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 

Summer Team Update 2

Hello and welcome to your second Squirrel Station update. We've had another busy week and our learning went in some directions that we perhaps weren't expecting this week! 

We've been busy learning about toys from history and how children's toys have changed across the ages. The children were shocked to discover how restricted toys of old were with girls and boys having very different toys that they did not share. They were also surprised to learn that children could only play with religious toys (e.g. a toy Noah's Ark) on Sundays in the Victorian era. We had some great discussions about gender equality and the progression of materials and electronics across the 21st century. 

In our mantle story we've been invited to help a struggling toy company boost their sales by accepting a commission to design a new toy. The children have been giving a rough design brief that the toy must be electronic and screen free and must be educational. Apparently that is what parents want to buy! The team are preparing to conduct market research next week and decided that using last week's science knowledge on forces might be a good way to go. 

In the Wednesday meeting this week, we discussed the idea of becoming a plastic free school. The children were confused about how so much plastic ends up in the ocean and the amount of single use plastics that are thrown away every day. We considered the school's part in single use plastics and celebrated the fact that last year we said no to single use milk cartons with plastic straws. Instead, all our milk is delivered in recyclable bottles and we drink from reusable cups that we can wash. The children then turned their attention to the plastic bags that our daily fruit and vegetables are delivered in. Following research online about the impact of plastic pollution in the ocean, the children wrote incredible letters to the fruit and veg company. They were polite yet compassionate and clearly requested the company send our fruit and veg in reusable or recyclable packaging. Miss Taylor and I are hugely proud of the writing they've produced. As soon as we know where to send these letters, they will all be popped in the post and we eagerly await a reply. 

SPAG this week: Suffixes

We've been practising and applying our suffix knowledge this week for past and present tense verbs. The children noticed there are different rules for adding suffixes depending on how the verb ends. If you can spot the following suffixes whilst reading or practise applying them in writing, it would be brilliant! 

• Short vowel sound verbs: double the last consonant before adding -ed or -ing.
  E.g. skip = skipped or skipping. Beg = begged or begging. Clap = clapped or clapping. 
  
  
• Long vowel sound verbs ending in an -e: drop the -e then add -ed or -ing.
  E.g. tame = tamed or taming. Love = loved or loving. Hate = hated or hating. 
  
  
• Verbs that end in a -y: drop the -y and replace it with an -i before adding -ed. Do nothing to add -ing. 
  E.g. empty = emptied or emptying. Hurry = hurried or hurrying. Tidy = tidied or tidying. 

SPAG homework has been set on DoodleEnglish. 

Maths this week: More fractions

Year 3: Equivalent fractions. Year 3 have made great progress this week on recognising when different fractions have different pieces but together represent the same amount. For example, 1/2 is the same as 2/4 which is the same as 4/8 which is the same as 8/16 (and so on... In class, we got up to 24/48 before we ran out of steam!). The children were quick to spot a pattern whereby if the denominator increased in size, the numerator also had to increase. The children did a great job using their multiplication knowledge to support them. At home, why not try making your own 'fractions wall'. There are plenty of examples on Google and they're a very useful visual representation of fractions. Equivalent fractions are best explored pictorially or practically, so using paper strips or food to cut up is very helpful. Ask your children to look for patterns between what happens to the numerator (top number) and denominator (bottom number) between two equivalent fractions. 

Year 2: Consolidation of recognising halves, quarters and thirds of shapes and comparing fractions. Year 2 have done a great job of exploring fractions in different representations this week. It's important your child doesn't always see fractions as circles or squares, so we've been looking at different shapes. The children are recognising that the amount of equal parts gives us the denominator (bottom number) and the number of those parts which are shaded (or eaten!) gives us the numerator (top number). We've considered plenty of practical problems such as "would you rather have 1/2 a chocolate cake or 1/3 of a chocolate cake?" The children were quick to spot that the larger the denominator, the smaller the pieces. 

Fractions homework has been set on DoodleMaths. 

We've begun a new RE unit all about Jesus and the gospel and the children raised some fantastic questions which we will be investigating during our unit. 

Finally, here are some photos from further science lessons on magnetism this week. 

Have a wonderful bank holiday weekend Squirrels! 

From Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term 1 Update 1

Hello Squirrels one and all. I hope you had a lovely Easter break. We are super happy to be back at school, even better with the sunshine too! 

Our first week back has been filled with plenty of outdoor learning and time in the sunshine. Highlights from this week are meeting the chicks and an outdoor collective worship with Reverend Dove at the church on Thursday. We celebrated creation and Earth Day 2021, as you can see from the photos below!

It is Squirrels' responsibility to let the chickens out on Monday mornings, Tuesday mornings and Friday mornings. We cleaned them out for the first time at Forest School on Tuesday and we're learning about them all the time. 

There has been a slight staffing shuffle across the school this term. Mrs Wright is now splitting her time between Squirrels and Hedgehogs, which means Miss Swain and Daphne Dog are spending more time in Squirrels in the mornings. 

Helping at Home

Following the disruption of lockdown 3.0, it will be hugely beneficial to keep key skills ticking along at home. The children are reminded regularly throughout the week to update/change their reading books when they need to, but please prompt your child to do so when you drop them off in the morning. 

This week's SPAG:

• Plurals - this week we covered a lockdown SPAG topic of plurals. We practised adding -s or -es to words depending on their ending. For most nouns, we simply need to add an -s. For nouns ending in sh, ch, x, z, or s, an -es needs to be added to show there is more than one of the noun. You can help your child by spotting when this occurs in reading and thinking of nouns to turn from singular to plural (or the other way around). Applying this spelling skill in sentence writing is very important. 
• Determiners - 'a' or 'an'. We also looked at determiners this week and are doing a good job of recognising when to use 'a' or 'an' in front of a noun. If a word begins with a vowel or a vowel sound, 'an' is needed. E.g. an orange, an apple, an Easter egg. Some of our favourite words from the week are 'an honest ...', 'an heir to the throne' and 'a university'. 

This week's maths: Fractions!

• We've talked about nothing but fractions this week. The children got off to a great start with recognising when shapes have or haven't been shared into equal parts. 
• Year 3 were able to explain that the bottom number on a fraction is called a 'denominator' and this tells us how many equal parts the shape has been shared into. The top number is called the 'numerator'. 
• Year 2 have been learning to recognise 1/2, 1/4, 3/4 and 1/3 of shapes and recall the words 'half', 'quarter' and 'thirds. Please practise this at home using pictorial representations or concrete objects (pizza and cake work well for this!)
• Year 3 have been counting in tenths and practising adding and subtracting simple fractions. For example, if I cut a pizza in 5 equal parts, I have fifths. If I eat 2/5 of the pizza, how many fifths of pizza will I have left? 5/5 - 2/5 = 3/5. Please practise simple addition and subtraction fraction number sentences at home, making sure the denominator is always the same. 

Doodle Homework

I have set additional maths (fractions) and English (determiners) homework on DoodleMaths and DoodleEnglish to help reinforce this week's learning. If you are able to, please complete this work on Doodle within the next week. 

Finally, below are some photos from our science experiment week. We've been learning all about different forces and investigated then taught each other about friction, gravity, air resistance, buoyancy and magnetism. 

 

  

Have a lovely weekend Squirrels!

From Miss Cartwright

Weekly Update 22nd-26th March

Hello everybody! We've had a busy few weeks in Squirrels class getting back into school routines and finding our feet with lessons again. The children have been brilliant with everything that's been thrown at them and we are especially proud of them for the friendships they're making with all the Hedgehogs. After so much time in two separate bubbles, it's wonderful to see all ages mixing and playing together. 

Some of the things we've been up to over the past few weeks:

English

We've been all about traditional tales recently. We've learnt the story structure and key elements of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and have had fun imagining the story from different viewpoints. The children have been busy mastering adjectives, expanded noun phrases, speech sentences with inverted commas and different verbs for 'said'. This Friday they wrote tremendous 'twisted' fairy tales based on Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We've had everything from 'Pigeon and the Three Squirrels', "The Cat and the Three Dogs' to 'Archie and the Three Gamers'. All children had incredible attitudes to their writing and amazing stamina. Some produced 2 page stories! Next week we intend to turn them into physical books with illustrations and we are hoping to visit Hedgehogs and read our new stories to them.  

Maths

This week we've been focusing on 2D shapes. Year 2 have been getting to grips with polygons, vertices, sides and lines of symmetry. Year 3 have been learning all about perimeter and how to measure it and calculate it. Everyone's done a great job. Why not go on some shape spotting walks over the weekend or challenge your child to tell you what a triangle isn't... 

Perfectly Imperfect Art

Every Thursday afternoon the Squirrels have been doing an art based wellbeing session with Miss Taylor. This is a calm time for reflection and mindfulness which the children have embraced. We've been focusing on finding positives in our drawings no matter what and challenging the mindset that finished artwork has to be 'perfect'. Abstract portraits were a lot of fun for this and we now have some super colourful artwork to hang on the walls.  

Learning about Light

We've had a science focus this week and have been exploring how we see. The children had fun sorting light sources from non-light sources (e.g. cheese, dogs, scooters) and pondering reflective objects that don't actually produce light (such as the moon). We are hoping for sunshine next week to allow us to do a shadow investigation. 

Maths facts SPLAT!

In Squirrels we're having a big push on learning our maths facts and being able to recall them INSTANTLY! We've been having regular SPLAT! battles to encourage the children to practise at home and win rounds answering questions on the 2, 5 and 10 times tables (and their matching division facts), number bonds to 10 and 20 and even the 11 times tables (by popular demand!). Please keep practising at home as maths facts really do help confidence and ability in maths lessons. If you're not sure which maths facts your child should be learning, please check the 'Maths' section of the school website or email me via the office. Remember, your child should be able to know and recall any fact within 3 seconds to know it fluently. 

Next week I will be sending out information about your child's back to school assessments and will outline what their priorities are post lockdown. As always, please contact the office or grab me after school if there is anything you need to speak to me about. 

From Miss Cartwright 

Weekly Update 8th-12th March

 Hello everybody. We are back and it has been a brilliant week! 

The children have done an amazing job with the return to school. They've been smiley, they've been kind, they've been chatty (very!) and they've settled straight back into school life. 

Miss Taylor, Mrs Wright and I are hugely proud of the way they have come back and the brilliant attitudes they've shown too. 

We've spent the time catching up with each other socially, exploring the indoor and outdoor areas again, getting used to being one whole school bubble and spending time with the Hedgehogs, and, of  course, exploring forest school in wonderful Spring sunshine. 

Each week there will be an update on here about our learning. 

A Weekend Challenge: 

Have fun and relax! Why don't you look over the past few Friday blogs and see what you and your child could get up to this weekend? After a few weeks of very hard work for you and your children, it's time to just enjoying being in each other's company. 

Lunches:

The children are really enjoying eating as a whole school in the hall again and supporting the Hedgehogs with lunchtime routines. If your child isn't enjoying the food they have chosen, please review the menu together. Encourage them to try new foods and think about whether they'd like to order the same, or different, meals again. 

Contact:

From now on please use the office email address to communicate with me or anyone else at school, unless I ask that you should use whaddonteachers@gmail.com (for example if I have set some homework, or have emailed you from that account myself). If you would like to discuss anything, please either email the office and I will make an appointment to call you, or phone the school after 3pm Monday to Thursday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

From Miss Cartwright