Summer Term Update 5

Hello Squirrels, I hope you’re well and had a great week (despite the horrid weather!). We’ve packed plenty into this week as you’ll see below.

Next week: Spelling Tests!

As next week is the final week of summer term part 1, I will be testing everyone on the spelling list that they’ve been learning this term. They’ve had opportunities in school to practise their spellings throughout the term and hopefully have been working hard on them at home too. You might want to get some last minute practise in this weekend!

Mantle

Our mantle commission from Toys R Us has kept us busy this week. We’ve magnetised our games, written marvellous conjunction filled persuasive sentences on why you should buy the game, finalised decorations and created advertising posters for them. The children have worked so hard on this project and are feeling quite accomplished (see photos below). Next week the team will showcase their designs to Toys R Us.

SPAG: Conjunctions and Prepositions

This week we recapped conjunctions and recalled how some conjunctions are coordinating and some are subordinating. We use co-ordinating conjunctions to join two parts of a sentence that are of equal weight or importance. E.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’, ‘or. For example: “At the weekend I am going shopping and I am getting my haircut.” A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause (a clause that does not make sense on its own). E.g. ‘after’, ‘because’, ‘if’, ‘when’. For example: “We couldn’t go to the park because it was closed.”

When reading, try spotting conjunctions then working out if it’s a coordinating or subordinating conjunction. Alternatively, you could make up some simple silly sentences then try adding a conjunction in to join two together or add further detail to the sentence. How strange and whacky can your sentences get!?

Prepositions are words used in sentences to tell the reader where something/someone is or when something is happening. If a group of words is used (e.g. “on the floor under the bed” or “on Christmas Day”) then it’s known as a prepositional phrase. The children wrote some great super sentences containing prepositions. Try spotting them when reading or playing “I Spy” with a difference by describing where something is.

Homework has been set on conjunctions on DoodleEnglish.

Maths:

This week we finished our work on fractions. Both Year 2 and Year 3 have done a great job with them, but could still use some practice on finding fractions of amounts. Using objects or by drawing pictorial representations, Year 2 should practise finding half, one/two/three quarter(s) and one/two third(s) of an amount. Year 3 should practise the same as Year 2 plus all fractions up to tenths. Remember, the denominator (bottom number) tells you how many people the amount needs to be shared between.

Next week we begin a unit on money, so any exploration of money/coins/notes will set your child up confidently for a new unit. Homework has been set on DoodleMaths all about money.

Only one more week until half term!

Have a great weekend,

From Miss Cartwright

Summer Term Update 4

Hello Squirrels one and all! We've had a good first week in the Den, although we're still getting used to remembering where everything is in our new classroom and new routines. 

Mantle

We've been busy developing our DT skills and instruction writing abilities in mantle this week. Following on from the children's marvellous magnetic toy designs last week, the children experimented with different DT joining skills on Tuesday. As you can see from the photos below, they did a super job practising joins such as flange, L-brace and using split pins. The children then made their magnetic games and every single one had some form of 3D structure and a DT joining skill evident on it. They've decorated the games according to their plans (think under-the-sea fishing, magnetic ice hockey, a jungle maze and more!) and next week we will be making the magnetic counters/fishing rods/monster trucks/ice hockey pucks. 

The children have also writing fantastically bossy instructions to go with their games, using this week's SPAG content of adverbs and adjectives, plus imperative (bossy) verbs, time openers and a clear layout. Everything is coming together and soon the team will be meeting with Toys R Us to present their hard work.  

Mental Health Awareness Week 

On Thursday afternoon the wonderful Miss Taylor led a session all about mental health. The children explored worries and what can happen when the worries keep on building, like adding a cup of water for every worry into a tub on someone's lap. Soon it seemed like the worries would spill over, but luckily our thoughtful Squirrels had plenty of suggestions on how to calm worries. Sharing them with family or friends was suggested as the number one way to fix a worry problem. 

Miss Taylor also organised some scenarios to help the children understand how we all see the world differently and how, for some people, their brains work in a slightly different way. It's really important for us all to remember that we all view the world in a different way, we all feel differently about things and we will all respond to different situations differently... and that is okay! We need to always remember to show kindness and compassion to others, as we can never truly know how they are feeling on the inside. 

SPAG: 

This week we focused on adverbs. The children recalled that adverbs add more information to a verb and mostly use the -ly suffix. They had fun acting out different verbs and thinking of root words to add an -ly suffix to in order to create an adverb. E.g. Mercy hopped strangely around the room, Henry yawned slowly, Teddy grinned crazily, Beau ate greedily. The children noticed how for some root words, we simply add an -ly. For others, we needed to drop the y and replace it with an -i, then add -ly.

Try spotting adverbs in things you read together or thinking of adverbs to describe what actions you can see around you when you're out and about this weekend. When you say the adverb out loud, does it sound as though just an -ly is needed, or does it need to be -ily? 

Maths:

Year 2: We began this week by counting using fractions! The children have become quite good at counting in thirds and quarters (as well as halves from the previous week) and writing mixed numbers. Please continue to practise counting in fractions/mixed numbers at home. How many thirds does it take to brush your hair? 1/3, 2/3, 1, 1 1/3, 1 2/3, 3, 3 1/3 etc. 

On Thursday, we moved on to working out fractions of amounts. The children did a super job of recalling their doubles and halves knowledge for working out 1/2 of an amount, but solving 1/3 of an amount proved a bit trickier. Using the resources, they were able to recognise that three equal groups are needed as that bottom, bossy number (denominator) was 3. Try sharing amounts out equally at home using objects, then verbalise it together. E.g. 1/2 of 10 = 5. 1/3 of 15 = 5. 

Year 3: We began the week by simplifying fractions... Ironically this proved to be a tricky challenge and Year 3 did a super job of showing endurance and not giving up! Soon they realised that whatever we do to the denominator, we have to also do to the numerator. We found a visual fractions wall very helpful and will keep building on this skill later in the term. 

On Thursday Year 3 also moved on to solving fractions of amounts and have tackled a variety of fractions of amounts including 2/3 of 9, 5/6 of 12 and 3/4 of 16. Remember to look at the denominator first, but then also the numerator. At home, try sharing amounts out equally at home (using objects or pictorial representations if needed) then ask your child to explain their understanding to you. Encourage them to explain the numerator and denominator. 

SPAG and maths homework has been set over on Doodle! 

This week I have another special Doodle shout out for Indy who is now on a 200 day streak!! This is incredible! Well done Indy! 

Finally, in RE today we were learning about Jesus recruiting his 12 disciples. I asked the children "if you had to choose 12 people to help you change the world, who/what kind of people would you choose?" Below is just some of their answers, which I think speak for themselves... 

Have a wonderful weekend Squirrels! 

From Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term Update 3

Hello Squirrels and a happy Friday to you! This week has been short and sweet but, unfortunately, all the adult Squirrels forgot to take any photos! 

The big news is, of course, the classroom change. The building works for the new classroom begin on Monday and it will be happening right outside our classroom, so the decision was made for Squirrels to decamp from The Nest to The Den. We'll be there for the duration of the building works. 

In mantle this week we've been busy being Toy Designers. On Tuesday the children wrote brilliant pitches for educational games ideas involving spelling, fractions, addition and subtraction or multiplication and division. The children practised their speaking and listening skills and worked brilliantly in their thinking friends to deliver perfect pitches to the company director of Toys R Us. Shortly after that, we leaned that Smyths Toy Stores were choosing to design toys based on science education. Given our recent learning on forces and magnetism, the team felt they were more than up for that challenge. They have since been busy designing magnet based games involving mazes, racing games and fishing games. Production begins next week... 

SPAG:

• Apostrophes for contraction: We've been practising contracting two words together using an apostrophe and knowing which letters need to be dropped. Try spotting contracted words when reading together or practising spelling the following words: can't, don't, won't, I'm, I've, I'd, it's,  shouldn't, wouldn't, couldn't, they've, they'd, plus anymore you can think of! 
• Apostrophes for possession: First we had to remember that possession means to show when something belongs to someone or something, then we remembered that we use an apostrophe then an S to to show possession. E.g. Tom's birthday, America's flag is red, white and blue, the bike's brakes were squeaky. Again, practise spotting this when reading together or by challenging your child to show possession in sentences. 
• Prefixes. Following all of last week's work on suffixes, we turned everything on it's head and looked at prefixes which go on the front of words. We looked specifically at the prefixes 'un' and 'dis' and when applied to the root word, they often turn it's meaning opposite. E.g. like = unlike or dislike; uncomfortable; dishonest; unhappy; disorganised. Can you think of any other root words that make sense with 'un' or 'dis' on the front? Can you write them correctly in a sentence? 

Maths:

• Year 3: This week has been all about equivalent fractions. The children have done a great job recognising that if the denominator increases, the parts will get smaller, therefore, the numerator needs to also increase so that the overall amount stays the same (even though there will be more smaller pieces). For example, 1/3 is equivalent to 3/9 as we had to multiply the denominator by 3 and the numerator by 3. Please continue to practise fractions at home and on Doodle. 
  
  
• Year 2: This week Year 2 have explored mixed numbers and counting in halves. For example, if I had 3 whole apples and 1 half eaten apple, I'd write that as 3 1/2. Challenge your child to write mixed numbers for items or pictorial representations that show whole objects / shapes and parts (e.g. halves, thirds, quarters). Please also practise counting by rote in halves (half, one, one and a half, two, two and a half, three etc...).

Doodle Shout Out

A special shout out to the following children who've been super busy on Doodle this week, either completing daily challenges or completing the homework that has been set by me! 

Don't forget the drop off and pick up times are changing from Monday. 9am drop off and a 3:10 pick up to allow time for Hedgehog families to arrive/leave via the same gate. The car park gate will no longer be in use, so please remember to come to the front gate. 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

From Miss Cartwright