We are authors

We've had a great first week back after half term. We've enjoyed sharing our Home Learning - it looks like we all had lots of fun in the holiday.

This week, we finished the work we were doing about Katie Morag, by planning and writing our own story about her. We had so much to remember when we were writing - as well as full stops and capital letters, we thought about Wow words (adjectives) and joining words (conjunctions). We also thought carefully about our spelling and handwriting.... We wrote some great stories, with Katie Morag having all sorts of adventures.

She had a birthday - Chrisanthi
She went to school in England -Ross

In Creative Writing, we used all of our story writing skills again. This time we could write a story about anything we wanted. We all thought this was very exciting and Mrs McLellan is looking forward to reading them all.
My story is about Rugby - Harry
Mine is about the tooth fairy -Evie
There's a magic key in my story - James

This week in maths, we've been using everything we've learnt about adding and taking away to solve problems. We have been learning to do jottings to help us solve the problems- this means drawing marks or small pictures.

In Topic this week, we've been learning about Poland.
The capital is Warsaw - Thomas
Around Christmas it is -4 degrees

We continued our learning about Poland at Woodlands, where we worked together to make bright flowers.
They are used at Easter in Poland - Sophia
We also looked for signs of winter at Woodlands.
It was very cold - Tome
There are brown, scrunched leaves on the floor- Sam

This week, Indie has been given the Star Award for showing a real love of learning- especially in her writing. Very well done, Indie.

Our Learning Owl this week is Poppy. She works hard and tries her best with everything. She is always kind, polite and a great role model. Well done, Poppy. Have a great weekend with Snowy!

Next week is Book Week. Our Home Learning is to do some different reading activities- we could record some of these in our Home Learning Book.

We can bring our favourite book in on Monday, that we will have chance to read throughout the week.

On Friday, we also need to bring in a cushion (if we have one) as we are having a whole school read.

Toe Tapping...

We were really lucky this week because the Game On coaches came to do a volleyball workshop with us. We learnt to do a chest pass, overhead pass and bounce pass. Some of us didn't have the right clothes for outdoor PE, so please check PE bags over half term...

In English, we have carried on our learning using Katie Morag stories. We sequenced the story and wrote about our favourite part. Then, we looked at different pictures from the books and wrote sentences about them.
We couldn't use 'I can see...' Ross
Beautiful yellow flowers are blossoming. Grace
There is a helicopter delivering lots of Christmas presents. Lyla
Katie Morag is drinking burning hot tea. Ethan

We have been learning about Scotland in Topic too. We learnt a poem called Toe Tap and used our hands and instruments to keep a steady beat with it. We listened to some bagpipes - they make high sounds and the sound keeps going.

In maths, we have been learning to subtract a one digit number from a two digit number. We have used bead strings, tens frames and multilink to help us.
16 take away 8 is 8. Harry
13 minus 4 is 9. Beatrice
4 fewer than 20 equals 16. James

Next week is half term- our Home Learning is to record something we do.

Lyla got a special Star Award for being a great member of Beech Class. We know your new school will love having you.

Ethan also got a Star Award for working really well with others. Well done, Ethan!

Number Day

Today is Number Day. We have all come to school wearing a number - some of us have digits, some have a group of objects.
Jessica, Indie and Lucas all have the smallest number - 1
Ross had the biggest number - 301
We have been estimating how many stars are on Mrs McLellan's scarf.
We have been thinking about money and what it is used for. We have been using money to pay for our special snack. Our Home Learning this week is to explore using money - we could play shops, sort coins or trying to add them. We can record our work in our own way.

In Topic, we have been learning about the Isle of Coll. This is a small island in Scotland. We talked about how Coll is similar and different to Redbourn.
They both have a Post Office- Sophia
There is a vet in Redbourn, but not on Coll - Harry
There are tractors in both places - Jessica
We don't live near the sea in Redbourn - William

We also wrote a letter or postcard sharing the good things about Coll and why people want to visit there.

In English, we have been reading Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers. We have been predicting what might happen in the story. We also wrote some questions to ask Katie Morag, we remembered to use question marks.

How old are you? Arlie
How did the sheep get into the big loch? Lyla
How do you get to school? Chrisanthi
When were you born? Thomas

Yesterday, we had a dace workshop with Hayley from Dancing Stars. We did some activities to warm us up, then we played musical statues. After that, we learnt a dance routine and worked well together. It was great fun!

Sophia got the Star Award this week for working well in a group. Well done, Sophia.

Ethan is this week's Learning Owl. He has tried hard with all of his work, taken risks and persevered with his learning. Well done, Ethan. Have a great weekend with Snowy.

Workshadowing

Thank you so much to all of the grown ups who came into Beech Class this week to see how we learn. Mrs McLellan, Mrs Turner and Mrs Orchard would also like to thank you for your wonderful comments.
The children were proud to have you in the classroom this week:
Daddy helped me to think about my poem - Grace
It was nice for the grown ups to see what we do in Beech - Sam
It was fun to see the grown ups join in with our good learning - Jessica
My Mummy joined in with Smart Moves- Evie

In our learning this week, we used what we had learnt last week to write poems about all sorts of colours.

In maths, we have been learning about measures. We enjoyed exploring longer, taller or shorter - using rulers and metre sticks. We also talked about how heavy and light things are, and used balance pans to find objects which weighed about the same.
We also had lots of fun exploring how fast toy cars can move. Mrs McLellan asked- Will the blue car always be the fastest. We worked in groups to investigate this and chose our own ways to record using faster/slower than and quickest.
William M says that the blue car was sometimes the quickest but not always.

In science this week, we have been learning about living and non-living things. We also sorted animals and then learnt about their different groupings. We wrote clues to describe animals.
Charles' Clues:
I can jump out and in the water. I am an amphibian. I lay eggs. Can you guess which animal he wrote about?

In dance, we explored moving gracefully, using pointed toes, gentle movements and glides. We worked in pairs to make up sequences of moves.
It was fun to work in a team - Theo
We worked together - Harry

Our Home Learning this week is to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch. We should try to look in our gardens or a space near where we live and choose a way to record which birds we see. Our results could also be entered here https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/

On Friday 2nd February it's NSPCC number day/ We can come to school in non-uniform, wearing some kind of number (either a digit or a set of things) We will be doing our learning around the numbers we wear. Please send in a small donation for the NSPCC if you would like to.

Our Star Award this week goes to Ben. He worked really well as part of a group in science and with his partner in dance. Well done, Ben.

This week, Snowy is going home with Harry. Harry has tried hard in his work all week and has taken risks in maths and dance. He also worked well with his partner to make up a dance, which he shared confidently with the rest of the class. Well done, Harry. Have fun with Snowy.

Perfectly Purple

What a fun week we have had. All of our learning has been around purple. We brought in lots of purple things for our purple display. 

We started the week by learning how to mix purple. 
You need blue and red. If you want you can put white in it to make lighter, or black to make it darker. Ethan

We used our colour mixing to create different pictures using paint. In our morning activity we used different shades of purple to make a fingerprint rainbow. 
We used our fingertips and a lolly stick to do the lavender. Evie, Jessica and Ross
We sketched an outline of an iris then used a cotton bud to dab paint around and inside the lines. Sam
This is called pointillism. 
We used watercolour pencils to draw a thistle. Harry
We used colouring pencils to draw the inside of a red cabbage. Sophia

In English, we used numbers or bullet points to write a list. We had to think of adjectives to describe the object.

1. soft, dark bag Theo
2. fast car Ben
3. juicy grapes Benedict
4. tasty blackberries Indie

Then, we read the poem "What is pink?" by Christina Rossetti and had a go at writing our own poem called "What is purple?"

Today, we found out that they might stop making purple crayons! Oh no! This made us cross, so we letters explaining why purple should be kept.

I won't be able to draw a rainbow - Beatrice

It is an important colour to the royal family - Mollie

It's a precious colour - Lyla

We wouldn't be able to colour grapes or blackberries - James

In maths, Mrs Turner asked "Which colour is the most popular in Beech Class?" We used a bar chart to find out the answer.

Purple was the most popular colour - Connie

The least popular was yellow. Only one person chose it - Charles

Next week, we will be learning about the UK. Our Home Learning is to find out about one plant or animal that comes from the UK. We can choose a way to record our facts.

This week the Star Award is going to someone who has shown really good listening. He has been able to follow instructions well to do some great work. Well done William H

This week's Learning Owl is someone who has tried hard with all their work. She has looked carefully at the objects she has been drawing and used her sounds well in her writing. Well done Zaina! Have a great weekend with Snowy. 

Stick Man

This week, we have been doing work about Stick Man. We read the story and acted it out, before trying to write some of it by ourselves. We had to remember capital letters, fingers spaces, does it make sense and full stops. We tried to use some wow words too.


We also drew self portraits.
We look in the mirror and draw our own faces. Tom
It was a bit hard but I kept looking in the mirror. Grace
It really made me think because you have to look in the mirror carefully. Sam
I found it a bit tricky to draw my nose. The first time, I drew it the wrong shape, but I looked in the mirror and improved my drawing. Poppy


Next week we are starting our Colours of the World topic by looking at purple. We can bring things in for a display.


Work shadowing is happening week beginning 22nd January - grown ups can sign up at the classroom.


The Star Award this week is Georgia- she always works well in a pair or as part of a team. She listens well and takes turns. Well done Georgia.


Our Learning Owl this week is Evie. Well done, Evie, you have tried really hard with all of your learning this week, especially your amazing self portrait. Well done, Have a great weekend with Snowy.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!
We have had 2 days back at school - we reminded ourselves of the Golden and class rules. We also talked about what makes a good talk partner.
Today, we have been writing recounts of something we did in the holidays. We thought about good opening phrases:
On my birthday - Mollie
Finally, after a long day it was time for the New Year's Eve party- James
On New Year's Eve I went - Lucas
On Boxing Day - Ross
In the holidays- Sophia

We need to remember to bring our PE kits in, and to do our Home Learning about what we did over Christmas.