English Blog
  • Michael Rosen Session (Mrs Bratley)

    Michael Rosen on Language and Play – Thursday 16th June – 10:00 – 11:00

    Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults.  He is also a broadcaster, Professor of Children’s Literature and very much a national treasure.  On Thursday 16th June, Michael is leading a free session for parents, grandparents, carers, Early Years Professionals, and anyone who works with young children.  In the session, Michael will perform and discuss the importance of play and talk in language development in young children.  To book a place and receive the link you will need to email Essex.yearofreading@essex.gove.uk with Michael Rosen in the subject line.

     

  • Essex Year of Reading (Mrs Bratley)

    To mark the Essex Year of Reading 2022, Essex County Council has been working on a range of initiatives to inspire every child in Essex to become a confident reader and develop a lifelong love of reading. It also seeks to address the impact that Covid-19 has had on children and young people’s education by providing events, activities and opportunities to help improve their reading levels. All primary school children and those in Year 7 secondary schools across Essex are being given their own library card and bookmark. Each library card has its own unique bar code, so all children need to do is bring the card along to any Essex Library to register it in their name and they can get started straight away. Children can use their library card to choose books, join in with out of school activities, access homework help, use free computers and lots more. Once children have signed up for the library, children will be able to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge which is a national initiative that encourages children to read books throughout the summer holidays, collecting a medal, stickers and a certificate along the way. The locations of all Essex libraries can be found at www.libraries.essex.gov.uk Parents and carers can also download the free Essex Year of Reading app to discover further online reading materials, fun activities and competitions for children and families to take part in. Visit www.essexyearofreading.co.uk for more information.

  • QR Codes - Autumn 2021 (Mrs Bratley)

    Children in Class Newton have been filming themselves reading a story and have then created QR codes for them so that their buddies can enjoy listenign to them.  The children have absolutely loved this experience and I know the older children are keen to create more stories. 

       

  • Spring & Summer Book Swaps 2022 (Mrs Bratley)

    Our lunch time Book Swap sessions are proving popular with our reading enthusiasts throughout the school.  There is always a real buzz of excitement when children come along to pick a book.  What a great way to share our love of reading.

      

  • World Book Day - March 2022 (Mrs Bratley)

    Everybody looked great on World Book Day!  Everyone took part in lots of fun reading activities.  Once again, the Masked Reader event was a big hit.  The big reveal took place in Friday's sharing assembly when staff and governors who revealed.

           

  • Reading with our Buddies - September 2021 (Mrs Bratley)

    Our reception children meet their new buddies for a reading session together.

           

  • Reading with our Buddies - November 2021 (Mrs Bratley)

    Our reception and year one children love reading time with their buddies - as do our buddies.

            

  • Summer 2022 - Creative Book Club (Mrs Bratley)

    Our Reception and Key Stage One children have been enjoying our new creative book club that has been taking place every Friday after school.  During each session, a story is shared and after discussion and some fun roleplay, children do a creative craft activity linked to the story.  Children get to keep their book to share at home and typically, their creations can be used to retell the story.

    In the first week, 'A little bit worried' by Tim Warnes and Ciara Gavin was read.  Weasel, the main character is caught in a big, angry storm and he builds a fortress to hide in. But then he meets Mole, who loves to play in the wind and splash in the rain. With the help from the molw, Weasel learns to overcome his fears and find joy, whatever the weather.  Fun was had using puppets to retell scenes from the story.  In role as the Mole and Weasel, telephone calls were had with each other.  Lots of discussion was had around how friends can help when we are feeling worried about something.

              

    In the second session, the group read 'The Short Sighted Giraffe' by A.H Benjamin and Gill Mclean.  Before making some cool giraffes, we talked about how lucky the giraffe was to have the friends that he has.  

         

    In another session, after reading 'Annie, the Apple Pie Fairy' by Tim Bugbird, the group had their own 'Bake Off' with their creative playdough cake designs.  Conversations were had around what might happen next in the story. 

          

    'The Star of the Zoo' by Virginie Zurcher and Daniel Howarth was a big hit with the Book Club gang who loved the roleplay they did to demonstrate how working as a team can get better results. Wooden spoons and pipecleaners were used to make their own ants. In the story, the animals are settling down for the night when a shooting star falls into the zoo. Little Star is desperate to get back home.  One by one, each of the animals offers to help Little Star, but none of them are tall enough to reach the sky. Much tp everyone's surprise, it is Ant comes forward and saves the day.

       

  • Mrs Wordsworth Resources (Mrs Bratley)

    Mrs Wordsworth resources are great for both KS1 and KS2 children.  I especially like the 'R-r-ready for School Word a Day' flip book.  It is suggested that a word a day is shared and discussed as a family - typically whilst getitng ready for school/having breakfast.

         

    https://www.facebook.com/MrsWordsmith/

     

  • Vocabulary Ninja (Mrs Bratley)

    Vocabulary Ninja is a great resource that can be used to build on children's vocabulary.  With an exposure to varied and high quality vocabulary, we agree with Vocabulary Ninja, that this can have huge impacts on understanding, attainment and confidence.  Each week, five new words are learnt (one a day).  For each word, a definition is given, along with an example of it being used within a sentence.  Further grammar links are also given - as seen in the picture.  

    https://vocabularyninja.wordpress.com