It’s fair to say that our crop(ette?) of potatoes was on the small side this year. Was it the heatwave? Should we have watered the plant more or less frequently, we wondered, as we counted out 11…(just 11?)…. potatoes? And, why were some of them so much bigger than the others? Lots of questions for Mrs Wake when she is next in school.

As we harvested, we noticed the roots that had grown from the seed potatoes, delivering water and nutrients from the soil into the growing potatoes.

The children placed orders for how they would like their potatoes to be served: plain, butter, butter and mint; just mint. Note the draw between butter and butter and mint.

Most children (and Mr Carter) were very enthusiastic about the taste of the potatoes with many coming back for seconds or thirds, sometimes to try a different variation. Ivar regretted his initial selection of plain but was impressed by the buttered potatoes. Isabelle loved their “sweetness”. Emilia was disappointed, though, and declared that potatoes should be served mashed and only mashed!

Most importantly, we really enjoyed the experience of eating something that we had planted and nurtured ourselves. We wonder what you might plant and grow at home over the summer?

On Monday, we had our first ‘Jump up’ day, where the children spent the day in Year 1. They all returned smiling, full of warmth for their new teachers and eager to share their experiences of the day. Evie told us that she “was a little bit nervous but now I’m not because I played in the construction area and built a really really big tower”. Francesca was excited that she had “made something I never made before….a special thing”. Wednesday played with Pia, whom she described as, “my best friend forever”.

In helping our new teachers to get to know us better, we have written to them.

The children know that if they have any questions about next year, they can come and talk to the adults in school. We have also encouraged them to voice any thoughts to you at home. We are going to miss every single one of you!

The children have been provided with opportunities to explore the attributes of
the 2D shapes we learnt about earlier in the year and to select shapes for a particular purpose. They have been encouraged to explain why they chose a particular shape and why
other shapes would not be suitable.

There was much excitement when we used the logic blocks to complete the templates, which necessitated the rotation and manipulation of shapes. Children then made their
own arrangements of shapes and pictures and their partner guessed what they had created. We also had a contest to create the biggest triangle from a pile of small card triangles: this was very challenging but rewarding for the children when they finally worked out how to grow thier shape.

I wonder if you can tell which of these pictures depicts a bumble bee?….. Someone’s family? ….A dragon?…. A caterpillar?….A man with very strong arms?

At home, why not take a favourite photo and stick it on card, then cut it into shapes? Talk about turning, rotating and flipping each piece as you complete the jigsaw.

We have been considering what it means to be a refugee through Kate Milner’s story, ‘My name is not Refugee’. The book poses many questions, which make us contemplate the range of emotions we might experience if we had to leave our homes and take a journey into the unknown. Wednesday thought that “you might get sick” if you lived somewhere without running water. Ryan told us that he would be able to walk “zero minutes before <he> started complaining” if he had to escape to safety. Oscar would play “card games” on the journey. Sophie thought that “seeing other cats and dogs” might remind her of home.

The children recorded their response to the question, “What precious items would you take if you had to leave home in a hurry?”.

Happy Father’s Day

The children are bringing home cards that they have made. I wonder if you can guess which dad is which from the drawings? Which boy said, “My dad is really hot in this picture because he has been running.”? Enjoy your weekend.

Miss Thompson, Mrs Robottom and Mrs Shipley were very proud to take RS to Knaresborough this week; they were all such brilliant ambassadors for ACE. Mr Carter drove the minibus to Headingley station, where we caught the train to Knaresborough. After walking down the cobbles to the riverside, the children were obviously “starving” so we had our second bagels of the morning. Birds on the River Nidd squabbled over the spares. Short legs were challenged by the 117 steep steps to the remains of Knaresborough Castle, which we sketched after careful observation. Thank you to the school kitchen team for our delicious packed lunch. Ring games and races helped us to warm up before we made our way back down to the river. Highly anticipated Calipos were slurped as we watched the intrepid rowers in the wooden boats. Many of the children seemed keen to try out the boats if any parents and carers fancy that over the summer holidays! Thank you to the parent volunteers, who accompanied us for the day. We really appreciate your support.

More photos will be shared during our Arts Celebration in the last week of term.

Today, year 4 invited us to their inspiring Science Fair and the kind year 6s showed us around. Afterwards, we reflected upon what we had noticed. Ivar observed that he had seen “three volcanoes and they exploded when the people put liquid inside”. Moosa was impressed by how the crystals “glowed”. Arlo’s favourite exhibit was his brother’s “robotic hand” and he was able to explain to his friends how “pulling on the strings made the fingers bend”. Jaskirat loved watching her hand change blue. Ryan correctly suggested that goggles were used “to protect the scientists’ eyes in case something exploded”. Amiah filled the body with its organs. Mrs Shipley learnt that Jupiter protects Earth by bouncing meteorites back into the galaxy! We also saw the frustration of a scientist whose experiment did not work but we all agreed that these are the experiences we often learn most from.

Why not try some science yourselves at home this weekend? Gather a few objects as your bath is running and predict whether they will float or sink when you put them in the water.

We have approached Mental Health Week in the context of the things we can do to keep both our minds and our bodies healthy. Consideration has been given to the foods that we should try and eat lots of and those that we might have as an occasional treat. We talked about all of the ways that we can exercise our bodies, building our muscles and improving our fitness. Tips from the children on how we might have a good night’s sleep – bubble baths, warm milk, and a bedtime story – were also shared.

Even if we sleep and eat well and take lots of exercise, there may still be times when we feel out of sorts and we considered how we might visit the calm zone and take some deep breaths or ask an adult for help in these moments.

We talked about how calm we feel when we step outside and take the time to enjoy nature. What could be more relaxing than observing a newly emerged butterfly test its delicate wings, or planting pea shoots that we have nurtured at the windows, feeding a potato plant (Yes, we are winning, RS!) or noticing how shiny a ladybird is?

I hope you all get chance to connect with nature over the half term break.

This week, the children were challenged to make a toy for a baby. We looked at some existing baby toys and noticed that many were colourful, noisy and/or had an interesting texture. The children drew their designs and then used the materials in the workshop to come up with their prototypes.

Several children made rattles with bottles, beans and a bright cover but, when we tested them, we were concerned that the beans came out. Arlo correctly identified that this was a “choking” hazard and we went back to the workshop to make the seals more secure. Rana made a marble maze but we discovered that the pompom ran off the bottom so we found a box with higher sides to contain the pompom. Moosa’s paper doll had arms that made an appealing rustling sound but we decided that the baby might easily tear them so we secured some cellophane that rustled into secured fabric so a baby could enjoy the sound and texture of a rustle bag safely. Wednesday chose to add colourful bits of pipe cleaner and water to her bottle to entertain her baby for longer than an original idea of a sticker on the outside. Well done, everyone, on working together to design, make, evaluate and improve your toys. I wonder if you can design and make a toy or game for yourself to play at home?

Our big question for this half term encourages us to think about how we have changed since we were babies. We were lucky enough to be joined at our Flourishing Worship on Wednesday by the younger siblings of Dottie, Sadie and Dhanvi and were able to learn more about babies. Children in RS were keen to understand: how parents get babies to sleep, what babies eat and drink; why babies cry; where they poo and whether they are scared of cats?!

On Thursday, Mrs Tatum-Hall brought her gorgeous daughter into school so we could find out more about an almost-toddler of 16 months. We noticed that she enjoys chewing keys to relieve her gums, where new teeth are emerging. She loves music, singing and being tickled. One of her favourite hobbies is talking nonsense with grandpa and she will eat anything!

Next week, the children will be talking and writing about how they have changed so please do take the time, over the weekend, to reminisce over the clothes they wore, the food they ate, the favourite toys that they had. This will really help to enrich our discussions and lead to deeper engagement in the writing. Thank you.

To deepen our understanding of our ‘Talk for Writing’ text, ‘How to Catch a Star’, the children have been taking to the hot seat. We asked questions of the person in the hot seat to find out which character they were from the story. Next, some of us drew upon our acting skills to perform verbs from the text: jumping; waiting; climbing and fishing. Then we looked at some of the illustrations and considered where the scene occurred in the story. Was it the opening, the middle or the end? Why not try this game with your favourite stories at home?

Well done, Hugo!

Well done to Hugo for winning the Reading competition for Reception. Well done also to additional entrants – Sophie and Ariella – whose brilliant entries did not come via the classroom and, so were not featured on last week’s blog.