Wednesday 8th April

Here are some more leaflets designed by my friend Mel in New Zealand (where the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny have been declared as "key workers"). There are some fun activities/projects at the end of each if you have time...

Tuesday 7th April

Well done Howie, who has just sent me his version of "When the World stayed Home"!

Thursday 2nd April

Did you get outside and enjoy the sun today? We've been practising our netball and basketball skills in the garden - take a look at the collage I just made using Mrs Godden's instructions. I'll put the instruction document on here for you too - perhaps you could give it a try over the holidays and I can put it on the website for the class to see!

Wednesday 1st April

How was your last day of term 4? It was pretty much the same as yesterday here, but the girls did have a quick game of table tennis on their school table after lunch!

If you completed a spellings test today (week 4 list), please email me your results. Also, I'm looking forward to reading your stories, so make sure you edit them and email them over!

You don't need to do anything in particular over the Easter break, but do keep up with your reading as usual - you can now take your AR quiz at home (check on the Home Learning page for a link).

Here are a few suggestions to keep you occupied:

-Print off and illustrate the book written by my friend Mel: "The Longest Day"

-Do a times tables speed test

-Look at the list of 10 things you wanted to do that we wrote in class - how many can you tick off? (I'm definitely going to do camping in the garden if its not too cold, and a picnic outside too.)

-Take a look at the activity suggestion pack - lots of fun ideas on there too.

-Do a mindfulness colouring sheet.

-Email your teacher with some  photos!

Wednesday 1st April

Are you going to play an April Fool's trick on someone today? Let me know about it and how it went! Make sure it's safe and doesn't upset anyone!

English - please continue with your story about a child in isolation.

Maths - try these Space - themed maths challenges about interpreting information on a table. You will need to look at sheet 1 for the table if you are going to try the Silver or Gold challenges on the second sheet.

Art/DT - make an Easter card or table decoration (I'd love to see some photos of what you make). Here are some ideas and Easter colouring sheets:

Tuesday 31st March

Maths: as we have just changed our clocks to British Summer Time, please complete pages 46+47 of your printed Maths workbook: Time and Timetables. The answer sheet is at the back. Talk to your parents about the 24 hour clock and how you would convert from the 12 hour clock.

English: plan your story about a child who has been isolated - see the front cover of your Home Learning book for ideas. Remember to plan an opening - describe the character and setting, a build up, a problem (dilemma), a resolution and an ending. You only need to start planning your ideas for your story today - you have all week to complete this task. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

RE: complete the "cartoon" sheet telling the Easter story.

Remember to go outside and enjoy our beautiful Spring - I have just been for a run accompanied by Izzy on her bike... and I still beat her! There are plenty of new lambs bouncing around happily in the fields and the early blossom is on the trees with the new leaves beginning to sprout with that vibrant green of Spring.

Hello everyone!

I hope you had a good weekend and were raring to go with your Home Learning today? The wind has caused me lots of problems with the internet, but, finally, here are the answers for your comprehension:

Monday 30th March

English - please do the first comprehension from your pack - I'll post the answers later...(please can you let me know which was the first in your pack - I think green/orange/red have Loll's First Day; blue group have Page From a Dictionary of Architecture)

Spellings - please learn list 4 from the front of your book.

Maths - try these Easter Mysteries:

Year 4 The Mystery of the Easter Bunny Costume

Year 5 : The Mystery of the Contaminated Chocolate (you'll need a protactor for clue 2 - if you don't have one you can make an educated guess!)

Science: Make a magnetic toy - we talked about this in class during our last Science leeson - have a look at the powerpoint for some ideas:

Happy Friday everyone!

The classroom is very empty (and quiet) without you! Mrs Slingsby and I can hear the birds outside!

Friday 27th March

Maths: LI Finding Volumes

Look at this BBC clip explaining volume : https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjbg87h/articles/zcrxtyc

Now try these questions:

Year 4/ orange group questions 1-4. Continue if you have time.

Green group questions 1-5. Continue if you have time.

Blue group questions 1-10. Try no 12 as a challenge.

English: LI To write for a purpose

My best friend Mel, who lives in New Zealand, has written this lovely book to explain about Coronavirus to young children:

Your challenge is to write your own version of "When the world stayed home". Think about the age of the children you are writing for - perhaps children in Acorn or Hazel class. We could share your work with them on the school website. The very fact that Mel and I live on opposite sides of the world just shows that you can still be friends without seeing each other every day, and we are so lucky to have phones and computers to help our communications.

Art: LI To illustrate a story

Do drawings or paintings to illustrate your story book.

Thursday update

Hello everyone!

I've been hearing from several of you by email and all the spelling test results so far have been excellent! Eddie has sent me some photos of all the fun activties he's been getting up to at his new "boarding school"...

We have just had a lovely walk at "Grandad's woods". My dog loves to swim and had her usual splash in a very stinky pond...Izzy is busy bathing her as I write!

I hope you've had a chance to get outside too - the weather is set to turn colder over the weekend, so make the most of it now!

Thursday 25th March

Maths - I had planned that you would be doing some tests this week, but instead you can do some challenges about area and perimeter. 

LI To solve problems involving area and perimeter.

Year 5 - no Bronze this week as it involved measuring with a ruler, which would be tricky from a photo on your computer!

English: LI to edit and evaluate my story

Complete your story if you haven't already and edit your work. Use this checklist to ensure you have included everything.

RE

LQ What is the Eucharist?

Continuing with our theme of "Salvation" watch this clip: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zwcd2hv

Now think about these questions:

1. Do you think the mood changes when the congregation take Eucharist?

2. What might the congregation be thinking about?

3. What do the bread and wine represent?

4. Why is he Eucharist a celebration and a serious moment?

Write a paragraph about how you  think the Eucharist will have to change in the light of the current Coronavirus outbreak?

Spellings - test today - can you all manage to get 10/10 this week - email me with your scores on the doors: Philippastrover@elham.kent.sch.uk

Wednesday 25th March

Maths - please do your "Tricky Tuesday" maths activity mats (sorry I'm a day late!). We usually all do the one star mat, but challenge yourself if you usually get 8/8!

We don't usually do English today, but you can do the Wordy Wednesday spellings practise that is glued in your Home Learning book, if you haven't already.

For Computing please do the first lesson on esafety on Thinkuknow - you'll need to go onto the website - follow the instructions on this sheet:

French - log yourself into Duolingo - its great fun and you can do this anytime with a short activity every day or a longer session each week: https://www.duolingo.com/

At 1pm there's a BBC live lesson from the Secret WW2 bunker in Liverpool which looks really interesting, so tune in if you can - you could make an excellent poster all about i! I think you will need Facebook to access it, so make sure you ask for your parents' help - there's a link to it on the Elham School Facebook page, otherwise look on https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons

Have fun! And keep smiling :)

Tuesday 24th March

Morning everyone! I hope you've had a chance to enjoy this beautiful sunny weather? At the moment I can't access my emails - the server is overloaded. So I'll go and plant my potatoes and check again later. Remember to keep smiling!  :)

Tuesday 24th March

Maths LI: To find areas of squares and rectangles

Start off with finding the area of a book, a table, small objects, then try to work out the area of a floor mat, a room, the garden! Remember how we find area for squares and rectangles? Length x width! Remember to note down if you're measuring in cm or m.

English LI: Write your story closing and edit your work.

Topic: research VE day - it will be celebrated on May 8th this year - think about how you could plan celebrations - my Mum told me she remembers going to the VE celebrations in 1945 - she was only 4 and the main thing she remembers was eating jelly! Perhaps you could bake a wartime cake?

Monday 23rd March

Good morning - its a beautiful sunny day!

WWW? Write in your What Went Well book (you can use this as your diary too). This weekend I had some lovely cards from my girls and I hope your Mums liked hers too. I planted some cress seeds ready for my sandwiches later in the week and I had a hilarious video conversation on Whatsapp with 2 sets of grandparents and an uncle - we played "Guess Who" with each of us having our own board and asking each other questions. Nanny was upside down on our screen for half the time and Grandma got confused with the rules of the game. Try it with your elderly and isolated relatives!

For English today, please work on the ending for your story about a Battle of Britain pilot.

LI: To plan my story closing.

For Maths - work this week is on perimeter and area.

LI: To find perimeters of rectangles and composite shapes.

For Science - investigating magnetic poles.

Hi all, just to say, I think you kids are all amazing and I look forward to seeing the amazing work you'll be doing as well as photos of the fun you're having with your families...do stay in touch.

Remember to teach your family our class prayer that we say every day - now, more than ever we really do need to "count our blessings" just like the song we sang this afternoon.

Be well everyone and I hope to see you soon. Keep smiling :)

Beech class prayer:

Thank you Lord for the day,

For all our work and all our play.

Thank you for my family

and all the friends you give to me.

Keep us safe in the dark of night

and in the morning send your light.

Amen

Friday 20th March

Just 19 children in today, but we're trying to keep things a as normal as possible.

We have been continuing with our story writing by looking at a dilemma which the children have annotated and picked out key phrases that they would like to use in their own story. They have begun now to write out their story on paper which they will bring home to glue into their Home Learning book and complete at home. Please make sure they edit their work carefully and then they can read it out dramatically to you, showing how they have incorporated tension and emotive language.

For those at home: have a look at the powerpoint and "Tom Barrow; Dogfight" for ideas for your own story. Remember to include the character description and build up that we wrote in class earlier in the week.

18.3.20

I hope everyone safe and well. Learning in Beech class is continuing as normal. If you're stuck for something to do this week, why not try some Wartime cooking...

16.3.20

Science week continued with Affinity Water on Wednesday with the Water Stress Test and the beautiful owls from Owl Talk on Thursday - keep an eye out in book bags for the photos of your child with an owl next week.

10.2.2020

It's Science Week!

The children have all been busy Scientists this week, with Magic Science on Friday, Pfizer's Microbe Mayhem yesterday and Mrs Levett's SENSEational Science today. They have had lots of opportunity for real life hands on Science and we're looking forward to even more for the rest of the week - keep an eye on the website for more photos...

27.2.2020

The children are all keen to do some more wartime cooking at home. Here are the recipes we used. I hope your kitchen doesn't resemble a bomb site afterwards - they have all practised washing up today, so no excuses!

Thursday 27th February

Trench stew and eggless sponge cake!

This morning we have travelled back in time for some wartime baking - we measured in ounces and pints, we chopped, peeled, mixed, washed up and sampled our handiwork. I hope everyone still has room for their lunch!

The consensus was that Earl Grey tea makes for a better sponge and everyone likes corned beef! 

Wednesday 26th February

This morning we learned about the Battle of Britain over Elham, played with Eddie's brilliant diorama of a Battle of Britain airfield and created some beautiful artwork which will be displayed in the hall. This afternoon (by popular demand) we completed our usual times tables tests and then had a very exclusive basketball lesson with our sports coaches!

Our AR prizewinner for term 3 was Beaumont, who earned 121 points! Congratulations Beaumont! Keep reading everyone - how many points can you earn in term 4?

Tuesday 25th February 2020

Year 4 wished our year 5 Beech classmates farewell yesterday morning...and then the fun began!

We are studying the Battle of Britain this week and yesterday we looked at a poem by William Walker called "Our Wall" and wrote our own versions. We made a timeline of the Battle of Britain and were able to remember lots of facts on our trip this morning to the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne.

A massive thank you to Mr Ireland, Mrs Lester and Mrs Skinner who ferried the children to and fro - we couldn't have done this without you -and it was well worth the visit - the children (and adults) learned so much. We were given a very informative guided tour of the site, including the life sized replicas of a Hurricane and a Spitfire, the Wall with the poem we learned yesterday and then the amazing Scramble Experience complete with Hurricane simulator, dressing up and radar skills.

We're looking forward to learning more about the Battle of Britain throughout the week, including some wartime cooking!