Merry Christmas

We are at the end of a long Autumn term and have spent some wel deserved time feeling festive with Christmas Challenge Cup and our final Christmas community engagements

On Tuesday, we found the time for a Geography field trip to compare land use in local woodland wit that of the Amazon rainforest. The children made use of their iPads to collect evidence and back in the classroom, we analysed their findings to draw conclusions for their comparisons.

We hope you have a lovely Christmas break.
Mr Twaite and Mrs W

What a fantastic couple of weeks we've had here at Polruan School! The end of term has been filled with excitement, creativity, and festive cheer.
We kicked things off with our amazing Nativity performance. The children worked so hard, and it truly showed as they brought the story of Christmas to life with enthusiasm and joy. We couldn’t be more proud of their dedication and energy—it was a performance to remember!
In addition to our Nativity, we had a fun trip to the Cinema to see Paddington 3. The children thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and it was a great way to relax and bond before the holidays. There were lots of smiles, laughs, and conversations about Paddington’s latest adventures!
One of the highlights of the season has been our lovely singing around the Christmas tree. The children’s voices filled the air with festive spirit, and we also enjoyed a heartwarming service today, marking a special end to the term. It’s always wonderful to come together as a school community, reflecting on the year gone by and celebrating the joy of the season.

Our poetry unit came to a beautiful close as the children finished writing their lovely festive poems. Their creativity and skill have really shone through in their writing, and we’ve been so impressed with their work. What great poets we have at Polruan!

In Art, we wrapped up our work thinking carefully about the word "composition" as we created our final pieces. The children have been so thoughtful in their approach to art, focusing on how to balance colors, shapes, and textures to create something special.

Our Geography unit also came to an end with a fascinating comparison between life in Shanghai and our own town of Polruan. The children have learned so much about different cultures and environments, and it was a great way to wrap up our studies for the term.

As we head into the holiday season, we want to take a moment to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
We look forward to seeing everyone back on Tuesday, January 7th for another exciting term ahead!
With best wishes
Mrs. Fernie, Mrs. Andrew, Mrs. Hicks, and Miss Talbot

Well we are finishing the last week of November already!  What a great week we've had.

In English the Year 1 and 2's have been planning and writing some amazing stories all about Christmas.  Reception have been exploring birthday parties and using their imaginations to draw and describe some delicious birthday cakes, party guests and book characters.

In maths, Reception have been continuing to develop their number knowledge, looking at numbers 1-5.  Year 1's have been beginning to explore 2-D and 3-D shape, recapping on shape names and properties.  Year 2 have been completing their last steps in their unit of work on addition and subtraction, explaining and solving a mixture of problems.

In our RE work this week we looked at the importance of Advent at this time of year, to Christian people.  The children discovered the meaning behind an Advent wreath and had a go at making their own.

Our singing for our nativity is sounding beautiful.  The children are working so hard and we are sure you are going to be very impressed.

Next week seems to be looking pretty normal at the moment but I think it may be the last one before the Christmas craziness starts!!

If you have any questions or queries then please ask.

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot

ART

In this week’s step in our textile unit, the children mixed acrylic paint to match their mood boards and added this to their glue covered patterned material. They used their learning of the colour wheel to mix primary colours to make secondary colours and the results were great. Aside from a few blobs of paint on the carpet, the unit of work is on course to be completed next week, when we wash out the glue to reveal the patterns created. 

Christmas Play

I have sent home slips with request for costumes and props for our Christmas play. Please do not buy anything new, we are asking for the children to bring in any suitable items they already have at home. If you are struggling to find any, please let us know by Wednesday 5th and we will find/make something in school.

Singing
Mrs Butlin was very impressed with the children again this week. Their enthusiasm and desire to learn our Christmas play songs is evident for all to hear and makes it a real joy to work with them. We are encouraging the children to take their song sheets home so they can continue to practice the songs at home too.

Dancing
Mrs Phillips has been teaching the class a dance as part of the play. As always, any kind of expressive art is met with gusto and positivity from everyone. That the dance requires “attitude” is only a bonus as you can see from the photos.

Enjoy the weekend,
Mr Twaite and Mrs W

Friday 15th November

Well what another jam packed week we have had.  The children have worked so hard even through all of the sniffles, sore throats and coughs!

We started this week by discussing Remembrance and how important it is to remember what people have done in the past to help us today.  The children have completed lots of activities during their rainbow challenges this week, linked to Remembrance day.

Maths
In maths this week our Reception children have been exploring shapes, particularly focusing on circles and triangles.  They have been looking at the properties of each shape, learning the vocabulary to describe them and making pictures using them.  Year 1 and 2 have been continuing their learning in addition and subtraction.  Year 1's have spent time exploring fact families and Year 2's have been finding 10 more and 10 less using number lines, hundred squares and also mentally.

English
This week in Drawing Club, Reception have been using their imaginations to create some amazing work.  Year 1 and 2 have been writing some amazing sentences based on the story of Binny's Diwali.  There has been some great adjectives, use of speech marks and beautiful handwriting.  

PE
This week we have had our second session of gymnastics which the children are getting stuck right into.  They are all able to move in lots of different ways and are beginning to create some basic gymnastic shapes with control.

PSHE
In our PSHE work this half term we are 'Celebrating difference'.  So far we have discussed the things we like to do and how these might differ from our friends and also the similarities and differences we have.

Reading buddies
On Thursday afternoon we came together with Tregeagle class to have some reading time with our reading buddies.  It was really lovely to see everyone engaged in a whole host of different texts.

We are looking forward to another fabulous week next week.  If you have any questions then please ask.

Have a great weekend.
Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot

Learning

Our first week back has been full of energy and the children's books are brimming with great examples of their learning.

I have included some examples of how our new editing stations are working, the children really enjoy the focus it gives for them to physically move to a new area in the classroom which has a different focus for them to consider .

Our new approach to guided reading is working well, with the class approaching their reading with their detective hats on to find clues and hidden meanings in  the texts.

Hello Everyone!

We a really lovely week we have to end this first half term!

Maths Update
In maths this week, our Reception children have been continuing to focus on the numbers 1, 2, and 3. The children have been listening to stories and exploring the concepts of 1 more and 1 less, using the stories as a tool for number work. Meanwhile, our Year 1 and 2 children have been continuing to develop their understanding of addition and subtraction, using and recognising what the different symbols mean. 

English Learning
In English, we have completed our unit of work based on recount writing.  The children used their filmed interviews with Rachel the nurse to recount their questions and the answers Rachel gave.  This took a lot of effort and everyone was determined to get all of their information onto the page.  we found out so much about Rachel and her job.

Music time
This week we had our weekly session with Mrs Butlin, but with a twist.  The children enjoyed singing the songs and rhymes with everyone giving there all.  Then we were lucky enough to all get a go at playing the flute.  Mrs Butlin is a beautiful player and the children love listening to her.  We got the chance to try and make some sounds using just the mouth piece and then put the flutes together so we could feel what it is like to hold the instruments.  It was not as easy as we all thought but we definitely have some potential flute players in Canute. 

We hope you all enjoy a well deserved break over the half term holidays and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday 4th November.

Mrs Andrew, Mrs Fernie, Mrs Hicks, Miss Talbot