numbers are made. For example 5 is made from 3 and 2 as well as 4 and 1. This week we were comparing and ordering numbers. We learnt about the greater than (>), less than (<) and equal to (=) signs. We then compared different numbers using towers of cubes and then numerals. We practised really hard and I was very impressed with how well all the children picked up the learning.
Help at home by comparing different amounts and using the words ‘greater than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’.
Reading Records
At Moortown, reading records help us to celebrate our love for reading. As a reminder, here is the key information you and your child need to know:
- Each time one of the children signs out a new book to read from the library, they can make note of these in their reading record and rate them out of 5 stars.
- Every Friday, I chose an activity for the whole class to complete in their reading record. More information on these activities is found inside the record.
- The children bring in these reading records every Friday for our Book Club lesson where we’ll discuss their books and develop their love of reading.
- Please accompany your child’s weekly activity with a short comment sharing with us the reading your child has been doing at home.
Take a look at some fabulous activities Year 5 have completed so far:
This week we had a look at each others reading records and wrote compliments on post-it notes to everyone.
Times Table Rockstars
Each week, the TTRS leader board is updated in class. First place gets to spin the reward wheel, second place receives 5 Thunderbolts, third place 4 Thunderbolts and so on. Well done to this week’s Times Tables Rockstars!
Just a quick reminder, that each day, your children should be practising their times tables for 10 minutes. The deadline for this homework is Friday. If your child does not have access to TTRS, please bring in paper copies of their times table practice – with their completed reading record – to school on Friday.
Please see the homework guide for more information.
The importance of attendance
The importance of attendance
What did you do today? ‘We just played’…is the answer many parents of Reception children get. But here’s just a few of the things your child would miss if they’re absent for five consecutive days.
Phonics: Children learn four new graphemes and three tricky words each week.
Reading: Children practise reading books that closely match their phonics, plus loads of stories are read aloud and celebrated. We visit the school library once a week to choose a book to take home.
Poetry picnic: There’s a poetry session every day –another valuable activity which helps children learn to read.
Writing: We write every day using the graphemes that we’ve learned.
Handwriting: Children learn how to form letters correctly, otherwise joining letters will be difficult in Key Stage 1.
Maths: We’ve four maths sessions a week, setting the foundations for children to be successful in using and applying numbers in the future.
Alongside all of this, children learn Science, Music and other subjects. Even more importantly, children learn to concentrate in a large group, to share resources, take turns when speaking, answer in full sentences, regulate our feelings and prepare ourselves for future learning.
There’s a lot happening when ‘we just play’!
Autumn 1: Week 4
We have been very busy in reception this week.
This week, we have started our reading groups. These groups may alter slightly throughout the year as we get to know the children and their abilities. Please bear with us.
If you have any problems with the login, please feel free to contact me.
Maths
This week in maths, we have been subitising and looking at different ways in which we can arrange 1,2 and 3.
Areas of provision
The children have been exploring in our areas of provision. They have been making cube towers that are taller than them, filling different containers with different amounts of water and practising their letter formation.
PE
During PE, the children have been exploring with different equipment. They were able to select appropriate equipment to build castles and then select different balls to knock them down.
Poetry Picnic
We have completed our first week of poetry picnic. The children have enjoyed learning the poem and the actions to match. Some children asked if they could perform the poem to the rest of the class.
Help at home: by practising our phonics sounds from this week. See if you can spot them in your local environment.
Opening a parcel…
Y6 have been inspired by their class novel – Secrets of a Sun King by Emma Carroll.
In the book, Lilian finds a strange parcel on her grandad’s doorstep and what she finds inside completely turns her life upside down.
We wanted to use suspenseful vocabulary and interesting sentence structures in our writing, where we pretended we were about to open a similarly mysterious package.
Have a look at the incredible writing below.
