Vlastina Newsletter [04/10/2019] 

Early Years

This week in Early Years we have all been looking at our local area changing to show the Autumnseason. We have noticed changes in the weather, the plants and trees and the temperature has changed. With this in mind, please make sure your child has appropriate clothing to go outside during the day. They should have a warm coat, a hat, waterproof trousers and warm waterproof shoes. We like to go outside everyday if possible and it can be very uncomfortable for children if they are not dressed appropriately.

Also, please do not forget that both Early Years classes are going to the Pumpkin Farm on Monday. Please make sure you have completed the permission form and have given 120kc to your class teacher. All children need to have 2 snacks and a water bottle in a small bag to take with them, and everyone needs to be dressed warmly.

Lions

The lions have been busy this week, celebrating autumn and thinking about “Pumpkin Soup.” We have decorated pumpkins for our display boards, as well as collecting leaves, conkers and pine cones. Wednesday, we took our first walk to Divoka Sarka and the children were very excited to be out in nature. We practised looking and listening and being safe when we cross the road. Next week, we will continue to look at autumn and fall harvest, beginning with our trip to the pumpkin farm!

Tigers

In the tigers’ class this week, we started the week enjoying the wing and we made kites to fly in our playground. On Tuesday, our walk in the local area took us to Divoka Sarka. We read a story outside and then we collected leaves to take back to school to make leaf pictures. We also had our afternoon snack at Divoka Sarka before it started to rain a little and we had to head back to school. In phonics this week, we have been looking at rhyming words. We have been making silly soup using rhyming words, and have been listening to and singing lots of rhyming songs. In our number work this week, we have continued looking at the number 3. We have looked at different ways of showing the number 3 as well as talking about 1 more and 1 less than. We also looked at some triangles because they have 3 corners and 3 sides. Don’t forget to check your child’s learning journey on tapestry to see many more activities and games we have got up to in the classroom during the week.

Year 1

Year 1 have had an exciting week packed full of fun and learning.

In English we have been reading ‘Flotsam’ by David Weisner. It is an amazing illustrated book about a boy finding a mysterious camera on the beach. We even made our own cameras - come to 1A and 1B to see them. We also looked carefully at the different settings in the book and wrote questions about them.

In Maths we explored numbers between 10 and 20. We partitioned them into tens and ones. We looked at all the different ways we could make a number.

In Creative Curriculum we have been thinking carefully about how we protect ourself in extreme weather, such as heat waves. We always remember to protect ourselves from the sun using a hat and suncream.

In PSHCE we have been learning about the PANTS rule through a funny song. We learnt that our underpants are a private area that nobody should touch. We also learnt that we should always ask permission before hugging or high fiving someone.

Although school doesn’t officially start until 8:30 am, in 1A and 1B we read with the children from 8:10 am every day. Bring your child a little bit early for some reading!

Year 2

It's been another busy week in year two. In maths we have been focussing on our doubles to 15. We have been trying our best to learn them by heart so that we have these handy number facts on the tip of our tongue. Some of us have moved on to reasoning and problem solving using our new doubling knowledge.

In English this week we have been writing setting descriptions. We learned all about the incredible buildings in Giza, Egypt, such as the pyramids and The Sphinx. We thought about what we might see, feel, hear, taste and smell when visiting the pyramids and included lots of adjectives to help make our writing super descriptive.

In CC we have continued our topic of buildings and have made 3D clay models of famous buildings around Prague. We have also designed and built our own dens using a wide range of materials.

Year 3

Year 3 have had another fantastic week learning about our favourite thing ...chocolate! We started reading Charlie and The Chocolate factory by Roald Dahl and have been dreaming up what wonderful things could be inside Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. We have enjoyed reading about the different characters who have been lucky enough to find the Golden tickets to gain entry into the factory. We used using adjectives and similes to describe them and drew pictures of what we thought they would look like.

In CC we have been learning about the extraordinary journey of the cocoa bean before it eventually ends up as a delicious bar of chocolate that we can buy in the shop. We won’t be able to eat chocolate again without thinking of this marvelous journey and the hard work that goes into growing and collecting cocoa beans! We also put on our geography hats and dived into the atlases to find out where cocoa beans are grown.

Miss Napier’s Maths class have been practising doubling and halving numbers as well as exploring calendars to learn about dates and time. In Ms Privara’s group the children have been practising their 3, 4 and 5 times tables and using those facts to solve division problems. Additionally we have practised partitioning 2-digit numbers to help us double these large numbers more efficiently.

EAL Years 1, 2 and 3

We have started using pronouns with the verb ‘be’ to describe people and things. We have learnt about jobs in the circus and made some beautiful display work to put up under our circus tent.

Year 4

Spaceships, rainforests and clocks just some of the varied topics we have been studying in Year 4 this week!

In CC we began the week by looking at animal classification, we discussed why it is important as well as learning about different types of animal groups, finally the children began working on an animal classification key of their own. We followed this by taking a closer look at deforestation, we talked about the pros and cons of it and I was impressed by the maturity the children showed when tackling such a topic.

In maths we have spent the week studying time, again the children have impressed with their skills and knowledge when dealing with such a challenging topic.

In English we have studied non-chronological reports, we looked at examples of reports, discussed the features they all share and have began planning our own animal reports.

Finally in computing we were working on developing a space themed game where the children were creating code to navigate a spaceship around planets!

Year 5

It has been very busy recently with lots of exciting things going on in the classroom and out. We have learnt vast amounts of information in CC this week as the focus has been on the Continental Drift theory and how Alfred Wegener came proposed this idea. During our lessons, we identified what the Earth looked like 250 million years ago, and the process and the change that has occurred to now. It has been great to see the children’s active engagement and participation within the lessons, displaying their understanding of what they learnt.

Maths, involved recapping old knowledge just to make sure that it is still there! We also looked at using inverse operations to check our answers and solving real-life problems.

Finally, in English, the children have been finishing up their witness statements about the UFO flying around our school! We have seen a number of excellent pieces of work, which were completed to a very high-standard and the children are now finishing their final drafts.

Year 6

We have had another busy week in Year 6. Show Practice is well underway and the children are trying hard to remember their lines and lyrics for the songs. Please check the VLE for information about costumes: https://pbis.fireflycloud.net/year-6-3/vlastina/show

In maths we have been learning about how to convert measurements and applied our knowledge by completing some tricky multi-step word problems. In English we have been learning how to write narratives using ‘show not tell’. Linked to our class text, Kensuke’s Kingdom, the children imagined they were marooned on a desert island and had to write a story opening using show not tell devices to describe how they felt. This week CC was focussed on science. We learned about surface tension through a simple experiment with a paper boat and some washing-up liquid. Then the children designed their own investigations using the ‘scientific method’. Next week the children will carry out their investigations and assess whether each investigation was a fair test.

EAL Y4,5 and 6.

This week in EAL we have been sharing about our families and where we live. We learnt and revisited rooms in the house, applying different prepositions of place. We also took turns using a ball to tell and ask each other the ball’s different positions.

The interactive whiteboards really helps to learn vocabulary; while working in pairs helped us crack the spelling code.

Spanish News

This week in Year 3 we have worked very hard on articles and some new vocabulary. Children are able to form simple sentences with a colour adjective. We are also learning a song! “La Mar estaba Serena”.

In Year 4 this week we revised on school things and places in the school. Children were able to read complicated sentences and match them with photos. We watched videos to illustrate this topic.

Year 5 Spanish has been all about sentences. Grammar points such as articles, nouns, verbs and adjectives. Children put together sentences from a huge box of cut out words. Great job!

In Year 6 this week, students have worked on sentences, too. Their knowledge of Spanish is now enough for them to recognize articles, nouns and adjectives. We are also doing lots of listening exercises.

Classes of the week

Congratulations to 5b and 2b for earning the most class points this week and becoming classes of the week!

Senior Art

There are some superb works in progress, and some set homework tasks to share with you this week from the following projects:

Y7: Who am I? (Self Portraits). Homework is to research Frida Kahlo’s life and art work.

Y8: Renaissance (Perspective). Homework is to produce a research page on citta ideale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ideal_City_(painting)

Y9: Collective Noun Illustration. Homework is to research the art of Ralph Steadman.

English

This week has been a productive week in English, with many groups starting to take their learning from this term and applying it to extended writing. In year 7, students wrote their first essays this week, bringing together their knowledge of poetry and writing from across the term so far. Though most found it a struggle at first, they persevered to produce some impressive pieces of writing.

Meanwhile, year 8 have started to engage in some longer creative writing, producing some newspaper articles in the role of characters from Macbeth. They will be continuing looking at journalism alongside their studies of Macbeth for the remainder of the term.

Humanities

We’ve had a fantastic week in Humanities. Year 7 and 8 are continuing to work on the map skills and having been producing some excellent work.

Meanwhile, Year 9 held a ‘global goals’ debate. The motion up for debate was “The global goals are a waste of time” and thoughtful contributions were made on both sides of the debate. Students also took a role in chairing the debate and ensuring it ran smoothly. The teamwork all of the Year 9 demonstrated was particularly impressive and they should take great pride in their efforts.

Maths

With introducing Algebra to Year 7s and code breaking using Indices for Year 8s, it has been quite an exciting week in Maths! To break down stereo types inherently attached to the subject but more so to this particular branch of maths was challenging. But, it was evident by looking at the cute little faces in the pictures below they all started to have a positive outlook at the end! A week of hard work paid off when I saw the most amazing work produced by some of the students!

Year 9s started working on Percentage increase and decrease using multiplier which would help them calculate the compound interest next week!

Senior Spanish

In Year 7 students have learnt all about school this week, combining different activities such as videos, worksheets and matching games. We also learnt to sing the “Felíz cumpleaños” song since Renata was eager to learn it.

In Year 8, students learnt about food and shops, some professions and jobs. We played games to reinforce all the vocabulary.

Students in Year 9 are still “travelling” the world and learning vocabulary to do with cities and countries. We watched “clase de ele” videos to get to know cities such as Valladolid, Barcelona and Prague.

Trusting Children Baby Playgroup