Reception Super Phonics
Reception have been wowing us with their super phonics. They are recognising lots more sounds and can use these to write simple words independently. They have also been practising tricky words in the writing area.
Year 2 - Poetry
Today, we began to explore a poem called ‘The fight of the year’. This poem is about a boxing match between winter and spring. It fits perfectly with our book ‘Winter’s Child’. Our first task was to identify if there were any rhyming words in this poem. We discussed that some poems have rhyming words and others do not. When year 2 become poets themselves and write their own version, we will included rhyming in our poems. In order to achieve this, we created a bank of appropriate rhyming words we will be able to use to compose our poems.
Year 3- English-Sparking Ideas for The Iron Man
Before starting our writing unit on The Iron Man in English, Year 3 carried out a practical activity to spark creativity. Each group was given a selection of objects and asked to carefully examine them, thinking about where they might have come from and what they had in common. Working together, they sorted the objects into three categories using adjectives such as shiny, flexible, or symmetrical. The adjectives were recorded on a flipchart to build a shared word bank. Next, the children were challenged to use their objects to construct a standing structure or a flat design allowing them to be imaginative, even if their creation wasn’t functional. Some of the creations included: A Victorian Castle in the schoolyard, a Tower Made of Lego Bricks or a Mysterious Robot Afterwards, we discussed key questions before setting the main task: writing an opening paragraph for a story inspired by their creation. This activity helped them generate ideas and descriptive language before diving into The Iron Man.
Reception: Wonderful Writing
Our children have really enjoyed our under the sea topic. It is wonderful to see how much progress they are making with their writing. The children have been writing sentences independently in continuous provision- well done!
Year 1 English- Following Instructions
To kickstart their new English unit on instructional texts, Year One had to listen to a series of instructions and carry them out in order to create and complete an obstacle course. They thoroughly enjoyed this and were very good at it. Year One spotted that instructions contain both time conjunctions and verbs. They will also learn that adverbs can be a useful part of instructional writing too. What a fantastic start to our unit and even better that it was during mental health week as we know how important exercise is to keep us happy and healthy.
Year 6 English - Explanation Texts
This week, Year 6 have begun their new English topic on explanation texts. They have been learning all about the key features of this text type. In particular, they have been identifying and writing sentences that contain adverbials, causal conjunctions and relative clauses. The children have learned that these devices help to create cohesion or add extra information.
Year 4 - English: Debates
We love a good discussion in Year 4, and with our new English topic being “Debates”, we certainly have a chance to shine! After a little research into deforestation, we recorded some of the reasons mass tree felling occurs, followed by a look at the positive and negative effects. We then went on to sorting the effects into two piles - for and against. It became evident to the children that there were more reasons not to fell so many trees than to continue, we will see what their finished balanced arguments look like.
Year 3- English- Identifying features of a playscript
In English, Year 3 looked at what makes a playscript and how it’s different from a regular story. To get ready for writing their own playscripts based on the film Soar, they worked with familiar stories like Jack and the Beanstalk, The Gingerbread Man, and Little Red Riding Hood. There were plenty of giggles as they acted out different parts, which really helped them think about how to make things exciting for an audience, use stage directions, and figure out timing and scenes.
Year 1 Presentation of Learning
Last week, Year 1 performed ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ to the whole school. They have been focusing on story mapping and reciting this story by heart in their English lessons before they take it one step further and write their own innovated versions of the story. Well done Year 1 for using your clear, rhythmic voices and having brilliant accompanying actions. It was wonderful to see so many other children remembering the story from when they were in the infants.
Year 5 Writing: Diary Entries
In English, Year 5 have been reading “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens and have now started writing diary entries from the perspective of Oliver. The focus has been on fronted adverbials, describing feelings and the senses, as well as using ambitious vocabulary to make their writing more descriptive. All of the children have produced some super writing!
Year 6 Independent Writing
Year 6 have begun their independent pieces of writing, based on the model text: Macbeth. They have been focusing on using a range of adverbial openers, descriptive sentences, the senses, figurative language and ambitious vocabulary. The aim was to create descriptions which made the reader experience a feeling of unease, which the children have done brilliantly!
Reading News
*READING* Please find here some posters that I have created for the news library books and recommended reads. They are going to be displayed in our school library but I thought it would be useful to share them with you all so that you can support and influence the choices that your child makes with regards to their reading book. For example, if your child has just finished reading the Dog Man sequel and they are looking for similar books, you can make reference to these posters for recommendations. If yourself and your child decide on a book together, then it is worth jotting this down in their reading record so that their class teacher or TA can help them to find it in the library. *BOOK DONATIONS* We try our best to keep our library up to date with new and exciting books. This includes newly released books that add to existing sequels. Therefore, we can't always replace the books that get destroyed due to general wear and tear and/or duplicate our extremely popular titles that many of our children want to read. With this in mind, please consider us when you are having a clear out of books that are still in good condition and are written by popular authors. Here is a list of some of our very popular authors although it is not exhaustive. Picture Books Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo, Stick Man etc..) Sue Hendra (Supertato collection) Rachel Bright (The Lion Inside, The Squirrels Who Squabbled etc..) Michelle Robinson (Ten Fat Sausages, When Jelly Had a Wobble, When Ice Cream Had a Meltdown etc..) Alice Hemming (The Leaf Thief etc..) Kes Grey (Oi Frog! Ou Cat! Daisy and the Trouble With collection etc…) Oliver Jeffers (Lost and Found, How to Catch a Star etc..) Tom Percival (Ruby’s Worry, Ravi’s Roar etc..) Tom Fletcher (There’s a Monster In Your Book, There’s An Alien In Your Book, The Dinosaur That Pooped … etc..) Nathan Bryon (Clean up! Etc..) Nadia Shireen (The Bumblebear, Grimwood etc..) Short Reads and Novels Katie Kirby (The Extremely Embarrassing Life of Lottie Brooks) Dav Pilkey (Dog Man, Cat Kid collection, Captain Underpants) John Patrick Green (InvestiGATORS collection) Liz Pichon (Tom Gates collection) Andy Griffiths (Storey Treehouse collection) Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid collection) Pamela Butchart Aaron Blabey (Bad Guys collection) Pip Bird (The Naughtiest Unicorn collection)Swapna Haddow (Dave Pigeon) Rachel Renée Russell (Dork Diaries) Dick King Smith (The Queen’s Nose etc..) Andy Stanton (Mr Gum) Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon) Neill Cameron (Freddy Vs...) Helen Rutter (The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh etc..) J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter Collection) Eva Ibbotson Lisa Thompson Phillip Pullman Jeremy Strong Roald Dahl Jacqueline Wilson Michael Rosen Helen Cresswell Malorie Blackman Maz Evans Michael Morpurgo Katie and Kevin Tsang David Baddiel Many thanks, Miss Flynn, English Leader