A fantastic first week of the new half-term!

A fantastic first week of the new half-term...

In Nursery, our Friendly Frogs have been busy making shape pictures, making salt pictures and doing some focused Maths counting challenges.This week, our youngest learners have been learning about Diwali, which is their RE focus. Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, which is celebrated all over the world and celebrates the victory of light over darkness. To celebrate this festival, they have been making Diyas lamps, Rangoli patterns, decorating paper hands with Mehndi patterns and making beautiful firework pictures. Naturally, on Friday, Nursery's learning was all about Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night- linked to their History study. The children watched a film all about Guy Fawkes and learnt lots of facts before creating beautiful firework pictures and collaging a bonfire! Linked to Science and DT, they then made some delicious bonfire treats. They had to become scientists to predict what would happen to the chocolate when they put it in the microwave. What an exciting start to the half term!

In Reception, the children have started a new story called 'The Little Red Hen'. Linked to this, in continuous provision, their cafe has opened with lots of bread to be baked, recipes and types of bread to be discovered, as well as counted out for customers. In the story ‘The Little Red Hen’, she uses the flour she grinds to make some bread so as part of DT, Reception had a go at making some flatbreads too. The children worked together mixing the flour and water- it was a bit sticky! Then, just like the Little Red Hen, they kneaded the bread then shaped it before it was cooked. In Maths, Reception have been exploring capacity with bobbing apples. The children loved being competitive seeing how many apples they could fit in each container and watching them bob back up as they put them in the water. In RE, the children have also been learning about Diwali and building on their knowledge from Nursery. Some pupils had their hands painted and they tried the flatbreads that they baked the day before with some different dips! Linked to this, Reception's P.E lesson on Friday morning was based around the celebration of Diwali! In Art, our Reception artists have produced still life paintings of a bowl of fruit. They looked very carefully at the colours and details.

In Year 1, pupils started the week looking at 2D shapes and went on a shape hunt outdoors. This half term, during their Science lessons, Year 1 are focusing on 'seasonal changes'. On Monday, the children discussed autumn and the changes that are happening in our environment. They noticed that the weather gets colder, some leaves fall of the trees and even some animals start to prepare to hibernate. They then spent part of the afternoon outside looking for seasonal changes and enjoying how beautiful our school grounds look with all of the autumn colours! On Wednesday, the children started their new topic of study in PE- cricket! The children enjoyed throwing and catching the ball; they also practised rolling the ball accurately in a fun and exciting game. On Friday, the children started their DT topic of study- puppets! The children brought in their favourite puppet from home and enjoyed exploring them. They discussed the different types of puppets, talked about how they moved and reflected on the materials they were made from. In Music, Year 1 enjoyed finding the pulse to a piece of music this week. In History, pupils were busy ordering a timeline of events for the Great Fire of London, which is their new topic of study this half-term.

As part of our PE curriculum, Year 2 had "the best morning" at their first Clip and Climb session! The children were impeccable and so enthusiastic for all of the challenges set to them. On Thursday, after a busy morning learning about onomatopoeia and Bonfire Night sentences, the children were looking at the life of Captain James Cook. This concluded their learning about The Georgians (in History) and bridges their learning into their upcoming Geography topic focusing on mapping the world. The children started by creating a short paragraph together before continuing their piece of writing with their own facts about the life of Captain James Cook. In PE, Year 2 have started their new topic of study- Gymnastics, and began by practising their balances. Meanwhile, in Science, pupils enjoyed conducting an investigation on Tuesday afternoon, looking at the minibeasts they could find in micro-habitats around the school.

In Key Stage 2 this week, Year 3 have been busy writing their ‘Save Our World’ acrostic poems which they have written for the Rotary Club competition. The children thought really carefully about things which could save our world and things which affect our planet and have produced fabulous poems. On Friday, in the Forest, Class 3JB built shelters like the people in the ‘Mesolithic’ period of the Stone Age. After all their hard work, they enjoyed a hot chocolate or cup of juice, along with a biscuit. In P.E this half-term, Year 3 are focusing on gymnastics. In their first session, the children recapped skills from Year 2 before focusing on Skydiver positions and bridges. The children demonstrated great perseverance, resilience and determination during this lesson and also showed wonderful group communication skills and super coaching abilities.

In Year 4, in PE, the children have been learning their new topic of study- hockey- with a specialist coach. They all had a great time beginning to learn new skills. On the day we woke up to see the first signs of winter, Year 4 headed outside to complete a ‘determiner detective’ activity in their SPaG lesson. A very musical afternoon was enjoyed on Wednesday as Year 4 were learning how to play the Glockenspiel, linked to their Music curriculum this half-term. They’ve been looking at crotchets, minims and semibreves. Some excellent compositions were heard after they’d learnt to play ‘Definitely.’ In Wednesday's Maths lesson, Year 4 were investigating the statement, ‘the number of lines of symmetry on a 2D shape is equal to the number of sides it has.’ They had to decide if this statement was always, sometimes or never true. A super investigation was held, well done Year 4! In PSHE this week, Year 4 talked about relationships and boundaries. They discussed relationship groups- family, people who help us and other important people. In addition, excellent freeze frames were evident in RE this week, as Year 4 acted out the story of Mary and her Bible, whilst learning why the Bible is important to Christians. In Computing, the children have been recognising the internet as a network of networks including the WWW, and why they should always evaluate online content.

Meanwhile, in Year 5, the children have been learning all about the science of cheese! The children worked in groups to add warm milk and lemon juice and then observed as curds and whey formed; the curds can then be pressed to make cheese. As a start to their RE topic on Moral Codes, Year 5 considered what rules they thought were most important for the country. This led to some very interesting discussions, with children articulating their views well. The children have also been busy in English producing beautiful work inspired by their focus poem this half-term- Beowulf.

In Year 6, the children have been working hard to summarise their work on ‘Skellig’ this week. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the text and, as a final piece, they have worked on an artistic task to summarise the themes in the text. This is not easy! The children have once again delighted staff with their deep understanding and empathy, as well as their incredible presentation. In Spelling, staff were really impressed with creative approaches the children adopted to learn their spellings this week, including at home. In Music, Year 6 are enjoying their new unit of work called, 'Classroom Jazz'. In Science, Year 6 have started to study the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function. The children started this with a very mature discussion before applying their new learning and understanding in written tasks.

We are looking forward to beginning another very busy week of learning and enrichment tomorrow- see you all bright and early.