Coding Masterclass

Year 6 were lucky enough to have a computing lesson with an expert who showed us all of the capabilities of computers and explained all of the different jobs that are available within the world of computing.

After that, we had the opportunity to use sophisticated code to control Microbits to resemble disco lights.

Thank you very much Tech Cornwall for an informative and engaging afternoon!

Diwali and Remembrance Day 

We have had a brilliant week of learning in Foundation / Year 1.

On Monday, we learnt all about Remembrance Day and what it means. We talked about the importance of the poppy and how it is an important symbol to remember those that have fought for us. We made our own poppies in different ways and made a poppy wreath to display in our classroom.

We also had a day focused on Diwali this week. We discussed how it is ‘the festival of lights’ and different ways it is celebrated. We explored Diwali through making Mendhi patterns, recreating Rangoli patterns with coloured rice and making Diva lamps. The children worked really hard on creating beautiful artwork.

Year 1 have started their Science unit all about animals. We have been exploring this through grouping animals into fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. We are learning a song to help us remember the animal classifications!

Next week, we will also start rehearsals for our Christmas Play! There will be more information about this soon but we will start learning the songs in class. Foundation have already began practising their songs for their Christmas performance. I have no doubt the children will be amazing.

Parent Partnership meetings are taking place next week. These will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. If you haven’t made an appointment yet the booking are available on the window at drop off.

Thank you!

Foundation / Year 1 Team

Dear all

I hope that you have had a lovely half term week and have enjoyed some fireworks!!

We have been incredibly busy in school for this last week!  Last week, we had an amazing re-enactment of the Crimean War battle and the children had lots of fun!  Firstly, they went onto the playground and did the battle and then the amazing nurses helped the injured into the hall where they were treated for all of their injuries!  The children learned many things from this experience and talked about it endlessly!

This week is Anti-Bullying week and also on Wednesday is world kindness day.  The children will be completing some activities during our PSHE lessons to understand how important these two areas are!

In maths, we are still on addition and subtraction.  There are many assignments on Mathletics for the children to complete so please feel free to do this at home.  Also, there are not many entries in children's Reading logs at the moment so please make sure you write in them to enable your child's book to be changed weekly.  If there is no evidence of reading at home then unfortunately the book will not be changed!  Also, your child needs to read the phonics minibooks weekly too - please do not forget to return them.

 The children are learning about continents in geography at the moment and are producing some amazing work!  They will show off their work at the parents consultations in a few weeks time.

Friday 8th November

We have had a wonderful first week back and the children have come back to school full of positive energy after their half term rest.

This week has been a busy week exploring and learning about special celebrations such as Diwali and Firework Night.

On Tuesday we had a fire work celebration day. The children explored why we celebrate firework night. All of our learning tasks were based on fireworks. In outdoor learning ,Mrs Gregory and Janet made a bonfire for the children to explore. The children used a steel to start a spark and then sat around a perimeter and watched the fire that Mrs Gregory started. The children loved this experience and were using such brilliant vocabulary.

Today we had Diwali day. Maya from our local shop sent us some beautiful pictures of her Diwali outfit. She looked beautiful. The children explored what Diwali is and how Hindu people celebrate. All of our activities today were all about Diwali and the children learnt so much and achieved some great work tasks.

In phonics, the foundation children have started level from the beginning, with a strong focus on writing the letters using the correct formation. Writing the letters using correct formation benefits the children as they enter into year 1 and beyond as when they begin to join letters the letter formation makes a big difference.

The children have been writing s/a/t/ and p this week. Lots of practice would be great at home. Writing in shaving foam, sand, salt or using water on paint brushes is a great way to practice letter formation at home in a fun way. Please refer to the phonics sheets previously sent for the correct letter formation.

In maths the children have worked hard at representing numbers 1, 2 and 3. They have used many different ways to represent the numbers and have progressed so well.

Our BIG question this half term is: What shall I play with today?

Therefore, the children have also been exploring toys from the past and making pictures of toys they would lie to play with. They have been drawing their most favourite toys from home, been practicing writing their name and so much more!  

Have a lovely weekend 

The Foundation Team 

Welcome back Foundation and Year 1!

Welcome back! We have had a lovely start to this half term in Foundation / Year 1.

We have started our new big question for this half term which is ‘What can I play with today?’ and it is a history question, focusing on toys from the past and present. We have started a discussion about how we think toys have changed and we will think more about this in the following weeks.

We had a really fun day on Tuesday all about Bonfire Night! We made sparklers out of tissue paper and sticks, used playdough to make bonfires and sparklers, used chalk to draw fireworks as well as talking about what happens on Bonfire Night. Foundation even made a bonfire in their outdoor learning! They loved talking about the how they made the fire and how they worked together.

In Maths, Year 1 are continuing their work writing number sentences. They have been working super hard and have been using numicon to help them find the numbers. We have been choosing a number, and then finding how many number sentences we can make with that number.

The children have come back settled really well and I look forward to all the fun events happening this half term!

Thank you.

Foundation / Year 1 Team

Thursday 24th October -Half Term!

WOW! It is the end of our first half term! It has been a very long half term, being eight weeks and we can see that the children are all very tired! However, they have been AMAZING and their first half term at full time school has been wonderful.

The children have all progressed in their own way so much and we are beyond proud of their achievements!

This week the children have been assessed in phonics as we reached the end of level 2. The children are progressing well. Each year we revisit level 2 so that we can ensure writing progression and application as well as reading.

The children have been working towards a ‘pumpkin day’ this week and have been making wonderful choices and working hard. They have been using their phonics to write characters and items they remember from our poems. They have been recognizing, matching and making numbers to 10. The children have been working with Mr.  Liddement this week to create obstacle courses and construction walls. The problem solving has been amazing!

In outdoor learning the children were set a challenge with Mrs Gregory. Mrs Gregroy made two areas with rope, she then showed the children a stick, their first job was to find a bigger stick and put it in one of the areas roped out. My goodness did the children find big sticks we even had a log! Then the children had to compare Mrs Gregory’s stick and find smaller ones. The outdoor learning session is a great session where the children learn so many skills in the natural environment.

The children have also been making autumnal pictures, cutting, sticking, painting and drawing. They have been practicing their name writing and so much more!

We wish you all a wonderful half term break and we look forward to seeing all the children on Monday 4^th November

Foundation team 

Our last week before half term!

Foundation / Year 1 have been busy this week in the lead up to half term.
We have finished off our learning around our wider curriculum question ‘Who am I?’ We have been applying this to our learning activities in the classroom by building houses and using these as discussions for who we live with in our homes.
In Maths, Foundation have been working on their number recognition by having a number, and then making a tower to match the number. Year 1 have been making part-whole models and then using these to write number sentences.
We have been busy outside this week using our water tray. We have been measuring, filling, emptying and practising our turn taking!
We have also explored the library this week and explored lots of different books. We chose whatever book interested us and had a look.
We have had a great first half term in Foundation / Year 1 and I have loved getting to know the children and watch them settle in. They have been just amazing and are real super stars. I hope everyone has a lovely week and I look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 4th November.

Thank you for all your support.

Foundation / Year 1 Team

Forest School!

We have been so busy this last week with many lovely things!  But last Friday was the best.  Even though it was raining, we enjoyed a long time in our Forest School area.  We had a really good play and toasted marshmallows!

We had a lovely time :)

F

You helped us to raise £2,374

What a wonderful afternoon we had at our 40th birthday celebration event.  Looe Primary Academy moved from its old site down in West Looe to its new site 40 years ago in November.  We could not resist the opportunity to celebrate the event.  It was a bit of an impromptu reunion for some of the previous staff including Mr Trethowan who was the Headteacher at the time that the school moved and Mr Wardle who was the Headteacher here not too long ago.  We wanted as many organisations in town to join us as possible and we we so pleased that we had so many join us - far too many to mention here!  We were very lucky with the weather and although it got a little cold towards the end, we all enjoyed everything that was on offer.  We are raising money for some new play equipment for both of our play areas and we have made a very good start to add to the money that we have already raised.  Thank you to everyone who made the day successful.  The children raised over £670 with their social enterprise projects, so thank you to them all too.  It was certainly a day to feel proud!

Friday 18th October

Some of this week’s learning in Foundation class:

The foundation children have worked so hard this week, and we have seen some lovely wow moments!

This week the children have explored so many wonderful learning opportunities!

In outdoor learning this week Mrs Gregory set up an amazing nature hunt for the children. They worked in pairs with pictures, and they had to explore the forest area and find the items to match. The children found pine needles, apples, berries, bark and much more. The children used wonderful vocabulary to explore these items, and it was a wonderful session!

In maths this week the children have been learning to count on to 20 and back from 20 verbally! We use a lot of songs to help us with our learning and the children love to join in and sing when they are learning.

On Wednesday Miss Hughes found a big stick insect on Miss Bolgers class door. We took this opportunity to bring ‘Stam’ ( his new name) into class and explore him. We learnt all about stick insects by researching and we even held him , if we felt comfortable to do so! He tickled!!

In English we continued to explore rhyming words and the children were amazing at matching rhyming words and pictures in one of the activities. We then listened to another Edward Lear poem called The Jumblies’ this poem was a long poem but the children loved the adventure within the poem and enjoyed acting out sailing in the sea in a sieve!  

In Phonics we explored diagraphs: ll/ss/ff/ and s saying /z/. The children were soooooo amazing with their phonics this week that they actually 'blew Janets socks off'!!!!!! 

The children have also been practicing their writing, making owl and pussy cat masks , using foil to make boats to float on the water just like the owl and pussy cat and so much more!

Next week is a four day week as we break up for half term on Thursday 24^th at 3:15pm

Have a lovely weekend

The Foundation Team 

This week, we have been continuing our learning about 'Animals including humans'.

We have been learning about teeth and their function and today, we have completed the second part of a Science experiment where we found out what happens to teeth when they come into contact with different liquids. 

Don't forget to ask your children about it so they can say what they learned!

(The white on the egg submerged in milk is white from toothpaste drying, however, the white from the apple juice and the energy drink is due to those sugary liquids and the damaging effects of sugar!)

Our learning this week!

We’ve had another great week in Foundation / Year 1 class.

In English we have started our new learning journey focusing on poetry. We have been looking at the poem Owl and the Pussy Cat by Edward Lear. We have learnt the poem through making up some actions and looking at the rhyming words. Foundation have started writing words using their phonics sounds to match pictures and Year 1 have started to make their own verse of a poem, thinking of a new character and new rhyming words!

In Maths, Foundation have been looking at patterns. We have done this in lots of different ways. Our favourite way was looking for patterns in nature and making patterns on a walk outside. Year 1 have started our new addition and subtraction unit and we have been looking at part-whole models.

We also had a special visitor to our class this week! Miss Hughes found a stick insect outside and we have been having a look using our investigation station. We even used our choosing time to draw the stick insect and discuss what it looks like. I think we will be a little bit sad when we have to let him back outside!

In Geography, we have also been looking at hot and cold countries. We have spoken about what clothes you would need for a hot country, and what clothes you would need for a cold country. We have also been locating these countries on a map.

Some important messages:

Please make sure you are sending your child in with their reading record every day. If we get time we will read with the children so it is important that their book is in school.

There is a parent phonics information session next week. This is just to give you some more information of how we run phonics at school and ways you can help your children at home. These will run at 9:30 – 10:00 and 2:30 – 3:00 on Tuesday 22nd October. If you would like to attend please email me. 

Thank you!

The Foundation/Year 1 Team

Friday 11th October

Some of this week’s learning in Foundation class:

The foundation children have worked so hard this week, and we have seen some lovely wow moments!

In English we have started to explore poems, and we have started with the poem The Owl and the Pussy Cat. The children have been learning a part of the poem and have started role playing and thinking of actions to help them learn it. They have been exploring rhyming words that they can hear in the poem.

In Phonics we have learnt to recognize, read and write letters h/b/f and l. Each day in phonics the children practice their oral blending skills to read words and this week they have amazed the adults at how well they are beginning to read words that include the phonemes they know!

The children have also been practicing their name writing, using mirrors to explore their faces and then draw self-portraits, decorating handprints with the things they love the most, they have been exploring autumnal natural resources in the playground and so much more!

The children continue to progress so well and have progressed so much already!

Have a lovely weekend

The Foundation Team 

40 Years of Looe Primary!

The celebration went so well and Foundations effort to make stones for the stall and decorate the pirate tombola was appreciated by everyone that had a go!

We made lots of money for our school equipment and so much fun was had by all! 

Well done Foundation and well done Looe Primary! 

We love our school! 

Wednesday 9th October

Wow what a week so far!  We hope that you enjoyed the party last Friday!  Our class stall went well and so many children were enjoying our tattoos!

We have had a very busy week already!  On Monday, we had a guest speaker Ms Clifton.  She came in to talk to the children about when she was at school and also when her grandmother was at school during Victorian Times!  The children learned many different things including that there were no carpets - just wooden floors in school.  They were shocked at this and said it must have been so uncomfortable!

Today, they also had a "visit" from "Florence Nightingale".  They asked so many questions such as "What school did you go to?", "What did you do for work?" and "When were you born?".  They were so shocked again that Florence did not know what electricity was!  And tried to explain to her what a Playstation was!

In maths, we are coming to the end of our place value unit and will begin addition and subtraction next week.  Please do not forget that assignments are set on mathletics every week.  The children's logins are in the front of their reading records.

The children had the last of their science lessons for this half term today.  The Year Two children completed a wonderful experiment about hygiene and the Year Three children made a working arm to show how the biceps and triceps work!

The children also have their last French lesson for this half term tomorrow.  They will be learning the names of the colours.  It has been lovely to hear the children using their french language knowledge in the playground too!  I hope that they have been practising at home!