Friday 22nd - 2.30pm Class Zoom Call

We are hosting a class Zoom catch up at 2.30 pm on Friday for all Elephants. 

Code will be on Seesaw to join us. 

Miss Cripps

Week 3 Remote Learning 

We will keep the same time table as last week and we tweaking the lessons all the time to try and get the best from them, sorry it is a bit of a learning curve. 

Please remember Seesaw is the best way to keep up with our learning - we are doing the same lessons in school and on Seesaw so these are matched and keep to the same format as school. 

Obviously home learning can be hard but please remind your child that they complete these lessons every week in school so they are not really very different. If you are have issues please email me to let me know. 

Again some days are tougher than others (parent of 2 here) so I really do get how tricky it can be.  However, please do try to do Maths and English if possible on Seesaw, we are marking every day and it is a nice way to keep in touch with the class. 

Please do email me katy.cripps@barleyclose.org.uk if you need anything and also we are ringing round each week. This could be me or one of the team as we are all in class as well so it can be a juggle. 

Stay safe and well, 

Miss Cripps

Week 2 Remote Learning Time Table 

We hope you are all staying safe and well and please remember we are here if you need us. Please do email and we will do our best to support you at this tricky time. 

I hope you are all rested and ready for week 2 of remote learning! 

Sorry things are 100% smooth yet, it is a learning process for all of us. We have to provide you will lots of lessons but please just do your best. We are following things closely to what we do in school so the children should be very used to the format and structure of the lessons. Again its tricky times so your best is good enough for us! 

Welcome to our timetable for this week of remote learning.

This will give you some support on how to structure your school learning day and information on where and what type the lessons are.

The video lessons will be recorded by either Mrs Popel, Miss Cripps or Mr Moore.

Work is marked and commented on by Mrs Williams (Elephant Class TA) Miss Cripps, Mrs Popel and some of our SEND TA's so the children can remember us all! 

Thanks for your support and lovely messages, lets all get through this in one piece! 

Team Year 5 

Remote Learning - Friday 

What a busy week!

I hope you have been enjoying my maths videos - we are recording in class and hope they help everyone to feel like more of class still. It is great to see your videos, work, pictures etc on Seesaw, please do get on there so we can still see you! 

Work Volume

I know it is hard to get through everything, completely understand that your child might not want to do work. I have two children myself so I get it! 

However, we need to keep learning going and give the children every chance to learn. 

If you need to prioritise, then English and Maths and then insist on normal home work of Reading Eggs (or reading a book at home for at least 15 minutes) and Time Tables Rockstars. 

If you can't get to a Seesaw task and they are stacking up, then send them back blank, to clear them down. We will try to clear down on a sunday night so new tasks appear for the week. 

Do your best and do say that I am waiting to see their work, I do mark and comment every day so it is a really social and nice way to stay in touch as well. 

We have made it through week 1, well done! 

Miss seeing you all 

Miss Cripps

Remote Learning - Day 1

I managed to get Seesaw up and running while being in class, so we are really pleased. It's all a bit of a learning curve with the video lessons but hopefully they are helpful. 

Please do log on to SeeSaw so your child is still getting their social and school work. 

Let me know if you don't have the code or are having any problems. 

It's a good way to keep learning going, remember reading eggs and times table rockstars to keep those minds working hard. 

Stay Safe, Miss Cripps

PS please email me with any problems so we can help asap

TERM 3 - Urgent Remote Learning 

So it looks like some remote learning time for us for the moment. 

We will be using SeeSaw, Times Tables Rockstars and Reading Eggs. Please contact me if you don't have the codes to log in please contact your class teacher via email asap. 

Year 5 Timetable

Welcome to our timetable for this week of remote learning.

This will give you some support on how to structure your school learning day and information on where and what type the lessons are.

The video lessons will be recorded by either Mrs Popel, Miss Cripps or Mr Moore.

We hope this is helpful and will get us into the swing of remote learning. 

Miss Cripps 

Parents Evening

It is parents evening this week, a bit different to normal as either on the phone or on zoom. 

You should have an email from me to confirm your time and contact method, let me know if not. 

If you haven't booked yet also let me know so we can arrange a time. Currently the unshaded slots are free. 

Spellings for test on the 20th Nov

10 spellings: famous, dangerous, outrageous, ominous, advantageous, herbivorous, carnivorous, adventurous, courageous. 

6 spellings: famous, dangerous, courageous, herbivorous, carnivorous, adventurous

Week 2 Round up

Another busy week in Elephants with lots going on! 

We made a gratitude tree this week, by all writing things we are grateful for on a leaf and adding to our tree. We are all really enjoying spending time with our families and the slower pace outside school at the moment. We also wrote three good things that have happened this week on Friday. We have had a great week! 

Our writing has shown a massive improvement this week, with so much determination from the class. Inspired by Shackleton's Journey and his family motto "By Endurance We Conquer" we have really put so much effort in this week and it really shows. Next we are doing to write a diary entry to show all our learning and empathy. 

In maths we tackled Fractions, we aren't there yet but we have another block of fractions in a week or two. If your child mentions finding it really hard please check out My Maths and complete the fractions lessons so they have a good back ground. 

Reminder that homework is Reading Eggpress for at least 40 minutes a week, Times Table Rockstars and spelling practise. You can do my maths on top as extra if needed. If you read at home then let me know and I can add this your child's information for the week. 

Thanks again for all your support, looking forward to catching up with everyone on Parents Evening - even if remotely. 

Miss Cripps

Week 1 All Done! 

We had a good first week back in school after half term, it seems like we have never been away! 

The children were all a bit concerned over the lockdown, I know we all feel like this. Such strange times. We have started a lockdown countdown, of mindful uplifting things to do each day of the new lockdown. This really helped everyone have a space to talk and some things to look forward to. We have started a class playlist of happy songs and are adding them as we go. So far it is like a strange wedding reception sound track but it is lots of fun and there is some dancing, strange faces at music from the olden days but mainly lots of smiles! It is on spotify and called Elephant Class Lockdown Countdown Happy Songs if you fancy a Saturday night kitchen disco you can check it out! 

We also made toes this week!!! 

We have been looking a Shackleton's journey and thinking about frostbite on our toes. We make some sketches and then used Moc Roc (plaster soaked bandages similar to those used when you have a broken bone) and made a cast of our toes. Next step is to paint them purple and black to show the frostbite. This was so much fun and there are some funny pictures. It was a busy, funny, wonderful afternoon. Our toes are in the window at the moment if you get a chance to see and I will post some photos of the whole process once we have the finished toes. 

Parents evening slots are still available, new chart of free slots below. These can be on zoom if you want to be face to face or a phone call if you are happy with that. So please don't worry about apps etc, I can just ring you if that works for you. If the dates and times don't work, again let me know and we can sort out another time, I would just love to catch up. 

Hope you enjoy your first lockdown weekend, I am trying to enjoy not having lots of sports with my children (we normally have about 8 hours of sports at the weekend) and no muddy boots or wet swim kit to deal with! Always a bright side somewhere! Stay safe and well and please know we are doing all we can to keep Elephants happy and learning in class. 

Miss Cripps

Spellings

Here are the spellings for Friday's test: 

10 spellings:  measure, treasure, enclosure, pleasure, closure, pressure, reassure, ensure, leisure, insure

6 spellings: measure, treasure, enclosure, pleasure, closure, which

Class Dojo

Some other classes are using this for communication. I have added us and the children as a class if you want to use to communicate with me rather than email. I do check email all the time, I can't say I will be on class dojo all the time. If you need me please email and I can call you after school/lunch time or call the office and they can email me to call. We are limited now in school with the distancing and masks etc so communication face to face is a bit more difficult to try and keep everyone safe. Hopefully you all feel you can contact me if you need to, but this is set up if we need it. 

Here is the link https://www.classdojo.com/invite/?c=C6J8KUA

I would imagine, a bit like Seesaw it will be more important if we have any remote learning that needs to take place. 

English 

This term we are reading Shackleton's Journey all about this famous Explorer's trip to the Antarctic. 

There is so much online about this amazing book and the journey that the crew took. You can find documentaries, stories and even a Go Jetters episode. The children love the animals of the polar regions as well so lots of writing opportunities here. 

We will be making Frostbite toes to help us understand what the crew went through - if the children say the need clean feet, its true! I did say wash your feet as we will use MocRoc plaster bandage to make our toes. I might wear gloves! 

We will also be using Google expeditions to explore the South Pole in class. 

Maths 

MyMaths is all update to with the topics we are covering in class. These are all dated to appear the week we are covering them in class. Just incase you have trouble finding them, the list is below.

Week 1 - Rounding and Negative numbers

Week 2 - Fractions 

Week 3 - Multiplication and division

Week 4 - Statistics 

Week 5 - Fractions (round 2!) 

Week 6 - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Week 7 - geometry 

If you end up out of class or off, please use mymaths to support your children's learning at home. It is great for re-capping as well. 

Parents Evening

I asked all the children to remind you today to email in so we can get these booked in. 

Currently I have the "unshaded" slots left, so please email me to book one. Thanks 

Term 2

It will be great to see Elephant class again tomorrow! 

Term 2 already, I don't know where the time goes, it is always a busy term so a few reminders to get us going. 

PE - We are now Monday and Thursday for PE kit. We have the PE coach on Thursday for Tag Rugby which we will be doing all term. The weather is going to be wet and cold as the term goes on so please make sure we have school uniform PE kits on. 

Homework

Reading - This is via Reading Eggspress. We check to see what the children have done each week. They need to be on for at least 45 minutes per week completing lessons, not just playing games. The books are banded and the children should be aiming to reach 140 plus for year 5 reading. Let me know if you have any issues with the system. If you are reading books at home, for at least 45 minutes or 4 times a week then please email me to let me know so I can add to the record keeping. 

Spelling - These are tested each week on a Friday and should be practised at home as much as possible. Use the read, cover, write, check, correct approach or use a app to test the children. You can look for sound and word patterns and talk about any spelling rules. 

Maths - Children have access to Times Tables Rock Stars and this is a great way of getting these key facts instantly recalled. Children can also access MyMaths, this has lesson to match what we are doing in class that week so children can practise at home. 

If you are missing passwords and logons please let me know via email. 

Parents evening

As below, please email me to book an appointment. 

Thanks have a great Sunday and see you tomorrow. 

Miss Cripps

Parents Evening 

You can book these directly with me via email Katy.Cripps@barleyclose.org.uk 

I am doing any afternoon/early even time that week, via Zoom. Just let me know when is good for you and I will book you a slot. 

Thanks Miss Cripps. 

Spellings

For Thursday 

10 spellings - invention, division, permission, action, decision, politician, occasion, admission, competition, musician. 

6 spellings - division, action, competition, musician, decision, permission

Other - with, people, because, who, been, which

Week ending 16th October 

A great but busy week in school and the tiredness of getting back into school after the shutdown is starting to show. Please try and encourage some self care for the children with early nights, healthy food and lots of down time. We still have next week to go and with all the talk of Covid circuit breakers etc it adds to our anxiety and stress levels so all take some time to look after yourselves. 

This week in maths we covered Telling the Time - this is a skill lots of the children or not secure on. They need to be able to use a clock face and tell the time to the minute. If your child isn't sure then please use MyMaths to help fill this gap and practise at home as much as you can. A great half term activity is to make a time table of your days and use a clock face to work out timings. You can extend by adding in durations (how long does something take) and 24 hour clocks. 

In English we are looking at relative pronouns to add a relative clause. The pronouns are who, which, whom, whose, that and they could be used in a sentence such as Peter, who lived in a library, was searching for a special book. This one is based on our class book How to Live Forever. 

Next week we are going to try to take it gently, remember Friday is an inset day so no school for you guys. 

Rest well this weekend and see you on Monday 

Miss Cripps.

Thank you for all my get well soons and a fab welcome back after a week of a really nasty cold. 

It was really lovely to see all the children again and they were so pleased to see me, it was really nice to come back to. I missed them all too and we have had a busy but fun week so far. 

Sorry - I didn't up date the page while I was off then it has been so busy for the past two days I have kept not getting to it. Very sorry if you have been looking for the spellings for this week. 

Some children have the full 10, some have up to and including deflate and some have the 5 spellings. 

Wednesdays

We have an extra health and fitness session on Wednesdays so please can the children wear their PE kit on Wednesdays as well for the next few weeks. Thanks 

Spellings for Friday

Spellings x 5 

Great Week! 

We had a great week in Elephants this week. 

So much great learning going on, we are moving forward all the time. The children are building lots of excellent learning behaviours and really getting stuck into any tasks! 

This week we have covered Addition and Subtraction in maths, including word problems and two step word problems. If the children need any practise check out My Maths. 

In writing we wrote a diary entry, with subordinating conjunctions  to make clauses. 

They really are a lovely class and we are having lots of fun as well as working hard. 

Miss Cripps

PS Please remember that we need to keep the class room ventilated due to Covid guidance. So it will be colder as time goes on, lots of layers such as base layers or thermals might be needed to keep us all going! 

PPS Please feel free to email me with questions, concerns, if you need anything katy.cripps@barleyclose.org.uk 

Spellings for Friday

We are looking at the year 4 pre-fixes "inter" and "anti" this week, these were missed during lockdown so we are covering now. 

Inter means between and Anti means against. 

Spellings: 

international, anticlockwise, interfere, antibiotic, interrupt, intergalactic, antidote, intervene, antihistamine, intertwine. 

5 spellings/Y2 level

because, great, break, again, who

We are practising in class but please practise at home as well for our test on Friday. Thank you! 

Great Week

We had a good week in Elephants last week, we are really getting stuck into our learning and you can already see progress in the children's books. We are a great herd!! 

Our only "problem" seems to be play times, can you all please have a chat about playing without touching each other, we have covered this in school but we still have lots of children who are getting far too close and in far too much contact with each other. Games like tag are fine but that is about it to be honest. We are aware that it can be dull and we have got Mr Quirk on a Thursday to teach us some playground games and help us to work over this issue. Thank you. 

A reminder to check last weeks post about homework as we are starting to check on Reading from this week. 

This week coming in Maths we are working on addition and subtraction, extra practise is available on MyMaths if the children need a reminder of what to do but they have been on fire in maths this week! 

English we are looking at writing a short Diary Entry about the our book The Promise from the view of the main character. We are starting to use clauses and subordinating conjunctions, again if you google you will find lots of examples to help. 

I am sure we will have another brilliant week in Elephants, please email any problems or concerns. It is really hard to talk with social distancing at the door. 

Enjoy the weekend. 

Miss Cripps

Spellings for test on Friday 18th 

10 spellings

address, different, eight, favourite, heard, minute, remember, separate, through, weight

5 spellings 

because, every, there, friend, here, should

Spellings, reading, times tables and homework expectations

We have some changes to these systems to reflect the Covid guidelines and also some have changed to bring us in line with other schools local. So below is an outline for you: 

Spellings

These cannot come home so each week they will be on the webpage (here) and in the window of the classroom. The children stick them into their spelling book and have some time to practise in class but you still need to practise at home. We will have a spelling test on a Friday. 

Reading

We have a new reading scheme in school and each child will have a book from the scheme. These have to stay in school and we will make time in class for reading. They look like a great range of books and I am sure everyone will find something to enjoy. We will mark this in the yellow reading records which also need to stay in school. 

At home we have Reading Eggs (Year 5 need to use the Reading Eggspress part of the system) 

This is an online system with books and then questions to show our understanding of what we have read. Children gain points and then can buy things for their characters. There are a huge range of books on offer, classics, non fiction so your child can follow their interests. 

We ask that children read four times a week, or 45 minutes in total over the week.

We will can check this on the Reading Eggs system and so this is the way will we monitor this and then add children who have completed this target to our reading wall of fame. 

If you are reading at home not with reading eggs, please email me to let me know so I can still add your child's achievement to the wall. katy.cripps@barleyclose.org.uk 

Maths

Children should play on Times Tables Rockstars, as much as possible. Every day for 5 to 10 minutes is great. Times tables really under pin our maths in Year 5 and 6 so this is a really good way to get that instant recall. We should know all our tables from 1 to 12. We will do Times Tables Rockstars (TTRS) in class as well in the form of a paper test. 

MyMaths is also available, I will add blocks for each week to match what we are doing in class so the children can practise or show off their skills at home. 

Our homework systems at Barley Close are really simple and easy. It can be a struggle to fit it in to our home lives and the children may not want to do it. Try to make it part of your routine at home and start as you mean to go on. The children really benefit from reading and times tables rock stars and these take about 15 minutes a day. Let me know if you have issues with any of the systems. 

First Full Week! 

We had a great first full week in school, Elephant Class is going to have an amazing year. 

We have completed lots of actual school type work with lots of smiles and we have really enjoyed. 

We are all really tired though, it is busy. So please make sure your amazing children get plenty of rest this weekend, they deserve it! 

We took time this week to get into our routines, so we did have some mindful session and a self care afternoon. We were just to tired for any more learning to go in, so we took care of ourselves and did some colouring, word searches, mazes, maths puzzles etc and just made sure we were okay so we could tackle the next day with success. It is also great for me and the other adults in class to chat to the children and get to know them all a bit better. We won't be doing this all year but we will take time at the moment if we need to, as we need to build back up after the lockdown. Please make sure you do the same at home, to take care of all of you as well. We talked very maturely about this idea of "self care" in class and understand how important it is to our well being to pause and to look after us. 

We really did have a lovely week and I can't wait for more to follow, 

Miss Cripps

Great start to 2020 - 2021

We have made a great start to the new school year in Elephants. Even with all the changes and the past few months we are well on our way to be settled into school life again. 

We have kept it all very simple this week and will start to move forwards in little steps to make sure we are all feeling positive. 

Today packs came home, these were packed by the children and you can choose if you want to leave for 48/72 hours for germs depending on your household. In the pack is a quick letter and then the log ins to the online systems we have. These will be our main form of homework, but please don't think there is a rush to start these, its a lot of change coming back to school and we don't need to rush and get overwhelmed. We will talk more about this as the term goes on. 

PE is a Monday and a Friday. At the moment it might be a sport or it might be fun games, as you can imagine we are finding our feet with the PE equipment and how it needs to be cleaned etc. Sorry for this slight delay. 

We have had a positive start to the year and give those children a huge hug to say well done, they have been amazing and dealt with all the changes and new systems really well. 

I am sure it is a sign of an amazing time together in Elephant Class. 

Please do email me about any issues or concerns, it is really hard to socially distance and talk about issues at the door and so please email if needed. My email is Katy.Cripps@barleyclose.org.uk 

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday, 

Miss Cripps 

Welcome to Year 5

We hope you are enjoying the summer holidays! 

Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel are really looking forward to getting back into school routines, we have missed Team Barley Close so much during lockdown. We have been into school and we can now say the classrooms are looking ready (if a bit different) for welcoming our new Year 5's back in September. 

If you are starting to get bored, remember it never hurts to do some reading or a bit of maths work to keep your brain active. There are so many free games for maths, spelling apps and reading is everywhere! Please don't worry about being "rusty" with any school work, we are all in the same situation so we will ease back in and soon get ourselves back up to speed. 

We can't wait to see you in September and we are all looking forward to our school year together. Year 5 is the best! 

Miss Cripps, Mrs Hyde and Mrs Popel 

Year 5 Elephants and Rhino teachers.