16.10.18

This afternoon we had an amazing drama workshop with Ian from Kik Theatre. The children dramatised "joining up" and telling their families, marching off to war, digging trenches, going "over the top" and hospitalization. I was very proud of their enthusiasm, factual knowledge and empathy. To conclude the workshop the children were asked to lay and imaginary poppy which they did with real compassion and understanding. See if your child can tell you what was happening in each picture in our slideshow from this afteroon.

The class have been finding out about Walter Tull and designing posters for Folkestone Museum, where there is an exhibition about this unlikely hero. Many of the children are intersted in going to see the exhibition which is on over half term - see the Folkestone Museum website: http://www.gatewaysfww.org.uk/events/walter-tull-folkestone

We are looking forward to the rest of a very exciting Book Week - more poets, authors and fancy dress to come...

5.10.18

Beech class have been learning all about World War One in our Topic lessons and reading The Silver Donkey in Literacy. We were very lucky to have Martin Crowther, a local historian, to come and show us some artefacts from WW1 and tell us about the Home Front. The children were all very interested in the artefacts and even learned what "puttees" are - ask your child!

Here are some pictures from our workshop.

First of all a huge WELCOME to Beech class to those who have joined us from Silver Birch class, as well as 2 new members of the Elham team, Ruby and Sarah! WELCOME BACK year 5s - and thanks for the lovely gifts at the end of last year!

We started the week by being introduced to Mrs Slingsby, who will be working with us on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. We have begun to make the classroom look more cheerful by putting up the children's work from this week - I do hope you can drop by and see it on Wednesday after school (12th September).

This term we will be studying World War 1 in our Topic lessons and Literacy will also be linked to this - we started by writing a recount of the story The Little Hen and the Great War by Jennifer Beck and Robyn Belton and the children enjoyed taking onthe role of the hen to retell her story!

We have done some research on people who have demonstrated our school values, to have as table names:

Kindness - Dr Jane Goodall

Forgiveness - Corrie ten Boom

Humility - Florence Nightingale

Wisdom - Stephen Hawking

Perseverance - Usain Bolt

We began Maths with some tests so that we can sort out groups and the children all tried really hard - I was very impressed with their positive attitude towards their learning this week. Today we challenged our brains with some problem solving - have a look at the photos - can your child explain what they had to do to solve the problem systematically?

I'll exlplain expectations etc at our drop in on Wednesday, but in short:

PE is on Wednesday and Thursday, so please ensure a full kit is in school at all times, as PE sessions are often changed.

Time Tables test is on Wednesday

Spelling test on Thursday

New spellings given out on Friday.

Please remind your child to read for 15 minutes a day and then sign their Reading Log - we really appreciate your support - children love to talk about the characters in their book and wonder what will happen next. They can take an AR quiz when they arrive at school in the morning or during afternoon registration.

I look forward to working with your children this year - they are a really lovely group and we are certainly going to have some fun together!

If you or your child have any worries or concerns, please catch me on the playground at the end of the day or make an appointment with the office.

Have alovely weekend,

Mrs Strover