The Chronicle

Our Junior 6 children have impressed us this week, their first full week of the new term. In Maths the children showed they had the X-Factor with some excellent work on factors and multiples. English involved identifying elements of effective writing using the mnemonic DADWAVERS CORD! Then, the children demonstrated their observational skills when spotting patterns and similarities between shapes in Verbal Reasoning. While in Science Junior 6 investigated shadows and how the distance between the light source and object affects the size of the shadow. They finished the week by exploring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in Music. What a busy but happy week. Well done Junior 6, we are proud of how you are settling into this term!

Junior 5 have been amazing throughout their first two weeks of this term. Their attitude towards their new year group has been exemplary and, importantly, they have shown a love for learning. In French, the children having been learning how to tell someone where they live, playing role play games to help them remember how to give details such as, where they live near and what type of settlement they live in. They all demonstrated wonderful enthusiasm and Madame Westerman was very impressed.

This week Junior 4 have been working on partitioning of numbers up to 10,000. We have used lots of equipment to help us break our numbers down into thousands, hundreds, tens and ones before we worked on some problem-solving examples.

In Music we have been listening to one of the BBC Ten Pieces - A Bao A Qu - and using it as inspiration to come up with our own animal that is a blend of two others. 

We have also begun our topic on Roman Britain, exploring the rise of the Roman Empire and the reason why they were so successful and powerful. This work will continue as we start our Topic book, Queen of Darkness, which tells the story of Boudicca’s rebellion against Roman rule in Britain.

Junior 3W all earned themselves a collaborative star to stick onto Archimedes the Ant on their Crackley Compass star charts this week! The children worked co-operatively in groups to sequence periods of history onto a chronological timeline. The activity created many opportunities for discussion and questioning amongst the groups, and the children all rose to the challenge with enjoyment. We think that Sherlock the Meercat and Waggles the Dog will soon also find themselves with stars on, as the curiosity and enthusiasm that this group of children are demonstrating this term is huge. We also had our first school swimming lesson, which was very exciting! Well done, Junior 3!

This week, Junior 2 have been continuing to explore two-digit numbers, using a variety of manipulatives to represent our understanding. We have used rekenreks, number squares, base ten and place value counters to build numbers and have amazed our teachers with our super counting skills. In English, we have been reading the story of Rapunzel and we used our digital journals to sequence the pictures from the story to support our retelling. We are looking forward to reading a different version of the story next week and finding out more about a rather rebellious Rapunzel character.

Junior 1 have been very excited about our sensory walk enjoying all the wonderful ways to connect with the hidden details of the world around us. Using our senses, we explored the earthy senses, felt the warmth on our face from the sun. We remained silent as we acknowledged the subtle shift in the wind change. This sensory experience has revealed an appreciation of the intricate beauty around us. We are fortunate enough to have such wonderful grounds to explore and learn from.

The children have really impressed us this week as they completed their first full week of school. They have thrown themselves into all the new activities and tackled them all with enthusiasm. This included going to Forest School and learning how to explore the woods safely. In PE the children pretended to have a spell cast upon them and practised moving like different animals. In Computing the children have been learning how to stay safe on line, and how to use the iPads to record themselves. In Understanding the World the children have been sharing their likes and dislikes with each other, as they continue to form friendships and learn about each other. In Literacy the children drew pictures of their family, and in Maths they had a go at representing numbers up to five.