Red Kites Class

Class News Autumn Term 2022

30.9.2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had with so many fantastic learning opportunities! The children have worked incredibly hard and have settled into the daily routines in class; we couldn’t be prouder.

In Mathematics, the children have continued to develop their understanding of Place Value. It has been wonderful to see the children grow in confidence and use their reasoning skills to explain their answers. This is an area we will continue to develop over the course of the year.

The children have also logged onto Times Tables Rocks Stars in school. Thank you for encouraging regular use of this at home too. This helps the children recall their times tables facts quickly and accurately. This is incredibly important and will help the children in all aspects of their mathematical learning!

In our English lessons, we have begun to explore our new book, ‘The Iron Man’. We have been using our VIPERS skills to build our understanding of the text. We have explored new vocabulary using dictionaries and developed our inference skills; all of which has helped us develop a better understanding of the characters. We especially enjoyed bringing the characters to life by using a drama method, hot seating. Some of our children gave an award-winning performance as the characters of Hogarth and Hogarth’s father!

In our science learning, we have enjoyed conducting a range of science experiments. Last week, the children explored why some surfaces can stop you from slipping. The children were able to conclude that the force in action is friction! This week, the children explored magnets by categorising magnetic and non-magnetic objects. We found out that not all metals are magnetic! We can’t wait to continue to explore forces and magnets in the coming weeks.

We have continued our learning about the local area in History and Geography. The children have especially enjoyed exploring pictures of Dunstable from the 1800-1900s. We have also delved into the world of animation in Computing. The children have begun to design their own animation and are very excited to program this using Scratch on the Chromebooks.

A huge well done to the wonderful Year 4 children who courageously delivered their ambassador speeches in front of the whole school last week. This was a magical moment and one I was proud to see. Our children have been busy learning about democracy and voting for their chosen ambassador using the Lark Rise Polling Station. Congratulations to our new ambassadors!

A big well done to our Red Kite of the week: Angus.

Congratulations to our handwriting hero and heroine: Jack and Isabelle; well done on some beautiful handwriting children!

A reminder that this week’s homework has been set on MyMaths. Your children already have their logins for this website. 

Finally, it is very important that your child brings their Accelerated Reader reading book into school every day. We have a daily slot that is dedicated to Reading and completing quizzes on our books at 8.45am, when the children enter the classroom . Therefore we also ask you to ensure that your children are in school promptly so that they can take part in this important part of the day. This is also when they will be able to change their books. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend; we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday!

Mrs Harrison, Mrs Randall and Mrs Baker  

4.11.2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school after half term. They have come back excited to tell us about the activities they have taken part in over the holiday and keen to start all of our new learning.

In our English lessons we have introduced the children to the key text that we will be reading.  It is a fantastic book called ‘Varjak Paw’ written by S F Said. This week we have used our inference skills to make predictions about what we think is going to happen in the book.  We looked carefully at the front cover of the book for clues before making our predictions and we look forward to seeing if our predictions are correct. After reading chapters 1 and 2, the children are already hooked on the book and we cannot wait to see what is going to happen next!

In our Maths lessons we are finishing off our learning about ‘Addition and Subtraction’. The children have worked so hard during this topic and we are so proud of the progress that they have made.  We have learnt how important it is to understand place value of numbers and neat presentation of our work so that we can layout a column addition or subtraction carefully to support us reaching the correct answer.  

We continue to work daily on our times table knowledge through the use of TT Rock Stars.  Regular use of this app is so important as it supports the children with so many aspects of their Maths learning.  Please continue to encourage your child to access this app from home on a daily basis as part of their homework. We love celebrating their successes in school for TT Rock Stars and the children are always excited to see if they have made it into our TT Rock Stars hall of fame display.  This could be for being the most improved, fastest time, most accurate or effort.

After our very successful trip to Dunstable before half term, the children were able to show us just how much they had learnt about the history and geography of our town by producing a double page spread in their books … we were so impressed! They could recall so many different facts and so much information about our town and they chose to present their knowledge in such creative ways. It was wonderful to hear the children sharing their knowledge with each other and talking so confidently about what we had learnt.  Well done children.

For our Geography learning this term we are looking forward to finding out all about the country of Brazil and in our History learning we will be learning about the Normans. Our lessons this week have already captured the interest of the children and we can’t wait to explore these two exciting topics in detail over the coming weeks.

Our Science learning this term is based around the big idea that ‘All items in the Universe are made from very small particles’. We will be exploring the different states of matter and have some wonderful experiments that we will be completing to support our understanding of the topic. We began our learning journey this week by identifying the different states of matter – solids, liquids and gases – and then working together in small groups to sort a variety of materials and objects.  There were some fantastic discussions taking place as the children worked collaboratively to complete the task they had been set.

We are looking forward to taking part in some national events over the coming weeks and would like to give you some advanced notice about some dress-up days:

• Friday 18th November is Children in Need Day.  Children have been invited to come to school wearing spots for this day. There is also the SPOTACULAR competition taking place where the children have the opportunity to design and create their own piece of spotty clothing or accessories.

• 14th – 18th November we will be joining with schools from across the country to celebrate Maths Week. We have many exciting events that will be taking place in school during this week.  To finish this week off we would like to invite the children to come to school on Monday 20th November dressed as a rock star and we will be performing times table songs that we have learnt to the whole school.

Homework this week has been set on MyMaths and our focus spellings have been put onto Literacy Planet to enjoy playing the spelling games.

Congratulations to our Red Kite of the week Caoimhe and to our Handwriting Hero and Heroine, Ethan and Beau.  Keep up the great work!

As you can see, we have been so busy during our first week back and we can’t wait to carry on with all of our wonderful learning opportunities over the coming weeks. Can we please ask you to regularly check your child’s pencil case to ensure that they have the equipment that they need to complete their learning in school.

It has been so lovely to be back in school with the children and I would like to thank you all for your kind words and support over the last few weeks. We hope that you have a lovely weekend and that you enjoy any firework displays that you may be going to see.

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker

18.11.2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had such a busy couple of weeks full of fun and exciting learning opportunities! I am sure you have heard about some of the highlights. 

This week, we have celebrated not one event, but three different events: Anti-Bullying Week, Maths Week and Children in Need. The children were really excited to come in on Monday with their odd socks. In the assembly, we learnt about the importance of wearing these socks: to celebrate the difference and uniqueness of us all. We continued to explore what the word ‘bullying’ means in our classes and found out how we can reach out to others to ensure we are all included. The children were especially keen on sharing their different ideas on how to reach out, with lots explaining the importance of just being kind… Well done children. 

To celebrate Maths Week in LKS2, we have managed to get the children working for Lark Rise Pounds! LKS2 transformed into a job centre on Monday with children having the opportunity to apply for a variety of important positions. These included security, bankers, researchers, coaches and most importantly, HR, for those payment disputes! The children were able to undertake their roles during playtimes to earn their money which they will be able to spend on an array of rewards next week. This has been especially key to our learning about money and has shown the children the value of money in the wider world. 

Today was SPOTacular, and the children looked fantastic with their spotty clothing to celebrate Children in Need. We started off with an excellent assembly from Mrs Hartley who explained the importance of raising money for this well deserving charity. We continued this learning in our classrooms where we took part in Moodboosters, which have helped us learn about the importance of looking after ourselves and our mental health.

Over the past two weeks we have continued to read Varjak Paw in our English lesson and what an amazing book it has been so far! The children are truly captivated by the book and have had excellent discussions. We have defined different vocabulary and looked into how this adds meaning to the story, explored the new character, Holly, and began to describe the different settings. The children have also undertaken their Accelerated Reader tests which will give them an updated reading level to select new books from the library. It is so important to continue encouraging the children to read these at home and question them on the events in their books to support their comprehension! 

In Maths, we have been learning our times tables in the multiplication and division unit. The children have discovered a variety of patterns in the times tables which will help them recall them with ease. This is especially important and will help them in accessing all areas of Maths. We have also been learning our Maths Times Table song ready for our official performance next week. Feel free to ask the children to practise this at home to help them unleash their true rockstar potential in the assembly.

Who knew you could observe the water cycle using a zip lock bag? In Science, we have undertaken an investigation by filling a bag with blue dyed water and taping it to our windows. The children have explored what has happened to the water over the past week. We have come to the conclusion that the water evaporated, turning into water vapour, and then the process of condensation occurred which turned the vapour back into water droplets. We have learnt that water can never be used up and continues through the different stages of the water cycle! Well done on some excellent learning children. 

In Geography, we have begun to learn about Brazil and have located the country on a map. We turned into researchers and using the Chromebooks, created a fact file all about Brazil. This included locating the capital, discovering the population and finding out about the different foods they eat. We will continue to explore more about Brazil over the coming weeks, which will eventually lead to our ‘Brazil Day’ close to the end of term. More information will follow on this shortly. 

The children have really enjoyed our learning in History. We have explored the events leading up to the Normans. In particular, we looked into the epic battles between the three contenders to the throne in 1066: Harald, Harold and William. With William the Conqueror defeating his opponent in the Battle of Hastings, we explored the importance of the Bayeux Tapestry and how it tells this story and so much information about life in the year 1066. We will continue to discover more about life as a Norman over the next few weeks. 

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, Dylan and Abigail. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Rhys, Hendrix, Beau and Eva. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

Just a quick reminder of some important information: 

• To finish Maths week off we would like to invite the children to come to school on Monday 20th November dressed as a rock star and we will be performing times table songs that we have learnt to the whole school.

• Homework will be on MyMaths this week. 

• As always, please continue to encourage the children to use TT Rockstars daily at home. This will support the children in all areas of Maths. They may even appear in our TT Rockstar Hall of Fame! 

We hope you have an amazing weekend, and look forward to seeing the children on Monday! 

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker  

2.12.2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

We cannot believe we are already in December; the children have worked so very hard this term and we are really looking forward to the lovely events and activities we have planned for over the next couple of weeks. 

The children were thrilled to enter their classrooms on Thursday to see the class Christmas trees and decorations had been put up. Christmas preparations are now in full swing; with children also rehearsing Christmas songs, the class Christmas poem and for some children, the Christmas dance. We cannot wait to share our performance with you next Wednesday at the DCC (Dunstable Conference Centre). You will have received information about this in a separate email but just a reminder that all children will need to be at the DCC for 6.00pm on Wednesday 7th December, wearing a Christmas jumper or t-shirt. 

The children have also continued to work extremely hard in all of their lessons. In Mathematics we have been making some fantastic progress with Multiplication and Division. The children are becoming quick, fluent and confident in the recall of their facts. We would like to remind you that it is really important that your child consolidates and practices this learning through regular practice on the TimesTable Rockstars app. A big well done to those children who are appearing in the LKS2 Hall of Fame. Please do encourage your child to log on regularly. Not only does this develop their recall but it also builds their confidence in Maths. For those children who would like to practice focus times tables, a reminder that you can choose the ‘Jamming’ game for this. This removes the timed element of the game, which can be helpful when building confidence. We would also like Year 4 pupils to regularly complete a ‘Soundcheck’ too. Thank you to those of you who attended the Fluency parent session on Thursday, I hope this was informative and useful for you all. 

In English, we are almost at the end of our key text, ‘Varjak Paw’. We have absolutely loved this text and we cannot wait to find out what happens. The children have completed some fantastic reading and have also developed their VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise) skills through answering a variety of questions on the text. This week they have completed their final piece of writing, where they wrote in character as Holly, telling the story from her point of view. We have been so impressed with the wide variety of interesting and descriptive vocabulary used…well done children! 

Next week, all Year 4 children will complete a mock MTC (Multiplication Tables Check) and we will share the results of this with you before the end of the term. Children will also be assessed in their Reading and Maths skills next week too. 

In History, we have been continuing our learning about the Normans. The children were fascinated to learn about the Feudal system and the Domesday book and they were able to ‘speak like an expert’ on these topics, alongside summarising their new knowledge in their History books. Well done children! We look forward to drawing together all of our learning to answer our key question: What was the impact of the Norman Conquest on England?  

In Computing, we have experimented with coding in the programme ‘Scratch’, creating a sprite that has both an input and output. For example, pressing a button to make the sprite move. Some amazing work has been completed by the children and it has been lovely to see them explore coding. 

Finally, this week in Science we have been investigating what affects the rate of evaporation through the exploration of which would evaporate the quickest, salt water or fresh water. Some fantastic predictions have been made and we are now looking forward to setting the test up next week and making regular observations up to look for changes.

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, Gabriela. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Freddie and Lylah. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

Just a quick reminder of some important information: 

• Homework will be on MyMaths this week.

• Our magic moment (Brazil Day) is on 12th December. You will have received an email and Google Form regarding this; please complete to confirm food tasting and the £3 contribution to the event. Thank you! 

We hope you have an amazing weekend, and look forward to seeing the children on Monday! 

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker 

16.12.2022

 Dear Parents and Carers,

I cannot believe that we are writing the last email of the term and of 2022.  This first term with your amazing children has flown by; we have completed so much incredible learning and we are so proud of all of the children and how hard they have worked. The last two weeks have been very busy and we have lots of updates to share with you.

We hope that you were able to join us for our Christmas performance down at the DCC church. It was a wonderful evening of singing and dancing and made us all feel very Christmassy. Each of our classes enjoyed performing their own Christmas poems and it was wonderful to see them performing them and delivering their lines so confidently. Thank you for your support and we hope you enjoyed the performance as much as the children enjoyed performing it for you. 

In our English lessons, there was a real mix of emotions as we reached the end of our fantastic book – Varjak Paw by S F Said; we were so thrilled to share the final chapters of the book to find out about the very exciting ending but also sad that the book we have loved reading so much was finished. This is the sign of a really great book! Lots of children have shown an interest in the sequel to this book called ‘The Outlaw Varjak Paw’ as they are keen to carry on finding out about Varjak Paw’s adventures; many have mentioned about adding it to their Christmas List.  

After finishing Varjak Paw, we moved on to completing a piece of work with a Christmas theme that the children loved! After watching a video clip of a McDonald’s Christmas advert, we became journalists who were tasked with writing a newspaper report to inform the world of the potential carrot crisis that was happening across the world! The children took their new role very seriously and created a series of questions to ask key witnesses of the event, Santa and the Head Elf.  They then went on to create some newspaper reports on the potential carrot crisis which could have impacted upon Santa's reindeers and therefore Christmas. Well done children on your excellent work. 

We also completed our learning about the Normans in our History lessons. We were able to pull all of our learning from the whole term together in a double page spread, answering the question ‘What was the impact of the Norman Conquest on England?’. The children have learnt so much about this and were very confident to share their knowledge about the Bayeux Tapestry, The Battle of Hastings, the Feudal system, Motte and Bailey castles and life in Norman England to name just a few! Please ask your child to share their new knowledge with you – we think you will be very impressed! 

In our Design Technology learning we have looked at the process needed to create a 3D product from 2D images.  We have looked specifically at the design of purses and wallets and considered their purpose and design features.  We created nets of a purse/wallet design and considered the techniques that would be needed to join the material together.  Our learning culminated in us producing a Norman coin purse.  We followed a pattern and used a variety of cutting techniques and tools, before lacing a ribbon through our work to create our finished masterpieces.  It is fair to say that the children absolutely LOVED this activity and showed great concentration, resilience and attention to detail as they completed their individual pieces.  They are proudly bringing their final pieces home with them today complete with a Christmas treat from the teachers inside! 

Although there was obviously so much excitement when the snow arrived on Monday, we were so disappointed to have to postpone our Brazil day.  We will be rescheduling this day for after Christmas and the new date will follow as soon as possible.  We did however get to make our own 'Rio Carnival Salsa’! We carefully chose our mix of ingredients from a selection of peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, sweetcorn and onion and then drizzled them in olive oil.  We were then able to enjoy our healthy, delicious salsa with a special treat of tortilla chips … delicious! 

The last two weeks have seen the children completing end of term assessments in English, Maths and Science.  All of the children put so much effort into each and every assessment and we could not be prouder of them. We look forward to meeting with you all in January to share information on your child's progress.  

Thursday evening saw many children staying for our Christmas Movie night.  It was so much fun being in the classrooms when it was dark and being able to enjoy a Christmas movie with our friends and of course, popcorn!  A huge thank you to you all for ordering so many fantastic books to add to our library. The children have loved seeing them arrive in school and can’t wait to start reading them. 

Our wonderful Christmas crafts will be coming home with the children today.  We have loved making them and the children have put so much love and care into producing them for you. 

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, Meadow and Sonny. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Aaron, Edward, Angus and Caoimhe. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

Just a quick reminder of some important information: 

• We have set a Christmas challenge for children to complete; where they will receive house points and a gold coin depending on the number of challenges completed. The challenges will be placed on Google Classroom; children can submit their completed challenge sheet on the classroom or bring them into school when we return in January.  

• In addition to this challenge, in LKS2 we are also encouraging all children to continue to log on to TT Rock Stars regularly over the Christmas period; in order to keep the times tables facts recall quick and accurate. We will announce the latest 'hall of fame' winners on return to school in January. 

Thank you all so much for the wonderful support that you have given your children and the school this term. On a personal note, I would like to thank you all for your kind words, wonderful messages and fabulous presents; you are all very kind.

All that is left to say is that we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we really look forward to seeing the children at the start of the Spring Term. 

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker   

Class News Spring Term 2023

13.1.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope you all had a lovely time over the festive break. We have really enjoyed welcoming the children back and hearing about what they have been up to! The children have returned eager and excited about our topics this term and could not wait to get started.

Last week, we introduced our new English text: The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley. This has been popular amongst the children, who have enjoyed reading about Charlie and his love for the forest! The children have used a range of VIPERS skills to help them understand the text which has led them to write a setting description for the woodlands. Well done children, your writing has been a pleasure to read and is beautifully descriptive!

To support our learning, the English text has been linked to our History topic: The Stone Age. We were amazed to find out how much the children know about this topic! The children were able to find the Stone Age on the timeline and explain that the Bronze Age and Iron Age come after this period. We also explored the importance of artefacts. In particular, the children were fascinated to find out about the ‘Cheddar Man’; the oldest almost complete skeleton of our species found in Britain! Keep up the good work children!

In Maths, we have continued our learning of ‘Multiplication and Division’. The children have been excellent at speaking like a mathematician and using key vocabulary to explain their learning, such as ‘factors’ and ‘products’. Just a reminder, please do continue encouraging the children to log onto TT Rockstars daily. This will help them in all aspects of Maths.

What country is famous for its pizza, pasta and for being in the shape of a boot? The children discovered that we will be learning about Italy in Geography! The children have enjoyed finding Italy on the map and finding out that Italy is host to two other countries: Vatican City and San Marino. Our learning this week involved looking at the physical geography of the country.  We learnt so much about the mountains, rivers and lakes and then extended our learning by looking at a topological map to see what information that this would tell us.  The children were fascinated by this and were able to conclude that Italy is a very mountainous country, with some peaks over 4000m high! We are excited to get further stuck into this topic and make comparisons between Italy and the UK.

In Science, the children are exploring the topic of ‘rocks’, including igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Did you know that sedimentary rocks are made up from the bones of sea creatures, sand, pebbles, plants and more? One of the highlights for this topic so far was when we had a lesson making edible rocks! Please feel free to ask your child about this amazing lesson. We are keen to discover more about this and find out that rocks actually… rock!

Lastly, in Computing the children have explored the importance of online safety. Key questions posed to them was ‘who supervises you online at home, school and in public?’ and ‘is it true that the only way to keep everyone safe is to monitor them online?’ The children loved debating and discussing their experiences online and were excellent in explaining how to stay safe.

We must say a HUGE well done to those children who put themselves forward for an Ambassador role. We were so incredibly proud of you all, and your well thought out speeches. Fingers crossed for you!

A few reminders:

• Homework this week will be set on MyMaths
• Please continue to update your children’s reading books on the Boom Reader App.
• Our Brazil Experience Day will now run on Tuesday 24^th January. More details about this will follow.

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, Bradley and Ethan Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Luke, Paul, Sophie and Abby. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker  

27.1.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

It was lovely to see so many of you at our class assembly this morning.  The children were so excited for you to share in all of our learning and we are so proud of the incredible performance that they gave. A huge ‘THANK YOU’ to the children for helping to plan the assembly, working so hard to learn their lines and being so enthusiastic about our learning; you are all superstars!

Although there has been ice on the ground for the last few weeks, the climate has been tropical in LKS2 thanks to our action-packed Brazil experience day. The ‘magic moment’ immersed the children in the culture and traditions of Brazil with activities including performance poetry, samba dancing, carnival mask making and a music workshop. We had such an amazing day and so much fun!

Our magic moments are such special events for the children and ones that we all enjoy taking part in. So much so that we have already planned ‘Italy day’ on Thursday 9^th February. This will be an opportunity for the children to consolidate their learning on Italian culture, with activities including pasta making, opera singing, creating Italian-inspired art for our own art gallery and learning an Italian folk dance. The full details for this day will be sent to parents and carers shortly.  

The children have continued to enjoy reading our key English text, The Wild Way Home. To support this, we have been reading a variety of texts on the stone age, where children have been using their VIPERS’ skills to answer questions. These sessions are a great way for the children to enhance a variety of skills including making predictions, summarising and retrieving key information.  They were particularly excited to read a text by a LKS2 favourite – Michael Rosen. Ask your child if they can recount his humorous poem on what people in the stone age did to relax.

In our Maths sessions, the children have continued in their learning of multiplication and division. It is during this point in the term that children really see the benefit of having a growing confidence in their ability to recall times table facts. Instead of having to use all of their brain power to answer multiplication questions, they can instead focus on more challenging problem questions. We appreciate all the support you are giving your children at home in encouraging daily practice on Times Table Rockstars this really does have such a great impact.

The children have enjoyed our tag rugby sessions as part of their P.E. learning. We have been focusing on perfecting the skill of passing the ball backwards and sideways with control. To help with this, children have been working in groups to compete in passing challenges, where they race to pass the ball to the back of their line. Not only does this enable them to practice their new skill, it has also been a great opportunity to further develop their communication and team work skills.

The children have continued to impress us with their knowledge during our Science sessions, where we have been learning about different types of rocks and fossils. We encourage the children to ‘speak like experts’ in our lessons and in science, they have been doing a tremendous job with explaining how fossils are formed, why they are found in sedimentary rocks and what does a palaeontologist do. You can help to support this at home too by asking them questions about the different types of rocks and what are the different types of fossils.

Well done to the children who were selected as Ambassadors. They will be finding out more about their role in the coming weeks. A huge well done to all the children who put themselves forward too. For anyone not chosen this time round, there will be another opportunity to become an Ambassador later in the year.

A few reminders:

• Homework this week will be set on MyMaths
• Please do continue to update your children’s reading books on the Boom Reader App. You will have received your child’s log in details. Please let your class teacher know if you need any support with logging on.

Well done to the Red Kites of the week, Sophie and Isabelle. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Rhys, Anson, Lily and Poppy. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker 

10.2.2023

Dear Parents and Carers, 

As we approach the half term holiday, we have been looking back and celebrating some of the highlights of our learning. This has included some wonderful magic moments, which we know the children have thoroughly enjoyed. 

This week saw us enjoy ‘Italy Day’ and it was fantastic to see all of the children making pasta, singing opera, learning a traditional Italian dance and completing wonderful art work. Thank you for coming to view all of the amazing art work that the children produced; they were extremely proud of themselves in completing this.

We also had the opportunity of other wonderful magic moments, including a Geologist visit and our rescheduled ‘Brazil Day’. In addition to being lots of fun, these opportunities really have enriched the learning for children and we are sure you have heard lots about this at home.  I was incredibly proud to hear the children talking so confidently to the Geologist, sharing their knowledge of rocks and asking amazing questions to find out even more!

In English we have continued our reading of ‘The Wild Way Home’ and have thoroughly enjoyed this book. We are creating our own versions of the story; going from the point where Charlie has been lost in the forest. Children have planned and created some exciting, tense and interesting narratives. Well done everyone! 

In Maths, children have been working hard on Length and Perimeter. Children have really impressed us this half term by the way in which they articulate their answers. Focus vocabulary is being used very well by the children; including ‘convert’, ‘measure’ and ‘equivalent’. Super work children! 

This week we have also been completing our ‘end points’ across the curriculum. These end points help us to answer our key learning questions and really showcase our learning. In History, we answered the question, ‘What were the changes from the Stone Age to the Iron Age?’ through completing a Jamboard as a class. This collaborative use of technology has really enabled us to create a whole class summary of the changes from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The children loved completing this; adding images and using focus vocabulary very well indeed!

In Geography, we worked hard to draw together all of our learning on Italy by writing a letter home to answer the question ‘What are the similarities and differences between Italy and the UK?’ The children completed some super writing and were very confident in making some fantastic comparisons. We have begun to record our presentations of this information; we have been very impressed with children’s speaking and listening skills in sharing these presentations. 

We have also enjoyed an assembly from the Safety Squad and considered some scenarios and how we would always talk to an adult if we were faced with any worries online. Children were very clear on appropriate and safe behaviour online. We talked about the importance of discussing our online use with adults; please do discuss this with your children. 

We have spent some time this week exploring Children’s Mental Health week. This is something we prioritise and support continuously in school but through an enhanced focus on this this week, we have helped children to explain the importance of this. We have loved completing some ‘Taskmaster’ challenges to focus on things to help our mental health; from creating rainbows to making our own playground games. We have enjoyed completing these tasks collaboratively this week

The Theme for Children’s Mental Health Week has been 'Let's Connect'. We have thought about ways we connect with the people around us - our friends, our family, our neighbours and local community and within the groups we belong. We thought about kindness and how we can help others by putting a smile on their face. If our connections are strong then we have the chance of being happy....how can you make others (and yourself) happy next week when you are not in school?

We would love to see some examples of you supporting your own and others well-being through completion of the homework on the Google Classroom focussed on Children’s Mental Health week.

Congratulations to our Red Kite of the week Paul and Isabelle. Well done to our handwriting heroes and heroines Angus, Tomi. Gabriela and Meadow.

We hope that you have a lovely half term break with your family and friends and we look forward to seeing the children back in school after a well deserved rest.

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker   

3.3.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to see all of the children back in school over the last two weeks! We have been incredibly busy learning all about our new topics for the half term. Here are some highlights:

On Thursday, we celebrated World Book Day! It was fantastic to see all of the children coming into school dressed for a bedtime story. The day started with an inspiring assembly from Mrs Langford and our lessons throughout the day were linked to World Book Day. These included reading the picture book ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker, story telling, and creating our very own miniature book! 

It is also so amazing to see the children’s love for reading in our English lessons! In English, we finished our key text, ‘The Wild Way Home’. The children were on the edge of their seats, as were we, and they were able to find out if their predictions were accurate. We have also enjoyed exploring a different kind of text: ‘The Ultimate Survival Guide to Monsters Under the Bed’ by Mitch Frost. This helped us learn some of the features of how to write to persuade. As of next week, we will be exploring a brand new book and practising our persuasive writing - watch this space! 

In Maths, we have been learning all about fractions. The children have been able to identify equivalent fractions, label the numerator and denominator, and compare and order fractions on a number line. As always, daily sessions on Times Table Rockstars supports their access to Maths, especially fractions, so please do continue to keep this up at home! 

For our Science lessons, we are exploring the topic ‘Plants’. The children have been busy writing and setting up their own experiments to discover what plants need to survive. So far, the children have begun to grow cress seeds in a variety of different conditions and have placed celery in food colouring to find out how water is transported through a plant. They are really eager to find out the results next week! Feel free to ask them all about photosynthesis and transpiration; two important processes we have begun to learn about! 

Science has perfectly linked with our Computing unit this half term! We have been thinking all about climate change. The children are beginning to develop creative ideas for an app that would offer advice or motivate people to act on climate change. We can’t wait to develop these ideas further over the next couple of weeks. 

In History, we are learning all about Monarchs! In particular, we have started by recalling our knowledge about William the Conqueror and considering the impact that his reign had on people’s lives.   Over the coming weeks we will look at the reigns of further monarchs before considering which monarch has had the biggest impact on life in England. 

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, for the last two weeks: Jack and Anson. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Olly, Sonny, Poppy T and Grace. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

A few reminders: 

• Homework this week will be set on MyMaths

• Please continue to update your children’s reading books on the Boom Reader App. 

• We are running a competition which offers 14 children in KS2 the opportunity to attend the BETT Show in London on 29th March. Children can apply via Google Classroom by 6th March.  

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker 

17.3.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a busy couple of weeks we have had in Lower Key Stage 2. Our learning for our topics for this half term is well underway and it is safe to say that we are all loving it and learning so much!

In our English learning, we have used a fantastic new text to continue our learning about persuasive texts - The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt.  The children really enjoyed reading the story (which is very funny in parts) and exploring the different characters and their persuasive arguments for wanting to quit. We then used this information to help create a conversation between two of the crayons, focussing on using persuasive language and inverted commas in our writing. This was such a fun activity with some incredible outcomes; Well done children!

This week we have also explored some texts about great women who have made a difference and how their campaigns and roles are connected to us today.  For example, how Emmeline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes fought for the right for women to vote and Anita Roddick (The Founder of ‘The Body Shop’ and how she revolutionised the beauty industry by creating natural products that are not tested on animals; this has helped us to consider how we can protect the environment.

We have now looked at three British Monarchs, William the Conqueror, King John and Henry VIII and consider the impact that they had.  The children have learnt so much about each Monarch and they have been able to use this information to hold a debate to consider which monarch they felt had the greatest impact; they have listened carefully to each other’s opinions and then deciding whether they agree, disagree or what to build on what other people say.  Debating is a fantastic skill to have and a great way for the children to demonstrate their understanding and opinions.

This week in school has been Science Week.  The week got off to a great start with an engaging assembly from Miss Stevens, introducing us to the topic for this year – ‘Connections’.  

In addition to these, to complement our Science learning about ‘Plants’, we have set up a science experiment called ‘Plant our Pants!’ The purpose of the experiment is to explore the importance of soil and there was great excitement in the key stage as we explained that the way we were going to be doing this was by burying some pants on the school grounds and then monitoring changes that happen over time. Having buried the pants, we now need to wait patiently to see the result … we will keep you up to date! In addition to this we enjoyed participating in a Live Lesson entitled ‘How are pigs connected to jumbo jets?’ to explore further connections in Science.

We have become App designers in our Computing lessons.  Our task has been to create an ‘App for good’ that would be fun and engaging to use whilst raising awareness about Climate Change.  The children have been very busy creating their home page for their App and then further pages that show the features of their App.  The creativity shown by the children is incredible and we look forward to seeing the finished designs over the coming weeks.

Next week we are so excited about our trip to Clacton-on-Sea to carry out our Geography fieldwork. Having studied about human and physical features of coastal and urban areas and having looked at Ordnance Survey Maps, we are looking forward to putting our skills into practice on our trip.  Keep your fingers crossed for a dry day for us please!

There will be one less PE slot for everyone next week, due to the UKS2 children completing their Mock SATs tests each morning. Therefore, Red Kites class only need to wear their PE kit on Friday next week. 

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, for the last two weeks: Lily and Luke. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Freddie, Dylan, Lylah and Eva. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

A few reminders: 

• Homework this week will be set on MyMaths

• Please continue to update your children’s reading books on the Boom Reader App. 

 

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and look forward to another week of incredible learning next week.

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker 

 31.3.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

We cannot believe that we have reached the end of the Spring term and are now approaching our final term of the year! We have had a wonderful term and we are so impressed with the learning, behaviour and progress that we have seen the children making so far this year. We have had a busy two weeks to bring the term to an end…

In our English learning, we have read the book Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night by Julia Kuo. Through the reading of this book, exploring the language used and the facts shared, we have planned and created our own free verse poem. Children selected their own bioluminescent creature and ensured they used alliteration, verbs, adjectives, similes and onomatopoeia to write creatively. We have been so impressed with their writing!

Last week we travelled to Clacton-on-Sea and had a fantastic day! Children thoroughly enjoyed this day and participated well in a range of activities throughout the day. It was great to see the children putting their map reading skills into practice as we travelled around Clacton, spotting key places by identifying their location on the map and then finding them in real life! We found a police station, a theatre, the Tourist Information Office, the pier and a church. Some super Geographical fieldwork skills were put into practise during this visit as we identified the human and physical features of Clacton. We were also lucky to see a small amount of sunshine and thankfully no rain! As a special treat, we enjoyed an ice cream on the beach as well as time to build sandcastles and play by the sea edge. A huge ‘thank you’ to the parent helpers for their support on this trip!

In History we have finished learning about Monarchs by celebrating the current Modern Royal Family. We took part in a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace and considered the impact and contribution that Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III have made to our lives. 

We have been working very hard on our ‘end points’ in our learning this week. Creating a focused task relating to the half term’s learning allows children to put their learning into practice and enables us to see how much they have remembered and how they explain this. 

This has included a final debate on who we felt was the most influential monarch. This was a hard decision to reach and children expertly explained their reasoning to their decisions. Some felt that Queen Elizabeth had made the most impact through her calming and reassuring way of leading the country through some tricky times; including wars and of course, the coronavirus pandemic. Others felt that had it not been for William the Conqueror, taxes and the census would not be around today; these of course came from the Feudal System and the Domesday Book in Norman times. Such a lot of historic knowledge. Well done children!

Last week we also had the opportunity to participate in a live ‘Ask an ‘ologist’ session. Children enjoyed hearing from an archaeologist, a palaeontologist and an Egyptologist! Learning from ‘real life’ experts has been invaluable and the children all posed some excellent questions for discussion in the classroom too! 

This week we have also made some fantastic double page spreads to share our learning on plants - the children have really enjoyed this learning and shared their learning beautifully in their books, with some great use of scientific vocabulary too!

Finally, we hope that those children who attended the Easter Craft Event on Tuesday had a fantastic time. We really enjoyed making the crafts with the children and your contribution for this event will make a real difference in the funds that it provides to the school to support your children in their learning! 

Well done to the Red Kites of the week, for the last two weeks: Eva and Isla. Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Alex, Bradley, Isla and Isabelle. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

A few reminders: 

• Over the Easter holidays, children are asked to complete a task on Google Classroom related to their recent learning. We would like them to research another monarch from British History and present their learning on this. A list of suggestions accompanies this learning on the Google Classroom. 

• Year 4 Children are also encouraged to complete regular practice on the Times Table Rock Stars App over the Easter holidays. Your child will have come home with their most recent MTC mock score and to further support all Year 4 children with this, we have also sent them a TT Challenge sheet home. 

• Please continue to update your children’s reading books on the Boom Reader App. 

 

We hope that you have an ‘egg’cellent Easter Holiday.  The children have been absolutely amazing this term, have made some wonderful progress in their learning and definitely deserve a rest. We hope that you enjoy some lovely time with family and friends and we look forward to hearing all about their break on their return on Tuesday 18th April, 

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker

Class News Summer Term 2023

28.4.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school after the Easter break. We all enjoyed hearing about the lovely things they did over the holiday. The children have returned to school well rested and happy; we are looking forward to a busy, exciting and fun summer term with them!

Firstly, a big thank you for supporting your child in completing their Easter homework. It was fantastic to see the information fact files about their chosen British monarch. We certainly learnt some new facts! Well done children.

A huge well done to the Year 4 children who have completed 5 days on Times Table Rockstars and completed their table. We have been doing lots in school to support the children with their times tables recall and anything extra that could be done at home would really support the children further with this. A reminder that accessing Maths Frame will allow children to practise the Year 4 MTC test in a similar format: https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

Over the last week and a half, we have been enjoying the introduction to all of our new learning for this half term! We hope that your children have been telling you about this too.

In English, we have discovered the world of Shakespeare! We have begun reading the story Midsummer Night’s Dream which has truly captivated us. The children have loved exploring the different characters, and in particular discussing the love triangle between Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. They have further explored the vocabulary selected to describe the different characters and how this has an impact on the reader’s imagination. This has led them to create a detailed character description of Puck using figurative language and adventurous adjectives.

In our Science learning, we have begun to look at our new topic of light. We have discussed our previous learning on light and discovered new vocabulary relating to the subject, including light source, reflect, natural and artificial. We have further researched on the chromebooks to answer the question of how does the sun make light? I wonder if the children can explain what they found out to you?

We have been super busy in our Geography and History lessons! Do you use Ordnance Survey maps at home? In Geography, the children have been learning how to read an OS map using symbols, contour lines and scales. This will lead up to their end of term project where they will be creating their very own map. In History, we have been introduced to our new topic: the Battle of Britain. It has been fascinating to hear what the children already know about this topic, with many of them discussing stories passed on from their grandparents and great grandparents. The children have created a timeline of World War 2, detailing the events that led up to the end of the war, including the Battle of Britain and Blitz. They have further explored how people on the homefront helped the war effort, from women going to work to rationing. If you happen to have any artefacts from this time and feel happy for your child to bring them to school to show, then we would absolutely love to see it!

We were very proud of the Year 4 children who bravely stood up in assembly to share why they think that they should be Ambassadors. The children presented their speeches very well and the children across the school have now voted for the new summer term ambassadors. We have a wide range of roles and responsibilities across the school; some are obtained by writing a letter of application and others we ask for the children in school to vote. It is important that we explore and teach democracy in this way with the children.  We look forward to hearing about who was successful very soon.

Finally, thank you to those of you who attended school for our ‘Book Look’; we were so pleased to be able to welcome you into the classrooms! We hope that you enjoyed looking at the amazing work and progress of your children. We are very proud of them!

Congratulations to the Red Kite of the week for the last two weeks: Oluwatomi and Hendrix.

Well done to our amazing handwriting heroes and heroines, Jack, Ethan, Sophie and Lily.

Reminders:

• Homework this week has been set on MyMaths.
• You have received a leaflet home giving details of the fantastic Coronation artwork that the children have created in school.  We are so excited to be part of such a historic event and this gives you the opportunity to buy your child’s artwork as a memory of such an amazing day.  Please take the opportunity to have a look at the website and see the wide range of items available.
• King’s Coronation Party will be on Friday 5th May from 13:30 - 15:00. Tickets are available on Parentmail

Have a lovely bank holiday weekend!

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker :-) 

12.5.2023

Dear Parents and Carers, 

What a busy and exciting couple of weeks we have had! It has been so lovely to have not one, but two, Bank Holidays during this time and it has been wonderful hearing all about the different activities that the children have been up to, especially linked to King Charles III Coronation.

The lead up to The Coronation allowed us to focus on this historic event in our English, Computing and Art lessons. We really enjoyed carrying out research into the life of King Charles and then looking into what would happen at the Coronation and why. This information supported us to complete some incredible writing in English, create a Google slide show in Computing and produce some amazing artwork. Hopefully you were able to see our artwork and the Coronation picnic, displayed proudly in our classroom windows.  It was great to see so many of you at this event; thank you so much for your support.

In our History lessons, we have continued our learning about World War II and The Battle of Britain.  The children are absolutely fascinated by this topic and are learning so much.  Over the last two weeks, we have learnt about The Blitz and The Battle of Britain.  The children have used their new knowledge to write a letter from a parent to their child who has been evacuated and also a diary entry of a Spitfire pilot who was flying in The Battle of Britain.  The quality of the writing that has been produced is incredible and we are so proud of all of the children.

We were so lucky to welcome John Gilmour, the chair at Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard and Luton branch of the Royal Air Force Association, into school to talk to us about The Battle of Britain and to answer any questions that we had.  He was able to tell us so many interesting facts about the battle and answer questions that the children had.  They were amazed to find out that children were evacuated from London to Dunstable and the surrounding areas and that a Spitfire could only fire bullets for about 10 seconds before it had to return to the airfield to reload its ammunition! John was so impressed by our children’s knowledge and the carefully thought out questions that they asked. I am sure that if you ask your child they will be able to impress you with their knowledge of this historic event in British history.

We have loved our PE lessons that have been led by Miss Klausner.  Our focus sport for this half term is tennis and we are working so hard on our agility and hand-eye co-ordination.  So far, we have learnt the correct way to hold the racquet, forehand and backhand strokes and how we should ensure that we are always stood in the ‘ready’ position so that we can quickly move in any direction to get the ball.  We are looking forward to putting all of our new skills into practice when we play a game in the coming weeks.

Congratulations to the Red Kite of the week for the last two weeks: Poppy T and Olly.

Well done to our amazing handwriting heroes and heroines, Rhys, Hendrix, Beau and Caoimhe, who have all been working so hard on their handwriting.

Huge congratulations to Anson and Luke for their hard work during the recent Emilie MTC World Cup.  Out of over 100,000 children who took part, Anson came third and Luke was in the top 100.  What a fantastic achievement!  Well done to all the children who took part in this tournament.

Reminders:

• Homework this week has been set on MyMaths.

• Please encourage your child to log on to TT Rockstars daily.

We hope that you have a wonderful weekend and that we get to see some sunshine.

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker

26.5.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

We cannot believe that we have reached the end of the first half of the summer term and are now approaching our final few weeks of the year! We are so impressed with all of the wonderful progress the children have made this year; they have come so far! Everyone has been working really hard as we approach the end of some fascinating topics across the curriculum; we are sure that you have heard lots about what we have been up to!

In our English learning, we thoroughly enjoyed reading the ending of ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’. The children showed excellent understanding as they answered a range of questions as we read the book; really demonstrating their understanding. Over the last two weeks we have been reading ‘Skyward: The story of female pilots in World War Two’ by Sally Deng. Children have loved reading this non-fiction text to find out more about the war and the role of women at this time as well. All of this wonderful reading has culminated in children planning and writing their own non-chronological reports, with a title of ‘The Blitz’. We have been amazed by the quality of this writing; including some excellent topic language, facts and figures!

In History, as we are sure you will have heard, we have been learning all about World War II. Through our learning this half term, we have been working hard to be able to answer the question: ‘What was the impact of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain on our lives today?’ Children answered this question well this week, through creating presentations, reviewing content from this half term and completing a fully immersive experience using technology!  If you ask your child this question, we think you will be very impressed with what they have learnt; showing a real understanding of the concepts of significance and also cause and consequence. Well done children!

The immersive experience in History was through a new piece of technology that we are trialling, known as ‘Now Press Play’. The children all wear a set of headphones and we launch an experience for them to complete. Over the last few weeks, we have completed a French mission, a World War II experience and a Maths challenge using this amazing new technology. We hope your children have told you all about this! A highlight for Red Kites class was when we completed our History experience outside on the field and we had to imagine that we were living in London during The Blitz and the air raid siren went off and we all had to run for cover in the air raid shelter in the garden. The children absolutely loved this experience and it certainly brought their learning to life!

We have been working very hard on all of our ‘end points’ in our learning this week. Creating a focused task relating to the half term’s learning allows children to put their learning into practice and enables us to see how much they have remembered and how they explain this.

This has included the creation of their own maps in Geography, using OS symbols as a response to a letter from the Prime Minister. Children were required to design a new town with specific amenities and features. They all did remarkably well with this and created some fantastic maps! I was so proud of them as they confidently shared their town maps with each other; talking about how they had included contour lines and sharing about the main features and layout of their town.

This week we have also made some fantastic double page spreads to share our learning on light in science - the children have demonstrated a strong understanding of some tricky concepts!

Last week we marked ‘Outdoor learning afternoon’ by planting some seeds in our new upcycled planters. Children enjoyed working in groups to prepare the soil and plant their seeds. We look forward to seeing these new plants grow in the weeks to come!

Finally, we want to congratulate all of the children for their hard work in Maths. Fluency in Maths is so important and we have been so impressed with the effort from all children in securing their times tables facts. A special well done to our wonderful Year 4 pupils, who are working remarkably hard in preparation for their Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check which takes place after half term. (Monday 5 June - Friday 16 June 2023)

Well done to the Red Kite of the week, for the last two weeks: Freddie and Angus, Our handwriting heroes and heroines are Edward, Aaron, Lylah and Abby. Well done for working hard on your handwriting!

A few reminders:

• Over the half term break, Year 4 Children are also encouraged to complete regular practice on the MathsFrame website: https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check.

This is useful preparation for the test they will undertake upon their return. Your child will have come home with their most recent MTC mock score and to further support all Year 4 children with this, we have also sent them a TT Challenge sheet home.

• All pupils should complete the homework that has been set on MyMaths this week too.

 

We spoke to the children about where the Battle of Britain took place, over the English channel. Many children were interested in this and so we wanted to let you know of a visit you might like to complete with your children over half term. The Battle of Britain memorial in Capel-le-Ferne (Near Dover, Kent) is a great place to visit if you are looking for a day out further afield with your children; Mrs Waterman has visited and highly recommends it!  

https://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/

We hope that you enjoy some lovely time with family and friends; it looks like we are in for some lovely weather, which will be wonderful. We look forward to hearing all about what the children have been up to on their return to school.

Happy half term Red Kites and well done on another amazing half term; you are all superstars!!

Mrs Shilvock and Mrs Baker