Read the poster below to find out what your child will be learning in term 6
Another busy half term for us in Cherry, kicking off with our residential to Great Wood - what an amazing experience we all had! We took part in activities such as low ropes, archery, duck-racing and team challenges. We all had a great time, even though not many of us had much sleep! The weather was great too, which allowed us to have a campfire and play outside during free time.
In English we have collectively written a narrative based on the picture book, ‘Journey’. We then had to use the remaining images to write the ending to the story, independently. This time around, we picked our own success criteria and worked hard to ensure it was all included in our writing. We have also focused on developing our sentences, to ‘deepen the moment’ as well as include several of the SPaG techniques we have explicitly learnt.
We have explored both ‘The Midnight Fox’ and ‘The Iron Man’ in our guided reading sessions. We have focused heavily on inference and explanations, clarifying our answers and making sure relevant evidence is used to support our ideas. We have developed our vocabulary by exploring the challenging terminology that arises in each chapter.
For the most part, our focus topic has been fractions. We can now explain what a proper and improper fraction is and have learnt how to convert from improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa. We can now identify which number is the numerator and which is the denominator and when the denominators are the same, they stay the same, when adding and subtracting. We have also practised how to compare and order fractions, recognising equivalents.
In Science we have learnt all about animals and their habitats and we are now able to use classification keys to identify which animal group they are a part of. We later applied this to plants. In History we returned to learning about the Romans. We applied our prior learning to new learning and were able to explain why the Roman Empire wanted Britain and the legacy they have left behind. We learnt about Boudicca’s revolt and the reasons behind it before gaining knowledge on Hadrian’s Wall, looking closely at primary and secondary sources.
In PE we have learnt how to accurately pass in tennis, using both forehand and backhand. Towards the end of the half term, we were lucky enough to have a tennis coach in to consolidate our learning. In Forest, we have loved spending time by the pond and in the sandpit, as well as building dens and climbing trees!
In RE we have explored more deeply The Noble Eightfold Path and made links to other religions and compared their similarities and differences. We have discussed relationships in PSHE, defining key vocabulary, learning ways to support each other and ourselves when we fall out with friends and why we might not see someone or something anymore and the feelings and emotions that come with that. We have been able to recognise that loss is unfortunately a common occurrence in life and have been able to sensibly discuss how we can deal with this.
In Art we have worked on Power Prints! This has entailed us creating collages, drawing objects whilst considering proportion and applying our previous knowledge to draw both 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional.
All in all, it has been another fab half term! The children have worked extremely hard and should be very proud of themselves. Next half term is another jam-packed half term beginning with our Multiplication Screening Check, so please encourage your child to practise their times tables over the half term.
Enjoy the break, which hopefully is full of sunshine!
Miss Collins
Logistics for Term 6:
Forest is on a Wednesday. Please could the children come dressed in their forest kit, ensuring they have wellies, long sleeves and trousers, even if the weather is hot.
PE will continue to be on a Friday. Now the weather has improved, we will be outside. Please ensure your child is dressed in the correct PE kit, including trainers.
Homework – Children are to learn their personal spellings, read a minimum of 3 times a week (recorded in their reading log), complete 10 minutes of Doodle Maths, and complete a scrapbook style journal entry.
Please read the poster below to find out what Cherry class will be learning in term 5.
How are we already at the end of Term 4? Another jam-packed half term for Cherry Class, that’s for sure! Here are some of the things we’ve been up to.
I have got to start with the Year 3 & 4 performance. What an AMAZING show the children put on. The dedication the children had to making it a spectacular performance was admirable - I cannot wait to see them all in future performances.
We had a fantastic time at the Roman Baths, exploring the baths themselves, participating in several activities during the workshop and as a result becoming archaeologists.
In Maths we continued to focus on multiplication and division, and applied our fluency knowledge to reasoning and problem solving questions. Towards the end of the half term, we moved onto length and perimeter, where we can now calculate the perimeter of shapes using squares and find equivalent lengths using both kilometres and metres. We are also able to recognise which unit of measure would be best suited to the task, applying both prior and new learning.
In English we thoroughly enjoyed writing a newspaper report based on plastic pollution. We focused heavily on eyewitness accounts, and the correct punctuation that is needed to indicate direct speech. Furthermore, we worked hard to ‘deepen the moment’ and develop our sentences so that we could meet our writing targets.
In Science we continued our focus on states of matter, now applying our knowledge of solids, liquids and gases to the water cycle, condensation and evaporation in particular. We worked scientifically to investigate through observation, recognising key features of both evaporation and condensation. We then created our own mini water cycle which allowed us to consolidate our learning. Our Guided Reading sessions linked closely to this topic, focusing on ‘Once Upon a Raindrop’ by James Carter and ‘The Rhythm of the Rain’ by Grahame Baker-Smith. These lessons have allowed us to explore the writer’s techniques, the purpose of the narratives along with further developing vocabulary, retrieval and inference skills to name but a few.
We have loved our swimming lessons each week and it has been fantastic to see how much progress everyone has made! Forest has also been great this half term - pancakes, fires, hot chocolate, God’s eyes and den building were just some of what we’ve got up to, despite the cold weather!
Our food and nutrition topic in DT has been a firm favourite; we have worked hard to perfect our biscuit-making skills. It has also been a great opportunity to recognise where maths can be used in real life!
We had some great World Book Day costumes (well done adults!). We took part in a variety of activities during Book Week this year: bookmarks, book jackets, book reviews and book illustrations. It allowed for lots of creativity! We also enjoyed a walk down to the library with Maple Class, where we got to choose new books and complete World Book Day themed activities, which was great fun. Last but not least, we LOVED our Holly class reading buddies!
In Geography this half term we have learnt about the USA, where we have explored both physical and human features, along with using an atlas to identify the different states and famous landmarks. We have developed the skill of being able to use an atlas accurately.
Thank you for your continued support. Enjoy a restful Easter break.
Logistics for Term 5:
Forest is on a Wednesday. Please could the children come dressed in their forest kit, ensuring they have wellies, warm clothes and waterproofs with them.
PE will continue to be on a Friday. Now the weather is improving, we will aim to be outside, please ensure your child is dressed in the correct PE kit, including trainers.
As we are getting closer to the Year 4 Multiplication Check, please encourage your child to practise their timetables as often as possible.
Please see the poster below to find out what Cherry class will be learning in term 4.
What a wonderful term it has been, here are a few of the exciting things Cherry Class has been up to.
In Writing, we began the half term creating poetry, exploring ‘The River’ by Valerie Bloom before choosing one of the four seasons to write independently. We worked really hard on metaphors to create imagery within our poetry. We then moved onto writing a newspaper report based on plastic pollution. So far, we have developed eyewitness accounts using the appropriate punctuation; we will continue to work on this as we enter into Term 4.
In Maths we have continued building upon our multiplication and division knowledge. We have worked hard to develop our times tables in order to apply this to worded problems. Furthermore, we have learnt how to multiply by 10 and 100, using place value charts and counters to help solidify our understanding.
Our guided reading sessions have been heavily chocolate focused! Firstly we explored ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl, which allowed us to grow our inference, retrieval and summarising skills, to name but a few. We later read ‘The Great Chocoplot’ by Chris Callaghan. Here we were able to make links, comparing and contrasting characters, themes and plot.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our weekly swimming lessons - I have been so impressed with how much progress the children have made! Forest has been lots of fun too, especially wassailing!
In Art we have explored sculpture. We have been able to apply the skills we have learnt to creating fish sculptures out of soap, using wire (pipe cleaners) to create an alternative type of sculpture as well as mirroring creations by EL Anatsui using recycled materials.
Our science topic allowed us to understand the different states of matter; solids, liquids and gases. We have been able to work scientifically to investigate how changes can occur and we will continue to explore this topic next half term.
A favourite topic of this half term has to be the Ancient Romans in history. We have been using artefacts to recognise where the Romans come in time, the legacy they left behind and society. We are very much looking forward to visiting the Roman Baths next half term.
We are working really hard with Maple Class to rehearse our ‘When I Grow Up’ performance. We are really looking forward to performing it for you all.
Thank you for your continued support. Wishing everyone a lovely half term.
Logistics for Term 4:
Forest is on a Wednesday. Please could the children come dressed in their Forest kit, ensuring that they have wellies, warm clothes and waterproofs with them.
PE is on a Friday. Children should bring swimming kits into school on this day. Homework - Children are to learn their personal spellings, read a minimum of 3 times a week (recorded in their reading log), complete a scrapbook style journal entry, complete 10 minutes of Doodle Maths and practise their times tables.
Please read the poster below to find out what your child will be learning in Term 3.
How is it Christmas already? What a busy half term Cherry Class has had! From a plane trip to Sicily in our English lessons, a visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery to singing Christmas songs at St Mary’s Bathwick, it has been non-stop, and we are not even halfway through the school year yet!
In English, we wrote holiday brochures, firstly to Sicily, focusing carefully on the vocabulary to ensure it was persuasive, then applying this to our own holiday brochure, persuading their audience to visit Antarctica. We all produced great brochures which used several persuasive techniques, and everyone applied SPaG techniques well. You might ask, why Antarctica? In Geography, Cherry Class explored the continent Antarctica, looking closely at the physical features, how animals have adapted to survive and the effects of global warming.
In Maths, we first learnt the most efficient methods in addition and subtraction and applied these to reasoning and problem-solving questions. Following this, we touched upon area, recognising what the term ‘area’ meant and ways to calculate it when given varieties of shapes.
In Science, our topic was sound; we enjoyed investigating how sound is created and travels. We were able to make predictions using our scientific knowledge as well as summarise our results and conclude our findings. We could also answer questions by working scientifically. In DT we applied our prior scientific learning on electricity to plan and create torches in small groups. The torches were fit for purpose as success criteria were followed carefully.
In RE, our focus was on Christianity; in particular symbols found within the Christmas Story. We could define what a symbol is and were able to recognise the different important symbols and explain why they were significant. We related this to the symbols we would find at our local church. We looked closely at Christingle and applied our learning to creating our own Christingle that depicted what Christmas means to us, individually. We continuously made links to other religions, focusing on their celebrations and festivals.
We LOVED our visit to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in November, to conclude our learning of the Ancient Greeks from last half term. It was great to see real life artefacts! Forest has been a particular favourite this half term, especially making Christmas decorations and enjoying hot chocolate to warm us up! Football with Mr. Phillips has been another standout subject this half term; ball control and teamwork have been two areas of focus.
Next half term, Cherry Class will be swimming every Friday afternoon. The children will need swimming kits (towel, costumes/trunks, googles (if possible). Children should come into school wearing school uniform as normal. Forest will continue to be on Wednesdays.
It is a high priority that times tables are practised regularly at home and that children are reading at least three times a week and completing one quality entry in their reading journals. Please encourage your child to use the prompts stuck in at the front of their journals to help them with ideas.
Wishing the children and adults of Cherry Class a very happy Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all in 2023!
I cannot believe it is already the end of Term 1, it has flown by! The children have had a jam-packed half term and have learnt lots of new things.
In Maths we have focused on place value, being able to recognise the value of digits in a number, ordering and comparing numbers up to 10,000 and have used number lines to help us estimate.
In English we have worked hard to write narratives based on the short-film, Feast. We especially loved the part when the dog, Winston, got to eat all the junk food! Afterwards, we applied all that we had learnt and created a new character, this time it being a cat, and rewrote the narrative using several different SPAG techniques.
Our Guided Reading sessions have explored the novel, ‘The Land of Roar,’ and we have had opportunities to recall and retrieve information as well as develop our inference skills through recognising feelings and emotions of characters. We also learnt about Nelson Mandela, as part of our learning in Black History Month.
In Science we have learnt all about electricity. It has been fun investigating what a series, complete and incomplete circuits are using the equipment and we can now identify each component and its function. Furthermore, we applied our learning to making switches, which was fun!
Our History lessons have focused on the Ancient Greeks. We have learnt what primary and secondary sources are and have used them to help us with our learning. We have focused on what legacy the Ancient Greeks left behind, as well as participated in a debate, with the focus of Athens V Sparta.
In the forest this half term, we have enjoyed climbing trees, building dens, and cooking again. It is noticeably colder, so adults, please remember to send your children in with warm clothing. In PE lessons we have learnt how to jump, roll, and balance. Next half term, PE will be on a Friday.
I look forward to another busy half term, especially with the run up to Christmas!! Have a relaxing half term break.
It has been a busy few weeks settling back into school life, establishing routines, and having fun with our friends again. We have enjoyed learning lots of new things and area always trying our best to achieve wonderful things, across the curriculum. We are especially enjoying Forest School which is on a Wednesday afternoon. It has been great fun, cooking, climbing trees and building dens. PE is on a Thursday afternoon, and so far, we have enjoyed participating in some fitness and gymnastics activities.Forest school will take place regardless of the weather (unless extreme) so please can you ensure your child is wearing appropriate clothing (long sleeve tops and trousers) as well as bringing their wellies and waterproofs in a separate labelled bag to change in and out of, if necessary.Please could children come into school wearing the correct PE kit (Longvernal P.E. t-shirt, black shorts or sports trousers and trainers). PE will be outside for the first term, so black Longvernal fleeces or green Longvernal jumpers can also be worn.
We look forward to an exciting year! Keep checking our class page for updates!