Term 6 week 1 learning update:

A brilliant first week back after half term. We enjoyed sports day on Thursday afternoon taking part in different events that we had been practising during PE lessons. Today we had our first swimming lesson with coaches Sasha and Nick. They got everyone swimming on our backs with pool noodle floats under our arms. It was wonderful to watch Lion Class in the water. They enjoyed it immensely. 

In English we read a new book called Meet the Ocean by Caryl Hart (https://youtu.be/uIGR8pLOh2I?feature=shared) It describes the wonders of the ocean's creatures and landscapes deep under the water. We're using it to write descriptions of the ocean ourselves. 

In Maths we studied measure in length, capacity and mass/weight. We reminded ourselves how many grams in a kilogram, how many centimetres in a metre etc. Then used this information to compare different measures and to read scales. 

On Friday afternoon we finally completed the first step of making our cardboard castles. Some lions said it looked similar to Chepstow Castle that we visited! Next week we will paint them then we will send them home. 

Next week on Thursday 13th June we will be walking to the MAD Olympiad sports morning of activities at Pomphrey Hill. 

Lion Class need to be at school for 8.15 so we can walk there ready for the parade at 9am. Thank you for your support with this. It is a fantastic event to be a part of with other local schools taking part. Children will need a water bottle and ideally a packed lunch in case we are late back to school. 

Week 2 Update:

Apologies, but this didn't save on the weekend so I have retyped it!

What a great week we had again in week 2!

In maths, we completed our unit linked to measures and used our understanding of place value, comparing and ordering to complete various tasks.

In English we completed our setting description linked to our text "Meet the Oceans" and included a range of noun phrases and sentence types.

Science, we looked at different animal groups and the characteristics of those groups. We then sorted animals into the different groups.

We also finished making our castles and painted then too - they look AMAZING and have made their way home this week to you all!

And obviously, who can forget the MAD Olympaid! What a morning! It was slightly cold and windy but a fun packed morning of different events! All the children took part and we were very proud of them!

This week has started off well and we look forward to updating you later in the week!
 

Week 3 learning update

It has been so nice to see the sunshine this week. Lion Class have really enjoyed their playtimes and eating their packed lunches outside on the playground under the canopy. Like a picnic with friends. 

In English this week we've been writing about the 5 different oceans using subheadings to organise our writing. We wrote Did you know...? questions using the facts we learned. 

In Maths this week we studied money again and did lots of counting mixed coins. This requires a lot of thought as children need to remember the value of each coin and then use their mental arithmetic skills to add up the total. We encouraged children to start with the largest value coins first. If you can get some real coins out for shop play or get out into real shops extra practice would be great. 

In Geography we looked at photos of Kenya in comparison to photo of England and London. We talked about why tourists would visit both places but for different reasons. We learned that Kenya is on the equator line so it has a hot climate. 

I'm so proud of how confident children are becoming in the swimming pool on Fridays. Everyone is trying their best and coaches Nick, Sasha and Mrs Gibbs are very pleased with how they're getting on. 

Week 4 update:

Well, yet another week has flown by!

We hope you enjoyed INSET day on Monday and managed to get out somewhere nice and have some fun!

In Maths, we looked at time and focussed on minutes in an hour and hours in a day and then also covered the months of the year too.

In English we continued with our work linked to fact files and oceans and thought about noun phrases to add extra detail to our factual sentences. Our unit of work then saw us complete our own fact files linked to the ocean.

In PE we continued with our basic tennis skills (a sport I love!) and also continued to work on our swimming skills. Polite reminder that PE is part of the national curriculum and therefore all children should be taking part where possible. Thank you so much!

Mrs G continued with our RE learning and basic French skills that pretty much sums up our week!

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend so far and good luck to the football fans out there for Sunday!

See you all on Monday!

Week 5 learning update:

We are super proud of Lion Class this week because we've now finished our end of term and end of year assessments. Reports will be emailed out soon. 

We completed a 2 reading comprehension assessments where children had to read a text then answer questions about it. They would have to tick a box or copy a word from the text. Reading comprehension is a complex skill that children will practice all through their time at school. Reading together at home and talking about the book helps a lot. 

We also completed a grammar, punctuation and spelling test. We had a test of 20 spellings we've been learning this year. This will allow us to see how much they've remembered and we'll pass on that information to their next teacher Mrs Garland. 

We did a maths assessment in both arithmetic and reasoning/problem solving. The reasoning paper was trickier because children had to carefully check each question to work out which of their calculation strategies to use to solve it. 

Wednesday was an exciting day. Lions went up to Year 3 to spend the day with their new teacher Mrs Garland. Teaching assistants Ms Davies and Ms White will also be helping out in Alligator Class in the mornings. Some of the children came back to see me at lunchtime to say how much fun they were having. Now they can look forward to September and starting Year 3. You can see photos of Mrs Garland, Ms Davies and Ms White on the staff page of the school website.  

Next week is science week. There will be experiments, using telescopes, building a construction in the hall and testing out boats! Science lead Miss Sparkes has done an amazing job organising it.

Thursday 3.15 parents are invited into the school hall to see what we've been building and also to help with the demolition which sounds fun! Something your children will enjoy being a part of.

Week 6 Update:

WOW! What an excellent week we have had in Lion Class!

As you will be aware, we have taken part in Science week this week - and what fun we had!

Monday started with us finding out that the theme for British Science Week is time. We looked at a non-fiction text all about this and found out more about this special week. Then we worked on our Science Week themed posters and a winner from each class will be announced on Monday. In the afternoon, we also continued with our PSHE learning linked to "changing me" so you might hear some scientific words from your child linked to their body.

Tuesday, we had an interactive lesson from an outside Science specialist! He showed them an experiment called "Elephants Toothpaste", also an exploding experiment before finishing with making their very own slime to keep and take home - lucky you, hey!?

Wednesday we took part in the Kapla Building challenge and our class created a castle - perfect link to our previous History topic too. The children were focused and careful and had excellent listening skills!

Thursday was their science investigation linked to floating and sinking - I hear that this was good fun indeed and then today ended with swimming and the Bird Man. 

What a week!

We plan on collecting in reading books on the Friday as we obviously will only have two more days left after that sadly.

Have a lovely weekend all and we cannot wait to see you on Monday!