Newsletters

Bonfire Night

A huge thank you to the Friends of Abberley for the incredible hard work that has gone on behind the scenes to make this exciting new event possible. Tickets are now on sale for Abberley's first-ever Bonfire Night, and we are looking forward to bringing our community together for what promises to be a fantastic evening. We hope you can join us and support this special event. Click follow this link for tickets.  

More information on the poster at the end of the newsletter.

This week in Wrens we have been thinking about our senses and how we use them to discover the world around us. The children undertook activities using their sense of touch, sight and smell.  Our new Drawing Club book "Pumpkin Soup" gives us some really good examples of how we use our senses.

In art we have used printing techniques to create houses as part of a collaborative art project on Abberley village.  The children have enjoyed talking about and representing the different buildings within the village.

In PE we have been enjoying playing some team games. The children have been brilliant at listening to the rules, supporting their team mates and showing good sportsmanship.

In RE this week we learnt how Christians welcome a new baby to their faith through baptism.  We had great fun holding our own baptism service in the classroom.

This week in English, the children have focused on the main character Layla from our book, The Girl at the Front of the Class. They thought carefully about her feelings and how she looked on the outside. Then they used their observations to write similes about her, which they then turned into a poem. For example, they wrote sentences such as, “Her eyes were as wide as a tiger,” and “Her skin was as pale as milk.” I have been really impressed with the creativity they have shown with these poems! They have also looked in detail at what good writers do and identified different features within a text.

In maths, the children explored part-whole models. These will help to develop their place value knowledge, as well as supporting their understanding of addition and subtraction. We then moved on to systematically finding number bonds within 10. For example, for the number 4, the children found 0 + 4 = 4, 1 + 3 = 4, 2 + 2 = 4, 3 + 1 = 4 and 4 + 0 = 4. We focused on showing the children how to work systematically so that they can find all of the possible bonds without missing any. Towards the end of the week, we moved on to number bonds to 10. These will be particularly important next week as we move on to number bonds to 20, but they will also be an important skill throughout their maths learning.

In DT, the children experimented with different linkages. They made a variety of different linkages to test, explore and experiment with how they worked. This has helped them to develop their understanding ready for next week when we begin to make our moving monsters!

In computing, we compared and discussed the importance of balancing online and offline activities. We talked about how the online world can be great and provide us with lots of opportunities and benefits. However, we also discussed how playing in real life, socialising with our friends and spending time outdoors can have much greater benefits for our brains and overall well-being.

On Wednesday, we had a fantastic morning with Litter Warriors. The children took part in a successful litter-picking session. As a class, we collected over 400 pieces of litter from the village hall car park, field and Forest School area! The children worked incredibly hard and were fully engaged throughout the session. It was wonderful to see them taking such pride in their school environment and doing their part to make it a cleaner, safer and better place for everyone.

Timetable

Monday (outdoor) and Thursday (indoor) - PE

Tuesday - Outdoor Learning. Please send your child to school with appropriate footwear and clothing for the weather that they can change into.

Thursday - Little Wandle reading books will be sent home. Please return these by the following Tuesday.

This week in English, the children have been planning their own dream narratives inspired by our class text, 'Earth Meets Sky'. Using the beautiful illustrations from the book alongside their growing knowledge as writers, they have been creating their own versions of the story and developing imaginative ideas. The children have worked hard to enhance their writing by using a range of classroom resources to help them select ambitious and descriptive vocabulary.

In maths, we have begun our new topic of addition and subtraction. The children have been using concrete resources to explore finding 1, 10 and 100 more or less than a number and have recently been introduced to column addition. By using manipulatives and place value grids, they have been able to clearly see how the value of digits changes during calculations.

In computing, our online safety focus was plagiarism. We discussed what plagiarism is, where it might occur and why it is important to acknowledge other people's work. The children then explored a variety of scenarios, deciding whether plagiarism had taken place and whether a citation was needed.

In science, we finally reached the lesson the children had been eagerly anticipating! We learned about the different layers that make up the Earth and the children created delicious 'dirt puddings' using a variety of foods to represent each layer. The best part was getting to enjoy their models afterwards!

On Wednesday, the children also had a fantastic afternoon with Little Litter Warriors. They learned about the impact litter can have on our environment before heading to the village green armed with litter pickers. The children were amazed by the amount of rubbish they discovered, including a drinks can dating back to 2006. This powerful find helped them understand how long some materials can remain in the environment and reinforced the importance of disposing of litter responsibly.

This week, we have started reading our new book, I Go Quiet. This beautifully illustrated picture book tells the story of a girl who feels misunderstood and judged by those around her. We have begun exploring the themes of identity, emotions and how we see ourselves, encouraging the children to think carefully about the importance of understanding and accepting others.

In maths, we have begun our new topic on fractions. We started by exploring equivalent fractions, looking at how different fractions can represent the same amount. We then moved on to simplifying fractions, learning how to express them in their simplest form. The children have been developing their understanding and building confidence in recognising and working with fractions.

Our science learning has focused on inheritance and how genes influence the physical characteristics passed from parents to their offspring. We explored the famous Beckham family, looking at how their children have inherited physical traits from their parents, while recognising that skills and talents are learned and developed rather than inherited genetically. This provided a fun and familiar example to help bring our learning to life!

In geography, we took our learning outdoors with a walk around the village as part of our topic on population growth. The children investigated two different areas, comparing traffic levels, noise and litter to help us understand how places can differ and how human activity affects the local environment. Using tally charts, rating scales and voice recordings, alongside litter picking, the children collected valuable information that we will use to compare our findings and develop our geographical enquiry skills.

Please see below information within the community but independent of the school