Junior School Newsletter - May 1 2020

Junior School Newsletter Friday 1 May 2020

DEAR PARENTS

@SibfordJS

The official newsletter of

“I can think with thankfulness of Friends who have brought light to my darkness – perhaps a single sentence, a friendly letter, a walk on the downs: their help was perhaps given unconsciously, but it was because they were sensitive to God’s leadings that they were able to do it. Do we seek to be the channels of God’s love and caring? ‘Caring matters most.’”

El Dorado High School teachers

Edward H Milligan, 1951 QFP 21.20

To begin this week, I spoke to the children in Meeting for Worship of this term’s theme of Helping Others. At this difficult time, we explored the importance of reaching out to those in our community and particularly focussed on the 2.6 Challenge. The Challenge arose from the postponement of the London Marathon which yearly raises millions of pounds in sponsorship and seeks to support those charities missing out on that funding stream. Many of the children have taken up the baton of using the numerals 2 and 6 inventively including cake sales, roller-skating races, running, cycling and even walking up 26,000 stairs! In doing so they are supporting a wide range of charities and to date have raised a cumulative total over £650! Well done to all of the children who’ve taken part and thank you to all the parents who’ve supported them.

Elsewhere I hope that the recent change in the weather hasn’t had too much of an impact on remote learning. We’ve certainly been impressed with how well the children are adapting to life online and if there has been a silver lining to this week’s clouds it has been the rapid increase in ICT skills. That and perhaps the giant (and topical!) double rainbow that graced the Junior School horizon this week – hopefully indicative of metaphorical brighter skies ahead! If there is any crumb of comfort in the change in weather, it is the knowledge for Year 5 and 6 teachers that we should have spent the week walking, climbing and paddling in the Malverns and have dodged a soaking or three! Hopefully, we’ll be blessed with better weather for the rearranged trip in October.

@SibfordOxon

@SibfordOxon

Junior School Newsletter Friday 1 May 2020 Finally, in this week’s newsletter, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Jacob and Eleanor who have joined Year 4 and 3 respectively. Yes, the buildings may be closed but the school is very much open for business! We wish them both well and know that their new classmates are looking forward to meeting them in person rather than virtually!

Well done to the following children who received Home Learner of the Week Certificates: Home Learner Certificates:

EYFS - Lottie Year 1/2 - Lukas Year 3 - Max Year 4 - Emma Year 5HS - Caleb Year 5LM - Lotte and Bonnie Year 6NH - Kezia Year 6AP - Niamh Head of Junior School sticker - Chelsea

In friendship.

In friendship.

Edward Rossiter Ps. In recognition of the rainbows seen this week, did you know that the seven colours of the spectrum were first properly identified by Sir Isaac Newton… by poking sticks into his eyes and staring at the sun?! (don’t try that at home!)

@SibfordOxon

@SibfordOxon

FOUNDATION AND RECEPTION While the weather may have made our 'Out in the Garden' topic a little less appealing for some this week, it also meant puddles! Great for practising our jumping skills!

This week had a very watery theme, with a garden lab, exploring floating and sinking and perhaps a game of pooh sticks. Our class story was about someone who is certainly 'not a pooh stick' or a boomerang or a bat. Guessed yet? Stickman! The children have been busy making their own Stick men and using these to retell the story. I was very impressed by some of the story telling I have seen in my TEAMS meetings this week.

The summer term is when I usually dust of the work bench and we get creative. It warmed my heart this week to see that one of my children had made a bird box. Keep up the great work parents. I cannot wait to see what we all get up to next week.

YEAR 1 AND 2 Year 1 and 2 have ventured further into their topic this week, though shame there’s been a turn in the weather. In their English they’ve focused on Beatrix Potter’s, Peter Rabbit, thinking about what kind of character he is and then using similes to help describe Mr McGregor’s garden. In their Maths it’s been a revisit to all things time, a concept which we’re all thinking a lot about at the moment but also ending the week with some shape fun! In their science they’ve continued to look at animal groups, finding pictures to sort different animals. Saying that the weather has changed, it’s actually been quite a useful learning tool for some, especially when asked to create season wheels and looking at the months of the year. In their French, Ed Rossiter asked them to venture into their gardens and name the objects. Once again, it’s been lovely to see such an array of fabulous work from the children in Year 1 and 2. Keep it up!

YEAR 3 During English lessons children in Year 3 continued to look at the Owl who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson. They found different features in this little book; have analysed descriptive language and spent time recalling all the main events.

In maths children have been using and trying to get to grips with money. Their faithful frog has been helping with their subtraction tasks.

Rainforest art work involved creating a piece of art work in the style of Henri Rousseau.

In geography the layers of the Rainforest were introduces while in science children continued to think about the rainforest plants.

Thank you parents for all the work you are sending via Teams and for your help with facilitating your child’s Home Learning. Stay safe.

After watching Meeting for Worship on Monday morning, Eliza bandaged up her bears and displayed them in her window as a thank you sign to all the carers in our community.

YEAR 4 Our rainforest topic this week has seen us thinking about the layers of the forest and the diverse plants and animals that are in these layers. The children produced some detailed (and very colourful!) drawings of the different layers. They had fun reading riddles and matching them to the correct plants and even came up with some of their own. As well as this, they started to look at adaptations of plants and thought about how a sunflower would need to adapt to live in the rainforest. We had upside down flowers, angled leaves, wide stems and enormous coloured petals – all to ensure they would get enough sunlight and nutrients.

We have been looking at different animals, predators and prey in English this week.

The children have been looking at using noun phrases to make interesting sentences.

This has culminated in lots of lovely writing – some hair raising ‘narrow escape’ stories and catchy and clever animal poems.

We have had our fractions heads on for maths, working with equivalent fractions, making sure they are in their simplest form and ordering and comparing them. I am also very pleased and impressed to see our sporcle scores continue to improve.

We also welcome Jacob to 4KS and the Sibford family.

YEAR 5 Amongst lots of other things‌ Year 5 have been combing their learning in History with working on their creative DT skills in researching and then making a range of paper based Vitorian moving toys. First of all, we made a pop-up Jack-in-a-box all from simple card: when unable to download or print the helpful template Yitian inventively made her own design from scratch!

We then moved on to exploring the delights of the thaumatrope which is among the simplest of the “persistence of vision� toys that were introduced in the early 19th century.

In its basic form it is a card with a different picture on each surface and string attached to each side. When the string is wound up then released the card spins rapidly merging the two pictures together. The same effect can be achieved using a slim stick between the two images and then rolling the stick between your palms.

YEAR 5

When we haven’t been making ourselves dizzy with simple homemade Victorian toys, some of us have found new ways to relax and enjoy our breaks – here’s a fine example of some yoga moves enjoyed out in the fresh air.

YEAR 6 The children have given 100% this week, as both maths groups have been working out calculations involving percentages. The theme of 100 has been strong, as the week started with a 100 word writing challenge. The task is a nationwide competition set by ‘The Society of Heads’, and we look forward to seeing how the entries from Sibford Junior School fare. Our work about Greek Myths continues to flow through our English and History lessons. This week we have been studying the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, and comparing the lives of children from Sparta and Athens.

In Food and Nutrition, the children were set the challenge of either designing a Healthy Plate, or cooking something involving pastry. As usual Nick Hadley and Alice Pennell were treated to lots of delicious looking photos! In RE we looked at what it means to belong to a community, and we designed a ‘Coat of arms’ to represent a community we were part of. In PSHE, we have been thinking about our strengths and linked this to some careers in the NHS – all very topical.

Thank you again for all your hard work this week Year 6. We are very impressed with how you have adapted to Home Learning. Remember to start work on your Greek artefact for our Museum!