This week’s spelling patterns are below if you’d like to work on these at home. We do a dictation activity using these words/patterns each Friday. Please feel free to add words of your own; it isn’t just about learning a “list” of words but understanding how words are built up and spelt.
Team Jewel: continue to work on the oy sound
For example: boy, toy, joy, enjoy, ahoy
Team Gold: adding ing endings (where you don’t need to change the root word)
For example: reading, speaking, cleaning, eating, fighting, lighting, sighting
Tricky words: earth, through, always
Team Treasure: plurals- adding s to the end of words to make the plural form
This Monday afternoon P3C will have access to the Loose Parts equipment in the woodland area of our playground. This is a great opportunity to develop exploration through imaginative play. The class really enjoyed exploring and experimenting with the loose parts last year
Loose parts are open ended resources for play, which can be put together, taken apart, moved and coordinated in various ways, and which allow the freedom of motivation to play, which is child led, imaginative and creative. Loose Parts play allows the opportunity to identify and assess risks within resources and various types of play. It allows experience of problem solving, teamwork, negotiation and co-operation, all while nurturing the development of self-confidence and physical skills like agility, balance and co-ordination.
There is a chance that children will get muddy whilst using this equipment – especially if it rains throughout the day. It would be best if your child comes to school in warm and older clothes on today which you don’t mind getting muddy.
This week has been ‘Health Week’ at Buckstone Primary and we enjoyed coming to school in our sports clothes!
As part of ‘Health Week’ we have been learning about the different parts of our body and what they are called. We also were learning about a healthy diet and what foods we should eat lots of and ones we should only have every so often! We worked together as a group to practice our teamwork skills.
We also got to go down to the waterboard field this week to take part in some action packed P.E with Mr Segall.
We also discussed our physical and mental health and were learning about how to look after our physical and mental health. We had some classroom Yoga and mindfulness colouring activities to help us.
Literacy – In literacy this week we have continued our learning of the soft ‘c’ sound, creating sentences using words with a soft ‘c’ sound. We have also been working really hard on this week’s book reviews.
In numeracy and mathematics this week we have continued our learning of place value in numbers and have been practicing partitioning numbers into tens and units to help us with addition and subtraction.
Other learning:
This week we had outdoor loose parts play and our creativity ran wild! We got a little mucky but had some really imaginative play!
ICYMI: Our performance of true colours is now live on the Buckstone YouTube channel. You will have received an email with a link.
In writing we created fact files linked to our health week learning. Our fact files were about why different groups of people eat or avoid certain foods and why. This included religion, age and allergies.
We worked on a reading comprehension based on plastic pollution following on from Earth week.
We met our literature circle group. We have been referring to the literature circle rubric – see below – to help us to asses our contributions to our group discussions. We have made great progress this year and are hoping to achieve a 3 or 4 by the end of P6.
Please note, our reading homework is due for Wednesday 19th next week.
Maths
In maths we have continued to practise our core numeracy skills – focussing on times table facts and column multiplication. Please see link for a video explanation of this method – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wayoCIgl08I
Good afternoon Mega Meerkats, we have had a great week this week focusing on Health Week. We have been getting active and learning about all the ways that we can keep our body and mind healthy.
Literacy
In reading this week, we have been learning about the history of Ramadan. We highlighted the key information in a reading passage and shared our thought with the class.
We continued with our persuasive writing adverts that we planned. We learned about the standards that adverts must meet such as: telling us all the information that we need to know about a product and that we cannot lie on an advert. We discussed the different persuasive language techniques that adverts use, including: repetition, speaking to people directly (saying ‘you’) and highlighting the positive things about a product or company. We created our own poster adverts for products and companies of our choice.
Things to do at home –
See the progress record for this week’s reading pages. Practise the different reading skills that we have focused on in class such as: creating and answering your own questions, pick an important part of the book and illustrate it, write a short paragraph about why it is an important part of the book or use a dictionary to find the meaning of any unknown words.
Spelling words will be posted on Monday – practise writing them out in the air with your finger and trying to use them in sentences.
Try to persuade someone at home to agree to something you believe in (to recycle more, to use less plastic, that dancing is the best sport, that your football team is the best football team). Try using the techniques that we have discussed in class.
Maths and Numeracy
This week in numeracy we have continued with our topic of time. We have been learning how to convert 12-hour time into 24-hour time by adding 12 to the hour.
In our time topic, we have also been practising calculating time durations. For example, ‘I left the house at 9:30am and returned home at 12:05pm, how long was I out of the house for?’ To work this out we have been using an empty number line. I have attached the working for this example.
Log on to Sumdog and try to complete this week’s challenge ‘Time Tastic’ before it ends next Friday.
Practise your times tables throughout the week to improve your mental multiplication. Focus on times tables you find tricky
Other curricular areas
For health week we used our ICT time to research different healthy foods. We discussed what makes food healthy and how these healthy foods affect our bodies, particularly our organs.
During the week we learned about different substances and how these can affect our health and our bodies.
We began our new topic of ‘Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood’ this week where we learned the proper names of the parts of our bodies.
During our outdoor learning time we completed the daily mile and we all seen an improvement in our fitness towards the end of the week.
This morning P5M had a great time at the waterboard field for the sports morning. I am so impressed with P5M, I seen excellent team work, encouragement and great behaviour this morning. Well done!
This week the emphasis has been on healthy living and we have enjoyed developing our understanding through a variety of activities in Health Week..
We have also carried on learning across the curriculum.
Today’s Blog has been complied together by P4H
Spelling for week beginning 17th May
Silent ‘k’ followed by ‘n’ – kn
and remembering that plurals change ‘f’ to ‘v’ before adding ‘es’ – knife – knives
knee
knight
knot
knead
knew
knowledge
knives
kneeling
knitting
knocked
TRICKY WORDS
know no
We wrote stories using a suitcase as a starting point. We thought about characters, setting , time, and what happened. We used our imaginations .It was part of Big Writing. We remembered to use punctuation and tried to include interesting adjectives ,connectives and openers.
Reading
We set our reading target together in our groups and discussed the story so far..
We continued our class novel. the Titanic Detective Agency and have learnt about 2 of the main characters, Bertha and Johan . By looking for clues in the text we have built up an idea of their class, their family, where they have come from and why they were going to USA.
Numeracy
We developed our division skills and shared objects equally in groups. We made links between the tables. e.g 2 x 5 =10. 10:- 2 =5 10 :- 5 =2
We divided the stations of the 2 and 3 times tables equally, without remainders, using our knowledge of multiplication facts. We made the link
Some challenged themselves even further with the 6 times table .
Home learning ideas. Make the link with these number fact families activities.
Mrs Murray told us all about First Aid and we learned what to do if someone was cut, choking, had a head injury , burns, bleeding, broken bones. She also told us how to use first aid
We talked about Healthy diets and how to look after ourselves safely.
We talked about our bodies and what we could see on the outside. We measured our height and our shoe size. We realised we are all different.
Resisilence
We learned the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset
A fixed mindset avoids challenges, gives up easily, gets frustrated and ignores feedback and feels threateneed by others’ success
A growth mindset never gives up, takes on challenges, learns from others’ successes. It is good to have a growth mindset .
Home Learning Explain what the power of yet is about
PE
We looked at what makes a good runner and discovered with was our best foot for a standing start. We improved our technique.
We found out that using your arms helped you jump further as it pushes your weight forward. We learned how to mark how far you have jumped.
We practised for the “sports” at the Waterboard Field
At the Waterboard Field Mr Segall set up 4 stations. We divided into 4 groups and went round the 4 stations
They were shuttle run, speed bounce, target throwing and standing long jump. We had about 6 minutes at each. At the end we took part in running and obstacle relays.
Photos to follow next week!
Titanic
We explored the lives of the passengers . We learned that there were different classes in 1912 and that people were not treated equally. Some children had to leave school to go to work as the family needed money.
We found out what it was like living in Belfast in a ship builder’s family in 1910.
We researched how the ship was divided and discovered the Upper classes had the most space and the crew had the least.
We have started thinking about costumes for our show – please get in touch if you are not sure what is needed or if you need help sourcing anything.
Homework is due on Monday – one task was to be completed from each box and uploaded to the ‘Homework’ file on Teams. The grid is also in the homework file if you need it.
We had a fabulous Sports Day (photos coming next week) as a class!
Miss Collyns
Literacy
This week we practised using speech correctly in our writing. We wrote a short story with a conversation between two people. Our spelling rule was words that end in ible and able. We did Literature Circles. We also did some Coraline comprehension.
We did some more work on algebra this week. We looked at word problems and we also did an algebra assessment. Some of us also worked on expanding brackets. We also did problem solving and a maths mystery.
Other Areas
We have started practising our P7 show!
We got put into teams and had to make something out of the loose parts. We had to use our teamwork, communication and co-operation skills.
In PE we did a capture the flag tournament and we did a daily mile and played football. We also had Sports Day at Waterboard Field.
We started a Health and Wellbeing topic about our bodies and our feelings.
This week we have had lots of fun focussing on our health and wellbeing for Health Week! We enjoyed our mini sports day and learning about the SHANARRI indicators! I hope you have enjoyed this week of learning in school. We have had a very busy week – you have all worked really hard! Well done!
Here is what we have been up to this week:
Literacy
In literacy this week we have learned four new sounds – ‘ng’ and ‘nk’. We enjoyed thinking of words which have the sounds in them, looking for words in our reading books and drawing pictures of words which have the sounds in them. We also enjoyed writing words with these sounds in sentences, reading texts and highlighting the new sounds and playing games! We also continued to learn and look at the Block 3 tricky words. Please continue to practice your tricky words at home and our new sounds each week. Here are some videos we use in school which you could watch again at home. Please practice learning how to read, write and use the tricky words. (Block 1-Block 3)
For reading, we each got a new ORT book and we predicted what we thought was going to happen in the story before reading, we had word hunts and we read both individually and with a partner. We also practised our comprehension skills by completing a fill in the missing word activity sheet. We enjoyed the extra challenge of reading our book backwards this week! Reading books will be sent home on a Thursday and to be returned to school on a Monday.
Things to try at home;
Practice reading your reading book which is sent home! Read the book forwards and backwards, ask your child questions about the story, the characters etc. You could extend the learning of the book and ask your child to write the next part of the story.
Revise our new sounds and tricky words! Can you read them and write them?
Write a story about your weekend! Can you add lots of detailed language?
Recognise and use our non-negotiables in everything you write!
Numeracy
In numeracy this week we practised our counting skills and recognising numbers up to 100. We also looked at 100 squares and noticing patterns on them. We counted screened and unscreened collections together and also practised making equal groups. We also practiced thinking of other ways to make numbers on our fingers, sequencing numerals and identifying numbers up to 100.
Things to try at home:
Practice counting to 100.
Can you notice numbers in your local environment? On buses, houses or outdoors? What number comes before or after the one you see? What is 10 more than that number?
Other Curricular Areas
P.E: We enjoyed our sports day, doing yoga and dance in the classroom and our morning maths exercise counting activity.
French: We have been learning how to count to 10 in french and basic greetings. We also have been learning the days of the week and how to say ‘Today it is..’ We also learned how to say my name is and practised introducing ourselves to a partner. We are really enjoying learning French with Ms Leach!
Health and Wellbeing: We enjoyed learning about SHANARRI and drawing pictures of a time we have felt safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, responsible, respected and included. We also discussed what each of the words meant.
Photos of the Week:
P1L’s Highlights of the Week:
Jack – I enjoyed doing my maths worksheet.
Abigail – I liked doing the Sporticus work outs.
Barney – I liked doing maths this week.
Haniya – I liked playing with the loose parts.
Lucy – I liked learning about Health and Wellbeing and how to keep myself healthy.
Alex – I liked playing with my friends.
Next Week:
Ms Leach will be teaching the class on Monday.
P.E will be on Monday and Thursday.
Please bring appropriate outdoor clothing as we will have one outdoor lesson per day.
On Friday we will be going to do Outdoor Loose Parts in the Playground. Please wear appropriate clothing you don’t mind getting dirty or muddy!
Please return your reading folder (book and reading diary inside the folder please!) on Monday!
Please find below a Reflective Friday for this week. Our show is progressing well. The children are working on adding expression and actions as well as learning their lines. Well done P7F!
Spelling: this week we practised our spelling words using Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check; we also did a carousel of activities: paint, chalk, fancy writing and making our sounds from straws.
Team Jewel- revising ir and moving on to ou and oy.
Team Gold– continuing our work on adding ‘ing’ endings to words where you don’t need to make any changes to the root word.
Team Treasure- ‘ea’ words that make either the ‘e’ or ‘ee’ sound.
Reading- reading for information about Eid; using our skim and scan skills to find tricky words in our own reading books.
Handwriting– practising formation, focusing on the correct height of letters.
Writing- we wrote an imaginative story as our writing assessment piece.
At home ideas:
Skim and scan a book/magazine/comic from home to pick out as many of your tricky words as you can find.
Read for enjoyment a book/comic of your choice. Can you read on your own every day for 15 minutes or more?
Numeracy/Maths
Beginning our work on fractions. We talked about how to find half of a shape and half of a number. Some of us used counters to help us with this, others used our 2 x table knowledge. We talked about how the two halves have to be EQUAL.
Practising our speedy times tables
Continuing to work on measure using trundle wheels, metre sticks and rulers.
At home ideas:
Fractions: draw some shapes on paper and cut them out. Can you practise halving them by folding them? Which shapes can you half exactly? Are there shapes that can be halved in lots of different ways? Are there any shapes that you can’t half?
Keep working on your counting up skills: 2s, 5s and 10s (and 3s and 4s if you feel ready). Don’t start at zero every time, for example, “count up in 2s from 22 to 40.”
Other Areas
Health Week- we found out about the correct names for our external body parts; we looked at healthy eating and designed healthy eating posters including ideas from the Eat Well plate; we took part in some mindfulness activities- colouring, Cosmic Kids and meditation.
PE- we worked on making up our own dance routines and we also had a class Sports Day, which was super fun!
RME– we learned about traditions involved in the Muslim Festival of Eid al-Fitr.
At home ideas:
Talk to an adult at home about the healthy foods that you enjoy eating. Can you have a go at adding some extra healthy foods to your diet or trying something new?
Show off your dance routines to your family.
Talk about the similarities between Eid al-Fitr and other celebrations that you and your family enjoy together.
Buckstone Primary School 