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Junior School Newsletter Friday 13 March 2020

@SibfordJS The official newsletter of

DEAR PARENTS El Dorado High School teachers

What a difference a week makes! After the cold, wind and seemingly non-stop rain of the previous fortnight, this week the school has been largely bathed in a warm and sunny conditions. Spring has definitely sprung judging by the small crowds of daffodils busily chatting away huddled in the light breeze! This change in the weather has led to an increase in the amount of Outdoor Learning we’ve been up to: we like getting out in any weather, but it’s certainly easier to do in brighter conditions! Much of this has seen Harry Wragg working with various classes by the raised beds and we should thank some of his Year 9 pupils who helped us by carrying out a spot of muck-spreading on the beds – I can’t say I’m upset that he didn’t volunteer me! Lots of crops have been planted and, later in the year, we look forward to a bumper crop from the newly energised beds. This morning saw us welcome several families to our Early Years Stay and Play session. It was their turn to take advantage of Harry Wragg’s green fingers – but judging by the amount of soil involved, I think it would be more accurate to refer to another colour! Elsewhere Year 5 finished the week with an entertaining Celebration Meeting all about explorers in the Tudor era. This followed hot on the heels of a successful Open Morning where many of our Year 5 and 6 pupils performed wonderfully as guides for our visitors.

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Junior School Newsletter Friday 13 March 2020 The following children received Celebration Certificates: Y1/2 - Amelie and Benjamin G Y3MA - Eliza Y4KS - Bertie M Y5LM - Arthur Y5HS - Mani Y6AP - Alice Y6NH - Erin Congratulations also to the children who received Head Teacher Awards; Y1/2 Florence, Fergus, Lukas, Darcey, Toby; Y5 - Lotte, Lucy, Joseph, Emily, Mani, Bill and Susannah who have really stepped up to learn their lines for our Celebration Meeting. In friendship Edward Rossiter Head of Junior School PS. Did you know that when Columbus first sailed to America his ship’s captain (Rodrigo de Triana) spotted land first but Columbus later claimed he had already seen it a few hours earlier, thereby claiming for himself the lifetime pension that had been promised by King Ferdinand to the first person to sight land?

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FOUNDATION AND RECEPTION We started a new ‘Talk for Writing’ text this week: Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham. We used the crates, tyres and planks to make a boat. The children took on the role of the animals each getting on to the boat. They all promised not to squabble, kick, jump, chase each other, flap, etc. After a short while, however, it all kicked off and we ended up falling into the river. Luckily, we all made it ashore safely and went inside for a lovely tea. We just so happened to have some lovely Honey Tea bread we had made the day before which we teamed up with cucumber sandwiches, fruit and a little glass of squash. The children have made their own mini versions of the story to take home and read to their families.

We have also taken inspiration from Mr Gumpy for our maths this week, exploring 1 more as the animals get on the boat and 1 less as they fall off. For one lesson Mr Gumpy decided to assign the animals numbered seats on the boat to try and keep the peace. The children did a fabulous job, reading the numbers and finding the ‘seat’. Some children decided to extend this and wrote their own numbers on the animals going all the way up to 100! In other news we have been having fun dressing up; making up dances; playing with Jelli Baff; sitting on a Whoopi cushion; exploring bubbles and static electricity; painting Camillias.….to find out more check out @SibfordEYFS.

YEAR 1 AND 2 Although Year 1 and 2 focused on shape in their maths a few weeks back, it has continued to help them in their art this week when continuing to look at the work of Paul Klee. If you venture into their classroom, you will see the ‘washing lines’ are full of their fabulous artwork. Though this week, using a bold background, they cut out the shapes and carefully constructed a shape jigsaw from the different shapes to create another version of ‘Castle and Sun’. Sometimes there isn’t a ‘right’ answer, you just have to prove or justify your understanding or choices. This is exactly what Becca Edwards asked the children when giving them a page full of different bridges. They talked about the purpose of bridges and made observations about them before they were asked sort them into groups. There was no guidance, only that they had to give Becca Edwards a reason! After learning about the different features of a castle last week, they worked on giving more detailed explanations of their features and why they might have helped protect it from invaders. Once again, some of the children remembered those slightly bizarre facts from their Warwick Castle trip at the start of term, particularly when describing the contents of the moat… Moving further away from Warwick and our local area, using their understanding of the continents of the world, they had to locate towers around the world in their Geography lesson. Luckily the weather has been milder this week, which has meant that fingers haven’t frozen off when they have been investigating and understanding that capacity is a measure for all things liquid. Working on non-standard and standard measures to compare, estimate and describe how full different containers are, to reading scales in ml to l. In their English, work has continued to focus on castle themed poetry, using alliteration and adjectives. Using playdough, they were asked to make dragons, thinking of imaginative vocabulary to then inspire them to write about them. In addition, some children snuck into the Year 5 classroom to do some rather advanced work using a thesaurus to generate more ideas to help them with their knight alliteration.

YEAR 3 This week the children in Year 3 discovered tackling time was a tricky topic to master. Not only were they using words like quarter and half but they also needed to understand past and to. In no time at all children were delving deep into extracts from, The Sword in the Stone classic by Disney. They have been thinking about why writers sometimes write using first person pronouns, like I, we and our. They also thought about why writers use second and third person pronouns like you, she, it or they. With great eagerness and lots of pronouns children are working on generating their very own chapter to this classic. In Science children turned their thoughts to ‘What do plants need to grow’ and tackled investigations to answer their own questions. They asked questions like, “Do plants need light to grow?” In History, all things Stone Age have arrived in Year 3. Children can be heard around the Junior School singing about mammoths and how to start a fire, all in preparation for their up and coming Celebration Meeting on the 20th March.

YEAR 4 Feeling inspired after reading ‘Where the Forest Meets the Sea’ in English, 4KS researched facts about ‘why rainforests are important’, ‘why rainforests are disappearing’ and ‘how we can save rainforests’. They then used this information to create striking persuasive posters, thinking about a catchy title, using facts to back up their main points and a concluding sentence. These are now nestled amongst the rainforest backdrop that the class created. In our Pottery sessions, the children have turned a simple pinch pot into fantastic Viking masks – cutting out eyeholes, as well as adding rivets and nose protectors. They are now adding details onto their designs before covering with a metallic glaze and waiting to see the end fired result… Linking into their work on Viking helmets, in History the class used a variety of sources to find out information about Viking life - some choosing ships, others warriors or invasions – to make their own fact files. We enjoyed getting out in the Sibford sunshine on Wednesday – splitting into two groups to learn how to sow seeds in containers and digging down deep to pull out pesky bindweed roots. The children demonstrated excellent teamwork and resilience and certainly built up an appetite for their lunch that day!

YEAR 5 As part of our English work on stories from other cultures, we have been learning about the story of the Willow Pattern Plate. We began by reading several versions of the story and discussing the reasons why these are all slightly different from each other – because the details have been retold orally over many generations, changing a little each time. We began by reading, writing and drawing the story. We then used drama techniques, including freeze framing and hot seating to help us really understand the action, and also the characters’ motives. It was freezing cold, but we had lots of fun and it really helped us with our learning. In other news, we have also been working on column methods for addition, subtraction and short division in Maths and finishing our work on Islam in RE. Much of the week has had a History focus as we have been preparing for our Celebration Meeting on Tudor Explorers. We have looked at a range of world maps produced at various points during the Golden Era of Exploration and marvelled at the idea that people once thought that the world was flat! We have acted, sung and danced about the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, which have both baffled and impressed us and are looking forward to sharing our learning with you on Friday afternoon.

YEAR 6

With no sports fixtures to play in or musicals to watch this week, it has been as close to a normal week as we get in Year 6. In English, the children have been studying The Tempest. After learning about the various characters and their exploits on a mysterious island (few of which were very Quakerly!) Year 6 have been turning Act 1 into a newspaper report in a Tudor style. Writing facts about the shipwreck, opinions and quotes from the main characters was challenging for most children, but thinking of a good pun for the headline was even more difficult – where was Ed Rossiter when you needed him? Our “exciting writing” is also still in full flow in English. This gives the children a picture to write about, with the only limit being imagination and the 10 minutes allowed for the writing. One girl’s eyes lit up this week when the picture was of a snail. I won’t give away who it was, but everyone in 6NH will know who we mean.

Speaking of which, Nick Hadley’s maths group have been mean and average with their learning… sorry, have been learning about mean averages. They were, of course, able to make the required calculations on paper or even in their heads but were happy to find out how much easier it can be to find these answers using a spreadsheet.

They even watched as Nick Hadley demonstrated how to calculate the mean average age of the maths group using Excel – 11 years, 2 months and 18 days as of Wednesday, if you are interested (or 4095 days). In 6AP, they have been looking at large numbers, and getting into some Fraction Action - finding and making equivalents, adding, subtracting and converting.

YEAR 6 Our history topic about the school itself has continued. We have been learning about the school motto and badge this week. They learnt that the pre-1930s badge was replaced because it looked too similar to the badge of Morris cars and that the “new” badge and motto were created by the head’s wife. The motto was inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and was originally spelt “Trouthe and honour, freedom and curteisie”. Children from both classes have created their own versions of the badge and motto; we are pleased to note that the word “friendship” features in many of them.

RE we have been studying the Buddhist teachings and beliefs about impermanence and creating beautiful mandalas. We have also completed our Constable inspired water-colour landscapes. The week rounded off with a very successful whole school Open Morning, where once again our Year 6 pupils excelled themselves by being fantastic guides for our visitors.

DISCOVERY AWARD

The pupils participating have come to the end of the first term and the first two themes of this year’s Discovery Award. From September to Christmas the children focussed on “Letting their life speak” (looking at supporting and addressing local issues) and “Living adventurously” (learning a new skill). Thomas C, Y5 was awarded his first belt (Junior Orange) in Combined Self Defence Tae Kwando tonight after his grading exam on Saturday 7th March. He took up Tae Kwando lessons in the Autumn half term as part of his Discovery Award.

OTHER NEWS

After School Clubs After School Swimming Club on Wednesday 18th March will not be on due to other sporting fixtures. Please email Lynne Singer if you wish to book your child into prep instead. Also, a reminder that no After School Clubs will run the last week of term (w/c 23rd March) and the first week back of the new Summer Term (w/c 20th April). Before/After School Care and prep will be available for these weeks. Before/After School and Lunch Club Booking forms for the Summer Term will be sent out shortly. Sports Reports ESSA Oxfordshire Primary School Team Championships - Friday 13th March Today Sophie, Hanne-Lydia, Kezia and Henry D took part in the above Championships and we are pleased to say they are heading back from Dragon school today as both Medley and freestyle relay small schools county champions & have qualified for regionals!!! All 4 pupils were absolutely fantastic.

Junior School NewsletterÂ Friday 13 March 2020

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