Sapphire Class

Friday 10th September 2021

Wow!  What a fantastic week we have had in Sapphire Class this week.  All of the children have settled in well and I have loved starting to get to know them.  The children are learning about our class routines and what it means to be a member of the Sapphire Class family.  For reading this week, we have read books all about our emotions - please ask the children about the stories Lucy's Blue Hair and The Colour Monster.  I have been so impressed with the discussion we have had about our feelings and that it is Ok to have them.

In maths, we have started to learn about 3-digit numbers and focusing on our times tables.  This half term, the focus will be for the children to become really fluent in recalling their 10, 2 and 5 times tables.  They have brought home their Times Table Rockstars logins so that they can access the website at home.  Please encourage the children to use Times Table Rockstars 4 times a week for 3 mins as this will really help them.

https://ttrockstars.com/ 

I would also like the children to work on their maths fluency skills - this is things such as number bonds to 10 and mental addition and subtraction strategies. Please encourage the children to access Numbots as this will help to develop those skills.

https://play.numbots.com/#/intro

The children can use their Times Table Rockstars logins to access both sites.

The children have brought their reading books home today.  Please can these be read for 10 minutes every night and returned to school every day.  This is so Mrs Finnigan and I can read with the children and talk to them about the books they have read.

I have included some pictures below so that you can see some of the activities the children have joined in with this week.  They enjoyed yoga on Thursday and we started our new science topics - all about rocks.

Friday 25th June

I am so proud of everything the children have achieved this week.  We have been completing assessments and all of them have done brilliantly.

This week has been National Sports Week and the children have taken part in lots of activities.  On Monday, the children joined in with a body percussion activity and it was great to see them all try and join in with the rhythms they were being shown.  Tuesday was all about team building and we had some great fun building towers with shoes and playing a game where they had to pass messages down the line.  the children then went outside to play rugby with Mr Snelson and our Year 5 sports leaders.  On Wednesday, we went outside and had a football tournament and everyone had lots of fun.  On Thursday, the children participated in a session with a member of staff from the Groundworks team.  Today the children have joined in with a great yoga session from Active Families.

We have a busy week next week so there is some important information below.

The children have found out that their teacher next year will be Miss Stafford and they will be spending Tuesday and Wednesday in their new classroom.  Please look at the information on Class Dojo for details.

On Wednesday, the children will be performing their skipping routine for you at 2:30pm.  Please come into school via the gate in the carpark and you will be able to stand on the grass to see their super performance.

On Thursday, we are going to an adventure forest for the day.  The children will need to wear suitable clothes and footwear as they will get muddy.  Please look on Class Dojo for details.

Finally, on Monday, the children will be meeting with a GB athlete.  They will be joining in with some activities so can all the children wear their PE kits on Monday rather than Tuesday next week.

​​​​​​​I hope the weather changes for the weekend.  Have a super weekend everyone!

Friday 18th June 2016

It has been our first week in our new classroom and the children have settled in well.

This week, the children have continued writing our class story The Magic Paintbrush and it has been fantastic to see some of the amazing writing all of the children have done.  We have ended today, with the children creating story maps of the story they want to write for their independent write next week.

We have finished our fractions unit this week and I am so impressed with what the children have remembered.  They have been adding and subtracting fractions this week and they have all done really well.

In science, the children have started to learn about the parts of flowers and we had an afternoon where they dissected flowers to see all of the parts inside using magnifying glasses.  After this they created some posters to show what parts they found and added captions to describe what job each part does.  I have put some pictures below of the children working.

Also this week, we started a new geography topic about the Mediterranean and the children had fun using an atlas to label the countries found here.  Ask the children about some of the countries they found.

Next week, is National Sports Week or Active 5 and we will be taking part in a range of sport activities.  There may be a change to our PE days so I will post a story on Class Dojo to let you know when that will be.  The children will be working with our Year 5 Sports Leaders and taking part in a football tournament.

Please encourage the children to practice their 3, 4 and 8 times tables and to use Times Table Rockstars and Numbots when they can at home to help to develop their confidence.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Friday 28th May

Good afternoon everyone.  We have had a great week this week in Sapphire Class and the children have produced some fantastic work.

In English, the children completed their reports on dolphins, tigers, elephants and kangeroos this week and I was so impressed with their writing and presentation.  I really enjoyed reading the children's work and I learned some amazing facts too.

The children have continued with their fractions learning this week and they can all read and write fractions really well.  They have also worked hard with their times tables this week and counting in steps of 25 and 50.

During afternoons this week, the children have been focusing on their art.  They have investigated patterns from around the world and used this to create their own printing blocks.  On Monday, the children created tie dye pieces of fabric and designed their own printing block.  On Thursday, the children then printed onto their pieces of fabric.

After working so hard this half term, the children definitely deserve a holiday. 

Have a lovely half term everyone!

Friday 21st May

This week the children have worked hard to finish their non-chronological reports all about the pangolin and it has been great to read them.  The children have been researching different animals for their reports next week and I can't wait to see the writing they complete.  In maths, the children have made a super start to their learning about fractions and they can identify when parts of a whole are equal or unequal.  We will continue our learning on fractions next week where they will begin to learn to write and add fractions.

In science this week, the children completed an investigation to find out how water travels through plants.  I have included some pictures below so you can see some of the fun that they have had.  In RE, the children continued their learning around Sikhism and they found out about why sharing is so important to the religion.

Gail, our skipping coach, was back in school on Wednesday and the children loved showing off their skipping skills.  I have put some pictures below of them practicing their skipping routine and I know they are really looking forward to showing you what you have learned later in the term.  Today, in French, the children really impressed me with their singing in French.  Madame Aimes is so impressed with how hard they are working at learning a new language.  The children can ask how you are, tell you their age and let you know who is in their family.  Ask them to show you what they ave learned.

PE is back to normal next week - Tuesday and Friday.

Please can you encourage the children read a little every day - even if it is just 10 minutes.  Also, they all have their Times Table Rockstars and Numbots logins so please can you encourage them to practice their maths skills too.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday 14th May

Well it has been an action packed week this week in Sapphire Class.  For their amazing behaviour in class, they had an afternoon in the forest and Tuesday.  They had a fantastic time with Mr Mitchell and Mrs Dunn playing games and taking part in lots of forest activities.

This week in English, we have been learning lots of facts about the mysterious pangolin.  The children have been working hard using the features of a non-chronological report to write about this animal.  Their sentences have been amazing.  Ask them what they have learned about the pangolin.  This week in maths, the children have finished their learning on addition and subtraction - they have really impressed with their reasoning skills and how they have used column notation for addition and subtraction.

For PE this week, the children took part in a session with a coach from Durham Cricket Club and they had a fantastic time practicing their batting, catching and fielding skills.  In science, the children have been observing the beans they planted for their science experiments and I can't wait to see their results.  The children had a lovely time on Thursday in their RE lesson with Mrs Bage learning about Divali.  They got to try some delicious traditional sweets, make lotus flowers, draw mendhi patterns and create Divali lamps.

Next week, our PE lessons will be on different days.  The children will need to come to school dressed for PE on Monday and Wednesday.

Have a great weekend!

Friday 7th Week

It has been another learning filled, busy week in Sapphire Class.  This week, we have really been focusing on improving our handwriting and making sure that it is consistent - I have seen such an improvement already.

If the children would like to practice their handwriting at home, they can use a tablet to log onto Letter Join for more practice.

The details are below:

https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/log-in.html

In English, the children have all worked brilliantly on their independent writing and I have read some fantastic stories based on The Secret of Black Rock.  I have been really impressed with the children's sentence structure and use of adjectives to describe.  On Thursday, we began to investigate Non-chronological reports.  The children have worked hard to learn about and explain the structure.  I am looking forward to beginning our shared class writing all about the pangolin next week.

This week, the children have continued to recap what they know about adding in columns and using their maths knowledge to explain their understanding.  Today, the children were using 4 dominoes and they had to make a square so that all of the sides added up to a surprise number.  I have put the dominoes below.  Have a chat with the children to see if you can find the surprise number together.

The children have also been investigating The Rocket which was invented by George Stephenson and they created some colourful, interesting facts pages about what they had learned.  In science with Mr Mitchell, the children have planted some runner bean seeds for an investigation - I am really looking forward to seeing the results.

I have put some pictures below so that you can see some of the things the children have gotten up to this week.

Have a great weekend!

Friday 30th April 2021

I am so proud of what the children have achieved this week - they have all been amazing!

At the beginning of the week, the children completed our class story of The Secret of Black Rock and they have planned their own version.  The children are taking the main character Erin into the dark, twisted forest on an adventure.  I am really looking forward to seeing what they write about Erin at the start of next week.  I will put a picture below of our class story so you can see some of the amazing sentences they all came up with.

In maths this week, the children had started to revise what they know about addition and subtraction and they have worked hard on adding and subtracting in their head.  So if they come shopping with you over the weekend, get them to help you add up some of the things they buy - they were working great on this during the week.  Today was the Sir Captain Tom Moore Challenge 100 Day and everyone is Sapphire Class really enjoyed lining up 100 1ps, 2ps, 5ps and 10s.  The children predicted how long their lines would be and showed off their super counting skills by counting how much their line was in money.  I will put some pictures below so that you can see what they got up too.

Next week, PE will return to our normal days of Tuesday and Friday and they will have lots of opportunity to practice their brilliant skipping skills that they learned yesterday.

This week, I have sent home a copy of the children's log ins for Times Table Rockstars and Numbots (it is the same login information).  Please can you encourage the children to log on to practice their skills. 

https://ttrockstars.com/

https://play.numbots.com/#/account/school-login-type

I will put some pictures below of the work the children have been learning.

Have a great bank holiday weekend everyone!

Thursday 29th April 2021

Sapphire had had a session with Gail the skipping coach today and there were all amazing!  All of the children tried really hard and they were able to jump using the long rope.  The children will be practicing their skills over the next few weeks and Gail will be back to teach them more skills in a few weeks.

Below are some pictures from the session.

Friday 23rd April

Sapphire Class have had a fantastic week this week and we have all enjoyed time out in the sun.  Our Dojo star this week is Lola and our star of the week was Jodie who produced some fantastic writing - congratulations girls!

The children have continued to write their stories of The Secret of Black Rock and it looks amazing - look out next week for a picture of the completed class story.  In maths the children have continued to work hard on their number and place value skills and they all did brilliantly in the end of topic task today.

In history the children had lots of fun creating a timeline of the life of George Stephenson and they spent time researching some of his inventions.  They then had to order them by which one they thought was the most important.  Today the children had their second French lesson and Madam Aimes thinks they are all superstars as they are picking up the new words and language really well.

Next week, there will be change to our PE day.  We have a skipping coach coming in on Thursday so children will need to wear their PE kits on the Thursday and come in normal uniform on Friday.

Below are some pictures of the work the children have done this week and a video of some of them speaking French.

Have a great sunny weekend everyone!

Friday 16th April 2021

What a busy week we have had in Sapphire Class!  All of the children have had a fantastic first week back and I am so proud of everything they have done.

We have started writing a new story this week called The Secret of Black Rock and the children have worked so hard using good punctuation and thinking of amazing adjectives to include in their sentences.  This week in maths, the children have been recapping their place value knowledge and I have been so impressed with what they have remembered.  They have been able to use their knowledge in lots of different ways including telling you how many tens are in 345 - try challenging them at home!

This week we have been focusing on the 8 times tables and they are gaining confidence in counting in 8s so we are moving on the learning the times table facts.  Here are the songs we have been singing - the children love to sing and dance along:

3 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzVyBQ5uTbo 

4 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBmSshEDVnQ

8 times tables: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN3RG5iLKpo

We have started a new history topic and we are learning about George Stephenson and why he is a local hero.  Today, we started out new French lessons with Madame Aimes and we all had a great time joining in with the songs, actions and games.  

Remember that our PE days are Tuesday and Friday.  On Friday's we have started a new sport - we are learning to play hockey.

Please ask the children about what they have learned this week.  I am sure they would love to show you the new things they have learned.

Have a great weekend!

Friday 26th March

We have a had a fantastic few weeks back in school before the Easter holidays and it has been lovely to see all of the children back.

This week, the children have been focusing on the Easter story and thinking about what is good about Good Friday.  Rev. Tim zoomed into our class on Tuesday and talked to us about the message of Good Friday and we all learned that Good Friday means Holy Friday.  Today the children have really impressed me with their thoughts and opinions about the events of Good Friday.

Have a lovely holiday everyone!

Friday 6th November

It has been a fantastic start to our half term.  The children have continued their learning around addition and subtraction - they can now use a column for 3 digit numbers and make exchanges when they need too.

This week, the children have started to write their a disaster story called Flood.  They are working hard to develop their vocabulary and make careful choices about the words that they use.  This week, we have looked at using adverbs and conjunctions to add detail to sentences.

In class, we have started our new science topic all about animals and their diets and the children have grouped animals based on the type of food that they (and us) eat.  Also this week, we began a new Geography topic called What makes the Earth angry?  We started this topic by learning about some famous volcanoes around the world.

Next week we will be finding out why November 11th is important and we will finish the week doing some activities for Children in Need.

Friday 16th October

This week the children have started to plan their stories where they go on an adventure in the Iron Age.  Earlier in the week, they researched the Iron Age so that they have lots of facts to help them with their planning.  I can't wait to see their writing next week - I think it is going to be fantastic.

In Maths, the children have continued to work on their addition and subtraction and I am really impressed with how well they can exchange 100s, 10s and 1s to help them with this.

We started to learn about soil this week and we were all shocked to learn that soil is one of the most important things in planet Earth.  Next week, we will be investigating some different types of soil and I wonder what we will find out.

Our history learning has continued this week.  We have found out lots of information about the Iron Age and today we have looked at some of the fantastic achievements of the first people to live in Britain.

Friday 9th October

After teaching over zoom this week, it has been lovely to get back to school today and see all of the children in person.  As they have been so great over the last 2 weeks, they have all enjoyed some hot chocolate and marshmallows as a treat this afternoon.

In maths, the children have worked really hard with their addition and subtraction and they have nearly got the hang of exchanging tens and ones when they need to.

Today, the children completed their Stone Age Boy story.  I have read through all of their stories this morning and I am so impressed - they have done an amazing job.  Next week, they will be planning and writing an independent story of their and I can't wait to see what they will produce.

The children have started to learn about Mary Anning and how fossils are made this week.  I know they have enjoyed looking at fossils and trying to work out which animal it was from the clues they could find.

Please remember to download the Class Dojo app onto your phone (the free version is the one that you need) and you will get a notification to let you know when your child has been a star and received a Dojo point.  Please let me know if you need any help with it.

Finally, I would like to say a massive thank you to Mrs Dunn for all of her fantastic work with the children this week in Sapphire Class.

Friday 2nd October

This week has been a week of firsts for myself and the children.  As I have been isolating at home, Mrs Dunn has been with the children in class and I have been teaching lessons through zoom.  I am so proud of how well the children have adapted to this and I know they have produced some fantastic work.

In maths, the children have completed their Place Value unit and we are now moving onto Addition and Subtraction.  They children have made a great start and they have been showing off their calculating skills.

In English, the children have continued to write our shared Stone Age Boy story and they are doing an amazing job using some of the new grammar they are being taught.

In history this week, the children have created their own Stone Age Cave Paintings and they have been researching some of the prehistoric animals.

Friday 25th September

We have had a super busy week this week and all of the children have worked really hard.  

In maths we have been ordering and comparing numbers to 1000 and the children have all shown they have a very good understanding of the hundred numbers we have been using.

From next week, we are going to be focusing on remembering the multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times table so any spare 5 minutes that you have, please encourage the children to practice these facts from Year 2.

In English, I was so impressed with the children's writing when they wrote the story for an animation called The Fox and a Mouse - I'll put the link below so you can share the animation with them and they can tell you what they did.  This week, we have also started writing a class story called Stone Age Boy.  They children are doing a great job learning new Year 3 grammar and putting it into their writing.

In science this week, I was really impressed with the children's knowledge of some of the rocks we have been learning about and they have been able to test them using tools and water.  Next week, we will be testing some of the rocks with vinegar to see what happens and investigating how rocks are used around us.

Everyone, has really enjoyed history this week as we have been archaeologists and investigating different tools from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.  You can see some of the tools they have been investigating in the pictures below.

Finally, today all of the children in Sapphire Class have brought home a letter about Class Dojo.  Please read the letter and let me know if you have any questions.  I showed the children some of their characters today and I know we are all excited to get started with the new system next week.

Friday 18th September

Everyone is Sapphire Class have had a fantastic week.  The children continue to be sensible and follow the rules in our bubbles to keep everyone safe and healthy.  

This week, everyone had great fun in science - we were learning about the different types of rocks and how they are made.  The children enjoyed using chocolate to investigate and they had even more fun eating the chocolate rocks that they made.

In maths, we have continued with our place value unit.  The children are more confident knowing how many 100s, 10s and 1s are in 3 digit numbers.  Next week, we will begin comparing and ordering the numbers.  The children have also revised adding and subtracting within 20 and counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.

In English, we have continued to read Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers.  The children have written their own verses for It's A Wonderful World and they have planned and written their own leaflets about staying safe and healthy in school.  I have been so impressed with their writing and how hard they have worked.

In reading this week, we have read and shared stories which have central characters with hearing impairments.  The children had fantastic ideas and we finished the week learning a little bit of British Sign Langugae (BSL).

Also this week, the children have been creating timelines about British history.  We are learning about the Stone Age to the Iron Age.  Everyone worked hard to order the tricky dates (the numbers were very big) and began to use AD and BC when they were ordering.

Friday 11th September

This week has been our first full week in Sapphire Class and it has been a fantastic week.  It has been a pleasure to see all of the children happy and healthy and to start to get to know them.  In class, the children have settled in well, being sensible and following the new rules we have in place.

On Monday, we started our new unit in maths, Place Value, and the children are learning and showing their understanding of numbers up to 1000.  In English we have been sharing the book Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers and we have used the story to support us in our writing.  When we are writing, we are thinking about using adjectives and making sure we remember full stops and capital letters.

This week, we have also been working on handwriting and I am very proud of the progress I can see in the children's books already. 

We have shared lots of stories this week.  Our class novel is The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley and we are nearly to the part where our main character Charlie finds himself in the Stone Age.  We can't wait to find out what happens when he gets there!  Over the week, we have shared stories to help talk about our feelings and the stories The Colour Monster and Lucy's Blue Day have helped us do just that.

Next week, we are going to be starting our spellings so I will be sending home some spellings for the children to learn on Monday so that we can quiz on them on Friday.  On Thursday, we will be starring our new PE Unit so please make sure the children come dressed for PE.  I have included the PE letter down below.