27th January

I hope you had a good day.

For those Home Learning:

Ask someone to test you on this weeks spellings.

Have a look at the BBC Bitesize about fronted adverbials:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zmwgsk7

and try some of the activities.

For Maths we are continuing with fractions, so have a look at My Maths or continue with those you tried today. Don't forget TTRS!

In the afternoon, we will be discussing some of the parables Jesus told.

Do you know any?

Watch this one and think about the moral:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zsmpvcw

Why do you think he told this story? What did he want us to learn?

Can you find another to watch?

Its the best end to a week - dance! Rock 'n' Roll.

Create your own dance, practise the dance moves or just do your own physical activity.

Have a great day.

Mrs Watts

26th January

I hope you have had a good day.

For those home learning:

Write some sentences about Macbeth using subordinate clauses such as:

When he killed King Duncan, Macbeth felt sick.

Continue with adding and subtracting fractions from today. Look at the 2 links from yesterday and I have added 3 activities to My Maths.

For History, we are continuing Anglo Saxons and you can create a timeline using these facts and dates:

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/saxons/timeline.htm

Write a sentence using Anglo Saxon runes and bring it into school for the display.

Make a brooch from card and bring it in for the display.

Have a good Thursday.

Mrs Watts

25th January

Another great day at school practising grid multiplication and computing with Miss Coyne.

For those Home Learning:

Write a summary of the ending of Macbeth.

Practise your spellings and write sentences using these words.

Read your book.

For Maths we will be adding fractions. Have a look at this link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhdwxnb/articles/z9n4k7h

If you have time, try this or leave it for Thursday:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zmxwqp3/revision/2

In the afternoon it's PE - Joe Wickes workout, Cosmic Kids yoga or create your own physical activity.

Draw another picture using Art Hub for Kids - we drew penguins today.

Have a good evening.

Mrs Watts

24th January

Good to see so many of you back this morning.

For those home learning:

TTRS and My Maths

Read a chapter of a book and write some questions.

Write some questions about reading and interview a family member.

Multiplication - tomorrow we are starting long multiplication so have a look at this website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z8fyhcw

For English - subordinating conjunctions have a look at this website

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrmdqp3

Science - investigating friction

Try testing toy cars on different surfaces or watch this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCJVe8adRUw

Look at Art Hub for kids and choose a picture to draw.

I will put the arithmetic for the week  on here tomorrow.

Mrs Watts

21st January

It has been cold today! 

The new spellings are:

hesitance

hesitancy

relevant

attendance

brilliance

significance

significant

available

according

desperate

The children have been busy writing their character descriptions of Macbeth and this afternoon, they painted the brooches they made yesterday using card and string patterns. They also wrote a message using Anglo Saxon runes - I hope to display this work in the classroom. 

I hope to see you all back on Monday, if you are well enough.

Have a good weekend.

Mrs Watts

20th January,

Hello Elephants. I hope you have had a good day.

Remember that these activities for Home Learning are for those who are feeling well and able to work; the most important thing is to rest and recover so you can return to school.

Friday tomorrow so here are a selection of activities you can do that links to what we will be doing:

• ask someone to test you on this weeks spellings, even if you haven't had the opportunity to learn them 
• write a character description of Macbeth at the end of the play, after Lady Macbeth has died, or choose a different character such as Lady Macbeth or a witch 
• write some calculations using Roman Numerals 

                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49oWYxExWKE

• TTRS and My Maths activities
• find 3 new words you don't know and find their meaning
• dancing around the room- practise hand jive, electric slide and the twist
• Joe Wickes workout, Cosmic Kids yoga or your own idea
• write a 6 line poem about Love 
• Art hub for kids doughnut stack

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xVBD_lCygM

•  Create a wordsearch using words about your favourite subject or hobby

    Have a good weekend and hope to see you back in the classroom soon.

    Mrs Watts

19th January

Hello Elephants,

Here are some ideas for home learning on Thursday.

We are doing a calculation lesson tomorrow which is subtraction; we are going to be subtracting 6 digit numbers. Why not create some of your own numbers to subtract - you could use a dice or a pack of cards to generate numbers.

There is a quiz on this link for addition and subtraction:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3gnm39

In English, we have been using relative clauses in our writing.

Have a look at this link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z6g98xs

There are some activities to do.

Practise your handwriting by using a pen to copy this weeks spellings and write sentences using these words.

In the afternoon, we will be continuing the Anglo Saxons and finding out which countries they came from.

http://www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/saxons/where.html

Write some facts from this page to answer the question about where they came from.

We will do some My Maths and TTRS on the Ipads too.

Do you want to create an origami snapper on Art hub for kids?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybKPN9vNlHc

It's also singing but I'm sure you can sing a song of your choice!

Have a great day.

Mrs Watts

18th January

Hello Elephants.

I hope you have had a good day and been able to attempt some of the tasks I included yesterday.

You will see I have included arithmetic for this week so you can do those calculations too.

Challenge yourself for the last 2.

You will notice I have included Roman Numerals; can you find out which numbers the letters represent?

We have continued with fractions and are looking at mixed numbers and improper fractions tomorrow. Have a look at this link and have a go at the quiz:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhdwxnb/articles/zxcfjty

Football fractions looks like fun with Gary Lineker.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhdwxnb/articles/zyrj7ty

We have watched all the Macbeth clips now and we will be comparing his character at the start of the book with his character at the end.

Can you find some facts about William Shakespeare and some of his other works (books, plays)?

Do you remember how to make a paper helicopter? We made them last Monday.

Can you investigate different sizes or even try to create your own design?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vk-gXwHDSM

We even thought about colour and pattern to see what happens when they spin.

It's PE tomorrow, so why not try a Joe Wickes workout or a Cosmic Kids yoga session.

I have chosen a Dalmatian puppy for you to draw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dsR7YrH84Q

Don't forget TTRS and My Maths and keep reading for fun!

Have a good Wednesday.

Mrs Watts

16th January

Here are some activities for you to do for home learning:

Watch the Macbeth clips and write a character description for Macbeth and another character.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/english-ks2-macbeth/zdt42sg

My Maths has some tasks for fractions which we are covering this week as well as shape from last week. There are other activities to do as well. Don't forget TTRS - we are focussing on the 4 times table this week.

Today, we made parachutes - you can try to make them from plastic bags.

https://babbledabbledo.com/how-to-make-a-paper-parachute-toy-based-on-nature/

You can find some facts about the Anglo Saxons and Vikings or a topic of your own choosing.

http://primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/

Try and draw a snowman snow globe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeYJAGqmNs4  

Take care.

Mrs Watts 

15th January 

It has been a busy week with a great dance lesson to end the week. We learnt the electric slide, which they can teach you, and why not show them one of your own Rock 'n' Roll moves.

In Maths, we have been looking at 2-D and 3-D shapes and I was impressed with the number of new words they have learnt this week. We are continuing to study the text of Macbeth and we have been watching the animation clips; I am also reading them the story. They seem to be enjoying the text and they thought of some interesting adjectives to describe Macbeth. 

In Science, we made some paper helicopters and then thought of our own question to investigate and then made some to test. Elephants are doing computing with Miss Coyne this term and they are busy making a model to program. 

The drama workshop was fun and they participated in several activities including parking a car, which was their partner!  In History, we continued the Anglo Saxons and discussed why the Romans left the UK and what they left us. Next week, we are going to design a brooch to make.

Please encourage your child to find out some facts about Anglo Saxons.

In RE, we have been discussing Jesus's mission and what that means in the modern world.

There are plenty of tasks for them to do on My Maths and TTRS. Please continue to hear them read and learn their spellings.

decode

deactivate

decontaminate

demystify

detoxify

deformed

dehydrate

deconstruct

environment

stomach

Looking forward to another busy week.

Mrs Watts

9th January 2022

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to a new year and a new term.

I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year. It was a shock getting up in the dark again!

We have had a good first week and the children have been working hard and seemed focused on learning.

Last week, we did grammar work before starting Macbeth this week. In Maths, we did rounding and number sequences and we are going to start our Science topic of Forces.

Our new History topic is Anglo Saxons and Vikings and we already started researching some facts about them.

In PE, which will be Wednesday and Friday afternoons, we are doing Rock 'n' Roll so start practising your hand jive!

The spellings for this week are:

disagree

disobey

disable

disregard

disrupt

disappointing

disappear

disadvantage

temperature

interrupt

 and they will be tested on Friday.

Please continue to read with your child and record in their reading records. They then need to hand their reading records in on a Friday. 

Please encourage your child to do TTRS and My Maths.

This week, we will hopefully have a drama workshop which I am looking forward to.

Looking forward to a good term.

Mrs Watts

11th December,

Only 4 days left. The term seems to have flown by.

We have been learning about angles, and looking at newspaper reports. In Science we mixed vinegar with bicarbonate of soda - wow is all I can say! We then inflated a balloon by mixing the same 2 substances. We then investigated custard powder and water which became a solid and a liquid! There was a lot of enthusiasm for Science that afternoon!

Using publisher, the children created Christmas cards and I need to print a couple of them. We even had time to create a bouncy snowman and draw an elf on a shelf.

We had the last Health Squad session and we are looking forward to celebrating this at Ashton Gate next Tuesday morning. 

It's still spellings as normal but the test will be on Thursday.

innocent

decency

confidence

obedience

independent

independence

frequent

frequency

existence

excellent

Have a great Christmas and New Year.

Mrs Watts

4th December 2021

At last, it's December and time for advent. This week, we created our own advent window for the classroom and have opened the first 3 days. 

We had a Christmas Science Day on Thursday and the children needed to make a pulley system to raise Santa's toys. I was impressed with how hard they worked on their investigations and used Newton Meters to test their 'loads' (weights in the bottom of a plastic bottle). A group of children even planted trees in Windsor Park.

In Maths, we have learnt about square, cube and prime numbers. We completed our diaries in English and have been drawing 5 and 6 point stars. This week's spellings are:

observant

vacancy

tolerance

brilliance

finance

importance

hesitancy

elegant

nuisance

hindrance 

We have a very busy 2 weeks coming up with lots of fun Christmas activities and a visit to Ashton Gate on the 14th December. Next week, we will have our last sessions with Rosie and Phil as part of the Health Squad activities.

Don't forget to find those Christmas jumpers at the back of the wardrobe ready for the 10th December.

Have a great week.

Mrs Watts 

28th November

Wow! What a week! I was so impressed with their attitude towards the assessments this week and then we had the trip on Friday. 

On Thursday afternoon, we ate bugs! They tried flavoured crickets as part of our English work linked to the book 'The Explorer'. There was a mixed reaction at first but quite a few then wanted some more; this led to a great piece of diary writing! Thank you to Mrs Popel who found where to buy these interesting bugs.

For Science, we were separating materials using sieves and then tried to separate sand and water through the use of filter paper. This was then useful for Friday as we saw what happens at the treatment works. She explained how the water we drink is treated so it is safe for us to drink. We also went for a nature walk around the reservoir and my group saw a heron. We also visited the nearby stream where they measured the current, had a cork race and of course waded through the water. 

It was a brilliant day despite being stuck in traffic and it taking 2 hours on the return journey. Thank you to Mrs Popel for organising the trip and thank you to the parents and carers who waited patiently when we returned. 

This Thursday it is Science Day so we will be taking part in some Christmas investigations and of course Wednesday is the start of Advent so it's time to open those calendars.

The spellings are:

brought

bought

nought

ought

fought

sought

thought

wrought

Government

frequently

I look forward to another great week of learning.

Mrs Watts

19th November

It's Children in Need Day. It was great to see so many dressed up today!

It's been so busy this week. We went to the cinema on Tuesday to see Abominable, photos on Wednesday and the Old Vic came in to perform a Christmas show on Thursday afternoon.

In Maths, we have been learning about perimeter and area and in English we have started to write diaries. In Science, they carried out their own fair test to investigate the absorbency of some materials.

As we are going on a trip next Friday, the spelling test will be on Thursday instead.

These are the spellings:

through

borough

furlough

dough

thoroughly

doughy

sincerely

language

apparent

accommodate

Next Friday (26th November) we are going on a school trip to the Wessex Water site near Bridgewater as part of our Geography topic.

This will be a great opportunity to do some fieldwork skills as well as learning how we use water.
As we will be taking some river samples and going on a nature walk, it is really important that children wear appropriate clothing. They will get muddy and wet so they need to wear old clothes you don't mind getting wet and muddy!

Ashford Centre have sent the following equipment list:

• suitable outdoor clothing for wind, rain, sun, storm

• Wellington boots to wear in the river

• Spare pair of trainers/shoes to wear on the return coach trip - although these will probably be the ones they wear to school that day

• packed lunch

• drinks in cartons or containers (no glass bottles and preferably no single use plastic)

• No money – there is nothing to buy!!!

We are due to leave at 2:15 pm and hopefully we will be back in time for the end of school. If we are not, we will let the school know and you will be contacted.
Let me know if you have any questions.

We will be doing assessments in the mornings - reading, Maths, spelling, SPaG and arithmetic. The trip will be a great end to a busy week.

Mrs Watts

13th November

Great to see the sun is shining and it's quite warm. Lovely day for walking in a park and kicking the leaves!

This week, the children have been learning about fractions and seemed quite confident about the work. In English, they wrote their stories yesterday and included speech, fronted adverbials and adjectives; I was really impressed how focussed they were and Mrs Drake popped in to see their writing too and was pleased with their work.

For reading, we read and discussed the poem Flanders Fields and then observed the 2 minute silence at 11am on Thursday. We are continuing with investigating materials in Science and tested the absorbency of papers on Monday. They had PE with the coach and continued their basketball skills with Phil Friday afternoon.

Also, Rosie talked to them about how different parts of their brains work.

Spellings this week:

cough

rough

tough

enough

trough

plough

although

doughnut

develop

restaurant

Please continue to read with your child at least 5 times a week and encourage them to do My Maths and TTRS every week.

I still have some appointment times left for Parent's Evening next Tuesday and Thursday and it can be online or via a phone call if you prefer. Please let me know via Class Dojo or even at the classroom door. Thank you.

Off to the cinema Tuesday!

Mrs Watts

5th November

It's Bonfire Night!

I can't believe it is Friday already! The week has gone so quickly and it has been busy!

In English, we are writing dialogue linked to the book we are reading, The Explorer. They are already using different words for said and remembering how to use inverted commas. 

In Maths, we have been rounding numbers and using negative numbers.

We had a talk from Andy who explored, with the children, different ways to reduce air pollution and they are now busy creating posters for the competition. In Geography, we have been discussing river pollution. 

They also took part in a dance lesson Wednesday afternoon, which they enjoyed.

Friday afternoon, Rosie talked to them about the benefits of exercise and then Phil led the basketball coaching. A great way to end a busy week!   

Spellings for this week:

ridiculous

serious

marvellous

conscious

famous

jealous

cautious

spacious

classify

justify

Tuesday 16th November and Thursday 18th November are Parent's Evenings from

3:40pm-6pm.

This time, it will be online. The sessions will be 10 minutes long. Can you please contact me about the day and approximate time that is convenient for you and I will confirm a time for you nearer the time. Thank you. If you prefer, I can ring you instead.

If these dates are not convenient, let me know and we can arrange a different date and time.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Mrs Watts

2nd November 2021

Welcome back to Term 2.

I hope you had an enjoyable half term break together.

It's back to work straight away with lots of fun activities this week too.

PE will now be a Thursday morning with the PE coach and on Friday afternoons, so your child can wear their PE clothes on those days - it's very likely to be outdoors.

Tomorrow afternoon, the children will be participating in a drumming workshop and they will have an Air, Land and Sea workshop in the morning. 

Please continue to read with your child at least 5 times a week and record this in their reading records which are handed in on a Friday.

Spellings will continue to be tested on a Friday so they need to bring their spelling books in on that day. This week they are Statutory words:

frequently

hindrance

nuisance

restaurant

occasionally

thorough

experiment

various

business

knowledge

TTRS and My Maths are activities that can be done online so they can keep those skills 'ticking over'.

Let's hope this term will be fun but also with lots of learning.

Mrs Watts

24th October 2021

It's half term and I hope the weather will be better than it was today!

We had a great last week and hopefully they enjoyed Friday afternoon with cakes, activities and time outside. Congratulations to all those who won the raffle or received a certificate.

The children wrote their reports on the River Amazon and drew a line graph to show temperature.

I was impressed with how quickly they could draw a line graph on their own. We used the sketch books for the first time and created a river picture using pastels and finally got all the apparatus out in the hall for gymnastics.

Times table rockstars has no time limit as it is the holidays and there are activities on My Maths to do. Please encourage your child to read over the holidays, including any books they have at home or from the library.

Have a fun week and a safe Halloween.

See you in Term 2.

Mrs Watts

17/10/21

Last week of term! It's still work as normal though!

They have 30 class points so we need to decide how we are going to celebrate this on Friday;

we can decide tomorrow. 

In English, they will be writing a non-chronological report for the River Amazon; they have enjoyed finding out facts about the Amazon and they wrote some great sentences using fronted adverbials.

In Maths, we will be drawing and reading line graphs. Last Tuesday, I put a thermometer in the bushes and read the temperature every hour so we could use this information for a line graph. I thought one of the children was going to remove as it was white!

I hope we can finish our pastel pictures of Monet's work which will look great on display.

Spellings:

treasure

measure

pressure

picture

mixture

structure

fixture

secure

In Science we will be dissolving liquids and completing our gymnastics unit by using the equipment in the hall.

Let's hope we have a great final week. Don't forget the school disco!

Mrs Watts

10/10/21

Only 2 weeks until the end of term; it's whizzed by.

We completed our setting descriptions linked to the River Nile on Friday and will be continuing multiplication and division this week. Don't forget there are some linked activities on My Maths - if your child has lost their login details, please let me know.

We have started investigating the properties of materials in Science and looked at the artist Claude Monet, especially his work that depicts river scenes. We had a great discussion about his paintings and then used pastels to create our own. I was very impressed with their first attempts, especially their blending of colours.

Here are their spellings for this week:

environment

government

parliament

development

science

conscience

convenience

existence

excellent

especially

Please continue to hear your child regularly and remind them to do TTRS and Reading Eggs regularly as it does make a real difference to their confidence in school.

Thank you.

1/10/21

I can't believe it's October already!

It was great to see so many of you on Wednesday for 'meet the teacher' and thank you to all those who keep in contact via Class Dojos.

This week we have been writing expanded noun phrases about the River Nile. The children enjoyed tracing the journey of the river from Rwanda to the Mediterranean Sea. We also had a great discussion about flooding and in Maths, we continued with addition and subtraction. 

It was great to see so many doing TTRS and Reading Eggs this week; I'm glad they are enjoying working online. I will now set some more My Maths homework for them to do.

Please continue to hear your child read and remind your child to bring their books in every day so we can hear them read too.

Can you please remind your child to bring in their spelling books every Friday so they can do their test and have the next weeks spellings stuck in?

Spellings:

obsession

persuasion

explosion

extension

discussion

permission

confession

profession

apparent

restaurant

Looking forward to another week of learning.

25/9/21

What a great week we have had. They wrote persuasive letters yesterday and I was really impressed with their concentration and quality of writing. They painted their river models on Thursday which show the journey of the river from source to mouth. 

They have now got their Reading Eggs logins so they can get cracking!

Continue with TTRS and My Maths homework.

Please make sure you sign their Reading records every time you hear them read; they can read to you whilst you are cooking or washing-up.

Congratulations to the 3 pupils who represented the school at Mad Olympiad on Thursday afternoon.

It's the Learning Detectives election on Tuesday afternoon so I hope they are busy preparing their speeches.

Don't forget it's Meet the Teacher on Wednesday after school so I'm looking forward to meeting you.

These are the spellings ready for Friday's test:

musician

magician

politician

technician

invention

detention

caption

creation

imagine

important

Looking forward to another great week of learning.

17/9/21

Another amazing week. They are now in a routine for morning work.

We have been learning about modal verbs and we read the book 'How to live forever' which made them question whether they would like to live forever.  

In the calculation lesson, we were multiplying 3 digit numbers by 1 digit and they worked hard on their presentation.

Thank you to all those who sent in boxes. The children have started creating their river models using papier mache; a messy activity!

I hope your child has been able to log on to TTRS and My Maths and I hope to send their Reading Eggs logins home next week.

Don't forget spelling tests are on Fridays and Reading Records are also collected in Fridays.

Looking forward to another week of learning.

Mrs Watts

Spellings for next week:

refresh

reignite

reunite

overdue

overjoy

overcrowded

detour

decode

build

guide

10.9.21

What a brilliant first week we have had!

We have done so much work and fun activities - you should see some of their work on display already!

The children have settled into a routine already and have started to present their work neatly in their new books.

Spellings will be given out Friday and tested the following Friday. 

Week 1

misbehave

mistype

mistaken

misplace

disappear

disappoint

disobey

discontinue

believe

breath

Homework. Children will be expected to do at least 25 minutes of TTRS a week and 2 activities on My Maths. They will also be expected to read at least 5 times a week.

Thank you for your support. Please let me know if there is anything I can help with.

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Watts

Hello Elephants.

My name is Mrs Watts and I taught Year 4 when Mrs Johnson was on maternity leave and Year 5 the previous year as a Job Share. I covered several classes as a supply teacher this year.

I am so excited about being back to teach Elephants. We are very lucky to have Mrs Woodward and Mrs Baker-Haynes still working with us too.

Attached is a curriculum map to show what we will be learning in Term1; I hope you find it useful to know what is being taught.

PE will be on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, starting this week, and most importantly, we will be swimming in Term 4 even though Rhinos will be swimming in Term 1.

Reading books will be chosen on Monday and log in details for TTRS, My Maths and Reading Eggs will be sent home soon. Spellings will be given out on Fridays.

I know we will have a wonderful and busy term 1 and I can't wait to start!

If there is anything you want to ask, feel free to have a chat with one of us at the start or end of the day.

Mrs Watts