CYLCHLYTHYR HYDREF 2024 OCTOBER newsletter 2024

Our first half term in our new class has flown. We are all happy and have settled beautifully in the Reception class and have enjoyed learning new skills whilst continuing to develop others with the range of resources and activities offered in class.

During the last few weeks, we have been developing our independence in the classroom. We now write our names on stickers to put on our fruit, register for school dinner or sandwiches, prepare paint pots and wash them when needed, cut paper for mark making, drawing or painting and we fill the water tub outside using the hosepipe! It’s a lot of fun!

‘This is me’ is our focus during the term and we have had a lot of fun learning new songs that help us remember the names of different parts of the body in Welsh.

It was lovely to go for a walk together around the school grounds to notice the changes in nature during the autumn. We collected acorns, leaves and twigs of different sizes to use in our activities in class. As part of our autumn activities, we learnt the Welsh song ‘Dail yr Hydref’ using ‘signalong’. Our creative area has been a splash of red, brown, orange and yellow as the children created their very own autumnal trees. Each tree a different pattern as they chose from a variety of objects and resources - from dishwashing brushes to natural sponges, to cotton wool held by clothes pegs! Whilst out on our autumn hunt we noticed some blackberries growing in the bushes. We carefully picked some and made a fabulous crumble! We all enjoyed tasting it with a little bit of vanilla ice cream. It was delicious! It has been a busy but very exciting half term, and we are looking forward to returning after the holidays to continue with our learning and begin our practising in preparation for our performance of the nativity!

What a brilliant first half term we have had together in year one. We have had a busy few weeks after visiting the pumpkin farm to pick pumpkins and learning about the life cycle of how they grow. Then, with our delicious pumpkins we enjoyed making pumpkin soup, pumpkin and apple crumble and Pumpkin ice-cream. We then enjoyed role play of selling the foods and tasting them in our class shop. Mmm mmm!

Also, we have had a fun filled visit to Pontyberem Hall for the Jamboree where we all enjoyed a dance and sing along. Alongside, we had a visit from Nick at ETO who taught us about the lifecycle of earthworms and we built our own wormery for the class. We are all looking forward to next term where we will be learning about food groups and how to make a healthy lunch box.

Well, what a busy half term to start our Year 2 journey! The time has flown, and the children have settled extremely well. We have thoroughly enjoyed completing a variety of activities in our independent classroom areas, especially the outside construction area. We have been learning a lot about Autumn, the changing seasons and the hibernating animals. We started our new theme learning about germs and completing a variety of experiments to learn how quickly they spread! We were shocked to learn how far your sneeze travels! Ych a fi! The highlight of the half term was attending the Martin Geraint Jamboree, where we had lots of fun singing and dancing! We finished the half term dressing up in spooky outfits for our school Halloween party. We are excited to continue our learning next half term.

Y tymor yma rydym wedi bod yn dysgu am egni a sut mae ein bwyd yn cael ei goginio. Dechreuon ni trwy ddysgu am y gwahanol fathau o egni sydd yn y byd cyn symud ymlaen i edrych ar sut mae'r rhain yn cael eu trosglwyddo. Fe wnaethom ganolbwyntio ein gwersi ar ynni thermol trwy edrych ar y gwahanol offer coginio rydyn ni'n eu defnyddio yn ein cegin a'u cymharu. I ddarganfod mwy fe benderfynon ni baratoi a choginio cinio i staff yr ysgol. Fe ddechreuon ni drwy goginio tatws yn y microdon, y popty a’r ffrïwr aer cyn cymharu pa datws oedd yn blasu orau ond hefyd trwy gymharu faint o egni roedd pob teclyn yn ei ddefnyddio. Anfonwyd ffurflen at y staff er mwyn iddynt osod eu harchebion ac yna defnyddiwyd yr ymatebion i ddadansoddi'r data i'n helpu i baratoi. Fe wnaethom ni gyd helpu i baratoi'r tatws a'r llenwadau. Dywedodd y staff i gyd eu bod yn flasus. Yn dilyn hyn defnyddiwyd ein profiadau â’r hyn roeddem wedi bod yn ei ddysgu yn ein gwersi llythrennedd i ysgrifennu cyfarwyddiadau sut i goginio taten bob. Ein hoff ran oedd gwneud tatws pob i’n hunain a’u blasu! Roeddent yn flasus.

That is the end of your child’s first half term in year four. It is a long half term, but I must admit, it has flown by. Our focus is nutrition. We have looked at the importance of diet and why it is essential for us to eat; potatoes, rice, bread, pasta and other starchy carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, dairy products and alternatives, beans, legumes, eggs fish, meat and other proteins, and oils and spreads. Each one has a different job, to keep our bodies healthy, if we eat them in balance. We looked at the school's menu, to ensure that we have a balance in the school. In addition to this we looked at food labels and logged data into a database. We found out where different foods come from, and we located them on the world map. Our genre is explanation and so we wrote an explanation about the digestive system. Before starting to write, we modelled the digestive system in class using, tights, orange juice, biscuits, banana, and water - some of us almost vomited when we saw the poo being squeezed out of the bottom of the tights!! Our novel this season is; Sara Mai Zoo by Casia Williams, a novel about the life of a girl living in a zoo. In our maths lessons we have read numbers, learned about place value, added numbers, subtracted numbers, multiplied numbers, and solved problems! Jeremy from Cricket Wales taught us cricket skills for four weeks, we have also focused on ball skills and learning how to play the game; bench ball. We looked at the work of Guiseppe Arcimboldo and we emulated some of his art. There was so much detail, and everyone succeeded! We have also looked at an artist from Wales; Mary Lloyd Jones, she absorbs all the sights and sounds around her, the marks left by mining and farming, her great grandmother's quilt design, and the mysterious tales of the local storytellers to create an incredible work. We evaluated her work, and it was shocking to learn that everybody saw different things whist looking at her work! We have also started our recorder lessons with Mr Jennings. We have the learnt the notes; A and B. Mr Jennings has asked that we practise the ambulance song over the half term!! Enjoy making memories together over the week and we will see you back at school for another busy half term!

It’s been a busy first half term for Year 5. For this term, our theme is ‘Spectacular Scientists’, where we are concentrating on chemistry skills. Our end product of this term's learning will be the class making a Christmas dinner for parents. But before that happens, we have been researching chemistry, cooking and how they go hand in hand.

At the start of the school year, we went to the Carmarthenshire Museum in Abergwili to visit the old kitchen. It was interesting to see how an old kitchen worked and how far kitchen appliances have evolved over the centuries. Following the museum, we visited Toby Carvery for our lunch. As we are planning on cooking a Christmas dinner, the students thought it would be important to try and research a roast dinner. As well as having a delicious lunch, we asked lots of useful questions like portioning, how to keep food warm and how to juggle serving food to lots of people.

Back in the classroom, we conducted an experiment on personal hygiene by observing pieces of bread after they’ve been touched with dirty and clean hands. This showed us the importance of hand-washing and personal hygiene while cooking! We then conducted an experiment where we watched the chemical reaction between sugar and yeast. It was very interesting and showed how two ingredients can aid in the process of cooking. Cooking is one big chemical reaction!

This half term, Year 6 have been incredibly busy with a range of exciting activities. They began researching microgreens and learning about their benefits as part of a project to create their own indoor garden, which they will develop next half term. Year six are heavily involved with the Big Bocs Bwyd and enjoy helping Mrs Humble every week to sell food that we’ve grown in the school. They have also been researching and creating meals to sell to the parents and local community. A number of the pupils took part in our thanksgiving service in Llandyry Church.

The class has also enjoyed weekly cricket sessions where they developed their skills and learnt new techniques. They have participated in sporting competitions such as rugby, football and netball. In art, the pupils explored the style of Welsh artist Kyffin Williams, producing their own impressive artworks inspired by his distinctive approach. They have developed their digital skills by participating in Adobe Creative Cloud live lessons concentrating on various themes such as World Mental Health Day or European Day of Languages.

The highlight of the half term was performing a wonderful harvest assembly for the rest of the school and parents, showcasing their teamwork and creativity. The pupils helped in creating the assembly by filming and showing the parents what the Bocs Bwyd Blasus has to offer.

Cliciwch isod i weld adroddiad blynyddol y Llywodraethwyr i rieni / Please click below to see the annual Governors Report to Parents

Cystadleuaeth Taith Pwmpen / Pumpkin Trail Competition

Edrychwch am y pwmpenni sydd o gwmpas y pentref o ddydd Llun, 28ain o Hydref i ddydd Gwener, 1af o Dachwedd. Defnyddiwch y ffurflen sydd wedi'i hanfon adref i gyfateb y rhifau i enwau'r pwmpenni. Rhoddir gwobrau i'r rhai sy'n dod o hyd i'r nifer mwyaf o bwmpenni.

Look out for the pumpkins that are around the village from Monday, 28th October to Friday, 1st November. Use the sheet that has been sent home to match the numbers to the pumpkin names. Prizes will be given to the ones that find the most pumpkins.

* Gwefan yr ysgol/School Website - Trydar/Twitter *

www.ysgoltrimsaran.org.uk - @YsgolTrimsaran