For more information on your child’s learning this week: 

• Click here to find the latest half-termly learning bulletins on our website 

• Check the ‘Latest News’ section for their year group - Reception or KS1

Both the adults and children are excited to start back on our afternoon walks! These have been delayed for the last few weeks due to several exciting sessions in school that all or part of Gems participated in, e.g Year 2’s Great Fire of London's experience of burning their houses, STEM week, and Gems’ Vineyard Adventurers afternoon.

In geography, the children have been revisiting their knowledge of the United Kingdom, where they live and using Google Earth, atlases and globes to find the different countries and oceans.

In art, we have been exploring natural art, looking at Andy Goldsworthy’s work as inspirations for our own artwork.

   

   

  

The children have been enjoying being minibeast detectives! They have been learning about minibeasts and their habitats, parts of their body, minibeast lifecycles, how to care for them in our environment and creating a variety of art/D&T minibeast models.

  

                                        

In Gems’ English lessons, we are reading The Emperor’s Egg (for 3 weeks).

Here is a video link for you to share the book at home with your child 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2e4uA1bMk

Here are some of this week’s Attention Bucket activities across the 4 stages: 

• Making 3D minibeasts out of toilet rolls 

• Making a caterpillar by linking paper chains

• Designing and making a piano

 

For more Attention Bucket ideas for stage 1 to 3,  please click here. 

 

Useful resources we use in Gems: 

• Theraputty video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0a0ujIez20 

• Movement breaks and action songs: Danny Go https://www.youtube.com/@DannyGo

 

Messages:

Please write in your child's reading record every time you hear your child read at home. We recommend reading daily with your child. 

When reading with your child, you can: 

• enjoy reading other stories to them

• stop half way through and predict the ending

• talk about the story

• make links to other books

• retell the story

• answer a few questions about the story

 

Gems PE Days:

Reception children - Thursday

Year 1 – Wednesday and Thursday 

Year 2 – Tuesday and Wednesday

 

Dates: 

• Tues 12th May - Gems Holly Lodge School trip - Butterflies, Bugs and Beetles

• Week 11th to 15th May -  MANGO week in Reception 2-2.30pm

• Tues 19th May Class Group photo shoot

• Thur 21st May Reception - Urban farm

• 1st to 5th June - FUDGE week in Reception 

• Thursday 4th  June - whole school Geography Field Work Day 

• Friday 5th June - Yr 1 trip to Kew Gardens.