"Faith is seeing light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness."

Wow what a day today! Thank you so much for helping us raise money for such a worth cause- Brian House. The other bonus is that we got to spend the day in our PJ’s with our friends. Today we have been ‘dragon pet-shop owners’, discussing and writing all about the best way to look after a dragon- there are some definitely interesting ideas! All week this week, we have been learning about a particular type of dragon that I am sure you have heard all about at home and some of you may have even seen … The Manchester Ridge-back. The children have worked hard to story map, learn actions and can now recite the non-chronological report all about this dragon. See if the children can tell you any fascinating facts about it, if they haven’t already, as there is quite a buzz in the classroom.

In Maths this week, we have started to count up in multiples 4’s and 8’s, looking at the mathematical connection. We have also started addition, firstly looking at the whole, part model and how calculations are drawn from this representation. They have made an excellent start!

We have been practicing our assembly this week, and the children have made a really good start at learning their lines, so thank you. Could you please make sure you practice this weekend, focusing now on expression and definitely volume with them. We have also been practicing the song every day, if you have time also to go over the song with them to make sure they know it, it would be much appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjDBd6tBBY

Next week we look forward to our curriculum evening. If you would like to learn more about Mastery in Mathematics and how we develop a growth mindset, then please come along for a fun evening. We have example Maths lessons showing small steps in each of the junior classes, a variety of Maths puzzles, Mrs Hotchkiss is giving a guided tour of our school website and much, much more.

The awards this week go to …

Thank you Jack for being such a focused Cooper Crab for working so hard, managing your distractions and being ready to learn every week!

Grace you have been such an enthusiastic ‘Bobby Bee’! We have loved seeing your enthusiasm and enjoyment of learning!

Important Information…

Our class assembly is on Tuesday 19th November 9:10

Curriculum Evening is Thursday 21st October 6pm - 8pm.

Thursday’s sports club with Mr Nay is the white group- 21st November and 28th November 8-8:45am.

"Every child is a different kind of flower and altogether make this world a beautiful garden."

This week began with Remembrance day. Reception made poppies and shared them with one another. We watched a short video about Remembrance day and why people all over the country participate in 2 minutes silence. The children had clearly understood the importance of this day, as each one of them remained so still and respectful during the two minutes silence. It was such a special moment to see all of the children, so young, yet so full of understanding and self-control.

Certificates

Bobby Bee Hugo for… being so enthusiastic towards our learning. It is lovely to see and hear you during our Nativity singing with such gusto. You are also such a helpful friend towards others because of your smiley nature, and because of this you are always surrounded by friends. Thank you Hugo, it is a delight to have you as a part of our Reception family.

Bobby Bee Toby for… always being so enthusiastic towards your learning, even when you have been feeling under the weather this week. You are always so focused and show great determination, these are all such important learning skills. Toby, you most certainly have  a growth mindset, I cannot wait to see what you achieve this year!

Phonics

This week we have been learning our ‘High Frequency Words’: These are; is, it, in, at, and, to, the, no, go, I.

I have given each child their own pack of these words. The idea being to use these frequently at home. The aim of this is for each child to be able to recognise the words by sight. With High Frequency words, the children need to over read them to be able to recognise these words by sight, not sounding out. This later helps to build fluency when reading as the children don't need to sound out these words, they just remember the pattern/ sequence of letters and the word they make.

This week we have learnt the sounds:

th, z and ch . Please practise saying, hearing, reading ad writing these sounds.

PE

This week our skill has been: Throwing and catching

The children have had great fun practising their throwing and catching skills using balloons. I have included a balloon for each of you to continue practising at home.

Maths

This week we have focused our vocabulary and have been exploring width. Our new maths vocabulary is: wide, wider, widest, narrow, narrower, narrowest.

RE

We have been thinking carefully about kindness, what it looks like and why we behave this way to others. We have shared times when we have been kind, and when others have been kind to us and how his felt. I wonder what kindness you can spot at home this week.

Nativity parts

It is that exciting time of year once again… Christmas! Hopefully, you have found your child’s Nativity part as these came home this week. Next week we will begin practising so please, please, please, prioritise learning these parts. Remember to talk about the line before, so that they know when to speak. Thank you!

Reminder

On Thursday 21st November we have our annual Curriculum Evening. This is always such a brilliant night! It is the perfect opportunity to discover a little more about your child’s learning journey in school. This year our focus is Maths! And we have many fun and exciting activities at the ready for you to have a go at. Please come along to see how exciting Maths is!

We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend together as a family.

Miss Bassett, Miss Neves and Mrs Malley

Curriculum Evening

Curriculum Evening on Thursday 21st November. It starts at 6pm and will be taking place in several areas around the school.

This years focus is on Maths Mastery. Teaching maths for mastery involves employing approaches that help the children to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of mathematics at each stage of their learning, so that by the end of every school year or Key Stage, they will have acquired mastery of the mathematical facts and concepts.

The Mastery-learning model forms the basis of our approach to traditional teaching. This means spending greater time going into depth about a subject as opposed to racing through the things that all children should know.

It will be a fun evening with lots of activities and information that will help you support your child’s learning of mathematics at home…please do come along and bring your children!

We are looking forward to seeing you there.

Christmas Nativity tickets

On Monday 18th November Nativity ticket request letters are being sent home sent home. It will clearly explain how to purchase your tickets. Please note, as in previous years, each family can only request up to a maximum of four tickets over both performances.

The children have started to learn the Christmas songs already and are doing extremely well. We will be sending the words home for you to support your child perfect their performance!! It’s all very exciting!

Please do not worry about Nativity costumes we have most of the items here. You may however need to provide your child with white leggings and a white t-shirt, but we will confirm this over the next couple of weeks.

Year 2 Home Learning - 15.11.19

English IXL

A.1 A.2

B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4

C.1 C.2 C.3

E.1 E.2 E.3

K.1 K.2 K.3

O.1 O.2 O.3 O.4

Q.1 Q.2 Q.3 Q.4 Q.5 Q.6

Maths IXL

A.1 A.2 A.3 A.4 A.5 A.6 A.7 A.8 A.9 A.10 A.11 A.20 A.21 A.22 A.24 A.25 A.26 A.27

B.1 B.2 B.3 B.4

D.1 D.2 D.3 D.4 D.5 D.6 D.7 D.8

Maths

Please complete the attached number bond sheets.

Spellings

Set 5b in your spelling packs: took goes are can’t don’t new

The ‘n’ sound spelt ‘kn’ and ‘gn’: knew know knee knock knight gnome

Reading

Please keep reading those reading books for at least 10 minutes each day.

Year 4 homework to be handed in on Thursday 21st November

Flute

Please practise your new Christmas song - Rocking around the Christmas Tree on Charanga.

Maths

Please complete IXL A11 on negative numbers, F3 and F6 to practise tables

Computing

Please complete purple mash 2do Animation - we practised this in class. If you find it tricky, look at the help video on the program.

Reading

Keep reading properly for 20 minutes a night/day. Many of you are doing so well because you are putting that effort in. It is lovely to hear you being so curious about what different words mean and getting really ‘into’ your books. WE may be having a ‘class recommendations’ wall soon in class to share books we like.

Hope for a kinder world

This week in year 1, we have been taking time to remember.

The poppy shows we remember. We remember wars that happened before we were born. We remember that people are caught up in wars, all over the world. We remember that tears can turn to smiles and that enemies can become friends.

Remembrance Day is a time to be sad, but it is also a time of hope. Hope of a kinder, more joyful world for everyone.

Year 5 Homework to be returned on Thursday 21st November

Reading

We have started reading a new class novel “ The Midnight Fox” by Betsy Byers. Even though it was written over 50 years ago, it rings true. It is all about a little boy facing normal family difficulties- and finding himself too. So many children are racing towards their targets and I know when we are all engrossed in our books because the room is still and silent during our reading sessions- great to see!

Maths

Mental maths challenge. I have given the children one of my Mental maths challenges. They have to complete all the sums mentally and time themselves! They will get another one next week and the week after- they have to keep improving their time! Have fun!

Spelling/dictionary

Words with the prefix il added and revising im

illiterate

impatient

illegal

impractical

illogical

Orange words: marvellous, prejudice

Please write the definitions for the words in your homework book! and learn the spelling!

Science

Next week we will be starting our science topic on Forces. I would like you to do some research on the famous scientist Sir Issac Newton. This week I want you to find out when and where he was born and what happened to him when he was a young man. You don’t have to find out what he discovered yet - that’s for next week. Now imagine you are writing an article about Sir Issac Newton write the introduction about his early life (homework book)- You will be typing so do a good job- it will save you time in the future this soon onto a Purple mash App!! I’ve made a link here to a good web page!

Year 6 Home Learning - Wednesday 13th November

Another busy week in Year 6 provides us with some great learning opportunities. The standard of homework is getting better and better…keep it up Year 6.

Spelling - next week’s test will be a review of all of the spellings that we have covered so far this year. It is really important to revisit frequently so that spellings become habitual.

Remember to keep looking at the Year 5 & 6 common exception words - I may throw a few of these in too!

Maths - in the coming weeks, we will be hitting multiplication and division. It is absolutely crucial that you all know your tables inside out and back to front! I want you to really focus on these over the next few weeks aiming for an immediate recall on any question.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

I have also set you a multiplication assessment on Purple Mash to do. This will look at your recall and quickness.

Science/English - next week we will be continuing our work on evolution and writing a biography on Charles Darwin. Can you complete some research in your homework books under these headings:

• Early life

• Education

• Career

• Family Life

• Significant Achievements

https://www.famousscientists.org/charles-darwin/

https://easyscienceforkids.com/best-charles-darwin-biography-video-for-kids/

Computing: Remember to go back to your marking on Purple Mash. Edit your work based on my marking and resubmit your work.

Homework to be handed in Wednesday 20th November

READING- ARE YOU READING WITH AN ADULT? Many children are coming to class saying they have not had the chance to read with a grown up at home. Please, please, please make time for this as it is the most crucial part of their learning.

SPELLING- We are slowly moving on to the Year 3 and 4 list now, although there are still some children struggling with the previous weeks spelling. Please keep going over these tricky spellings with your child, don’t just forget about them. Stick them in their bedroom, quiz them in the car or even put them on the fridge for all to see! Please learn the following spellings for next week:

Earth Build Decide Arrive Different Difficult

Once again, if you want more of a challenge then please feel free to practice some of our Year 3 and 4 key spellings on the following website.

http://www.ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySpellings/index.html

ASSEMBLY PREPARATION - Children NEED to know their lines off by heart for next Monday please. Could you please make sure they learn their lines off by heart with lots of expression and volume. The lyrics of the song that we are learning as a class for the assembly have also been sent, if children could use the clip below to practice and sing a long to that would be great- they must also try to learn this song off by heart …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRjDBd6tBBY

In remembrance

As a school we spent time on Monday remembering those who have given their lives for our today…

If you have hope, this will make you cheerful! (St Paul - 66AD)

It has been a week of discovery this week as children were asked the question, “What is everything in the world made of?” After a very interesting discussion about this, we started to learn about three states of matter - solids, liquids and gases. We began by making our own ice-cream - the excitement was palpable! We worked in teams to freeze our cream, milk and sugar mixture by shaking it in a bag of ice. We were very successful! The mixture solidified and we ate lots of delicious ice cream! We then investigated how we can decide if something is a solid or a liquid, by examining items and coming up with a set of qualities that they have. We have started to make our own group movies on ‘imovie’ to describe the differences between the two states. Why not spot some solids and liquids this weekend - and discuss what a gas is. We are looking forward to our trip on Tuesday to find out more about this.

We have come to the end of our unit on place value in maths this week. We will be using all this knowledge and understanding when we develop our skills in addition and subtraction, multiplication and division next. We have been busy writing our own stories based on the Pied piper this week and have really improved our writing through this process- where the teacher models one part of the story and the children imitate and innovate on it. Today we wrote our version of ‘The Little Match Girl,’ independently. Children are trying so hard to become Year 4 writers! In RE, we have been praying the our Father and thinking about the meaning. We wrote it in our own words then thought about what God wants from us, using the inspirations of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David from the Old Testament stories we have been studying. As a school, we are learning this half term to become faith-filled and hopeful.

Let’s celebrate!

This week our yoga stars were Jessica and Emmanuel for being beautifully still and peaceful. Our swimming stars this week were Olivia - for strong butterfly stroke and Zac for super strokes.

Our learning certificates went to Daniel - who received a Cooper Crab for managing distractions around him and learning how to get lost in his task and Meadow for listening to teacher’s advice and bubbling with enthusiasm for all her learning.

Notices

Children who gave permission have had their flu vaccinations today.

Class trip on Tuesday - please ensure children are in school uniform and if not having a packed lunch from Jackie please bring a packed lunch in a plastic bag - named. Children will need coats and a water bottle.

Have a lovely weekend with your families. God bless,

Mrs Lyons, Mrs Mather, Mrs Kennedy and Miss Atkinson

'Faith is to believe what you do not see. The reward of this faith is to see what you believe' St Augustine of Hippo

The title of our blog this week is extremely fitting for all of our learning this week … faith has been the centre of most of our lessons... In RE we have looked further in to the Annunciation, looking at Mary’s difficult decision but immense trust in God, it was only through her devout faith that she found the strength the accept God’s will. The children’s responses to this have been so deep and heart felt. We have also been looking closer at what it means to be faith-filled, analysing quotes and we even studied the story Charles Blondin, a famous tightrope walker who showed great faith in what he did, but also asked faith from his audience … ask the children what he asked of the audience. We learnt that there is a real difference in talking about our faith compared to how we can act on our faith.

We have now started to collect evidence of dragons, so be aware! In English we are now looking at starting our non-chronological report unit, where are focus is… dragons to begin with. Today we have looked at the story we are learning, as part of our talk for writing approach and over the next couple of weeks we will innovate this and create our own dragon report. It is all very exciting and I think a few children have even found a dragon’s nest in our environmental garden! Miss Brisco is ready with the telescope for children that want a go at spotting any flying around!

We have now started our assembly, the theme is all about how we are all unique, difference and special … we are all precious in His eyes. It is, once again, about having faith in ourselves, others and most importantly God. Children now have their lines to learn for next week please and the song is also there to learn on the homework page. We look forward to sharing this with you.

Today the flu vaccines were given to the children who were given permission back in September, they were all super brave.

The awards this week go to …

Thank you

Christian McKenzie for being such a focused Cooper Crab for working so hard, managing your distractions and being ready to learn this week!

John Joseph Shaw you have been such a ‘have a go’ Tommy Turtle! We have loved seeing your confidence grow and your enjoyment of learning this week, good boy for having the courage to get your hand up more this week.

Important Information…

Our class assembly is on Tuesday 19th November 9:10

Curriculum Evening is Thursday 21st October 6pm - 8pm

Home Learning due 18.11.19

Assembly Lines

Children are to continue learning their assembly lines. The majority of the children know these off by heart; however some children still need a little bit of practise.

Supertato

 Oh no! The Evil Pea is on the loose and will be visiting your homes this week. I wonder, what will he do to your fruit and vegetables? Can the children create their own character who has been tormented by the Evil Pea? The children could create a mini crime scene (please see year 1 page), or could draw their poor fruit/vegetable in their home learning book. For an extra challenge, I would like the children to answer the following questions, in character: Who are you? What has happened to you? How do you feel? We have been using the personal pronoun ‘I’ in class, with a capital letter.

If your child creates a crime scene and would like a photo stuck into their books. You are more than welcome to email a photo to me. e.lane@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Lots of reading please!