A Day Trip to London Performance
1W delighted their audience on Wednesday with their class assembly, which focused predominantly on their work on London. The boys were sensational. They threw themselves into our class assembly with great enthusiasm and energy, delivering a perfect performance. Outstanding work boys! Class 1W all recited their lines beautifully and spoke with confidence and eloquence. The assembly finished with a song and a short performance on their ukuleles, providing the boys with an opportunity to display their musicality and this they did with real gusto!
As always, I am extremely proud of all the boys in class 1W. I would also like extend my gratitude to the parents of 1W for their continued support.
During the week, the boys learnt about the London tube map. They developed their ability to read a map and reinforced the importance of a key. Once the boys had analysed the map, they then responded to questions using and eliciting information from a London tube map. For their next Humanities lesson, the focus was on producing London fact files. These included information such as the population, languages spoken in London and the currency used.
Our shared text this week was ‘Katie in London’ by James Mayhew. English lessons saw the boys writing captions to describe the pictures from the text. Towards the latter part of the week, the boys were tasked to write a postcard pretending to be the main character from the story, describing a day out in London.
For our Science lessons, we have continued our work on plants. The boys learnt about seed dispersals and the different ways that plants spread their seeds to reproduce. Maths lessons focused on dividing even numbers equally into groups and applying knowledge of division to solve problems. Next week, we will move on to making halves and quarters before beginning to make the connection between fractions and division.
Have an enjoyable weekend boys!
The London Skyline
During Maths this week, we have concluded our work on multiplication. The boys are now able to confidently count in groups of 2, 5 and 10. Next week, we will begin our work on division where the boys will be grouping and sharing equally.
For our English, we read an exciting book called ‘No, Nancy, No!’ by Alice Tait. The boys loved hearing all about Nancy’s trip to London and the mischief that she got up to! After having read the book, the boys responded to comprehension questions and listed the various London landmarks mentioned in the story. Do ask your son to explain to you what a proper noun is!
Our Art lessons saw the boys finish their 3D models. Please enjoy the photographs below. As you can see, the boys have captured the key landmarks found in London in tremendous detail!
It was with great pleasure that the boys learnt about the different modes of transport used in London during their Humanities lessons. The boys were eager to share the different modes of transport that they have used and drew accurate pictures of them.
Enjoy the bank holiday weekend boys and I very much look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday!
London!
It has been lovely to have the boys back after the Easter break and to see that their enthusiasm and passion for their learning continues to flourish.
As we approach our new topics for the Summer Term, 1W have immersed themselves in all things London! During our English lessons, the boys wrote a fact file about Buckingham Palace, listed alphabetically the different modes of transport that the King may use and completed a comprehension. For our Phonics sessions, we have continued our work on split digraphs.
Humanities saw the boys writing a postcard to Mr Wadge about the various landmarks in London and our Art lessons saw the boys using cereal boxes to create a 3D model of the London skyline! The boys thoroughly enjoyed being architects for the day!
On Wednesday, the boys were treated to a recycling workshop to celebrate Earth Day. They learnt about sustainability and the importance of protecting our planet. The workshop was extremely enjoyable, and the boys took great pleasure in making their own recyclable fish!
During Mathematics, 1W were introduced to the concept of multiplication through counting in groups. The boys have counted in groups of 3 and 5 thus far and are beginning to use language such as ‘4 groups of 5 is 20’.
For our Science topic on ‘Plants’, we have been labelling the different parts of a plant and discussed what each part of the plant does in order to survive.
Wishing you all a restful weekend and a huge congratulations to the boys for a superb effort during an incredibly busy week!
Cuffley Camp!
The boys had a wonderful day at Cuffley Camp on Tuesday.
They enjoyed exploring the woods and identifying the different animals that live there. To begin their day, the boys learnt about hedgehogs and their habitats. They were then challenged to create a safe home for hedgehogs to live in. The sessions throughout the day explored the ecology of the woods and resources available to us in the natural environment. A highlight of the day was the Forest School area, where the boys were able to play in the mud kitchens, identify insects in the pond and use rope swings. It was also lovely to share a lunch in a yurt whilst discussing the nature around us!
We hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as the boys enjoyed the day!
Wishing you and your families a restful and enjoyable Easter break!
Science Workshop!
The boys started the week with another visit from Suzi Hutchins. They engaged in mindfulness activities and discussed different strategies that could be used to help regulate their emotions.
We were also treated to a very exciting Science Workshop to celebrate British Science Week, the celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. The session covered numerous experiments ranging from electricity and sound to evaporation. The workshop concluded with the boys mixing citric acid, sugar and baking powder to make their own sherbert! The boys certainly found it to be an acquired taste.
For our Maths, we have continued our work on word problems. The boys were learning to be able to develop number sentences based on word problems as well as improving their use of number bonds and one-to-one bar model representations to suit the question.
This week’s English lessons focused on being able to read and respond to a fiction text. The boys read ‘The Problem with Penguins’ by Helen Stephens and responded to questions on the shared text. They also thought about which items they would take on an iceberg adventure and used this in their own writing. Phonics sessions have focused on being able to identify and spell words with split digraphs.
During Science lessons, 1W looked at the difference between light sources and reflecting light. They developed their understanding of what makes a fair test and furthered their understanding of how reflective light can keep us safe.
The boys were introduced to the term ‘Antarctic’ during Humanities lessons. They used a globe to locate the Antarctic, as well as the North and South Pole. It was with great pleasure that the boys learnt about various explorers and the failed Discovery and Nimrod expeditions to the South Pole. The importance of the explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott was highlighted and the boys discussed the challenges and treacherous conditions they faced, as well as the equipment and items they had with them. To conclude our artwork for the topic, the class finished their puppets inspired by numerous arctic animals discussed this term. The boys’ Show and Tells proved to be invaluable in the process as they had a sound understanding of what the various arctic animals looked like but more importantly could recall interesting and relevant facts about them, such as their habitats, diets and offspring.
To conclude the week, the boys took part in an Easter Egg Hunt. As you can see, a wonderful time was had by all!
Celebrating World Book Day
The week commenced with the boys developing their comprehension skills by responding to questions from the book ‘The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud’ by Jane Cabrer. They then sequenced the key events chronologically to retell the story using time words and adjectives.
Humanities saw the boys learning about different Inuit homes, they looked at a tupiq, igloo and houses raised from the ground due to the harsh weather conditions which the Inuit people face. The lessons also focused on the wildlife living in the Arctic, identifying various animals and their young as well as discussing how the animals effectively camouflage in the Arctic and why.
This week in Science, the boys were investigating how shadows are formed. The boys understood that when an opaque object blocks the path of the light, this will form a shadow, as the light cannot pass through. The boys enjoyed making shadow puppets using torches.
During Maths lessons, the lessons were based on solving word problems. The boys were learning to decipher whether addition or subtraction is the most appropriate operation when answering questions and to be able to use and apply number bonds and visual representations to solve word problems.
To mark World Book Day, the boys dressed up as their favourite characters and shared their favourite books. As you can see below, they looked fantastic!
We were also very fortunate to have a visit from a poet! Zohab Zee Khan talked to the boys about his poems and what inspired him to write them. The boys were enthralled by his poems and many decided that they too would like to be a poet!
Many congratulations to both Roman and Gabriel for their fantastic performances during the Pre-prep Poetry Competition Final. 1W were immensely proud of their peers and enjoyed cheering them on from the crowd. Once again well done to all of the boys in 1W for their wonderful entries, as always we were tremendously proud of the boys and their hard work and commitment to the task.
The Arctic!
The boys have settled back into the term well and have had a splendid week!
We started our new topic on ‘The Arctic’ which has been thoroughly enjoyed thus far. During Humanities lessons, the boys located the Arctic Circle and Arctic Ocean on a map. They went on to determine fact from fiction using statements based on life in the Arctic. We then delved deeper into what the term ‘Inuit’ means and discussed what Inuit homes, diet, transport and clothing are like.
Our English lessons have followed on from the work completed in Humanities lessons. The boys enjoyed listening to the book ‘Ice Bear’ by Nicola Davies. They used the facts that they had learnt from the text to create their own fact files about polar bears! It has also been lovely to see the boys’ wonderful Show and Tells on artic animals!
Science lessons saw the boys learning about what a light source is and Maths focused on the boys being able to represent numbers using base 10 materials. They were able to use place value to compare two or three numbers and determine which number is bigger or smaller.
Art was centred around the boys designing a puppet based on an Arctic animal, we look forward to seeing what they make next week! We were also very fortunate to have a visit from Suzi Hutchins from ‘Sit With Will’. She came in to train the boys for taking on the role of ‘Wellbeing Warriors’ and ‘Mindfulness Ambassadors’. It was an extremely insightful session where the boys were able to identify, accept and manage feelings. The boys were focused and calm, remaining engaged throughout.
Congratulations to all of the boys in 1W for their tremendous performances for our poetry competition. I am incredibly proud of each and everyone of you for your hard work, dedication and impressive performances. Each boy presented with passion and real gusto, very well done boys!
Wonderful Watercolours
During English lessons, 1W worked on their descriptive writing. They used various pictures as writing stimulus to construct sentences that had a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. The boys were then challenged to extend their sentences using adjectives and conjunctions.
For our Art this week, the boys experimented with watercolours. After having drawn RMS Titanic, the boys used watercolours to bring their vessels to life. They then added detail to their painting using a fine black marker.
The boys delved deeper into non-fiction writing during Humanities lessons. They learned about the RNLI and then produced their own piece of non-fiction writing highlighting its importance as an emergency service. To conclude the boys’ work on RMS Titanic, they completed an incident form emphasising the importance of lifeboats and identified the impact this incident had on naval safety moving forward.
The focus during Maths lessons, was on developing their understanding of numbers up to 40 and beyond. The boys were able subitise numbers to 10 and used this to identify groups. To end the week, the boys applied their understanding of grouping to efficiently count in groups of 5 and 10. They also worked on writing both the numerical and written versions of numbers to 40.
Wishing you all an enjoyable and relaxing half term. We look forward to our poetry competition upon the boys’ return to School!
Eco-Warriors!
On Monday, the boys were delighted to attend an online workshop from Southampton’s SeaCity museum, on RMS Titanic. The session provided the boys with an opportunity to gain a greater insight into life aboard the ship and to share their own knowledge. The boys were captivated throughout, they relished the opportunity to learn new information about RMS Titanic and its sister ship RMS Olympic. They were truly enthralled by the sounds and images shown to them and were fascinated by the story of Violet Jessop. Violet Jessop served as a nurse and stewardess aboard three sister ships of the famed White Star Line: Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic. All three vessels suffered disasters at sea, yet Violet survived them all. It was brilliant to see the boys take part in numerous quizzes and impress the staff with their depth of knowledge on the subject.
During the week, the boys took part in a Mental Health Breakfast where they brought their breakfast into the classroom! The morning was thoroughly enjoyed by all and the boys were keen to make it a regular occurrence!
Science lessons saw the boys creating a poster highlighting the importance of recycling and reducing waste. This newfound understanding of the need to dispose of waste correctly was actioned during Welly Time when the boys went on a rubbish hunt around the school. They checked the school grounds to ensure that the correct recycling bins were located in various parts of the school and then engaged in a discussion about the ways that we can encourage the school community to dispose of waste carefully and reduce waste.
Our English lessons, this week, were centred around the story ‘The Smallest Whale’ by Elisabeth Beresford. The boys began the week by completing comprehension style questions. The following lessons focused on the boys retelling the story including time words and adjectives in their writing. We then concluded the week by learning about nouns and identifying and listing nouns from the text.
As we have reached the end of our first Maths book, this week was spent revisiting all of the topics covered thus far. The boys completed questions based on addition, subtraction, height and length, positions, shapes and patterns. A very busy week indeed!
Wishing you all an enjoyable and well-deserved rest this weekend.
Marbling!
The boys demonstrated their creative talents during Art lessons this week. They talked about the use of water in art and discussed the different techniques that can be used to create a sea background. The boys employed the technique of marbling to capture the waves and various colours of the sea. Once they had created their background, they then drew RMS Titanic to place on top of their sea background. The final products were truly beautiful.
We have continued our work on the topic ‘Materials’ during Science lessons. The lesson saw the boys perform a simple test to ascertain which materials were waterproof and which would be the most appropriate to make a waterproof coat. They were able to conclude that certain materials are used for different purposes.
For our Humanities work this week, the boys furthered their understanding of the different classes on RMS Titanic. They explored various menus from each of the class dining halls and used secondary sources as evidence to draw similarities and conclusions. The boys then created their own menu for a meal aboard RMS Titanic. The menus that they developed were scrumptious and very appetising indeed! 1W also wrote their own message for a bottle, imagining they were aboard RMS Titanic. These were insightful and truly captured the boys’ fantastic subject knowledge on the topic.
Maths saw the boys comparing height and length using key terminology. They enjoyed measuring objects using other items as non-standard units of measurement, such as squares. To conclude the week, the focus was on understanding the concept of using rulers for measuring height and length.
Our class text ‘Saving Sinbad’ by Michael Foreman inspired lots of interesting writing during English lessons. The boys wrote detailed sentences using verbs, ordered key items in the story alphabetically and developed their comprehension skills by responding to questions based on the book.
