Comet Class Weekly News 7th January 2022
Miss Mandelson - 07 Jan 2022
Happy New Year
There was a moment of 'here we go a again' on our teacher training day as a government briefing from the prime minister was announced, so we were all relieved and delighted to be able to welcome the children back on Wednesday. It was lovely to see the Comets again and hear all their holiday news. We have had a full house each day - a great and healthy start to the new term!
This week, we came off the intended plan to follow some child-initiated learning. Whilst in Edinburgh before Christmas, Autumn was keen to find the statue of Greyfriars Bobby which we had talked about following my visit in the summer. Autumn did one better than me and actually visited Greyfriars Churchyard.
This sparked a lot of interest amongst the children so we have used the story of Greyfriar's Bobby this week as our whole class guided reading text. The children have worked on using full sentences to answer questions about the text and have learned a lot about him along the way. In fact, as we discussed the role of Bobby's master as nightwatchman, it came to light that the children have not heard of the Ripon Hornblower. They were fascinated to learn about this local tradition and its history and were soon suggesting "Miss Mandelson, you could take us there on a bus to see him!" I have explained to the children that it is too late to go on a school night but that perhaps we can arrange to meet as a class to see the hornblower in the school holidays when the evenings start to get lighter and warmer. I have a feeling that they are going to keep reminding me of this promise, so watch this space!
Another focus this week has been our school behaviour policy. This has been in place for some time now, so we decided to review it with children in all classes across the federation. I have been so impressed with the mature level of discussion around our 'behaviour blueprint' - the children have shown an excellent understanding of the rationale behind it as well as asking some very sensible questions and making some great suggestions. If you have time, why not take a look together and see if your child can explain it to you. Click on the image below to find it on our website:
One key observation was that the behaviour in Comet Class is so good that I rarely have to use the 'stepped consequences' but that this also means that I need to up my game in awarding class dojos, shining stars and places on the recognition board (my new year resolution!) Sometimes I know that I take for granted the children's exemplary behaviour as I am so accustomed to it! We have all got off to a great start this week with Poppy earning the first 'shining star' of 2022 and Kitty being the first to earn a place on the recognition board. Take a look below to see some more of the children's achievements.
A big thank you to Matilda who took responsibility for presenting the book review this week. The children were excited to see that she had chosen to tell us about one of her Christmas presents: The Christmas Pig by JK Rowling, as many of them had also received this on Christmas Day. Matilda has nearly read the whole book already but was very careful not to give away any spoilers when she told us about it!
Just a reminder that homework set before the Christmas break is due in on Monday (thank you to all those who have already submitted theirs) and further homework will resume next week.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend and here's to a fantastic 2022,
Miss Mandelson
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