Category: Learners Class

We have all been happy to see the appearance of the sunshine this week. This has certainly been helping the plants grow outside our classroom.

We picked a wonderful day for forest school this week. The sun was shining, which was perfect for our activity. Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy (our focus artist this term), we were able to create some amazing art pieces using the natural materials in the forest. Learners were calm, focused and creative in the forest, the teamwork was wonderful and we all decided we would like to do this activity again.

In RE we have been learning about The Creation as told in the Bible. This week we have thought particularly about the seventh day when God rested. We discussed the importance of this and reflected why it was also important for humans to rest amid their busy lives. Discussions were open and heartfelt as always.

In Geography we have been busy drawing our own sketch maps of Sleights, these were really very impressive. We added some human features and some physical features, we included a key and using google maps, thought very hard about the location of the familiar places around Sleights.

In PE we have been improving our tennis skills and were delighted to be able to use the nets this week and put our learning into place. 

We have shared lots of stories in class this week as always and have continued to share lots of information books that Learners have brought in from home around animals and our planet. Its wonderful that Learners are so keen to share their learning at home.

Learners love to learn! 🙂

Many weeks ago, Learners planted seed in the forest. Since then we have been watering and nurturing these seeds in our classroom. This week we were delighted to be able to transfer and these plants into the planters outside our classroom. We will be watering these daily and cannot wait to see the flowers bloom. This is science learning at its best.

With Mental Health awareness week approaching, we were lucky to be able to hold a family session with Mel our Play Therapy Nurse. Lots of families joined us in creating our own toolkit of strategies to help us when our emotions are running high. This was a very purposeful session and it was lovely to see children and families working collaboratively.

In art, we have been finding out about our focus artists Andy Goldsworthy and Fernand Leger the sculptors.  In the coming weeks we will be looking forward to identifying their individual skills.  We have a planned forest day next week to enable us to explore Andy Goldsworthy’s style of using natural materials to create art and in the meantime we will continue to explore his creations and are excited at the prospect of making our own.

Learners have had a dinotastic week in class. 

In English, we have completed our non-fiction pages around dinosaurs. We used the chrome books to type up some key information. The end products look fabulous and will be displayed proudly outside our classroom.

In history this week, we have been learning about the three periods of the Mesozoic Era (the triassic, jurassic and cretaceous periods). We are really enjoying finding out about dinosaurs and hope to finalise a school trip soon, which will consolidate our learning around this.

In RE we have been learning about the Creation. This week we each thought of the things we were grateful for in our wonderful world and wrote prayers of thanks to reflect our thoughts.

In maths, we have been continuing to learn more about fractions, finding a third and a quarter of shapes, objects and quantities.

We continue to enjoy our swimming and dance sessions this half-term and are building on our skills and dance moves each week.

We have enjoyed looking at many encyclopedias in class this week and have been delighted to share together many of our own brought in from home.

Learners continue to be amazing!

This week we were visited by the Phonics Hub and we were delighted to be able to showcase our phonics lesson. In phonics lessons we are focused and keen to learn something new every day that will aid our reading skills. Learners love to read and our determination and hard work during phonics sessions is a key part of our daily learning.

In RE this week we have been learning more about the Creation and who Christians believe made the world. We found out about the different things God created on each of seven days and all agreed that we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful world.

In Science, we have been classifying animals into groups and thought carefully about the characteristics within each group. We sorted animals into birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

In English, we have been using chrome books to type some key facts around the Jurassic age. We are creating our own information pages to go into an encyclopaedia, remembering to use a title, different size font, labels and key facts. One Learner brought in an encyclopaedia from home and was keen to share his knowledge with the class – this was wonderful.

In History lessons we are also focusing on dinosaurs and this week, we learned that dinosaurs were on earth during the Mesozoic era and that they fit into the reptile group, as they were cold blooded and laid eggs to hatch their young.

Dinosaurs is most certainly cross-curricula this half term and we are looking forward to planning a trip to reflect our learning.

Learners arrive at school each keen to learn more.

This week, we have enjoyed our fist dance session with Hannah Verity Dance. Together with our friends, we were keen to show off our moves and enjoyed dancing to the beat. We will be working towards a routine over the coming weeks and are very excited to keep building on our new skills and learn a new part of this routine each week. 

In maths this week, we have been working hard on finding fractions – in particular halves and equal parts of a whole.

In English, we have been exploring the book The Greatest Show on Earth by Mini Grey. We have really enjoyed Mini Grey’s whistle stop tour of the history of the planet and have been identifying the features of a non-fiction book this week. Next week we will be creating our own additional pages to the book. Together we have decided to focus on the Jurassic age, which will also support our history topic of Digs, Dinosaurs and Discoveries.

In PHSCE this week, we have been celebrating who we are, what we have achieved and listening to the positive things others say about us. This was a wonderful session which strengthened our self belief and self confidence. It didn’t come easily for some to confidently talk about themselves , but by the end of the session we were all able to speak positively about ourselves and celebrate who we are – it was fantastic!

We have enjoyed sharing lots of stories together this week as always. Look out for the new labels that have come home in reading records this week, which will help to record the great reading taking place at home.

Learners have had a peaceful and settled return after the Easter holiday and are straight back into school routines and ready to learn!

Learners love to learn 🙂

Learners have enjoyed another busy week in the classroom. 

On Tuesday we enjoyed a dance session with Poppy from Hannah Verity’s Dance. We jumped and hopped to music and ended the session with some fun games.

We are very excited to visit the National Railway Museum next week. To help prepare for this visit, we have been enjoying finding out about Inventors and Inventions, including the work of George Stephenson. We used Ipads to research information and found out he was often called ‘the father of the railways’. We also found out that he built a train called the Rocket which was an early passenger train. This helped us to know just how important George Stephenson was to modern railways. We are so excited to bring our  classroom learning to life next week on our trip.

We have been excited to see the seeds we planted in the forest are starting to grow. We have them on our windowsill in class and water and check the regularly. We also have some seeds in a container in the cupboard (with no light or water) and are keeping a close eye on these too.

We have begun to write our own poetry around the story of Romeo and Juliet and have taken to this wonderfully. The classroom has been bursting with knowledge and creativity and we hope to share our poems on Tapestry next week. 

In music, we were able to transfer our knowledge of the plot of Romeo and Juliet and invented our own musical story. We thought carefully about key parts of the story and chose our instruments to reflect the mood and emotion of each art. Our understanding of the plot was clear and to be able to transfer our knowledge into music was a triumph!

We are collecting plastic bottle tops in school, in order to recycle these into school resources. Please collect these at home and bring these in to school if you can!

Easter is approaching and we are looking forward to celebrating with families in Church this week.

On Thursday families came in to school to celebrate World Book Day. Our focus was to celebrate Shakespeare and predominantly Romeo and Juliet. Families enjoyed joining in with many activities, such as painting and making roses, creating story maps of the text, decorating masquerade masks and writing love letters to send between Romeo and Juliet. Learners are really enjoying getting to know the plot ad characters in the text and identifying the rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues.

In computers we have been considering face-to-face and online bullying and thought carefully about  how to be kind to our friends and how to keep ourselves safe. This is a really vital discussion, which was held with great maturity.

In PE, Learners are focusing on hockey skills. In this week’s session with Hawkes Sports we focused on balancing and movement and enjoyed some fun games to improve our skills.

In Science, we have been busy watering our newly planted seeds and are delighted to see some shoots sprouting already.

In Geography, we have been watching the weather all week and have really enjoyed watching the daily weather report. We were interested to find out about the job of a meteorologist and have enjoyed completing our own weekly weather chart too, paying attention to the temperature and wind direction.

In RE, we have been learning more about the Easter Story. We thought carefully about the different feelings and emotions we had during different parts of the story. Learners articulated their feelings wonderfully and this prompted a very meaningful discussion.

We ended the week dressing up for World Book Day, we shared lots of our favourite stories and talked about our favourite books and authors.

A busy week of learning as always in Learners Class.

This week our learning has been extremely hands on and practical and it has been awesome!

We started the week with a drama session in the hall, with Louise from Red House Theatre. We brought history to life and created a physical timeline, adding inventions through time as the morning went on. We became aeroplanes, computer typists, wheels and lightbulbs as we delighted in using drama to remember old inventions. We were excited to identify that nearly everything has been ‘invented’ and talked about our favourite inventions. What a fun morning!

On Tuesday morning, we enjoyed our swimming session at the local pool.  Our confidence is improving and our skills are certainly progressing. Improvements are happening with each session. Swimming skills are so important, living where we do!

On Tuesday afternoon, we enjoyed holding our Jewish Shabbat in class. After lots of hard work and gaining knowledge over the half-term, the Shabbat was a great way to celebrate and conclude Learner’s learning around Judaism. The tables were decorated with cloths and candles. Learners shared toasted bagels and drank blackcurrant juice in special glasses. We said a prayer before we ate. It was very special and we enjoyed eating and relaxing together. Linking back to our learning, we could identify similarities with a traditional Shabbat celebration.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed a session with Hawkes Sports. This half-term we  are working on developing our hockey skills. Learners have lots of enthusiasm for PE and always look forward to Wednesday’s session.

On Friday we enjoyed a visit to the forest, while we were there, we were able to focus on three different curriculum subjects.   In Geography we were able to use compasses to identify North, South, East and West.  With a Science focus we planted our own flower seeds, in order to bring back to the classroom to grow. We gathered natural materials, such as sticks, stones, grasses and feathers so that back in the classroom we can make patterns in art. This was outdoor learning at it’s best. Alongside this. we had plenty of fresh air and fun, climbing trees and exploring the forest!

Wow Learners, we’ve had the best week with the BEST learning!

We can’t wait for next week!

Learners love to learn 🙂

It has been a busy first week back for Learners Class.

This half-term, we are exploring Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in English. To launch our topic, we used drama to act out the first scene. We each took on a role of one of the quarrelling families and became either a Capulet or a Montague. We learned about the feud between the two families and wrote down some Shakespearean insults to say to our rival family.  Words included villain, rat catcher, coward, liar, beast and dog. Learners particularly enjoyed acting out the ultimate Shakespearean insult “I bite my thumb at you!”

In history, we have been looking at changes in transport over time. This is in preparation for our trip to The National Railway museum in York this half-term.

In PHSCE we have been discussing people and services who can help us, including how to telephone 999 in an emergency.

We have shared lots of stories together in class this week as always. Our current favourites are The Emporer’s New Clothes and Rumpelstiltskin.

The Book Fair is currently in School and is open before and after school to buy a new book or two. Please come and have a look if you haven’t already.

We are collecting for the charity WHISH in school this week, please donate if you can. More details about the charity are on this week’s newsletter.

The days are becoming a little lighter every day, Spring is on the way!

Learners Class

This week has been another busy week of learning in Learners class.

On Wednesday we were lucky to be visited by the Open The Book Worship Committee, who told the bible story of the Good Samaritan. Children from Discoverers and Leaders joined in with the acting and story telling and were successful in bringing the story to life.

Back in the classroom, Learners have been enjoying learning about the Jewish religion in RE lessons. We have been identifying important objects and traditions. We looked closely at the Jewish mezuzah, which is a visual sign in Jewish homes acting as a reminder to live by God’s word. Learners were fascinated by Hebrew writing, contained within the mezuzah. We wrote our own class mezuzah and thought carefully about the values that were important to us. In the coming weeks we will be having our own class Shabbat and it’s safe to say we are very excited about this!

In Science this week we have been identifying common plants and trees and were able to identify the differences between the features of different leaves.

Learners love to read and we enjoy many stories and books throughout each week. We were inspired by a workshop from the Reading Leaders last week and on a visit to the library this week were keen to investigate the types of books on offer. Everyone chose a book to take home too!

We hope families will visit Learners class this Wednesday (7th Feb) where we will be celebrating Chinese New Year with many themed activities. Please join us at 9.15-10.30am.