Over St. John's CE Primary SchoolWe are really getting into the swing of Oakmere now, and it has been lovely to see the children settling into routines so confidently. They are even starting to remind me about things we need to do! It has been wonderful to see their growing independence and confidence shining through each day.
We finished the week with an interesting visit from PCSO Jorge, who taught us all about online safety. I think he surprised many of the children when discussing the age restrictions on some of their favourite apps. It was a valuable lesson and helped us think carefully about how we stay safe online.
📚 English
We have completed our research on the Space Race and the events that lead up to our story. The children have written some fantastic information sentences, working hard to include accurate facts, correct punctuation and checking that their writing makes sense.
Next week, we will begin exploring the opening of our story. The children will be introduced to the main character and will make predictions about her journey. We will also be looking at how adverbs and fronted adverbials can make our writing shine even more.
✏️ Spellings
The children will be tested on their spellings on Monday 21st September.
A few minutes of practice little and often throughout the week tends to work much better than one longer session.
If the spelling list has gone astray, here are this week's words:
- chatting
- stopped
- multiplied
- worried
- caring
- moved
- tasting
- smiled
🔢 Maths
Next week we will continue our Place Value unit. We will be working with numbers up to 1,000, exploring the value of each digit and discussing why nine is the largest number that can appear in any place value column.
The children also started their Number Sense booklets this week, beginning with doubles. This forms part of our structured approach to learning times tables. By becoming confident and fluent with doubling, the children will build strong foundations for future mathematical learning.
We have also started revisiting times tables, beginning with the 2 times table. Every maths lesson starts with a times table song and the children are already joining in enthusiastically. Their confidence is growing every day!
🎸 Times Table Rock Stars
Your child's TTRS login can be found in their reading folder.
The children have been accessing the programme independently in school and have done a fantastic job logging in and practising. Please encourage regular use at home, as it really helps reinforce the skills we are learning in class.
This week's TTRS Superstars:
🥇 Bonnie
🥈 Freya
🥉 Binxs
Well done, mathematicians! Keep letting those number skills shine.
🔬 Science
In Science, we have started our topic Animals Including Humans.
This week we explored how humans and animals obtain nutrition from food. Next week we will learn what animals use that nutrition for as their bodies grow and develop. We will investigate different types of skeletons and take a closer look at the human skeleton and its many important jobs.
✝️ RE
We have been tackling some big questions in RE:
"What is my point of view about God and why do people have faith?"
Next week, the children will be writing a letter to God, asking their own thoughtful questions.
During collective worship, we also introduced our Christian value for this term: Forgiveness. Together, we will explore the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant and think about how forgiveness can help us show kindness and let our light shine towards others.
⚽ PE
The children will continue developing their skills during invasion games with Mr Burgess on Tuesday.
Next week, we will also be trying Yoga. I am expecting the children to smash this and perhaps even teach me how to do a proper downward dog!
🎨 Art
We completed our artist fact files this week.
Next week promises to be exciting as we get the charcoal out, move the tables back and experiment with creating different marks and effects on a larger scale. The children are very much looking forward to it and I'm sure we will see some wonderfully creative work.
🏺 History
This week we introduced our History topic by learning about Howard Carter's exciting discovery.
Next week, the children will explore where Ancient Egypt fits in time and place. Using maps and timelines, we will begin to understand just how long ago the Ancient Egyptians lived and why their civilisation remains so fascinating today.
🎟️ Raffle Ticket Winner
Our raffle ticket winner this week was Grace... again!
Grace has had another excellent week and continues to be a fantastic role model in class.
Well done, Grace!
🌟 Letting Their Light Shine 🌟
This week's children who have truly let their light shine through their kindness, positive attitude and hard work are:
⭐ Sophie
⭐ Bobby
Both children were exceptionally kind and thoughtful towards a friend who needed a little help. They showed that sometimes the brightest light comes from simple acts of kindness.
Well done to both of you!
📅 Reminders
- ✏️ Spelling check: Monday 21st September
- 🎸 TTRS and times table practice: A few minutes each day can make a huge difference to confidence and fluency.
- 📖 Please send reading folders into school every day.
Every Wednesday, Oakmere has Show and Tell. This is a wonderful opportunity for the children to share something exciting from outside school. It may be something they have made, achieved or somewhere they have visited. If you have photographs you would like to share, please send them to the school office and they will be forwarded to me.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It has been lovely to see so many children already finding ways to shine, whether through hard work, kindness, creativity or perseverance. I look forward to seeing even more of their talents and strengths over the coming weeks.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs Kelly 🌟