Thank you for your kind wool donations. We now have plenty of variety for our upcoming topic related arts and crafts.

This week in our English lessons, the children shared their poetry which they wrote last week. They learnt the key features of a good performance and how to give useful suggestions to help others improve. The children then started a new learning journey on stories from other cultures. We learnt the key features for these stories and compared them with traditional tales that the children have already learnt about. They noticed links and were able to compare similarities and differences between the stories from different cultures. The children then focused on one particular story, Rama and Sita; they boxed up the text and then worked in groups to recreate this story using iMovies.   

During our maths lessons, we focused our learning on decimal numbers up to three decimal places and their relationship to fractions. Blue, orange and yellow groups also learnt to multiply and divide by 10, 100 and 1000 and solved problems with their understanding.

In our geography lesson, the children assessed their current place and location understanding so they can fully acknowledge their improvement at the end of our topic. They learnt about how the Earth is divided into different hemispheres separated by the equator; they learnt about the lines of longitude and latitude and what these are, and they started to understand time zones across the globe. The children asked many interesting questions which shows their inquisitive nature. They used atlases and the internet to improve their understanding by finding countries and their capital cities in the continents, South and North America.

During our PSHE lesson, we continued our focus on dreams and goals. The children discussed their future plans and how important it is to be open to new ideas and to try new things. They discussed how goals they might have now, may change as they get older and how goals they may have in the future, they may not have any desire to achieve now. They noted how life would be very repetitive if they kept to their comfort zone and weren’t open to new ideas. They shared situations where they were apprehensive about starting something new but felt proud when they accomplished it.

In our RE lesson, we started to learn about Hinduism. The children learnt the four main beliefs of the religion and the names of the main expressions of the Hindu god, Brahman.

During our tennis PE lesson, the children practised being accurate hitting a ball to their partner. They focused on the forehand volley and bounce shot. There were definite improvements from the beginning of the lesson to the end!

This week, we properly started our ‘mile a day’ challenge. It was great to see the children running in the sunshine which we have been fortunate to have this week. Hopefully this better weather continues!

We hope you have a great weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

**REQUEST PLEASE - if you have any unwanted balls of wool that you do not need anymore then we would be very grateful for any donations. Any colour- any thickness please!

Hello everyone, 

We have really enjoyed being back, seeing our friends and catching up with others after the Christmas break. We’ve been busy starting our new topic, ‘Amazing Americas: how does the UK compare?’ We started our Wonder Wall display, which we do at the beginning of each new topic; the children asked interesting questions that they’d like to find out over the half term.

In our English learning this week, we have been focused on poetry. We have learnt the structure, the key features, and the history behind kennings. the children have learnt the main uses of hyphens, which some children then incorporated into their own poems. Every child wrote a kenning poem based on themselves, which they edited and improved making sure they included ambitious vocabulary.

During our PSHE lesson this week, we started a new half term topic of, ‘Dreams and Goals’. We discussed what is needed to complete goals and how we can support others in achieving theirs. We concentrated our discussions around a variety of careers and unpicked what would be needed to achieve these positions. The children discussed their own goals and aspirations for the future; they set one school-based goal and one outside of school based goal which they felt was achievable but ambitious.  After these discussions, the children created a dream jar based on their own dreams for the future.

Our maths learning continues to be fractions. Red maths group have been focusing on equivalent fractions with orange and yellow groups learning to multiply fractions by fractions, integers and mixed numbers. Light and dark blue maths groups have also been learning to multiply fractions as well as learning to divide fractions and to find fractions of amounts.

In our PE lesson, we started to learn about our new sport for this half term, Tennis. I took the chance to assess the children’s current tennis skills and knowledge which we will build on over the coming weeks.

This week, we worked scientifically to prepare for our class challenge of achieving a mile a day! The children predicted the distance of the perimeter of the school field which they then measured using a trundle wheel. We had three groups measuring so we could use the average distance. Some children then calculated how many laps of the field we would need to run in order to achieve a full mile. This involved converting between metres, kilometres and then miles. We gathered starting data in the hope that each child can see their own improvement over the coming months. 

There is a new homework grid linked to our new topic in the pink homework books for those that I had at school. If your book was not in school, you were given a paper copy of the grid to take home. Homework has been set on Mathletics and Spelling Shed. Please also continue to practise on TT Rockstars as times tables knowledge is such a valuable skill to have and makes problem solving in Maths more accessible. 

We hope you have a great weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

Things to remember:

*PE on a Wednesday afternoon – tennis – please bring a PE kit to change in to. 

*Forest School on a Thursday afternoon – wear forest school clothes to school.

*Ensure you have some wellies or a change of shoes (and socks if required) in school for use on the field – these can then be left on your peg, so they are readily available for outdoor learning opportunities and play times. We hope to try to run for 10 minutes each day so alternative shoes in school is advised!

Hello everyone, 

We would like to thank our wonderful FOPS, who despite the tricky times we are living in, have continued to raise money for our school. Here is a message from them:
"For a chance to win the school Christmas Hamper pop into reception and guess the name of the donkey! £1 a go."
The photograph is of the hamper and rather cute donkey. Good luck!

We have had another great week in Class 4. The children have requested not only their Christmas party day on Wednesday but a ‘Victorian Christmas’ day on Tuesday. Some children are very keen to dress up for this, which they are more than welcome to do. The children have been learning about what a Victorian Christmas was like for both the rich and the poor Victorians so it will be a great way to experience this first-hand.

Our maths learning this week, for all groups continued to focus on fractions. Some children were learning to compare fractions with and without different denominators and then we moved on to learning to add and subtract fractions- with some groups moving on to adding and subtracting improper and mixed numbers.

In our English learning this week, the children wrote their final suspense stories, using feedback from myself and their peers. Some children shared their stories with an audience and received feedback on their story and their story telling.

In our guided reading session, we had a PSHE focus, concentrating on celebrating differences. We used an image as our talking point and used our ‘VIPERS’ skill, prediction to firstly predict what was happening in the picture where a character was being left and made to feel segregated. We then moved on to our ‘explain’ VIPERS reading skill where we learnt to try to justify our reasoning when we are explaining. The children all gave great explanations on how it would feel to be in that certain situation and could give examples to support their opinion.

In our PE lesson, as an end of year treat, we had some of the hall apparatus out, which we tried to incorporate into our dance routines.

Our geography learning this week was linked to our topic. The children learnt to use atlases and online resources to locate countries in the world. They compared the British empire from the late Victorian era to present day. The children discussed why the British empire would have been thriving during the 19^th century and identified reasons for its decline- interesting some children independently identified the World Wars as a key influence.

During our DT lessons this week, the children designed a tree ornament which they will try to make next week. They researched their idea, created a design specification, drew various design ideas and drew their final design taking into consideration any constraints they may have e.g. time, resources. They also created a template and prototype ready to start making next week.

In science the children have been learning about changes which happen as humans get older. They learnt about the changes in boys and girls and compared the differences. The children asked sensible questions that they were intrigued to know some of which we will cover when we look at this area of science/SRE again in the summer term.

Homework has been set on Mathletics and Spelling Shed. Please also continue to practise on TT Rockstars as times tables knowledge is such a valuable skill to have and makes problem solving in Maths more accessible. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

Things to remember: 

**Tuesday- Class 4 Victorian Day- children can (if they would like to) come into school dressed in Victorian style clothes-

**Wednesday – Christmas mufti day, Christmas lunch and class party. Please bring £1 to wear your Christmas clothes/ jumper. Please send a small snack for your child to enjoy at the party. Due to Covid, we are not sharing food this year. 

*Monday and Thursday – parent consultations. 

*The Christmas card post box by the school gate is open for the children to use to send Christmas cards to their friends.

*Forest School with Miss Edwards on Thursday afternoon – wear forest school clothes to school.

*Ensure you have some wellies in school for use on the field – these can then be left on your peg, so they are readily available for outdoor learning opportunities and play times. 

**Tuesday 4^th January – Spring term begins, back to school.

We’ve had another busy week in Class 4.

On Monday the children learnt about schools in the Victorian era and decided what changes we could make in our classroom to make it feel more Victorian. They compared the Victorian times to present day using a Venn diagram and formulated an argument for which period of time they would prefer to live in. I can’t decide whether the children prefer Victorian Ms Porter or not!

This week we have had an artist focus on William Morris. We enjoyed learning more about him and his creations. The children designed fantastic tiles in the style of William Morris for our classroom fireplace.

In our English lessons, the children improved their sentence structure and learnt to use various punctuation marks for a variety of purposes in their writing. In addition to this, they started to plan their own suspense stories.

In maths, some children learnt about the order of operations whilst others started to learn to divide accurately. Honey, Bumble, Mason and Carder math groups finished their current focus on the four operations, so they completed an assessment and reflected on how much they have improved since the beginning of the topic.

During our French lesson, the children continued their focus on animals- with some children learning to read passages in French and deciphering what they say- answering related questions.  

In our Religious Education lessons, we have started our, ‘Kingdom of God’ focus, learning about the connections between biblical texts and the idea of the kingdom of God. The children learnt about the type of world God wanted and how Christians believe these are promoted through the telling of parables.

During our music lesson, the children continued their jazz focus; they composed their own improvisations of The Three Note Bossa using A, B and G.

During our forest school session, the children learnt about Victorian games and started to create their own, using outdoor resources.

***Over the next few weeks, our science focus will be linked with PSHE and SRE lessons. Please see our PSHE/SRE policy for further details***

We hope you have had a lovely weekend, 

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

Things to remember:

*PE on a Wednesday afternoon – dance – please bring a PE kit to change in to. 

*Forest School on a Thursday afternoon – wear forest school clothes to school.

*Ensure you have some wellies or a change of shoes (and socks if required) in school for use on the field – these can then be left on your peg, so they are readily available for outdoor learning opportunities and play times. 

Welcome back to a new half term!

This week we have been busy finishing off our topic from last half term along with learning about Remembrance Day and Guy Fawkes too!

In our art lesson we created a piece of art using our understanding of pop art from last half term. The children chose to use poppies in their art piece ready for Remembrance Day.

In our English lessons, we have been learning about performance poetry. The children enjoyed experimenting with their performance voices and many enjoyed sharing the poem, Flanders Field in front of the class. We learnt to give constructive feedback using our success criteria as a guide. The children investigated different styles of poetry, their key features and explored writing their own examples.

In our maths learning we have been focusing on various maths vocabulary and their meanings. The Ivy maths group focused on their key word- multiples. They learnt multiples of key numbers and solved problems with their understanding. Honey, Bumble, Mason and Carder maths groups improved their understanding of factors, multiples, prime, squared and cubed numbers. During the sessions, it became quite clear that a fair few children are not yet confident with their times tables up to 12 x 12, which then has a subsequent knock-on effect on their understanding of other key maths learning. Times table practise for homework is extremely important especially if these facts are not yet secure.  

In science this week, the children have been focusing on what it means to lead a ‘healthy’ lifestyle. They reflected on what they already know and started to learn about a balanced diet, the nutrients provided by certain foods and their purposes. On Friday, the children designed snacks to be eaten at fireworks night. They designed a healthy option and then a not so healthy option; most children decided to make their not so healthy option to take home with them!

During our PE lesson, we started our dance topic. The children started to learn how to link movements together based around a theme. They enjoyed sharing their solo sequences to their group and trying to decipher which movements others were representing in their dance.

There will be a new homework grid for this half term this coming week when we start our new topic. Please ensure homework books are in school by Thursday if they are not already.

During the coming week, the children will have the opportunity to make a £1 donation for a poppy and two additional items (wristbands, zip ribbons, slap-band rulers). If you would like your child to do this, please send in a donation at your convenience. These will be available until Wednesday.

We hope you have had a great weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

Things to remember:

*PE on a Wednesday afternoon – dance – please bring a PE kit to change in to. 

*Forest School on a Thursday afternoon – wear forest school clothes to school.

*Ensure you have some wellies in school for use on the field – these can then be left on your peg, so they are readily available for outdoor learning opportunities and play times. 
*Ensure reading books and records are in school daily 

Hello everyone

We had a great last week of this half term.

We enjoyed having an art focus this week. The children have been learning about collage over the half term and finished by making their own animal-based collage. The children learnt about features of pop art and gained inspiration from various pop artists; they tried to give their artwork a pop art feel.

In our maths learning, the children continued to learn about the four operations with some children remaining on subtraction whilst others moved to multiplication methods. We looked at various mental and formal written methods. We’ll continue this focus next half term.

In our English learning the children focused on editing and improving their writing and supported others by making suggestions of how their writing could be improved. They learnt various ways to improve writing and then wrote their final drafts of their non-chronological reports which they will share with Class 3 at the beginning of next half term.

In our RE lesson, we continued our focus on Gospels. We developed our understanding of what Christians believe and how this effects how they live their lives. The children made connections between Gospel texts and how Christians live in the Christian community and their individual lives.

This week was our last tag rugby PE session with Arena. We have gained so much confidence with our passing and receiving skills and have enjoyed applying these into game situations.  

We also enjoyed our forest school session where we continued our focus on perseverance. We made fantastic broomsticks which definitely required a lot of determination!   

Our PE afternoon will change for the coming half term – it will take place on a Wednesday afternoon. Please bring a PE kit to change into. 

Our forest school session will change as well and will take place on a Thursday afternoon. As before, children can come to school wearing their forest school clothes. Please ensure they have a waterproof coat and suitable footwear if their wellies are not already in school. 

Have a fabulous half term and don’t forget we have an INSET day on Monday 1^st November so we look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday 2^nd November. 

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren