Good afternoon everybody!

Thank you for the wonderful insight into your growing projects this week. You have all clearly been nurturing your pots, gardens and allotments well throughout lockdown and are now starting to enjoy the fruits of your labours. So many signs of new life, some edible, some helping our bees and other pollinators and some just breathtakingly beautiful.

I have loved hearing your stories once again this week and so many of you were able to share your own first hand experiences of nature’s cycles as well as representing them so creatively. I particularly loved the duckling tales and the many celebrations of the Damers favourite – the journey of the caterpillar.

I was also delighted to hear about all the seeds and seedlings that you were able to take from our garden bank, or that went home in your first learning packs. Thanks to your tender loving care they are now growing well and are  brightening window sills, pots and gardens. Some of you have experienced cooking with your own home grown vegetables for the first time and have told me how delicious they taste too! I know that some of the children in school this week have enjoyed harvesting rhubarb and strawberries and have been creating wonderful dishes with these at home too.

Joe in Year 3 shared his thoughts about growing:

“It’s great seeing the plants go through their stages of life and seeing the leaves come out. I’m really looking forward to the sunflowers coming out and brightening up our garden. When we don’t water them they go floppy but the instant you give them water they spring back into action. We also have a cherry tree and tomatoes. The cherries are turning red and the tomatoes are getting bigger. I noticed how the fruit pushes away the flower and grows bigger and bigger. I just like growing things really!”

Many of you have been able to share observations of interdependence in your growing spaces and the wonderful teamwork that has been happening within your own transformation. I wonder if you can spot the ‘transformers’ that have been enjoying Mrs Smith’s vegetable plot over the last few weeks in today’s celebration …? 

https://youtu.be/9eRt6O6Oxyo

Thank you once again for all of your contributions to our celebrations, they always brighten my week and the films always make me cry when I see what we have achieved together. Our thanks as always to Miss Barnes for pulling these all together so creatively.

Today’s story is a perfect celebration of the transformations that can be achieved when everyone works together and this story was recommended to me by the lovely Ruth in Year 1. Ruth very kindly brought her book into school this week so that I could share this beautiful story with you too.

https://youtu.be/2GBAx2MAjoA

Have a great weekend everyone, I think that vital ingredient for all of our growing (sunshine) is about to return.

With warm wishes to you and your families, 

Mrs Smith

This afternoon we have enjoyed creating our very own mini Matisse inspired art pieces. We talked about shape and layering and set to work cutting and sticking to create a collage. We had a lovely conversation about how we can all see different things when we look at a piece of art and that there is no right or wrong.

Phonics

Start with a fun phonics song

Lets have some fun with a tricky bug hunt! Get your grown ups to hide your tricky word cards around your house and garden and see how many you can find, when you have found one you could read your tricky word to your adult or for an extra challenge write it down! 

Creative

Before we broke up for half term we asked you to begin looking at the work of Matisse. We mainly focused on spirals and making spirals in the natural environment and we saw some of your own beautiful works imitating this on EExAT. For this week’s creative project we would like you to once again think about the artist Matisse but this time we will be looking at his collage based art work. 

You can find out about Henri Matisse here,

https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/explore/who-is/who-henri-matisse

Have a look at the following pieces of art and discuss with your grown up the patterns, shapes and colours you can see. What do the shapes represent? What does the picture make you think about? 

This week we would love you to have a go at your own ‘Matisse’ inspired collage. You can collage a location (beach, forest, underwater, favourite room of your house) or an object (tree, fish tank, flower). Use some brightly coloured card or paper, draw and cut shapes to represent different parts of your collage, layer them on a sheet of paper and stick! Have fun and get creative!

Phonics 

Start with this Epic Phonics song

Today for our phonics session take a look at the pictures below. Can you tell which traditional tale they are from?  (The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Hansel and Gretel and Goldilocks and The Three Bears).

After looking at the pictures, write a short caption to go with each one. Here are some suggested short sentences or you can think of your own. 

The goats like to munch on the grass.

They are lost in the woods.

She was asleep in the bed. 

These sentences focus on words that the children should be able to sound out independently to write and they have some tricky words in too (the, like, to, are, she) remember that these cannot be sounded out.

Maths 

Challenge Time! Here we go.

Today’s activity is similar to yesterdays except it’s more of a challenge. What we’d like you to do today is partition each number into its group of tens and ones. For example 21 would be 20 and 1 and 34 would be 30 and 4. Then use the red lines to add together the tens numbers 20 and 30 to make 50, then add the blue lines to add together the ones, 1 and 4 to make 5. Add 50 and 5 to get the answer 55. Repeat for the second set of numbers. Depending on how your child gets on you may want to draw some more of your own for your child or you may want to stick to yesterday’s task, it’s up to you. 

Place value cards 

Use this website to experiment with place value cards. It’s similar to the one you’ve used before.

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/61/itp-place-value

Phonics

Listen to one of our favourite phonics songs to get started

Teach your child the tricky word were. Practice it by writing it down for them, letting them write it and then challenge them by covering it and asking them to write it again. Continue to practice this new tricky word over the week.  

Now we’re going to play a game of Full Circle. In this game you’re going to write one word and then change it to a new word by only changing one sound! Rewrite the new word next to the last one so that you can easily see which sound is changed each time. You’ll end up writing the same first and final word which is why this game is called full circle. Adults don’t show the children the words, instead say them outloud and then chop up the words so that your child can hear each sound clearly. Some of the words are real and some are nonsense. 

crab, grab, gran, bran, brat, grat, crat, crab

Here is an example of how the children can write their words or a list format is fine too.

Maths

Remember our work on place value? We are continuing with some more fun number games this week using what we know about place value to partition numbers (sort them into tens and ones). 

Take a look at the circles and lines below. You may recognise these from our part part whole work from a while ago. The whole number features in the large circle at the top and we use the two smaller circles to look at ways of making that number. In this case we’re going to be splitting the big number into groups of tens and ones. For example, 14 has one group of 10 and 4 ones so in the two circles below 14 is represented by a 10 and a 4. Work with your child to partition the other teen numbers. If they are feeling confident why not give the bottom line a go. Talk about twenties and that a number in the twenties has two groups of 10. 21 would be represented by a 20 and a 1, but make sure your child understands that 20 is two groups of 10. If they’re doing well with these numbers draw some of your own circles and practise with higher numbers up to 99!

Phonics 

Let’s start with an alphabet boogie song … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0z3uucsAF4

Today we are going to think about what helps to make a good sentence. You need a capital letter at the start, full stop at the end and some interesting vocabulary like adjectives and verbs. 

Have a look at the sentence below written by Goldilocks. Read it and then see if you can spot all the great things she has remembered to make it a good sentence.

Now have a look at Baby Bear’s sentence. I think he needs some help! He needs a mini teacher like you. What punctuation is missing? Could you add another adjective to make it even better? Can you rewrite the sentence to make it even better?

Literacy

To continue with our learning about settings, let’s have a look at these different settings from traditional tales. Can you tell which story they are from from looking at the picture? 

Choose which one you like the best and discuss what you can see in the setting. 

Have a go at writing down some labels to describe what you can see. In the setting for Jack and the Beanstalk I can see fluffy clouds, a strong tall beanstalk, a magnificent old castle. 

Afterwards, have a look outside your window and see if you can describe the setting that you live in. What is your favourite part about your garden or the view from your window?

PE

For today’s session choose one or all of these Kidz Bop songs to copy the moves and dance along to. Give it lots of energy to get your heart rate going.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=QfzRP6V5rE4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNog54ovi8Q

Phonics 

Stand up and get ready to join in with this alphabet dance… 

Have a go at playing the buried treasure game below on Phonics Play. Choose which digraphs or trigraphs you would like to focus on in the phase 3 section. After reading the word, discuss what it might mean and say it in a sentence. This should help you to figure out if it’s a real or silly word!

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/2/buried-treasure

Now have a go at writing your own silly and real sentences. You could base them on our traditional tale characters. For example…. 

The big bad wolf has red fur. 

Little Red Riding Hood went to see her granny.

Literacy

This week we are going to explore the settings of different traditional tales. Talk to your child about settings and what this is. Talk about your local setting and compare it to a busy city center. Talk about differences and similarities.

Choose your favourite traditional tale and have a think about the setting. Look through the pictures inside the story book or pause the story online. Can you describe the setting? What can you see? What sort of feeling do we get about the setting? Does the setting change through the course of the story? 

In Little Red Riding Hood, she has to walk through the deep dark woods to get to her granny’s house. How would you feel walking through here? What might you hear or see? What is the setting like at the beginning and at the end of the story? 

You could even think about how the story would be if the setting was different. If Little Red Riding Hood had to walk across the beach to visit her granny, would she still meet a wolf on her travels? 

Spend lots of time chatting about this to your families or friends.

Good morning everybody! 

This week, as part of our focus on ‘Changing Me’, we will be looking at how we express how we feel when change happens. One of the best ways that we can do this is to immerse ourselves firstly in our growing understanding of all the cycles that happen in nature and all around us, all of the time. 

I thought that we would start with a mindful moment. For those in school at the moment, you may want to use your time by our school pond to think about cycles in nature. Those at home may also have a garden or a pond space where you could enjoy a moment of awe and wonder or alternatively you might want to join the BBC Springwatch team for some beautiful ‘Pond Perfection’.

BBC Two – Springwatch, 2020, Episode 12, Pond perfection

Cycles in nature can teach us so much. Within these cycles there are times of new life, growth, beauty and abundance, and also times of die-back and decay. Each stage has a critical role to play in maintaining the cycle. Cycles are the beating heart of sustainability.

When we look at nature we are reminded that this time of year is a time of awakening, a time of new life, and the signs of new life around us can give us a strong sense of hope, especially during the trickiest of times.

I wonder how many cycles you can think of in nature which teach us about re-birth, starting all over again and transformation into something breathtakingly beautiful? Have a look at the images below and share what you already know about these cycles. Do these cycles ever end?

I know that many of you are also already experts when it comes to the life cycle of plants. At the beginning of lockdown, many of you planted seeds and looked at transforming a part of your home or garden by growing your own flowers, fruit or vegetables. The keen gardeners amongst you have already told me about the excitement that you have witnessed in your pots and growing spaces. 

Harry in Foundation practically burst when he realised that these …

turned into these, due to his nurture and careful watering. 

And some of you are also experiencing your first sweet and juicy harvests!

I would love to see what has happened in your pots and gardens over the last few months. I wonder if you have managed to grow something that you’ve been able to include in a meal or whether your efforts to attract bees and other pollinators have been successful?

During lockdown and this current time, we are all experiencing many different emotions. At times we may feel excited about life returning to ‘normal’ again but we may also be feeling anxious about change and whether things will still feel the same.

Cycles remind us that there’s always a second chance and that we have endless opportunities in life to start all over again. As we emerge from lockdown, it’s starting to feel a little like that. In some ways we have a chance to start all over again, returning to some of the really good bits that we genuinely missed but maybe replacing some parts of our life that weren’t missed with something much more enjoyable, healthy and worthwhile.

We’ll finish today’s assembly with a story that involves one of the life cycles that you may have talked about today, and one that we talk about ALL the time in school – the butterfly.

You will know that caterpillars can struggle to emerge from their cocoons. This struggle is what gives them their beautiful colouring and wings that make them strong enough to fly. If we were to poke the cocoon, to let the butterfly inside out, it would simply emerge as a limp and colourless butterfly. If we allow nature to take its course and for changes to work their magic, the beautiful butterfly will have wonderful days ahead, soaring in summer breezes and flitting from one beautifully scented flower to another.

The importance of struggle in our life – Story by Paulo Coelho

It is the same for us, making a new start is always worth it and like the caterpillar we will change in the process. There is no limit to the new starts we can have or the beauty that can emerge if we allow a struggle to work its magic and change our future.

So – your task this week is to focus on cycles in two places.

1. I would love you to share an update on your growing projects and it would be wonderful if you could include your ‘before’ alongside your ‘after’ photo

Or;

2. You may want to share some of your learning around nature’s cycles this week.

Enjoy your week, wherever you may be learning. Here’s to a celebration of cycles in nature at the end of the week and a chance to catch up with your green-fingered transformations.

I look forward to seeing some of you in school and also want those at home to remember that any temporary struggles are sometimes just what we need to make those wings strong and colourful. I can’t wait to see you soaring in Liscombe St again soon!

With warm wishes 

Mrs Smith

Message from Mrs Smith:

Good afternoon everybody!

Thank you for sharing all the wonderful learning that has been happening this week, both in classrooms and in your homes. It has been great to see that our love of learning still shines bright, wherever we may be.

I have also really enjoyed reading your reflections on this week’s assembly and talking to parents about it on the gate. So many people have acknowledged how important it is to talk about diversity and have recognised that within our own community, diversity is the absolute glue that holds us together and makes us even stronger as a whole. 

This week we have celebrated …

• A chance to focus on the ‘unique’ and ‘special’ positives within us at a time when some of us are feeling a little uncertain about what is going on around us and how we feel about ourselves
• Children who have two beautiful different coloured eyes … that match their cat’s different coloured eyes!
• Children who recognise their own distinctive creativity, humour and kindness
• Freckles! – A sign of true beauty
• Our hands as a reminder about diversity – one child explained that all our fingers belong to one hand but aren’t the same. Divided they can’t perform any task completely but together everything can be done 
• Children who are able to read and speak Slovakian
• Recognition of the diversity that existed amongst dinosaurs
• One child’s ability to always make others laugh, including the time that he dressed up as a chicken and danced outside his granny’s window during lockdown to cheer her (and other passersby) up
• Children who are experts on the monkey bars who can dangle for longer than any other member of the family
• And people who have actively supported other people’s rights. Dorothea and Orson reminded me that at the start of Mary Poppins, Mrs Banks comes back from a march with a Votes for Women banner, singing “Well done, Sister Suffragettes” and Rosie told me about one of her favourite quotes reminding us of the need to always show kindness to others  …

Thank you once again for all of your lovely images and emails. I hope that you can now sit back and enjoy a celebration of everything that makes us unique and special, as well as the learning that we are all particularly proud of this week.

Another piece of work that I am particularly proud of this week is Miss Barnes’ final Damers recipe book – the Damers Sweet Treats! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these recipe collections and a huge thank you to Miss Barnes for creating such a beautiful legacy of this time within our community.

http://www.damers.dorset.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Damers-Sweet-Treats.pdf

Our story today is ‘The Lion Inside’. I wonder if you can work out why I chose this story today and how it fits with our theme this week?

Look after that mouse and that lion inside you and make sure that you use them as best you can, especially if you think anyone is being treated unfairly.

I hope that you have all enjoyed this week as much as I have, seeing our new arrivals in school and also seeing all of the amazing learning that is still happening in homes has filled my heart with joy I have to say. Keep up the good work Team Damers as we all gradually steer our way back to our Damers home.

Enjoy your weekend.

With warm wishes 

Mrs Smith 

Today we decorated our own gingerbread person to celebrate our first full week of traditional tales. We were so excited to create our own designs. They tasted delicious and we compared ourselves to the fox in the story who ends up eating the gingerbread man.