Greens Norton CE Primary School

Ravens Year 5 2022-23

Mrs Brickwood and Mrs Chambers

Friday 21st July 2023 - Final week!

Well here we are, the final blog of the year and what a year it has been!  Such wonderful enthusiasm and fantastic learning, right up until the last few days!  

This week, the children wrote their final version of their adventure story and they blew me away!  It is wonderful to see how much progress the children have made this year and they really showed it off in their final piece of writing in year 5 - Well done!

In maths, we were learning about negative numbers and volume.  As a class, they have always been enthusiastic about maths and even in the last week of term they impressed me with their hard work!

It has been a pleasure teaching you all this year and I hope you have a well earned rest and lots of fun this summer. 

See you in September! 

Friday 14th July 2023

Another fun and busy week of learning this week in Ravens class!

In maths, the children have finished the unit about decimal numbers and are now moving onto negative numbers.  I am impressed with how hard the children are still working and pushing themselves this close to the summer holidays!  

In literacy the children have written the opening paragraph and the build up to their adventure story.  They are really exciting so far and the children are remembering to include lots of fabulous verbs and figurative language to make their story dramatic and nail biting!

In history, we have been learning about the bombing of Rushden during World War 2.  The children heard and read different accounts from eyewitnesses and a newspaper article at the time.  They then had to use this evidence and their knowledge of the shoe industry in Rushden to explain why Rushden was bombed.  Each group presented the information they had learned to the rest of the class to support their written explanations.

In science, the children have learned how light is split into different colours through refraction.  I was pleased that the children could recall the information they previously learned about refraction to help them explain and understand the process.  They looked at bubbles and through prisms so they could see for themselves how light splits.

Ravens also had their performance poetry assembly this week and it is safe to say they absolutely smashed it!  It wasn't just me who was impressed either.  Several other teachers came to tell me how brilliant it was and so did several children from other classes.  I was so proud of them for their hard work learning lines and having the confidence to stand up in front of the whole school.  I know for some children it meant pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, which is really brave.  All the performances were great, but my personal favourite was their performance of the 'Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll.  This is a really tricky and long poem and the children did an amazing job of performing it with actions.

Well done Ravens for another great week of learning.  Have a lovely relaxing weekend, then one more big push before a nice long summer break!

Friday 7th July 2023

This week in Ravens class the children have been exploring what a Victorian shoe factory was like as part of the history topic.  They took part in a carousel of activities to experience first hand how hard it was!  They practised tanning leather, cutting out templates, sewing and crawling around picking up remnants of material, just like children would have done in the Victorian era.  Fortunately, nobody lost any limbs unlike the poor children who were made to clear the debris while the machines were still running in Victorian factories!   They all had a 'lunch' of bread and cheese, but had to get back to work quickly because time is money!  Sadly, many of them were too slow or wasted too much leather so they were fined, which meant that their 'dinner' was just a vegetable stew as they couldn't afford any meat!  The children had a great time taking part in the activities and I was impressed with how much they learned too!

In science, the children were finding out about how shadows are formed.  They experimented with torches and objects, changing the position of the light source to see how it affected the shape and size of the shadow.  They were able to choose how to present their findings and I was pleased to see lots of accurate scientific diagrams with great explanations using scientific vocabulary.

In literacy, the children have learned the grammar skills we'll be focusing on when writing our adventure narrative and today, they started boxing up their plan, ready to start writing next week.

In DT, the children have finished sewing their soft toy.  Mrs Musson was impressed with the children's sewing skills and perseverance when tackling the project.  Next week they will be evaluating their project.

A busy week as you can see, so I hope you all have a well earned rest this weekend!

Friday 30th June 2023

The ravens had a fabulous day on Monday with Mrs Musson, putting their art skills into practise.  They used poetry and Vivaldi's four seasons to inspire their pictures.  The children enjoyed listening to the music and planning their artwork before creating some masterpieces!

The children have been learning how to plot coordinates this week in maths.  They have completed reasoning and problem solving questions involving finding missing coordinates.

In literacy, the children have started looking at an adventure narrative.  They have looked at the vocabulary of the model text and also the features of it ready to start thinking about writing their own adventure story.

The children had a visit from the school nurse on Thursday for their talk about puberty.  The nurse and I were both impressed with how much they had remembered from their science lessons and they asked very sensible questions.  They also listened very well to the nurse and actively took part in the session.

In science, we have continued to learn about light.  This week, the children learnt about how we see.  They drew scientific diagrams and labelled them to show how the light travels from a light source and is reflected from objects into our eyes.  I was impressed with their accurate diagrams and labelling and their ability to show their understanding.

In history, the children hunted for evidence of the shoe industry in Northamptonshire.  They learnt how the factories were crammed into small spaces of all different shapes in Northampton and how people had workshops attached to their houses or at the ends of their gardens in some towns and that was where they worked.  They also discovered that some street names are named after parts of the shoe industry, such as Tanner Street in Northampton.

In RE, the children continued to explore how we can live in harmony and be respectful in a multicultural society.  They have thought carefully about rules people could follow to ensure that we are respectful of each other, despite any differences we may have.

Enjoy your weekend!

Friday 23rd June 2023

It was assessment week this week and I have been impressed with how the children kept their focus and tried their hardest in every assessment.  I am also very proud of how well they have done!  

Amongst the assessments, we have found time to enjoy some other lessons too!  In DT this week, the children have cut out their pattern for their soft toy and have started sewing the pieces together to make the finished project.  The children have continued to learn about musical theatre in their music lesson too.

In maths, the children have been learning about statistics; reading and interpreting line graphs, tables and two way tables.  

In literacy, the children completed their 'hot write' about Dr Marten and it has been great to read their work and see how many grammar features they have used correctly and effectively.  They have really managed to capture the reader's attention by planning their work carefully so that it is cohesive.

In RE, we have been looking at the different places of worship in Northamptonshire to see where people from different religions go to worship.  They have also looked at what services these different places provide from religious services to parent and child groups and keep fit classes!

Have a lovely sunny weekend!

Friday 16th June 2023

The children enjoyed their science lesson this week, experimenting using mirrors and torches to discover how light is reflected.  It was wonderful to see them all engaged in the activity and working well in groups.  There were lots of lightbulb moments (excuse the pun!) The children used the equipment to try to reflect light from the mirrors to hit a hidden object.  Every group was successful and there was much celebration as each group achieved their goal!

In literacy, the children have nearly finished planning their biography now, having drafted each paragraph.  Next week, we will be editing and then writing the final piece.

In maths, the children have been learning about perimeter, regular and irregular polygons and area.  They have found the area of compound shapes and also estimated area.  

In DT, the children have been practising their needlework skills again in preparation for creating their own soft toy.  I am really looking forward to seeing the final results!

In music, the children have been looking at the features of character songs and action songs as part of their musical theatre unit.  We have lots of budding dancers, singers and actors in Ravens class and it is great that they are able to showcase their skills as well as supporting others in the class.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

Friday 9th June 2023

It has been a great first week back in Ravens class and the children have worked hard as always.

In literacy, the children have been planning their biography all about Dr Marten.  They have researched facts and have sorted them into the correct paragraphs as well as considering which grammar features they are going to include.  

In maths, the children have been working with decimals, percentages and fractions and ordering and comparing them.  They have really impressed me with their understanding of the topic and today's lesson saw many of them move onto the extra challenges!

This week, we started a new DT project.  The children will be making their own soft toy!  So far, they have started to plan what toy they would like to make and have designed their toy.  They have also cut out a template ready to start construction over the next few weeks.

In music, the children are learning about musical theatre.  There are many budding singers, actors and dancers in our class and I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy taking part in various aspects of musical theatre!

In our reading lessons this week, the children have started to learn the poem 'The Jabberwocky' by Lewis Carroll.  The children listened to the poem being read and had to visualise what the Jabberwocky might look like.  They then drew some very scary looking pictures of the creature and annotated it with lines from the poem.  We have also tried to make sense of the nonsense poem by looking for clues in the poem!

In French this term, we are learning about our families.  The children learnt how to talk about brothers and sisters this week and I was pleased to see how much they understood from written sentences based on their prior learning in French.

We were also very lucky to have a visit from two police officers this week.  The children learnt about online bullying and how to keep themselves safe online and I was impressed at how well they listened to the important information.  They were also able to ask some sensible questions too.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the warmer weather!

Friday 26th May 2023

Wow, the end of another half term! There was still lots of great work going on in Ravens class this week and the children have showed great perseverance and work ethic.  

In maths, the children have been exploring decimal numbers further by ordering and comparing them and then rounding decimal numbers to the nearest whole number and nearest tenth.

In literacy, the children have continued learning about biographies.  They have now learned the grammar features they need to include and have boxed up the model text, picking out the key information and grammar features ready to use them in their own biography.

The children worked incredibly hard in art this week, practising their sewing skills.  Mrs Musson was very impressed with their perseverance when it got tricky and they have produced some excellent work as a result.

The children have also been learning about what information they can trust online in our online safety lesson.  They were given an array of wild and wonderful stories and they used their detective skills to investigate where the information came from to try and determine whether it was true or false.  They have learned about which sources can be trusted and how they should check on more than one trusted website before they decide whether a story is true or not.

In RE, the children considered how the Exodus story inspires Christians today.  They have previously learned about the work to the Christian charity Toybox and they used this to help them understand how Christians use the teachings in the Bible to promote freedom and justice.

Finally, we all had great fun taking part in the wolf run this week.  The children's competitive spirit came out in force and helped spur them on to complete lots of laps!  Thanks to your generous donations, we will have raised lots of money towards some exciting play equipment for the school

The children have worked incredibly hard this half term and deserve a good rest!  I hope you all have a lovely half term holiday and I look forward to seeing you all soon.

Friday 19th May 2023

This week the children have worked very hard in maths.  They have been finding equivalent fractions and decimals up to 2 decimal places and are now moving onto understanding thousandths.  They have been tackling some tricky reasoning questions and have impressed me yet again at their determination to challenge themselves by completing the extension tasks.

In literacy, we have started looking at biographies.  The children have read the model text and defined some key vocabulary.  They have also identified the features of a biography and today, we completed our first grammar skill lesson about adjectives for clarification.

In science this week, the children planned an investigation to find out which solids were soluble and insoluble. They explored solids, liquids and gases by becoming particles out on the playground!  They packed together as particles in a solid, then spread out further as particles in a liquid.  As a gas, they could spread out even further.  Once they had planned their investigation, they carried it out and wrote their results and drew conclusions. 

In history, the children learned about the steps involved in making shoes in the 17th century.  They were each given a role in the factory and had to organise themselves into the correct order so that they created a chronology of the manufacturing process.

In French this week, the children learned the story of Goldilocks in French and then used some of the vocabulary to create sentences.  They then presented their work verbally to the rest of the class. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and come back ready for one more week of hard work before a rest at half term! 

Friday 12th May 2023

In maths this week, the children have completed the fractions unit by using fractions as operators.  They have now moved onto learning about decimals.  Today they were partitioning numbers with 2 decimal places.  

The children have now also completed their diary entry in literacy.  I was really impressed at their use of the grammar features taught this year.  Even without being asked or reminded, they included features taught in previous units, as well as the ones taught during this unit!  

In history, the children have been learning about how the shoe industry came to Northampton.  They learned about why Northampton was a good place for manufacturing during the 16th and 17th century and how the industry grew in the area over time.  In pairs, they sorted facts into chronological order and then created timelines to show the evolution of the shoe industry.

In our reading lessons, the children have been practising their inference skills.  They have been using our class novel to answer questions about some of the characters and why they act the way they do.  We are now moving onto the prediction VIPER, using the wonderful book 'The way of the warrior.'

The children have also enjoyed some fantastic activities in art and music this week, using glockenspiels to play a loop of the song 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and using batik to create patterns on material.

Have a great weekend and remember to come in on Monday next week!

Friday 5th May 2023

In Ravens class this week, the children have started planning their diary entries.  They are imagining they are Jim, who is the main character in our class novel.  Unfortunately, poor Jim has ended up in the workhouse and is having a terrible time! The children have been thinking about the awful things he would have to do in a day and have been incorporating those into their diary entry.  

In maths, the children have been exploring angles further, by estimating the value of different angles.  In our fractions unit, the children have been multiplying fractions by whole numbers and have also been finding fractions of amounts.  We will continue to practise this next week, before moving onto our new unit in maths - decimals.

In music, the children have begun to learn the song 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and have been playing parts of it ready to create loops next week.  They have been using the google tool again to great effect and are becoming more confident in creating their own music, which is wonderful.

The children have also carried out a science experiment this week to test which materials are the best thermal insulators.  The children created an insulated cup, by covering paper cups with a range of different materials, to see which would keep water warm for the longest amount of time.  They used thermometers to accurately measure the temperature of the water at intervals throughout the day.

Finally, the weather was very kind to us today, which meant that we were able to have our Coronation picnic on the school field in the sunshine.  It was lovely to spend time with the children away from their learning and see them enjoying the sun and each other's company.

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend and I hope you enjoy the coronation celebrations!  See you all on Tuesday.

Friday 28th April 2023

This week in Ravens the children have been working hard as always!

In maths, the children have completed their multiplication and division unit of work and are now learning to multiply fractions.  They have multiplied unit and non unit fractions and have impressed me with their reasoning skills when spotting errors in calculations.

In literacy, they have continued learning the grammar features needed to write an effective and entertaining diary entry.  They are now going to start thinking about how these features could be included in their own writing.

The children had great fun in music this week, using an online tool to create a loop of music.  This allowed them to use different instrument sounds and put them together in different ways to create a unique two bar piece of music.  I have included the link here, as many children have asked if they could do this at home! Chrome Music Lab - Song Maker (chromeexperiments.com)

In history, the children have been finding out about the shoes of the royals throughout time.  They learned how the more pointy a shoe was, the more status you had!  There were also lots of other unusual facts for them to think about!

Have a lovely long weekend and I'll see you all on Tuesday.

Friday 21st April 2023

Welcome back!  

This week, the Ravens have been learning how to write a diary entry.  They have identified the features and purpose of a diary entry and have begun to learn some of the grammar features needed to make their writing interesting.

In maths, the children have been multiplying 3 and 4 digit numbers by 2 digits, by using the area model and the column method.  Today, they completed lots of reasoning and problem solving challenges and as always, I was impressed by their perseverance when things got tricky!  

In music, the children had a wonderful time learning about body percussion.  Each group performed to the rest of the class and they had clearly thought hard about how to make different sounds with different parts of their bodies.  They also worked well as a team to make sure they were in time!

In science, the children are learning about states of matter.  We started by reviewing what we knew already about the properties of materials.  The children used 'feely bags' to feel different materials and describe them using scientific vocabulary without looking at them.  They then created a table to show what they found out.  They tested the materials to see how flexible they were, whether they were magnetic or transparent, as well as deciding how hard or soft they were.  They then explained their results by comparing different materials.

Yesterday was our first swimming lesson and the children did really well.  They each showed us what they could do and have now been put into groups ready for the rest of the lessons.  I was very pleased with how they all behaved and listened well to the instructions and I am sure we are going to have great fun improving our techniques and confidence in the water.

Have a lovely weekend.

Thursday 30th March 2023

And relax!  It may have been the last week of term, but the work certainly hasn't stopped in Ravens class!  The children have finished their science and geography topics and showed just how much they had learned in their end of unit quiz.  

The children have also finished their final version of their newspaper reports and I have been blown away with how fantastic they are.  The children included all the grammar and genre features from the unit and also remembered to use other grammar features taught throughout the year.  Their writing was very exciting to read and very dramatic too.  I almost believed there really was an alien invasion!

It has also been an active week, with the last session with the Saints rugby coach and bikeability.  In rugby, the children enjoyed playing mini matches to practise the skills they had been taught over the last six weeks.  It was great to watch them work as a team and encourage each other.  In bikeability, the instructors complimented the children on their focus and listening skills, which has helped them to learn how to ride safely on the roads.  I am very proud of all of them for their hard work and determination to do well.  They also seemed to have had a lot of fun, even though the weather wasn't always kind to them!

Finally, we enjoyed our visit to the church today for our Easter service.  Ravens class focused on the resurrection for their part in the service and some of the children stood at the front of the church and read the poem 'He is risen.'  They did very well, reading clearly and telling that part of the story brilliantly.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter break and I look forward to seeing you back at school in two weeks time, refreshed and ready for the summer term.

Friday 24th March 2023

This week, the children enjoyed another session with the coach from the Saints.  It is fantastic to see all the children joining in and learning new skills.  Next week will be their final session, which will give them the opportunity to put their skills into practise by playing mini matches.  

In literacy this week, the children have worked hard on planning their final newspaper articles.  They have made sure they include the grammar features taught in the unit and have also impressed me by using other grammar features they have learned throughout the year.

In maths we are nearly at the end of our fractions journey and are now adding and subtracting fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers.

In geography, the children started to compare Barcelona to London.  They have compared physical and human features and next week they will complete the work by creating an explanation text or poster to show what they have learned.

In RE, the children have continued to learn about Salvation and their understanding was deepened by a fantastic trip to the church for an Easter experience.  This was a wonderful experience and gave the children time and space to consider what Salvation means to Christians and to ask questions they had about the subject.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Friday 17th March 2023

This week, the Ravens have been completing assessments in reading, maths, grammar and spelling.  They have all worked very hard to complete them to the best of their ability and have shown just how much they have learned so far in year 5!  

As well as assessments, the children have been continuing to learn about fractions in maths, including how to compare and order fractions less than 1.  As ever, they have shown great perseverance and resilience when completing some tricky reasoning and problem solving tasks!

In RE, the children have finished learning about Judaism and have now started to look at Salvation.  This week, they were comparing texts from the Bible giving different accounts of the story of Jesus as the Messiah.  

In geography, the children created a leaflet for tourists visiting Barcelona.  They went on a fact hunt around the classroom to find out about the different human and physical features in the city that people might like to visit.

Finally, we have had quite a sporty week!  As well as our session with the Saints' coach, we were also very lucky to have someone from All Stars cricket visit us and give the children a taster session.  They practised bowling and batting skills and a great time was had by all!

Have a great weekend. 

Friday 10th March 2023

The Ravens had another exciting session of rugby this week with the Saints' coach.  They practised lots of skills, which they will develop further over the coming weeks before playing some mini games.

In literacy, the children have practised several grammar skills they need to write their newspaper report and have received further evidence about the Martians coming to Earth.  As well as watching part of the musical version of War of the Worlds, the children have been studying the script in our reading lessons, which has ensured they are following the breaking news story closely!  

In maths, the children have been busy converting mixed numbers to improper fractions and improper fractions to mixed numbers.  They have then been learning to compare fractions less than one.

In DT, the children have continued to design their pop up book by completing their front covers.  They are looking forward to sharing their books with some of the younger children in school once they are finished.

The children have continued to create their own multi-level game in ICT.  This week, they were focusing on creating an exciting quest for their player to go on when playing their game.  They considered how to increase the difficulty of each level and giving the player different items to collect on their quest.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Friday 3rd March 2023

This week, the Ravens have been receiving more information and evidence about the breaking news story.  They have learned that Martians are planning to invade Earth to steal our resources.  The children have been reading the script from the musical version of the War of the Worlds and making notes of the fantastic vocabulary, ready to use some in their newspaper reports.

In maths, the children have been busy finding equivalent fractions to unit and non-unit fractions and converting improper fractions to mixed numbers.  We have also been practising our KIRFs and the children are becoming more fluent in remembering the square numbers to 12 x 12 and the cube numbers to 125.

In geography, the children have been continuing to learn about the location of Barcelona.  They have been reviewing prior learning by locating countries in Europe and paying particular attention to the countries that have a coastline with the Mediterranean Sea.

The children have been continuing to learn about Judaism in RE and discovering the diversity of people who follow the Jewish religion.  They have also been comparing orthodox and progressive Judaism and learning the similarities and differences between the two.

Thursday was of course World Book Day and it was wonderful to see all the children dressed as their favourite book characters.  It was also brilliant to see such a wide range of characters, as this shows just how diverse our reading tastes are and the variety of books that the children enjoy reading.  The children took part in several activities throughout the day, including designing their front cover for their pop up book in DT, writing their own storyboard, listening to an adult read a book they had chosen and going around the world in 6 books, using their map skills to find the country various books were set in.

Have a great weekend.

Friday 24th February 2023

There have been some strange goings on in Ravens class this week!  When the children came into the classroom on Monday morning, they found upturned chairs, dictionaries and thesauruses strewn around the room and newspapers everywhere!  The children then noticed strange eyes looking out from the walls and many theories were discussed.  Some think I have something to do with it! (For the record, I definitely wouldn't be leaving precious dictionaries and thesauruses lying around!)  Some thought it could be gremlins and some children thought it could be aliens.  Throughout the week, we have been receiving more evidence as to what this breaking news story might be and our classroom has been turned into a newsroom, so the children can work as investigative reporters, trying to piece the evidence together.  I wonder what might happen over the weekend!

In maths, the children have been learning about equivalent fractions.  They have been calculating equivalent fractions for unit and non-unit fractions and as always, tackling some tricky reasoning and problem solving challenges.  I have been impressed with their understanding of fractions so far and their resilience and perseverance when faced with some tougher questions.

In geography this week, we looked at different scaled maps and used this knowledge to locate Barcelona in Spain.  They then looked at different scaled maps of Spain to determine what they could find out about Barcelona on each map.  

In PSHE, the children have started to look at rights and responsibilities.  This week, they looked at a current issue and read different articles giving different opinions.  They then wrote some top tips as to how to form a well informed opinion on a subject.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Friday 10th February 2023

And relax!  The final week has been full of writing, art and dance!  The children have worked hard to finish their non-chronological reports about mountains and they have clearly shown how much they have learned in geography this term.  They have used technical vocabulary and formal language and thought carefully about where to place the information on the page to make it interesting for the reader.

The children enjoyed their double art lesson with Mrs Musson on Wednesday and then on Thursday, we all enjoyed a trip to Milton Keynes art museum where the children created trickster characters and explored different sculptures.  The children were also involved in several other creative activities, learning how artists approach their art and having a go at part of the process themselves.  I was pleased to see all the children getting involved and listening carefully to the artists as they showed us around the gallery.

In PE, we danced the Charleston once again!  The children worked hard to master the key steps and put them together to make a routine.  The children also listened to different styles of music and thought about how it made them want to move.  It was interesting to see how they moved to different rhythms.  We have some real movers in our midst!  The children also had the chance to look at some different types of dance shoes and tried to work out which shoe belonged to which style of dance.

As it is mental health week this week the children were thinking of ways we can keep ourselves mentally healthy.  We talked about activities we could do to reduce anxiety and help us relax.  The theme for the week is 'let's connect' so the children in KS2 all came together to create some finger knitting.  The pieces will be connected together to show that we are all connected and can be a support to one another.

I hope you all have a lovely rest next week and I look forward to seeing you all nicely refreshed after the half term break!

Friday 3rd February 2023

We have had another busy week in Ravens full of  learning both in and out of the classroom!  The children have been learning the grammar skills needed to complete their non-chronological report.  They have grasped the concepts well, which means they can use them to make their final piece of writing even more interesting!

In maths, the children have been learning about cube numbers and we have now moved onto multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.  These maths skills (and many others) came in very useful today when we went to the PDET maths enrichment day.  The children took part in many problem solving challenges and worked brilliantly as a team, supporting each other and encouraging each other when the maths got tricky!   You can tell from the photos just how much fun we had.  The adults were proud of all of the children's engagement in the activities, but a special well done goes to Toby for his award for excellent achievement and to Riley for outstanding effort.  Mrs Chambers, Mrs Brennan McCord and I were especially proud of the way you both solved the puzzles and never once considered giving up, showing fantastic perseverance.

PE was exciting this week too, as the children learned how to dance the Charleston!  Some children were naturals, which was great to see, but for others, it took real perseverance and concentration.  I was very pleased with how the children followed the steps and were determined to succeed.  I'm sure they would be able to teach you some of the moves if you ask them nicely!

In geography, the children have been learning about life in a remote mountain village and considering how life is restricted there.  We had some very thoughtful conversations about education, transport, healthcare and resources.  The children surprised themselves when they realised all of the things that we take for granted that people in remote mountain villages don't have access to.  They discussed everything from running water, tarmac roads and wifi!

In RE, the children have been learning about kosher and trefah foods in Judaism.  They imagined they had a Jewish friend coming for dinner and created a menu of kosher food, thinking carefully about the types of food the friend could eat.

Finally, in science, the children carried out an experiment to see which surfaces created the most friction when rubbing two surfaces together.  The children worked well in their groups and considered their predictions and how to make it a fair test before recording their results.

Friday 27th January 2023

In maths this week, the children have impressed me again with their use of mathematical language.  This time, they have been using it to define square and cube numbers.  They have applied their knowledge to reasoning and problem solving challenges.  I have enjoyed listening to them discuss the problems together, trying to make sure they don't miss any answers.  Another great display of persistence and perseverance!

In art, the children used watercolours.  They were exploring different techniques and discovering how using different amounts of water and paints creates different depths of colour.  

In French, the children have been learning about the names of fruit.  They used this to play a matching pairs game, matching the pictures to the name of the fruit in French.

In geography, they have been learning the different features of mountains and looking at the similarities and differences between different types of mountains and mountain ranges.  They also learned how fold mountains are created.  I was impressed with how they recalled information about tectonic plates from previous learning in geography!

Finally, in literacy, the children have written their final version of their persuasive letters, to try to persuade me not to give them homework!  I thoroughly enjoyed reading them and some of the arguments were particularly convincing. The children did such a wonderful job of persuading me, that I have decided that they can have no homework just for this week!  However, I will still be checking reading records, so they haven't got away with it completely!

Have a fabulous (homework free) weekend and I'll see you all on Monday.

Friday 20th January 2023

This week in maths, the children have been learning about common factors and prime numbers.  Again, we have been practising using mathematical vocabulary to help explain the answers to reasoning and problem solving challenges.  The children have been investigating which numbers are prime and which are composite numbers.  They have even been learning strategies to calculate whether 4 digit numbers are prime or composite.

In literacy, the children have been looking closely at our model text and finding the features and examples of them, ready to use when planning their own persuasive letter.  Next week, the children will be planning and writing their own persuasive letters.  It remains to be seen whether any of them will be convincing enough to persuade me they should not have homework anymore!

In geography, the children used digimaps on the ipads and atlases to locate the major mountain ranges across the world.  I was pleased to see that the children also remembered the learning from last week, as they were able to locate lines of latitude and longitude on a map as a review activity.

In science, the children learned about water resistance and carried out an experiment to determine whether the shape of an object had an impact on how quickly it sank in water.  They were focusing on taking accurate and precise measurements.  They were brilliant at remembering how to make the experiment a fair test and thinking about the importance of taking more than one reading.

The children had a lovely day on Thursday investigating Turner's art and creating their own piece of art based on his style.  Then in the afternoon, Mrs Chambers and I had the pleasure of taking most of the children to Sponne for the sports hall athletics event.  The children did very well and showed great team spirit by encouraging each other during the different events.  It was lovely to see them all enjoying an afternoon of sport and we were both very proud of them.

Have a lovely weekend.

Friday 13th January 2023

It has been a great week of learning in Ravens class!

In maths, we have been learning about multiples and factors.  The children have been working on using mathematical language in their explanations and I have been impressed by their perseverance, as this is not easy!  

In literacy, the children learned the last of the grammar skills needed to write their persuasive letter and did a very good job of convincing me that I wanted to stay in a bug infested hotel by writing an advert using rhetorical questions.  Who wouldn't want to sleep in a lovely cockroach covered bed after all?

In geography, we have started our unit all about marvellous mountains and the children used atlases to locate the key lines of latitude and longitude and explain how longitude relates to time zones.  Next time they will be locating some of the mountain ranges of the world.

The children carried out an experiment this week to test air resistance.  Each group made a different sized parachute and made predictions about which would fall fastest and slowest.  They also considered how they would make it a fair test.  The results were interesting, as there was an anomaly, but the children did a fantastic job of discussing why this might have happened using scientific vocabulary.

The children have been learning about databases in ICT and this week they had to sort, arrange and group types of aliens in a database to answer quiz questions about them.  Looking at the results of the quiz showed that lots of them were able to use the database tools effectively, as the scores were very good!

The good news this week was that all the children made it to the top of the recognition mountain.  This shows that they have been going over and above to be helpful and respectful.  It also shows that they have been putting others before themselves.  This meant that we were able to enjoy 'felt tip Friday' this afternoon!  The children enjoyed doodling, drawing and colouring whilst listening to some music.  There were even a few dance moves and some singing along.  A great end to a busy week.

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all on Monday.

Friday 6th January 2023

What a fantastic start to the Spring term.  The children have come back after their Christmas holiday full of enthusiasm and a great work ethic.  We have started learning the grammar skills needed to write a persuasive letter and they have been impressing me with their use of persuasive language.  The children were put into groups and given a colouring pencil and they had to use persuasive language to convince me that their pencil was better than anyone else's!  The children's competitive spirit and fantastic imaginations led to some brilliantly convincing arguments and I'm not sure any of us will look at the humble colouring pencil in the same way again!

In maths, we have begun to learn about multiplication and division.  So far the children have learned about multiples and common multiples.  Next week, we will be moving onto factors.

In science, we have started our unit about forces and the children learned about Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton.  I was impressed by the amount of knowledge the children had already about these important scientists.  I'm looking forward to planning and carrying out some experiments with the children to test various theories about air and water resistance.

In RE, we have started our unit about Judaism.  This week, the children learned some of the key Jewish beliefs about God.

Finally, we had a visit from Claire Reetz this week to help the children prepare for the class's family praise service this Sunday.  She did a lovely activity with them for the service and I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

Have a restful weekend! 

Friday 16th December 2022

I was looking forward to reading the children's explanation texts and I wasn't disappointed!  They have clearly learned a great deal during the ancient Greek history unit, as they included some great facts about the Greek gods and goddesses and how their beliefs affected the way they lived.  

In RE, the children have been learning about the Incarnation.  They pretended to be investigative reporters who were live at the scene of the birth of Jesus.  They reported on the evidence that he was the Messiah by studying parts of the Gospel of Matthew and imagining interviewing Mary and Joseph!  They produced some great newspaper reports and really captured the excitement of the news.

The children made me very proud yesterday at the carol service.  They sang beautifully and some children from the class read some passages from the Bible and did so brilliantly.

Today, we have had a lovely day of Christmas crafts and the children have each made a bauble to hang on the tree at home.  As a special treat, they even had some popcorn and lemonade whilst watching a Christmas film.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to seeing you all in 2023!

Friday 9th December 2022

This week, the Ravens have been learning about democracy in ancient Greece as part of our history unit.  The children realised that their system was not as fair as ours, as lots of people were not eligible to vote at all!  We recreated this in our classroom and discussed how people felt when they were not allowed to vote.  This resulted in lots of discussions about equality and fairness, which was fascinating!

In literacy, the children have been planning their explanation text, which will be about the beliefs of the ancient Greeks.  I have been impressed with the way they have included the grammar features taught and also plenty of technical language.  I am looking forward to reading their final versions.

In maths, we have finished our addition and subtraction unit of work and the children have been working hard on missing number problems.  This was not easy and the children have shown great resilience and perseverance when tackling some tricky challenges.

In RE, the children have been reflecting on our unit about science and Creation, deciding whether they are conflicting or complementary.  The children created pieces of art and explanations to show their understanding and to express their own opinions and they had obviously thought hard about what to include.

In science, the children made sundials from paper plates and straws.  We took them outside and looked at the shadows they created throughout the afternoon, looking at how the shadows move and change as the afternoon went on.  The children then wrote about the changes and suggested why this was the case.

Have a lovely weekend.

Friday 2nd December 2022

Here we are again at the end of another busy week of learning in Ravens class!  The children have been impressing me this week with their renewed focus on being kind and respectful towards each other, the adults in school and also when using resources in school.  It has been wonderful to see them supporting each other with this and as a result, they have all made it to the top of the mountain on our recognition board.  Mrs Chambers and I are both very proud of them and as their treat, they each had a chocolate cookie and a bit of a dance in our Friday afternoon disco!

In their learning, the children have impressed me with some super explanations in science about how we experience night and day and some great thinking in RE about how Christians view the scientific explanation about how the universe began.  They listened to several scientists who are Christians about how they combine their faith and their belief in science.

It has been assessment week this week too and the children have worked incredibly hard to do their best in their tests.  I was very pleased at how they conducted themselves during each assessment and they have clearly tried their best to read the questions carefully and make sure they think about their answers.  Well done everybody!

The children also enjoyed their last session of DT with Mrs Musson this week, which was dessert week!  I think it is safe to say that all the children have enjoyed this unit of DT and it's been wonderful to see some children try new food for the first time and enjoy it!

In PSHE, the children have been looking at the benefits of having a diverse society.  They have thought about what we can learn from each other and how we can all work together.  They each created a jigsaw piece which shows the diversity of British society and then put them together as one big puzzle.

Have a great weekend and I hope to see lots of you at the Christmas fair on Sunday!

Friday 25th November 2022

In literacy this week, the children have been practising the grammar skills needed to write an explanation text.  They have impressed me with their ability to use adjectives for clarification and parenthesis, which will help them add factual information to their explanation text.  

In maths, the children have been tackling some very tricky multi-step addition and subtraction problems.  They have been reading questions carefully to make sure they understand which operation they need to use at each step and considering the 'real life' answers as well as the maths answers.  This has helped them to find their way through some very complicated problems.  I am very proud of them all for their hard work and perseverance!

I popped into the children's DT lesson yesterday when the second group of children were preparing food for their group.  The presentation of the food was excellent and it all looked delicious.  The other children in the group were keen to show me their menus and recipes that they were creating.  

In RE this week, we have continued to look at science and Creation to decide whether they are conflicting or complementary.  Today, we learnt all about the peppered moth and how it evolved during the industrial revolution.  We discussed how scientists might use this as evidence of evolution and Christians might use it as evidence of God's power.  It led to some great questions and discussions!

In science, the children studied different pieces of evidence that show that the Earth is spherical.  The children then wrote a letter to persuade someone who thought the Earth was flat that it was in fact spherical!  We had some very interesting questions about what would happen if the Earth was flat and had a good discussion about what that would be like!

Have a great weekend!

Friday 18th November 2022

This week the Ravens have completed their poetry and I was blown away by their imaginative ideas! They worked hard to include the best vocabulary in order to create the right mood for the reader.  They also included the grammar features they have been learning throughout the unit.  We are now moving onto writing an explanation text.

In maths, the Ravens have continued to learn about addition and subtraction and have been using different strategies to check their answers, such as rounding and using the inverse.  They will then be moving onto solving multi-step word problems using both addition and subtraction next week.

On Wednesday, we joined lots of other schools online to speak to a civil engineer, who works for the UN and is currently in Ukraine.  He told us all about his career and the countries he has worked in, as well as what it is like to work in dangerous places and conflict zones.  The children were fascinated and thought of some excellent questions to ask him.  We even had four of our questions answered.

Another treat this week was a string quartet!  The children enjoyed listening to the music and they were even able to join in with some of the songs they played by singing along.

On Thursday, the children continued their DT project with Mrs Musson.  The children have been planning healthy meals and yesterday, the children in charge of starters made some delicious looking plates of food!  The children then taste tested what had been made and gave a score out of 10.  The high scores show how just how delicious the fruit and vegetables were!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Friday 11th November 2022

Ravens have been working hard this week, as always and they have been impressing me with their language skills in literacy.  We used our poem about winter as inspiration to write some lines of poetry about spring.  The children used a range of figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, personification and alliteration.  

In maths, the children have been learning different methods for subtraction, such as a bar model, a numberline and column method.  We discussed when each method is most efficient and accurate depending on the mathematical problem.

In history, the children continued learning about the beliefs of the Ancient Greeks and how that determined the way they lived.  They have produced a non-chronological report about the temples and sanctuaries to show their understanding.

In PE, the children have been taking part in orienteering activities and this week they were completing some trust exercises.  One partner had to close their eyes, while the other guided them around some obstacles!  It was very successful and everyone remained in one piece!

In ICT, the children continued to learn about spreadsheets and used the counting tool to investigate which vowel is the most common in the English language.  They tested the hypothesis that 'e' is the most common and most found this to be true.

The children were very excited today, as we had a visit from a science expert, Atomic Tom!  The children have enjoyed learning with him in previous years and this was just as much fun.  He taught us all about stars and how they are created.  The children then drew some of the constellations that we can see in the night sky.  They have taken these home so they can star gaze this weekend and see if they can spot any of the constellations they have learned about!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to another busy week of learning next week.

Friday 4th November 2022

It has been a very busy first week back for Ravens class and a new science unit that seems to be getting everyone excited!  Lots of the children have told me some great facts about Earth and space and were very keen to share their knowledge!  In our first science lesson, we looked at the planets in our solar system and listened to a song to help us remember where they are in relation to each other.  We also looked at a model of our solar system from the Ancient Greek time, when they believed Earth was in the centre of the universe!

In RE, the children have listened to the Creation story and drawn images of what they visualised as it was being read.  They thought about what genre of writing it was and wrote their own version as either a poem or a story for a younger child.

In maths, the children have started adding and subtracting, beginning with learning some mental strategies for adding and subtracting large numbers.

In literacy, the children have been practising using similes, metaphors and personification ready to include in their own poems.

Finally, the children wrote to their French pen pals today.  We used some pictures of Greens Norton to show the French children what the village is like and the children introduced themselves in French.

Have a lovely weekend!

Friday 21st October 2022

Well it might have been the last week of term, but there was no slowing down in our learning this week!  The children have continued to explore poetry in literacy; finding the features and identifying the purpose.  I was impressed by the way the children carefully considered what effect the author was trying to create for the reader.  

In maths, the children completed the place value unit, finishing with some very tricky rounding reasoning and problem solving questions.  We are now moving onto addition and subtraction.

The children enjoyed dissecting flowers this week in science to discover the male and female parts that are involved in reproduction.  This really seemed to help them learn the parts of the flower when it came to labelling the flower and writing about pollination.

We have completed our coding unit of work in ICT and the children can now create their own simple games using many different coding techniques.

I hope you all have a wonderful half term and enjoy a well earned break!

Friday 14th October 2022

What a brilliant week of learning we have had! 

The week started with the harvest festival service at the church and I was very proud of the children for listening so well and joining in with the songs.  The children who read in church also did a brilliant job.

The children have been busy rounding in maths and are now rounding to the nearest million.  They have had some tough reasoning and problem solving challenges to complete and I have been very impressed with their perseverance and resilience.

In literacy, the children completed their 'hot write' of a setting description.  The quality of their writing blew me away and they absolutely set the right tone for the reader, as I was scared of the Minotaur's lair just reading their work!  We have now moved onto looking at poetry and the children enjoyed a session of poetry reading, including poems by William Wordsworth, Robert Louis Stevenson and Brian Moses.  Ask them about 'walking my iguana!'

On Thursday, the children enjoyed visiting the Robins' class to share their music learning with them.  They sang beautifully to the younger children and they then listened to the year 1 children perform their song.  This finished the unit well, as it was all about how music can bring us together.

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you on Monday for one last week of learning before a well-earned break for half term!

Friday 7th October 2022

Wow, the end of another busy week in Ravens class already!

This week, the children have finished planning and editing their setting descriptions and I'm looking forward to reading the final versions next week.  The children have impressed me throughout the unit with their wonderful imaginations and ability to really put the reader in the setting.

In maths, we are continuing to work with numbers up to 1,000,000 by comparing and ordering them and now we are starting to round them to 10, 100 and 1000.  

In science, the children have worked hard to collate their research about Jane Goodall and have now created some wonderful information texts about her work and the relevance of it still today.  On a different scientific note, I am pleased to report that we now have a healthy batch of sea monkeys.  We were worried they weren't hatching because it was too cold, but after some research by several children, we realised that the time it took them to hatch also depended on the thickness of their shell.  We've all learnt something this week!

In history, the children were fascinated to learn that over 150,000 words in the English language have their origins in ancient Greek!  The children used dictionaries to look for words with Greek roots and chose how best to present their learning.  This resulted in some great tables and spider diagrams.

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Friday 30th September 2022

This week, the children have enjoyed using an image and some sound effects to start planning their final setting description of the Minotaur's lair.  Their creativity has been incredible and they have made good use of all the resources in the classroom to improve their vocabulary and vary their sentence structures.  

In science, we have been researching the work of the scientist Jane Goodall.  The children watched a video all about her work with chimpanzees and then read some information about her.  We organised the facts into different categories ready to collate them next week and present what we have learnt.  Also, as part of our science unit, we have been watching our sea monkeys all week to see if they have hatched and we were all very relieved when we saw a few tiny sea monkeys this morning!

The children have created some colour wheels this week in their art lesson with Mrs Musson and used black and white to alter the tone.

In maths, the children have been exploring numbers to a million on a number line and have tackled some very tricky reasoning and problem solving challenges!  In our arithmetic lesson today, the children were exploring what happens to the digits in a number when we multiply and divide by 10, 100 and 1000.  We used some willing volunteers to be the digits in a 4 digit number and moved them as if in a place value grid!

Finally, in history, we have been learning about the differences between life in Sparta and life in Athens.  The children were very shocked to discover that weak babies were thrown off of a mountain in Sparta and were very glad that no longer happens!

Have a lovely weekend and see you all on Monday.

Friday 23rd September 2022

This week the children have used their senses to describe an image, working hard to 'show' and not 'tell' the reader what the setting is like.  This is a tricky skill to master, but I was very pleased with how well they managed it.

In maths, the children have been exploring the powers of ten and using their place value knowledge to answer reasoning and problem solving challenges.  

In science, we have been exploring complete and incomplete metamorphosis and the similarities and differences between the two.  The children worked together in pairs to think of a definition for each term.

We started our new spelling scheme this week and the children enjoyed watching the video that introduced their spelling rule.  They have completed lots of activities to practise the spellings and today they were using 'my turn' and 'your turn' with their partners to teach each other the spellings.  I think we may have a few budding teachers in our midst!

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Friday 16th September 2022

It has been another great week of learning this week with the Ravens showing lots of enthusiasm and perseverance.  The children have continued their place value journey in maths, using increasingly larger numbers and they are now reading and writing numbers to one million.  It has got a bit tricky at times, but all the children have worked hard and enjoyed some success!  

In literacy, the children have impressed me with their grammar knowledge and have written some creative sentences using expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials and they have used their senses to describe an image.

The children also enjoyed a music lesson with Mrs Musson, using the glockenspiels to improvise.  

In history, the children went on a fact hunt to find out more about the Ancient Greeks.  They then used this information to create a non chronological report all about what they had discovered.

Finally, in science, the children have been learning about different life-cycles and have created their own life-cycle of a mammal, explaining what happens at each stage.  We now have our own animals in class to observe, in the shape of sea monkeys.  I hope that the children will enjoy watching them grow and change, so that we can talk about the different stages of their life-cycle!

Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all on Tuesday.

Wow, what a wonderful start to the new school year!  The children have settled quickly into Ravens class and are already impressing me with their fantastic work.  It has been a busy week, with lots of new routines to learn and the children have tackled it all with enthusiasm and smiles on their faces.  It has been a pleasure to start to get to know them better and I am looking forward to all the fabulous learning we will do together.

This week, the children have been looking at different images in our reading lessons and identifying what they can see, what it makes them think and what they are wondering.  This is a great way for them to practise their inference skills and I have been impressed with the ideas they have thought of and their ability to explain their thinking.

In literacy, the children completed a 'cold write' of a setting description about a dark and sinister forest to demonstrate their learning from last year.  We are now learning some key grammar skills to make their writing even more effective before moving onto drafting their final piece.

In maths, we are looking at place value of numbers up to 1,000,000.  The children have been working hard to use the correct mathematical language when explaining answers to reasoning problems.

Our topic 'The Ancient Greeks' got off to a great start with a practical lesson looking at different artefacts and sources of information.  The children discussed which sources were primary and secondary and what makes a source reliable or unreliable.  The children also learned about bias and how this can alter the validity of a source.

The children have also enjoyed a very hands on PSHE lesson, building towers out of newspaper to discover what qualities are needed to work well as a team!

I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday for another busy week of learning!