Spring term Issue 24: 15th March 2024
Dear Parents,
This week there has been so much exciting learning going on across the school, from the wonder of the solar system in Year 5 to creative Dragon Machines in Year 2.
Today, it was wonderful to see so much red across the school as part of Red Nose Day. Well done to the school council for organising this.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Alli Crank Joseph Bell
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week in Reception we have been Reading the enchanting story “The Bog Baby” by Jeannie Willis. The children were thoughtful; moved to hear about the difficulties of keeping such an unusual wild creature as a pet. They did some lovely writing and drawing around the theme in Drawing Club.
In RE we have been learning about the Easter story and talking about where we say our prayers if we pray, and what we can do if we are worried about something.
In maths- you just wouldn’t believe how many different ways we found to make seven! We are learning composition, comparison, counting ordering, subitising and reasoning. All this helps us build the strongest base for our mathematical thinking for the rest of our lives.
We have also been finding out (sometimes disappointingly) that seeds grow at different rates!
Year 1
This week, year 1 have been using the ‘First, then, now’ model to help solve equations with addition and subtraction. We also wanted to share a class photo of our amazing World Book Day costumes from last Friday… Thank you to all our parents and carers who helped us transform into these well known, wonderful characters!
Year 2
Children in year 2 have continued to explore the book “The Dragon Machine”. This week we explored different sentence types in order to create an encyclopaedia of Dragons! In doing so, children used question, command, statement, and exclamation sentences to entice our readers. We did this by explaining the habitats in which dragons live and then explained how the impressive Dragon machine works, giving specific details about each of its mechanical parts!
Year 3
In PSHE, Year 3 have been learning how to keep our bodies healthy. We have been thinking about how we would respond to various situations and when we should speak to an adult for help.
Year 4
This week in Maths, Year 4 worked practically to solve equations that had 3-digit numbers multiplied by 1-digit numbers. First, we built the 3-digit number and looked at the multiplicand to figure out how many groups we needed. Then, most of us wrote down the equations on our whiteboards and partitioned using the distributive law. We feel much more confident when finding the product of numbers that sit outside the 12 times tables. See us in action!
Year 5
This week in science, we looked at the movements of Earth and other planets relative to the sun in the solar system. We learnt that the sun contains 99.8% of the mass of the solar system and it is the largest object with a diameter of 1.4 million km. Our practical activity required the children to apply their understanding of fractions to compare the relative sizes of the eight planets to develop a further understanding of the solar system in which we live.
Year 6
We were transported to fair Verona this week and straight into a bitter feud between two families – The Montagues and the Capulets. We began the week transforming Act One, Scene One from a playscript into a narrative, with a gloriously sinister arrival by Tybalt. We ended the week, finally meeting Romeo, who had far more important things on this mind than sword fighting – love!
Music this week…
Year 2 are continuing with the singing and drama unit based on Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. Van Gough were practising Tamino’s Aria as well as practising movement as they had to follow Tamino’s magic flute around the music room. Kusama were learning Papegano’s Aria and using old books to give the effect of birds flying as they moved around the music room.
Year 3 were learning how to use the cups to play along with a Samba song, Samba LeLe.
Year 4 were looking at the opening chapter of The Iron Man this week and thinking about instruments which could be used to create sound effects to accompany the narrative. Next week they will be using the iPads to use SoundTrap and found their preferred digital sound effects.
Year 5 are putting together a repertoire of their best recorder pieces. Please see the video attached.
Year 6 have started to rehearse their African Drumming pieces in preparation for The Southwark Percussion Festival, more details to follow.
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art studio, Y4 have been exploring Biomimicry. Biomimicry is when people use ideas from nature to solve problems. The children researched an animal – thinking about its special features, how they moved and their habitats, then designed a building inspired by their findings. Stanley has created designs for a frog-inspired airport, whilst Martha and Apphia-Grace have designed a lobster-inspired shopping centre. Next week, we will be using junk modelling and Lego to brings these designs to life.
News from OPAL: Outside Play and Learning
On Monday we had a whole school Opal Assembly where we introduced CINI
Celebrate
Inform
Negotiate
Innovate.
We now keep an Opal Assembly Log where we keep a record of the whole school discussion; about what’s going well, what needs to change, and how we can use new equipment in the best way… to be creative, inventive and Safe Enough.
A huge thank you to Sidney and Frankie’s family for the amazing new sink unit for the Mud kitchen
Here are some photos of Opal Play in action, and some brilliant drawings by Y4 about how they like to play outside. Thank you.
We still need Chess sets and cushions as the weather gets warmer.
Eco Team
The ECO team have been busy rewilding the Peace Garden by planting some mixed hedging delivered from the Woodland Trust!
How wonderful to see a sea of red on Red Nose Day! Thank you parents for all your support. We enjoyed the creative outfits, painted noses and jokes.
Red Nose Day
Stars of the week
Stars are celebrated because they have demonstrated the school values, or gone above and beyond.
Well done to all our stars this week …
Kinetikabloco Summer School
Junior Summer School sees up to 150 young people come together and it is an exciting experience for all. Together we create a show which is on the 2nd August at 3pm for friends and family.
For Drumming, Dance and Steel Pans you do not need any previous experience.
For Brass / Woodwind you need to know the notes, we don't teach it from scratch. You also need to have access to the instrument so you can bring it with you!
Please click on link below for more information
https://kinetikabloco.co.uk/join-us/#join-us
Free concert on Sunday 24th March at Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, 3.00pm
Southbank Centre Youth Voices: A Celebration of Song
Songwriting Competition. Deadline closes 31st March
Have a great weekend. See you next week!