This week...

Although it has been a short week, we have all managed to cram as much learning in as possible! We continue to search for superhero powers in everyone and everything we do; you would be surprised that no matter how small we all have special gifts that we can use to help others.

We also watched the Alphablocks ‘X’ who is a super hero. We then all had a try at writing ‘x’. We loved it!

Click here to watch and then test the children’s knowledge of ‘x’. You may need your Read, Write Inc. sound mat! The rhyme goes; down the arm and leg and repeat on the other side…easy peasy!

The children noticed when they returned to nursery that our caterpillars had started their transformation into a butterfly and were inside a cocoon. We have been trying to understand the process but it’s rather tricky. We found out that:

Pupa and chrysalis have the same meaning: the transformation stage between the larva and the adult. While pupa can refer to this naked stage in either a butterfly or moth, chrysalis is strictly used for the butterfly pupa. A cocoon is the silk casing that a moth caterpillar spins around it before it turns into a pupa.

We also watched ‘Come Outside’ with Auntie Mabel and Pippin to help us understand more about butterflies; they visited a butterfly house and it looked fabulous. There are so many different kinds of butterflies and moths. We discovered that moths are nocturnal, we love that word.

Click here if you would like to watch at home.

We have also been reading the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ along with the puppet and all the foods it ate through! Click here to watch. So busy!

Inspired with our chrysalis we decided to explore patterns on butterfly wings. Guess what we found out? They are symmetrical! Mmmm… lots of learning there. We have drawn symmetrical butterflies, painted symmetrical butterflies on the computer, did some string pulling pictures and even made symmetrical butterflies using our giant peg boards. Take a look.

If you remember, last week a shared a new song about the seven continents. I have found the song and a video on YouTube if you would like to listen and watch. Click here and enjoy!

The next item seems to be fast becoming a regular feature. It’s where I share all the other learning and fun we have been having at nursery this week. You will notice that our passion for building obstacle courses hasn’t abated. We have also enjoyed digging in the sand kitchen this week, sorry if we sent the children home a bit grubby but they created some love dishes and wonderful cakes. Watch out Great British Bake Off.

The children also have been practicing their bubble blowing skills. I must say they are getting very good. We had a bubble blowing challenge with Reception, I think we definitely won! Hooray!

If you want to have a go at home all you will need is some washing up liquid and household items with holes. You could be scientists and conduct your own experiments. Send us the pictures we would love to see them.

Remember ‘think big’ – if you want to scale up the recipe, you just need one part washing-up liquid to six parts water. Try making a big bubble mixture in a washing-up bowl – then you can use bigger items, like colanders and slotted spoons, to make bubbles in the garden. Have fun!

Finally, I’m not sure what the weather will be like this weekend (surely it can’t be as bad as the Bank Holiday), but whatever the weather have a fabulous time as a family. We will see everyone on Monday for yet another great week of learning.

Barbara

Year 4 online homework to be handed in by Thursday 13th May

Science

Remember what we did in class? Now watch the video below and then complete the Purple Mash science task set.

English

1. Reading - have some good chunks of reading time this weekend to progress further towards your reading target.

2. Spellings. Please practise your spellings below on Purple Mash Paint program set:

   White group (words with s sound spelt sc)

   scientist, descent, ascent, fascinate, crescent, discipline, scent, scissors, scenery, scent

Green group (root words end in y)

early    earlier   tried   cried   trying  crying  hurried tidied  worried   happier

3. Purple Mash 2type spellings task set - Practise your typing and your spelling at the same time! Make sure you are using the right fingers. These are not the spellings above - but are KS2 spellings you need to know.

Maths

IXL M6 and M7 and also TTrockstars practise

Year 6 Home Learning - Wednesday 5th May

Spelling - abstract nouns

Learn these words throughout the week ready for your quiz and dictation next Tuesday.

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IXL - This week we have been working on angles and measuring angles. Can you complete the following strand?

Y.8 - Find a missing angle - vertical angles and supplementary angles.

J.12 - Fractions of a number. This is revision ready to start fractions next week.

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Geography - Lytham St Annes

This week we have looked at the coastline of the UK and specific coastal resorts. Now, let us focus on Lytham St Annes.

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Find your ‘To Do’ on Purple Mash and your task is to create a leaflet about this coastal location. Think about PERSUASIVE LANGUAGE to entice visitors.

To include:

• Physical geography

• Location in the UK

• Human geography

• Tourist attractions

• Fascinating facts

• Amenities.

I have set the leaflet out for you. You can alter this to make your own piece of work but I am expected to see all boxes filled with information. BE CREATIVE!

Year 3 30th April 2021 Recharging your batteries is giving love to yourself and consequently to others.

Another busy week in Year 3. There has been much enthusiasm and lively buzz in the classroom. We love to see the children enjoying their work and growing their brains.

Maths has been all about finding fractions of amounts and shapes, equivalent fractions and ordering fractions too. The children have really had to use their tables facts to help them with their work this week. All that practising on TT Rockstars is really making a difference. Keep up the good work children. In English there has been a race to try and reach reading targets. As you can see we are celebrating two children reaching theirs this week and I know that other children will be reaching theirs next week as they are soooooo close to getting there. Lots of reading over the weekend perhaps??  This week in our non-fiction topic of the Roman Empire we have been picking out important information in texts, we have been asking and answering questions, writing lots of different complex sentences and creating our own black out poetry.  We are also making sure that we are really checking on our punctuation, presentation and spelling, especially when we are copying words from the board or books. This can be quite a tricky skill to make sure that it is done accurately. In RHE, we have thought about how God loves us so much and how He knows exactly what we are doing, wherever we are. In RE we have looked at the story of the Road to Emmaus and how the disciples realised that they had been talking to Jesus. We have been listening carefully to what God is saying to us and what He wants for us in our liturgy sessions this week. In science we have continued our work on magnets and have been looking at the force field that magnets display.

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Let’s Celebrate:

This week we celebrate Lily-Mae, Franek, and Evan who have achieved their 100% reading target. Lots of super reading from both of you. Well done - keep up the good work!

We are also celebrating Christian who receives an enthusiastic Bobby Bee certificate for his enthusiasm and resilience when learning. You are really growing in confidence Christian and we are so proud of how you always try so hard to do your work. You are always so eager to complete your work and to learn new things. Well done. Keep up the good work. Owen you receive a Roger Robin certificate for being such a super learning partner and a thoughtful and considerate member of our class. You are always so willing to help others and always do it with a lovely smile on your face. Well done Owen and thank you.

Well done also to Jay who got Jacqui’s Marvellous Manners and also to Lily-Mae who got Role Model of the week. Well done children, we are so proud of you.

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Things to Note:

• Please check the Home Learning page for this week’s home learning. Thank you.

• As the weather starts to improve, please make sure that all sweatshirts/cardigans/tracksuits are labelled so that they can be returned easily if they are taken off and put down.  Thank you.

• Please can we also ask that all children have a water bottle so that they can have a drink during the day. If the weather is going to be sunny, please ensure that the children have sun hats and sun cream on for playtimes. Thank you.

• I am looking forward to being able to share your child’s progress with you at our virtual parents meeting which takes place in May. Miss Hornby’s blog explains how to sign up for this. Please ensure that you have signed up. Thank you to all of you who have already signed up.

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We hope that you all have a lovely, long weekend. Hopefully we will have some sunshine.

Take care and stay safe,

The Year 3 Team     

Miss Brisco, Miss Edmondson and Miss Woodrow

Contact us at:

l.brisco@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

k.edmondson@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Year 4 blog Friday 30th April "Gratitude and Attitude are not challenges - they are choices."

Well the week has whizzed by in Year 4! There have been lots of challenging experiences - writing an explanation text to explain the Water Cycle was one. It required an utter focus on the task in hand - as there are lots of tricky processes to put into words and a lot of ambitious science vocabulary. However, children rose to this challenge and the result were astounding! Children also wrote persuasive letters in English - wow! They were emotional and jam-packed with persuasive language!!

RHE

This week’s focus was on how strong feelings can make you want to react in certain ways which are not always favourable. However, by stopping and thinking, showing resilience and reminding yourself of what you are thankful for about the person, or situation, things can have a happier conclusion for all concerned. We have been practising this resilience within class and on the playground and it is helping us become so much more mature! We have also learned about Pentecost in RE lessons this week and thought about the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Children have reflected on how they can use them in their own lives.

We had a truly beautiful worship about Hope this week, from Kai, Isabella and Grace. This was so thoughtfully put together with music and even an extract from a book Kai had read, which reminded him about having hope. Absolutely gorgeous!

Thursday was a highlight of the week, as we started our new topic about Rocks and Soils. Children became rock detectives and learned to classify, observe and name certain rocks. The questions they asked were superb. Have a look at our little scientists in the movie below.

Let’s Celebrate!

This week, it was hard to pick after such a high standard of work. Our certificate winners are:

Christian for being such a co-operative and creative learner. You are so lovely to others Christian and so much thought goes into your work.

and Evie for being such an inquisitive and reflective learner - you always think deeply about what you do and you listen so intently.

Well done to both of you.

PE stars this week are: Jack and Hollie-Rose - serious determination shown!

Music stars are: Asher and Olivia.

Notices

Thanks to everyone for signing up to parents’ meetings. I look forward to speaking to you properly.

Have a great bank holiday weekend. I have set children a nice task for homework involving going to the beach to collect rocks. Let’s pray for some much needed warmth and sunshine after this strange, cold week!

God bless,

Mrs Lyons, Mrs Mather and Miss Forster

Home Learning Year 3 Friday 30th April 2021

Please make sure that all homework is completed by next Thursday. Many thanks.

Reading:

Read at home every day. Make sure that you quiz when you have completed a book.

(Parents: Don’t forget you can check on your child’s progress on Accelerated Reader -  this will let you know which books they have read and quizzed on and also their progress towards their reading target.)

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Maths:

TT Rockstars - please keep practising your tables facts. How fast can you get at these?

Complete units W 1-5 all about fractions on IXL.

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Spellings:

Spellings—children have been given a spelling sheet to practise. Please make sure that these sheets are  completed using the look, say, cover, write, check method.

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English

Write some complex sentences using the subordinating conjunctions although, since, before, after, while, because and if. Can you write the sentences starting with the subordinating clause and then again starting with the main clause. Don’t forget about using the comma when you start with the subordinating clause. (I have set you a 2Do so that you can type your sentences on to Purple Mash).

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This week...

A massive well done to everyone who managed to complete last weeks home link challenge. The children have made some wonderful super hero masks. We finished them at nursery by laminating them and adding ties so the children could model their creations

They look fabulous!

The children are continuing their exploration of number and are loving it. They enjoyed playing the dinosaur and dice game, so much so that they can now play independently or in small groups. We feel a bit left out!

The children’s passion for number saw a group of children ( with some help) make a 100 square using the multi link block, wow!

We also measured how many bricks tall the super heroes were in the pictures, again using the multi link blocks. It was tricky but we got there in the end. Good brain growing. Some even decided to could block on their fingers.

To strengthen our hands we made a super hero squirting game. We had to fill a syringe and then squirt the super hero pictures. Such good fun, but we did get a bit carried away and got a bit wet! Ooops!

We had great fun making our own Super Tato using REAL potatoes. Some of our heroes looked a bit odd and a bit funny but we enjoyed it!

I am pleased to announce that the Sports Day t-shirts are finished! Well done Clare. They look FANTASTIC! Take a look!

This week our friend Alfie taught us a song to help us remember all seven continents on our planet Earth. We love it Alfie. Here are the words in case you would like to sing along at home. It is to the tune of 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive.

Here goes!

Asia and Africa,

North and South America,

Antarctica and Europe,

And finally Australia

Enjoy!

As alawya we love building obstacle courses to practice our balancing. Each course is just a little bit more difficult and we love it! This week we got all the soft shapes out and the children got building and designing. It was tricky though because every time we stepped on the they were squishy and changed shape! Keep practicing!

Some friends even tried look at the word from a different angle…upside down!

As always the children have been very busy doing lots of other activities and learning. Here is a collection of other learning which happens daily at nursery.

I am sure you will agree everyone at nursery is in need of a good long rest. Luckily, it’s Bank Holiday weekend. Three days to recharge our batteries for another busy week next week.

I hope you all mange to get some down time and to enjoy just being together with your loved ones. We will see you all on Tuesday.

Barbara

Royal Mail Stamp Competition

If you do not wish your child to enter this competition, please contact me at r.curtis@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk and I will remove your childs artwork from the entries. Many thanks.

Mrs Curtis