16 October 2022
On the week that saw us celebrate Black History Month and World Mental Health Day in school, lots of fantastic learning took place across the school.
In Nursery, there's been an Autumn feel to activities, with our Friendly Frogs completing an exciting Autumn walk around our beautiful grounds as well as all of their Funky Finger challenges also relating to the season with children finger painting trees, writing with carrots, making play dough hedgehogs and practising their safe scissor skills with some autumn cutting. In addition, the Friendly Frogs have been scientists this week and have been making lots of ‘predictions’. They decided to experiment with eggs. The Frogs decided that they wanted to mix egg with flour and sugar then cook it; mix egg with rice and cook it; crack an egg in a bowl and cook it; boil an egg; and put an egg in vinegar and leave it for a few days. The children were amazed by their scientific findings! We are extremely proud of our Nursery provision and this week saw new continuous play areas and resources on display for our youngest learners.
Meanwhile, in Reception, as part of their PE lessons, the children enjoyed ‘balls over the bridge’. At the start of the game, the children were split into two teams; the aim of the game was to get as many balls onto the other side of the bridge as possible but, the children weren’t allowed to move around on their feet! So there was lots of super shuffling from everyone! In Maths, pupils have been exploring the composition of the number 3. They have found different ways to make 3 using the animals on Rosie’s Farm (their current text of study). They generated number sentences using their maths vocabulary of add/plus and equals. The children’s sentences included, “One sheep add one cow and one dog equals three” and "Two sheep add one cow equals three". Also in Maths, the children have been counting chickens back into their coop after they escaped! The children were practising their cutting skills by cutting the chickens out and then had to work out how many chickens they needed using the number that was on their sheet. They were then able to recount their chickens to check they had put the correct number back in and that none had mischievously wandered off... At the start of the week, Reception welcomed a very special visitor.... The children are reading their new book 'Rosie’s Walk' and it seems Rosie walked into Fairfield on Monday! The children were very sensible and kind to their visiting hen, which provided an exciting hook to the book! Later in the afternoon, our Reception pupils had a go at drawing Rosie and then labelling the different parts of a chicken. The children were able to label lots of different parts and have learned some new vocabulary, including: beak, wing, claws, comb and wattle! On Thursday afternoon, the children were looking at aerial views of farms. They spotted and chatted about the different features and then worked very hard drawing their very own. In their Art lesson this week, the children had a go at sketching David Hockney’s 'Bigger Trees Near Water'. They talked about what they could see in the picture and the different things to include in their own drawing. The children worked very hard on this and did a brilliant job!
In Key Stage 1, as part of the Geography learning, Year 1 went on a walk around the school environment to identify different features of their local area. During Wednesday's Geography lesson, the children looked at a range of maps. They used the computer to explore Google Maps, looked closely at paper maps of Cockermouth and discussed map symbols. The children then used their map skills and followed the key on the map to find the different characters from our focus text this week ‘The Jolly Postman’. On Monday, the children were very excited to receive a parcel during their English lesson. Inside, was the story 'The Jolly Postman' and other letters. The children loved listening to the story and reading the letters to the different characters. Year 1 then used drama to act like some of the characters from the book, they: moved like a giant, stood like a witch, showed baby bear's sad face when Goldilocks ate all his porridge and even walked like Cinderella! On Wednesday, the Jolly Postman left Year 1 with a very important job to do. He had dropped all his letters in a puddle and he needed Year 1's help to decide who the letters were for by following different clues. The children had to use their comprehension skills and speaking and listening skills to ensure all the letters were correctly addressed. In Maths, Year 1 looked at the part whole model. The children enjoyed partitioning numbers and using stem sentences. In PE, Year 1 have been practising their under arm and over arm throws and have started to aim at a target. The children are progressing well through their 'Throwing and Catching' unit of study this half-term. Meanwhile, in RE this week, Year 1 have been learning about the Ten Commandments. At the start of the lesson, the children talked about rules and then went on to create their own important rules to follow. This forms part of the children's study of the RE topic, 'What is important to you?', which they are studying this half-term. Super concentration and effort was evident in this week's Computing lesson: Year 1 children worked together to play a game to help improve their laptop trackpad skills. In Art, the children are learning about the artist Claude Monet and took inspiration from his seaside paintings to create their very own masterpiece using his style of ‘Impressionism’. The finished pieces are very impressive- we certainly have some budding artists in Year 1!
Meanwhile, Year 2 took their Maths lesson outdoors on Thursday, to create number lines to show multiples of 2, 5 and 10. They have also been using number lines to find half of 100 and plot 2 digit numbers correctly on a number line. ‘Ship Ahoy’... in Art, the children in Year 2 have continued with their work on the artist Turner by sketching and drawing a ship such as can be seen in his famous paintings. The children added lots of fine detail afterwards too. Later in the week, pupils had a lovely time creating a stormy picture of a ship, in the style of William Turner. In PE, the children have continued to refine their skills on the cricket field. This week, they have focused on batting techniques and bowling accuracy. Moreover, in Music, the children have been learning the song 'True Colours' and performing it as a class. The performance element includes British Sign Language which led to an excellent discussion on inclusion- linking to PSHE. This forms part of the children's 'Hey You' unit of work which is their focus in Music this half-term.
In Key Stage 2, Year 3 had a lovely time in the forest on Friday, whittling tent pegs. Year 3 children also enjoyed their outdoor hockey lesson on Wednesday, where they were busy practising dribbling the ball and passing to a team member. They also increased their awareness of the space around them on the pitch, which is a fundamental aspect of hockey- their topic of focus this half-term. In addition, Year 3 have been writing their very own diary entry from the Stone Age. They demonstrated a fantastic, mature attitude towards their learning. They had calming, instrumental music on in the background as they drafted their written work. They have also begun to edit their own work using purple polishing pens. Last week, in Maths, Year 3 enjoyed practising column addition. This week, the children have been busy working on their column subtraction skills. On Thursday, to combine the two methods, each child received a number and paired up with another member of the class. They then had to add and subtract both numbers using the column method. This mathematical activity, enabled the children to refine their adding/subtracting skills, use the column methods with increased accuracy and work collaboratively with others in the class. Great work Year 3!
In Year 4, during their PE lesson on Friday afternoon on their topic of study gymnastics, pupils had a go on the vault. Staff were very impressed with the progress made in the session and the array of skill and talent on display. Meanwhile, in Art on Wednesday afternoon, the children produced wonderful abstract art pieces in the style of Kandinsky-their artist of study. The children are thoroughly enjoying their 'Abstract Art' unit of work this half-term. In Science, Year 4 have been busy observing what happens when materials are heated or cooled. They even got to investigate if the chocolate buttons change state when placed in bowls of water of different temperatures! During this week's PSHE lesson, the Year 4 children have been looking at different statements about the positive and negative aspects of online friendships. The children then discussed whether each statement was showing signs of being healthy or unhealthy, which allowed them to apply their understanding in a real life context.
Meanwhile, in Upper Key Stage 2, Year 5 have been problem solving again in active Maths. The children have impressed when deciding on the calculation needed to solve some tricky two-step problems. Moreover, the children have also been working hard in Maths to perfect the skill of multiplying and dividing by 10, 100, 1000- involving decimals. It’s always lovely to hear about exciting things, that our fabulous children do at home. In Year 5 this week, some children wrote a very informative speech about Black History Month, which they shared with the class. Each child has enjoyed special assemblies dedicated to Black History Month this week so it is lovely to see many children have been inspired by what they heard. Secondly, an avid reader was very excited to share with her friends that she had met Sam Copeland - the best selling children’s author. He signed her books and gave her a lovely book mark. In addition, some Year 5 children have been reading their speeches out to their class (linked to their Geography topic of study on 'Oceans'). The children read well and were very persuasive to stop pollution in our oceans. Well done Year 5!
Year 6 have spent this week's Maths lessons trying to conquer the mathematical giant that is... long division! Unsurprisingly, the fantastic Fairfield team have done it again and surpassed expectations. We are incredibly proud of the whole year group for mastering this skill. Moreover, in PSHE, Year 6 have done an absolutely amazing job of their self respect jars- the session gave time for important self-refection too. In addition, our Year 6 children have been trying really hard to further improve their handwriting over the past couple of weeks. This week's session saw the children look at creating light and dark shades with their pencils too, which really helped to refine their pencil/pen grip. Finally, HUGE congratulations to our fabulous Year 6 Netball team who achieved 1st place on Thursday afternoon at a competition at Cockermouth School competing against other local schools. The team demonstrated fantastic effort and sportsmanship throughout the tournament and certainly did Fairfield proud. The children have thoroughly enjoyed their netball lessons this half-term, as part of our PE curriculum and the hard-work has certainly paid off!
We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow ready for the final week of the half-term, which we will conclude in style on Friday with our Halloween extravaganza!
