A Really Royal Week

Learners started the week with a drama session with Louise from the Red House Theatre Company. The session was focused around our history topic this term, Kings and Queens. The session was lots of fun and Learners were able to put their knowledge about monarchs into action. Back in the classroom, we have been finding out about the Royal Family and the term abdication. The children had many questions which prompted some wonderful discussions.

In PHSCE we have been learning more about manging risks and used scenarios, both on and offline, to decide when to say ‘yes’, ‘no’ ‘I’ll ask’ and ‘I’ll tell’. Learners approached discussions sensibly and seriously as always.

We are showing some real progress in Tuesday mornings swimming sessions at the pool. Confidence is soaring, as children are jumping in with confidence and retrieving objects from underwater with ease. Water confidence is so important living where we do and it is great to see swimming skills progressing.

Parents evening sessions are taking place this week on Monday 13th and Tuesday 14th March. I am looking forward to celebrating Learners Class’s successes with their families. Everyone should have a time slot, please do let me know if you have any queries.

Mrs Brown  

A Busy Week in Learners Class

Learners have been busy, busy, busy this week. we continue to work hard in maths lessons, this week Year 1’s having been learning to double a number, whereas Year 2’s have been adding equal groups using the multiplication symbol. We have been motivated in English and have produced some great discussion writing answering the question ‘Is there such a thing as a wrong habitat’? Learners are really enjoying this writing unit and have been able to justify their reasons effectively.

On Wednesday, we braved the forest. Dodging the drizzle, we made it down there and collected leaves and sticks to print with in art later in the week. The forest was muddy, but we were dressed accordingly and moved around sensibly!

On Thursday, we celebrated World Book Day 2023. Everyone looked fabulous. We enjoyed sharing stories (even a story from Space), and talked about our favourite stories and authors. We discussed the rights of a reader and were able to articulate our own Learners Class rights of reading!

Please make sure your child has a PE kit in school. Please check kit in the holidays, there are a few complaining that PE shoes are too tight! We are excited for our up and coming trip to Danby Moors Centre on Thursday 23rd March, please check Parent Pay if you haven’t already! As always, please let me know if there are any concerns or questions!

Mrs Brown

Learners are awesome!

Wow, we have had a busy, busy week of learning. 

On Monday, we explored printing in relief in Art. We drew our design on paper first, then etched our design onto a polystyrene tile. Using a roller we applied paint and printed onto our sketch books. We were amazed and excited to see the results.

This week in PSHE we have been learning about the people and services that can help us in an emergency. We found out how to phone 999 in an emergency and what we would need to do if this happened. Learners were very sensible and serious about the discussions around this and understood this would only happen if a grown-up wasn’t around to ask at the time.

We are continuing to learn more about Islam in RE and Learners are confident in articulating their understanding. This week, we have found out that a place for worship for a Muslim is a mosque and looked at the traditions surrounding this. We were also interested to find out about the five pillars of Islam and how these five things helped to make a Muslim a better person. Ask your Learner to tell you wat these are!

Friday lunchtime was the perfect end to a busy week. As well as our usual lunchtime music in the playground, we enjoyed a multitude of bubbles from our new bubble machine! Happy weekend everyone!

Learners Class 

A Silver Award for the Hedgehog Heroes!

We are overjoyed to celebrate our Silver award accredited to Sleights this week. Learners class have delighted in their role as Hedgehog Heroes over the last two years. We have shared posters, lead assemblies, written to neighbours and many other things in our campaign to raise the awareness of hedgehogs in our community. We cheered together and felt very proud as our Silver award was announced! A huge well done Learners Class old and new!

As part of our history work, we have been learning about the different types of monarchy this week. We found out about the differences between absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy and we decided that a constitutional monarchy was a much fairer way to rule! However, we did enjoy creating our own rules and laws as rulers of an absolute monarchy – this was great fun!

On Friday, Learners class have been printing as inspired by our focus artist Andy Warhol. This week we were concentrating on making a clean print and used a range of hard and soft materials. We are looking forward to looking at more of Andy Warhol’s styles and  techniques.

Come and join us on Thursday 9th February, as we will be opening the classroom doors to families to join us for some storytelling activities. Learners can’t wait to share their favourite stories with you!

Learners Class love to learn!

Learners class really are awesome! We have had another wonderful week of  amazing learning!

We have produced some fabulous newspaper reports this week in English, centred around our very own Parker, who has inspired us all with his caring, eco-warrior determination with his idea to collect for the homeless in our community – a truly deserving newspaper report focus!

On Monday, we had a visit from our very own well-being nurse Mel, to raise awareness of Children’s mental Health Week. This years these is ‘Let’s Connect’. We shared the book ‘The Invisible String’ by Patrice Karst and then we created paper chains to represent all the people, places and pets each is child is connected to. Well-being is so important and we really enjoyed Mel’s activities.

In DT this week, we were able to build bridge structures using only paper and sellotape. Our challenge was to make the bridge strong enough to hold some heavy building bricks. We soon found that we needed to roll, fold or layer the paper to make it stronger and stiffer. We delighted in testing the strength of our bridges at the end of the session.

We are three weeks in to our swimming sessions at the local pool and it is clear that our water confidence and skills are improving! 

We have shared lots of stories this week. We love to discuss our favourite characters and chat about the stories we enjoy.

It is clear to see that Learners Class love to learn!

Happy Lunar New Year

It’s been a cold and frosty week, but Learners have kept busy and cosy in the classroom. 

We have been developing our map skills in Geography this week and have been finding out about the North and South Poles. We found out that these were the two coldest places in the world and really enjoyed researching the different animals we might find in each Pole – Frozen Planet is truly magnificent and we found out lots of information around polar animals and adaptations.

New Sumdog challenges have been set this week in Maths and Learners are working hard to complete their own challenges, using money skills and times tables knowledge. There is some healthy competition in the air!

We ended the week inviting families into Learners Class to join in with Chinese New Year celebrations. The classroom was a hive of activity and a joy to see. Families and children perfected their chopstick skills, wrote messages to each other using the Chinese alphabet, made lanterns and painted blossom trees. 

Don’t forget, it is the rescheduled Christmas disco on Thursday 26th January, KS1 3.30-4.30. I can’t wait to see you all there!

An exciting week for Sleights!

It has been an exciting week for Sleights this week, as we found out that Sleights is to get a new school building. This created a real buzz in Learners Class, prompting discussions of what the new building would be like and things we might like in our new playground. We are so excited to be involved in this new, exciting project!

This week in the classroom (and outdoors), Learners have worked their socks off! We have been using alliteration to help us decide on the headlines for our newspaper report, We have gathered all our information in preparation to begin writing our reports next week and we are now bursting with ideas!

To launch our new history unit Kings and Queens, we have been thinking about the word Monarch. Learners could confidently name our King and knew that he had recently come to the throne. We had discussions about the line of succession and how it was decided who became King or Queen next. Learners were very enthusiastic and can’t wait to find out more about the Royal family. To embed our learning, we made and decorated our own crowns.

On Friday we braved the weather and visited the forest. Our focus was science based, our current topic being ‘Living Things and their Habitat’. Our aim was to spot deciduous trees and evergreen trees. We decided that January was the perfect month to do this, as the trees were easily identifiable. We really enjoyed the freshness of learning outdoors, some found bugs and creepy crawlies, which will aid our discussions next week around things that are alive or not alive.

There is a real excitement for learning in Learners Class!

 

A new year and a new term.

Happy new year to Learners Class and families, 2023 is upon us.

Learners class breezed back into class this week, like we had never been away. We got straight back into routine and embraced learning from the outset. This just shows the dedication Learners have and it also shows that we are a school family that were glad to see each other again after the Christmas break. 

Our new topic this term is ‘Make It Work’, there are lots of engaging curriculum activities ahead that we will be excited to share in the coming weeks.

This week we have been learning and practising our new focus times table, the 5 times table. We have used resources to help us and have been spotting patterns within the numbers.

Our new Geography topic is ‘Would you rather live in a hot country or a cold country?’. This week we have been finding out about the 7 continents of the world, which has prompted wonderful discussions – ask your Learner about this, they are very knowledgeable.

We are excited to begin our new writing focus and are delighted to use our very own ‘Parker’ as a focus for our newspaper report. Parker initiated a school appeal to help the homeless in our area, I think you will agree he is very worthy of a newspaper report about his story, we will keep you posted of our writing progress.

This term our PE day will be Monday and we will be swimming on Tuesday mornings – please make sure you PE kits and swimming things come into school on these days.

Learners are excited about our new curriculum focuses this term and can’t wait to get started.

Learners class love to learn! 🙂

A snowy end to the term.

Learners Class have been VERY busy, we have enjoyed our Nativity and Christingle Service in Church, a visit to the Pantomime, Christmas crafts with families and a wonderful Christmas dinner and party! Wow! 

The snow fell on Wednesday, which caused great excitement

We have even found the time for some wonderful Christmas writing, inspired by the book Mog’s Christmas Calamity by Judith Kerr. We created story maps in order to familiarise ourselves with the story, then made a change to the story by creating our own Christmas calamities featuring our own pets and in some cases ourselves! 

 

Learners Class have had a wonderful first term, jam-packed with learning, laughter and teamwork. 

Happy Christmas to Learners Class and families. I can’t wait to see what the new year brings!

Best wishes,

Mrs Brown

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

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 🙂