Autumn term Issue 3: 22nd September 2023
Dear families
This week has been an exciting week - and not just because of the huge thunderstorm - our children have been living and working on a farm, learning how to make pizzas and preparing for next week’s International Evening. We hope to see all lots of you there sharing the celebrations as a whole school community. The children can wear their own clothes and we invite families and to bring and share some food.
Here is the reminder of the details
Our first big community event is taking place on Friday 29th September 3:30-5:00! International Evening is one of our most popular events and a great opportunity to celebrate everyone in our community. We will open with a 'flash mob' Diwali dance that we would have learned in a workshop run by 'West End in Schools' throughout the day. The children will entertain with some singing and then we will open the community feast whilst being entertained by steel pans. Please bring a dish to add to the feast (labelling and food information will be sent out next week) and the PTFA will run a bar. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible!
Have a great weekend everyone - stay dry.
Alli and Joe
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week we started our reading journey… So exciting! We have been delighted by the children’s enthusiasm to learn a new phoneme each day. They have been brilliant at remembering to bring their blue phonics books each day to get their next (phoneme) sound sticker. This weekend you can practise scissor skills to cut up flash cards which they can use to build words to sound out. How many words can you make out of s a t p ?
Outside we have been finding sets and sorting objects, drawing sunflowers and working out how to build an obstacle course and make it more challenging. Inside we have been building wonderful castles with our new wooden blocks and trying out all sorts of funky finger fine motor activities.
Next week we will be discussing where we are from in Understanding the world.
Year 1
In year 1 this week, as well as creating our own characters for our own versions of Chicken Licken, we have been using cubes to make groups of ten. Since we can make groups of ten up to 100, we have used the strategy of counting in groups of tens when counting many things. This means if we lose count, we can go back to the nearest ten we were on instead of having to start all over again.
Year 2
In Year 2 PE this week we were exploring how we can travel in different ways. Initially we practiced travelling in partners, we then progressed onto sequencing different methods of travelling and the lesson culminated in using these skills on gymnastics apparatus. We loved using all the equipment!
Year 3
Year three have been writing poems, inspired by the author of ‘The Tear Thief.’
We have been learning how to use similes, personification and metaphors. As you can appreciate, metaphors can be very tricky but we have been very proud of the children for their focus and understanding.
Some of our favourites have been, ‘Her face was an unfolded map and ‘she was a lion in search of prey.’
Year 4
In English, year 4 have been learning about adverbials and their relationship to verbs. We were given the task of cutting up sentences and moving the adverbial to the front to create fronted adverbials— this really changed the emphasis and made the sentences more interesting, helping us to add variety to our writing. See us in action!
Year 5
This week it was the Year 5 farm trip. Please take a look at our X account (formally known as twitter) for all of the updates. @SJSCPrimary
Year 6
In RE this week, year 6 have been learning about the teaching of Buddha through the Four Noble Truths. They learnt the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. They created a beautiful display on their learning for our classrooms.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art Studio, Year 6 were mixing and inventing colours. Using randomly chosen words to create colour phrases: angry dawn blue, or hide queen pink, then mixing colours to represent each word. After mixing all of their new colours together, they had created a brand-new colour!
Music this week…
The music room has been a hub of activity this week.
Year 1 children were learning about the importance of keeping a beat (or pulse) and were copying actions in time to a beat.
Year 2 children were creating their own versions of Tony Chestnut. Using the same tune, they made a simple song about someone they knew.
They also made some pitch pictures imagining that their pens were following the pitch of their voices as they ranged from high to low notes.
Year 3 were learning about pentatonic songs and scales. They made an accompaniment for the song I’ve Been to Harlem on tuned percussion using two notes from the pentatonic scale. We also had a wonderful violin performance at the end of our lesson.
Year 4 children were making an in-depth comparison of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and The Soweto Gospel Choirs’ version of This Little Light of Mine.
Remaining children from Year 5 were given the opportunity to play the Ukulele and to think about links between art and music by doing a synaesthesia activity.
Year 6 children continued to look at swing music from the 1930s and 1940s. They learnt about the chromatic scale which influences the middle section of Hey Mr Miller!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYu4p0S4bZc&t=14s
They also started African Drumming with Pauline and Sandra. We look forward to hearing about their progress.
Values Certificates
Stars are celebrated because they have demonstrated the school values, or gone above and beyond.
Well done to all our stars this week …
International Evening - Friday 29th September
Important information to note:
Delicious dishes
So many of you are fantastic cooks and we really appreciate you bringing a dish that may be a firm favourite in your home or that represents your culture.
We do not have heating/chilling equipment available.
If you bring along Tupperware or platters, please put a sticker with your child’s name and class on.
Allergies
There is to be no nuts in the dishes that you bring along.
If you or your children have food allergies consider bringing food for yourself and not tasting other dishes- we cannot label detailed ingredients in dishes
Childcare
The event takes place outside of school hours. You will therefore need to collect your children as normal and bring them along to the event under your care.
Delicious dishes
So many of you are fantastic cooks and we really appreciate you bringing a dish that may be a firm favourite in your home or that represents your culture.
We do not have heating/chilling equipment available.
If you bring along Tupperware or platters, please put a sticker with your child’s name and class on.
Clothing
Children can wear clothes that represent their country or their own clothes on the day.
Donations
All donations are always welcome, we have added a £2 suggested donation to raise money for the school and to help pay to cover the costs of the event.
https://www.friendsofsjsc.co.uk/updates/international-evening
Call-out to parents!
Our wonderful school council would like to set up and run two new lunchtime clubs – ‘Board Games Club’ and ‘Lego Club’. We are seeking donations of board games that are in good condition and complete with all the relevant parts. We are also accepting a variety of Lego for our ‘Lego Club’ and would be grateful for your support. Donations to be labelled and brought into class with your child.
Many thanks.
Ms Rastar
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!