The Chronicle

This week Junior 6 have been off timetable doing all sorts of exciting things as part of their Activity Week. It hasn’t just been fun and games though, the children have worked so hard trying a variety of new skills such as baking. The children even got to experience a dissected heart up close and some were even brave enough to hold an eyeball! Well done Junior 6, you showed great resilience and worked so well together throughout this week.

This month, Junior 5 have been supporting our local community through bringing in donations for the Food Bank. They have brought in a variety of items such as: pasta, chocolate, tinned vegetables, soups and more. We are all proud of Junior 5L for their generosity and willingness to give. Fantastic efforts have been made to support our community. Well done to all who have brought items in.

This half-term Junior 4 have been investigating the various characteristics that living things have as they have been learning about how to classify using a scientific method.  First they had a go at identifying the animal which was being described. They worked with a partner to try and identify the animal - was it a vertibrate, a carnivore, a mammal, warm-blooded? They used these yes or no questions to classify the animals to create a classification key, which led to having one living thing in each group.

This week Junior 3 have been mastering the terrific three times table. We have built arrays, spotted patterns, sang songs, and made up three times tables number stories. All our hard work culminated in working together across both classes to create a 3x table Array City. Each building was numbered with a multiple of 3, and the windows formed an array to match. We think our city looks fantastic and it certainly helps us to visualise our three times tables facts.

We have also continued loving learning about Kenya and even did some dressing up in Kenyan cloth and Maasai beads while thinking about the Kenyan character Lila in our story. We are looking forward to writing our character descriptions later this week.

This week, children have been busy practising for the nativity; what a showcase it will be! In Science, we have been finishing off our module on squash, twist, bend and stretch and no better way to showcase these skills than by designing a helmet for an egg! We thought carefully about the materials that we would use and what shape it needed to be. It was so much fun testing out our helmets. In English, we looked at the different features of a letter before writing our very own letter to Father Christmas. We loved reading their kind words and how grateful they are for any gifts that they might receive. Well done, Junior 2.

Now that we have all eaten our magic chocolate coins from Jack’s mother, we decided to write our own version of this well-known tale. The children loved thinking about alternative characters, what there could be instead of magic beans and what could grow instead of a beanstalk. We had some fun new ideas, and everyone enjoyed sharing their stories with their classmates. In Science, we looked at different sources of light to decide whether they were natural or manmade, lots of discussion ensued about whether fire was natural or manmade? There were surprising results when we looked it up! Our Maths lessons this week have been all about exploring tens and ones. Recognising that a group of ten is just one ten and using this knowledge to write ‘teen’ numbers. It is a harder concept than you may think. Thank you to everyone who has brought their Nativity costume into school, the excitement is beginning to appear!

As we rapidly approach Christmas, Reception children have been learning all about the season of preparation, Advent, in their RE lessons. This week they made a beautiful Advent Wreath together and the children learnt all about the four candles, and what they represent: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace.  It was lovely to listen to them chat about how they are all preparing at home for Christmas, getting decorations ready, eagerly waiting for Day 1 of the Advent Calendar, and making plans to see friends and family. As we get the Elf out, and decorate the tree in our classrooms, we will also be thinking about the true meaning of Christmas, and how many people are not as fortunate as we are and we are truly appreciative of your support with the Reverse Advent Calendar. We are of course looking forward to the best start to Christmas of all and to seeing you at the PTA Christmas Fair on Saturday!

This week in phonics the children have been learning the story of The Three Little Pigs. We have provided lots of opportunities to retell the story and to act it out with their friends, both inside the classroom with little characters in the Small World tray, and in the outside area, using masks and building materials.

The children have collaborated with a partner to fashion piggy houses from straw, sticks and wooden blocks (in the absence of bricks).

As December tiptoes in, we have also begun to make some Christmas crafts and seasonal surprises with which to treat you.

The stage for the school Christmas performances has now been installed in the Hall, so next week we are hoping to practise our Little Nativity in situ, which will be very exciting for the children. Thank you to all those who have already sent in their child’s costume in named bag.