Geography

Using switches and going Greek!

Catkins

The children in catkins have been really busy this week writing letters for people around the school. Check out their fantastic writing.

Year 1 and 2

This week in history we have looked at Mary Anning and the importance of her historical discoveries. The children were very excited to have one of the history boxes from Hampshire history centre come to class and enjoyed exploring the different artefacts. The children made excellent links between artefacts and could explain which source of information was the most important and why. Quite a few future palaeontologists in year 1/2 I think!

Year 3 and 4

Year 3 /4 have been experimenting in science with switches to turn a bulb off and on. They have learnt about conductors and insulators.

In Geography they had to present all the knowledge they have learnt about the production of chocolate from Bean to Bar and the importance of Fairtrade chocolate. Our outcome shows the whole journey of a chocolate bar, from the harvesting of cocoa beans to the nipping down to Tesco Express to buy an emergency bar Miss Evers’s favourite Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate!

This week we have worked hard to publish our books based on the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In our versions, there was a sixth lucky golden ticket winner! All of the characters then visited an extra room in the factory before our new character met a sticky end!

We are very proud of them!

Year 5 and 6

This week, Elm class have gone all GREEK! We have spent time designing and moulding a Greek theatre mask out of paper mache.

In DT, we have been tasting a range of typically Greek foods. Next, we will be creating our own meal based on the food we tasted but the recipes must have a twist! Olives will not be appearing in many meals- these were not a favourite in Elm!

An irresistible curriculum this half term - volcanos, de Vinci and dens!

Our curriculum work has also been largely unaffected and children have achieved some fantastic outcomes. Some of the highlights include: Building a river on the school field, creating exploding volcanoes and puppet making. Inspired by the Year 6 visit to Stubbington, children in Oak and Elm class have been building dens.

Hazel class have been exploring the world through poetry and geography

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Hazel class have enjoyed poetry week this week. Some of the children have been writing their own poems, enjoying some classic poetry about change and listening to some of Mr Reads favourite poems, including "Chocolate Cake" by Michael Rosen.

There have been lots of smiles but also considerate reflections on the messages that the poems have tried to get across to the reader. We have also begun work on our treasure islands with the children enjoying working with mod rock, some for the first time. It has been great to hear the children's imaginations working with them saying how this part contains the secret mine shaft and this part is the misty mountain. We are looking forward to painting them and seeing them come to life.

Today we carried on with our geography, making a map of the world on the carpet. We then used our knowledge of the continents and oceans and where they are positioned to give clues for someone to guess the name of an outline of a continent. The children were using terms such as equator, hemisphere, borders and the compass directions as clues.

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Test them at home, or maybe even get them to test you! 

Bedtime Stories for Key Stage 1

Well - what an amazing week Year 1 and 2 have had!

The children are loving their new topic on pirates, titled ‘Does ‘X’ mark the spot?’. They are enthusiastically learning about the continents and oceans of the world, as well as locating the United Kingdom on maps, globes and satellite images, and discussing where we are located in relation to other countries, continents and oceans. 

In maths, we have just finished a unit on addition and subtraction, including practising the rapid and accurate recall of number bonds to 10 and 20. The children have proved their answers in different ways, such as a bar model, part-part-whole and number line. Many children are also using the inverse to check that an answer is correct.

In art, we have planned the 3D Treasure Island maps that we will be making and will be exploring the different materials and fixing that we can use to create the features. The children will build on previously taught skills of colour mixing and brush-work to decorate their work. 

Developing prediction skills, observation of an experiment and the recording of data was the order of the day in science this week, which was set in the context of floating and sinking. 

In RE, the children are learning about Shabbat, and in PSHE, about the value of money, saving, budgeting and keeping of finances. 

To link in with our topic, the children have loved their Guided reading, which has been Pirate themed, including the composition of rhyming sea shanties and translating English into Pirate language.

Many thanks to everyone who came along to the KS1 Bedtime Stories evening on Wednesday; it was a great success and another evening will be planned in for the next half term (date to be advised). 

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We continue to teach phonics, reading and writing through RWI daily. You will see photocopied sheets of speed sounds, green and red words in your child’s book bag each week- these are the words that are in their RWI teaching book- please support your child at home by practising reading and understanding these words. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Year 1 and 2 Team