Summer term Issue 29: 03rd May 2024
Dear Parents,
This week we were lucky enough to have one of our wonderful parents run a year 2 photography workshop. The pieces produced are fantastic! We also had many parents join us on trips, and have a wonderful Friends of SJSC team busying away organising school discos and the Summer Fair. We feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful community - thank you.
Our children have also been busy with wonderful learning and play over the week. We are all ready for the coming Bank Holiday! Remember there is no school on Monday.
Have a lovely long weekend, see you on Tuesday.
Alli and Joe
Upcoming Diary Dates
Reception
This week in Reception we discovered where the snails (that ate all our bean plants) have been hiding. We collected them all up and put them in a tank, and now we can observe them and learn about how they live. (This will be great for next week when we are learning all about minibeasts.) We have been reading Oi Frog… and learning about rhyme. The children have been acting, playing find your matching rhyme partner, playing memory games and creating their own rhyming match books.
Outside some fabulous things have been happening; some children worked out how to create a waterfall, some made a hill with a road tunnel underneath and a castle and moat appeared in the sandpit.
Coming Up: Forest School: Himid Class Thursday 16th May, Stik Class Friday 17th May. 9-11.30 parent volunteers welcome.
Challenge: how many rhyming words can you write?
Year 1
Year 1 have been gathering facts all about the moon including which astronauts have been there, what its surface is like and how it controls the tides on earth! In continuous provision, some of the children were inspired to create their own rockets in the hope of a twenty first century lunar landing…!
Year 2
This week in science, we delved into the fascinating world of living things and their habitats. Our lesson began with an important question: what does it mean to be living? We learned that for something to be considered living, it has several key characteristics. Living things need water to survive, as well as the ability to move, breathe, eat, and grow over time. These criteria help us distinguish between what is alive and what is not. In our discussion, we pondered over a curious example: a robot dog. While it can move and even seems to breathe, we concluded that it's not living. Why? Because unlike living creatures, it doesn’t require water or nutrition to sustain itself. To deepen our understanding, we then sorted items into three categories: living, dead, and never been alive!
Year 3
Year 3 have been researching and learning about how the Ancient Egyptian' civilisation was so successful for so long.
The children worked in groups, researching information and presenting their learning creatively by making a picture of what it would look like back then.
The children then reported back their learning to the class.
Year 4
Year 4 have been learning about the different types of fractions. This week, we focussed on mixed fractions. Mixed fractions are made up of whole numbers with parts. We had some fun and created a number line, using Kit-Kats to represent mixed fractions.
Year 5
On Thursday, our Year 5 students went on a trip to the British Museum to learn more about Ancient Greece. We attended a workshop called "A Question for the People," where we used a range of resources to find out what it meant to be an Athenian citizen in the 5th century BC.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing parent volunteers and support staff for making this trip possible. We appreciate you.
Year 6
Year 6 embarked on an illuminating journey into the captivating realm of light in science! With the blinds down, lights off and curiosity up, we delved under the table to investigate light reflection. We used a torch and different materials - learning about the law of reflection - which states that the angle of incidence (i) = angle of reflection (r).
Music this week…
This week, Year 2 put on an abridged performance of The Magic Flute. This was an opportunity for them to showcase to the audience the songs, the staging and the narrative which we have discussed over the past few weeks. Well done to all of the children; I felt incredibly proud of you.
The Royal Opera House are now accepting applications to join their Youth Opera programmes for September 2024. ROH Youth Opera is divided into two strands: ROH Young Voices (Ages 7-8) and ROH Youth Opera Company (Ages 9-13): https://www.roh.org.uk/learning/young-people/youth-opera-company#apply
News from the Art Studio…
This week in the Art studio, photographer, Guy Lockwood, held a photography workshop for 2 Van Gogh & 4 Monet. The children took on all the roles of a photoshoot - photographer, model, lighting and art direction. They had an amazing time directing poses and choosing the perfect lighting for the perfect shot. So many wonderful photographs, and definitely some budding photographers.
We will be sending images from the shoot home with advice on how and where to print them. Thanks so much Guy!
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 …
Have a great weekend. See you next week!