Author Archives: Miss L STEWART

Our focus this term in our Healthy Me! unit of Jigsaw has so far enabled us to reflect on the friendships we have formed within the communities we belong to.  We discussed the fragility of friendships and agreed that to maintain a friendship we need to be tolerant, accepting, loyal, respectful, kind and forgiving. 

We then focused on Group Dynamics and how within groups there are often leaders and followers and that working together to be inclusive is a must.  Discussions then centred around a posed scenario about a P.E lesson whereby certain individuals took it upon themselves to take charge, one individual did not want to be part of the P.E lesson and so removed themselves from the situation and another had a valid contribution to make but was finding it too difficult to be heard or included.

The children then had to work collaboratively to identify the leaders, followers and by-standers within the posed scenarios group dynamic.

From this, we then compared our own group’s dynamics and found that we all took on differing roles where some of our peers became leaders, followers and bystanders. This led the children to conclude that they need to be more aware that everyone feels included and valued,  not only when working collaboratively as a group, but in all the learning activities we work upon within the learning environment.

In Y3/4 this term, we have been following our Jigsaw unit of ‘Dreams and Goals’ in which we have listened to some inspiring stories of people who showed great determination to achieve their own dreams and ambitions.

Year 3 listened to the story ‘Me Jane’ by Patrick McDonnell which is the story of Jane Goodhall  and her lifelong dream to work with animals from a young age. Upon listening to this wonderful story, the children identified that if you believe in yourself and remain determined that your dreams really can come true.

Here are some of the Y3 childrens future dreams and ambitions…

Click on the story below to here the story ‘Me Jane’ which is read by Jane Goodhall herself:

‘Salt in his shoes: Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream’ by Delores Jordan was the inspirational story of perseverance, belief and determination of the famous Basketball player Michael Jordan, which inspired the Y4 children to identify both their Hopes for 2022 as well as their Dreams for the future.

Click on the story below to listen to the true story of how the young Michael Jordan overcome his earlier challenges to achieve his dream of becoming a famous American Basketball player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BFa2ELyMfo

As you can see, our children in Y3/4 certainly have amazing hopes, dreams and ambitions which are all achievable!

Year 4 have been enjoying interacting and socialising at our Thursday after school Games Club this term. From Chess to Twister and Ludo to Connect 4 we are having fun learning with and from each other whilst building and forming positive relationships.

During Children’s Mental Health Week 2022, the children in Y3/4 have been identifying and discussing the range of emotions we often experience on a day to day basis. We talked about both positive and negative emotions and how they can affect us both psychologically and physiologically. From this, the children in each year group shared their own coping strategies for dealing with emotions which sometimes overwhelm us which include counting to 10, square breathing and finger breathing techniques, mindful colouring and doodling, reading a book, listening to music, talking to a friend or trusted adult and sharing how we feel as well as sitting quietly in a place which they find both safe, comfortable and relaxing to have some ‘ME’ time.

Across both year groups we focused on this years theme of ‘Growing Together’…

In Year 3, the children, danced and sang to ‘Reach for the Stars’ by S Club 7 before reaching for their own stars and identifying their goals and aspirations for the future…

In Year 4, the children identified all of the people who help them to grow both physically and mentally before creating their own ‘Support Bubbles’…

Year 4 have also been having fun learning the song ‘For Me’ from our Jigsaw scheme which inspires us to believe in ourselves and aim high with our goals and ambitions for the future!