Term 6- Week 5

It has been a tough week for Beech class as we have completed our optional SATs tests for the end of the academic year. It involved 3 spelling tests, a reading test, 3 maths tests and we even had a go at a grammar, punctuation and spelling test from last year. Miss Burgess is very proud of our results and we have all worked extremely hard this year!

Rehearsals for ‘We Will Rock You’ have also continued this week. Our costumes are looking fabulous and our singing is sounding incredible. We cannot wait to perform next week! Despite lots of rehearsals, we also performed in the music concert on Thursday where we were able to showcase what we have learned during our fife lessons as well as instruments we have been learning individually. We were all amazing!

On Friday, we took part in the Olympic Roadshow. We were placed into four teams: Great Britain, Japan, Brazil and Jamaica. We were then given the opportunity to take part in different types of sport including netball, basketball, hockey and football. Don’t forget to take a look at some of our photos!

Term 6 - Week 4

Beech class have been very busy this week completing their level 1 and level 2 bike ability tests! Here are some of things we learned:

Rory: ‘I learned to how to come out of a T-junction safely and I also learned how to do a U-turn.’

Rosie: ‘I learned how to take one of my hands off the bike and indicate for three or four seconds while still pedalling. I also learned to do the U-turn safely.’

Lily O ‘We learned how to go from a minor road onto a major road. We also learned how to do right and left turns into minor roads.’

Zach: ‘We learned the ABC check. A is for air, B is for brakes and C is for chain and control.’

On Monday, we had a visit from Leila from Demelza House Children's Hospice. As a part of our class community project, we are donating toys to the children’s hospice along with a drawn portrait. Leila gave us more of an insight into what the hospice is like for children who visit there. We learned how the children are cared for and the support they offer their families. When drawing our portraits, we were taught how to section the face in order to draw the eyes, nose, mouth and ears in the correct places and in proportion. We even discussed drawing our hair lines correctly and adding eyelashes and eyebrows to make them look realistic.

In our topic lesson, we explored the different marine life found in the Great Barrier Reef. We looked at the different types of coral as well as fish. In pairs, we created our very own Great Barrier Reef aquarium. We shopped for different types of fish and coral (pretend of course), with a budget of £100, whilst also reading the information about them. We chose our marine life carefully, choosing the appropriate coral for the fish to live and we made sure that our fish were friendly with the others we chose. We also had to make sure the temperature of the water was set between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius in order for our wildlife to survive. We then placed them into our fish tanks and annotated them with the facts we had found. They are looking fantastic!

We have continued reading 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo this week. We have been introduced to the beautiful yet terrifying tiger and wrote descriptive paragraphs using the senses. We have also explored the poem by William Blake called 'The Tyger'. We discussed our personal responses to the poem, as it was written in old English, and we spoke about the meaning behind the poem. We wrote a kenning poem describing the tiger, making sure our clues were detailed enough for our reader to guess what it was. 

Term 6 - Week 3

We have had lots of rehearsals this week in preparation for the school production of 'We Will Rock You!'. Our singing is really coming together and we have learned actions to the song 'Radio Ga Ga'!

We have also been finishing our aboriginal art for the up-coming art exhibition! Don't forget to come along and see our art on display and even buy it to raise money for our school!

In maths, we have focused on problem solving using RUCSAC. We explored multi-step word problems by thinking about which calculations are required the answer the question and we looked at strategies to help us, including highlighting key words. On Thursday, we had our learning together activity where some of our parents visited our class for the maths lesson. The aim was to solve the mystery of the hanging baskets, which were vandalised in the village, by working through a range of problem solving activities to find the clues which led us to the culprit. The activities involved fractions of numbers, place value, calculations and time knowledge. 

Well done to all the children who took part on sports day! You were all amazing and it was clear to see you tried your best! It has been a busy week but a fantastic one! We are all certainly looking forward to 'bike ability' next week!

Term 6- Week 2

In our maths learning this week, we have continued to explore different types of number. On Monday, we looked at prime numbers and defined them as numbers which can only be divided by one and itself. We played a game of snakes and ladders but changed the game to suit our learning. As we played, we collected prime numbers to earn points! The next day, we used this learning to help us locate prime factors of numbers. We created factor trees, which continued to grow until we found the prime factors.

We also explored square and cube numbers. Miss Burgess was extremely impressed with how we challenged ourselves even further! Some of us were even looking for palindromic square numbers (numbers which can be read the same way forwards as backward e.g 989) between 100 and 1000. We combined our knowledge of numbers with data handling by creating line graphs showing the square and cube numbers up to 5. It has been a challenging but productive week in maths!

We have continued to read 'Running Wild' by Michael Morpurgo. The story has continued to inspire our writing by writing a report of the tsunami, writing in the elephant's perspective and writing a letter as a character. Throughout the week, we have explored formal and informal language. We discussed what formal and informal language looks like and when we would use them. Some of us have even started to use shifts in formality in our writing!

On Tuesday, we role played as Steve Backshall from the 'Deadly 60' TV programme. We looked at dangerous animals from Australia and wrote facts down about them whilst watching 'Deadly 60' clips, including the salt water crocodile, blue-ringed octopus and the bull shark! We were fantastic at recalling the 'deadly' facts about them!

We have also been introduced to aboriginal art. We are recreating aboriginal art pieces, using symbols painted to represent stories, ready for our art exhibition being held on Friday 7th July. Get ready to see some amazing pieces! 

Term 6 - Week 1

It is lovely to see the children back and ready to learn for their final term!

In our maths learning, we have been enhancing our knowledge of factors and multiples. We understand the difference between factors and multiples and we are confident using our tables knowledge to help us. We know that factors can be divided exactly into another number whilst multiples are numbers in a times table. We also looked at common factors and multiples as well as the highest common factor and the lowest common multiple.

We have been introduced to Michael Morpurgo's 'Running Wild'. So far, we have completed a cold task and improved our editing and improving skills to make our writing better by using our class toolkit. We have also used inference by listening carefully to details in the text about a setting and created our own setting description based upon the beach in Indonesia. Michael Morpurgo uses stunning vocabulary and we wanted to make sure we understood the words he uses. We used dictionaries to find definitions of tricky words and used thesauruses to find synonyms. 

In science, we have explored lifecycles of different types of mammal. We understand what a placental, monotreme and marsupial is and we can compare and contrast their lifecycles. An example would be that monotremes, e.g the platypus, lay eggs, whilst marsupials, e.g kangaroos, give birth to their babies however they are not fully developed, therefore grow inside their mother's pouch. We created lifecycle wheels to see the similarities and differences.

On Friday, we had a visit from Mrs Mowl. She provided a workshop about Islamic life, particularly about Islamic weddings. We learned that henna is used on the bride's hands before she is married, therefore we were able to try it out ourselves! Don't forget to take a look at the photographs below of our amazing afternoon!

Term 5 - Week 6

A huge well done to our Year 5s in Beech class for taking part in the CATs test! You all worked extremely hard!

We have had a very exciting week in maths. We have had a problem solving week where we have completed different tasks which use our previous learning. The activities included breaking open a padlock by finding the code using a series of mathematical clues and becoming detectives solving mystery crimes, including a robbery, by working out the clues. The activities ranged from calculation methods, 3D shapes, fractions and coordinates!

Our writing has been influenced by the fresco 'Penelope and her Suitors'. We wrote from different perspectives, including Odysseus and the mystery bird. We used our toolkit effectively and we have become adept at using A CARP PIE, specifically for varying our sentence openers by using adverbs, 'ing' words and 'ed' words.

We have continued to replicate our segment of the painting using paints or pastels and some of us have even begun to create our own fresco in our sketch books retelling our own alternative myth of Pandora's box! 

Phew! What a busy week! Have a wonderful half term!

Term 5- Week 5

In maths this week, Beech class have been exploring line graphs. On Monday, we learned how to input data into a line graph from a table. We were able to identify the x and y axis and wrote sensible labels and titles for our line graphs. Following on from this, we collected real life data on the heights of children from the beginning to the end of KS2. We used metre sticks to measure children's heights and recorded our data into a table. We then used our previous knowledge to input the data into a line graph! We also showed that we were able to read and interpret line graphs by answering specific questions.

In our writing, we have been working hard to finish our alternative version of Pandora's box. We completed the resolution and ending of our version and we have begun to type out the full version using word whilst editing and improving. Miss Burgess has been so impressed with the fantastic vocabulary we are using and the adventurous punctuation types including semi-colons, brackets and hyphens!

On Friday afternoon, we were introduced to a painting called 'Penelope and the Suitors' which was originally painted on a wall as a fresco at the Palazzo del Magnifico in Siena. We explored the story behind the painting as Penelope delays her reply to the suitors who are desperate to marry her whilst her husband is believed to be missing! We were all given a section of the painting to replicate. We explored using the grid method to replicate our section in order to accurately draw/paint it proportionally. 

We will be basing our writing and other elements of our learning on this magnificent painting next week! Watch this space! Don't forget to check out the photos of our visit from James Sheridan: British BMX champion! 

Term 5- Week 4

Beech class started off the week with a fantastic workshop about team work with Josh! They played all sorts of team games including wheel barrow races and crab walking! We learned about the importance of team work and how supporting our team members can help promote perseverance and determination. Take a look at Lily's blog and the photographs below!

We revised finding the perimeter and area of compound shapes this week. We are now all confident with finding areas and perimeters of compound shapes as we now have a better understanding of how to break it up into steps. We also looked at working out missing lengths in order to help us find the answers. We then moved onto finding the volumes of cubes and cuboids. Using our knowledge of finding the areas of 2D shapes, we knew we had to multiply the length, width and height together. We also used this knowledge to find missing lengths when we were provided with the volume.

In writing, we planned the rest of our myth by thinking about an alternative version of Pandora's box. We are using each day to then write each section of the myth: beginning, build-up, resolution and ending. We have been using our class toolkit effectively and most of us are showing a maturity in our writing by using colons, semi-colons and commas to mark clauses correctly! Well done!

On Tuesday, Beech class became weather reporters! During our topic lesson, we used an internet sight to discover what the weather was like in Australia in real time! We noticed that Australia is approximately 10 hours ahead of us so we pretended to report the weather for the next day (as it was night time). We explored the differences between the temperatures in the north and south and discovered the temperatures were higher in the north because it is closer to the equator. 

Blog entry: Team work session by Lily.

I really loved the workshop with Josh. He helped me understand how important team work is. I loved each and every one of the activities. Even when I couldn't do it well my team cheered me on which made me really happy. My favourite activity was the caterpillar as we all had to rely on the person behind us to try and achieve our goal. We all showed perseverance. I've learned a lot from that lesson and I'm sure everyone else did too!

Term 5- Week 3

It has been amazing how much has been done in such a short week!

Of course, the main attraction this week was the trip to Detling Showground for the spectacular 'Living Land' show! We had the opportunity to delve into farming and agriculture. We explored machinery, the touch and taste exhibit, watching birds of prey (where we were given the privilege of having an owl swoop over our heads) and even a dancing sheep show! Miss Burgess was amazed by our excellent behaviour and how mature we all were- a very proud teacher! Don't forget to check out our photographs of the day!

Although it has been a short week, we have tried ever so hard in our maths learning. We looked at converting fractions to percentages by making sure the denominator changed to 100 by using multiplication (as we knew that a percentage is out of 100). Using our previous knowledge, we knew that we also had to use the same calculation for the numerator. We could then convert the numerator into a percentage. We also explored converting fractions to decimals by dividing the numerator by the denominator. We could do this easily when the denominator was 10, 100 or 1000, however we used our previous knowledge again for other numbers in order to convert them to 10, 100 or 1000. 

In English, we began to innovate the opening of the Greek myth: Pandora's box. We looked at the main themes from the opening of the myth and created characters and settings of our own whilst staying with the same themes. On Friday, we reviewed our writing and used word to edit and improve. We decided that descriptive language would make our writing more interesting and we could mature our writing by using adventurous punctuation, including semi-colons and brackets! 

During our science lesson, we explored insect and wind pollination. We looked at the different features of plants which rely on insect or wind pollination and even explored the school grounds to see if we could find any examples. We were able to categorise different images of plants on whether they rely on insect or wind pollination! 

Term 5- Week 1

It is lovely to see all the children return to school fresh and ready to learn this week! We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable Easter break!

We used this week to refresh our knowledge of fractions in our maths lessons. We started with converting improper fractions and mixed numbers as well as reminding ourselves of the key vocabulary, including numerator and denominator. We even looked at using the reverse calculations as an effective way of checking our answers! We also explored adding and subtracting fractions and found common denominators when they were different numbers by using our times tables knowledge. On Friday, we moved onto multiplying fractions where we remember it was very different from adding and subtracting as we had to multiply both the numerator and denominator.

This term, we will be exploring myths. First, we explored what myths are and discovered they were stories told to teach lessons or explain things people did not understand, however were not based on truth. We were introduced to Pandora’s Box which is a Greek myth. We listened carefully to details in the story by segmenting the story into the beginning, build-up, problem, resolution and end and wrote down the key information into each section. We discussed our personal responses to the myth and why this myth was told.

The next day we used drama to act as the evils that escaped from the box and imagined how they would look if they were animals or objects! As we watched each group, we wrote a list of strong verbs and adverbs to describe the how the evils left the box.

In our science lesson, we explored how flowering plants reproduce. We looked at real flowers and examined them to identify their parts. We then labelled diagrams as well as explain how each part of a flower was vital for its reproduction.

Term 4- Week 6

In our maths learning this week, we have continued to explore time and time tables. We began by subtracting hours and minutes from a given time. We then used our knowledge of adding and subtracting hours and minutes by calculating pretend time zones on different planets! By the end of the week, we were able to read time tables and answered questions as if we were at train stations taking different journeys!

For our hot writing tasks, we planned a diary entry as the wolf from 'The Last Wild' by Piers Torday. Miss Burgess was astounded at the beautiful, descriptive writing used as well as emotive language to inflict an emotion on our reader! Beech class have become adept at writing in different genres!

We also explored seaside holidays: then and now, during our topic lesson. We looked at different photographs of Victorian holidays and compared them to what seaside holidays are like now! We discovered that the Victorians didn't go abroad on holidays (as there were no package holidays and planes to take them there) but went on British seaside holidays. They even bathed fully clothed! 

Of course, this week we have focused on Easter! On Monday, we had a lesson exploring Easter as a victory! We discussed what victories were and even thought about when we have experienced or seen a victory! We looked at different hymns and highlighted where Easter is celebrated as a victory. Not only this, but Beech class created beautiful Easter chicks to take home with us! 

Term 4- Week 5

Beech class are becoming adept at fantastic descriptive writing! This week, we compared real and fictional settings by describing Elham on a hot summers day and the area surrounding Spectrum Hall in Piers Torday's 'The Last Wild'. We were able to use descriptive techniques including adjectives, similes, metaphors, verbs, adverbs and personification! We also were able to predict and write dialogue between two characters in the story. We came up with our own toolkit, which included using inverted commas, alternative words for 'said', using a new line for a new speaker, adverbs and action alongside our dialogue!

On Tuesday, we went on a school trip to Brockhill Country Park with Silver-Birch class. We studied the water cycle by acting as the water molecules. We also explored how different materials such as soil, sand and gravel filter water underground. We then went on a stream walk where we had the opportunity to measure how fast the stream was flowing at different points by using a dog biscuit, a stop watch and a measuring tape. We measured how long it was take the dog biscuit to move along the stream 5m  and used the stop watch to measure how long it took in seconds! It was a beautiful day for our trip and we all came back with huge smiles on our faces! 

In science, we had a investigative lesson creating compasses from bar magnets, sewing needles, the bottom of a polystyrene cup and a bowl of water. In pairs, we took it in turns to stroke the sewing needle with one end of the bar magnet in the same direction for 10 minutes! We did this to magnetise the sewing needle in order for it to naturally face Earth's North pole when we placed it on the polystyrene, floating in the water. We discussed that the longer we stroke the magnet on the needle, the stronger it would be. We tested our needle compasses with real ones in order to check our results! 

Miss Burgess would like to say a big well done to Beech class who also completed end of term tests this week, including maths, GPS and reading!

Term 4- Week 4

We had a fabulous start to the week! Beech class had the opportunity to take part in a bounce session! We were fantastic at bouncing to the beat of the music and the instructor was extremely impressed at how well we kept up! Take a look at some of our photos!

In our maths learning, we have begun to explore time as we will be looking at timetables. We discussed where we normally see timetables, including bus stops, train stations, airports and even school! Therefore we know that being able to read a timetable is really important as it can help us with everyday life! We firstly looked at converting the 12 and 24 hour clocks. Once we were confident with this, we moved onto calculating time intervals by using time lines to help us. By the end of this week and next week, we will also be exploring adding and subtracting time as well as reading timetables themselves.

Whilst reading 'The Last Wild' by Piers Torday, we came across the villainous Doctor Fredericks. In pairs, we developed ideas to describe the doctor by using descriptive techniques like adjectives, verbs, adverbs, similes, metaphors, personification, parenthesis and imagery! During the next lesson, we used our ideas to help us write descriptive paragraphs which were outstanding! 

On Friday, we rounded off the week with a our fabulous art day! In the morning, we explored primary colours and how they can be mixed to create secondary colours. We then created a colour wheel where we also mixed primary and secondary colours to create tertiary colours! After break, we looked at hot and cold colours and used Kandinsky as our inspiration to paint concentric circles using hot and cold colours. As well as this, and also inspired by Kandinsky, we created fantastic abstract paintings using geometric shapes! Take a look at some of the photos of us in action! 

Term 4- Week 3

In our maths learning this week, Beech class have been focusing on converting imperials units of measure including kilograms to pounds and litres to pints. We then put our new knowledge to work by answering word problems which require us to convert different units of measure. We had to read the questions carefully to check which units of measure our information was in and made sure that we converted them so they were the same unit of measure to get the correct answer.

We put our computing skills to good use by recreating our newspaper reports onto publisher. We had to think carefully about the layout and the font used in our text. We also found images on the internet which related to our report on global warming!

We also started our narrative topic in our writing sessions. We will be basing our writing on the book 'The Last Wild' by Piers Torday. So far we have written a setting description based upon 'Spectrum Hall'- an academy for challenging children. We used lots of different descriptive techniques, including adjectives, verbs, adverbs, similes, metaphors, senses, personification and parenthesis! On Friday, we wrote fantastic diary entries as the main character Kester, using emotive language, to describe our awful experiences at Spectrum Hall! Miss Burgess was astounded at how well we picked up techniques used for emotive language.

In our topic lesson, we explored the different defences used to prevent coastal erosion. For example, we looked at beach groynes, revetments, sea walls and rock armour. We were given fact files about the different types of defence and we recorded how they prevent coastal erosion, their benefits and their weaknesses.

We continued our learning on magnets in our science lesson. We investigated the strengths of different magnets, including bar, horseshoe, wand and circular magnets, by attaching paperclips and creating a chain. We knew that the magnet which held the most magnets would be the strongest. We discussed our investigation afterwards and thought about how we could make it fairer. We talked about using a clamp to hold the magnet rather than human hands as they could shake some of the paper clips off. We also said that conducting each test 3 times would also make it fair in case we had any anomalies. 

Term 4- Week 2

As part of the Shepway HUB school's maths moderations, the children were required to solve a maths problem involving money which was given to other schools within our HUB. All the children in Beech class were given the following problem:

Slick Jim won the lottery.

He spent two thirds of his winnings on a posh house.

He spent two thirds of what he had left on a luxury yacht.

He spent two thirds of what he had left on a hot air balloon.

He spent his remaining £20,000 on a new car. How much did he win?

We spent a lesson practicing similar word problems and discovered that what he had left from each item was one third of what he had left on the previous item. We then discussed how we would use the reverse calculation (multiplying by 3) in order to find what he had won in the lottery. We challenged ourselves by using the reverse again to check our answers and then finding out how much money was spent on each item. Miss Burgess was amazed by our perseverance and many gold awards were awarded for challenging ourselves!

We also continued our learning on newspaper reports. Following writing our orientation for our newspaper reports, we wrote the main body which included using paragraphs, important and detailed information, quotes and a reorientation (getting the reader up to date with what is happening now). We also explored how to write effective headlines by looking at puns (word play), letter play, rhyme and alliteration. We were able to apply all of our knowledge of newspaper reports in our written HOT task and used checklists to help us. Next week, we will be typing our newspaper reports and designing the layout using publisher.

In topic, we explored the features of coasts and how they are formed. We touched upon erosion and deposition and discussed the features which were formed by erosion (e.g arches, stacks, stumps, beaches) and deposition (e.g spits). We were able to sort photographs of the different features into how they were formed into the two groups depending upon how they were formed.

We also began to explore magnetism in our science lesson. We talked about what we already knew about magnets including the use of the words 'attract' and 'repel' We knew that opposite poles on a magnet attract and the same poles repel. We looked at the different uses of magnets, including a train in Japan where the track and train use the same poles to repel each other in order to make the train hover above the tracks! Incredible! We then sorted different objects made from different materials into magnetic and non-magnetic materials. We made sure we were conducting our investigation fairly by using the same magnet every time as we discovered that some magnets are stronger than others! 

Term 4- Week 1

Beech class have started the term off brilliantly and are working really hard on their learning!

In maths, we have covered converting metric units of measure, including centimetres and metres, centimetres and millimetres, litres and millilitres and grams and kilograms. We used our knowledge of place value and were able to multiply and divide by 10, 100 or 1000 depending on the conversion. We have been able to apply this knowledge onto word problems as well! Next week, we will be moving onto imperial units of measure as well as a problem solving activity.

We have started to explore newspaper reports in our English lessons. On Monday, we wrote a cold task to show Miss Burgess what we already knew about newspaper reports. Some of our cold tasks are on display in our class room with green for go and pink for think comments. We have been asked to have a look at these comments and to place post it notes on to say whether we agree or disagree with the comments. We have also looked at the features of a newspaper, including the headline, by-line, orientation, main body, photographs, captions and reorientation.

We have begun to plan our newspaper reports for next week by beginning with the orientation. We are basing our newspaper reports on the issue of global warming, where during our topic lesson we explored the causes and effects. We looked at how to write an orientation by looking at the 5Ws (who, what, where, when and why) and the 1H (how). We discussed that the headline and orientation must cover the 5Ws and 1H in order to introduce and inform our reader on what the article is about.

We had a fantastic, practical science lesson on Friday, where we began our new topic (forces and magnets). We investigated how far a toy car travelled along different surfaces from a ramp. We decided that we were testing the friction of each surface. We investigated four different surfaces: lino, grass, concrete and carpet. We also discussed how we would keep it a fair test by talking about what we would keep the same and what we would change.

We found out that the grass had the most friction as the car travelled the lowest distance whilst the lino had the least friction as the car travelled the furthest. We looked at the science behind this by talking about how the most friction is created when the material is rough or bumpy. Take a look at some of our photos showing our experiment.

Term 3- Week 6

Beech class have continued their learning on shapes by exploring perimeter and area of rectangles and compound shapes. We discussed how finding perimeter and area of rectangles require different calculative methods including addition and multiplication. With compound shapes, we recognised that we could break the shape up into smaller rectangles, particularly with area, and we could add our results together. 

In English, we wrote our predicted endings for 'Floodland' by Marcus Sedgwick. We discussed and planned the type of ending we would like to see in the book and wrote our ending as part of our hot task for this term. We then discussed how we could edit and improve a text. In pairs, we underlined any mistakes and corrected them, including spelling and punctuation mistakes. Then, using word, we typed out the text again, with our corrections, and improved the writing by changing the vocabulary to more interesting words or added further description. 

As part of safer internet day on Tuesday, Beech class explored 'online reputations' and discussed how content and photographs uploaded online can influence our online reputations. We were given a variety of photographs where we provided our first impressions. Some of our impressions did not match what was actually happening in the photos and we discussed how some photographs can unintentionally give the wrong impressions. We then created our own online photo album on paper, where we drew the kinds of photographs we would want to see of ourselves online. All of us wanted to set a positive online reputation. We also discussed that most social media websites have age restrictions and that we should not be doing anything online that is above the recommended age. Mr File also gave us a fantastic assembly where we learned what to do if we thought we might be unsafe online. They key is to always tell an adult!

Term 3- Week 5

Continuing our learning on coordinates, we began the week by reflecting shapes onto a coordinates grid. We discussed methods of how we could reflect a shape and discussed how it was different from translating a shape as the orientation of the shape changes. We also discussed what we noticed about the coordinates of the vertices of the shape on a quadrant grid and found out that by using the y axis as a line of symmetry, the x axis coordinates change and by using the x axis as a line of symmetry, the y axis coordinates change. We continued our learning of symmetry by also exploring how to draw lines of symmetry, drawing mirror images of shapes and creating symmetrical patterns. Keep an eye out for a fantastic display in the hall coming soon!

Beech class are working over and above what is expected of them in their writing, yet again! Lots of gold awards were awarded this week for fantastic writing, including writing character descriptions and missing dialogue for a chapter. We have become adept at using strong and interesting vocabulary, including adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Whilst writing dialogue, we listened well during the input and we were able to use action alongside our dialogue as well as other words for 'said'. An all round thumbs up to Beech class!

In RE, we discussed the idea of fairness in Christianity by exploring the parable of the vineyard. We discussed as a class whether a farmer was fair on his workers who started to work at different times of the day but were told they would be paid one denarius. We drew what we thought each of the workers would say and shared our thoughts by explaining whether we thought the farmer was fair and sharing our own experiences. 

During our topic lesson, we explored the uses of a river in Britain. As a hook, we were asked whether we thought you could surf on a river and were shown a video of the River Severn bore. Many of us were surprised! We were then able to use an atlas to find where the River Thames was in Britain, which was used as a case study to create informative posters on it's uses, including the Henley regatta, the 'Archimedes Screw' near Oxford to create renewable energy and the new and old London Docks. 

Term 3- Week 4

Both Miss Burgess and our student teacher, Mr Smith, have been ever so impressed with our writing this week! Inspired by Marcus Sedgewick's 'Floodland', we have explored strategies used in writing to make it interesting including adjectives, verbs, adverbs, emotive language and different types of sentences, including short sentences. We explored emotive language in greater depth by writing a diary entry as the main character, Zoe. We were able to empathise with her character and thought carefully about how our vocabulary choices effected the reader's emotions. We were also able to write from an alternative perspective by thinking about other character's actions and responses to the main character.

Following on from our shape work in maths, we explored coordinates grids. We were able to plot polygons onto a grid whilst also listing the coordinates of their vertices. We then moved onto translating shapes, where we were able to follow instructions and moved shapes around a coordinates grid without changing their orientation. 

In RE, we explored how God's kingdom in Christianity is precious by creating some beautiful images of the bible's explanations of how it is kept precious, including 'the pearl of great price', 'the treasure field' and 'the mustard seed'. We were shown different images of how each parable was imagined and discussed how each one represents God's kingdom. We used pastels and soft, gentle colours to depict how precious God's kingdom is.

We began to use Microsoft Publisher on the laptops in our science learning this week in order to create posters informing people on how to stay safe around electricity. We used two different websites to gather information before starting our posters. Keep an eye out in our science books as they are already looking fantastic! 

Term 3- Week 3

In our maths learning this week, we began to explore 2D shapes, where we were able to identify the names of different shapes by looking at how many sides they had and whether they were regular or irregular polygons. We also looked at the different types of triangle in depth and even looked at their angles to help us identify them. We were ever so good at remembering the key vocabulary when exploring 3D shapes, including their properties such as vertices/vertex, apex, edges and faces. Mr Smith taught us the difference between prisms and pyramids and we were able to use a very important word: congruent. Next week, we will be exploring coordinates and incorporating what we know about shapes into coordinates.

We completed our learning on adverts this week. Whilst some of our children were at the 02 arena for the Young Voices concert, we used publisher on the laptops to recreate our adverts. We also started exploring our new fiction book: 'Floodland' by Marcus Sedgewick. We discussed the skills needed to be able to predict a text and we decided that by using the title, the pictures and  our background knowledge, we could create sensible predictions. Miss Burgess was blown away by some of our blurbs we wrote based on our predictions. 

Here is an example of Zoe's predicted blurb. You will be amazed:

'A storm of darkness looms in Zoe's way. The path is not clear. It does not matter how bad the pain of the past is. There's a mountain of destruction in her way. She's on the run from everyone. Alone in a black hole of souls tormenting her, could she survive another day? It's looking bad for Zoe but it's only just begun. The island is dying. The time is closer. To survive is the problem but is she alone?'

We also explored electrical conductors and insulators by trying to help Ernie the electrician find a cheaper alternative for electrical wire. We experimented with different materials including corks, plastic cups, paper napkins, coins, rubber bands, split pins and paper clips. We were able to conduct a fair test by knowing what variables to keep the same and what we had to change. We concluded that objects such as coins, split pins and paper clips were the best alternative for electrical wire and noticed they were all metals.

Term 3- Week 2

Beech class would like to give Mr Smith a warm welcome to Elham School. Training as a teacher, he will be with our class for 3 weeks and teaching some of our lessons! 

In our maths learning this week, we have begun to explore angles as part of our shape learning. On Monday, we practiced using protractors to measure angles accurately. We were able to describe how to use a protractor correctly and how to record our answers in degrees. We also explored different types of angles including acute, right angles, obtuse, straight lines, reflex and a full turns. We used this knowledge to help us find missing angles on straight lines on Thursday without the use of a protractor and Mr Smith taught us how to find reflex angles. We discovered that because our protractors only measure to 180 degrees, we could measure the inside angle first and subtract it from 360 degrees as we noticed that the inside angle and reflex angle create a full turn. 

We continued to explore adverts this week in our writing. At the beginning of the week, we explored slogans and how they help readers remember a company or product. In pairs, we were able to create a new product with a catchy name and slogan. We then designed what they would look like by thinking about style and colour in order to attract a target audience. We also wrote fantastic adverts for a new themed hotel room for Alton Towers! We were very creative and thought very carefully about sellable features, strong adjectives and other customer incentives including customer or celebrity comments and ratings. 

On Friday, we put our lab coats on and thought like scientists by investigating electrical circuits. We were given a selection of cards with different ways of putting together crocodile clips, light bulbs, batteries, motors and buzzers. We had to decide if they were full circuits and think about why they were full circuits. 

Term 3- Week 1

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and happy new year! Come and see what Beech class have been up to during our first school week of the new year...

In our English lessons, we have begun to explore written adverts and their features. During our first lesson, we discussed what adverts were for and where we have seen them. We also talked about the adverts which have been stuck in our minds and thought about why those adverts stood out to us. Most of us decided that adverts which use humour often stick in our minds, particularly the ones we see on TV. We started to look at written adverts and created spider diagrams in our English books with all the features we could see, including slogans, word play, tempting descriptions and adjectives, intriguing questions, exaggeration, imperative verbs, celebrity endorsement and humour. We also discussed target audiences and how the colours and fonts are used to entice different audiences. Not only this, we also explored how facts and opinions are used in adverts and discussed how some opinions can be exaggerated and can be disguised as facts. 

We have also been exploring bar graphs and pictograms during our maths lessons. We collected our own data by asking children in KS2 which sports they preferred to cover during PE. We then created our own bar graphs and interpreted them by writing 5 things about our bar graphs. We then transferred this data into a pictogram, where we were given the challenge of creating symbols worth more than 1. We also created a bar graph to help us solve a problem. We wanted to know whether the statement "you are more likely to roll a 6 on a dice than any other number" was correct. So we experimented in partners by rolling a dice 30 times and created bar graphs to see how many times a number was rolled. We concluded that all the numbers have a 1 in 6 chance of being rolled, therefore have an equal chance of being rolled.

We have begun our topic on coasts and rivers. We explored the water cycle and we were very good at using our key vocabulary: evaporation, condensation and precipitation.

We also have begun our electricity topic in science where we went on an electricity hunt around the school, looking for objects which use electricity and how electricity is used. 

Term 2- Week 7

We have had an amazing week, jammed packed full of lovely Christmas activities! We are definitely getting excited!

In our maths learning this week, we practiced our problem solving skills by working out all the possible combinations of 2,4 and 8 to make the number 24 by working systematically. We also looked at the 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 times table in code and we worked out what all of the mystery letters were by using our tables knowledge!

On Tuesday, the whole school visited the Marlowe Theatre to watch this year's Christmas pantomime: Dick Whittington. We had lots of giggles and even got to join in some of the fun. The children were all very well behaved and demonstrated what amazing children they all are! 

Miss Burgess was very impressed with our wooden tree decorations we painted. We designed a pattern on a template first before using acrylic paint to paint on our wooden stars. We then had to assemble our tree decorations, add a piece of gold string and we took them home for our own trees. 

To round the week off, we attended a Christingle service at the church where we were able to showcase the christingles we had made with Mr File on Thursday. What a beautiful service it was!

We hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy new year! See you all in the new term! 

Term 2- Week 6

Yet again, Beech class have had a very busy and productive week! We have continued our learning of fractions by finding fractions of numbers with numerators of 1 and more. We found out that we had to divide by the denominator and multiply by the numerator. We discovered that we could use reverse calculations to check our answers or find missing numbers. 

We have also started to explore performance poetry. We watched Michael Rosen's 'No breathing' poem and discussed what we liked and disliked about the poem. We also discussed how he performed the poem and decided that the best part of it was the humour and his facial expressions. We then looked at the common features of performance poems and highlighted them using different colours and created a key. The next day, we looked at rhyme within a poem and looked at strategies to help us find rhyming words, including half-rhymes. 

On Tuesday, we had a visit from Mr Sharp who brought in some Stone Age artifacts to look at. We then created some fantastic sketches of some of the tools! A big thank you to Mr Sharp for taking the time to share his artifacts!

We also had a visit from Josh Kennedy who provided Beech class with a box fit session. We learned all the skills and disciplines of a boxer, including perseverance, determination and concentration. Evie and Adele worked especially hard as they ended up head to head in a running game, however they were so equally matched they kept going until we finally had a winner! 

Term 2- Week 5

More fractions this week! We have moved on to looking at adding and subtracting fractions with the same and different denominators. We explored ways of making the denominators the same by using our multiplication skills by finding common multiples. We also discovered that whatever we did to the denominator must be done to the numerator. We also found that multiplying fractions was different from adding and subtracting as we only had to multiply the numerators and the denominators. We also used our previous knowledge by simplifying our answers and converted improper proper fractions to mixed numbers.

We have also started to plan our persuasive letters. We previously researched the negative effects of littering on wildlife, ourselves and the environment and used it to create a shocking persuasive letter, arguing that people should take more care with their litter and to recycle more. We were fantastic at using supporting and counter argument connectives as well as rhetorical questions to get our reader to think carefully about their actions!

Our junk inventions are looking fantastic! Some of us had to rethink about the materials and colours we were using, however we were able to adapt and create an amazing new product!

We also took part in a music concert on Thursday. Each class had the opportunity to show case what they could do with the musical instruments they had been using. Beech class showed off their musical talents by following notes, conducted by Harry, on the fife. We all sat beautifully listening to the other classes and demonstrated respect! Well done Beech class!

Term 2- Week 4

Beech class are certainly working hard in maths! We have continued our learning on fractions by ordering fractions with different denominators, converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and then the reverse. We noticed that we could use reverse calculations when converting fractions to check our answers. 

With recycling in our minds and looking after our planet, we have started to explore balanced discussions and persuasive language this week in writing. We discussed the differences between for and against arguments, the features of a written balanced discussion and how counter argument connectives help us to join two opposing arguments. We practiced a balanced discussion as a class by choosing the topic: should mobile phones be allowed in school? In groups, we created for and against arguments and created a court room to discuss our ideas. We all brought forward strong arguments however the winning team used the most counter argument connectives! Next week, we will be writing a persuasive letter, arguing that people should take more care of their litter and recycle where they can.

We had a special visitor on Friday! Jane Brunsdon from Harvey Grmmar Boys School, along with some 6th formers, came to give us a workshop on plants. We had the opportunity to look at roots and pollen using microscopes, explored the energy inside seeds by using a popcorn machine and recreated the stem by using filter paper and food colouring! 

We also started to create our new invention from junk! They are really starting to take shape and we will be decorating them next week! 

Term 2- Week 3

This week, we have begun our maths learning on fractions. We started by exploring equivalent fractions and simplifying them to their lowest form. We have also looked at comparing fractions with the same or different denominators. We have had to use and apply our tables knowledge to help us with fractions and we found that they weren't as scary as we thought they were!

We have continued to read the read the story of Stig of the dump. We wrote from an alternative perspective and thought about how Stig might perceive Barney coming into his cave. We also wrote hidden dialogue for a chapter and also thought about other perspectives of characters and how they might react to Barney's actions. We are becoming adept and knowing when to use the correct punctuation and can use inverted commas correctly!

On Friday, we visited the Folkestone Book Festival at the Quarter House. We had the privilege of meeting Nick Arnold, the author of the Horrible Science books. We were entranced by the amazing, yet gruesome, science he performed on stage. Lily even volunteered and gave us a fantastic performance of a silly spaceman without his proper suit on! Well done Lily!

Speaking of horrible science, we continued our science learning on the digestive system. We discussed what happens inside of our bodies when we eat food. We recreated the stomach using a sandwich bag filled with orange juice representing the digestive juices. We then added bread to see what would happen to the food. We discovered that the food stayed in the stomach for four hours in order to break down even further before moving onto the small intestine. 

We have started to link our DT project this term with Stig of the dump. We recognised that the character Stig often finds a use for the junk he comes across in the pit. We designed something new made from junk so that we too can find a use for the junk we throw away as we want to promote the idea of recycling and looking after our planet. We thought about what it looked like, what it would be made from and what equipment we may need to help us make it!

Term 2- Week 2

Beech class would like to welcome our lovely, new TA, Mrs Pullen! She will be working with all the children during class time and delivering interventions in the afternoons.

In our maths learning this week, we have been focusing on square and cube numbers. We understood that to square a number we had to multiply the number by itself and to cube the number we had to multiply our answer by the original number again. We discussed why it could be easily misunderstood for multiplying by 2 or by 3. We also had a good practice of long multiplication and we challenged ourselves by multiplying larger numbers!

Beech class were absolutely amazing at describing the cave and Stig's character this week in their writing. Miss Burgess gave out a few gold awards for using fantastic descriptive devices including adjectives, verbs, adverbs, similes, metaphors and personification. Some of us were even able to use parenthesis to add extra information! Good going Beech class!

In science, we had a rather gruesome lesson discussing saliva! We talked about why saliva is important in digestion and we even experimented chewing bread for 3 minutes to see what happened in our mouths! We discovered that the enzymes in saliva break down carbohydrates into sugar which meant the bread had a sweeter taste after 3 minutes. 

On Friday, we looked closely at remembrance day and what it means to us. We understood what the poppy meant as a symbol and discussed how poppies grew on the battlefields after the world war I had ended. We created beautiful acrostic poems to help us reflect on remembrance day. Our homework this week is to practice writing an acrostic poem using the words STONE AGE.

Term 2 - Week 1

We hope you all had a restful half term! It is lovely to see the children back looking well and ready to learn!

In our maths learning this week, we have been focusing on factors of numbers. We found that factors were numbers you could multiply together to get another number. We created factor trees to show all the factors of numbers. We then progressed onto finding common factors of numbers as well as the greatest common factors. We have also touched on prime numbers and coloured in a hundred square to show all of the prime numbers.

We have started our new book for the term: 'Stig of the Dump' by Clive King, which correlates nicely with our topic, Stone Age. So far we have read the first 2 chapters and begun to to describe Stig's cave by thinking about descriptive devices including adjectives, verbs, adverbs, similes, metaphors and personification.

We continued our topic learning by researching Stonehenge using computers and fact sheets. We found out that not everything was 'fact' but 'theory', as there was no written evidence from when Stonehenge was built. 

On Friday, we had a fantastic afternoon with Mr Jones! We learned how to work as a team by creating towers using spaghetti and marshmallows. We earned points if our towers were taller than the tables, whether they could hold an egg for 5 seconds and whether they could hold themselves up. We also had a fun time Tiempo dancing, learning different dances and playing exciting games. The boys and the girls even had a dance battle! Check out the video and photos!

Term 1- Week 7

Beech class have worked hard this week in their maths learning! We were introduced to Roman numerals and discussed where they are seen (mainly on clocks, sundials and in history books e.g Henry VIII). We explored how to read and write Roman numerals up to 1000 and practiced using them in calculations and even in codes!

We also continued our learning on instructions by creating imaginative recipes, inspired by Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. We had some fantastic recipes for new and exciting products, including flavour changing ice-cream and rainbow pie! Miss Burgess was certainly entertained reading them! On Friday, we even had a go at making one of the recipes from Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes- they certainly were NOT revolting! We all had a delicious treat in the afternoon of Wonka's crunchy surprise! Yummy!

As part of book week, we have had some fantastic workshops with outside agencies, including a visit from The Tales from the Book of Life (see photographs and video below), where we were all entranced by the wonderful story-telling and excellent music, and a Roald Dahl creative workshop where we created our own hybrid inventions! Ask the children what kind of hybrid inventions they made as they were extremely entertaining and imaginative. 

Miss Burgess was very impressed with all of our costumes on Friday to celebrate book week! Fantastic effort! 

Term 1 - Week 6

Beech class have been persevering in maths this week as we have progressed from using the bus stop method to long division! The process helps us see that division is the opposite of multiplication and we are using repeated subtraction. We will be having more practice of long division but Miss Burgess is very proud that we all had a go!

We have also started to explore instructions in writing. We have looked at the features of instructions including time connectives and imperative verbs (bossy verbs) with the use of adverbs to make instructions clear. We discussed how instructions always need to be in chronological order and how the use of numbers or bullet points help to do this. We then improved a set of instructions for how to make a ham and pineapple pizza using what we knew! Next week, we will be writing our own recipe for a new product for Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and even trying to follow a recipe on Friday! Watch this space to see what we make...it's going to be yummy!

We continued our Stone Age learning by exploring Skara Brae, a village on an island in Scotland! We talked about what their houses were like, what the contents of the houses were and what the people may have done to survive! We created information posters for people who want to visit Skara Brae which included it's history and how it was discovered!

Next week, we have lots of exciting Roald Dahl themed activities lined up for book week! Remember to dress up as your favourite Roald Dahl character on Friday! Have fun!

Term 1- Week 5

Beech class were very thoughtful and demonstrated deeper thinking in our RE lesson this week! We looked at what happens during a Jewish wedding and the meanings behind the different customs. We linked this learning with a P4C lesson where we all came up with promises we think people should make when they get married. Take a look at our class 'Thinking Skills' scrap book to see all of our ideas!

We have worked extremely hard in maths this week. We started by looking at multiplication using the grid method where we learned that it was important to partition the numbers first. We then progressed onto long multiplication. We have all persevered in maths as we know it can be tough but we were all able to achieve the learning intention! 

We all wrote the ending of Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo for our hot task. It was great to see the different versions and different types of ending including cliff hangers and twists! We are now developing the skills to edit and improve our writing. In pairs, we were all given a piece of writing and we read it to a tree! Once we had read it out loud we realised there were a few things we needed to improve. We were able to correct spelling and punctuation mistakes as well as add interesting vocabulary and descriptive devices.

In science, we looked at the different phases of the moon. Ask your children what gibbous, crescent, waxing and waning mean. You'll be surprised how much they absorbed during the lesson! Miss Burgess was very impressed!

Term 1- Week 4

Beech class have been focusing on column addition and subtraction of whole and decimal numbers this week. We used our knowledge of place value to help us place the digits in the correct columns and made sure the decimal points were always in the same place when working with decimals. We related this learning to solving problems involving money and units of measure. 

We have continued our learning in English based on Michael Morpurgo's 'Kensuke's Kingdom by creating information leaflets on how to survive on Kensuke's island. Firstly, we looked at real life information leaflets and highlighted all of the different features we could find. We also discussed why each feature was important or useful. We then all came up with fantastic and sensible ideas on how somebody may survive on a deserted island and structured our writing into themed headings to help the reader locate information easily in our leaflets. Our information leaflets are still in progress, but keep an eye out as they are looking amazing!

We also continued our learning on Earth and Space by explaining to an alien why our planet was the only planet in our solar system which has life on it. We came up with some fantastic explanations, including how our atmosphere and water keeps us alive. We then researched other planets in our solar system, using the laptops, to see why they cannot sustain life by looking at their atmospheres, what they are made up of and what it is like on their surfaces.

Term 1- Week 3

It has certainly been an exciting week in Beech class!

We have continued our maths learning by multiplying and dividing whole and decimal numbers by 10, 100 and 1000 by using our knowledge of place value. We are becoming adept at knowing our place value and knowing that the decimal point never moves. We also looked at rounding whole numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. 

We have also continued with our descriptive writing by describing a character and a scene in Kensuke's Kingdom and linked our learning from GPS by writing dialogue for a chapter. We learned how to correctly use inverted commas and the types of punctuation we should use. We also were able to use a new line when a new character started to speak.

We had an exciting afternoon during our topic lesson! Miss Burgess asked all of us to find a twig the size of a pencil during our lunch time. Why you ask? We created Stone Age cave paintings in the most authentic way possible by firstly, drawing the images underneath the desks and then, using twigs, painted the colour onto our images. We wanted to experience what it would be like to paint on the ceiling of a cave and use the tools they would have used! Take a look at our pictures!

We have also started to prepare for the Harvest Festival service. We explored where different foods come from around the world and looked specifically at the journey of coffee from bean to cup. Come to our church service on Tuesday to take a look at what we did!

Term 1- Week 2

This week in our maths learning, we continued to use our knowledge of place value to help us with decimal numbers. We were able to order decimal numbers from smallest to largest by using the same process as ordering whole numbers. We also were able to add and subtract 1, 10, 100 and 1000 from whole and decimal numbers.

We continued our English learning by confirming our understanding of text by answering comprehension questions on a chapter in Kensuke's Kingdom. We discussed how to answer questions correctly by writing them in full sentences. We also looked at strategies to make our writing more interesting by looking at the techniques Michael Morpurgo uses. These included adjectives, verbs, adverbs and similes. We were able to practice using these techniques by rewriting a chapter from a different character's perspective. We also looked at how Michael Morpurgo portrays emotion by looking carefully at how a character acts and reading between the lines.

We started off Judaism in RE, the Stone Age in topic and Earth and Space in science this week. We explored how babies are given their Hebrew name when they are born, created time lines showing the order of British historical events and investigated the order of the planets in our solar system!

Term 1- Week 1

I hope you have all had a lovely summer holiday and you are well rested! Beech class have started the year off beautifully! We have all settled in well and are already working hard in their learning!

We started our first day off by getting to know each other. We all said a little something about ourselves and shared what we got up to in our summer holidays. We each created our own puzzle piece ready for our Beech class display. It shows that we all work together yet we are unique in our own way- we are all part of the puzzle!

In our maths learning, we recapped on place value by recalling the value of numbers in 2, 3 and 4-digit numbers. We used this knowledge to help us order numbers from smallest to largest. 

We have also started our class book- Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. We discussed whether it would be a good or a bad idea to travel around the world and wrote sentences in the form of a balanced discussion. We also recapped on how to use a dictionary correctly. We looked up words we did not understand from chapter 1 of the book and discussed why this was important. We concluded that by looking up words we do not understand, it helps us to comprehend a text.