Enjoy the half term and we look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday 29^th October.

In History we concluded our topic on 'In the beginning...' by designing a set of Top Trumps cards on prehistoric beasts. They have made a fantastic start and are looking forward to playing them.

The children have been reading regularly at home and earning rewards in class. Please find below a video that explains the benefits of Book Chat with your child when reading at home and handy ideas to inspire a conversation around what your child is reading.  Our next Parents In Class session is Monday 4^th November. We look forward to Parents joining us on Monday afternoons.  If you can make it, please bring a book or comic that you would like to share with your child.

ICT - In ICT this week we looked at ways we use the internet to communicate with others and discussed what to do if they came across something that was inappropriate.

In Science we used the i-pads to research the differences between Emperor penguins and Humbolt penguins and how the evolutions of these adaptations have benefitted the penguins. We discussed why it was important to choose reliable sources when conducting research.

Five members of the class successfully represented the school in a Handball competition this week and came home with a Bronze medal.  Well done team!

In English, the class have applied their learning about how to tell a good story and written their Hot Task.  

Week commencing 14-10-2024

In Geography, we looked at climate zones and biomes.

I hear you asking, what are climate zones and biomes?

Climate zones are places with similar average weather patterns, biomes are places with similar animals and plants living there.

In English, we continue to master our story telling skills, examining how to describe how a character is feeling through actions and dialogue.

Many children have been our on Bikeability this week and progressed to Level 3 where they cycled to school in Weston Hills from Spalding, very impressive!

In French, we continued the topic l'ecole. This term we have been learning how to ask what is the time and reply, what subjects we do and don't like to do in school and why.

In PE we looked at agility as well as continued our efforts to run a full mile without stopping. As most the class were out on Bikeability for our weekly 1 mile run, we decided to devise our own agility games. It was great fun.

In History, we progressed through the Stone age to finish at Stonehenge. We made a biscuit model using custard creams, bourbons and shortbread fingers. It was trickier than we thought it would be but we enjoyed eating it!

We are beginning to consolidate our learning about the topic 'Evolution and Inheritance'. We used online quiz on Kahoot to test our learning of fossils, evolution and inheritance with much success! 

Why don't you have ago at home follow the link and have fun.

Week commencing 7/10/24

Geography - Together we used an Ordinance Survey map of Weston Hills to locate a variety of Ordinance Survey map symbols. We discussed why maps use symbols and recalled why there is a grid.  We also discussed the 8 points of a compass. Our discussion led us on to the app, What.3.words. We learnt that they had divided the world into 3x3 m square and each square is given 3 random words. We talked about how this can be useful in a emergency situation and don't know where you are.

English - We wrote a story using the tools we have practised since the beginning of term and then worked with a partner to edit and improve our work. We are very proud of the work we produced. We also revised commas, colons and semi-colons.

 PE -  This week, we learned how to play Handball and continued to run 1 mile. Our stamina is really improving and is reflected in the time it takes us.

History - This week we attempted to make edible stone age tools using sugar paste. We used sandpaper to shape the dried sugar paste to replicate sanding of the stone, but some of the sugar paste hadn't fully dried out and was still malleable. We still had fun making the icing into the shapes of useful stone age tools. 

Science - We continued to look at how plants adapt to their environment in order to survive. We investigated how effective different shapes of leaf are at draining water from its leaves to prevent it from breaking or photosynthesising. We also looked how the shape of the human skull has evolved over the last 3.5 million years.

Week commencing  30/09/24

Mike Barratt uses various methods for creating his portraits. We used the resources we explored last week to create self-portraits onto water-colour paper. We then took a look at the collage step and then gave the children time to work on this aspect.

History - We learnt about how farming encouraged early humans in the Mesolithic period to settle and start building communities. The class split into two teams and used their knowledge to quiz the rest of the class. Team A won this week, but I'm sure there will be more opportunities for B Team to get their revenge!

Topic - This week in Elm Class we have continued our topic of 'In the Beginning' by taking a look at how plants adapt to their environment to survive. We have learnt that plants adapt to their environment from necessity. Plants may also adapt by growing lower and closer to the ground to shield themselves from wind and cold. Desert environments may have some of the following adaptations, these help the plant to conserve food, energy and water and still be able to reproduce effectively. 

English -  We have been collating our ideas for a story, using a picture of a woolly mammoth in a big city as our inspiration.

We have discussed what makes a piece of writing outstanding. The use of fronted adverbials; adjectives; nouns; prepositions; alliteration; personification; onomatopoeia's and much more. We just have to remember to use these in our writing.

Maths - We have moved from place value and are looking at common factors and common multiples, really testing our timetable recollection.

Week Commencing 23/9/24

 French - This week we learned how to ask what is your favourite subject in school and how to respond.

The class continue to practise their spellings ready for Friday. They have a new set for this week and will receive 5 team points if they get full marks.

Maths -  We finished our unit on place value ready to start working on Adding, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division.

PE - This week we continued to try and improve our stamina by running 1 mile every week. Several members of the class improved on their recent times by being able to run for longer.

History - We began to learn about Mary Anning, a pioneering Palaeontologist of her time, and discussed how she was disadvantaged because she was a woman.

This week on Elm Class we have continued to explore our topic 'In the beginning.'

Science - We looked at the work of Charles Darwin. Darwin recognised that the beaks of finches changed, depending on the food available to them on the island. We conducted an experiment to test Darwin's theory. We used pointed and flat tweezers to move different sized seeds to see what was the most efficient.

Week commencing 16/09/24

History:

The whole class implemented an experiment to show the impact a meteorite had on earth when it landed.

Science:

We re-caped our knowledge of fossils and created a timeline of how fossils were made, looking at layers of rock.  

Art:

This week we did portraits, we went into groups and each person took it in turns to pose and the others used various media to create a representation of their peer.

Maths:

Million Numbers - We have been looking at million numbers and there value, we have used place value charts and manipulatives to represent each number. During the lesson we have looked at integers and partitioning.

English:

Elm class have  been forming characters for story writing, looking at characteristics they may have, personality; height; eye colour; features and more.

We have also explored conjunctions, nouns and fronted adverbials to support quality writing.

P.E:

Boccia is a Paralympic sport designed for athletes with high support needs and has no Olympic equivalent. It is a target sport played indoors with soft leather balls. It is a sport of intriguing tactics, incredible skill and nail biting tension.

Mr Pickett came in and taught us the skill of Boccia and together we payed in teams and had a competition. Who knew we had  such a competitive group. 

ICT:

For computing this week we have looked at IP addresses and staying safe on line. We know we must not share personal information with anyone on line. 

French:

We looked at school lessons and learnt how to pronounce each one in French. we extended our learning and created a sentence stating our favorite lesson.

àl'école j'étudie = at school I study

Reading:

We take every opportunity we can get we fit some reading in. There is often a rush for the comfy area though, Will quite likes to be on his own so he can focus. 

Week Commencing: 9.9.24

We welcomed 18 beautiful faces into Elm class this September with a brand new Class teacher Mrs Herd and the old face of Mrs Twelves as TA. Mrs Edwards is also with us as a 1:1.

The children all came in with a positive attitude and were willing to learn, lets hope this continues. We've had a calm start to our term and have learnt lots of things about each other. They have done some short Maths and English assessments and they children have been able to celebrate with some just dance brain breaks.

Here's to a wonderful Year Elm Class.