Author: Scott Grason-Taylor

Friday 9th December

Scott Grason-Taylor

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Leaders class.

This week, the children performed in our 2022 Christmas nativity, Straw and Order. I think we can all agree that it was a wonderful show and certainly made us all feel extremely festive. Next week, we will gather again at church to celebrate Christingle. We hope to see many people their to share in this special time with us.

On Friday, the children enjoyed their Christmas party day where they spent time dancing, playing games, taking part in quizzes and enjoying a party lunch together.

In addition to the Christmas activities taking place in school this week, the children have also continued to focus on black history, exploring the role of black soldiers in WWI.

Christmas Preparations Are Well Underway

Scott Grason-Taylor

Hello Visitors, 

We are well underway with preparations for Christmas, including lots of nativity practise. We have learned so many lines, and so many songs: we are very ready for our performance on Tuesday!

Another preparation has been the creation of our school advent calendar. We created a reverse calendar, so instead of taking something, we give something to others. 

Have you heard of Henri Matisse? He is an artist, who created fauvism art. It’s a type of modern art that uses bold colours and textures in paint. 

Friday again!

Scott Grason-Taylor

Hi all,

We started the week with another fun session of cricket with Owen. This week we focused on bowling – it was tricky! 

We have continued to look at ‘The Tempest’ and have started to create our own poems to describe the violent storm that caused the shipwreck and the characters to be stranded on a Mediterranean, desert island. We generated some powerful vocabulary and imagery. 

In science, we learnt about ‘friction’ and what it is that causes this. we looked at surfaces that create higher and lower amounts of friction and why this is.

Yesterday, we finished our history learning on Whitby. We discussed the fishing, whaling and smuggling industries. Did you know, smugglers often hid items in graves?! 

Have a great weekend,

Adventurers

Friday 2nd December

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week in Leaders, children have been busy developing their division skills, looking at dividing with remainders as well as using long division. On Friday, the children impressed me with their problem-solving skills as they tackled multi-step problems, correctly identifying the steps that needed to be taken and the methods that they would need to use.

In art, the children have learned about Claude Monet and what impressionist art is. The children are looking forward to creating their own impressionist style paintings before Christmas.

As we enter December, there is lots to look forward to, with one of these things being the Christmas nativity, Straw and Order. The children have been working hard both in school and at home to learn their lines and are looking forward to performing for families and friends next week. 

Autumn Term 2022 Newsletters

Scott Grason-Taylor

Diary Dates for this term: Revised Autumn Term Diary Dates

Information for Reception parents (September 2023): Letter to Parents with a reception starter 2023

1. 9th September 2022

2. 16th September 2022

3. 23rd September 2022

4. 30th September 2022

5. 7th October 2022

6. 14th October 2022

7. 21st October 2022

8. 4th November 2022

9. 11th November 2022

10. 18th November 2022

11. 25th November 2022

12. 2nd December 2022

 

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Scott Grason-Taylor

Christmas has been in the air this week in Learners class. The Nativity production is well under way, as we practise our lines and learn the Christmas songs. Learners will be cows and donkeys this year. Please check tapestry to see your child’s costume suggestions. 

Having explored the plot and characters from The Tempest this week, we combined our skills from English and art together to create some scenery. We each painted an image to represent the aspects shown in the play. With great confidence, Learners shared their illustrations of the island and characters. I’m sure Shakespeare himself would have been proud!

We are really excited to launch our new Sharing Shed at Sleights, it is located near the Leaders classroom and will be open before and after school – see this week’s newsletter for more details.

Learners Class love to read and enjoy books. This year Whitby Library is running a new Christmas Reading Challenge to read four books before Christmas. Pop down to the Library for more details and to sign up for the challenge!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year and it’s only going to get busier! Hold on to your hats!

Learners love to learn 🙂

Friday 25th November 2022

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week in Leaders class, we have continued to focus on The Tempest in English. On Wednesday, the children used roleplay and freezeframes to explore the thoughts, actions and feelings of the characters Prospero and Miranda. Using this as inspiration, the children then created sentences that used -ed clauses from the perspective of Prospero. 

On Monday, we continued developing our cricket skills. The children demonstrated excellent batting and fielding skills and worked well as part of a team. 

On Friday, we enjoyed our first run through the nativity. Children are busy learning their lines and are excited to perform it to families soon. We also enjoyed creating Christmas decorations that will be on display on the school tree at St Mary’s Church.

Blue and Green and White

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week we have been reading “Lost and Found” and a selection of other texts by Oliver Jeffers. The Pioneers have all drawn wonderful story maps and pictures of the characters. They are able to retell the story using the story map and have added vocabulary to this.

At the end of the week we focussed on finding out about day and night and the rotation of the earth and the earth’s relationship with the sun and the moon. We looked at the globe and representations of our planet, spotting that blue was the sea and greens represented the land. In the story the boy and the penguin travel to the South Pole so we located this on the globe and painted this on our own representations.

 

Celebration time!

Scott Grason-Taylor

On Wednesday, we were delighted to formally open our new classrooms. After months of hard work, it was finally time to celebrate. We held a special event to share with Sleights’ children, families and staff, starting with a special assembly and following with the official cutting of the ribbons by our own Mrs Bland and Mrs McGill. The morning was perfect and enjoyed by all.

Earlier in the week, we were able to enjoy our second cricket session outside in the autumn sunshine. This week (with great excitement) we progressed onto being able to use the bats. There were a few sixes hit, despite some excellent fielding! We can’t wait for next week.

In English, we have been delving into Shakespeare’s The Tempest. We have been excited to meet the characters and to familiarise ourselves with the plot. With the help of story maps and drama, we were able to re-tell the story with confidence and enthusiasm. We are so excited to continue learning more about this fascinating Shakespeare play.

This week has been anti-bullying awareness week. Learners have been able to identify the difference between being rude, being mean and bullying and the clarification of these definitions prompted some purposeful discussions.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Nativity practise has begun! We will keep you posted!

Learners love to learn 🙂