After-school club availability
Our after-school clubs return from next week and we still have some places available. It is not too late if you would like to book your child on. Clubs are mainly based on your child’s class bubble at the moment.
Monday
Year 6 dodgeball (starting 24 May)
Year 2 multi-skills
Tuesday
Year 2 Wake up Shake up
Year 3 football
Wednesday
Year 4 Wake up Shake up
Thursday
Year 1 multi-skills
Friday
Year 4/5 multi-games
Please check on School Gateway or contact the office for more details.
Science: Green Fingers
Year 1 scientists have been busy planting and observing bulbs and seeds. We began by investigating what a bulb needs to help it to grow into a mature healthy plant. The children set up a test and recorded their findings each week.
I don’t think the bulb with soil, water and light will grow very well.
I wonder if the bulb will survive with just water and light?
Part of being a scientist is being able to observe carefully record the findings.
I found out that a bulb needs soil, water and light to help it to grow into a healthy plant.
We also have another seed experiment on the go. For this one, we have placed a bean onto some wet paper towel and put it inside a plastic bag. Next, we put the bags onto the window and we will watch to see what happens. Ask your child about these pictures.
Finally, Year 1 are also growing their own potatoes. We have been measuring their growth using cubes.
What great gardeners we have in Year 1!
Living and Learning: Sun Safety
Year 1 have been learning all about how to stay safe in the sun and a good place to start was by using our fluency text. Each week, the class start a new fluency text. This is read daily and helps to build up fluency. The children benefit from modelled expressive reading, echo reading, repeated re-reading, skilled questioning and modelled comprehension skills.
This afternoon, the children worked in teams to create a Sun Safety notice.
Stay in the shade when possible and try to avoid being in the sun between 11am and 3pm.
Use a good sun cream and don’t forget your ears, nose and the tops of your feet. Remember to keep topping up your sun cream.
Always wear a sunhat. It’s a good idea to wear a floppy sunhat that protects the face and neck.
Drink lots of water.
Here is a link to a sun safety story for you to enjoy with your child at home.
Living and Learning: health and prevention
Across school, our current Living and Learning topic is all about health and prevention which forms part of the new statutory Health Education. Here are the objectives for the children to learn by the end of Year 6.
Year 1 and 2 will be focusing their learning on sun safety and sleep but as dental hygiene is also part of this learning, the children will soon be bringing home their own toothbrush and toothpaste.
Here is some information you might want to read with your child to talk about this at home.
100 laps for charity
Skip into summer
This term, all classes will be taking part in the West Yorkshire Skip into Summer project with Skipping School. We are excited to be part of the 136 schools and almost 33,000 children taking part!
As part of this project, we have skipping ropes available to buy at a subsidised price of £3.
If your child would like to buy a rope, to keep learning their new skills at home, they will be on sale, outside the Year 1 classroom in the middle playground, 3:10-3:30pm on Thursdays and Fridays. Exact change would be helpful.
The Captain Tom 100 Challenge
Working scientifically
Today, Year 1 have been working scientifically. As part of their ‘Growing Plants’ topic, the children began by looking closely at a variety of seeds. The first stage, in the life cycle of most plants, is a seed and these come in all shapes and sizes.
The class discussed the appearance of different fruits and asked some very good scientific questions.
I wonder whereabouts the seeds are?
If we cut the lemon in half, will we see a seed?
Why are the seeds inside?
I wonder which fruit will have the most seeds?
I think all the seeds will look very different.
Next, we sliced the fruits open and examined the insides carefully.
Each fruit has a different seed.
Next, the children examined the open pieces of fruit and sketched some close up drawings. These images concentrated on a small section or slice of the fruit and the class looked carefully at the colours and the structure.
Year 1 were very curious about this learning and they use appropriate scientific language to communicate their ideas.
PE in our new playground
Today, Year 1 had their first PE lesson in the new area at the back of the school. It was great to have so much space!
The children worked hard to develop their throwing and catching skills. To finish the session, the class worked with a partner to see if they could aim their throw and get the ball through a hoop.
Welcome to the summer term.
Welcome back!
This term is set to be a very busy one indeed. Here is a quick overview of what will be going on in school.
Writing 
The children will continue with handwriting, grammar and sentence structure learning. Below are some of the age related expectations for the end of Year One.
- To start and end sentences using capital letters to start, use a full stop to end, or question mark /exclamation mark.
- To use a capital letter for ‘I’ and for everyday proper nouns.
- To separate words using (finger) spaces.
- To combine words to make a sentence.
- To write sentences with one ‘chunk’ of meaning.
- To say what I’m going to write and then compose a sentence orally before writing it.
Maths 
The class will continue with place value and counting work.
- Count within 100, forwards and backwards, starting from any number.
- Reason about the location of numbers to 20 and compare numbers.
- Develop fluency in addition and subtraction facts within 10.
- Count forwards and backwards in multiples of 2, 5 and 10.
Science 
The children will be investigating, observing and describing how seeds and bulbs grow into mature plants. They will find out and describe how plants need water, light and suitable temperature to grow and be healthy. Below is the specific vocabulary that will be used in our science lessons. Talk about these words at home. Does your child know any of them? Can you child tell you the definitions?
- seeds
- bulbs
- temperature
- growth
- survival
- healthy
- mature
- plants
Computing Topic 
The children will be learning about computer programming. They are going to discover what an algorithm is and what it needs to work effectively. We will be creating and debugging simple programs and will use logical reasoning to predict what will happen when an algorithm is executed.
In some of our lessons, we have regular ongoing online safety messages. These are usually prompts and reminders about the important of staying safe on and offline. Asking for a person’s consent is very important and this is something we regularly rehearse.
May I take your photo?
Yes, of course you can.
Would you mind if we show your learning to the whole class?
No, I really don’t want to share it.
As well as programming, the children will be having specific lessons about the following;
Age Restrictions
• I know that some online activities have age restrictions because they have content which is not appropriate.
Digital Content
• I am beginning to understand what a digital footprint is.
Misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes
• I know that I shouldn’t believe everything I see or read online.
Fake websites and scam emails
• I know that some websites have secure markings (eg padlock symbol next to URL) that makes them more trustworthy.
Password safety
• I know that passwords are important and that I should not share them. Personal data
• I know that I’m too young to share personal information (eg full name, address, school, age) online.
Persuasion
• I know that there are adverts online which, if clicked on, may take me away from the page I’m looking at.
Online vs. offline behaviours
• I know that people should treat others respectfully when they are online.
• I know what to do if someone is mean to me or someone else online.
Impact on quality of life
• I know that being online offers lots of positives but that
there needs to be a balance between time being spent on
and offline.
Below is the vocabulary that links to the computing topic.
| algorithm | program | debug |
| computer | password | personal information |
| appropriate |
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions or queries.
jackiefreeman@spherefederation.org
carolinetaylor@spherefederation.org
