What is buddy reading? 

In Oak class we are carefully developing our independent reading ability. In our whole class reading lessons we are building confidence when we read with a buddy. This has given those who were unsure of reading aloud courage to try. They know their friends are supporting them and have the patience to wait for challenging words to be sounded out. 

"Modelling is most powerful when it is provided through someone who is close to the learner in age, status and skill level." Thinking Reading by J and D Murphy

We are developing reading as being purposeful, remaining focused and engaged in our learning as well as considering the audience we are reading for. The children are also being respectful and active citizens in our school community by respecting and supporting their peers to achieve. 

We love reading in Willow Class! 

Reading opens up our world of imagination and creativity, it helps us see the world through other people's eyes and the actions and stories of others inspire us to aim for and achieve excellence! Not only does it support our learning in everything we do in our day but it also supports our school drivers and just as importantly helps us learn how to succeed with our learning characteristics.

One tool that we use to support reading is reading VIPERS.

VIPERS is an acronym created to support the teaching of reading comprehension. Often in LKS2 we are still supporting some readers but most are ready to move on to understanding pieces of larger text and will need that understanding to support their knowledge retention. 

Above is a breakdown of the question types we ask as part of VIPERS. Every reading session we will analyse a specific question type through reading and discussion. We often engage in debate around what a VIPERS question may require of us and what skill is needed to help us answer a question. 

Below is a set of example questions for Vocabulary style questions.

• What do the words ...... and ...... suggest about the character, setting and mood?
• Which word tells you that....?
• Which keyword tells you about the character/setting/mood?
• Find one word in the text which means......
• Find and highlight the word that is closest in meaning to.......
• Find a word or phrase which shows/suggests that.......

At Borders we love encouraging children to read. If you would like to support your child in reading with confidence and to help them to find enjoyment in answering different aspects of a variety of texts then reading VIPERS are a great tool. I would recommend having a focus on a different question type when you can with your child. These don't have to be supported by written answers but instead can help form a great discussion to support that whole understanding.

You can even use VIPERS questions whilst looking at pictures or watching films. If you are interested in knowing more about how to support your child with VIPERS and reading head to The Literacy Shed here https://www.literacyshedplus.com/en-us/browse/reading-vipers to find out more.

In Chestnut class, this term we have been reflecting on our Learning Characteristics Hexagons.

We used the Roman God Janus as our inspiration, looking back at our past achievements of the Autumn term and focusing ahead on those areas that we need to increase our understanding of in this term.

We all easily identified successes in our learning and actually found it more difficult to select those Learning Characteristics that we need to improve. Once we had selected them, we considered definite steps to success for each one.

We will constantly monitor and evaluate these throughout the term!

 

This half term in Acorn class we have been exploring pattern. When we learn to notice pattern we are able to spot connections and deepen our understanding, not only in maths but in all other areas of learning too. It enables us to make logical connections and predictions and is important for thinking and reasoning in the early years. 

We have explored patterns in the environment, patterns through music, song and dance and patterns in colour and art. We have learned about spotting patterns within stories and different ways of building patterns; we have even set up or own pattern station within our classroom!

 

Robin class are spending this half term thinking about our big question

"Where on earth are we?". 

We have discussed the history of our school and how it has changed over time and are currently thinking about our local environment and the things we see as we travel to and from school and around our local community. 

We learnt that the dividing line between Haddiscoe and Toft Monks runs through our playground so we can be in two places at once! 

Our big question also links to our Talk for Writing text Whatever next! By Jill Murphy, as we consider our life on earth and what else exists in space.

Woodpecker class are showing their understanding of multiplication and division with confidence as we approach the end of this unit. 

Over the last 4 weeks, children have built on the knowledge of equal and unequal groups and used this to create and answer questions about arrays. Children used arrays to write multiplication number sentences and we looked at the different ways a multiplication could be written.

We used this learning to then develop confidence in multiplying by 2, 5 and 10. We then moved onto sharing and relating this to division. Knowing multiplication facts really helped when calculating division!

In Red Kite class we have been reading the book ‘Cosmic’ by Frank Cottrell- Boyce as part of our whole class reading. We have been using a range of viper’s skills into our work including predict which involves Red Kites predicting what they think is going to happen in the next chapter of the story.  

We have also included drama techniques into our whole class reading session. Red Kite class have had opportunities to act out scenes as well as acting out what they think the main characters would be like if they were part of a talk show. 

In science, Starlings have been studying different types of rocks including Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic rocks. We discussed how each rock is formed and how the elements are involved. The children then used their analysis skills and collaboration to identify and group different types of rock including a rose quartz, red jasper, aragonite and geode. They used magnifying glasses to observe the shapes, patterns and colours of each rock before recording down the type, a sketch of the rock and some information about how it was formed. The next step for Starlings will be to test out the durability and strength of different rocks by using different substances. Starlings will then need to use their independent thinking skills to consider why some rocks are stronger than others.

Issac Bruce-Whitley is 5 years old and in Hedgehogs Class.  At Show and Tell he brought in a trophy, as he was awarded the Man of STEEL cup for walking 50 miles to raise money for Arthur's Angels, a charity set up to donate toys to vulnerable children and raise awareness of child abuse.

Barracuda Class at Henley have been studying forces in Science. We have been collaborating together to design parachutes to see how we can effectively use air resistance to slow down someone’s fall.

As part of our topic about the Active Planet, Dolphins Class experienced expression through art and music, in the style of Wassily Kandinsky, representing music with colours and shapes.  

Dolphins Class went to Kew Gardens as part of their Rainforest topic last term.They learnt how to survive in the rainforest and they got to handle and smell products from the rainforest.

It was a very early start but well worth it!

 

Here at Kirkley we have had a great start to 2023. We have successfully recruited 2 new members of staff to our term. Katie is our new preschool room lead, Katie started with us at the beginning of term and we will also have Emily our part time practitioner starting with us after the February half term.

Hello my name is Katie, I am the room lead for the Owls children at Kirkley Nursery.

I have 20 years' childcare experience working in a variety of early years' settings from private nurseries to childminding. I have a degree in child care learning a development and I then went on to gain my Early Years professional status.

I am really excited to be joining a warm and friendly team, and look forward to working with your children to enable them to learn through a fun enriching environment and to give them a good start to their education.

We have been working hard enhancing our nursery curriculum. The children have been engaged in our talk for writing sessions and are retelling the story Goodnight Moon. We are currently learning all about the winter season and will soon be moving on to space. 

We now also have regular sessions booked for the amazing sensory room in the children’s centre. The room supports children’s emotional wellbeing in a calm and relaxed environment and gives them an opportunity to explore using their senses. The staff and children all look forward to the sessions.

This term parents and carers visited Mendham and enjoyed getting involved in sessions relating to Maths.

Pine class -  Year 1 made numbers up to 20 and looked at finding one more and one less and Year 2 were learning how to calculate with money. Thank you to those who attended. 

Juniper class had a super maths morning, lots of multiplication and division practice enjoyed by all.

Juniper have been learning about volcanoes, this afternoon we created our own volcanic eruptions in the classroom.

 

The Gallery at Rendlesham

Rendlesham Primary are proud to display learning from our theme last term in the new gallery situated in the Atrium. The gallery showcases learning from all year groups based on the theme ‘Conflict’. There are examples of learning within Design Technology, Science, Art, and English. Our learning characteristics are also prominent describing when we have had to be resilient, collaborative or how we have been able to build links within our learning.

We have enjoyed looking at our own learning and those of others, discussing what different year groups have found out about. There have been lots of curious questions and excitement for the curriculum from everyone. A real talking point is the heliocentric models hanging from above!

Please do stop for a look when you visit the school, we would be proud to show you around and share all the marvellous facts we have found out.

 

At St Edmund's we have been enjoying our new question based topic on Planet Earth. Each class has been focusing on a different question in geography ranging from Could all animals live in the same space? to Does human activity increase the risk of natural disasters?

In Beech class to introduce our question and Geography topic we created Planet Earth with the four different layers and then cut into our Planet Earth's to expose layers. The children had great fun creating their own planets as well as it being a useful learning tool for when we move on to understand about natural disasters and what causes them?

 

This term, the Shark Class have been learning different printmaking techniques to create patterns inspired by wood carving from the Swat district of Pakistan. They have experimented with monoprinting and this week, the children used foam to  replicate the process of linoprinting. We explored how we could create a repeating pattern by printing from the foam over and over again. Next week, the Sharks will begin to explore the process of creating collagraph prints.

 

We were all very sad to see our Academy Head, Miss Jerman, return to her roots back in Wales at Christmas time and we celebrated the many years she had worked within our Trust. 

We had a plate especially commissioned for Miss Jerman by local artist, Thea, from Gallery Thea in Southwold, which we presented to her before she left.

She absolutely loved it and promises it will have pride of place in her new home!

In January, it was time to welcome our new Interim Executive Leader, Mrs Thomas, who will be taking on the challenge of steering further successes and developments at the Yox Valley Partnership.  Mrs Thomas has been the Academy Head at Rendlesham for many years and we are all very excited to be working with such an experienced Leader.

At the January Professional Development Day, the first challenge she set all colleagues was to develop a fully immersive, inspiring and exciting learning environment in each school for our children all within the theme of our current topic ‘Planet Earth’!  Over the last few weeks we have seen material pinned to ceilings, fairy lights strewn across boards and even two boats arrive whilst our displays have evolved.  Now that the children are fully immersed in their new topics the wonderful back drops that have been created are being added to by even more wonderful pieces of the children’s work.

We are sure you will all agree the challenge has been met!  One little boy in Reception was heard to say as he walked down the long corridor at Southwold, whilst looking at the blue material pinned creatively to the ceiling boasting silhouettes of sea creatures “We are walking through the ocean”!Inspiration achieved!