RECEPTION

This week, Year One said a final goodbye to the incredible 1970's! We have loved spending the last few weeks in this decade and have continued to extend our amazing music knowledge! ABBA, Queen, David Bowie, and Elton John have all truly inspired our learning. As the weeks progress, the children have become very confident in asking questions about the different artists and bands to improve their knowledge. To build on this, the children have begun to apply this whilst writing our own character descriptions based upon some iconic rockstars and bands. The outcome was most impressive! Make sure you ask your children to share some of this knowledge!

As Queen had many iconic songs, the children have had great fun learning to clap and stamp the syllables and beats to their music. We are surprised the floor is still in the classrooms after stamping out 'We Will Rock You'.

And finally, throughout the week, we have stepped back in time and have learnt very important facts about the 1970's history starting with the first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Just remember, The Music Sounds Better With You!

Bring on the 1980's!

We are thoroughly reading the next instalment of our key text, the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. So far we have been introduced to iced gem eating unicorns, pygmy dinosaurs, wolves, fairies and many other fictional creatures. As we begin the next chapter, Stella reaches a place called Coldgate. We soon learnt that this is the farthest point of civilisation in the story before the start of the Icelands! The children used the descriptive narrative in this chapter to draw what they imagined Coldgate to look like. They then painted these beautifully using watercolours. We then used adjectives and similes to describe features of this frozen place and used this language to uplevel sentences to make them even more gripping. The children were then given the task of writing a diary entry from the point of view of Stella when she first arrived at Coldgate. They had to use first person, their superb uplevelled sentences and appropriate punctuation. In maths, we have been using our understanding of multiplication to explore division. After the excitement of skittle maths last week, it was going to be hard to top it this week but the teachers just about managed it by using... iced gems! The children used these treats to practise sharing into equal groups and were introduced to the division symbol. We used the Number Frames app on the iPads to show arrays and write the matching number sentences.

The children have loved having their weekly drama sessions with Ms Veasey; the children have been linking their knowledge of animals and their trip to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park to small group drama challenges. The children worked in groups to perform a scene of the chatter that might occur in the Yorkshire Wildlife Park’s staff room! We have also been using our recent work around Arctic animals to explore food chains. The children scanned QR codes around the classroom to find examples of Arctic food chains and used this information to create their own. We have a busy week in store next week as we look forward to the Young Voices concert and a special visitor... who could it be?

This week Year Three have become experts on all things Bolivia, and in particular llamas and alpacas! We have had much fun comparing similarities and differences between the two animals, both of which are native to where we are currently exploring. The children have been incredibly enthusiastic in their research and recording of their findings. We went on to learn more about Bolivia as a place and explored Laguna Verde, Salar de Uyuni and not to mention the glorious flamingos at the Laguna Colorada. We found out that the flamingos are the colour they are because of all the red algae! As expected, the geysers and hot springs Tom spoke about along his journey provided much questioning. As well as learning about geysers, we looked at how volcanoes are formed and how the movement of tectonic plates affect its eruptions. We then started our volcano project, looking at its features, before beginning to build our very own.

We hope to finish these next week and use different materials and some scientific knowledge to cause an eruption! Along the theme of heat, Tom taught us how to create a safe fire in the wild; an important skill when you are travelling the world alone! We took the opportunity to follow his method and build our own at Forest School. We gathered the wood from the forest for fuel, used flint and steel to provide a flame and learnt about fire safety. Of course, no outdoor fire would be complete without toasting some marshmallows! As part of National Storytelling week, Ms Veasey and some of the children from 13-18 very kindly ran a drama workshop for us. Thank you to everyone involved in the organisation of this event, it was great fun! We are looking forward to seeing where we will be venturing next week as we progress on our journey towards our final destination, Alaska.

If you are looking for something to brighten your winter diary, we might have just the thin for you. Gather a couple of friends or block out some 'me time' and come along to The OP Collection where we will be on hand to make sure everyone feels welcome. In the first event of its kind for St Peter's School, Sarah J Thomas is collaborating with the Alumni Team and Old Peterite Entrepreneurs to offer a fun afternoon of lifestyle, wellbeing and fashion. With so many brilliant businesses to celebrate within the OP Community, this event is the perfect way to showcase just a handful. You can expect stalls from the likes of Clockface Beauty, Hearts Fashion and DogBox Boutique. Fashion show and styling tips with Sarah Thomas in collaboration with Fenwicks, refreshments from MoodyMare Patisserie, a premium raffle, and information sessions from wellbeing and lifestyle professionals. Follow the link below to book your tickets. With spaces limited for this exclusive event and Sarah's events already successful across the city, we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment. Tickets include a goody bag and refreshments from MoodyMare Patisserie, with proceeds supporting bursaries at St Peter’s School.

Best wishes,

Rachel Alumni and Development Team

p.s. if you fancy having some fun modelling in the fashion show, please indicate this on your booking form.

Book tickets here: The OP Collection | Calendar | St Peter's School (stpetersyork.org.uk)