Term 5 has seemingly whizzed by, in an exciting blur of fantastic learning and brilliant activities. In Writing, after studying Alan Bold’s The Malfeasance, the children have created fantastic poems centred around a metaphor for an emotion. Here, they were able to showcase their expanding SPAG knowledge including personification, pathetic fallacy, metaphor and similes. During Book Week, they penned an inspiring book review using the subjunctive verb form to give recommendations.
As a firm favourite in Willow class, the children have been very focused in Mathematics and they have covered equivalent fractions and decimals, using our CPA (concret, pictorial, abstract) approach. In Guided Reading, the children first studied the archaic poem The Listeners by Walter de La Mare, and more recently they have considered The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson.
In Science this term, they have considered the life cycles of humans, studying each phase of our life in turn. In History, the children have learnt about what life was like for Anglo-Saxons as well as the hierarchical power structure, before moving onto consequences of Viking invaders and settlers. This term in RE, the focus has switched to Christianity and their beliefs around Jesus and Easter. In DT, the children made 3D book-up books, based on nursery rhymes, with working mechanisms.
This term has brought many amazing opportunities from Book Week, the Mid Somerset Festival to Dance Umbrella. As always, the children from Willow Class have been true ambassadors for the school and I couldn’t be prouder!
Have a super Easter break!
Best wishes,
Miss James
logistical reminders:
Forest is on a Tuesday. Please could the children come dressed in their Forest kit, ensuring that they have wellies, long sleeved t-shirts and trousers, waterproofs and sun cream and a hat with them.
PE Swimming is on a Friday. Children should come dressed in their PE kits and bring their swimming kit 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 and complete 10 minutes of Doodle Maths.
Wow! This spring term has really flown by! Here are some of the wonderful things Willow Class have done.
In Writing, the children created a fantastic speech, hoping to ban single-use plastic - focusing on the damage it does to our oceans. This was the perfect vehicle for them to showcase persuasive devices and their recently learned literary devices. More recently they have written a suspenseful story based on the short animation Alma.
Mathematics has brought many opportunities to use our CPA (concrete, pictorial, abstract) approach. The children have completed a second unit on multiplication and division, learning to use written methods and, in the last week on term, they have revisited fractions, this time learning how to multiply them by an integer.
In Guided Reading, as well as studying Cloud Busting by Malorie Blackamn, they have also considered the archaic poem The Listeners by Walter de la Mare. Our class novel is House with the chicken legs which transports us into the fairytale world of Sophie Anderson.
In Science this term, our focus has switched to Chemistry, where we have learnt about changes and properties of matter. Working scientifically, we have discovered what substances dissolve as well as how to separate mixtures and solutions. Geography has been the class’ favourite this term. Learning through oracy, the children have studied the layers of the rainforest, why it rains everyday, the animals and plants that live there and the impact humans have. More Recently, the children have started their unit of History where they consider who the Anglo-Saxons were and the impact that Viking invasions and settlements had.
This term in RE, the children have learnt about Hindus’ beliefs around Brahman and Atman as well as why people may pray to different deities for different reasons. In Art, the children have focused on self-portraits, studying artists such as Frida Kahlo and creating their own self portraits.
I hope you all have a well-earned rest and a super time.
Forest is on a Thursday. 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 Tuesday. Children should come dressed in their PE kits on this day.
What a wonderful, wintery term Willow Class have had!
In writing, the children have created fantastic narrative poems based on their studies of the archaic works of Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman. More recently, they have written a persuasive letter to Father Christmas, steeped with modal verbs. As well as considering The Highwayman in Guided Reading, the children have also read The Explorer by Katherine Rundell.
Fractions have been the theme of this term’s Mathematics, with the children flourishing using our concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. They have particularly enjoyed converting between improper and mixed numbers - using bar models to support their understanding.
Science has been a firm favourite. With plenty of opportunity for working scientifically, the children have considered forces, including gravity, air resistance and water resistance. They particularly enjoyed carrying out comparative and fair tests, looking at the friction of different surfaces, with ice cubes.
In Geography, the children have learnt about rainforests including where they are located, why it always rains and the impact humans have on them. The focus this term in RE has been Christianity and what Christains believe about the Christmas story. In computing the children have learnt about video production, sound recording and videography. Our unit Farm to Fork, in DT, has given the children the opportunity to discover where their food comes from. They also created and cooked a recipe for healthy spaghetti bolognese. In Music, the children performed Dreaming of Mars on various instruments and learnt about notation, rhythm and pulse. PSHE has been a special time to consider how we can celebrate differences in our society. In PE this term, the children have learnt the rules of netball and which pass to use when. Forest has brought opportunities for woodland crafts, drama poetry and much more.
An absolute highlight of the term was our trip ice skating at Planet Volt. The children were resilient, brave and brilliant ambassadors for the school.
I hope you all have a lovely, well-earned break and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
Miss James.
What a wonderful first term in Willow Class! The children have loved our hilarious class novel, Cosmic by Frank Cotterell Boyce, and eagerly await the title of our new book after the half term break. Cosmic lent itself perfectly to the children’s Writing lessons where they created their own action-packed narrative, using short snappy sentences and strong Tier Two verbs to build tension. More recently they completed a brilliant transmission from Mars.
In Maths this term, the children continued to use their concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to tackle place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division. An absolute favourite has been using factor bugs to work out factors.
In Science, the children have focused on physics, immersing themselves in knowledge about our solar system including why the moon appears to change shape in the night sky as well as why we have night and day and seasons.
In History, the children have learned about Mayan civilization, particularly enjoying our lessons about how bloodthirsty their beliefs were! In Computing, the focus has been systems and search engines, which has given the children the skills necessary to complete efficient internet searches. RE is a firm favourite in Willow Class. Our focus religion is Hinduism and the children have considered how Hindu people show their commitment to God. In PE we have been lucky enough to have Mr Philips the brilliant football coach and Forest as well as cooking the children have also created forest crafts.
I look forward to another amazing year in Willow Class. I hope you all have a well earned rest over the half term break.
Dear Parents and carers,
Welcome to Willow Class! I hope you have all had a restful summer break and that your children are excited to return.
I thought I would share a few important logistics. Please feel free to catch me on the playground before school or at my door at the end of the day if you have any questions.
I look forward to another brilliant year in Willow Class.
PE is on a Friday. Children should come dressed in their PE kits on this day.