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Nursery
Nursery
We have been celebrating and learning about different events over the past weeks. These have included Bonfire Night, Remembrance Day and last week the children celebrated Christmas by inviting their parents/carers into Nursery to see them perform their Christmas songs. I think you will agree that the children were fantastic. The children also enjoyed watching the pantomime that came to the school and joining in with the fun.
The children have been learning all about numbers by reading the book 'Ten in a Bed' and counting forwards and backwards to ten. We went for a number hunt and searched high and low for numbers in the Nursery and in the garden. Great work Nursery!
The children have started taking a book home from the Nursery library every Monday, which they are enjoying. Please take time every day to share a book with your child.
Over the Christmas holidays, as the weather is getting colder, can you encourage your child to zip or button up their own coats, and put their own hats on independently.
The Nursery team are very proud of how the children have settled into Nursery life and how much they have achieved in their first term of being at Grafton.
Year 1 hedgehog CLASS
Year 1 hedgehog CLASS
Year 1 took part in a ‘magic morning’ as a hook to introduce their new book, ‘The Magic Porridge Pot’. The activities they took part in were, potion making (using bicarbonate soda to see a reaction with vinegar), witchs’ hats, writing a witch’s potion, wand making and drawing mythical creatures. The children were very excited to take part in all these activities! Once the children had finished reading the story, the children made porridge with their class teacher and enjoyed tasting the porridge with different toppings!
In Maths, Year 1 have been learning their number bonds to 10 and ordering numbers up to 20. They have also been looking at addition and subtraction number sentences and have consolidated this learning through different activities accessible during the school day.
In Phonics, Year 1 started to learn their phase 5 sounds. They are now learning all their alternate sounds and are trying very hard to use this in their writing and spotting all these sounds during their reading sessions!
Year 1 were very excited to watch a pantomime put on by Dib and Dab! It was fun to watch and the children all enjoyed taking part!
Year 1 have also been busy practicing their Christmas play and learning all the different songs. It has been a very busy and productive term!
Year 2 TRIANGE CLASS
Year 2 TRIANGE CLASS
This half term has been really busy for Year 2 and Triangle Class! A mysterious suitcase appeared in our classroom, to help us locate its owner we opened it and looked for clues—you could say we were behaving just like detectives! We decided it belonged to an older man because of the clothing and walking stick. This man was Grandad from our new book ‘Grandad’s Island’. The children have really enjoyed exploring the book and have made interesting predictions about what they think might happen next in the story. We had so much fun drawing Grandad and writing our own adventure stories!
In Maths, we have been learning how to add and subtract a 2-digit number from a 2-digit number. The children have really impressed us with their ability to use the column method to solve word problems.
In Science, we have been learning about the properties of different materials. We had a lot of fun investigating a range of materials to see whether they were waterproof or not.
In History lessons, we have been learning about our local area and how it has changed over time. We learned about significant historical places in Dagenham e.g. Ford's Factory Site. The children thoroughly enjoyed travelling back in time and acting out what it would’ve been like for the women workers 50 years ago. They imagined they were workers at Dagenham Fords ready to protest for equal pay.
In Music lessons, children have really enjoyed singing Christmas songs and preparing for our Christmas concert. We also had so much fun watching the Christmas pantomime!
YEAR 3 Chestnut class
YEAR 3 Chestnut class
We have been very busy this half term and have been learning lots of new things. In Science, we have been learning about Forces and Magnets and have explored which objects are magnetic and non-magnetic, tested the strength of different magnets and have also been learning about the poles of a magnet.
In Geography, we have enjoyed finding out about the United States of America and now know that it has 50 states and its capital is Washington DC. (Not to be confused with the state of Washington on the other side of the country!). We have also been learning about the different landscapes and landmarks of the USA. Our Design and Technology project this term has been a fun challenge. We have been learning about strong and stable structures and have focused mainly on chairs. We experimented with making tubes out of paper and balancing different amounts of books on a collection of tubes to see how much weight they could hold. We even got someone to stand on a book on top of all of our tubes to see how strong they could be.
Our final outcome of this unit is to make our own chairs out of tubes and test them. This has proved very challenging and we are learning about resilience and how it is important not to give up. Our evaluation at the end of the unit involves modifying and improving our chairs.
We also had an additional fun activity related to Food and D&T with the Roots to Food team coming in and working with the children. They practiced the bridge and the claw method of chopping during this session. In the end, they were able to eat the noodle dish they made. This was a massive hit!
In Literacy, we have been reading the book ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ by Drew Dewalt where we focused on the feelings of the crayons and then problem solving. One of the activities was to make placards for Ducan saying how the crayons felt.The final outcome of this unit was to write a letter from Duncan to the crayons to persuade them to stay.
Our Maths sessions have been focusing mainly on Addition and Subtraction where the children had to learn how to recognise when to exchange tens and hundreds. They did this practically using Base Ten (Dienes blocks) and then carried this through to recording it as the column method. We encouraged the children to write thought bubbles at the side to encourage them to focus on the processes involved in the addition or subtraction calculation.
In Religious Education, we have been learning about the light festivals in the Christian, Sikh and Jewish religions.
year 4 Hazel CLass
year 4 Hazel CLass
In 4 Hazel, we have had a productive term and enjoyed our learning. In Geography, we completed our training as natural disaster experts so now we can answer the question "Why do natural disasters happen?" Learning about volcanoes and earthquakes was very fascinating.
This term, we have been taking part in many practical activities, such as making our own erupting volcanoes and emotion masks. We had so much fun!
We also had an opportunity to read interesting books in our Literacy lessons, such as "The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon" and "Escape from Pompeii." Talking about the feelings and emotions of the characters and writing our own stories based on the books was an amazing learning experience. We all enjoyed watching pantomime "Snow White." in Barking Broadway Theatre. Now, we are looking forward to our Christmas Carol Service at St.Mary's Church. It was a very busy and exciting half term and we have learnt a lot of new things.
Y5 Rights Ambassadors
Y5 Rights Ambassadors
This half-term, the Year 5 rights ambassadors have been very busy settling into their new roles. We have had weekly meetings to discuss our plans for the coming year as well as deciding on individual responsibilities.
“On World Children’s Day, pupils and their teachers from local schools came to Grafton. We ate lunch together, played games and showed them around our Rights Respecting school.”
Jessica (5 Redwood)
“During World Children’s Day in November, we wrote a letter to the health secretary about our concerns about the healthcare in our community.”
Arham (5 Alder)
“On this day, we met the Young Mayor of Barking & Dagenham in our assembly. We asked him about his job and how he impacts the community.”
Vishagan (5 Rowan)
“During this half-term, we went to the Art room and talked to adults from schools around the country and explained what our roles are and about our campaigning efforts such as ‘Eat them to Defeat Them’.”
Lara (5 Maple)
“An experienced chef and his team came to our school to show us how to make a healthy meal. We cooked Chicken Curry Noodles and learned about the nutrients in the ingredients.” - Hayyan (5 Rowan)
YEAR 6 HOLLY Class
YEAR 6 HOLLY Class
This half term has been a busy one for 6 Holly! We became many things including: Agony Aunts in Literacy, Conservationists in our Reading lessons and ice sculptors over the past few days.
Maths
In Maths, we started off the half term learning all about the wonderful world of fractions! We learned how to simplify them, multiply them, divide them by whole numbers and so much more!
Did you know?
The word fraction comes from the Latin word "fractio". This means "to break".
Towards the end of the half term, we then looked at coordinates in all four quadrants and the importance of reading the x-axis followed by the y-axis. We then learned how to translate and reflect 2-D shapes in all four quadrants.
Science
‘ In Science, we learned about the Circulatory System. My favourite lesson was when I had to record my pulse rate. At first I found it difficult finding my pulse but with some practise I was able to take my pulse accurately. Then, I had to compare my heart rate after exercising to when I was standing still. Lastly, I shared my results with my class and we all created a bar chart to show our data.‘
Zafir 6 Holly (Budding Scientist)
Trips
We had a great time visiting Valance House this year. We were able to widen our extensive knowledge of World War II, as well as understand how the war impacted our local area. The highlight of the day was being able to visit the inside of an Anderson Shelter (and the spiders that live there too!).
As well as this we visited The Broadway Theatre to see 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. It was amazing! It was also nice to see a former Grafton pupil starring in the play too.
Recommended book for Year 6:
Ape by Martin Jenkins
From all of us at 6 Holly - Happy holidays and a Happy new year!
Phonics
Phonics
Since September, we have been using the Little Wandle Revised Letters & Sounds scheme of work, which the children have really enjoyed. The children follow a set pattern each day to support their learning and understanding of the subject.
They learn a sound each day and they are regularly encouraged to use it in their reading and writing, for example, 'oa' as in 'coat'. The teacher models how to read the sound in words, where they blend the word, then the children have a go. They then read sentences with high frequency words and words with their new sound. They also recap previously taught sounds as a starter activity.
We are already seeing children's reading and writing improving, as well as their confidence. We also appreciate the parental support throughout the year groups as this is helping the children in class too.
Mathematics
Mathematics
Each new academic year begins with a focus on number and place value. For Reception children this begins with recognising numbers 1- 5, counting amounts, subitising and composition of numbers; there is lots of singing, matching and games to develop and consolidate their understanding. Year 1 progresses to numbers to 20 whilst Year 2 expand their knowledge to numbers to 100 by the time they reach Year 6 their number awareness and experience will include 8 digit numbers - do you know your hundreds from your ten thousands and millions?
With a grasp of number values children then begin to explore and master addition and subtraction calculations, progressing through practical working, mental calculations and written strategies such as partitioning, number line jumps and column calculations.
Year 2 classes, and beyond, also turn their attention to exploring multiplication and division facts; each year group up to Year 4 have focus tables to learn and consolidate each year building up to the national Multiplication Check conducted in May of Year 4. Please encourage your child to practice their focus tables both with yourself and on Times Tables Rockstars - if your child does not know their personal log in details please ask their class teacher.
As well as Times Tables Rockstars the children also have access to Numbots, challenges designed to reinforce their number bond knowledge and Sumdog. Sumdog is an online platform in which questions and topics are embedded into Sumdog games. All questions are aligned with the curriculum and adapted to meet the level of each individual child. Teachers can set specific target areas to work on and children develop their fluency whilst playing fun, interactive games. As we go to print the school is also signed up to the Barking and Dagenham Winter Wonderland Competition so we can compete against individuals and classes within the school as well as other local schools. Look out for updates on how we do.
Planned next half term are a number of parent/carer workshop sessions related to Maths; you can brush up on your skills and understanding, enabling you to support your child more effectively in their learning and homework. The following key areas are planned so please save the date, we look forward to seeing you there.
12th Jan - Yr 1 - 6 Maths Progression ~ Mrs. McSheffrey
26th Jan - Yr 1 & 2 Mastering Number Programme ~ Mrs. Akerman
2nd Feb - Yr 3 & 4 Times tables Multiplication Check (MTC) ~Mrs. McSheffrey & Ms. Prince
23rd Feb - Early Years Maths ~ Miss Manning
9th March - Maths Yr 6 SAT preparation ~ Mr. Robertson
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