The Chronicle

This week, Junior 6 had the topic of 'Journeys': they have started to study Europe in Geography, looking at the continent from both from a geographical and cultural perspective. Tied in with this, in PSHE, the children have started to look specifically at England and its political democracy, studying how the country selects its political leaders. In contrast, in English they ahave been studying the topic of journeys beginning with an area that lies just across the Mediterranean Sea in the continent of Asia: Lebanon. The children are examining the beautiful country of Lebanon as well as the stunning cityscapes including Beirut and further developing their descriptive writing skills, focusing on painting pictures for their reader of these incredible areas.

This week, the pupils in 5L have all been given a guided reading book while we trial guided reading sessions in the mornings. All the children are happy with their books and have been busy reading each night, so they are ready for their next session with one of the teachers. In PSHE, we have all been looking at ‘identities’ and what makes us who we are. 5L have managed to begin creating their very own coat of arms, which represents their identity. We look forward to seeing 5W’s next week!

We have all been so impressed with how Junior 4 have returned to school after Christmas, all with such a wonderful attitude towards their learning. This term in PSHE, we will be focussing on the Collaboration section of the Crackley Compass and Archimedes the Ant was proud of everyone’s efforts on Tuesday, when the children worked as a team to solve a problem in the hall. The children developed their communication skills and also learned the importance of listening, when trying to collaborate. In Science, the children were excited about their ice cube experiment and it was wonderful to see such ingenuity when creating containers to try and sustain their ice for as long as possible. Keep up the excellent work, Junior 4!  

In our Science lessons this week we have been looking at the types of questions that scientists ask. How they gather their information and use this to move the world of science and technology along. We are all really excited about our new topic ‘The Great Nappy Challenge’; in which we are going to be finding out, testing and coming to our own conclusions about disposable nappies. We are looking forward to finding out which nappies are the most absorbent, which are the stretchiest and which are the most popular with parents. Watch out - we are the scientists of the future!

Year 2 have had another fabulous week. They have been making books all about China, creating hats for a chef and thinking about what we need to survive. In English we are using our core text to help us identify when adjectives are used in sentences. Year 2 are becoming proficient at making sure our sentences are written and demarcated with the correct punctuation perfectly. We have had a fun week learning to count in 2's, 5's and 10's before we use our knowledge to help us divide next week.

In PSHE we discussed why we have rules at school, home and in our communities. We read a story that explored what would happen if we did not have rules and there were lots of lightbulb moments as to why we do need rules. The children made up their own rules for a game and had great fun playing them.

Year 2 continue to impress us with their maturing approach to their learning and how much they are able to retain. Well done, Year 2. 

What a great week we have had starting off some new and interesting topics in Science, History, Geography and English, which has kept us all keen and eager to learn. We were off to the Antarctic this week in Science, beginning to find out about polar regions in the world and what life is like there. We discovered that only penguins and seals live on Antarctica and we learnt a lot of interesting facts about penguins, which we recorded and displayed on our new ‘Polar Places’ display. In History we have begun to look at old and new types of transport and created a timeline of some vehicles to show which have been around for a very long time and which are brand new. Mrs Armitage On Wheels is our new focus in English and we are looking forward to getting stuck into that more next week.

This week Reception have been looking at the story The Selfish Crocodile by Faustin Charles. They have pretended to be the crocodile/animals in the story and to explore their feelings have asked/answered some very thought-provoking, self-generated questions. Reception have also been thinking about pets this week and have brought in pictures of pets they have or would like. After telling their class about their animals, they have been learning about how to look after them and what they need to stay healthy.