Birstwith CE Primary School

The children enjoyed planting hyacinth bulbs in the Autumn term and they are looking strong and healthy. When they returned to school after the New Year the children had a think about their wishes for the New Year and added these to a label for their bulbs. We cannot wait to see pictures of them flowering this spring!

We have been reading the book Lost and Found this term by Oliver Jeffers. The children in Year 1 have been working really hard at re-telling the story and have been focussing on writing good sentences with capital letters at the beginning and a full stop at the end. They are applying their handwriting and phonic skills wonderfully. Reception are also applying their phonic knowledge to write labels and they thought about what they would take to the South Pole if they visited one day.

In Re the children have been finding out about the Muslim faith this week. They thought about things that are important to them and then we discussed how Allah is important to Muslims. They were very interested in hearing about the first words that are spoken to babies by their parents (The Shahada). You can see them whispering an important phrase to our class baby in the picture.

In Art the children have been doing some lovely, detailed sketches of birds in their sketch books. We are all enjoying finding out about different bird songs too.

It was great to get outside for PE this week, Mr Crooks was so impressed with everyone's listening skills and also how well they did at aiming for a target in the games that were played. Well done Class 1!

We have had a wonderful week in Class 1 this week preparing for our Nativity. The re-telling of this beautiful tale showcased all the amazing 'gifts' of our children. I was so proud of each and every child. As well as the fantastic singing, acting and narration, the children showed many other hidden talents too. Mrs Johnson and I are privileged to see all the smaller kind acts that are displayed behind the scenes too, the holding of a hand when someone is nervous, the supportive smiles given freely and the helpful moments of helping a friend with their costumes.

The children's kindness has culminated in a very special Stay and Play on the final day this week. Everyone welcomed our little visitors so brilliantly and we had a lovely relaxed time together.

We’ve had a wonderful and busy time in Class 1 over the last week, filled with creativity, learning and excitement!

🎄 Nativity Preparations

The children have been practising for our Nativity with great enthusiasm. They are learning songs, lines and stage directions, and we are so proud of how confident they are becoming. We can’t wait to share their hard work with you soon!

🛠 Design & Technology – Moving Monsters

In D&T, we have been planning and designing our very own Moving Monsters! The children have been learning how levers and linkages work and have experimented with ways to make parts move. We’re looking forward to building our creations soon.

📚 Class Story – Paddington Bear

Our class text is Paddington Bear, and the children have loved meeting the Brown Family and learning about Paddington’s adventures. We are using the story to inspire some fantastic writing, focusing on capital letters for names and writing great sentences independently.

Maths - 2D and 3D shapes

We have been finding out about the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes this week. It has been very practical and the children are able to spot many of the shapes around them. There has also been some fantastic collaboration when building models and great use of Maths vocabulary.

This week we have been getting ready for our Community Afternoon!

We have also been talking about kindness and thinking of ways we can help others as part of our Children in Need 25 Acts of Kindness Pledge. We have been writing lovely poems about how we can show acts of kindness and getting very excited about World Kindness Day on Thursday. 

In IT we have been learning about how we use IT in school. The Reception children went on an IT hunt around school and saw lots of examples that they shared with their friends in Year 1 and 2. 

In DT, we have started our exciting new project — designing and making our own moving toys! We can’t wait to see them come to life.

In Class 1 this week the children have been learning about the Hindu celebration of Diwali. It has been really interesting retelling the story of Rama and Sita in our puppet show area and the children have been making some beautiful Rangoli patterns using loose parts and other materials at our crafting station. We had a visit from Jason at Harrogate Fire and Rescue - he came to talk to us about staying safe in the dark. We chatted about ways that we can be as safe as possible when we are out and about now the nights are getting darker and longer. He even showed us how he keeps himself safe using a high-vis belt and a bright jacket. We also talked about how to stay safe during upcoming celebrations such as Halloween and Bonfire Night.

In Class 1 this week the children have been learning about making sets of objects in Reception as part of their maths learning. They have had great fun in the garden enjoying the autumn sunshine and they have been impressing us all with their great mathematical vocabulary. 

The Year 1's have been working on place value to 10 and using lots of practical skills and resources to explain their knowledge. They have started to use stem sentences and pictures to show their understanding of 1 more. They were very proud of their First, Then and Now stories about frogs in a pond. They were all fantastic Maths Partners and explained their learning confidently. 

The children in Reception have settled so brilliantly this week. We are all so proud of them here at Birstwith Primary.

They have shown such confidence, resilience, kindness and friendship to each other and all the other pupils and adults in school.

The stage area in our beautiful garden and the dressing up box has been very popular and we have all enjoyed their shows this week. You are all amazing.

We have been very lucky to be invited to join Sporting Influence and other local schools to take part in their competitons for EYFS and KS1 this half term! Our KS1 children learnt a routine to 'Try Everything' which links to our Christian Vision 'make full use of the gift God gave you' encouraging us to try new things and be resilient, then performed this in front of lots of children with so much confidence and expression! We then attended the multi-skills competiton on a beautifully sunny spring day to take part in a range of mini-games to work collaboratively to earn points, encourage one another and be determined when things were tricky. 

We love reading in Class 1 and to celebrate books all day is a delight for us! We loved making our own bookmarks, sharing stories with friends in our class and other year groups, completed some special activities about our focus text 'The Matchbox Diary' and thought about some of our own special memories. We dressed in our cosiest pyjamas to enjoy this super special day together! 

Our KS1 children have excelled in their Art and DT projects this half term! We have studied mechanisms in DT which has involved learning about wheels and axels, how these can make a design move and ways we can make our own. The children created their own pull-along toy for a child and made some brilliant creations! In Art, we looked at 'Playful Making' where the children studied different sculptors including Faith Bebbington. They loved exploring how sculpture can look different depending on what materials are used to make it and whether it is realistic or abstract. They used their knowledge to create a clay sculpture of a sea creature. We painted these and made an ocean background to display our cereations on! 

Class One have loved meeting the Fire Service! They learnt about how to be safe at home by creating a family fire plan, testing their smoke alarms and knowing to call 999 in an emergency. As a special surprise, the children got to see a real fire engine and learn about lots of the equipment on it! They were so fascinated by how firefighters help people and animals. They loved taking part in some lovely imaginative role-playing outdoors pretending to be firefighters! 

As it was Bonfire Night and Diwali, the children have been exploring fireworks and have loved making large-scale artwork outdoors using different colours and shapes to create them.