St Oswald's Catholic Primary SchoolOur blogs
Date: 17th Nov 2023 @ 11:55am
Happy Friday everyone!
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, this is not the case for some people in Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship, any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
We have had a brilliant week this week! We have had a visit from Freddie Fit and been singing lots in preparation for our Advent assembly in two weeks!
In English we have been reading the Journey and Quest books by Aaron Becker. These books have no words so we have been writing the action to match the story. It has been very exciting. Next week we will be creating a comic book of the story, looking at bringing the pictures to life with our words. You can watch these stories in the videos below.
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In Maths we have been learning how to use our multiplication facts to solve problems. We looked at different arrays and used these to solve tricky times tables. We have set a Sumdog challenge to practice these strategies.
In this week’s French lesson, we learned how to count up to 20! We started the lesson by reviewing how to count up to 10 and used the Learning French Through Music ‘French Numbers’ song to remind us. We then learned up to 15, and then up to 20. We put some actions to some of the new vocabulary to help remember them and listened to the Alain Le Lait ‘French numbers 1 to 20’ song to help us. After this, we practised the numbers 10-20 by saying the number shown on the screen and by counting some items to say ‘Il y a ______’ = There are ________.
We have started our new DT topic this week. We will be looking at mechanisms, pivots and levers over the next few weeks developing ideas to make a moving picture. In Art we have been exploring drawing with scissors. We looked at some of Henry Matisse's art work and started to create out own pieces. We are using the amazing pictures from our Quest story books as inspiration. Check out our galleries.
We finished our geography learning on mapping and the UK. The children have really enjoyed learning about the geography of our home country. Next week we are beginning our Stone age history topic. We can't wait!
We continued with music based on our upcoming History topic, The Stone Age. We learnt to sing the second verse of We will rock you, the Stone Age song, accompanying with rhythms on stones. We revised the note – Ta ah from last lesson. We finished with a new rhythm game – Forbidden Rhythm.
Home Learning
Continue to read regularly and talk about what you have read with an adult.
Complete the Sumdog challenges, this week we are practising our addition and subtraction facts and our multiplication strategies. Below you will find a song to practice counting in 8s. Have a go!
Here are your home spellings for this week
decided, taking, serving, writing, making, driving, shaking , baked, giving, tiled, stored, using
Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 Team
Reception Blog - Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 17th Nov 2023 @ 10:51am
We started our week doing Art. This week it was using string to make the art. We had to put the strong into the paint and put it onto paper, we repeated this with different coloured paint and pieces of string, then we had to use another piece of paper to print the pattern.
For the Drawing Club this week, we have done the story Superworm. We learnt our new key words, zooming, couragous and indestrucable. We have talked about the setting and characters in the story, then we had to design our own superhero bug and describe its superpower. In phonics this week, we have been recapping our sounds so far and having a go at writing them in words.
In maths, we have been looking at capacity and weight. We have been doing lots of measuring using the vocabulary; full, half full, empty, lighter and heavier.
In this week’s French lesson, we learned how to say some colours in French. Rouge = red, bleu = blue, jaune = yellow, orange = orange, vert = green and rose = pink. We pointed to different things in the classroom when we heard the French colour being said and then played a few rounds of Splat, where we had to point to the right word and colour on the board.
In Music this week, we continued to learn the songs for our Christmas Nativity. We sang the first three songs again and started to learn the next two, then played the rhythms on the sand blocks, smooth blocks and bells
In PSHE this week, we have had a whole school focus for anti bullying week. Our topic has been kindness. The children have talked about what it means to be kind. We have also read the story 'Have you filled your Bucket today?' and each day we have tried to fill our pom pom bucket. This can be for manners, playing nicely with friends etc
For our understanding the world topic this week, we have taken a trip to the library and heard all about firemen and what they do to help us. We have also learnt about Vets and how important their jobs are. The children loved using this in their roleplay too, making all the animals better!
For PE this week we have enjoyed a session with Freddy Fit, we we did lots of exercises, games and even talked about healthy eating. Then we continued with Tots on Tyres with Mrs Cookson.
On Friday we had Yoga and Forest school. During yoga with Hannah, we did a new style of breathing for children in need, Pudsey Bear breathing!
In Forest School with Mrs Corbett, we listened to the story of "Robin's Winter Song" and discussed the seasons. We used strawberry laces to practise tying a simple knot.
We also started to talk about the Nativity story. We focussed on the first part of the story, the annunciation. We read from the bible all about how the Angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her she was going to have a baby. We then made our own puppets to act out the story.
And finally, Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, this is not the case for some people in Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship, any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
Year 6 Blog Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 17th Nov 2023 @ 8:13am
Welcome to Year 6 weekly blog.
This week has been our fabulous residential to Robinwood in Todmorden. We all had a super time. Click the link here to see some of the pictures. Also, watch our Robinwood 2023 video on our YouTube channel, St Oswald’s TV, by clicking on the link.
Our highlights included:
- Accurately firing an arrow in archery
- Crawling through tight spaces in caving
- Using our strength and coordination to combat indoor climbing
- Finding the courage to release the wire on the giant swing
- Working together creatively to solve the dungeon challenge
- Using our senses to navigate through the night line blind folded
- Developing great communication skills to solve the quest challenge
- Building confidence to head down the large zip wire
The children have been a credit to the school this week and we hope to build on the 12 qualities learnt at Robinwood:
Responsibility, cooperation, confidence, resilience,
Patience, respect, support, listening,
Developing skills, problem solving, encouragement, communication
Help the homeless
Foxton Centre Big PNE Sleepout Friday 17th November
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston.
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, which is not the case for some people in Preston.
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship; any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
Year 6’s learning continued on Thursday and Friday with:
- In Maths, we have continued our learning of chunking with three-digit numbers divided by 2 digit (414 divided by 23).
- In English, we learnt how to write a detailed letter so we could thank Robinwood for our fantastic time there.
- In History, we learnt about crime and punishment during the Roman times. They used the Twelve Tables as laws and gave severe punishments.
- In PSHE, as part of our ‘Antibullying Week’ we investigated different scenarios and discussed ways we can identify and support those who are affected by unkindness.
Home Practice
Please try to complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:
Reading – Please read up to 30 minutes a night and complete your reading task.
- You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday
Spellings
- Sumdog - Spellings A2 wk 3 (-ent, -ence)
- persistent, persistence, violent, violence, intelligent, intelligence,
inconvenient, inconvenience, obedient, obedience, conference, difference,
conscience, reference, excitement.
Maths challenges:
- Counting:
- This week we have been counting in decimal steps of:
20 000, 200 000 and x 2. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
- Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
- g. Start with 5 digit numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 20 000s:
43 654, 63 654, 83 654, 103 654, etc
and in 200 000s:
43 654, 243 654, 443 654, 643 654
Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in x2:
9, 18, 36, 72, 144, 288, 576, 1 152, etc
- Sumdog (Times Tables A2 wk 3)
- This week's focus is on a mixture of x4, x7 and x8. Keep working on becoming quicker and more confident with your times tables.
- Sumdog (Factor pairs linked to division)
- Remember that a factor is a number that divides into a number, leaving no remainders. 42 ÷ 7 = 6 and 42 ÷ 6 = 7, so both 7 and 6 are factors of 42. In fact, 7 and 6 are factor pairs – which is what we have looked at today and will help with our learning next week.
Thank you to all those who gave money for Children in Need. Everyone looked amazing in their pyjamas!
Year 4 Blog Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 16th Nov 2023 @ 3:46pm
Help the homeless – Foxton Centre Big PNE Sleepout Friday 17th November
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, this is not the case for some people in Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship, any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
Welcome to your Friday blog
In English this week, we wrote a message in a bottle as if we were the character Michael. As space was limited, we had to ensure that we chose our words carefully.
In Maths, we used arrays to identify what the term factor means. Arrays and multiplication squares were then used to find all the factor pairs of a given number. This new learning was tricky to start with, but with perseverance we have hopefully mastered it!
In Science we started our new topic - Electricity. At the start of the lesson, we tried to think of as many electrical appliances as they could, using the alphabet as a guide for ideas. We then discussed how all of these appliances get electricity, whether it is mains power or battery power. We then sorted some appliances into a Venn Diagram to show which type of electricity powers them, or whether they need both.
In RE, we finished our ‘Belonging’ topic by considering what it means to ‘live in the light’ and how at Confirmation, people promise to try and turn away from what is wrong and follow in God’s light. We also learnt about the work of Sean Devereax who was a missionary and aid worker in Somalia.
In Geography, we watched a video to investigate how people use a river. We found out that rivers can be used for a variety of purposes including helping to water crops, wash clothes and cooking utensils, make energy in the form of hydro-electric power and were vital for our survival.
In Art, following on from last week, we were given another ‘rule’ which we needed to follow. The rule involved drawing parallel lines and some shading. We were impressed with our efforts.
In French, we finished out Pets topic. To show our understanding of what we have learnt, we completed a listening activity, a reading activity and a writing activity. We did very well and we are ready to move on to our new topic of Home next week.
In Music, we continued to learn Au Clair de la Lune on our recorders, using the notes we already know – B A and G. We also started to practise some Carols for Christmas – Starry Night and O little town of Bethlehem.
In PSHE, as it was anti-bullying week, we watched the BBC Teach live lesson about this year's theme 'Make a Noise about Bullying'. We discussed what bullying is and learned how to speak out if it is happening. We also decided whether each scenario was 'banter or bullying' and gave reasons to show the difference. In addition, we discussed ideas of what we should say to someone if their joke isn't funny anymore and who our trusted adults are if we think we are being bullied.
We were also lucky to be put through our paces by Freddie Fit on Tuesday afternoon. You can see some pictures of us enjoying our fitness session here.
In addition, on Friday, we dressed in our pyjamas for Children in Need. Thank you for supporting this worthy cause. If you haven't brought in your £1, you can still bring it in next week!
Home Practice
Reading
Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home. Make sure you discuss the story and the characters. Find the meaning of any new words too. Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding.
Counting
This week, please practise counting in 6’s.
For example, start at 0 and count up to 72 and back again
0 6 12 18 etc 72 66 60 etc
Then practise counting in 60’s.
For example, start at 0 and down up to 720 and back again
0 60 120 180 etc 720 660 600 etc
Times tables
Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?
You can practise your tables on Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk
Please also practise your number facts. It has become evident that many of you are finding this tricky when you have been completing your written addition and subtraction.
You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button
It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.
Spellings
Your spellings next week all have the prefixes in-, il-, im- or ir-.
inactive incapable incredible inaccurate
immature immobile impossible impatient
irregular irrational irresistible irresponsible
illegal illiterate illogical illegible
Sumdog challenges
You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:
- A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
- A times tables challenge based on the 6 times tables
- A challenge based on multiplication arrays and the 3, 4 and 8 times tables
Please make sure you log on and have a go! Little and often is the key to success!
The Year 4 Team
Year 5 Blog Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 15th Nov 2023 @ 4:24pm
Help the homeless – Foxton Centre Big PNE Sleepout Friday 17th November
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s football ground, Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, this is not the case for some people in Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship, any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
Happy Friday and welcome to your Friday Blog
We have had a very busy week this week. We spent a lot of time writing, practising, and perfecting our assembly which we performed for parents on Thursday. Everybody was extremely proud as it was all our own ideas and things that we felt proud of. It was nice to remind ourselves that – IT’S GOOD TO BE ME!
We had a visit from a familiar face on Tuesday, Freddy Fit. We always love our lessons with Freddy Fit where we learn about teamwork, resilience, and looking after our body as well as our mind. Freddy was impressed with everybody!
You can see us getting sporty in our gallery here.
This week has also been Anti-Bullying Week. The theme this year was Make a Noise About Bullying. We spoke about bullying online and offline and considered who we could speak to if we have concerns about bullying, advice we can give, and ways we can comfort and stand by each other.
You can see a film about Anti-Bullying Week here:
On Friday we all dressed in our pyjamas to raise money for Children in Need. It was great to see everybody come together for such a great cause.
Home Practice
Reading
Read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Look for different ways to start sentences, try to use them in your own writing.
Spelling
Here are your spellings this week, some spellings contain a hyphen, can you figure out why?
bruise yacht guarantee vehicle immediately co-operate co-own coexist co-ordinate re-enter re-emerge reinvent retell
Counting
Please count out loud in:
12s from 0 to 144 and back again 12, 24, 36, …
7s from 0 to 84 and back again 7, 14, 21, …
8s from 0 to 96 and back again 8, 16, 24, …
Times Tables
Please practise your tables target every day.
Sumdog
Spelling Challenge
Times Tables Challenge
Maths Competition
Year 1 Blog - Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 15th Nov 2023 @ 3:55pm
Welcome to your Friday blog.
English
This week we have been learning through another story about Bob and how he finds himself a best ever pet. We designed and described alien pets. We labelled a space theme menu- our ideas were great. We wrote sentences about what Bob likes to do with his pet. Then, we planned a story about Bob and today we started to write our books- we are authors! We will read our books to the children in Year 3.
Phonics
Some of us have been learning ou as in shout and revising ow as in cow.
Some of us have started to explore the alternative pronunciations that letters can make. We have been learning i in wild, o in both and in won, and c in face.
Maths
We've had a very busy week and we have done a lot of maths learning. First we completed four different learning checks to see how much we have learnt, we found these quite tricky but we persevered.
Then, we did some arithmetic questions together. We will be doing these once a week from now on so that we become more confident mathematicians.
P.E.
We all had a great time with Freddy Fit. We practised our throwing and did many different exercises to music. Freddy was very impressed with our listening and our participation.
P.S.H.E.
We read a lovely story about how we have different special people in our lives. We talked about how everyone is different and then drew pictures of what we do with our families, such as going to the park and eating out together.
R.E.
We learnt all about Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan. We read a story and wrote simple sentences about what happened.
Science
We learnt how to sort animals into groups using different criteria. For example, animals that can fly and animals that cannot. Miss Fisher even allowed us to write on the tables to sort them!
History
We had so much fun exploring our own modern day toys. We sorted them into groups and had a great time playing with them together.
Art
This week, we printed with different fruit and vegetables. We found that apples made a brilliant print and that broccoli was the trickiest to use.
French
We learned how to say some colours in French. Rouge = red, bleu = blue, jaune = yellow, orange = orange, vert = green, rose = pink, violet = purple, marron = brown, blanc = white, gris = grey, and noir = black. We then pointed to different things in the classroom when we heard the French colour being said and then listened to the Mr French ‘Les Couleurs’ song to help us.
Music
We started to learn the fourth and fifth songs for our Nativity. We revised the first three songs from last lesson, then clapped, tapped and played the rhythms on our instruments. We enjoyed singing our song Rhythm in the way we walk and discussing what a rhythm is.
Forest School
In our first session Storm Debbie was about so we stayed in the lodge. We practiced fastening sticks together by a technique called lashing. Some of us made the initial letter of our name. We also made forest eyes and other objects. We discovered that we had to keep the wool tight to securely fasten the sticks together. Super perseverance was shown.
We went into the nature area for our other session. We played a few games of "Hide the Hedgehog", then we chose our own learning. There was very busy learning including tree wrapping, tree climbing, cooking, restaurants, den building and games.
Help the homeless – Foxton Centre Big PNE Sleepout Friday 17th November
Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are sleeping by the football pitch at PNE’s Deepdale Stadium this Friday 17th November. This is to raise money for a day centre called The Foxton Centre who provide food and warmth to the homeless people of Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter will sleep on cardboard and will only have with them what they can carry. This will give them an insight into how difficult it is for people sleeping on the streets, particularly as the nights are getting colder. We are all fortunate that we have food and somewhere warm to go to sleep every night, this is not the case for some people in Preston. Miss Smith and Mrs Dexter are asking for sponsorship, any donation would go a long way to help Preston’s vulnerable homeless community.
You can read more and donate here:
Home Practice (Sumdog)
Phonics - ou words OR or words OR split digraph o_e words
Maths - counting within 20
Counting - Practise counting in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, forwards and backwards from different numbers. For example, start at 20 and count in 5s to 50: 20, 25, 30...
Year 2 Blog Friday 17th November 2023
Date: 14th Nov 2023 @ 11:12am
Year 2 have had a great week, the highlight was probably today's pyjama day, everyone looked fabulous. Thank you so much for sending your charity money in. On Tuesday, the children got very active with Freddie Fit. They were so good at joining in with all the activities and the music was great to sing along to, the energy in the room was amazing!
In English, we have done a lot of writing. The children have retold stories, written character descriptions and instructions. Everyone is making a big effort to always make their writing look neat on the page, with finger spaces, lead-ins and letters on the line. More children are remembering to use capital letters and full stops and some children are even using sentence openers with commas and interesting joining words. Year 2 are getting very good at reading aloud in class or groups too. Please keep reading lots at home, it makes such a big difference.
Reading
In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.
You could write down these new words in a word book and find out what they mean using a dictionary (practise alphabetical order). It is amazing to see the list grow, something to be very proud of, especially when children realise how many more words they can use and understand!
Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.
Reading books are changed every Monday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.
Reading resources:
Oxford Owl – This resource has an exciting range of carefully levelled eBooks to help children learn to read and really enjoy it.
Go to https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ and login. Explore the site and enjoy reading books from the Oxford Owl eBook library or listen to audio books.
Username: sto2
Password: 1234
Resources for questioning your child while they are reading - https://www.literacyshedblog.com/uploads/1/2/5/7/12572836/ks1_reading_vipers.pdf
In addition to this, reading a good bed time story to your child is so worthwhile and really helps towards a lifelong love of reading.
Spelling
Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Wednesday. A sheet will go home every Wednesday with the spelling list on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.
It is useful to write the words down on the spelling sheet, but also to call the words out and spell them out loud using the letter sounds or names. Other ideas include breaking the words up and writing them down in different colours (improve). You could look for words within words (hour) or think of your own ways to remember the word for example, spell it aloud using a tune or song.
You will have a Sumdog challenge on these words to complete by next Wednesday.
This week’s spellings are (15.11.23 – 22.11.23):
path hour
bath sure
move sugar
prove eye
improve who
In Maths, we are learning a lot of new vocabulary about multiplication. The children have been doubling, doing repeated addition and sequencing, looking at arrays and they have seen how this relates to times tables and multiplying.
Maths
At home, count forwards and backwards in 5s to 60. Start at different numbers each time. For example, start counting forwards from 15 or backwards from 45. Look at how this relates to the 5x table.
Practise 2-, 5-, 10- and 3-times tables on a game called Hit the Button. Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
You will have an array/repeated addition challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.
Sumdog
Log in at www.sumdog.com
In RE, we have started our new topic, Preparations. The children talked and wrote about the different ways they prepared for Christmas at home, you do some lovely things during the Chrstmas season! We then thought about how Christians prepare for the coming of Jesus during Advent by lighting Advent Candles, opening Advent Calendars and some people make Christingles or go to Church more.
In PSHE, it was anti-bullying week. The children discussed bullying and what it means and learnt to make a noise if bullying happens!
In this week’s French lesson, we learned how to say some colours in French. Rouge = red, bleu = blue, jaune = yellow, orange = orange, vert = green, rose = pink, violet = purple, marron = brown, blanc = white, gris = grey, and noir = black. We repeated these words to help remember them and matched the correct word to the colours on the board. We then pointed to different things in the classroom when we heard the French colour being said and then played a few rounds of Splat, where we had to point to the right colour on the board. We also listened to the Mr French ‘Les Couleurs’ song to help us.
During Music, we started to learn the next two songs for our Nativity and played the rhythms on the tambourines and tambours. We practised the three songs introduced last lesson. We used the words rhythm and tempo to describe the music.
In Art, the children drew some very small objects in their sketch books. They looked very closely at the size, shape and details, which was quite tricky, but they produced some excellent sketches and really enjoyed the process. In D.T, we were exploring structures of houses and used straws and blu-tac to build our own 3-D structure.
We would really appreciate a few more boxes if you have any spare!
Forest School
In our first session Storm Debbie was about so we stayed in the lodge. We practiced fastening sticks together by a technique called lashing. Some of us made the initial letter of our name. We also made forest eyes and other objects. We discovered that we had to keep the wool tight to securely fasten the sticks together. Super perseverance was shown.
We went into the nature area for our other session. We played a few games of "Hide the Hedgehog", then we chose our own learning. There was very busy learning including tree wrapping, tree climbing, cooking, restaurants, den building and games.
Next week (23.11.23) we will be visiting the library.
The children may bring a favourite book in from home to read during quiet reading time next week.
Have a great weekend.
Year 2 Team.
Year 3 Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 10th Nov 2023 @ 4:02pm
Welcome to your Friday Blog.
We have had another great week in Year 3.
In English, we have written our own story based on the book Ice Palace, trying to use adjectives and similes for description and adverbs to make the story more interesting. The children have enjoyed finishing this complete with illustrations and cover page.
In Maths we have continued to work on addition and are now learning how to do subtraction using formal written methods.
In Art we have begun a study of L S Lowry’s painting ‘Coming from the Mill’ looking at shapes, lines and colours. We are going to use these to make a collage inspired by this painting.
In Geography we looked at the counties, rivers and hills in the North West of the UK and found where Preston was.
This week in French, we started our new topic of Numbers 0-20. We started the lesson recapping numbers 0-5 and then 0-10. We listened to KidsTV123 ‘Numbers Song in French’ to help count up to 10. We sang this faster each time! Our first activity was to find the correct number for the French words, our second activity was to count fruit, and our third activity was to say which number was missing. We also listened to Learn French Through Music ‘French Numbers Song’ which also got faster each time! To show we knew numbers 0-10, we drew the right number of fish in a fish bowl and the right number of spots on a ladybird.
Home Practice
On Sumdog there are spelling and maths challenges. Your spellings for this week are:
Playtime, birthday, background, ballroom, baseball, cupcake, doorway, eardrum, evergreen, chairman, patchwork, driveway.
Don’t forget to keep up with the fantastic home reading.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 team
Year 6 Blog Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 10th Nov 2023 @ 3:54pm
Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog.
On Tuesday, Year 5 and 6 took a trip to Blackpool Theatre to see Frank Cotrell-Boyce, the author of the new book ‘The Wonder Brothers’. He told us all some great stories about how he became an author, showed off some magic tricks and even read from his new book. Everyone received a copy, which most of us started reading on the way back to school.
On Wednesday, 12 of our pupils were chosen to be part of the ‘Maths Team’ who went up against Our Lady and St Gerard’s, Mary Magdalen and St Teresa’s. It was a tough challenge but everyone worked really well as a team, helping us to achieve fourth out of 8. Great work team!
Throughout the week, the School Councillors have done a fantastic job of selling various items for the Poppy Appeal to every class. They would like to say thank you to anyone that bought or donated any money. They will count up and reveal the final amount soon.
This week’s learning in Year 6:
- In Maths, we have learnt and practised how to solve large division questions using mental methods (such as partitioning) and the chunking method. It is very important for everyone to keep practising their times and divisions so hopefully the overnight work has helped them become quicker.
- In English, we completed our novel Clockwork, which ended quite mysteriously. Then we introduced Private Peaceful, a story of two brothers who head off to France and Belgium in World War I. We will be learning about these complex characters over the next few weeks.
- In PE, we focused on using various tactics in volleyball: aiming at space, working as a team and serving. Outside, we began tag rugby, where we learnt the rules of passing back, turnovers and knock-ons.
- In PSHE, we discussed the word, ‘worry’, how we can see signs of it in our friends and created a range of strategies to overcome the feeling.
- In Geography, we completed our Mountains topic by creating an advanced PowerPoint on three tectonic disasters (volcano, tsunami and earthquake) using transitions and hyperlinks.
- In History, we began our new topic of ‘Crime and Punishment’. We learnt to chronologically order different periods over time, through BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era).
- In Science, ‘Circulatory System’ is our new topic. We began by learning how our circulatory system is responsible for transporting nutrients, water and oxygen to billions of blood cells.
- This week in French, we started our Cultural Understanding presentation project. We will be working on this every week in our groups with the aim to present about ‘Christmas in France’. This week, we created our groups, decided our roles within those groups, started sharing some ideas for what will be included in the presentation and what research we will need to do.
- In Music, we continued to learnBacharach Anorak on the Now we can play the whole piece and improvise. We sang the song Jazz is cool, discussing the texture and singing in groups.
Home Practice
Please try to complete the following tasks by next MONDAY:
- Pack your bag. Check the list of items you will need for Robinwood (NO EXTRA BAG IS NEEDED. JUST USE ONE SUITCASE)
- Bring a water bottle (you can refill this any time during your stay)
- NO LUNCH – Robinwood is providing ALL your food for the entire stay.
- Do not forget your coat!
Do not forget to check our twitter account, St Oswald's twitter account where you can see Year 6 having a super time.
Reading
- Try to do your best to read over the weekend. Enjoy a really good book – you could even read ‘The Wonder Brothers’!
Reception Blog - Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 10th Nov 2023 @ 11:38am
We started our week doing the story, The Hundred Decker bus during Drawing Club time. We learnt our new key words, layer and extend and talked about the setting and characters in the story. Then we planned a new route for the bus to take, all coming up with our own ideas based on what we do with our grown ups. In our drawing club books, we designed our own layer for the bus, making it 101 decks tall! We even used our phonics to describe our picture, brilliant! In phonics this week, we have been learning the r, h and b sounds. We have used lots of games to help us with this.
In maths, we have been looking at length and height. We have been looking at who was taller and shorter in class and building towers taller than another. For length we have been ordering snakes from longest to shortest and describing them using the vocabulary.
This week in French, we recapped how to respond to ‘Comment ҫa va?’. We practised saying ‘ҫa va bien’, ‘comme ci, comme ҫa’ and ‘ҫa va mal’. We listened to the ‘Bonjour Mes Amis’ song and responded to say how different characters were feeling. In Music, we started to learn the songs for our Christmas Nativity. We sang the first three songs, then played the rhythms on the thunder eggs and stick tambourines. Please see the newsletter for any information regarding the school nativity.
In PSHE this week, we have been learning about people who wear glasses, why they need them and how it helps them.
This week we have continued learning about people who help us and have focussed on Doctors and Nurses. We have been lucky to have two nurses visit us; a critical care nurse and a dialysis sister. We listened to them tell us all about their job and how they help people get better. The children had brilliant questions to ask the nurses about their jobs, so a big well done. We now have a hospital roleplay area in class, with some items and our own hospital set gifted by the nurses, a big thank you to them for these items.
This week we started our Tots on Tyres programme during PE, for the remainder of this half term, we will focus on balancing and developing that core strength to help us ride the balance bikes.
On Friday we had Yoga and Forest school. During yoga with Hannah, we practices our buzzy bee and dragon breathing.
In Forest School with Mrs Corbett we learnt how to tie a simple knot with strawberry laces! We also listened to a story called "Robin's Winter Song". We had time for some child-initiated play and we were helped in our learning by our Year 3 Forest School Ambassadors.
We have also been using our bodies to make art. This weeks challenge was to listen to different pieces of music and to use our hands to move to the music. We listened to a fast piece of music and a slow piece of music to do this. We have also learnt about Remembrance day and the meaning behind the poppy. Each child has collaged their own poppy.
A big highlight this week for Reception, was our first walk to the park. All of the children did amazing at following our instructions to keep safe walking to and returning from the park. We talked about lots of different things on the way, like how to cross the road, listening for cars and we even spotted numbers on different houses. It was lovely to hear lots of people walking past commenting on the childrens behaviour, so a big well done to Reception!
Year 2 Blog Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 10th Nov 2023 @ 10:36am
Year 2 have had a fantastic week of learning, it has flown by! The children really enjoyed visiting the poppy shop on Wednesday and buying poppies, slap bands and key rings. An author Rachel Walmsley visited on Thursday and read her book 'Listening Ears'. It was a great story and the children got involved by acting out and reading some of the parts. It is possible to buy one of her books if your child would like to, check the newsletter for more information on this.
In English, we are continuing our work on The Diary of a Killer Cat and The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark. The children are becoming more fluent readers and their comprehension of the text is really improving. This is reflected in their writing, which includes capital letters and full stops, neat handwriting and interesting joining words.
Reading
In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and discuss the book with an adult. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.
You could write down these new words in a word book and find out what they mean using a dictionary (practise alphabetical order). It is amazing to see the list grow, something to be very proud of, especially when children realise how many more words they understand and can use!
Please sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.
Reading books are changed every Monday. However, if you need to change a book another time, we will change it as needed.
Reading resources:
Oxford Owl – This resource has an exciting range of carefully levelled eBooks to help children learn to read and really enjoy it.
Go to https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ and login. Explore the site and enjoy reading books from the Oxford Owl eBook library or listen to audio books.
Username: sto2
Password: 1234
Resources for questioning your child while they are reading - https://www.literacyshedblog.com/uploads/1/2/5/7/12572836/ks1_reading_vipers.pdf
In addition to this, reading a good bed time story to your child is so worthwhile and really helps towards a lifelong love of reading.
Spelling
Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Wednesday. A sheet will go home every Wednesday with the spelling list on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.
It is useful to write the words down on the spelling sheet, but also to call the words out and spell them out loud using the letter sounds or names. Other ideas include breaking the words up and writing them down in different colours (beautiful). You could look for words within words (father) or think of your own ways to remember the word for example, spell it aloud using a tune or song.
You will have a Sumdog challenge on these words to complete by next Wednesday.
This week’s spellings are (08.11.23 – 15.11.23):
fast grass
last plant
past after
class father
pass beautiful
In Maths, the children have finished our work on 2-D and 3-D shape. We have started our multiplication topic and the children have been learning about repeated addition and doubling to help introduce multiplication. They have worked very hard and have a good understanding of repeated addition.
Maths
At home, count forwards and backwards in 2s to 24. Start at different numbers each time. For example, start counting forwards from 12 or backwards from 16. Look at how this relates to the 2x table.
Practise 2-, 5-, 10- and 3-times tables on a game called Hit the Button. Follow this link: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
You will have a 2-D and 3-D shape challenge on Sumdog to complete by next Friday.
Sumdog
Log in at www.sumdog.com
In RE, it has been Judaism week. Year 2 have learned about Shabbat, we watched a video clip of a family preparing for Shabbat and listed all the things they needed to do. The children wrote all about what they had learned and drew a detailed picture of all the things included in a Shabbat meal. We designed our own Havdalah candles and some of us made Havdalah spice boxes.
In History, we learned all about Remembrance Day. The children made poppies using pipe cleaners and tissue paper. We thoroughly enjoyed making them and they looked so effective.
This week in French, we recapped how to respond to ‘Comment ҫa va?’. We listened to and joined in with the Lingobox Learning ‘French ҫa va song’. We learned how to say ‘ҫa va très bien’, ‘ҫa va bien’, ‘comme ci, comme ҫa’ and ‘ҫa va mal’. We showed how each character was feeling with our thumbs and saying the correct response. We also decided which phrase we would use for different scenarios.
In Music, we started to learn the songs for our Nativity and played the rhythms on the tambourines and tambours. We tapped the steady beat to The Innkeeper’s song, noticing the tempo getting faster. We sang Here in Pudding Lane again.
Forest School
In our first session we made popcorn. We made sure that we could remember Firey Fox's fire safety rules.
We watched as the adult made the fire and lit it using a flint and steel. We cooked the popcorn in a special pan and described the changes we could see. It was delicious!
In our second session we listened to a story called "Robin's Winter Song". It was about the changing seasons. We discussed how we can look after the birds in Winter. In our nature area we made bird feeders on skewers by threading fruit and cheerios. This activity developed our fine motor skills and our concentration. We hung them in the trees as high up as we could.
We also had time for our own play.
Thank you for sending small cardboard boxes in for our D.T project. We still need quite a few more, so if you have any spare at home please send them in to school with your child. Many thanks.
Have a great weekend.
Year 2 Team.
Year 5 Blog Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 9th Nov 2023 @ 5:05pm
Happy Friday and welcome to your Friday Blog.
It has been a great week filled with lot of exciting learning.
In maths we have been using the written method to add and subtract. It is really important that we know our number facts so that we can calculate quickly and accurately. Please practise these at home.
In English we have continued reading our class novel Room 13. This is a suspense story so we have been looking at different ways the author builds suspense. We then wrote our own suspense story. We tried to use as many different techniques as we could to make the reader feel worried and scared. Some of the techniques included:
Don't reveal the threat e.g. a dark figure
Rhetorical questions e.g. Was something following her?
Reveal the character's thoughts e.g. She wondered if this was all just a terrible dream.
Cliff hanger e.g. There was nobody there, unless...
Suspenseful vocabulary e.g. murky, gloomy, staggering, dark, whisper.
Everybody did such an amazing job writing their suspense stories!
In PE we did some indoor athletics including long jump, hop skip jump, high jump, and speed bounce. Mrs Cookson was very impressed!
In DT we sampled some Greek food. This was to help us prepare to design and make our own Greek snack which we will be doing over the next couple of weeks. Most of us enjoyed the feta cheese, pitta breads and tzatziki. The olives weren't very popular. You can see us carrying out our sensory evaluation of the food here. We focussed on the appearance, smell, texture, and taste.
This week in French, we started our new topic of ‘Les Émotions’. We started the lesson by going through the vocabulary and discussing the differences between the pronunciation for masculine and feminine adjectives. We then wrote these in our books, translating what they mean. To check our understanding, we chose the right picture for each emotion shown and then started a game of ‘Qui veut gagner 1200€?’ (Who wants to win €1200?) where every correct answer from a multiple choice question would ‘win’ €100. This week was a practice, we will complete this again next week to see if we can remember the vocabulary.
In RE we have been learning about Judaism. We learnt about a special feast called the Passover. We discovered why and how the Passover is celebrated. Each year during spring the Jewish people get ready to celebrate the Passover or Pesach. Jewish people remember the story of how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, how God still takes care of them and how there is still the need for freedom in some places of the world.
Home Practice
Number facts
Please go on Hit the Button and click on number facts. Make sure you know these number facts without having to count.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
Counting
Count out loud in tenths from:
203.01 to 205.01 203.11 203.21 203.31 ...
79.01 to 81.01 79.11 79.21 79.31 ...
83.81 to 85.81 83.81 83.91 84.01
Reading
Read out loud every day for 20 minutes. Talk about what you have read.
Spelling
Here are your spellings this week. Please practise every day including the challenge on Sumdog. The Sumdog challenge includes extra spellings.
telephone telegraph grapheme graphics autograph automatic headphones microphone microwave microscope sign design signal
Sumdog
Spelling challenge
Times table challenge
Maths competition in teams
Have a happy weekend.
Year 4 Blog Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 9th Nov 2023 @ 1:10pm
Welcome to your Friday blog
Here’s what we have been learning this week:
In English, we have been learning more about subordinating conjunctions – how to identify them in a sentence and where to use them. We learnt an acronym to help us remember some subordinating conjunctions (AWhITEBUS) and also made ‘human sentences’. We had great fun changing the words around and adding punctuation where needed so that the sentence started with the subordinate clause and was still grammatically correct.
In Maths, we revised and learnt more about the formal written method of subtraction. We used this to subtract 4 digit numbers from 4 digit numbers, including when zero was used as a place holder. In addition, we identified missing numbers in column subtraction calculations. We were very proud of our efforts, especially when we needed to include exchanging!
In RE, we learnt about Judaism. We watched a video which developed our understanding about the rules of the Jewish faith and the Torah.
In History, we learnt more about the Roman Army – especially the formations used when in battle. We re-enacted some of these and also had a closer look at the Roman Legionary armour which was on loan from the library. You can see some pictures of us looking at this here.
In French, we continued with our pets topic. We started the lesson by writing the correct word on our whiteboard for the picture that had been drawn and then listened to Mr French ‘Les animaux’ song again. We then wrote sentences in our books to show each character’s response for ‘Tu as des animaux?’. We used the sentence stem ‘Oui, j’ai (number) (animal) et (number) (animal)’ each time, remembering to check the spellings and whether it needed to be plural.
In Art, we continued with our topic of ‘Exploring Pattern’. We were given a ‘rule’ and then needed to adhere to the rule in order to create a pattern. You can see us in action here.
In Music, we started to learn Au Clair de la Lune on our recorders, using the notes we already know – B A and G. We also started to rehearse the songs for our Reconciliation day on Monday 4th December.
Home Practice
Reading
Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home. Make sure you discuss the story and the characters. Find the meaning of any new words too. Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding.
Counting
This week, please practise counting in 8’s.
For example, start at 0 and count up to 96 and back again
0 8 16 24 etc 96 88 80 etc
Then count in 80’s
For example, start at 0 and count to 960 and back again
0 80 160 240 etc 960 880 800 etc
Maths - Times tables and number facts
Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week. Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?
You can practise your tables on Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk
Please also practise your number facts. It has become evident that many of you are finding this tricky when you have been completing your written addition and subtraction.
You can practise your number facts on Hit the Button
It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts and your number facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.
Spellings
Your spellings next week are all taken from the Year 3 / 4 Statutory word list.
length popular strange breathe difficult
guard mention probably therefore build
disappear guide natural recent though
Sumdog challenges
You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:
- A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
- A times tables challenge based on the 8 times tables
- A challenge based on the formal written method of column subtraction – please note this only goes up to 3 digit subtract 3 digit numbers
Please make sure you log on and have a go! Little and often is the key to success!
The Year 4 Team
Year 1 Blog - Friday 10th November 2023
Date: 8th Nov 2023 @ 5:26pm
Welcome to your Friday blog. Thank you for supporting the Poppy appeal.
English
This week we have been learning through the story of Bob. Bob is an astronaut who works on the moon. We discussed all the jobs Bob has to do in his day. We wrote sentences describing Bob . We also designed and labelled a rocket. We made a poster asking for any information about aliens (Bob doesn't believe aliens exist!) Bob visited us and we asked him questions about his day.
On Thursday morning all the infants had a special treat. We were visited by an author called Rachel Walmsley. She read her book to us and some of us even went out to the front of the hall to wear a pair of animal ears.
We had a great time and she was very impressed with all our listening ears!
Phonics
Some of us have been learning about syllables in words. We clapped them, for example, garden has 2 syllables, gar and den, so we clapped twice. We clapped out the syllables in our names and other words such as paintbrush, lunchbox.
Some of us have continued to learn the split digraphs - split digraph u_e making an oo sound in rule and yoo sound in cute.
We have also been practising reading our tricky words. Please practise reading these at home. These words need to be recognised on sight.
If your child can read them, practise writing them. When your child has mastered their words, ask us for some more.
Maths
This week we have been learning how to measure mass by weighing using a pan balance. We compared the mass of two objects.
We have been learning about 2-D and some 3-D shapes and their properties.
R.E.
We first learnt about two Jewish leaders - Abraham and Moses. We learnt about the promises that they made to God and how they are important to Jewish people.
Then, we learnt all about the symbols seen at a baptism. We identified the symbols and tried to explain what they represent.
On Monday, we were visited by Bishop Tom Neylon. He came to see us in our classrooms and was impressed with our learning.
P.E.
We recapped how to move like a robot and then played robot relays. We had to move across the room like a robot in a certain environment, such as a robot in space or a robot going through a narrow tunnel! We then took it in turns to travel like a robot and we had to copy the leader of the line.
P.S.H.E.
We identified the special people in our lives and drew a picture of them. We explained why they are special and what they do for us.
Computing
We used the laptops and iPads to drag and drop items. This was quite easy for us so then we tried to complete simple coding exercises.
History
We started our toys topic by investigating some toys from the past. Miss Fisher brought in some of her favourite toys from her childhood and we became history detectives, deciding what materials they were made from and whether the toys could move or not.
Next week we will be investigating present day toys, so please remember to bring one of your toys into school on Thursday 16th November.
Art
We explored the art technique of printing using paint. Half of us had a go at sponge printing using pre-cut sponges. The rest of the class will have a go next week.
Forest School
In our first session we made popcorn. We made sure that we could remember Firey Fox's fire safety rules.
We watched as the adult made the fire and lit it using a flint and steel. We cooked the popcorn in a special pan and described the changes we could see. It was delicious!
In our second session we listened to a story called "Robin's Winter Song". It was about the changing seasons. We discussed how we can look after the birds in Winter. In our nature area we made bird feeders on skewers by threading fruit and cheerios. This activity developed our fine motor skills and our concentration. We hung them in the trees as high up as we could.
We also had time for our own play.
French
We recapped how to respond to ‘Comment ҫa va?’. We listened to and joined in with the Lingobox Learning ‘French ҫa va song’. We learned how to say ‘ҫa va très bien’, ‘ҫa va bien’, ‘comme ci, comme ҫa’ and ‘ҫa va mal’. We also decided which phrase we would use for different scenarios.
Music
We started to learn the first three songs for our Nativity. We clapped, tapped and played the rhythms on our instruments.
Home Practice (Sumdog)
Phonics - qu words OR compound words OR split i_e words
Maths - 2D and 3D shapes
Counting - Practise counting in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, forwards and backwards from different numbers. For example, start at 20 and count in 5s to 50: 20, 25, 30...
Year 6 Blog Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 3rd Nov 2023 @ 3:47pm
Welcome to the Year 6 weekly blog.
We have had a busy first week back:
On Wednesday the juniors were invited to Mass to celebrate All Saints Day. The Year 6’s chosen to read out did a super job.
On Thursday, we had a visit from some of the local police to help us understand what commitment is like for those working in the police force. We were very lucky to meet a responder, traffic officers and a police dog trainers. The Year 6s had a super time metting the all and asking lots of great questions. You can see the gallery here.
This week’s learning in Year 6:
- In Maths, we have learnt and practised how to solve large multiplication questions using the grid method. Most of this week’s home practice has been focused on this to enable the children to become as efficient as possible so they can answer a four-digit x two-digit question in less than two minutes.
- In English, we read a suspense scene from Clockwork which inspired us to write the next suspense chapter. We worked on setting the scene with personification, expressing the character’s thoughts and using short sentences wisely.
- In PE, we introduced a sport we have not played in a while – volleyball. We learnt the main rules, practised serving and how to pass to each other. We need to work on tactics next week and the importance of positioning.
- In PSHE, we discussed ways of helping ourselves and others when faced with difficult challenges. We then related this learning to what we can do in two weeks at Robinwood.
- In Geography, we learnt about Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who were the first two men to reach the top of Mount Everest in 1953. We planned and created a biography of Edmund Hillary, which focused on the main achievements in his life.
- In French, it was Halloween! We completed a French wordsearch with Halloween vocabulary and translated each word into our books. We discussed whether some facts about Halloween in Fracne were vrai o faux. We also matched some statements to the correct Halloween character.
- In Music, we began a half term of jazz on the glocks by learning a new piece called Bacharach Anorak. We learnt to play the head or tune. We started to learn the song Jazz is cool and explored music with 3 beats in a bar.
Home Practice
Please complete the following tasks by next Wednesday:
Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
- You may change your book any day between Monday and Wednesday
Spellings (-ant, -ance words)
- Sumdog (Spellings A2 wk 1)
- assistant, assistance, arrogant, relevant, important, importance, appearance, extravagant, hesitant, reluctant, nuisance, hindrance, ignorance, resistant, restaurant.
Maths challenges:
- Counting:
- This week we have been counting in whole number steps of 50, 90 and 900. Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
- Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
- g. Start with different numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 50s:
233, 283, 333, 383, 433, 483, 533, etc
and in 90s:
233, 323, 413, 503, 593, 683, 773, 863, etc
Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in 900s:
740, 1640, 2540, 3440, 4340, 5240, 6140, 7040, etc
- Sumdog (Times Tables A2 wk 1)
- This week’s focus is on x3, x5, x7 times tables.
- Sumdog (Times/divide whole numbers and decimals)
- These questions are practice of the work we have done recently. Work through as many as you can as they will help hugely for next week’s learning.
Year 3 Blog Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 3rd Nov 2023 @ 3:41pm
Welcome to your Friday Blog
We have had a great week back in Year 3 this week and the children have been very keen to continue their learning.
In English, we have been concentrating on the use of interesting vocabulary, using adjectives to add more detail to our writing and to show feeling and similes to describe landscapes. We have used clues from the text and our imaginations to write predictions as to what we think might happen next in the story. Now we have finished reading the book, we are looking forward to using these ideas to help write our own story.
In Maths we have completed our work on bar charts and begun to look at addition and using formal written methods.
In Science we have begun our topic on rocks and soils and in PSHE we are looking at keeping safe in the home and school; our bodies; hygiene; medicines and household products. The children showed a good awareness recognising hazards that may cause harm or injury and what they should do to reduce risk and keep themselves (or others) safe.
In French, it was Halloween! We discussed whether some facts about Halloween in France were vrai o faux, we learned some vocabulary for typical Halloween things and were able to write the correct French word and English meaning for each picture in our books. We then played ‘What’s missing?’ and also had a chance to complete a French wordsearch with the Halloween vocabulary.
Home Practice
On Sumdog there are spelling and maths challenges. Your spellings for this week are:
after, father, improve, hour, eye, would, whole, many, busy, people.
Don’t forget to keep up with the fantastic home reading. Here is a reminder of the link to some Year 3 recommended reads if you want to extend your home libraries.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 team
Year 2 Blog Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 3:38pm
A great week back in Year 2, well done to everybody for working so hard and following the Golden Rules.There were lots of people on gold and triple gold (Mrs Wood was so pleased). It was also lovely to hear about your holiday and see how ready and excited you are about our new learning this term. Have a happy and safe weekend celebrating Bonfire Night, we will look forward to hearing all about it on Monday.
In English, we have started new novels, The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson and The diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine. The children read aloud so well and did great comprehension work, retrieving information and answering some tricky questions. They also worked on adjectives to describe the main characters and wrote a description of Plop, the owl. Great phonics and spelling work, we can see a big improvement. Keep up the super work and effort!
Forest School
This week we did some whittling with vegetable peelers. We used balsa wook as it is very soft. We made sure we used the peelers safely and we made some interesting shapes. We had to persevere as it took a few tries to get the hang of it. In the future, we will use these new skills to make objects out of sticks.
In our other session we played a hiding game in the nature area then made some yarn dolls. We needed to use our knot tying skills and we came up with some very imaginative creations. We helped each other and showed perseverance and concentration.
Reading
In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and talk about the book. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words. You could look up any new words in a dictionary and practise alphabetical order with your child (a great skill to learn).
Please date, sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it.
Reading books are changed every MONDAY. You will receive 2-4 books depending on their length, they should last the week, if you read a little each night. However, if you need to change a book at any other time, we will change it as needed.
Spellings
Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Wednesday (08.11.23). There is also a Sumdog challenge to complete which will help with learning these words. A sheet will go home every Wednesday with the spelling list on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.
old every
cold great
gold break
hold steak
told pretty
In Maths, we have moved on to learning about 2-D shape. The children have been naming and describing the properties of shapes and classifying them in venn diagrams. They have been introduced to quadrilaterals, four sided shapes, including squares and rectangles. Remember we call corners vertices now!
Counting
At home, count in 10s up to 100 forwards and backwards. Challenge yourself and count past 100, see how far you can go!
Sumdog
You will have a 2-D shape and spelling challenge to complete by next week.
Log in at www.sumdog.com
In RE, the children have finished their Signs and Symbols topic about Baptism and will be moving on to learn about Judaism next week. To mark All Saints Day, some of the children did a Saints scavenger hunt, they answered quiz questions in groups and thought about who their favourite Saint is.
In PSHE, the children discussed bullying and produced a super poster. In Geography, they worked on the saesons of the UK and talked about appropriate clothing depending on what season it was. This week in French, it was Halloween! We discussed whether some facts about Halloween in France were vrai o faux, we learned some vocabulary for typical Halloween things and were able to match the French words to the correct English meaning and then played ‘What’s missing?’. We also had a chance to choose a Halloween character and complete a ‘colour by number’ in French.
In Art, the children created firework paintings with different textures and materials. In PE, we saw some amazing dancing to a firewok song. The children moved like real fireworks with so much energy and enthusiasm. In History, the children heard the Gunpowder Plot story and sequenced pictures to retell that story. In Music, we started a unit of work based on The Great Fire of London. Learnt the first song, Here in Pudding Lane. Then we played the rhythm on our instruments. We listened to Waltz of the flowers and Russian Dance by Tchaikovsky.
Reminders
Our PE day is FRIDAY.
Our BOOK CHANGE day is MONDAY.
SPELLING QUIZ is on WEDNESDAY.
We will be starting our DT project very soon - Tudor Houses. Please could you send in two small cardboard boxes for next Friday. Examples: tissue boxes, shoeboxes or small cereal boxes. We will have some spares in school but the more we can get the better. Thank you.
Have a great weekend,
Year 2 Team.
Year 4 Blog - Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 12:56pm
Welcome to the Year 4 blog and another busy half term. We have worked our socks off this week and are very proud of our learning.
In English, we concentrated on evaluating how Michael’s feelings and emotions changed throughout a chapter. We also identified and underlined main and subordinate clauses in sentences. We hope to develop our understanding of subordinate clauses and begin to use these within our independent writing.
- A subordinate clause starts with a subordinating conjunction.
- A conjunction is a word, or words, used to connect two clauses together. Words such as: although, because or when.
- These are all examples of subordinating conjunctions
In Maths, we started our new unit – Addition and Subtraction. We began by revising the formal written method of addition and used this to add 4 digit numbers together, including exchanging. We then extended our learning to identify missing digits in column addition calculations, and adding three numbers together with four digits.
In RE, we read a passage of the Bible during which Jesus called Andrew, Simon, James and John to help him deliver the ‘Good News’. Some of us were then chosen to be ‘hotseated’ as an apostle. We gave some very thoughtful and interesting responses which gave an insight into how the apostles may have been feeling about their mission.
In Art, we started our new topic ‘Exploring Pattern’. We started by making a sensory drawing using a needle. We were very proud of our finished drawings – have a look at some of them here.
In Science, we created our own classification keys to help identify different animals. We also finished our ‘Living Things’ topic with a lesson about environmental changes. We discussed natural changes and changes caused by humans, and explained the impact of changes on habitats and the animals that live there.
In P.S.H.E., we started our Relationships topic 'Play the right way and inclusion'. We wrote down what we thought respect means and discussed what it involves. We watched a video and identified the positive attitudes and behaviours shown, especially when in a team. We also discussed what happens and what it feels like when people show respect / don't show respect.
In French, we discussed whether some facts about Halloween in France were vrai o faux (true or false). We learned some vocabulary for typical Halloween things and were able to write the correct French word and English meaning for each picture in our books. We then played ‘What’s missing?’ and ‘Guess Who?’.
In Music, we started to learn the song Mama Mia and played some warm up games. Following this, we recapped the notes we learnt on the recorders in year 3 – B A and G.
Home Practice
Reading
Please read for 20 minutes each evening to an adult at home. Make sure you discuss the story and the characters. Find the meaning of any new words too. Reading every night will help you read more fluently and with understanding.
Counting
This week, please practise counting in 4’s.
For example, start at 0 and count up to 48 and back again
0 4 8 12 etc 48 44 40 etc
Then practise counting in 8’s.
For example, start at 0 and down up to 96 and back again
0 8 16 24 etc 96 88 80 etc
Times tables
Please practise your individual tables target for your test next week on Wednesday. Ask someone at home to test you on your tables – can you recall them quickly and accurately?
Remember you can also practise your tables playing Hit the Button and timestables.co.uk
It is crucial that you learn all of your table facts as this will help you with many aspects of maths.
Spellings
Your spellings next week all have the i sound spelt y.
gym myth pyramid symbol synonym
mystery Egypt system lyrics hymn
gymnastics typical cylinder physical oxygen
Sumdog challenges
You have been set 3 challenges on Sumdog:
- A spelling challenge based on the spellings above
- A times tables challenge based on the 4 and 8 times tables
- A challenge based on the formal written method of column addition – please note this only goes up to 3 digit plus 3 digit numbers
Please make sure you log on and have a go! Little and often is the key to success!
Have a great weekend - stay safe if you go to a bonfire.
The Year 4 Team
Reception Blog - Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 10:38am
This week in Reception, we started our week learning all about Bonfire Night and doing some Bonfire art pictures!
Our story this week has been What's in the Witch's Kitchen. The children have loved taking the story into their learning, going into the Witch's lair to make their own potions. During drawing club time the children have drawn their own witch and drawn their own witch's kitchen.
In maths, we have been looking at 2D shapes (circle, square, rectangle and triangle) We have been spotting them in our classroom and around school and we have been finding them in games and repeating patterns.
In phonics this week, we have been learning the ck, e and u sounds. We have used lots of games to help us with this. A big thank you to everyone that attended our phonics night. We hope that you have found this useful. Any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
This week in French, we recapped and practised some French greetings. We did this by saying bonjour or au revoir to the appearing and disappearing pirates, by listening to a French greetings song, and by using finger puppets to talk to greet each other as new characters.
In PSHE this week, we have been learning about germs and how they spread. We have talked about covering our noses and mouths when sneezing and coughing and washing our hands regulary.
This week we have started our new topic all about people who help us. We have talked about all of the different people who help us, and we were fortunate enough to have the Police come and visit this week. The children loved seeing the cars and equipment that they use. We even got to go in the cars and set the sirens off and finished our session seeing three police dogs!
On Friday we had Yoga and Forest school.We created a home for an animal. We discussed what a home needs; to provide shelter from the weather, warmth, protection from predators, space, food and water. We had our own soft toy to make a home for. We used natural materials to make our animal home and worked in small groups and had some brilliant discussions.
We also talked about living in Longton and went on google earth to see all of the different things we see on our way to school, for example; zebra crossings, traffic lights and bus stops.
Year 5 Blog Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 8:28am
Happy Friday and welcome to your Friday Blog.
It has been a lovely week back after Half Term, so nice to all be back together again doing lots of exciting learning.
In English we started our new class novel - Room 13 by Robert Swindells. We are absolutely loving it. We have been looking at ways the author builds suspense to make the reader feel nervous and scared. We have been practising some of these techniques and will be writing our own suspense stories next week. Here are some of the ways we have identified to build suspense:
Short sentences to make the reader panic.
Longer, more detailed sentences to give the reader chance to reflect.
Show don't tell sentences where we talk about the character's actions to show the reader that they are scared.
Writing about an abandoned setting to make the reader worry for the main character.
In maths we have been practising different mental strategies for addition and subtraction. We then looked at a range of calculations and chose the most efficient strategy. This week we have been practising:
Reordering the numbers to make the calculation easier, for example 27 + 15 + 3 + 14 we reordered to 27 + 3 + 15 + 14 as we spotted that we can use number bonds to ten to quickly calcuate 27 + 3.
Compensation. This is where you round a number to the nearest multiple of 10, 100 or 1000 to make it easier to add or subtract. You then add or subtract the difference.
This week in French, it was Halloween! We completed a French wordsearch with Halloween vocabulary and translated each word into our books. We discussed whether some facts about Halloween in France were vrai o faux. We practised some of the Halloween vocabulary again and played ‘What’s missing?’ to help remember them.
In music we started a new jazz piece on the glocks, Three note bossa, looking at the structure and learning related vocabulary. We enjoyed a new song, Try Everything. We explored music with 2 beats in a bar.
Our trip to Rock and River was incredible. We loved doing zip line, climbing tower, low ropes course, air bag jump and going out on the lake in canoes. Check out the gallery on the Year 5 page to see us in action.
Home Practice
Reading
Please read out loud to an adult every day for 20 minutes. Retell the story in your own words.
Counting
Count out loud in 10s from:
217 to 417 and back again 217, 227, 237
509 to 709 and back again 509, 519, 529
899 to 1099 and back again 899, 909, 919
Spelling
Here are your spellings this week. They do not follow a rule or pattern so you need to practise at home.
accommodate accompany according achieve aggressive amateur ancient apparent appreciate attached available average awkward bargain bruise
Sumdog
Spelling Challenge
Times Tables Challenge
Maths Competition in teams
Have a fantastic weekend and please be safe if you are going to a bonfire.
Year 1 Blog - Friday 3rd November 2023
Date: 2nd Nov 2023 @ 8:25am
Welcome to your first blog of the Autumn 2 half term.
English
This week we have been learning through the story of Aliens Love Underpants. We designed and described a pair of pants. We drew our own alien and described it in simple sentences. We wrote lists, found out some facts about space in non-fiction books and drew our own alien story plan.
Solar System facts song. Click here.
Phonics
Some of us have been learning about words such as scruff and string.
Some of us have been learning about the split digraphs - e_e in Steve, i_e in slime and o_e in stone.
Sing a split e-e song.Split i-e song.Split o-e song.
Maths
We started our measurement topic and learnt about different ways that we can measure length and height. We learnt that we can even measure objects using our body!
We then learnt how to measure mass using the balance scales. We used the words heavier and lighter to compare the mass.
Science
This week, we went searching for animals around the school grounds. We quickly found that the rain was forcing the animals to hide, so we didn't see a lot!
P.E.
We started our new dance unit this week. We are going to be learning how to dance like a robot! We copied some videos and practised moving around the room like a robot.
R.E.
We continued to learn about a baptism. We watched a video of a real baptism and drew our own pictures of one. We then talked about how a baptism is important in Christian life.
Computing
We learnt about a new word - technology. We learnt what that meant and went on a technology hunt around the classroom.
History
We learnt all about Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes. We then made our own firework pictures using either pastels or chalk on black card. They looked so good!
Art
We went outside to collect different leaves and made our own leaf rubbings. We made sure that we chose different leaves, that were flat and dry.
French
This week in French, it was Halloween! We discussed whether some facts about Halloween in France were vrai o faux, we learned some vocabulary for typical Halloween things and were able to match the French words to the correct English meaning. We then had a chance to choose a Halloween character and complete a ‘colour by number’ in French.
Music
We started to learn a new song, Rhythm in the way we walk. Looked at what is a rhythm, clapped and copied rhythms with hands, then with tambourines and tambours.
We then listened to The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky.
Forest School
This week we did some whittling with vegetable peelers. We used balsa wook as it is very soft. We made sure we used the peelers safely and we made some interesting shapes. We had to persevere as it took a few tries to get the hang of it. In the future, we will use these new skills to make objects out of sticks.
In our other session we played a hiding game in the nature area then made some yarn dolls. We needed to use our knot tying skills and we came up with some very imaginative creations. We helped each other and showed perseverance and concentration.
Home Practice (Sumdog)
Phonics - ear words OR igh words OR split e_e words
Maths - Measurement
Counting - Practise counting in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s, forwards and backwards from different numbers,
Reception Blog - Friday 19th October 2023
Date: 19th Oct 2023 @ 4:57pm
This week in Reception, we started our week with some spooky Halloween crafts; painting pumpkins and making spider hats.
Our story this week has been The Magic Porridge Pot. We have looked at the characters in the story, the setting and different versions of it. Then throughout the week, we have been making our own magic porridge, potions and designing our own wizard's shop! We even wrote our sounds next to our drawings.
In maths, we have been looking at the numbers 8, 9 and 10. We have also been recognising numbers, putting them in order and finding different ways to make 5 with the numicon.
In phonics this week, we have been learning the o, c and k sounds. We have used lots of games to help us with this.
In music, we started the lesson with the Hello song and This is music time. Then we played a guessing game. After that we played some copying games with our bells, using the song Love Somebody.
This week in our French lesson we recapped the numbers 1-6 again. The children counted out loud and joined in with the Number Song in French, which got faster each time. We then used some counting cards to count up to 6 and then mixed up. Each group did really well with this. Reception have worked really hard this half term, recapping and learning French greetings and numbers 1-6. Next half term, they will be ready to have some new sessions about classroom instructions, colours and Christmas.
We did some running races and throwing and catching in PE.
We were also invited to the Year 6 Art Gallery this week. They have been doing some Art around scaling up and made their own dog park. The children loved going to each piece of artwork, telling the Year 6 children what they liked best about their art.
This week we have also been learning about poetry. The children made up their own group poem about the sea. Every day we have practiced it and then we performed it as a class infront of the whole school in Golden Assembly. It was amazing!!
We just want to say a big well done to all of the children for this half term. They have settled extremely well and we cannot wait to get started with more learning after our half term break.
Have a great holiday everyone!
Please note that we have two phonics sessions for parents from 3.30-4.30 on the 1st and 2nd of November. If you would like to sign up to these, just see Mrs Rothwell in the School Office.
Year 2 Blog Thursday 19th October
Date: 19th Oct 2023 @ 3:32pm
Year 2 have had a brilliant week of learning.
Thank you to everyone who came to parents evening, it was great to meet you all.
In Maths, the children have added three 1 digit numbers, spotting number bonds and adding on. In English the children have continued to read ‘The bear and the piano’. We have also had a focus on poem writing and performing this week. The children performed a brilliant poem called ‘The fantastic Five’. In Geography we have learnt more about the 4 seasons in the UK and looked at the seasons through our windows. In PSHE we have looked at the different types of bullying, including: verbal, cyber, social and physical. In History we have looked at objects from the Great Fire of London. In Computing we have focused on online safety. In RE the children have been thinking about the signs and symbols of baptism. The children have drawn a beautiful baptism candle.
French - This week in our French lesson we recapped the numbers 1-10 again. The children counted out loud and joined in with the Number Song in French, which got faster each time. We then counted our Pirate friends’ treasure and matched some counting cards with their coins or parrots to the correct digit. The children could all do this in French with each other! As an extra challenge, the children had to choose the correct digit for the French word. This wasn’t in order and they had a choice of four different options. Year 2 did very well! They have worked really hard this half term, recapping and learning French Greetings and numbers 1-10. Next half term, they will be ready to have some new sessions about days of the week, months of the year, weather, clothes and classroom instructions and labels (after we’ve learned about French Halloween!).
Music - We sang In my hands In my feet In my heart, with actions, and learnt to clap the rhythms. We also played the rhythms from the song on tambours and tambourines. We enjoyed our final performance of You are my sunshine on the boom whackers.
Forest School
This week we used a new piece of equipment,our Kelly Kettle. We talked about being safe around the fire. We went into the nature area to collect sticks and twigs to fuel our fire. We made sure the twigs were dry and not too big. The water didn't take long to get warm and we all enjoyed some delicious hot chocolate.
In our other session we had a go at building shelters. We used ropes, traps, tent pegs, mats and clasps. We showed amazing teamwork and resilience as well as great communication.
Home Practice
Reading
In Year 2, children should read for at least 15 minutes every night and talk about the book. This will help with understanding the text and learning new words.
You could look in a thesaurus and see what other words have the same meaning as the one you have found.
Please date, sign and leave a small comment when you have read with your child and make it clear that you have finished a book, then we know we can change it. For Example - 14.09.22 Max’s Box. Read to page 6, really enjoying the book or good sounding out of tricky words or struggled with the word – because/finished the book. MG.
Reading books are changed every MONDAY. You will receive 2-4 books depending on their length, they should last the week, if you read a little each night. However, if you need to change a book at any other time, we will change it as needed.
Spellings
Please practise these spellings for your quiz on Wednesday (02.11.23). A sheet will go home every Wednesday with the spelling list on. This is for home practise only and can be kept with you.
Here are the spellings for this week:
mind climb
behind most
child only
wild both
children because
Maths
At home, can you count in 5s up to 60 forwards and backwards?
Try and challenge yourself to count up to 100.
Sumdog
You will have an addition challenge and a spellings challenge to be completed by next week.
Log in at www.sumdog.com
Our PE day is going to be FRIDAY.
Our BOOK change will be MONDAY.
You will get SPELLINGS on WEDNESDAYS and a quiz will be the following WEDNESDAY.
SumDog challenges will be set every FRIDAY.
Date: 19th Oct 2023 @ 2:01pm
Welcome to your weekly blog.
This week we have worked hard on our final artworks, using light and shadow to make some moody scenes. We showed these to Year 6 looked at their fantastic dog sculptures.
In English we have been enjoying the mysterious story The Ice Palace and following Ivan's journey through the ice forest. We will find out what happens in the next 2 weeks. This week we have been writing description and remembering our full sentences and careful spelling.
In our maths have been learning about bar charts and how we can use these to show information and solve problems.
This week in our French lesson we finished our greetings conversation that we started writing in our books last week. This included saying hello, hi or good evening to someone, asking how they are, saying how they are, asking their name, saying their name, saying goodbye, see you later or nice to meet you. The children then completed a range of listening, reading and writing activities to show they have understood the vocabulary from this topic. Next half term, we will be ready to have some new sessions about numbers 1-20 (after we’ve learned about French Halloween!).
We also wrapped up our Science topic all on the human body and nutrition. We had a Kahoot! quiz and remembered lots of our learning from the past few weeks.
In our geography this week we investigated topographical maps which showed how high the land is in different areas. We explored the 3 peaks challenge and found lots of peaks from around the UK.
Home practice
Over half term continue to read regularly and access the Sumdog learning platform little and often.
Have a lovely, well earned rest and we will see you next half term.
The Year 3 team
Year 4 Blog Thursday 19th October 2023
Date: 19th Oct 2023 @ 8:37am
Welcome to the Year 4 Blog
We have had a brilliant half term in Year 4! We have worked really hard and already made good progress in our learning. Our teachers want to thank us for being such fun and enthusiastic learners and said we should all feel very proud of ourselves.
Our learning this week:
In English, we wrote 2 poems. One of our poems was based on Hamster Hamster by Joseph Coelho who is the children’s laureate. We used the structure of Hamster Hamster to write a poem about a class pet – describing it as either charming and loveable, or nasty and ferocious! We also read a poem by Ian Bland and used this as inspiration to write our own poem about a topic of our choice. We were very proud of our poems which included a chorus and rhyming words. We performed these to the class and some of us even performed them in Golden Assembly.
In Maths, we interpreted data and solved one step questions using information in a table. In addition, we presented and interpreted data used in pictograms.
In RE, we read Mark 1: 14-20. This passage tells of Jesus calling his Apostles. We discussed how Andrew, Simon, James and John might have felt when Jesus called them and talked about the meaning of the Kingdom of God.
In French, we continued with our pets topic. To help learn the vocabulary, we used our word bank from last week and listened to the ‘Les Animaux’ song again. We also learnt how to say if and how many pets we have.
In Music, we videoed our final performance of the Mambo Cup Rhythm. We learnt all the actions to the song Just like a Roman and started to learn a new song Roman Numerals.
In Art, we finished our ‘telling a story through sketching’ topic. We tried our best to include shading so that our pictures looked more ‘3D’.
In History, we learnt how the Roman Empire expanded. We also looked at the uniform worn by Roman legionaries (supplied by the Museum Loans Service) and learnt the Roman names for the different weapons and parts of the uniform. Some of us were lucky enough to try on the Roman uniform and appreciate how heavy the body army was!
As it is half term, there is no Home Practice. However, please try and read every single day as this really helps unlock your learning.
Thank you to everyone who came to Parent’s Evening this week. It was lovely to see you and we hope you enjoyed looking at your child’s work.
We hope you have a peaceful and relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 30th October 2023.
The Year 4 Team