Story structure

This week we were only in school for four days but we managed to have lots of fun and learn a lot. 

This week, the EYFS children (Ivet, Ona, Cloe, Andrès, Katie, Sergi, Carla, Kai, Nico, Luke and Julien) have been focusing on pattern work within their maths time. Andres worked so hard and completed a great piece of pattern work. He really showed that he understood the concept of alternating colours.  He was then able to move on to more complicated patterns, up to four different colours. 

The children have also been looking closely at our third traditional tale, Cinderella. They have had a great time also working on this and there was a clear link between maths and topic, as the children were matching and noticing pairs in things, like Cinderella's glass shoes! Sergi  found it very easy to recognise pairs. His ability to notice the matching complicated patterns (he particularly enjoyed this with socks) was great. 

When discussing the key events in the story, Kai enjoyed hunting for the key features of the story within the garden. He raced around with a clear idea of what he was searching for and he was able to pronounce the words very clearly! Nico also listened intently as we read through several versions of the story and he could answer questions afterwards;  really showing that he had taken on-board the vocabulary and understood the sequence of the story. When focusing on the key events of the story, Katie got into character beautifully as Cinderella. She was particularly great at acting out the scene, where  she was trying on the glass slipper with the Prince. She was also great at helping others to remember the vocabulary, and showed how well she is able to use the focus language. Cloe loved drawing around her foot (and then decorating it) as we focused on the foot size aspect of the story, she then helped to organise the smallest feet in the class to the biggest. She seemed to really grasp concept of size comparison.

When talking about the key characters in the story, Ivet did a wonderful drawing of the main characters of the story. Gabrielle was really impressed by her understanding of the facial features and body parts and the way in which Ivet was able to position them correctly in her picture.

When discussing the theme of kindness, Ona was able to participate fantastically in our discussion. She reflected well on the lack of it towards Cinderella in the story. She then worked hard to incorporate what she had learnt in the classroom; showing extra loyalty and friendship by helping her class friends. 

In our phonics lessons, Carla raced into first place with our game practicing phonics sounds. She quickly identified the  objects on the flash cards and was able to speak with very clear English. 

Luke and Julien have not been with us this week, as they are spending time with their families. We look forward to seeing them back soon.

The KS1 children (Noa, Joana, Thais, Arlet, Marcel, Jordi and Carla) have also been working on the Cinderella, as part of our traditional tales unit. Noa and Joana completed a lovely piece of work about what made them happy in the Cinderella story. They confidently wrote a little caption  to explain what they had drawn. Jo has noticed a real improvement this week with Noa and joana's independent spelling. They have been trying really hard to sound out the letters and they are now starting to merge letters together when reading, to sound out the full word. 

In maths this week the children have been focusing on sequences of numbers, with a particular focus on counting in twos. Arlet, Marcel, Carla and Jordi worked really hard trying to count in twos.  Jordi struggled at first but really took his time and by the end of the  week he understand how to count in twos, by missing a number within the number chart each time. Carla also initially found it difficult to  understand to concept of counting in twos but by the end of the week she was able to complete some sums independently! Her formation of the numbers 0-20 has also really improved. Well done Carla! Arlet and Marcel enjoyed having their own challenge activities and this really motivated them. They have been working completely  independently and have been able to solve the two times table problems in their heads! 

During phonics time, Jo has been really  impressed by Thais when completing the phonics assessment. She has a brilliant knowledge of the sounds and read the words very easily!

The KS2 children (Blanca, Judit, Sara. B, Pau, Sofia, Tatiana, Arnau, Sara, Sira and Nil) have also been working on the story of Cinderella. Blanca write an excellent recount of the story. She included all of the details of the story and included a great range of to describe all of the different characters. Her stories are always a pleasure to read! Paul is also working hard on his story writing skills. This week I have noticed an increase in Pau’s confidence when writing down his story ideas. He has also improved his story structure and is now trying hard to correctly use paragraphs when writing down the different parts of his story. Tatiana presented her story in an imaginative way, when deciding to lay out her story in a newspaper format. It was great to see her thinking about the different captions she wanted to write in each box. She just needs more focus and motivation to stay on task. Sira has impressed me again this week. Everyday, her writing is improving. She is now working much more independently when writing her story. Her attitude is fantastic and she is keen to learn how to write using the correct structures in English. I can see that she is listening and trying to take my advice as I can clearly see the improvements when reading her stories. Well done, Sira! Nil has been much more focused this week and he was able to create his own ideas and write his story, much more independently. It is great to see the confidence he is developing when story writing. 

Sara has only been in school one day this week. Despite this, she did a fantastic job of completing a trading comprehension of the Cinderella story. I was very impressed by Sara’s independence  when reading and answering the questions. She has made great with her ability to read in English and she can now deduce the relevant information, which  she needs to answer the questions, completely independently. A real improvement, well done! 

In maths this week, we have been  working on recognising and continuing number sequences. Sara N has worked really hard. I have really challenged her this week, with much higher level work. She really rose to the challenge and was able to complete sequences, containing negative and decimal numbers. Sara only needed a little help and she was very motivated by the additional challenge. Sofia has also done a great job with number sequences. She has been focusing on sequences within the multiplication tables. This is a concept she finds particularly difficult. However, Sofia remained really focused to complete the sequences and didn’t give up. She managed to complete all of the sequences correctly; counting both forwards and backwards. Arnau was also very motivated by the concept of number sequences. He enjoyed completing an activity, whereby he needed to work out how much was being added or subtracted each time and then complete the sequence. He really impressed me with how well he could naturally identify the sequence of numbers and he was confident to explain how he should continue the sequence. 

Judit has been completing lots of SATs practise papers this week. She has not found them easy but I am really impressed with her level of knowledge and the progress she is making with each test. Well done, Judit. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.