End of Spring 1 Newsletter

Attendance

In order to improve school attendance this half term, we have introduced a league which pupils are loving! They chose class monuments to represent their team and they are drawn weekly to go head to head against another class. The class with the overall highest attendance then has the trophy for the week.

Autumn 1 overall attendance: 93%

Autumn 2 overall attendance: 91.7%

Spring 1

Week 1: 94.6%

Week 2: 95%

Week 3: 93.8%

Week 4: 93%

Week 5: 93.6%

Week 6: 94%

The overall class winners of our attendance league award of a Mcdonalds is class 2! Well done, class 2!

Curriculum

Take a look at what we have been up to this half term...

Foundation Stage 2

This half term we have done lots of learning!

With our driver topic throughout school being geography this half term, we have used lots of high quality texts centred around geography within our literacy.

Starting off with Stickman, where we explored our local area after finding out that Stickman actually was lost between his home (a tree in Grimethorpe park) and our school. We used maps and Google Earth to explore our locality and helped Stickman to find home. We also helped the Stick Family to settle their differences after arguing about who was the longest of the Stick’s. Initially we compared the length of each Stick, before ordering them and finally using non-standard units to measure the length of them.

In week two we were introduced to our new topic of learning, by finding white footprints all around our classroom. We made predictions of what / who we thought could have been in our classroom, some children precited it was a polar bear, other predicted it was Santa, just to name a few examples. We were then given a letter! From a boy, who had in fact lost his penguin. We created missing posters and explored where penguins lived. We found out that they were from Antarctica – which is a long way away from England. We finally discussed about how we would even return the penguin if we were to find him; we had to rule out some initial ideas such as swim their or walk, after using an atlas to find that Antarctica is across oceans! We made a nice link to our learning in maths here too, as we explored repeating patterns; using the patterns on animals as an initial hook to learning.

On week three we centred our learning around Chinese New Year! We explored how Chinese New Year is traditionally celebrated and we even compared it to how we celebrate New Year in the UK. We found some similarities such as waiting up until midnight and letting off fireworks, as well as many differences which we had the opportunity to explore. We created a shopping list for Miss Greasley as she was hosting her very own Chinese New Year party. We also tried some traditional Chinese food, our favourite was definitely the prawn crackers! This was a great link to our maths also, as Miss Greasley required a specific amount of resources for her party. We helped Miss Greasley to accurately count the number of each item and matched it to the corresponding numeral.

In week four we moved onto another continent of the world – Africa! Our learning was centred around Handa’s Surprise. In maths Handa needed our help to complete her orders from her visit to the fruit stall in Kenya. We helped Handa to collect various quantities of fruit and used number sentences to show how we made that total. For example: 2 mangos + 3 passion fruits + 1 banana = 6 fruits all together! Within provision we had lots of fun exploring things which we noticed within our focus text (See image). In literacy we compared Kenya to our village (Grimethorpe), we noticed lots of differences including our clothes, our homes, how we carry our goods, the weather etc.

In our final two weeks of Spring 1, we have immersed ourselves in pirates! Polly Parrot Picks a Pirate and The Pirates Next door have been our key texts. We have worked on our ability to subitise, as Polly the Parrot was trying to steal pirate treasure in maths. Finally, we had a huge decision to make after Pirates had requested to move onto our school field. Would we say yes or no? Well, to make a fair decision we had to weigh up all of the advantages and disadvantages to this and there was lots to consider. After a class vote it was a 50/50 split, therefore we had to reach out for the opinions of others; including our parents, other pupils and of course Mr McClure and Mrs Tricket! In the end we felt it would be best to say no to them coming, due to the fact we would have no where to play or do our sports day on.

It has been a packed half term and we cannot wait for the next one!

Starting off our learning with Jack and The Beanstalk.

Class 1

We have had a very busy half term!

Our focus text in Literacy was ‘We’re going on a lion hunt’. The children loved learning all about narrative writing and practising using their phonics skills to write their very own narrative retell. The children are currently finishing their narrative, with their own character… a zonkey!

In maths, we have been learning about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The children have enjoyed pretending to own their own sweet shop to share out sweets equally into groups.

In Geography, we have been focusing on continents, oceans and the United Kingdom, to help Paddington Bear travel around the world and the United Kingdom. We have loved singing about all the continents and oceans to help us remember them, as well as counties and capital cities in the United Kingdom. For our end outcome will be creating posters for Paddington Bear to take home to show his Aunt Lucy, about each country in the United Kingdom.

In Science, we have been focusing on animals and their habitats. We enjoyed a micro habitat hunt around school to identify different types of micro habitats. The children have also gathered information on which animals live in which habitats and how they have adapted to them.

In PD RSHE, we have been focusing on our emotions, to help us understand why we all could feel a certain emotion and when. We have spoke about how actions can influence emotions and how we can help to control this.

I am so impressed with the children’s hard work this half term and have loved getting to know each one of them. I hope everyone has a fantastic February half term!

Miss Bud

Class 1/2

Year 2

We have had a fantastic half term!

Our focus text in Literacy was ‘A Walk in London’. The children loved learning facts about London and how to write an interesting recount. After a local walk around Grimethorpe, we have written our very own recounts. Don’t forget to ask your children to share some facts about our local area with you!

In maths, we have been focusing on addition, subtraction, multiplcation, division shape and time. The children have been telling the time to the hour, half past the hour, quarter to and quarter past on an analogue clock, and were even challenged to write the digit times too.

In Geography our focus has been learning about the countries of the UK. We had a very special delivery in school – Paddington Bear! Paddington has been travelling around the UK and needed our help to learn more about the countered of the UK, including the capital cities, surrounding seas and famous landmarks.

For our end outcome, the children then created some wonderful posters for Paddington to take back to Peru with him to share with his friends and family.

In Science, we have been focusing on living things and their habitats. The children have been matching plants and animals to their habitats and considering how they are suited to these habitats.

In PD RSHE, we have been focusing on our mental health. The children have looked at a range of feeling their may experience, and ways they can regulate when they are feeling a certain thing. We have also thought about things which make us feel happy.

As usual, I am so impressed with the children’s hard work again this half term. I am looking forward to some more exciting learning together next half term!

Class 3

Another half term down and some great efforts from Year 3. It has been pleasing to see an improvement in our attendance this half term. We are really enjoying the competition for best attendance each week and the hopes that we might win the best attendance prize of a possible McDonalds or maybe even a Cinema treat.

Our subject driver for this half term has been Geography. Our focus for learning was about ‘The Plastic Problem’. We have been able to focus on places and locations across the world which suffer from or cause plastic pollution. We were shocked at some of the things we found out. We have learnt about places which are managing the problems well and some of the very alarming laws that are in place but seem to be working to combat the problem. Your children are very knowledgeable about this and were able to say which ideas they preferred. We considered whether Smyths toys should be shut down as they sell a lot of plastic toys which don’t all have the recycle symbol on them.

In Lira (reading) we furthered our environmental learning with the book, ‘Greta’s Story’ which is a simple biography about Greta Thunberg. We know some facts about her and how she is fighting for change. We have been able to focus on the key features of an information text, and considered Greta as a person. We think she is a bit of a hero for trying to save the planet.

In literacy we have written newspaper reports about the Orangutans in Borneo and how their homes are being destroyed. We found it quite alarming that the trees we need to be able to breathe and the homes the animals live in are being destroyed for palm oil, which is in many of the products we buy. We looked at the skills of fronted adverbials, conjunctions, prepositions and adverbs as well as inverted commas for direct speech, where we could include some opinions in our reports. We have also written stories based on the book Tar Beach.

Within PD/RSHE, we have been learning about mental health and bullying. Students were able to say of who they could go to if they had a concern. As well as this, we analysed different ways that students could keep mentally and physically healthy. Many students suggested that they would try something different to achieve this.

In RE, we have been looking at ‘Question 4- Why are some times special?’. Our class have really engaged with this question and were very curious to find out about different celebrations that the different religions have. We understood that tolerance, one of our British values, is important and we discussed this each lesson.

In science, we have looked at light and shadows. Students were engaged in this throughout the term as they were able to use torches to investigate the ways in which, we could ‘bend’ light and the method in which we see things. We really enjoyed looking at shadows and have conducted an investigation into the size of the shadows.

In French we continued to learn about animals and enjoyed singing the French version of Old McDonald.

In PE we have been focusing on dance, with a particular interest in Bollywood dancing. The children enjoyed expressing themselves through this subject.

We really can’t wait for Spring 2 where we are going to be studying Design and Technology for our driver subject. Our topic is called ‘Sling it’. I wonder if you can work out what we might be creating?

Class 3/4

In literacy, children have watched an animation called ‘lifted’ and have produced persuasive adverts around a spacecraft that they created. They have also produced formal persuasive letters for the text, “Cinderella of the Nile’.

In LIRA, children have been enjoying reading about non-fiction texts about Recycling and plastic waste (which links to our topic) and are currently reading “ he Butterfly Lion” by Michael Morpurgo.

In maths, children have used formal written methods and mental calculation methods when using all four operations within word problems. Children have enjoyed learning to read and write coordinates.

In science, children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about how shadows are formed and were engaged when role-playing light rays travelling around an opaque object. I think that the children enjoyed the hook lesson the most as they used glow bands to create a glow disco.

In Geography, children have been using their map skills to locate different countries around the world and to focus on the problem of pollution and how this is affecting the world and the environment.

In French, children have been learning how to pronounce ‘body parts’ in French. In particular, they have enjoyed singing “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” in French.

Class 4

What a great start to the year from Year 4. Progression has been excellent across all of our curriculum and it is evident that they have developed their understanding through our driver subject, which was Geography.

The children have really showed a desire to learn about the plastic pollution that is damaging our earth. Within our learning, we have had passionate debates surrounding companies and their impact on the pollution problem. As well as this, we have analysed various different countries to see what their individual impact is and how they are contributing to the pollution of our oceans. Many of our findings shocked the students and really wanted to have a say on what is going on. Their engagement throughout Spring 1 has been excellent and it really hooked the students in.

As the students were clearly interested in the topic of plastic pollution, we decided to use it as a driver for some excellent writing pieces within Literacy. We decided on writing different persuasive pieces such as a persuasive advert about a new and revolutionary bin. The students created their own design and used persuasive features to create their own personalised advert. Following this, we then wrote a persuasive letter to the Prime minister regarding the fly-tipping at the bottom of Milefield Lane. Students were once again passionate and were able to articulate their thoughts effectively. By linking their knowledge from Geography, we had some really persuasive letters. Alongside this, we used the plastic pollution problem as a context within Maths. Students were able to use this to capture the criminals using their co-ordinate knowledge. Students plotted these on a map of Grimethorpe. This really hooked the students in.

Within PD/RSHE, we have been learning about mental health and bullying. Students were able to inform me of who they could go to if they had a concern. As well as this, we analysed different ways that students could keep mentally and physically healthy. Many students suggested that they would try something different to achieve this. In RE, we have been looking at ‘Question 4- Why are some times special?’. Our class have really engaged with this question and were very curious to find out about different celebrations that different religions have. We understood that tolerance, one of our British values, is important and we discussed this each lesson. In science, we have looked at light and shadows. Students were engaged in this throughout the term as they used torches to investigate ways we can ‘bend’ light and the method in which we see things. This led into our investigation around shadows and distance the light is away. In French we have looked at facial features and body parts. The students really enjoyed this, I’m not too sure about Class ¾ though when we were singing ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’.