Reading into Writing: Blog items
Date: 23rd Jan 2022 @ 10:55am
This week, we had our half-termly No Pen Day! This is a day where nobody, including the teachers, can use any form of pen or pencil!! We have to get very creative to be able to continue with the journeys we are in for each of our lessons. This is how we did it this time...
During Maths, we used spaghetti sticks to work out multiplication sums. To do this, we researched the ancient Japanese stick method where you have to put the number of sticks down in a diamond shape to represent the numbers you want to multiply. Next, you have to count how many times the sticks cross over and that is your answer. It took us a while to work it out, but once we had the hang of it, a lot of children said they preferred this method!!
For Reading into Writing, we continued with our 'Persuasive Letters' journey. The children had to cut out a jumbled up letter and put it in the correct order. We then used the Chromebooks to research the benefits of having a support dog in school.
In the afternoon, we made three types of paper aeroplanes to see which one would travel the furthest. We talked about the different designs and how air resistance would have an impact. To finish the day off, we went outside to test them!
Date: 19th Jan 2022 @ 11:58am
For No Pen Day, we put our pens down and picked up our language! In Reading into Writing we focused on the book Julian is a Mermaid and linked it to LGBTQ+. We hot seated Nana and Julian to ask questions around their thoughts, feelings and actions in the story. We then each took a section of the story to role play and add dialogue to.
In Maths we focused on our timetables and completed a loop card game around the room. We really had to ensure we were using our listening skills and calculating mentally. We then completed a tarsia in groups linking to the timetables.
We had a great day and we enjoyed using our communication skills and letting our pens have a rest!
Date: 18th Jan 2022 @ 4:40pm
Today in Year 1 we had a visit from the character in the story ‘Lost and Found.’ It was the boy! We were all very excited to talk to him and ask him lots of questions. The boy talked to the children about his journey to the South Pole. He explained what he saw, what he heard and how he felt. He then showed us the route he took across the Atlantic and Southern Ocean on our big world map. We gathered lots of information from talking to the boy that will help us to write our recounts!
Reception Walking in a Winter Wonderland
Date: 11th Jan 2022 @ 9:19am
This week we have been learning all about the season of winter. We have been talking about how the temperature is colder and the days are much shorter. We have been observing the changes in our outdoor area and discussing ourobservations with our friends.
"The temperature is cold" I need to wear my hat and gloves" Marleigh.
"All the leaves have fallen off. The trees are bare" Isobelle
"It is very dark in the morning" Evelyn.
Our classroom has also been transformed into a winter wonderland where we have been reading wintery stories, solving winter maths problems and doing some fantastic winter themed writing in the writng areas.
Date: 7th Dec 2021 @ 8:55pm
You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!
Yes- you've guessed it! Reception have been enjoying the story of The Gingerbread Man. We have been sequencing the story and discussing the different characters, designing our own gingerbread men and even had an outdoor bakery! However, the most exciting part was that we were able to practice our handwriting outside on our new blackboards that Mrs McAllister installed.
Take a look at what we've been doing.
Date: 1st Dec 2021 @ 10:42am
Today we read our new story ‘The Jolly Postman.’ Throughout the story we discussed the meaning of key words, identified rhyming words and began to identify the features of a letter. After reading the story we received a letter from the Jolly Postman asking for our help! The letter explained that all the Jolly Postman’s post had blown out of his bag and got muddled up! The Jolly Postman didn’t know which were letters and which were not, so our task was to help him!
Date: 30th Nov 2021 @ 8:02pm
This week Reception Christmas has arrived. We have been busy writing letters to Santa, designing and building toys in Santa's workshop and learning about the story of the first Christmas. We have been reading the story 'The Gingerbread Man'. We have been making story maps and asding labels and simple sentences using our phonic knowledge. We have also been busy ordering gingerbread numbers 1-10, subtising using a dice by playing roll the gingerbred man, retelling the story at the storytelling table, painting gingerbread men and collaging them at the creative table. What a busy week.
Date: 25th Nov 2021 @ 9:31pm
Today Year 6 were joined by local author Dan Worsley. Dan led writing workshops with both classes, which involved describing a villain in a scene. The children were given lots of tips and ideas for making their writing exciting for the reader and Dan was really impressed with the work that was produced. We may just have budding authors in our school!
Walking the plank with Dan Worsley!
Date: 25th Nov 2021 @ 3:43pm
Year Three were lucky enough to have a visit and workshop from author Dan Worsley ! They enjoyed listening to his fantastic story telling and working with him to create a feirce pirate character.
There's no such thing as a Gruffalo...
Date: 23rd Nov 2021 @ 9:55pm
...or is there? Reception have certainly had lots of fun listening to the story of The Gruffalo! We then painted and collaged him and wrote a list of the food we thought he might like to eat . Also, describing the features of the Gruffalo, through the Gruffalo Song, really helped us remember what he looked like- just in case we ever came across one ourselves!
"Purple prickles down his back" Isaac
"A black tongue, orange eyes and claws" Charlie
"He had horns" Mercedes.
"Green wart at the end of his nose" Evelyn.
Date: 19th Nov 2021 @ 8:01am
For our Reading into Writing Journey this week we have been developing our story writing skills so we can write a descriptive story about Rama and Sita. We have been learning to extend our sentences using conjunctions and making the sentences more interesting by thinking of interesting adjectives. We then shared our ideas to write a paragraph of the story as a small group together.
Date: 8th Nov 2021 @ 7:30pm
Today we were introduced to our new story ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson. We read the story together, joining in with the rhyming words and familiar parts of the story. We talked about the meaning of any unfamiliar words and made inferences from the text. At various points in the story we predicted what we thought might happen next and what clues we could see/read to support this. We then worked in pairs to retell the key events in the story, using the book for support where needed.
Date: 8th Nov 2021 @ 9:10am
We have been focusing on Black History Month and we looked at the life and accomplishments of Mary Seacole. We were amaxed by the resilience and determination that she showed despite facing discrimination. We moved on to writing a diary from Mary Seacole's point of view. We looked at the features of diaries and unpicked them ready to write our own!
Date: 5th Nov 2021 @ 3:48pm
October was Black History month, and in Year 5 we enjoyed finding out about promenent Black muscians from the past. This linked with our learning in Music, where we were listening to, and making observations about Motown music from the 1960s and 1970s. In our writing journey, we researched the singer and musician, Stevie Wonder, and wrote a historical narrative about his amazing life. As part of our guided reading sessions, we read about other famous Black people who have had an impact on the world; Sislin Fay Allen, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela.
Date: 22nd Oct 2021 @ 12:50pm
While black history is celebrated year round, Black History Month is marked annually. It recognises and values the inspirational individuals and events that have shaped the black generation. During Black History Month, we remember and celebrate the important people from the past and also those who contribute to and help our society today.
Alongside shared class books highlighting the work and impact of Black people, the month of October began with an assembly to introduce the themes of Black History Month and its importance for us all. Classes have woven some significant figures from Black History into a range of lessons including Reading into Writing:
EYFS and Year 1 – People around the world
Year 2 – Rosa Parks
Year 3 – Mary Seacole
Year 4 – Sporting achievements
Year 5 – Influential musicians
The children's work will be displayed on specially designed black and gold post boxes that will feature, as in previous years, in prominent positions throughout school as we share our learning with other classes and visitors to Boundary.
Date: 22nd Oct 2021 @ 10:22am
In Reading into Writing this half term we have linked our writing to Black History Month. We were given the slave trade and Harriet Tubman to look at. We decided our piece of writing was going to be an autobiography written by Harriet Tubman. We researched all about her life and made lots of notes. We then drafted our autobiography and made edits based on teacher feedback. To finish the journey we completed a hot write - a final best version without all the mistakes.
Date: 14th Oct 2021 @ 10:32am
In Reading into Writing we were being immersed into a variety of diaries and we were on a mission to find features! We were all given a label and we were the chief finder of our feature. We did a great job and we are looking forward to writing our own diaries soon, inspired by Mary Seacole.
Date: 13th Oct 2021 @ 3:10pm
This week we have been planning and writing our first drafts for our very own non-chronological report! We've really been working on our writing skills and for this particular piece of work how we are going to lay it out. As always, a great effort from the Year 4's and some fantastic reports in the making.
Date: 13th Oct 2021 @ 9:18am
During Black History Month we will be reading the story ‘Handa’s Surprise.’ Today we were introduced to the story and we discussed the characters, new vocabulary and where the story was set. We learnt that the story is set in Kenya and we looked at the illustrations to support our understanding with this. We all enjoyed the story and we spent lots of time discussing the key events and the order the cheeky animals took Handa’s fruit! We then worked in small groups to reorder key events in the story. We talked through the story again in our groups and retold it using the picture prompts.
Date: 12th Oct 2021 @ 9:57pm
This week in Reception have been lucky enough to be visited by SMJ Falconry who brought 4 different owls to visit us; JD, Midge, Bobby and Titch. We found out lots of interesting facts about the owls including what they like to eat, what they look like, where they live and different features on their bodies including their sharp talons (claws). We disccused how some owls are nocturnal, which means they sleep in the day and wake up at night. The children throught of some excellent quesions to ask including;
What do owls eat? Isaac
Do they just make noises at night? Marleigh
How do owls hear? Do they have ears? Indi-Anna
When we returned to class we read the story Owl Babies. We then enjoyed using the props at the storytelling table to help us retell the story,
In maths we, played the owl game and practised recognising numbers 1-6 and subtising using a dice. We also used the owl number cards to put numbers in the correct order from 1-10.
The children also drew pictures from the story and labelled them with the initial sound.
In the creative area we enjoyed collaging owls using a range of different materials and painting the owl babies ising sponges.
Have a look at some of our amazing learning!
Date: 8th Oct 2021 @ 4:07pm
In our latest Reading into Writing journey we are focussing on non-chronological reports. We have been identifying the features of a 'non-chron' and having a little practice ourselves! This week we are researching and beginning to write our very own non-chronological report on famous footballer and all-round good egg Marcus Rashford. In Year 4 we decided that we needed a little bit more space than we had on our whiteboards so writing on the tables it is! Don't worry.... it rubs off.... we hope!
Date: 8th Oct 2021 @ 7:57am
This week we took part in the whole school 'No Pen Day!' and boy did we have fun! Our lessons were 100% practical and discussion based. We used physical 2D and 3D shapes to learn about their properties and their names by sorting, describing and playing games. We also found the features of information texts using blue tack and string to label a WAGGOL. In the afternoon we were lucky enough to find out about the importance of recycling using Now Press Play.
Date: 7th Oct 2021 @ 9:16am
In Reading into Writing we have been focussing on wriitng a diary entries. This week we have been looking at all of the features that we are going to include in our final piece. As a class we had a discussion about what features we could see in our WAGOLL text and then we were able to pull out features during our 'Imersion into Reading' sessions.
Date: 6th Oct 2021 @ 8:24am
On Tuesday 5th October, alongside the rest of School, Year 2 put all pens and pencils away for the day. This allowed us to concentrate on our listening and communication skills and we all enjoyed lots of valuable discussion. In Reading into Writing, we sorted different letters by their features and tried to help the postman by putting the correct letters back together and in Maths we continued practicing counting in 2's, 5's and 10's by creating number lines. We also re-capped all the things we have learnt so far about Christianity in RE focusing on creation and how the world is changed. Miss Duckworth and Miss Hooson were impressed with the discussions that took place across the day- well done Year 2!
Date: 5th Oct 2021 @ 6:44pm
Rosie the hen is going for a walk- but she'd better watch out as there is a sneaky fox hot on her tail feathers! Rosie then leads the fox into a series of accidents, completely unaware that she is being followed!
Reception listened to the story and laughed out loud at the fox's mishaps! Through this engaging story, the children learned how to retell the story, sequencing the events using the correct prepositions (across, around, over, under). They drew story maps, collaged a paper plate fox, painted Rosie and even made an obstacle course outside!
Here are some of our photos!
