Autumn term Issue 4: 29th September 2023
Dear families,
What a brilliant time we have all just had at International Evening. It was lovely to gather together as a community and enjoy the dancing, singing, steel pan music and last of the sunshine.
Thank you to all who came, and for such delicious food. We feel very lucky to have such a great school community.
Have a good weekend
Alli and Joe
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
We have been really busy in reception this week, trying out lots of new fine motor activities to help us build up our fingers and hand strength for writing. We have been rescuing dinosaurs from elastic bands and stretching hair bands over pool noodles (making lovely patterns while we did. )
We finished the week with some super Science! Discovering how we use our senses to find out about the world; trying new flavours… olives, plain chocolate, mushroom, fresh mint, pomegranate seeds and pineapple. Then recorded what we found out, in a table like scientists do, and drew and wrote to show what we preferred.
Next week we will be measuring things and finding out about capacity, mass and size.
Year 1
This week, we had a visit from Miss Crank who asked us to create a home for her dog. The children immediately stepped up to the challenge. They put their creative thinking caps on, planned what they were going to make and then thought carefully about the best materials for each item. I think it’s safe to say Frank will sleep very well in his new soft bed surrounded by plenty of water and food!
Year 2
On Wednesday Year 2 went on an amazing trip to the Horniman where we learnt about plants through objects, live plants and artefacts. Today we went on an exciting trip to the Horniman museum ready to learn about plants through objects, live plants and artefacts. We learnt how seeds are dispersed, why we need plants and how plants are used by people all around the world. We were able to touch the largest seed in the world which came from a Coco-de-mer palm in the Seychelles—we could not believe how big one seed was! Finally, we ended our day by visiting the aquarium and looking at different plants that grow under the water and in humid rainforest conditions!
Year 3
Year 3 have taken pride in publishing their wonderful poems, which are based on the book ‘The Tear Thief’. We have generated very creative figurative language and we used powerful verbs to make our poems interesting to the reader.
Year 4
We enjoyed taking part in a creative dance session learning about traditional Indian dance and stories, getting ready for International Evening.
Year 5
Year 5 have enjoyed reading the poem ‘Binley House’ written by Joseph Coehlo. The children have explored how figurative language contributes to meaning and performed the poem to the class, bringing it to life. We had lots of fun!
Year 6
Year 6 had fun visiting the Banksy exhibition in Piccadilly this week. We learned a lot about how street art can be impactful and thought-provoking. We discussed how some of the images made us feel, which images were our favourite, and which made us think.
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…
Children in reception have been quick to learn a call and response song, Che Che Kule. They have also been thinking about emotions and facial expressions when we sing the song, I’ve Got a Grumpy Face. This week we also looked at some percussion instruments and tried to follow a pulse.
Year 1 children learnt a new song, Rain is Falling Down. They had to copy actions (using their hands and fingers) which followed the melody of the song; showing whether the notes were high or low.
In Year 2 the children learnt Hi Lo Chicka Lo and made up their own actions to accompany the correct pitch of the song. Hi was matched with a high action/body part, Lo with a low action/body party and Chicka with a middle action/body part. We also had a practice on the glockenspiels and learnt what a glissando was.
In Year 3 the children were very quick to learn a Call and Response song called Tongo. They were able to sing this in two groups whilst tapping the pulse on their knees and shoulders. They learnt how music is built up of phrases.
In Year 4 we were learning more about the origins of Gospel music before learning a song titled I Want to Sing Scat which ties together blues, Jazz and swing influences. The children had to fill the rests with two beats on an instrument and learn actions for the different genres of music.
Year 5 children put their rhythmic skills to the test as they tried a cup game pattern to the lyrics from What Shall we Do with the Drunken Sailor? This week also saw the return of the recorders!
In Year 6, we sang Hey Mr Miller in 3 parts and followed some written rhythmic patterns to accompany music by the Glenn Miller Band.
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 …
500 Words is back!
500 Words is a competition hosted by the BBC that encourages children to have fun writing stories, building creativity and imagination.
Since the competition was first launched in 2011 by Chris Evans on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, it has received over one million stories from children throughout the UK.
This year, the two age categories will be 5-7 year-olds and 8-11 year-olds and the competition will be judged by Malorie Blackman, Charlie Higson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Francesca Simon.
50 finalists, along with their parents or carers, will be invited to attend a grand final next February at Buckingham Palace!
Not only will the bronze, silver and gold winners of each age group have their stories read by celebrities, but the event will be shown on a special 500 Words programme with the The One Show, on World Book Day on 7 March 2024.
If you are interested in entering the competition, please go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/500-words for more information
Deadline: Friday 10 November
Have a wonderful weekend - see you next week!