Summer 2 Round Up in Willows

22nd July 2021A Tod

In this last half term the children have been busy as usual. They have been reading the book Cool by Michael Morpurgo in their English lessons. They have really enjoyed reading this book and have used it to write character descriptions, newspaper reports, complaint letters and non- chronological reports about football teams and footballers.

They have been learning about London in their geography lessons, using pointillism to create pictures in art, exploring plants, light and famous scientists in science as well as learning how to tell the time using both digital 12 and 24 hour clock times.

Without a doubt, this year has been eventful, unpredictable and bizarre!

However, what has been amazing is the flexibility and resilience of the children. They have had to adapt to new rules within school as well as changes outside of it. I have been totally impressed by their fantastic attitudes to ever changing situations and with how they have dealt with new situations.

I wish Willows the best of luck for Year 5.

Miss Tod : )

End of Summer 1

27th May 2021A Tod

SO much has been happening in Willows this half term.

Our class text for English has been How to Train Your Dragon.

The children have created and written about their own dragons, produced instructions on how to catch a dragon, written a diary entry and completed their own narrative based on characters from the book. The children have also taken on the role of film critics by writing up their own review of the How To Train Your Dragon film.

To capture the emotions and feelings of the characters for their diary entries the children carried out a series of ‘freeze frames’ of different scenes from the book. Take a look… they were fantastic!

 

Linking to our Viking topic in History the children designed and made their own Viking Long ships. After making them, the children evaluated their finished products and discussed what they thought went well, what was challenging and what they might do differently if they were to make it again.

 

Whilst learning about coordinates and translating shapes the children received some help from tiny edible bears… they even got to eat them once they had finished!

Gummy Bear Maths!

Decimal fun!

 

To investigate gases as part of their states of matter science topic the children carried out an investigation. They set out to find out which fizzy drink contained the most carbon dioxide.

See the scientists at work below!

 

Longship Fun

27th May 2021Mrs Storey

We have been learning all about Vikings this half term and, as part of DT, we have made our very own Viking longships.  We started by designing our longships and creating a specific criteria that we must include (for example a sail and dragon’s head) before exploring ways we could strengthen our designs.  We finally got to make our longships and worked as a team – it too lots of problem solving skills!  We hope you enjoy our finished longships.  We had a fantastic time making them.

Freeze Framing Scenes

13th May 2021Mrs Storey

In English we have been using freeze framing to infer different character’s thoughts and feelings from How to Train your Dragon.  The children were fantastic at acting out the 4 key scenes – they really thought about the character’s emotions and what their facial expressions and gestures would be.  We are using this to write a diary from the perspective of Hiccup and Toothless.  Super acting Chestnuts!

End of Spring Term in Willows

1st April 2021A Tod

It has certainly been a different term (once again) with the children adapting fantastically well to changes around school as well as new rules and routines to follow.

On returning to school Willows reflected on their time during lockdown. They wrote a letter of thanks to someone they felt had made a positive impact to their home learning and reflected on new found skills and hobbies. They produced some lovely ‘HOPE’ pictures to remember that if we are hopeful things will be alright.

Willows have been very busy learning all about sound in science. They have explored how sounds are made, how it travels, pitch and volume, protecting their ears from sound and how it travels through different mediums.

In history they have been delving into the world of the Vikings! They have learnt where they came from, how they travelled and how modern life compares to life back then. We will continue to explore the Vikings further after the Easter break.

Autism Awareness Week 2021

1st April 2021A Tod

Willows carried out a ‘Super 7 challenge’ for Autism Awareness Week. The 7 reflects the 700,000 people diagnosed with Autism in the UK.

As a class we discussed ways in which we can better understand and support people with Autism by creating 7 rules to follow.

Here are our beautiful rainbows which include our rules.

Home Learning Spring 1

12th February 2021A Tod

Although this half term has been a little different to the rest, Willows have demonstrated their great strengths of resilience and enthusiasm towards their home learning (those in school and at home). Whilst delving deep into the depths of new online technologies the children have covered a range of new topics.

In English, they have studied their new class text The Great Kapok Tree and explored the issue of deforestation. This links directly to their geography topic of The Rainforest, in which they have explored biomes, climate and layers of the rainforest. Next half term they will find out how plants and animals are adapted to living in the rainforest and explore the Amazon Rainforest in greater depth.

In science the children have been looking at living things and their habitats; exploring the different types of vertebrate and invertebrate animals as well as looking at how our local and global environments change over time through the things we, as humans, do to it.

In maths the children have explored the formal written method of column multiplication as well as looking at known division facts. They have also spent time learning how to interpret data using bar charts, pictograms and line graphs. At the end of this half term the children have explored how to read both analogue and 12-hour digital time.

The children have made great use of Purple Mash this half term whilst learning has been online. They have used it to learn about the members of the family in French, produce bar charts as part of their statistics in maths as well as use it for many e-safety related activities.

There is so much to commend the children on this half term; what a super job you are all doing. I thank everyone at home who is making such a brilliant effort with the home learning.

I can’t wait to have everyone back in the classroom again! : )

 

Christmas Card Circuits

16th December 2020Mrs Storey

 

Chestnuts have been using their Science knowledge in D.T. to design and make light-up Christmas cards.  We came up with a design criteria for our Christmas cards (including having a Christmas theme, writing Merry Christmas and including the colour red) and discussed how we could make the card light up.  We used copper tape for the wire in our circuits and followed a template.  The folding was tricky!! We then attached a battery for our power source and an led bulb for the light.  All of the children knew that the light would only work if there was a complete circuit with no breaks.  The cards were beautiful and they all lit up! Well done Chestnuts!

Another busy half term in Autumn 2

15th December 2020A Tod

This half term Willows have been exploring the book George’s Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl. They have written a character description about Grandma, created their own rhyming poem, written instructions for how to make a medicine and produced a persuasive advert to sell it!

In maths they have worked really hard on mastering the column method for addition and subtraction with up to 4 digits. They have also looked at classifying quadrilaterals and triangles as well as measuring perimeter and area and exploring lines of symmetry.

Willows had their very first meeting with the school dog, Lenny. They loved it and he was so well behaved for us. A very good boy Lenny!

 

In DT, to link with their Ancient Egyptian History, they produced some fantastic pyramid structures. The children planned, made and evaluated their designs.

 

The children were very lucky to spend an afternoon on a Bug Safari! They had to hunt for all sorts of creepy crawlies that may be living within the school grounds. The children had an excellent time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A frog!!

Our Science focus has been electricity, with the children learning ways in which our energy is generated to how to stay safe around electricity.

Whilst learning about electrical circuits the children set up their own in order to create a light up Christmas card!

I am really impressed with the level of hard work and commitment that the children have put into their work this half term. I can already see that they are maturing and becoming much more responsible for their own learning!

Miss Tod : )

 

 

Pyramid Structures

10th December 2020Mrs Storey

In Design Technology and to link with our History topic of Ancient Egypt, we have designed and made pyramids using art straws.  We planned our designs first by deciding how we would approach the task and thought about how we could make the structure stronger (for example bending instead of cutting straws and using double straws).  We also thought about how the pyramids could keep their shape – adding in crosses and extra straws to add strength.  Chestnuts then had the opportunity to make their designs.  They adapted the structures as they made them and showed real resilience in attaching the straws together.  We finally evaluated our designs and thought about ways we could improve them next time.