The Chronicle

This week Junior 6 have finished writing beautifully presented letters to their French penpals at Ecole Saint Pierre in Nantes. As most children already got to know their penpal in Junior 5, they have not introduced themselves this time, but written about sport, their interests and hobbies. The children have considered the structure of their letter, punctuation, key spellings and content. They also bravely got to grips with accents and cedillas. Some of the Junior 6s have mentioned French sports stars they admire like Léon Marchand and Zaïre Emery. We will soon see whether the French children share interests in anime, Taylor Swift, netball or rugby!

Très bien J6! Vous êtes magnifiques!

Over the last couple of weeks, Junior 5 have been writing letters to their new penpals in France. They have introduced themselves, given details such as age, siblings and pets. The children have also written about their town or village. Soon, the children at Ecole Saint Pierre, in Nantes, will be posting their letters and excitedly opening ours, ready to learn about Warwick Castle, Coventry City stadium, the Warwickshire countryside and roast dinners! The Junior 5s will learn more about what life is like living in an apartment in a big French city (like Nantes), not having to wear a school uniform and playing handball at school before coming home for ‘le goûter’!
 

This week, Junior 4 finished off our Roman topic by taking part in our very own Roman day. We started the day dressed as Roman citizens in togas and tunics and then made our own shields and laurel wreath headdresses ready for marching as a legion against Boudica's Iceni tribe. We made our own part of a whole year group mosaic which will be going on display in the corridor and finished the day by making some Roman Honey biscuits to take home. A busy but fun day for all. We have really enjoyed learning all about the Romans and what they have brought to our country, as well as why they were so impressive as conquerors.

We have finished our first-half term as Junior 3 with a flourish and it has been wonderful to see the progress the children have made in half a term. Our focus story Stone Age Boy has concluded with the children writing their own Stone Age story. There has been lots of work on different grammatical conventions to lead up to them, creating the most incredible stories! In Maths, we have explored the concept of column addition using the available resources as well as our own mental maths, learning to add the columns vertically. Our Science topic has also concluded with us finding out about how muscles contract and expand to be able to move our bones. Everyone was so intrigued to learn that the muscles pull the bones to move joints such as an elbow or a knee. We also discovered there are two types of joints – hinge joints and ball and sockets. Well done, Junior 3; we hope you all have a well-deserved rest over the half-term holiday.

This week, in line with Black History Month, Junior 2 have been finding out about the amazing life of Floella Benjamin. The children were so thoughtful and insightful when we discussed the importance of celebrating Black History Month and couldn't wait to find out about Floella and the Windrush in more detail. They have created some brilliant writing for their fact files, thought of imaginative questions to ask Floella if they could, and had lots of ideas and opinions to share. 

Creating some big listening ears and going for a listening walk was how Junior 1 finished off their topic about the ‘Who am I?’ and the senses. They heard some strange and unusual sounds while walking around the school and had to listen carefully to decipher them. They turned out to be the photocopier, someone making a cup of coffee and hard-work!! Verbs were introduced in English and these helped us to create some poems about Fireworks, in preparation for Bonfire night. Everybody thought of great verbs to use to help explain what fireworks do and two poems were written this week using them to good effect. After our successful trip to St. John’s Museum last week, we used our newly found knowledge to help sort different household items into the old and new versions in our History lesson. Washing machines and tumble dryers were certainly not around in 1888 but after our trip, everyone knew how they did their washing and what hard work it was.

In Reception this week the children have thoroughly enjoyed their PE lessons; in gymnastics they practised combining animal movements with rolls and balances. The 'alligator' turned into a pencil roll and then became a bottom balance! Next the 'frog' turned into a forward roll, before the children finished as a balance on one foot - great work everyone! In RE we learnt about the Wedding at Cana, and the children found out all about how Mary spoke to Jesus to ask for His help. The children have all impressed us with the number of sounds they have learnt this term; their ability to read tricky words and their amazing attitude to writing - they are ready for a well-earned rest now, and we look forward to learning new things again soon.