Owls 2022-23

Welcome to Owls 2022-23!

Welcome to our class page. Here you will find all the documents you need for the Owls class this year as well as lots of updates about our learning each week. Please enjoy reading about what we are doing in class and remember to email us if you have any questions.

Summer Term Documents 

Term 6

Week 5

The children loved our visit from Zoolab this week; it brought to life all our learning in science about animals, how we group them, life cycles and survival.

The children asked excellent questions about skeletons, eating habits, habitats, predators, camouflage and so many more topics too!

We all learned an incredible about of astonishing facts about African snails, geckos, tree frogs, scorpions, corn snakes and millipedes...see if the children can recall some of their learning at home too! They were really excited to hold and touch the animals.

What a fantastic week in Owls! The children have been inspired by Henri Matisse and his vibrant use of cut outs and collage. They children learned about how shape and colour can work together to create visual results that we can all interpret in different ways. The children learned how to give their opinions, evaluate art and how positioning can change their own compositions! 

The artistic process of evaluation, design and sketching and positioning has meant the children have produced some stunning pieces of art. We look forward to welcoming you to our school gallery tomorrow!

Week 4

Sports Day Fun

Well done Owls on a fantastic Sports Day!

Your families will be so proud of all your achievements...you competed respectfully, cheered each other on and tried your hardest at all the different activities. Well done to you all!

Week 3

Some fantastic music composition in Owls this week! The children used the notes G, B and A to compose short pieces for the glockenspiel. They thought hard about repetition and tempo with some lovely results. They even names their pieces...some inspiring titles such as "Summertime", "Gargle Smoggle", "Snails eat Cabbages", "The Night Sky" and "The Paradise in Heaven".

In Maths we have been studying statistics and the children loved surveying the class using tally charts, turning these into block charts and interpreting them with stem sentences-great job!

In this hot weather we have been enjoying opportunities to sit quietly and focus, both on our fluent reading and mental maths practise using the ipads.

Week 2

Topic

This week we had a visit from Steph (Henry's mum). Steph has the shop 'SO Sustainable' in Watlington and came in to talk to us about what kinds of products she has in her shop. She told us how instead of using lots of wasteful plastic packaging people bring in their own containers and they fill them up with a range of their products. The Owls had lots of interesting questions for Steph and we learnt a lot about how we can all do small things to help reduce plastic waste.

Maths

This week we have been learning all about position and direction. We had to give directions using forwards, backwards, left, right, clockwise and anticlockwise. This was harder than it sounds! We had to keep practising which way was right and left and we are getting much better at remembering now. 

Reading

In our reading lessons we have been reading 'The Dragon in the Library'. We are really enjoying the story - ask us what has happened so far. We have been working on our summarising skills. 

Week 1

We have had a great first week of term 6!

We introduced our new model text in English which is a warning story, called 'Watch out, Kassim!". We have attached the map here too if the children would like to keep practising it at home. We focused on how to be story tellers who engage the audience by changing the speed, volume and pitch of our voices to create tension and suspense. This story has lots of opportunities for to practise these skills. The children enjoyed composing their own warning stories about an unusual box that appeared in the class with the message ' Do not open!' We have began to really consider the adjectives we choose when writing to create noun phrases that really paint a picture for the reader:

"Dark, gloomy and dense forest."

"Damp, cool and deep caves."

"Fiery, frightening and scaly dragon."

In maths we examined 'fact families' this week and practised the skill of inverse operations. If we know 12 + 7 = 19, we also know 7 + 12 = 19, 19 - 7 = 12 and 19-12 =7. The children can use this skill to begin to check their own work for errors and quickly calculate maths facts without lengthy calculating too.

We loved taking part in the school cross country race on Friday too-excellent resilience and perseverance from all the Owls! They all smashed it!

We also started a new unit on PE-Rounders. We spent this week really thinking about ball control-how to throw and catch accurately and how hand-eye coordination can ensure we hit the ball too.

Week 6

STEM WEEK

What a buzz of excitement this week in Owls with a focus on lots of different learning linked to STEM subjects.

In science we have continued learning about plants and the important job of a botanist and the importance of studying plants so closely. The children learned about botanists from the past (Jane Colden) and how they have helped us to understand the world of plants and their importance today. The children had a go at being botanists too!

We have also had a visit from a brain scientist who taught us how the brain works and how we are constantly growing our brains in different ways. The children loved making their own brains with the different lobes and cerebellum out of plasticine too.

We have also had a visitor who has taught us all about why we need to protect wild flowers and pollinators and we have carried out some research using quadrants and identification.

In computing we have continued our learning about online safety and the children spoke really maturely about how they can keep safe when playing games and using the internet.

The children also continued their work on digital photography using the ipads. This week we had to take photos of 3 different objects and then decide if the photo would be better in portrait, landscape, close up or further away. We also talked about framing our photos and thinking carefully about what was in the background when we took the photo. The Owls are becoming experts at taking a great picture now!

In maths we have learned how to explore and investigate with greater independence and how maths knowledge can help us create art too. We designed our own line pictures using ruler carefully and then categorised the shapes we made in different ways including lines of symmetry, number of sides and types of shapes.

Week 5

Art

Owls have had a great week focusing on lots of different art techniques and artists linked to our science topic on plants and flowers.

We have examined Van Gogh's painting techniques, William Morris's repeating patterns and Georgia O'Keefe's vibrant flower painting. We have had a go at creating work in similar ways. Enjoy some of the results!

Science

Owls learned and understood the life cycle of a plant this week, using the vocabulary germination, reproduction and seed dispersal to explain how this cycle is never-ending. We also discussed the importance of insects as pollinators in this process.

Week 4

Topic

We have been enjoying our new topic and this week we were learning all about recycling. reusing and reducing our rubbish. We talked about what kind of recycling we do at home, school and in the community. The Owls told me why recycling is so important for our planet - ask us all about it. One of our activities was to think about how we recycle and sort our rubbish.

Computing

This term we are learning about digital photography. This week we had lots of fun taking photographs using the IPADs. We had to think about what makes a good photograph and how we can take different types. Our task was to take photos of a person, a close up object, an action shot, a picture in the distance, a building and a selfie.

Science

Week 3

Owls Class Assembly

A huge congratulations on all the Owls for a fantastic assembly. We are so proud of how you were all so confident with loud clear voices and lots of excellent ideas about how to present your learning! Well done all!

Coronation Celebrations

What a great day of learning about the history of the coronation, how and why it is celebrated. The Owls designed their own stamps to mark the occasion to add to the whole school collection that was displayed in the town. The children thought carefully about what might make good representations of the event.

English

We have examined the different types of sentences there are this week. The children can now confidently spot EXCLAMATIONS, COMMANDS, STATEMENTS and QUESTIONS. They are becoming skilled at using a range of these in their writing too. Can they share some examples with you at home?

Week 2

PE

Another great week of sport in the Owls!

Great concentration in our athletics lesson focusing on holding and throwing the javelin accurately. Some good technique meant they improved the distances they could throw. Sadly the rain hampered cricket this week, but we took the opportunity to get flexible and do a yoga session instead-good control and great core strength!

English

This week we have innovated our diaries. We continued to find out what happened to the animals in the story 'The Journey Home' and wrote diary entries as the polar bear. Some accurate use of time conjunctions and some really emotive language choices describing the mix of fear, worry and relief the creatures were feeling-we can't wait for more next week!

RE

This week we have started a new unit of work learning all about the Sikh religion. We began by looking at some images linked to Sikhism and coming up with questions we would like to find the answers to linked to these images. Here are some of the thoughtful and perceptive questions the Owls came up with:

What does the symbol represent?

Is that a king or God in the illustration?

Do they wear different clothes?

Is the building a temple? Why is it gold?

Do they pray in the building?

Why is a dagger important?

We look forward to finding out the answers to these questions and many more this term.

Week 1

It has been lovely to see the Owls back in school this week. They have come back full of enthusiasm and ready to learn! 

English

In our English lessons this term we are learning about diary recounts. This week we wrote a cold write diary recount about a Meerkats day. Then we started to read our new book 'The journey home'. Ask us to tell you what has happened so far. After that we learnt our new text map. We are getting really good at remembering all the actions. Ask us to act it out for you at home!

Maths

This week we have been looking at fractions. We had to recognise and find 1/2 1/4 and 1/3 of a number. We used concrete objects and had to share these into equal groups. Then we had to draw pictures to show how we would share a number into 2, 4 or 3 equal groups.

Music

In Music this term we are using the glockenspiels. We learnt the note b and its notation as well as practising pulse and rhythm.

Spring Term Documents

Term 4

Week 6

DT-Moon Buggy Construction and Evaluation

The Owls have been expert at construction this week. They have used their Moon buggy designs to construct a vehicle thinking carefully about chassis design and strength as well as how to attach the axle and wheels. There was lots of accurate tool use with the hacksaw and glue gun too-carpenters in the making! We also evaluated the buggies using a a bumpy ramp to see if they would withstand the harsh conditions on the Moon.

Week 5

Outdoor Learning Day

Wow! Exceptional work Owls. You all demonstrated cohesive teamwork and resilience in Forest School. The children learned all about the scientific language we use in food chains and demonstrated this in creating their own nature food chains. Following that, they prepared for our plants topic after Easter by planting seeds and learning about what is needed for germination. Lots of mud, fun and laughter too!

Spelling

This week we have been learning how to spell the /or/ phoneme with the 'a' and 'al' graphemes. Words have included ball, walking, always, bald, also. We have looked at the etymology for some of these words too (where they come from) and explored how bald and ball both come from the word bhel which means to blow up or swell up. The children were interested to learn where other words come from too. Owls may like to explore this further when looking at their spelling patterns at home.

English

The children have been really excited to complete their hot writes this week. They have become journalists and written their own newspaper reports all about the explore Lucy Shepherd. Watch this space for their published reports!

Maths

Owls have demonstrated excellent estimating and measuring mass this week. They have compared grams and kilograms and explored heavier and lighter objects and read a range of scales accurately too. They were fantastic at estimating their own mass by thinking how they might compare to Miss Sharman!

Topic 

This week we looked at the globe and used atlases to identify the 5 oceans around the world. We also identified where the equator, north pole and south pole were. Then we talked about what the temperature was like in these areas. Some of us used the atlases to identify countries near these hot and cold areas of the world. 

Week 4

English

This week the Owls are getting ready to write their own newspaper reports all about another explorer. This time we have examined a dangerous and exciting expedition across part of the Amazon Rainforest undertaken by explorer Lucy Shepherd in 2021. We acted out some of the frightening things she had to encounter including being chased by swarms of wasps and wild boar, capsizing on her raft, catching fish with a bow and arrow and avoiding deadly snakes. We can't wait for the Owls to start writing their reports next week.

If you would like to find out more about this modern explorer, head to her website:

https://www.lucy-shepherd.com/

Jigsaw

Owls discussed the meaning of a healthy, balanced diet so sensibly this week. They considered the food they loved and which foods they could maybe eat more of. They understood why too much sugary food is not good for our bodies and teeth. New words this week: PROTEIN and CARBOHYDRATES.

Team work

We have been really impressed with how well Owls have been working as part of a team this week. They independently built exquisite bug hotels together (in the style of Andy Goldsworthy!) and also worked well in producing scientific poster about their investigation into the best conditions for woodlice to thrive in.

Well done Owls-you are all maturing so much!

Week 3

Science

This week we explored the CONDITIONS that make a MICROHABITIAT ideal for animals. We investigated the conditions that woodlice need to survive, predicting the conditions and setting up an experiment that proved (or disproved!) our predictions. The results were overwhelmingly clear...woodlice need DAMP, DARK conditions!

Football 

We had a chance to explore some different equipment this week in a football session. The children worked really well in teams, passing the ball accurately, dribbling and scoring! Well done Owls!

IT and Topic

This week we were asking the question What is IT? We discussed what technology we use at school and at home. We then thought about why we use it? We realised how useful it is in our every day lives. We also discussed how to keep safe when we are using this technology. Then in our topic lesson we used the IPADs to help us research about another famous explorer - Christopher Columbus. We learned lots of interesting facts about him. In our topic lesson last week we finished off learning about Amelia Earhart and where she flew. We also learned about the 7 different continents and enjoyed singing a song to help us remember them. Ask us to sing it to you!

Week 2

World Book Day!

Owls has a great day celebrating 'reading for pleasure'. The children enjoyed explaining their favourite characters using freeze frames. We examined what made their characters come to life in a book including how adjectives help to describe what they LOOK like, FEEL and their personality. The children created excellent vocabulary to describe their character and had a go at using thesauruses too. These were then used to write short character descriptions.

The children were able to choose different stories to listen to throughout the school being read by all the adults-enjoying listening to a range of stories is a huge part of life in school.

Finally, the children made lolly stick book characters-great creativity Owls!

RE

Buddhist festival of Wesek: This week we examined the festival of Wesek which is celebrated during the full moon in May every year. It celebrates the birthday of the Buddha. The children were fantastic at comparing this festival to festivals in other religions including Islam and Christianity. The children identified some important symbols that Buddhists use to decorate their houses during this fesitival. This included lotus flowers that represent peace, calm and enlightenment.

Week 1

English

The children have made a great start to Term 4! In English we investigated some interesting objects and thought about these questions - Who do they belong to? Where would they use them? What did they use each item for? We thought of lots of ideas and even got to try some of the equipment out. 

We also “hot seated” Edmund Hillary and the children asked excellent questions to understand more about his expedition to the summit of Everest. The children were excellent at pretending to be Edmund and use their knowledge and imagination to answer the questions.

Maths

we have continued our work on multiplication this week with a focus on arrays and a range of number sentences that can represent each array. The Owls became experts at making both repeated addition and multiplication number sentences and learned the word “commutative.”

Topic

This week we have been learning about the brave explorer Amelia Earhart. We learnt how she was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic ocean. She inspired lots of people to follow their dreams. We looked at our class timeline and compared all the explorers that we have learnt about so far. How they were similar and how they were different.

Term 3

Week 6

Children's Mental Health Week

This year's focus is all about how we connect with each other and how this can help our mental health. The Owls have thought about how they connect with each other and how they maintain connections with their loved ones, even if they are not with them.

We watched the story of the Invisible String by Patrice Karst to help us with understanding how we are always connected to others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rZNTFf35Aw

The children created hand illustrations to represent their connections to each other and images of themselves connected to loved ones by an 'invisible' string.

We also showed how important these connections are to us by making love tree Valentine’s Day cards for someone special. We also played a great game trying to send a hoop all the way round a human circle to show our connection to each other-great perseverance Owls!

Week 5

English

We have been innovating our journey stories this week and using a range of new skills to write interesting sentences including:

• Using comma for lists
• Sentences of three
• Using ‘when’ and ‘if’ to extend sentences.

We have also been learning how to make improvements and corrections to our work using our special purple pens. Well done Owls on really considering what might make our writing even better. 

Topic / Computing

Last week in topic we learnt all about a significant person from the past - Neil Armstrong. Ask us what we learnt about him! This week we were learning about how space travel has changed over time. We compared space travel in 1969 when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon to 2015 when Tim Peake visited the space station. We also used the IPADs to research and find out some interesting facts about Tim Peake. 

In our Library session this week we were recommending books to each other. We shared our favourite books and looked for a new book to take home and enjoy.

Week 4

Design Technology

Axles and Wheels

We are exploring how vehicles move, studying the importance of axles and how their strength supports the chassis and enables the wheels to move freely. We are going to be exploring different wheels and axles in the next couple of weeks ready to design and build our own Moon Buggy. 

Home Learning

It was lovely this week to celebrate our home learning in a class 'gallery'. The children were great at complimenting each other's work and explaining WHY they liked it. Well done Owls!

Science: Exploring habitats

This week we explored the meaning of a 'habitat' and how the seven life processes need a habitat to enable them to work.

Can the children remember the 7 life processes? Using 'MRS GREN' might help them! We then explored our school playground habitat searching for living, dead and never living objects. It was surprising to find a tiny ladybird at this time of year!

Jigsaw: Dreams and Goals

The children have been challenged to try some new mini goals this term and consider how we break a goal down into achievable chunks. We done for those who have learned how to count to ten in Mandarin and recall the poem 'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' so fluently!

Week 3

Science

Exploring whether objects are LIVING, DEAD or NEVER ALIVE. Lots of great discussion about the objects, especially those that may have once been alive.

Maths-counting and using money

The Owls are focussing on money at the moment and which coins and notes can make different totals. The Owls needed to be great at counting in different amounts-2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s. Can you practise this at home?

RE and Buddhism

This week we examined where Buddhism began and learned, recalled and told the story of Siddartha and how he became Buddha or ‘teacher’. Can the children tell you this story at home too?

PE and Tag Rugby

Our second week learning new skills in rugby with our sports leaders. The children understand and can apply the rules of tagging and hold and run with the ball accurately. There was some great examples of dodging the tag gets too…we are on our way to becoming great team players in this sport!

Topic 

This week we have been looking at space travel and how it has changed over time. We had to identify and order key events form the past. We made timelines in small groups and then discussed as a class if we agreed with the order. We learnt some interesting facts! Can you tell people at home - What the first animal in space was? Who was the first person on the moon? Who was the first British astronaut in space?

Reading

On Monday in our reading lesson we started a new book - The Darkest Dark. Ask us what has happened so far. This week we were working on our inference skills. We had to think about how the little boy was feeling? Why was he feeling this way?

Week 1 and 2

3,2,1...BLAST OFF! To get our topic of 'The World and Beyond' off to an exciting start, we headed into space in Owls. We dressed up some children as astronauts and got ready to send them into space. First, they started with some physical training to ensure they were fit enough for time in space. After that, we had to get them into the space shuttle- a bit of a tight squeeze! Following that, we blasted off into space. We learned that it takes between 6 hours and 3 days to reach the international space station, so we needed to be ready for a long journey. We enjoyed looking at the world from far above in space-it made us all feel very small.

The children enjoyed creating their own space shuttles in the playground too.

We can't wait to get started and learn about explorers who have a achieved incredible feats exploring this world and beyond!

In English this week we wrote our Cold Writes - We had to describe a journey into space! The children were both imaginative and creative and produced some lovely stories. Later in the week we introduced our new story map that we will be learning this term. It is called 'Man on the Moon'. We have been enjoying learning the story using actions to help us remember.

To help us have a deeper understanding of the text, we created some excellent questions for the main character. We also used our imaginations to extend our understanding of the character and setting through hot seating-the Owls were fantastic at developing Bob's life!

In maths we have been looking at properties of 2D shapes. We also had a go at creating shapes using lines of symmetry. In PE this week we had an exciting visit from a sports coach who led a great session on cricket. We managed to enjoy the lesson just before the heavy rain arrived!

Week 7

Windsor Castle Trip

Wow! What a fantastic end to our Castles topic! The children were incredible and experienced so much during the day. They really showed their exceptional knowledge and understanding and it all came to life seeing it for real. 

They enjoyed...an up close view of the Changing of the Guard (no other school been allowed such access apparently!); St George's Chapel and Queen Elizabeth's resting place; a practical workshop all about the workings of a castle; a tour of the State Rooms including Queen Mary's dolls house and many opulent golden rooms! The children behaved impeccably and were fantastic ambassadors for our school.

Week 5 and 6

Design and Technology

Owls have been incredibly busy this week exploring what makes a successful biscuit. Lots of evaluation, design and cooking has been going on to create the perfect Christmas cookie. The children even thought about how they could improve the process and outcomes next time: "We could add other ingredients like fruit or chocolate to make it taste different." "We need to ensure we don't add as much flour so it's not as crumbly." "We need to remember to put our aprons on so we don't get as messy!"

Yoga Time

We have been adding yoga to our class PE lessons to help build strength, concentration and focus. This has helped the children in their gymnastics routines too. 

Week 4

Football

This week we were continuing to practice our dribbling skills. We had different stations and we had to dribble carefully and get past our partner in order to score.

RE

We have been learning about Islam this term and this week's focus has been understanding the importance of Ramadan to Muslims and what it involves. Owls made their own Ramadan lanterns just like the real ones that adorn houses during this important time of fasting. We explored how this helps Muslims begin to prepare for the celebrations and festival at the end of Ramadan. 

Art

This term we have been looking at the artist John Piper

He liked to paint watercolours of landscapes and interesting architecture. He particularly liked painting churches.

We looked at some of the castles that he painted and tried to recreate some of our own.

After we painted the pictures we used lines of different sizes and thickness to add texture.

Term 2 Weeks 2 and 3

A busy couple of weeks of learning in the Owls!

Jigsaw

As it is anti-bullying week this week, we have been focussing on this topic in our Jigsaw lessons and assemblies. We discussed and clarified what the word' bullying' means and how it makes us feel. The children were really perceptive with the words they chose and were confident in explaining who they would ask for help both in school and at home. Here are the the definitions and feelings we came up with.

Gymnastics

We have been learning to develop a range of gymnastic balances both on the floor and the benches (our version of a beam!). The children could then begin to join these balances together in short routines. The skills the children noticed they needed were: using strong tummy muscles, ensuring steady legs, looking forward and pointing toes.we also did a range of animal stretches in our warm up led by our year 5 and 6 sports leaders.

Football

In our other PE session we are learning to improve our skills in football. Last week we were learning how to pass a ball to each other and then this week we began learning about dribbling the ball. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us and before we managed to get some photos we were rained off! Photo’s to follow next week.

Music

The children have been learning and appraising a Christmas song by looking at the structure of the song (verses, chorus, instrumental sections), the style of song and what instruments are used. It was fantastic to see the children beginning to use this knowledge and apply it to adding their own instrumental section on glockenspiels! Great work Owls!

Topic - Geography focus

This week we were looking at where castles were built in the United Kingdom. We used the Atlases to locate the 4 countries - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Island. Then looked at what the surrounding seas were. 

Term 2 Week 1

Wow! What a week of learning and focus in Owls!

Celebrating Perseverance

Huge congratulations to Jimi who asked to play his guitar for the Owls-we were all really impressed with his perseverance, progress and love of music-a rock star in the making! 

Reading

This week we have explored how to PREDICT, thinking about the wider world and our knowledge of books and authors. We are exploring The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl in reading lessons this term and the children considered their predictions about characters and story after examining the front cover and reading the blurb. It was wonderful to hear the children thinking about the types of stories Roald Dahl tells to help them with their predictions. Some were:

"She might use her magic finger to shoot mangoes at people who make her angry."

"She hasn't learned how to control her anger and is accidentally shooting it at people."

"She might turn them into crumbs!"

"She might turn them into toads!"

Spelling and Phonics

We have explored our tricky spelling this week, using an mnemonic for because to help us:

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

We have also investigated a range of graphemes to ensure that we can use them when spelling new and unfamiliar words: knew, clock, ice, kind and key

English

We have begun our new unit exploring non-chronological reports with a focus on a text all about Windsor Castle. See below for the story map to practise at home! We discussed the order of the facts and new vocabulary as we as the layout of the text.

Maths

A great finish to the week exploring coins and money when solving problems involving addition and subtraction-can you try shopping with cash and counting the change? Check it is right!

Remembrance Day

We are beginning our important reflection on remembrance by working with the local community to create a poppy display in The Granary window. All the children in Owls created a poppy to add to the display and we discussed their symbolism and relevance to the wider community.

Science

Observation and exploration of how materials can change shape and WHY this might be useful in everyday life.

We observed how different objects could change shape, if they stayed in that shape or not and WHY that might be-excellent questions and use of scientific language.

Week 7

What a fantastic term we have had in Owls! We are really proud of all the achievements and progress this term. The children finished their work on story writing this week by bringing their stories to life. They spent some time telling our stories to the Hedgehogs. The children used expression, different voices and eye contact to engage their audience in their story telling. We are very excited because Hedgehogs have promised to come up and visit the Owls soon to tell stories too!

Online Safety

This week we have talking about keeping safe online. We talked about all the devices we use at home and school and how we can keep ourselves safe. In one of our lessons we talked about what a digital footprint is. We were amazed how much information we could find out about a person just from what they were doing online!

Maths

This week have been working on our number bonds to 10/20 and even 100. We have been using concrete objects / white boards and problem solving activities to recognise patterns and deepen our understanding. We then used the laptops to consolidate some of these maths skills we had been practising this week. 

Week 6

A great week of learning in the Owls Class!

Maths:

Owls used lots of concrete objects to explore number families this week and solve problems using known facts. Some real perseverance was seen when some of the children solved a number bond to ten triangle.

English: Owls have LOVED the invention stage of writing this week-creating their own monsters for our 'overcoming the monster tales.' They have applied interesting adjectives for the characters and sentence openers to show the sections of the story. They have also focussed on using their cursive letters-getting ready for joining soon!

Jigsaw: We reflected on the consequences to our actions and how rewards help us feel motivated to try our best both in school and at home.

Science: We put into practice our understanding of material properties this week with an investigation into which is the most suitable material to build a castle from-lots of excellent scientific language used and close observations too. They children decided that slate or wood would be good because it is strong, rigid and water-resistant.

Outdoor Learning Day

What a fantastic day of outdoor learning we had!

We started the day with some much needed work in the allotments, digging and weeding and preparing beds. Following that, we collected a range of stunning Autumn leaves. These became inspiration for a poem using similes to describe the leaves...there will be a performance of this poem in net Friday's sharing assembly... but here are a few taster similes that the children came up with:

Like crunchy burnt toast

Fireworks flying high

A boat for a little mouse

Swirly like a tornado.

We then made some clay hedgehogs-moulding the clay was harder than it looks, but the finished products were fantastic, adorned with stick spikes. These will come home next week when the clay is dry.

In the afternoon, we also had a great session in forest school making dens for our class owl Snowy.

Well done Owls-a great day of learning new skills in so many areas.

Open Afternoon

Thank you to all the families who joined us in Owls for our open afternoon. It was lovely to see the children so excited to share their classroom and learning with you all! If you were unable to visit at this time, please see us to come in at another time and your child can share their books with you.

Visit from PCSO Sue

KS1 were fortunate to have a visit from a local PCSO this week. We welcomed Sue to school to talk about the job of being a Police Officer and how they keep us all safe. We listened to the story of PC Ben and discussed all the different jobs police officers do on a daily basis. The children asked some great questions and showed a clear understanding of how the police help us in our lives. Well done Bats and Owls!

If you would like to look at this story at home, follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SOmKg9vjEs

Science-Everyday Materials

In our science lessons this term we are studying everyday materials and their properties.

Today Owls thought about the materials that objects in our class are made from and which properties help them do their job. Her are some of the words we used to help us. Can they explain what they mean to you at home?

transparent

opaque

stretchy

rough

smooth

stiff

bendy

soft

hard

Art in Owls

Over the last couple of weeks we have enjoyed sketching portraits of the Queen. We then used watercolours to paint our pictures.

Week 2

We have had another busy week in Owls class! On Monday morning we found out that a witch had kidnapped Mrs Sterjo! She had managed to tie her up in forest school. In our English lessons we had to write a story explaining how we were going to help her escape! Luckily she did eventually manage to escape. In maths we have been partitioning numbers into tens and ones.

Week 1

What a fantastic week we have had in the Owls! The children have all settled in well and have enjoyed learning about our new routines. We have enjoyed starting our new topic linked to Castles. The children had a wonderful lesson building a class castle and adding all the key elements and people. The children used books to research castle life. We were really impressed with their team work in this lesson and how they used their creativity to make a drawbridge, battlements and even a dungeon!

Well done Owls.

Please can we remind you to ensure that ALL jumpers, cardigans and fleeces are clearly labelled and remind the children to put them in drawers or bags when not wearing them-we have already had various items of clothing go walkabout-thank you!