Pre-Prep: Remember, remember, what Fun in November!
The dark and wet days have started to roll in but we haven’t let this dampen our spirits. The children have been getting their waterproofs and wellies on and have enjoyed being outside. In Outdoor Education, as we prepared for Bonfire Night, the children loved building campfires and toasting marshmallows whilst learning all about Guy Fawkes.
We came back from Half Term with a new addition to the Pre-Prep dogs – Luna the Labrador! She is too little to be in the classroom at the moment, but she has made a few visits to see the children. Both Cora and Olive enjoyed the Halloween dress up!
Last Friday night all the children were invited back to school for our bonfire and fireworks display. They tucked into toffee apples and sausage rolls, and enjoyed putting on some UV face paint. It was great fun and wonderful to see everyone coming back with their families to enjoy the evening.
Our nativity rehearsals are now well underway. Lots of beautiful singing and hard work remembering lines and where to be on the stage. We are already singing the songs at all times of the day – only 3 weeks to go! We have also been practising our Christmas songs for our end of term service. We are beginning to get into the Christmas spirit!
Form 6
In Form 6 we have just finished learning how to count in 50s and how to make different numbers using 100s and 50s. Now that we have finished our place value topic, we will be starting addition and subtraction after the weekend out, with a big focus on number bonds to 10 and 20.
In literacy, we are continuing with revision of the phonics vowel sounds with a particular focus this week on ‘ue’, ‘ew’ and ‘u-e’. This can be very tricky! The children are now ready to stage their debates - ‘School uniform should be banned’ and ‘Playtime should be longer’ - which will be chaired by Mr Marriot. The children have been very excited about this!
Our topic remains within the Scottish theme, and we are now looking at Myths and Legends. We have discussed the difference between the two and have looked at local natural features and talked about what they might have been, many years ago. One suggestion was that the Bass Rock could have been home to a giant! This led us towards the myth about the giants Benandonner and Finn McCool. We have looked at the two locations of Staffa and the Giant’s Causeway, as well as the hill Dun Caan on Raasay that had its top blown off because Benandonner clapped so hard!
Form 7
In Form 7, the children have been highly engaged with Ninja Maths which tests their rapid recall of number bonds. The boys have enjoyed trying to beat their high scores and have shown great focus and determination throughout. They are aiming to earn their ‘white belt’ just now!
The children in form 7 are now nearing the end of their phonics learning journey. Their ability to read and write complex sounds is forever improving, and they impress me every day by generating impressive word banks containing the focus sound! They are especially looking forward to learning the ‘tious’ sound next week.
Thanks to Hughie, we have had a generous donation of games and puzzles which the children have enjoyed working on collaboratively. It’s great to see the boys taking turns and using their maths skills when playing money-based games.
Form 8
Form 8 have been busy moving forward in their number work. They have moved on to taking away now and are counting backwards. When writing their answers, they are taking their time to try and get their number formation correct.
Everyone has continued to learn two new sounds a week and we are working hard to use these sounds in words when writing and reading. Our writing has focussed on our five senses and using descriptive language to describe how our senses would have been affected at Bonfire Night.
Our play provision was given a refresh to make sure that we were using different toys in new and imaginative ways. The play fairy even paid us a visit to encourage us to play in new areas of the classroom.
