Stingrays

Weekly Update from Stingrays
 

Child of the Week

Adam

Mya

 

Newsletter

Although it's only been a short week, Stingrays have, as usual, managed to cram a lot of in! They started the week by using their Inspired Minds and sketching skills to create their own version of a Salvador Dali picture, as well as starting to create their own picture inspired by the surrealist artist. In music, they have started a new topic inspired by the Beatles song 'Blackbird', which sparked some interesting discussion about the impact of the Beatles on pop music. They started a new Science topic this week and enjoyed thinking about how we classify living things  -  there were some very creative ways of sorting themselves into groups for the rest of the class to guess. 

 

In English, they definitely needed Confidence, Self -Belief and Endurance to work on a new strategy to develop their writing skills and they have written a narrative to go with the wordless picture book they have been reading 'The Flood'. 

 

We travelled underground to start our "Disasters" topic in our topic lesson this week.  We learnt the layers to the centre of the Earth and imagined what it would be like going deep down.  This will help us learn why some disasters happen which we are really looking forward to.

 

Wimbledon season has hit Stingrays and we are enjoying our tennis session every Friday afternoon.  We revisited some skills learnt previously and successfully managed to volley with a partner.

 

We "thunked" hard in PSHE and debated what a habit is and how we sometimes find it difficult to give them up.  We also reintroduced our question box ready for after half term when we start discussing puberty and the changes in our bodies.

 
Welcome to the Stingrays' Class Page
 
Every few weeks we will update anything new we have been doing in class for you to have a look at.
Our topic this term is Disasters so as much of our learning as possible is linked to this.
 
English 

We have started exploring a picture book called Flood. The class have been looking at the pictures and trying to evoke the key emotions and feelings of a small family who live near a flood plain. We have been writing stem sentences to add in our own grammar and detail into prepared sentences and working together as a class to build up tension and feeling. 

Maths

Our Maths focus is on fractions.  We are using our knowledge of multiplication and division to help work out fractions of amounts.  We have completed many practical and small group explorations of what a fraction is and learning and using key mathematical vocabulary to explain our decisions.

Children still regularly work on their times tables through TTRS and Maths Shed.  There is a weekly times tables test and we expect the children to be working on these outside of school.

 

PE

In our PE sessions we have been learning all about the forehand technique in tennis and how to aim correctly.  The class are improving weekly with these skills and are enjoying getting into paired and small group rallies.

 

Forest School takes place on a Monday afternoon and we are lucky that Mr Pemble is helping teach us some key outdoor skills.

 

Science
In Science we are learning about classification in our animals topic. We are using our key scientific skills to plan and conduct simple investigations. We are learning the 7 characteristics of living things (MRS NERG) and classification tree to sort living things.
 
PSHE
In PSHE we are finding out about Keeping Safe.  We have been discussing what a habit is and how the media and people can make us feel good and bad about a habit.
In Circle Time we have been learning about Zones of Regulations and how to manage our feelings.
 
 
Topic 
Our topic this term is called "Extreme Earth" and we have already explored sinkholes and the layers from the inner core.  We enjoyed looking at what this looks like from a cross-section and the temperatures it would be deep below the crust.

 Music

Beatlemania has arrived with the class enjoying the hits of the Fab Four.  The class have become enthusiastic about learning the song and we are confident this might lead to more hits from across the decades.
 
Art
This term we are finding out about Salvador Dali a Spanish surrealist artist.  The painter and printmaker was quite influential during his lifetime. His artwork is based on the subconscious and the children have discussed their own interpretations of his famous pieces of work.  
 
French
In French we are learning all about visiting a French town and learning the names for some of the key sights of French cities.