Month: November 2023

It’s beginning to look a ‘little’ like Christmas.

Scott Grason-Taylor

Christmas is approaching, this week we have begun rehearsing our 2023 nativity in readiness for the up and coming performances. Learners class will be angels and shepherds and we have been busy allocating parts and lines.

On Friday, we delighted in creating decorations for the school tree at St Mary’s Church in Whitby. Our theme was to show our continued school support for The Zambezi Sunrise Trust. After a class discussion, we decided on making baubles displaying sunrises and globes, the finished products were very effective. We were also lucky to be joined by Jo from the Zambezi Sunrise Trust.

This week in computing,  Learners class have used the chrome books to type a Michael Rosen poem. We are still learning to log-in independently and are persevering with using capital letters on the keyboard.

In Art, we have been applying our recently learned drawing skills to create some observational drawing. We identified intricate details of plants and the results were brilliant.

We enjoyed some gymnastics in PE and used benches to travel across, concentrating on our control and balance. 

We have begun to learn about the first Christmas in RE and enjoyed listening to the story and identifying key features while drawing story maps sequencing the characters and  key events.

In phonics this week we have learned about split digraphs and have been avidly spotting split digraphs in everything we have been reading. 

Learners achieved best attendance (again) this week and were proud to be able to choose the ‘coming to school song’ on Friday. 

The weather is turning colder now and Christmas is just around the corner, hold on to your hats!

A wonderful week of learning.

Scott Grason-Taylor

As Learners Class reflect on our Learning at the end of each week, we are in awe of all we have achieved. This week is no exception!

In RE, we have begun to explore Christmas and in the coming weeks we will answer the question “Why does Christmas matter to Christians?” We discussed how we knew Christmas was approaching and the signs we may spot in our daily lives.

In art we are continuing to develop our drawing skills and this week focused on creating light and shade using a range  of pencils. We used the previously used skills of stippling and hatching to help us too.

This week we have completed our poems based on refuge in the forest. We have REALLY enjoyed writing poetry and were delighted with our final pieces. So much so, we chose to perform our poems to families on Tapestry.

We ended the week, joining the Children in Need endeavours and we even came together in the playground to collectively burpee! Following that, Learners enjoyed a gymnastics session in the Hall, focusing on how to move and travel smoothly and with balance and control.

Another wonderful week of learning. We are excited to see what next week has in store!

Scooping Out the Seeds

Scott Grason-Taylor

Mrs McGill cut the tops off the pumpkins and the Pioneers enjoyed using their hands and spoons and tweezers to get to grips with what was inside. Once they removed the seeds, they set them out to dry. The next day each Pioneer made a label and filled a jar with seeds to take home and keep until they can be planted next year. 

We looked at different plants and seeds and recapped the knowledge already gained this year on seeds found in our forest,

Each Pioneer took home a jar full of seeds to plant in the spring.

Making 5

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week we have been working on the composition of the number 5. We have been noticing arrangement of 1,2,3,4,and 5 all over the place and noting totals. We have started writing out calculations and linking these to numberframes,numicon and blocks.

The Pioneers have been writing sums on whiteboards during play.

So exciting.

The Tiny Woman and her Coat

Scott Grason-Taylor

After reading and discussing this beautiful book, we set out to find all the things we needed to retell the story and make the coat for the tiny woman. The book references porcupine spines and we couldn’t find any of those in Sleights but we found some parts of a pine tree that were similar. One Pioneer suggested that the inner part of a feather would look similar.

We discussed lots of things that could be a danger when out foraging, for example,the road,the car park,  slippery surfaces and different types of berry and fungus. The Pioneers are already aware of hazards in the forest such as low hanging branches and thorns and nettles and holly.

We used dough to stick everything together.

The focus and discussion were great.

Forest Soup

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers went to the forest to make some soup. We read the instruction together and then got stuck in with the collecting and identification of seeds and leaves to add. The team worked well together, filling and refilling the water containers and sharing out conkers and pumpkin seeds.

Everyone helped to transport our kit and ingredients up and down the very slippery slope.

A good day.

We are poets and we know it!

Scott Grason-Taylor

We have enjoyed lots of great learning this week.

On Wednesday, we welcomed families into the classroom to celebrate Diwali. We had lots of families visit us in Learners class and together enjoyed a range of activities to learn more about this special occasion.

In class this week we have spent time looking at the individuals remembered on our village War Memorial, This was incredibly moving and it was wonderful to discover some members of the class with distant family members named on the memorial. We painted poppies to remember each person who lost their lives. The whole school proudly displayed their work around the war memorial, in the Church and around the village.

In English we have been embracing poetry. Families have sharing their own favourite poems with us, which has been delightful. In class, we particularly enjoyed Michael Rosen’s ‘Don’t’ this week and decided to perform part of it on Tapestry to share with our families.  To inspire our own poetry writing about refuge in the forest, we headed down to our forest to gather key vocabulary. We managed to dodge the rain and spent a sunny morning in the forest.

We finished the week with a visit from the Rotters, who talked to us about food waste. We made a smoothie using pedal power and made our own wormeries and heard about how worms were vital to our soil and our food growth. 

It’s been an incredible week of learning.

Learners Class love to learn 🙂

Pumpkins

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week the Pioneers have been reading Pumpkin Soup and discussing the feelings of the characters. We found out that the cat, the duck and the squirrel had different points of view and that this can be difficult.

We have been painting and adding detail to our illustrations. The Pioneers are starting to write some words now to label things. Some Pioneers were spotted writing independently and overheard saying,”I love writing and phonics” Many are realising that they can now put their phonics into action which is totally wonderful.

Pumpkins of different sizes are in the kitchen and have been added to pretend soups. They have been part of story telling. They have been used for subitising and counting and the big pumpkins have been washed and covered in stickers and drawing pins to make designs inspired by Rangoli patterns.

The pumpkins will stay around next week to let us investigate what is inside and to save the seeds for next year.

What a fantastic week!

Scott Grason-Taylor

It has been a very busy but great week in the Adventurers this week!

We reflected on the service personnel that lost their lives and the war and the local heroes who are remembered on the War Memorial within the village. We carried out some research and discussed their lives which led to each Adventurer producing a symbol of remembrance. This included a visit from Mr Hann a retired Royal Air Force Wing Commander. Mr Hann worked with children with the Adventurers to share some of his own stories and reflections on his time serving. Mr Hann brought some of his equipment and uniform into school. The children were really interested to see Mr Hann’s photographs and medals from his service.

We enjoyed the visits of the Adventurers’ families on Wednesday to celebrate and learn about the festival of Diwali and participate in activities such as creating lanterns! Great fun was had by everybody!

The Adventurers finished the week with a visit from The Yorkshire Rotters. The Rotters came into school to teach the children about food waste and composting. The children then were able to create their own wormeries and make smoothie using a BMX powered blender!

The Adventurers look forward to next week!

Sleights Remembers Them

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week, the whole school have reflected on the service personnel who lost their lives and are remembered on our village’s War Memorial Monument. These local heroes have been discussed and their lives researched during the week. The children have each created a symbol of remembrance, including artwork and writing about the local lost soldiers. Today, we came together as a full school and heard the names of these soldiers read out by our children, before beginning our two minutes silence. The hall was still.

The photographs show the work created by the children celebrated around the village. Please do visit the school, community centre, Spar shop, St John’s and the War Memorial to see the work in person. It really is beautiful.

A huge thank you to families who have shared personal memories too. These included finding out about a family connection to one of the individuals on the War Memorial, as well as some very special items from fallen family members.