Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School Newsletter – Summer Term 2021 – Week 4

This week’s newsletter for Rossall Nursery, Pre-Prep and Prep School.

YEAR 6

The force was certainly strong in Year 6 this week. Not due to the presence of the Star Wars crew on Cleveleys Beach but the electromotive force from a Van de Graaff generator that made our hair stand on end in the Science Lab!

The class relished the opportunity to join our Science expert, Mrs Cohen, in the Senior Science Department to learn about the wonders of static electricity. We carried out some electrifying experiments and cannot wait to return to develop our understanding of electrical circuits next week.

Our exhibition work entitled ‘Under the Sea’ is going swimmingly and the groups are demonstrating wonderful team skills to put together an educational extravaganza for the other year groups to enjoy before half term.

Along with completing our Bikeability Level 1 and 2 training, which has equipped us with the skills to cycle safely in our local area, this has been another rewarding week. Well done, Year 6-May the Fourth be with You!

YEAR 5

What an exciting week we have had in Year 5. Space, swimming, cupcakes, millionaires shortbread and cookies! I do admit that sounds a little food and fun heavy. We have also been honing our writing skills with subordinating conjunctions, modal verbs, prepositions and formal and informal writing. How have we fit it all in?

The children have continued to explore alternatives to power stations and have investigated wind, solar power and biomass. We have begun to think of ways that we as a school can do our part. As they say, “every little helps!”

YEAR 4

Our work in Year 4 this week has taken us from the tropical rainforests, all around the solar system and back down to earth again!

In Science, we have been discovering that rainforests have different layers, each with its own special characteristics and inhabitants.

In our Topic work looking at ‘Explorers’, the children have chosen a planet they would like to explore! They have gathered lots of information about their chosen planet and are now busy planning their mission as well as designing any specialist equipment they will need to make the mission possible.

It has been wonderful to see in both tasks the children’s enthusiasm for knowledge and learning, their desire to share the facts and information they discover and their natural curiosity. I have learnt so many new things this week – thanks Year 4!

YEAR 3

Lots of fun learning in Year 3 this week. We are continuing to extend our Science learning about plants, and went on our second visit to the Science Department. This time we used microscopes to look at pollen and stomata.

In Maths, Year 3 have been acing addition and subtraction with fractions, and now moving on to solving problems as we finish off our fractions unit.

In Topic, our TARDIS has landed us in our next ancient civilization in the Indus Valley, another place where living by the river was important. And lastly, in English, we are reaching the end of our ‘Journey’ through fantasy forests, magical citadels and flying machines. This week we used role-play to write dialogue and description for this wordless book.

And of course, a huge well done to the Year 3 and 4 girls football squad who came third in the tournament on Thursday, well done!

YEAR 2

This week Year 2 have been really busy doing lots of learning.

In Topic, we have written a newspaper report on Mary Anning’s discovery of the Ichthyosaur in 1810, this was also the first full dinosaur fossil to be found in Britain too!  We have also learned about the landscape of the world in the different prehistoric periods. We now understand that the Triassic period was similar to a desert, the Jurassic was like a rainforest and the Cretaceous period was covered in deep oceans and sticky swamps. We worked collaboratively in groups to create a small world of one of the periods and thought carefully about creating the correct landscapes. In Science, we have learned about the different types of teeth we have and how to identify whether an animal is a herbivore or a carnivore. 

YEAR 1

This week for Maths, we have been learning about division and sharing equally into groups. We have used lots of practical resources to help us think about sharing equally and making sure each group has the same amount. 

In Language, we have read more of our class book and started to venture further through ‘The Curious Museum’. We followed Oscar, Timothy and Teddy, the baby mammoth, through Underwater World where we found lots of interesting facts about sea creatures as well as reading the story. We discovered that although we are reading a storybook it also has lots of information in it too.

In Topic this week we have started to think about our own personal timelines and shared photographs of our firsts; our first birthday, first tooth, first steps, even our first haircut! So cute! We have also been learning about different places of worship in RE, and this week looked at a Jewish Synagogue. If your family visits a place of worship please talk to your child about these special places so we can share ideas in our lessons.

RECEPTION

This week we were lucky enough to watch the release of the brand new lift-the-flap book, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Wild Animal Hide-and-Seek’ by Eric Carle. This book introduces the children to wild animals and their habitats making it a perfect book for our little explorers! The children enjoyed colouring the wild animals from the story and hunting for them when they had escaped into the classroom. 

We have, of course, looked at the original story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle too, which has led to lots of fun and sometimes challenging activities. The bright, hand-painted tissue paper illustrations have inspired lots of creative work this week, from printing caterpillars and paper chain caterpillars to tissue paper butterflies. The butterflies are apparently flying away to hide around the classroom soon, meaning we are on another treasure hunt, which is definitely becoming a favourite activity amongst the class. We also created the world’s longest caterpillar, which I think may have been even longer, had it not been home time!

This story has also encouraged the children to count, measure and create repeating patterns. Whilst learning about the life cycle of a caterpillar, we have also learnt all about the life cycles of other animals too, predicting what would happen if no living thing had any more babies! Next week, the children would like to learn more about frogs…

NURSERY

This week, we have introduced new books to enhance our learning.

Preschool have been reading Julia Donaldson’s The Singing Mermaid, the story of a mermaid who is tricked into joining the circus. The children have been able to get to the beach a couple of times this week to look for treasure to create their own display. This has given them a sense of ownership in the room and they are very proud to show people what they have collected. The collection of treasures had also sparked off lots of conversation and questions regarding the natural environment on the beach. One of the examples of this was, ‘We have found a crabs leg what has happened to his body?’

The art table was a ray of colour as the children created their own large mermaid tail whilst using their scissor skills to create the scale shapes.

Sandpipers have introduced one of their favourite books, ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. They have been searching around the school to find him without any luck. They have painted a large bear for the room to make a display and the bear is watching them throughout the day which the children keep checking to see if he is. They have used a variety of materials to create different effects with Playdough, such as cocoa powder for the mud, flour for the snow and green paint for the grass. A little break in the sunshine gave them the opportunity to have their first snack of the year outside let’s hope we can have many more.

Sanderlings have been enjoying lots of songs this week. ‘Wind the bobbin up’ is a favourite, and have started mimicking some of the actions which is lovely to see. We have been a bit creative this week and have enjoyed painting. The children were very good at holding the small brushes in their hands and dabbing them on paper. It didn’t take long until their whole hands were in it and then every surface was covered in red paint. We have also been working on feeding ourselves which again can be a messy affair but we don’t mind. 

AWARD WINNERS

RECEPTION – This week’s certificates of achievement go to Oskar and Rocco.

After listening to the story of ‘The Hungry Caterpillar’, Oskar and Rocco spent a long time creating the world’s longest caterpillars by joining paper chains together. 


YEAR 1 – Larry and Wyatt for fantastic Maths work and showing an excellent understanding of sharing as division.


YEAR 2 – Dolly and Alfie for super Topic work.


YEAR 3 – This week’s Year 3 certificates go to:
– Seluleko for being so helpful and responsible all the time
– Mia for great work with fractions in maths

YEAR 4 – Lincoln for being a ‘Risktaker’ and showing increasing confidence at Swimming, and Lulu for being a ‘Risktaker’ attending sports club and representing Rossall for the first time. 

YEAR 5 – Lockie and Charlie for being Star Bakers in the Rossall Kitchen. 

Aliyah also won the Year 5 Reading Competition. 

YEAR 6
6S winners:
Hope- Outstanding Creative Talent.
Isaac- Effort and Progress in Creative Writing.


6R Winners:
Joel- Outstanding Attitude and Progress in Bikeability.
Harry- Outstanding effort and progress in Maths.

SPORT

YEAR 2 FOOTBALL REPORT
Last Friday, Year 2 went out on their first fixture at Poolfoot. They played tremendously well in six games, showing kindness, sportsmanship and great progress throughout the whole afternoon. They finished 7th overall and should all be proud of everything they achieved!


FOOTBALL FEVER!
Ten very excited girls from Years 3 and 4 took part in a football tournament on Wednesday at Poolfoot Farm.

We played against three teams in the group stages, winning 2 and losing 1. This qualified us for the cup semi-final, where the match went to extra time. We were just pipped to the post in the dying seconds.

Then it was the 3rd and 4th position play-offs against Weeton. It was 1-1 at full time, and stayed the same after extra time. This meant penalties, which resulted in 2-2! So it was joint 3rd place at our first ever competition!

The girls were amazing, both tackling competitively and encouraging each other at all times. To see each one of them develop their skills and positional awareness as the afternoon progressed was a real joy. The effort and attitude of all the girls involved bodes well for the future; there are definitely some Rossall Academy players in the making. Look out Mr Newson they are coming!

TOP TENNIS COACHING FOR PUPILS IN YEARS 3-6

We are thrilled that Top Tennis Coaching will be hosting morning tennis sessions for our students in Years 3-6.

Beginning on Tuesday 27th April we are running a 5 week coaching program for students at Rossall School

Year 3 & 4 – Tuesdays, 7.45-8.30am
Year 5 & 6 – Thursdays, 7.45-8.30am


at the Rossall Sports Centre.

Head towww.toptenniscoaching.co.ukto book your child’s spot!
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PICTURES FROM THIS WEEK