From Mrs Hall

As well as the weather taking a chillier turn there has been much focus on autumnal activities in the classroom and in Forest School. This has been reflected through writing, spoken poetry, art and song. I have enjoyed seeing the boys at work this week, and I am delighted with their efforts and evident progress. The boys are all learning to take pride in what they do and to aspire to do their best. They have also been trying hard with our focus of the week, RESILIENCE.

Yesterday was National Poetry Day, and it was great to hear poetry being read aloud in the classrooms. Year 2 focussed on the theme of Refuge (this year's Poetry Day focus). We wandered to the beach, the forest and in our own minds too. We have also been studying poems by John Agard, a contemporary British poet. The boys gallantly looked at several of his poems and spent quality time discussing what they thought and adding versus of their own.

I also thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with one of the Year 1 boys who was so enthused about what he had been learning that afternoon. They had been looking at artwork by a Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama. He was so animated and clearly inspired by this great artist. Please do chat with your sons about these amazing people.

A big thank you to all who came to the PPA coffee morning today. It was lovely to see so many of you and have an opportunity to catch up. Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

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Pilgrims' Shell Awards

• Year 2 – to Digby for his spelling , handwriting and  creativity all while writing his story- 
• Year 1 - to Tymur for showing resilience to work independently when writing his wonderful autumn poem. 
• Year R - to Willoughby for his excellent resilience. In particular, for super independent changing and not giving up when he is finding something tricky.

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Save the Dates!

A reminder of upcoming events next week and other dates for your diaries for this term. Please keep a look-out for further details.

Monday 16 October	Pre-Prep Parents' Evening, 1700-1930
Tuesday 17 October	Pre-Prep Celebration Assembly 1500-1530 Start of Half-Term (1540, 1630 or 1800)
Monday 30 October	School resumes (0830)
Wednesday 1 November	Year R trip to Winchester City Mill

 

 

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Notices

Menus for next week are available here on My School Portal. 

Reminder: no food is to be brought into the school and/or given to boys at any time, especially at sign-out.

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From the PPA

Following on from mixing secondary colours, the boys in Year 2 created a hot or cold picture using only shades and tints of one hue (colour), plus black and white. The boys were proud of their colour mixing abilities and their final pictures were unique.

This week we started on creating our own paintings of The Great Fire of London and look forward to sharing our final masterpieces with you in a couple of weeks. 

In English we have been writing our own stories, based on a traditional tale, but with a twist:

• The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig
•  The Three Little Leopards
•  The Three Little Eagles and the Speedy Cheetah
• The Dangerous Puss in Boots

to name just a few. We are looking forward to sharing them with the boys in Reception next week.
Mrs Kent

Year 1

Literacy - The theme of Autumn has been on our minds in Year 1 this week. We took part in a Sensory Stomp along the river on Tuesday morning to see if we could spot any signs of Autumn. We were hardly out of the Pre-Prep door before the boys had heard “leaves rustling” and “birds tweeting and singing”. The boys were quick to share lots of interesting ideas that we were able to extend into longer adjectival phrases as we wandered through the early October sunshine. “Crunchy sticks” were felt under feet, “dandelion clock wishes” were seen in the air and “long stretchy shadows” on the ground, and “damp earth” was smelt on the nose. After a joyful kick through the autumn leaves, a few autumn treasures were brought back into the classroom to use as further inspiration for autumnal themed poetry writing. It was National Poetry Day on Thursday. Do stop and read the boys’ AUTUMN acrostic poems in the classroom when passing through. They are truly magical.  

Maths - We have used a lot of new maths vocabulary this week to do with comparing numbers: greater than, more than, less than, fewer, equal to, the same as ...
Any opportunities to count items at home over the weekend and compare the amounts will help the boys to embed the above language. Counting of stones in the garden, shells at the beach, Lego bricks in the playroom or chocolate buttons in the kitchen are all valuable activities.  

Messages… 
Well done to all boys for completing their first round of spelling and handwriting at home last week. We have applied these spellings in independent whiteboard practice, in handwriting books and in our creative writing where possible. A new list of spellings has come home today for completion by the following Friday. When required, home spelling practice may also include words from previous weeks that your son has not quite secured.  

Year R

We have been learning about rhyme in Reception class this term. The book 'Incy Wincy Spider' by Kate Toms has been a superb book to extend this theme and also a great hook as the boys are particularly interested in spiders! The story lets us into the reason WHY Incy Wincy Spider keeps climbing up the spout. His home is at the top! He also comes up with a plan to stop him from getting washed out of the spout every time he climbs it. Ask your son if he can tell you more about the story and what his plan is. It is a great one to share at home.

Lots of activities around the classroom have been linked to spiders this week. The boys enjoyed rescuing them from the large web baskets using different tweezers. The challenge was to try not to drop the spiders or touch the web with their fingers!  Spider bodies without legs were also available for the boys to attach the correct number of legs to match the numeral on the body, using a variety of pegs. Some pegs were harder to open than others. Another popular activity has been to make spiders or, indeed, minibeasts, using play dough and different bug features. Some very imaginative creatures were created.

The above types of activities all help to strengthen fine motor skills, which will support writing and using implements with hands, fingers and wrists. Maybe you and your son would like to practice strengthening fine motor skills at home too. Anything from pegging out the washing, making bread or cakes together, unscrewing lids or enjoying creating with play dough will all help.

Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Huntley

 

Forest School

It is conker season, and the boys in Reception had a wonderful time learning how to use a conker clamp in order to make some fabulous flying bugs. Using paint pens, the boys were able to add some features to the conkers to make their bugs really come alive! During free exploration time, some of the boys enjoyed going on a real bug hunt!

The art of storytelling is a wonderful skill, and I encourage the boys to tell stories using various different mediums. This week was no exception. After chatting about some well-known stories, the boys in Year 1 used some natural stick frames to try and retell a section of their favourite story using natural items. We were very impressed with the attention to detail.

This week, Year 2 explored the changing colours of the leaves and used them creatively to make some beautiful autumnal tree hangings. At the start of the session, the boys recalled their knowledge of two previously learned knots; a stopper knot and an open clove hitch knot. By using these skills, their imagination and natural materials, the boys created some wonderful ephemeral artwork. 
Mrs Walker