Friday 25 May 2018

Walking to School and May Dancing

We've really enjoyed walking to school this week. We went past the finish line on our chart because so many of us walked. It was good fun for some of us to walk to school altogether on Wednesday.

We hope you enjoyed our Country Dance of Buttered Peas yesterday or today. We have worked really hard to remember the different steps, and worked well in our small groups and partners.

In Creative Writing, we imagined we had our own hot air balloon and wrote an adventure about where it could take us. Mrs McLellan was impressed with every single story that was written. She read all of them to the whole class!
A boy went to Scotland -William
I went to Candy Land in my red hot air balloon- Chrisanthi
Mine went to Dubai - Poppy
Mine went underwater in Kiribati - Benedict

Our home learning over the half term is to keep a weather chart. We can record this anyway we like in our books. We have also brought some phonics home to practise. We could also play buried treasure on https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/BuriedTreasure2.html (It doesn't work on iPads)

This week our Star Award is going to Noreen because she learnt our dance very quickly and has tried hard with her writing. Well done, Noreen!


Friday 18 May 2018

Explaining Science!

This week, we have joined our English and science learning. We have been reading explanations and finding out how hot air balloons work. We used pictures and sentences to describe this.
First, it's on its side. Lucas
It gets full up with cold air until it's standing. Arlie
Then hot air goes in and it starts to rise up. Thomas
There''s a lever to open the flap at the top of the envelope and when it opens, it lets the hot air out and the cold air comes in. Then the balloon comes down carefully. Georgia.

We explored forces and how we can make things start and stop, move faster or slower. We had great fun on the bikes and scooters.
I was challenged to get down the ramp without pedalling. I shuffled in the seat to make it move from the flat part to the slope. Finally I went really quickly down the slope. Grace







In maths, we have used last week's  learning about arrays to solve multiplication problems. Mrs Hinchliffe has challenged us to bring in arrays we find at home, or a picture of some. So far, we have egg boxes, an ice cube tray and a Connect 4 board. 

In science, we continued investigating paper waterlilies. We found out what happened if we put them in hot water or cold, soapy water and we used a cardboard waterlily. We all recorded our results in a table- maybe we can tell you what we found out!

We are practising our Country Dancing and can't wait to show you next week - 2pm on Thursday for the Community Tea, 9:10 on Friday for the May King and Queen. The Governors will be serving pastries on Friday morning.

Our Home Learning is to design a programme cover for the Summer Sizzler on June 30th. We could also practice our phonics by playing a game on Phonics Play https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/BuriedTreasure2.html 

This week's Star Award is going to Chrisanthi for making god choices about her learning and trying really hard. Well done, Chrisanthi!

Our Learning Owl this week is Georgia for using some really good explanations in science and persevering with her maths. Well done Georgia, have fun with Snowy. 

Have a great weekend- see some of you at the Fun Run!


Friday 11 May 2018

Beech Class Poets

This week, we carried on our learning about poetry. We read From a Railway Carriage again and talked about why we liked it. Then, it was time to plan and write our own train poems. We used similes, onomatopoeia, alliteration and rhyme. We had to remember when to start a new line too. We enjoyed writing our poems and Mrs McLellan and Mrs Orchard were proud of us.

In Topic, we carried on working in groups to compose our own train music- with a steady beat. Some of us created a rhythm, using words like 'steam train, choo choo' or 'clickety clack' and some of us hummed a melody. We started to think about ways to end our piece of music.

In maths, we have been using arrays to count in 2s, 5s and 10s.
An array is a group of dots that you can use to help you - Sam
We looked at the array and wrote a repeated addition, like 5+5+5+5=20 Ross
Then we used the times symbol- 4x5=20 Tom
Today, we matched the arrays to groups of coins.

In PE, we have done lots of practising- dance for May King and Queen and we've started trying the Sports Day activities for June 22nd.

On Tuesday 15th May, we are going to Woodlands, so we need our wellies and a splash suit if we have one.

The Star Award is going to Lucas this week. He was able to apply his English skills to write a great poem. Well done, Lucas!

This week's Learning Owl is Sophia- we've been so impressed with her concentration and perseverance. She made a great prediction in science last week, and really amazed Mrs Mclellan with her maths- she used multiplication without being asked to. Well done, Sophia. Have a great weekend with Snowy.


Sunday 6 May 2018

All Aboard!

In English this week we have been reading poems about trains and responding to them in different ways like clapping the rhythm and thinking of Wow words. Then we thought what we might see on a train ride through Redbourn:
A bumpy river - Ethan
Spotty cows - Sophia
Wavy green grass - Harry

We took this learning forward in music too. We composed our own pieces of music about trains using our bodies and voices. We did this as a whole class then in small groups.

In maths, we have been dividing by sharing numbers into 2 equal groups. We learnt that if you tried to divide an odd number by 2, there would be one left over. William remembered this was called a remainder.

In science we did a fun investigation with a paper waterlily. We predicted what might happen when we put the waterlily into water and then tried it out...
The petals opened - William
I was surprised because I thought it would sink - Jessica

In PSHE we learnt about the different food groups and our home learning us to create a healthy, balanced meal.

The Star Award this week was given to Harry for persevering with his maths and listening to feedback. This meant he could divide by 2, showing his working. Well done, Harry!
William is this week’s Learning Owl - he’s been a great friend and also taken responsibility for his own learning. He’s listened well and tried his best. Well done, William. Have fun with Snowy.

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend everyone.

Walking to School and May Dancing

We've really enjoyed walking to school this week. We went past the finish line on our chart because so many of us walked. It was good fu...