Junior School Newsletter – Lent Term 2021 – Week 2

This week’s newsletter for Rossall Junior School and Nursery.

YEAR 6

After a few too many chocolates over the Christmas break, Year 6 have relished the opportunity to support Mr Rund and Mr Condon in their New Year fitness campaigns. Looking after our heart and health has linked perfectly with our Science topic on the Circulatory System, and pulses have been racing in our daily fitness sessions with all the children joining their teachers on our Zoom circuit training. Once we’ve caught our breath, Government and Politics is the theme of our topic work and the class have enjoyed learning about the Magna Carta and its relevance to our laws and Parliament today. Who knows? Our work could inspire a future Prime Minister, or even better, a future teacher!

YEAR 5

Year 5 have once again proved what an amazing group of children they are. Every morning at 9am I click the ‘admit all’ button on my Zoom meeting and nineteen happy, smiling faces instantly brighten my day! We begin our day as we always do, with a chat about nothing in particular. We enjoy listening to each other’s stories about Zoom birthdays, long walks and mischievous pets! The children are as courteous on Zoom as they are in the classroom, listening intently and joining in by raising their hands. 

The mornings have been spent completing  Mathematics and English and the afternoons spent learning about Science, Art and the Vikings. 

Well done this week Year 5, you trying your best and working hard! 

YEAR 4

Our Lent Term 2021 in Year 4 didn’t quite get off to the start we expected but the children have nevertheless excelled themselves as they have taken on the challenge of online learning once again! To start off the new term we spent 3 days working on the topic of ‘magic’! We did magic maths, created magical characters, wrote magical stories, drew wizards and thought about what we would give people if we had magical powers ourselves! No study of magic can be complete, however, without a magic wand, and it was fantastic to see the children’s creativity as they took on this task! This week we have started lots of new work – we’ve started our new book ‘Escape From Pompeii’, a new topic on the perimeter in Maths, we’ve begun to find out about the Romans and have been investigating ‘matter’ in our new Science topic so there will be lots to share with you over the coming weeks!

YEAR 3

What an amazing start to online learning Year 3 have had, with a great attitude of “School might be closed but our learning never stops!”. We have begun our new Topic “Stones and Bones” which is all about Stone Age Britain. We also started the book “Stone Age Boy” which we are using as a prompt for writing – this week looking at the suffixes -er and -est, and reviewing writing speech. In Science, we are not just being Scientists but also Rock Stars as we learn all about Rocks! We’ve learnt about Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic rocks, as well as the different properties rocks have. In Maths, we’ve been deepening our multiplication and division skills further. All that on top of learning to use Zoom and Google Classroom – a massive achievement! 

YEAR 2

This week, Year 2 have been doing some amazing learning! We have started our new topic, The Great Fire of London. We have been learning about the events of the fire, fire safety and been creating some amazing artwork, thinking carefully about the colours of the fire. In Literacy, we have been introduced to our new book ‘The Last Wolf’ and have written a guide to Red, the main character on how to catch wolves. In Maths, we have begun learning about multiplication and division. We have been adding equal groups together and have learned what an array is and how it can help us work out our multiplication calculations!

YEAR 1

On the final day of our first full week of Remote learning, I would like to say well done to the whole of Year 1 and thank you to all the grown-ups who have helped us become fantastic ‘Zoomers’ and online learners. It has been wonderful to be able to see each other every day, even if it is on a computer screen.

We have started thinking about our new class book ‘Goldilocks and just the one bear’ and written predictions about what we think will happen. We have also thought about the city scene from the beginning of the book and written a setting description and a new verse for our poem about the sounds that Baby Bear might have heard.

We have also started our new Maths unit ‘Numbers to 20’ and in Topic we have been thinking about the differences between the town and the countryside, and have created our own models.

RECEPTION

Learning to read is important, we all know that. But there’s evidence to suggest that the benefits of being read to frequently as a child goes way beyond just literacy skills.

The stories we hear as children shape our view of the world. Most small children live their lives in quite a limited environment, especially during a Lockdown. Reading stories to children can show them far-flung places, extraordinary people and eye-opening situations to expand and enrich their world. In our story of ‘The Gingerbread Man’, he has escaped out of the classroom, there is now no limit to the places he could visit!

Scientists have found that children who have fiction read to them regularly find it easier to understand other people. Through our shared storytimes this week, we have looked at sharing and it has been lovely to hear from parents how they have then seen their child share with a sibling, remembering what was said in the story.

The benefits children get from having stories read to them are hugely increased when parents talk and ask questions about the story as well. The Reception children have taken part in a live picture comprehension lesson this week and then had fun completing an interactive comprehension activity to help consolidate their phonic sounds too. Through all our live lessons this week, it has been lovely to see all the children discussing the stories we are sharing together.

NURSERY

Where has Jack Frost gone…….

This week we haven’t been blessed with the good weather we had last week and the children have been asking where he has gone. He has left us with wet weather but this hasn’t put us off exploring the school, looking for puddles and listening to sounds in the environment.

The ice theme has continued this week with the children creating an ‘Elsa’ ice castle. Do not underestimate the joys of a cardboard box. It is great for imagination skills and physical skills. It is also good for problem-solving as they are trying to turn their ideas into reality.

We have been improving the muscles in our hand by making marks in flour, writing winter words and painting.

The babies have had another great week all things messy. They have played with sand made from crushed cereal, animals hidden in jelly and snow made from bubbles. The silver treasure basket has been enjoyed by all as they can see their reflection in some of the objects and enjoyed listening to the sounds as they bang them together. 

Tuesday was kind and the babies had a walk to the beach. They enjoyed touching and feeling the cold pebbles, making marks in the sand and digging for treasure.

AWARD WINNERS

Reception – Certificates of achievement in Reception this week go to Valencia and Rocco.

Despite technical difficulties Valencia has been there at every Zoom lesson and I have particularly loved the time and effort she put into making her Gingerbread Man puppet, painted with gingerbread puffy paint so that it even smelt delicious too!

Rocco has tried very hard this week and taken an active part in all live lessons, often being the first to put his hand up to volunteer an answer. It’s wonderful to see the progress he is making in all areas of development.

Year 1 – This week, our Year 1 awards winners are Matilda, for her fantastic effort to build a 3D model of the countryside, and Annaiya, for her creative ideas in her Language work. Well done to both of you!

Year 2 – Archie for his super linking in his Phonics work, and Dolly for her great contributions in our live Language lessons.

Year 3 – This week, our Certificates of Achievement go to Thomas for his outstanding engagement and enthusiasm across his learning, and to Seluleko Bhembe for making such a great start at Rossall especially in such strange circumstances!

Year 5 – Kameron for working incredibly hard to master long multiplication, and Isabelle for fabulous work writing her myth in English. 

Year 6 – Isaac (6S) for outstanding effort and enthusiasm towards all activities and Joe (6S) for his outstanding quality of work and positive contribution in all tasks.

Evie and Esteban (6R) for consistently high quality work.

PHOTOS

For more pictures from this week, please click here.