The Chronicle

This week, Junior 6 have been continuing their mastery of long division.  They have been practising their fluency of the process and then working hard to solve problems relating to it, particularly looking at what to do with the remainder and whether it needed to be rounded up or down.  

In RE, we have begun to look at the season of Lent and we focussed on the Ash Wednesday Gospel, thinking about how we could apply Jesus' teaching to our own lives.  We have also thought about how poverty affects people around the world and what CAFOD are doing to help this. 

Our J5s have been busy creating Winter Landscapes during their Art lessons. Under the expert guidance of Mrs Clark, the children have been instructed to create these landscapes using any media they wish. So far, there have been some stunning photographs, pastels and sketches produced – we certainly have a talented bunch of children.

The children are finding out about the Tudors, in History. Last week, it was the Reformation and this week it is ‘Witches Galore!’ Our talented historians and artists designed their very own wanted posters for the suspected witches of the Tudor period. Watch out: if you were an older lady, who lived on her own with cats, you may have been persecuted as a witch!!  

This term so far, Junior 4 have focused on writing the date in French. As easy as it may seem, it actually involves three separate elements: numbers from 1 to 31, days of the week and months of the year.

Then there are these French quirks, such as days and months not starting with a capital letter, and the French using cardinal, not ordinal numbers. The children have practised with worksheets and games and are now enjoying live lessons.

We can now focus on a most important date: our birthdays!

In anticipation of the Chinese New Year on Friday, Junior 3 have been learning all about this amazing international celebration. We have read all about the customs and traditions of the new year festivities and Ivy kindly shared her instructions on how to make a lucky fish mobile.

In our history lesson we found out all about the terracotta army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and compared this ancient wonder to the pyramids of Giza. We were amazed that quite a few of us even have model terracotta warriors in our homes! We have also watched dragon dances and written some fabulous setting descriptions from the point of view of someone watching the dance unfold. We are now looking forward to maths challenges set by the Emperor himself on Friday, as we tackle a chessboard challenge and a fortune cookie conundrum.

Gong Xi Fa Cai , Everyone!

Junior 2H remain industrious as we head towards a much-needed half term. We have worked so hard and our teacher is incredibly proud of all of us for coping so well with lock down and online teaching and all that brings with it! Although it has been a bitterly cold week we have sped back to the Rainforests as we work creatively, and are inspired by all we have learned. Watch out for some lovely art work after half term.

This week in Maths, we have been learning about ‘Weight’ and pupils have explored kitchen cupboards at home, searching for heavier, lighter, more and less. In Science, we have explored the work of John McAdam, whose ideas in the 19th century helped to give the world Tarmacadam. Where would we be without decent roads? Happy half term everyone!

Our last week before half term has been as busy as usual. Junior 1 have found new ways to create imaginative and descriptive poems about the weather, in English.

This linked in nicely with our Geography work – sorting out different types of weather for each season and showing what sort of clothes we should wear.

In History we took a trip down memory lane to find out what sorts of toys children played with in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. This gave us an opportunity to make some of our own toys from those times in DT, with the chance to make our own Ker-plunk, tin-can stilts, a marble run or a paper Ninja star!!

We have also been busy in Maths finishing off our measuring topic by looking at capacity and volumes of containers.

It has been a week full of celebration in Reception this week, as we explored the traditions, stories, dances and food associated with Chinese New Year. Great fun was had performing lion dances and making paper dragons too!

Continuing to consolidate all phonics and tricky words learnt to date; comparing height and length; measuring time; saying our age in French and character improvisation in Drama have all ensured a fun-packed week of learning!

We also read about St Valentine - who was a very kind and holy man - and the meaning of why we celebrate Valentine’s Day which is this Sunday. After a jam-packed half-term, we are looking forward to recharging our batteries next week in readiness for more super learning!