Ice, Snow and Super Learning in Tregantle Class

Tregantle Class have continued their exciting topic learning on ice and snow, exploring it in lots of creative and hands-on ways. One of the highlights this week has been ice painting. The children used watercolours to paint large blocks of ice, and it was wonderful to watch the colours marble, run and mix as the ice slowly melted. A truly magical experience!

In our maths lessons, we have been focusing on the numbers 6, 7 and 8. Our brilliant mathematicians have been finding lots of different ways to make and represent these numbers, using practical resources and careful thinking to show their understanding.

We also enjoyed a fantastic visit to Saltash Library. We are so lucky to have the library right on our doorstep. The children loved story time with Mrs Orchard and were very excited to choose a new book to take home and enjoy for the week.

Finally, we have been incredibly impressed with Tregantle Class' writing this week. Their phonics skills are really coming together, giving them the confidence and ability to write the words they want to. We are so proud of all their hard work and enthusiasm for learning!

Well done, Tregantle Class - keep up the fantastic learning!

Welcome back to the new term.

We can't wait to get back into a routine with the children and to welcome new friends to our Nursery.

Our new focus story is 'The Three Little Pigs'; we have looked online and found some very different versions of this traditional story, even one where the roles are reversed and the wolf is a 'good guy'. Which version do you prefer?

We have tasked the children (and grownups) to search at home for the story and send us a picture of them reading it at home.
If you don't have one at gome, can you find one at Saltash library?

Class Lantic have had a fantastic week full of curiosity, creativity, and learning across the curriculum. In computing, we explored some very fun robots and thought about how they work. One of the highlights was learning about a robot chameleon, which could change colours just like a real one! The children loved discussing how technology can copy things we see in nature and had great ideas about what robots might be able to do in the future.

In literacy, we continued our work on the text Lost and Found. The children have been thinking carefully about the characters' feelings and the importance of friendship. They have shared thoughtful ideas, made predictions, and enjoyed retelling parts of the story using lovely language.

Our maths learning has focused on place value to 20. The children have been counting, ordering numbers, and representing them in different ways using tens and ones. They are growing more confident every day and enjoying practical activities to support their understanding. We also began our new history unit, learning about how toys have changed over time. The children were very excited to compare old toys with modern ones and talk about how materials and designs are different from the past. Well done, Class Lantic, for another brilliant week of learning!
Mrs Scott, Miss Sleep and Mrs Quick.

Last week was another busy and productive one in Year 2/3, with the children working hard across the curriculum and continuing to develop their skills and understanding.

English:
In English, the children focused on simple sentence construction, learning how to write clear and complete sentences. We revisited the importance of capital letters, finger spaces and full stops, and began to think carefully about punctuation to make our writing easier to read and understand. The children showed great effort in applying these skills to their independent work.

Maths:
In Maths, we worked on solving addition and subtraction problems, encouraging the children to choose appropriate strategies and explain their thinking. They practised using number bonds, place value knowledge and written methods to help them solve calculations accurately.

History:
Our History learning focused on the Wright brothers, exploring who they were and why they are significant. The children learned about their determination, early experiments and how their work helped lead to the first successful powered flight. This linked well to our wider topic on the history of flight.

RE:
In Religious Education, we learned about the first disciples, discussing who they were and why Jesus chose them. The children reflected thoughtfully on ideas of friendship, trust and following a role model.

Other Learning:
Alongside these focus areas, the children continued to engage enthusiastically in all areas of the curriculum. They showed positive attitudes, curiosity and a willingness to challenge themselves in lessons throughout the week.

Well done, Year 2/3, for another week of hard work and fantastic learning!

This week the children have started to explore ways in which we can show kindness.  We have had some grand conversations togethers along with some activities and stories to explore how being kind makes us feel, and who we can be kind to.  This included family, friends, animals and nature.

We have started our class Kindness Tree, where we will decorate the tree with our acts of kindness.

To expand our learning during this half term we will also look at our emotions, how to be a good friend and linking into our phonics activities will be 'People Who Help Us'. A lot to cover during this half term but the children have shown great enthusiasm already!

During our outside play the children have been working on their gross motor skills kicking and throwing with different size balls.

We have been using different tools for painting with such as brushes, fingers, rollers and sponges to see how we can create different creations using our own imaginations. 

Also this week we have introduced name recognition snack mats for the children at snack time, which has already been great for the children to recognize their name each day.  For self-registration in the mornings the children will find their handprint as normal, but we are introducing name writing templates where the children can trace the letters of their name.  This is age related and we are just encouraging the beginnings of name writing.  For our older children this encourages them to start forming the letters of their name in preparation for starting school but there is no expectation that a pre-school child needs to be writing their name by the start of school.

As always, if you have any concerns or would like to talk to an adult about your child then please do get in contact.

The Pre-School Team. 

Dreaming of desert islands...

We have had a busy and exciting week of learning in Duckpool class, with lots of opportunities for the children to build skills, be creative and deepen their understanding across the curriculum.

English & Reading
This week, the children have continued working hard in Read Write Inc, developing their reading fluency and comprehension!
In English, we began writing diaries, linking beautifully with our Geography learning. The children explored what life might be like on a desert island and used this to create imaginative and descriptive diary entries - a lovely thought amid some terrible weather of late! We have been really impressed with their ideas and effort.

Maths
In Maths, our focus has been on a combination of fractions, as well as multiplication and division, with lots of work on our times tables, too. The children have been focusing particularly on the 11x and 12x tables, and took part in mini-maths sessions throughout the week to build confidence and speed.

Geography
Our new Geography topic on deserts began this week. The children explored where deserts are found in the world and what makes them unique environments. This learning has supported their English diary writing brilliantly.

PE 
In PE, we refreshed our memories of some team games which we can play at break time and lunch times, in preparation for (hopefully) increasingly dry days ahead. We were also really proud of some of our class going to the table cricket final, in which Brunel came 3rd!

Computing
During Computing, the children worked on photo editing, learning how digital images can be created and edited. They showed great enthusiasm and creativity.

Science & RE
In Science, we launched our new topic on Electricity, beginning to learn about electrical devices and how electricity is used safely in everyday life, plus we made electrical circuits to light the bulb! I
In RE, we started a unit on racism, encouraging thoughtful discussions about fairness, respect and treating others kindly.

Art, Music & Languages
The children continued their Architecture project in Art, producing thoughtful and detailed work about Hundertwasser. In French, we learned about La Fête des Rois, and in Music, the children enjoyed a Classroom Jazz lesson, exploring rhythm and musical style.

PSHE & Assemblies
In PSHE, we began our new topic on relationships, focusing on positive interactions and friendships - how jealousy can be tough to deal with.

The week ended with our Achievers Assembly, celebrating the children's hard work and successes. Overall, it has been a fantastic week full of learning, creativity and enthusiasm. Well done to all the children for their excellent effort throughout the week!

Image courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@rpnickson

We have had a busy second week in Landaviddy class. On Monday, we enjoyed line dancing with Mrs Hillman in PE and learning the names for fruits in French. In Geography, we learnt about settlements - what a settlement is and the different types. During Computing lessons, we practised our digital drawing skills, to create a bag of items we would take with us to the International Space Station. In Science, we continued work on materials, where we conducted an investigation in the classroom. We were looking for objects we could describe as transparent, opaque, rigid or flexible. We will be working on an exciting DT project in the next few weeks - watch this space! 

In Maths, we have moved on to multiplication and division. All the children were very confident making and adding equal groups, which was great to see. In English, we have started a new unit on instructions. We have enjoyed looking at different examples of instructions, identifying features, writing commands with imperative verbs and constructing an introduction for a Lemonade recipe using rhetorical questions. We are hoping to make this next week!

Congratulations to Lowen, Iylah and April for being chosen as Landaviddy's People of the Week. And a big well done to Ella and Alfie for achieving their 99 club badges this week. 

We hope you have a super weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday. 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Lister and Miss Colton