PSHE: Positive Learners and Growth Mindset

This half term with all of our pupils now back in school, every year group has had weekly PSHE lessons to help with the adjustment back to the ‘new normal’ of learning. The topics that have been covered include how to be a positive learner and to learn from our mistakes as well as how to have a growth mindset and the benefits of this approach for our learning. Some of our children have created their own ‘Confidence Masks’ to encourage both themselves and others to be positive when encountering learning challenges and challenges in general. We look forward to seeing these skills in action next half term.

TTRS: Your Class Needs You!

Calling all Hacton Times Table Rockstar competitors...your class needs you!  

Your times table skills are needed now more than ever. Why not practise these whilst leading your class to victory?

Over this half term, your success could help defeat the other classes in your year group battle, securing not only the year group crown but also a well-earned reward. 

What are you waiting for? The battlefield awaits you.

Starting at 4pm on Friday 23rd October and finishing on Monday 2nd November.

Happy battling and may the odds be ever in your favour.

Year 6: Greeks Glorious Greeks

Year 6 had a smashing end to the term by completing their work on the Ancient Greeks. They were very adventurous and tasted a range of Greek foods including: feta cheese, olives, pitta bread, hummus, carrots and cucumber. Some of their faces were a picture and it is safe to say that most are not overly keen on olives. The day also consisted of Olympic medal making, shield designing and completing their Science work on life cycles. A very busy half term! Have a fantastic half term-you all deserve the break! 

Times Tables Superstars

These  pupils have hopped aboard the Times Table train to continue their journey to becoming a Times Table Champion. They have worked exceptionally hard to learn and master their multiplication and division facts. Well Done!

E for Effort

To acknowledge pupils who have gone above and beyond in their learning each week, putting in that extra effort, each class teacher chooses one pupil to receive the E for Effort cup and certificate. 

Here are this week’s winners. Well done to you all!

Year 2: How to Catch a Star

 

Year 2 were greeted by a wonderful surprise! A baby star had fallen from the Solar System and joined the children in Year 2. It had left a special letter with instructions, but sadly some of the letter got burnt in the journey and so was missing! The children are still not sure what might happen if they ate the stardust! The star was placed safe and sound in a jar, so the children named and cared for their star with joy.

Throughout the two-week topic, the children thought of imaginative ways to catch a star, predicted where the star had come from, wrote a set of instructions on how to care for the star and also created their own Star Shape poems. They also had the opportunity to make their own moon dough with glitter, and also looked at the work of Vincent Van Gogh recreating his famous painting A Starry Night. 

It was a wonderful way to end our half term and hope that the children had as much as the teachers throughout this fun and wondrous topic!​

Year 1: Mondrian Socks

Year 1 have been learning about primary colours and have coloured Mondrian inspired socks, which have been hanging in the classrooms. During this topic, we have also learned about colour mixing with the primary colours; we were very surprised by the different shades of orange, purple and green. 

Year 3: Paddington

This half term in Literacy, Year 3 have been reading lots of Paddington stories. In Paddington Abroad, the friendly bear visits France with the Brown family. Unfortunately, he faces lots of trouble at the airport but when he arrives, he has an amazing time! He visits bakeries, has a picnic and even eats snails! 

This week in Literacy, the children have been creative and designed their own postcards in the role of Paddington to send to Mr Gruber back home in London. We hope you enjoy looking at the postcards and reading some of the fantastic examples just as much as the Year 3 teachers did! Well done everyone! ​

Reception’s Autumnal Walk

As part of our Owl Babies topic, the children have been learning about the season of Autumn. The children were very excited about putting on their wellie boots and raincoats to enjoy an autumnal walk to the woods. They were able to notice the signs of Autumn first hand, finding many interesting things such as different coloured leaves, toadstools, acorns and pumpkins.

Year 6: PSHE

This half term, the Year six children have been focusing on the topic of ‘Think Positive’ in their PSHE lessons.  We have learnt about meditation and why/how people use it in their lives; the different types of challenges we encounter on a day to day basis and how we can beat them.  We have looked at Carol Dweck's work on what a ‘Growth Mindset’ is and how this can be helpful to us in our learning.  We also discussed how unhelpful thoughts can impact us and the different ways we can overcome them including thinking positively. Our next topic will be based on V.I.Ps as we look at the very important people in our lives and why they are so special to us.​

PHIC: The Witches

This half term we have been very busy being creative during Literacy. 

We have been reading 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl and have completed lots of work around this text, including: creating character profiles for a witch (we also drew them as a part of Art); writing a diary entry about ‘the day Grandma lost her thumb’ and ‘life as a mouse’; made mice and wrote instructions for how to do this as well as how to train them to do tricks! We have focused on using fronted adverbials, similes, adjectives and improving our punctuation. 

Finally, we have made sweet treats, following instructions and using our super Maths skills, and hope that Mrs Norford and Mrs Jackson haven’t put any ‘Formula-86 Delayed Action Mouse Maker’ in them, otherwise we will be returning after half term as mice!

Comments from the class:

“It was a fun, active half term!” Year 6

“It was exciting and enjoyable.” Year 6

“I loved making things and learning new skills!” Year 4

“I loved the story of The Witches. It has helped me use my imagination.” Year 6

#WakeUpWednesday

 

This week's guide is on Music Streaming Apps & Sites, which allow people to listen to music on their devices as well as giving users access to millions of songs and artists from around the world. 

Year 2: Working Together

This half term, Year 2 have been exploring the Very Important People (VIPs) in their lives and the ways in which they can develop positive relationships with them. The children have discovered what ‘cooperation’ means by enthusiastically discussing what skills are involved in successful cooperation; identifying that we need to listen to everyone’s ideas, share jobs, help others and look after everyone’s feelings.

The children all agreed working together and cooperating with others can help us achieve lots of wonderful things! Here are some pictures of the discussions in action!

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Times Tables Superstars

These  pupils have hopped aboard the Times Table train to continue their journey to becoming a Times Table Champion. They have worked exceptionally hard to learn and master their multiplication and division facts. Well Done!

Year 4 have been working very hard on their times tables this year and we love seeing the photos of our pupils achieving their certificates! A big well done to our six pupils who achieved their Gold certificate and badge prior to this year. 

E for Effort Winners

To acknowledge pupils who have gone above and beyond in their learning each week, putting in that extra effort, each class teacher chooses one pupil to receive the E for Effort cup and certificate. 

Here are this week’s winners. Well done to you all!

Year 4: Romans

Our topic in Year 4 this half term has been the Romans. 

Following on from the summer term when the pupils learnt about the impact of the Roman invasion on Britain, we have focused on different aspects of Ancient Roman life. First, we wrote instructions for how to become a successful gladiator followed by a diary entry of a 'Rudiarius' (a gladiator who has won enough battles to earn his freedom!) Then, we studied the story 'Escape from Pompeii' from which we  wrote a setting description and a story ending about Mount Vesuvius' eruption. Finally, we learnt about Boudicca, a brave Celt queen who revolted against Roman rule. We even found time to make our own Roman shields and try out some Roman Legion formations in the playground!  

Year 4 have worked very hard on this topic this half term.

PHIC’s Marvellous Creations

In our class we have been making things.  First of all, we made some ladybirds from card.  We had to cut out different sized circles and we had to do lots of folding and gluing.

Another afternoon we went outside and found two twigs.  We tied the twigs together to make a cross.  After that we wove raffia around the sticks to make a twig weaving.

The next week we learnt how to make a paper weaving.  First we had to fold the card in half, and then we had to make cuts. We got strips of card and wove them between the card.

The children said:

“I loved doing all of them”.

“I enjoyed doing paper weaving.  It was a bit tricky but I learnt how to do it”.

#WakeUpWednesday

This week's guide is on Age Ratings. It has been designed to enable adults to make an informed choice as to whether or not a game is suitable for your child through the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) system.

Year 3 : Ocean Pollution

This week in Science, Year 3 have been learning all about the impact of ocean pollution. To explore this, we carried out a whole class investigation to observe how chemicals can enter the ocean using sprinkles and food colouring to act as fertiliser and pesticides and made it rain using a spray bottle. 

After we had experimented with the different chemicals, we collected three water samples to record the difference in the quality of water and the results shocked us all. This lead to a discussion where we thought deeply about the importance of caring for our environment and thought about some of the ways that we can protect the ocean and other habitats. 

Have a look at the pictures of our budding Scientists. Well done Year 3!

World Mental Health Day at Hacton #HelloYellow

On Friday, Hacton showed our support for the Young Minds charity by celebrating and saying #HelloYellow; raising awareness for children and young people’s mental health on World Mental Health Day.

The school was awash with every shade of yellow! The children took part in activities encouraging emotional awareness and well-being strategies. It was wonderful to see the children so engaged and promoting such a positive message. 

We were delighted to have supported such a worthy cause and will continue to embed mental health awareness within the school ethos. Also, thank you for your online donations to support the #HelloYellow campaign.

Here are some pictures from the day: