MAY/JUNE NEWSLETTER 2021
MAXWELL PRIMARY
NEWSLETTER – MAY/JUNE 2021
The months of May and June have been jam-packed with trips, exciting projects and enrichment. Despite the 2020/2021 academic year being a very challenging one, we were able to end it on a high and celebrate the incredible achievements of staff, students and parents. Here is just some of what we have been up to in Primary:
Miss Monica’s Class
The children have learnt all their set 2 sounds in Phonics and they have been applying it to their writing. They have also been reading more challenging stories using their phonics knowledge.
In maths, they have been using different resources to compare length, weight, mass and capacity. They have used their knowledge of weighting to cook some delicious and healthy recipes.
The children have enthusiastically embraced our two IPC topics and have been very involved on each Show and Tell. They have learned interesting facts about plants: the names of the parts of plants; that seeds grow into plants; that plants need light and water to grow. They have also learned about carnivorous plants and types of plants: deciduous and evergreen plants.
For Island Life, the new IPC topic, the children have also been really engaged with the topic from the beginning when Mandy the pirate came to school. They have learned about pirates and how they lived.
The children have enjoyed going to the farm with the other classes. It has been wonderful to leave the school grounds for the day and spend the day in the open air at the farm.
Miss Claire’s Class
English – In English this month we have been learning to tell stories. The children created fantastic stories for our Storytelling competition and we enjoyed hearing the entries from fellow Maxwell students! We have also learned to write play scripts to perform role play scenarios. After writing recounts about our weekend, we turned them into play scripts and worked in groups.
Maths – we have learned lots about fractions this month! We had the opportunity to use our knowledge to help us bake some healthy brownies. Cristina visited the class and taught us about measuring ingredients and doubling amounts of ingredients to double our quantity!
IPC – we have enjoyed learning to name and discussing parts of plants and plants we can eat. We had a wonderful time visiting the Botanical Gardens and learned about the tools you need to be an explorer!
In Music we have been selecting sounds that relate to real life experiences. We used maracas and bells to imitate plant growth. We are learning to count eight beats. This week we added triangles and tambourines to music that helped us to imagine being on a desert island.
Social – the children have been sharing lots of skills and enjoying group activities in the playground. We have been busy using hula hoops, origami, blocks and train sets.
Miss Christina’s Class
May and June were incredibly busy months in Year 4 and 5. The best way to understand what Young Entrepreneurs means is to become young entrepreneurs ourselves! After a lot of research, discussion and debate we decided to set up Maxwell’s Sweet Treats and hold a series of bake sales on Friday afternoons.
Initially, the children each brought in €5 to pay the start up costs. The children quickly realized how much work goes into running a business. Undertaking market research to find out what their customers wanted them to bake, researching recipes, writing up shopping lists, going to buy ingredients, baking the recipes, running the bake sale stand and calculating costs and profits was exhausting at times. However, after the fourth and final bake sale the children realized how well their hard work paid off. They had gone beyond their €100 profit target, to make €120.58.
The children decided to adopt a primate from Rainfer with their profits. We decided to adopt Sammy, who was the primate whose story most touched us and we are looking forward to going to visit her at Rainfer next year. If you are interested in find out more about Rainfer and the work they do, click here: http://rainfer.org/
After all the hard work, the children deserved a treat so they ordered pizza for lunch (which they paid for themselves) and took home €5 to return their initial investment.
What a fantastic project to end the year!
Miss Rebecca’s Class
During the month of May, we had many outings to parks near school to explore the plant life that can be found here in Madrid. We were lucky enough to see a tree being chopped down. The tree-cutters were kind enough to show us how it is done and afterwards we explored the tree trunk. Can you tell how old the tree is from the picture?
Our trip to the botanical garden was a chance for us to explore some of the pants that grow in more extreme conditions.
The end of the school year is always hectic with exams but once they were completed it was all about fun and smiling faces. We had an amazing day at La Granja where the children walked, climbed, tested out quads, focused on team building and outdoor activities.
To keep the children active we had a ‘silly olympics’, challenging but fun where they enjoyed a tug of war, Skewer javelin throw, paper plate discus, cotton wool shot to name just a few of the activities.
With the heat beginning to soar in Madrid the boys enjoyed a water fight for the last day of school.
As the year 6’s are moving on into Secondary we had a special assembly to mark their achievements through Primary. It was truly lovely to see them grow this year and I would like to take this opportunity to wish them all the very best. ‘Shine on boys’
Lengua and Cultura with Miss Maria
Year Y5/6
Este mes hemos continuado con nuestro aprendizaje del teatro, el análisis morfológico y sintáctico. En Cultura hemos terminado nuestro tema “Los pueblos de la Península Ibérica” aprendiendo sobre la reconquista, El Cantar del Mío Cid y el reinado de los Reyes Católicos. Los alumnos están preparando su proyecto final de cultura en el que están mostrando toda su creatividad.
Year 4
Este mes hemos continuado practicando nuestras habilidades como escritores a través de actividades de escritura creativa. También seguimos practicando nuestro poema de Rubén Darío “A Margarita Debayle”. En el ámbito teórico continuamos aprendiendo sobre las diferentes categorías gramaticales a través de diferentes juegos como el “stop”.
Year 2/3
En Lengua este mes hemos continuado trabajando nuestras capacidades de expresión escrita y oral, nos hemos centrado en las representaciones teatrales y en la realización de carteles y posters. Los niños y niñas han mostrado muchísima iniciativa y creatividad a la hora de realizar estas actividades. Preparando sus propias representaciones teatrales, posters, cuentos e incluso un teatro de marionetas.
Y1/Rec
En Cultura este mes hemos aprendido sobre los siguientes pintores: Juan Gris, Joan Miró, Salvador Dali y Antonio Lopez. Hemos hablado de los distintos estilos artísticos de estos pintores, de sus cuadros más importantes y hemos realizado diferentes actividades para expresar nuestra creatividad.
Final word for 2020/2021 academic year from Miss Christina
WHAT IS COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER?
IPC TOPICS
Reception and Year 1: Earth is our home
All living things – plants, animals and people – have a home or somewhere to live that we call a ‘habitat’. A habitat can be huge like the ocean or small like a leaf. To survive, living things need to live in places that meet their needs. What do living things need to survive? How do different habitats provide for their needs? We will need to be scientists and geographers in order to answer these questions.
Year 2 and 3: Land Sea and Sky
Plants and animals can adapt to living almost anywhere on our Earth. Wherever we look on the land, in the sea and in the sky, we find living things that have evolved in unique ways just to live there.
Year 4, 5 and 6: Existing, Endangered and Extinct
From tiny tadpoles to giant squid, living things exist in an amazing variety of forms. Why is there so much variety and how do scientists sort, identify and classify the millions of species living today?
Important Dates in September:
- Staff return to school – Wednesday 1st September
- Staff First Aid Training (Full Day) – Thursday 2nd September
- Students return to school- Tuesday 7th September
- International Literacy Day – Thursday 8th September
- Roald Dahl Day – Monday 13th September
- International Day of Peace – Tuesday 21st September
- International Sign Language Day – Thursday 23rd September
- International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste – Wednesday 29th September
A big thank you to our wonderful Maxwell parents for your continuous support and cooperation,
Christina and the primary team
