Term 1
Week 1 Monday 4th September - Friday 8th September 2023
Badger class have had an amazing first week where we have loved settling into our newly decorated classroom! We have started our exciting learning journey about the Roman Empire and its legacy on our local area and Britain.
We have spent a lot of time this week thinking about the class we want to be this year and have collaboratively created a new class charter that we are very proud of. Our learning this week has been predominantly around getting to know each other, getting used to our new routines and exploring our new curriculum topic (especially the numerals song).
Week 2: Monday 4th September - Friday 8th September 2023
Wow! What another fantastic week Badger class have had. There have been lots of changes this week but I am so impressed with how well you have all taken it in your stride.
This week I have been blown away with your creative and wonderful ideas in English, engagement with maths looking at place value flexibility and curiosity in our curriculum learning about the Roman army. In Badger class we also had the amazing opportunity to get involved in a martial arts workshop on Friday which we all thoroughly enjoyed.
We have had a few technological complications with the ipad but it is all good to go now so we are looking forward to sharing photos of our fabulous learning with you all next week.
Well done Badgers, keep up the great work!!
Week 3: Monday 18th September - Friday 22nd September
Badger class have had another busy but brilliant week at CHPS. We were very lucky on Wednesday to have a visit from the Playpod Scrapstore team. They introduced us to some of the new materials that we will have to play with and how to play with them safely. We have also spent lots of time this week learning more about our Romans topic, espcially about what the Romans did for us and the timeline of key events during the period (including how Julius Caesar is the best-known emperor of the time).
In English we have also been working hard at writing our own setting descriptions for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 74AD. We have mainly been learning how to use a range of noun phrases in our work and we are all really proud of what we have created.
Badger class have also really enjoyed making their drafts and creating their design for our upcoming mosaic artworks.
Miss Starling is so proud of Badger class this week and the brilliant work that has been produced has been a joy to read and look at. Keep up the good work :)
Week 4: Monday 25th September - Friday 29th September:
Well, this week has been another busy week for Badger class across all areas of the curriculum.
In our English and curriculum learning we spent some time getting into the mindset of a Roman soldier. We showed our understandings of what they may do in battle for example by getting into groups and pausing into different freeze frame scenarios. We had lots of fun doing this and it helped us visualise what it might have been like for a moment if we were Roman soldiers.
In our maths lessons we have continued working hard on place value partitioning with flexibility along with number lines (estimating). In step counting we have been mastering our 2 times table and it's safe to say we have got pretty good at it :)
In our English lessons we have also spent a lot of time revisiting noun phrases (specifically simple noun phrases) that are only 2 or 3 words long. To aid our understanding of the structure, we used colourful semantics cards to match different nouns and verbs together to create sentences. Towards the end of the week we also looked at chronology and how that is important for writing a diary entry (our next writing outcome).
I am so proud of Badger Class' engagement in their English learning particularly this week. Keep working hard, well done :)
Week 5: Monday 2nd October - Friday 6th October:
This week Badger class were really lucky to be involved in tag rugby workshops. In our session we learnt about the rules of tag rugby, how to play safely, how to tackle and ways to hold the ball securely. We had lots of fun in this session and some of us got so involved we finished the session plastered in mud from head to toe! I was so impressed by everyone's behaviour and participation in this session and it was so lovely to see so many smiles throughout.
In English this week we have been focussing on using a range of conjunctions. The main conjunctions we have been looking at are and, but, or & because. We looked at the structure of our sentences using these conjunctions and the different meanings they have. In our first revisit lesson we used different sentence parts and then had to match them to the correct conjunction before moving onto creating our own about Roman soldiers in battle. We came up with loads!
In maths we had some changes this week in terns of our groupings. Now, instead of children having mixed adults in their lessons, they now have the same teacher for the whole duration of lessons. If your child is on a 3 book, they are being taught maths by Miss Bennett and if they are on a 4 book they are being taught by Miss Starling. Badger class have managed this change superbly and we are so proud of each and every one of them.
In art, we have also been exploring mosaics (what they look like, what materials would be used to create them, popular designs and its origins). Badgers have then used their curriculum knowledge to create draft designs for their mosaics that represent the Romans.
Another busy but super week!
Week 6: Monday 9th October - Friday 13th October:
Firstly, it was lovely to meet so many of our Badger class families on our open classroom afternoon and in various parents evening meetings. It was great to hear what you have all enjoyed so far and with the feedback received I hope we can continue to build and create the best learning environment for your children where we can all succeed. All feedback has been taken on board on hopefully a tweak here and there will help make a big difference. Overall, the class have settled in and gelled really nicely together which has been fab!
This week we have been revisiting the past tense in English and spotting those cheeky words that don't follow the rules! For a lot of us this was really tricky to begin with but now we are past tense experts! Learning about the past tense will really help us write our diary entries that we have now planned and started to write. We can't wait to share the finished versions with you at the end of next week. It would be really helpful to our learners if possible, when discussing things in the past tense that if they make a grammatical error to encourage them to think about it and make the correction. This will massively help our children to use the language and then include it in their writing accurately. The key ones we have been practicing have been:
- Fight/fighting = fought
- think = thought
- fly = flew
- go = went
- say = said
In art we have been using our designs and understandings of mosaics and advancing it with a range of pencil controls. For example, we know if we add pressure we get darker colours, if we guide the pencil lightly it gives us a light shading. We have also looked at hatchings and including them into our mosaic work.
In RE we have been consolidating our knowledge and understandings of Hinduism with Mrs Chapman and have designed, made and decorated some diva lamps. We all have unique designs and we're sure you'll agree they are magnificent!!
I think it is also fair to say that we finished off the week in style at our Halloween disco's organised by the PTA (thank you!!). It was so lovely to see you all enjoy yourselves and make memories together.
Roll on the last week of term - Miss Starling's favourite ..... SCIENCE WEEK!!!!!
Monday 16th October - Friday 20th October:
Wow! What a busy but fab week we have had to end our first term together.
In Badger Class we have worked hard this week in English, finishing our diary entries as Roman soldiers recalling on being in our first battle. Their ideas and entries were lovely to read and we have worked really hard at mastering the past tense which can be tricky!
It was also so lovely to see so many of you joining us during our family learning afternoon in science. We had great fun completing some practical experiments associated to different liquid densitities and how size impacts melting time.
On Wednesday we also enjoyed coming to school in our PJ's which was great fun and very cosy.
I hope you have a wonderful half term break ready for a fab term 2.
