Year 3/4a have been busy with their learning over the last two weeks; starting their new Learning Adventure on Henry VIII in History, exploring and investigating forces in Science and braving fierce dragons and sinister characters, such as Morgan Le Fay, in their writing on 'Myths and Legends' and 'King Arthur'. We enjoyed 'Hot-Seating' key characters.

Our term's Value of 'DETERMINATION' has turned our focus to presentation and handwriting where we've been thinking carefully about cursive joins and the consistent size of our letters within independent writing. Well done to all those who have been practising at home - SUPERSTARS!

Within Math, Year 3 have started their new topic on 'Mass and Capacity' and have worked hard at learning their KIRFS too as these have helped us with certain scales.
Year 4 are consolidating their understanding on fractions and are working hard at applying their knowledge of multiplication and division to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers. With the Multiplication Check nearly upon us, we're also working hard to have a quicker recall of our tables, improving our scores each day - Well Done!

Duck in a Truck 

We started off our duck in the truck topic by discussing different modes of transport. Our first step was to brainstorm the different types we could think of, reception thought of loads: plane, train, car, van, horse, feet, bicycle and more.

We then talked about tally charts and how so many different things can be recorded through tally charts, reception know  one line marked, equals the number one and know that when you reach five you cross over the 4 tally marks.

We then Fred talked 4 different modes of transport: Car, Van, Bus and Tractor and headed out to the front of the school to start our tally charts. Reception kept their eyes peeled for their 4 different moving vehicles, they were so excited when they saw each one and they were predicting what would come next.

Their final tally charts looked neat and you could see reception really understood the concept. Final tally marks came to: car =6, Van = 2, Bus = 1, Tractor = 0. This was a great hook to start off our duck in the truck story.

Duchy Farm 

What better way to learn about the ins and outs of a farm than by visiting a working one! Duchy farm kindly welcomed us to their working farm grounds for the day.

We started off our visit by exploring their equine centre, Martin, our guide, explained how the horses are looked after, how you can work within the equine industry and all about their diets and the horse’s biology. They were very beautiful, some of our children showed a real gentle and calming presence when saying hello to them all.

Within this topic we are really exploring British farming- how it works and why it is so important. Martin was really excited to share about all the different roles you will find on a farm and how important they are to our country.

Once we had visited the equine centre we moved on to the guinea pigs, bunnies, chickens and ducks. The children loved getting up close and personal with these animals and found them very cute. The lady in this centre explained to the children how they look after these animals, including their diets, grooming and health checks, they all had really funny names also.

Moving on over to the exotic animals centre where the children met different species of frogs, snakes, bearded dragons, spiders, snails etc. These were a big hit, the children were very intrigued by all these animals, the frogs were adamant on escaping and jumping all over the children! One was called Kermit!

To top off a brilliant day the children got to have a tractor trailer ride around the remainders of the working farm. This is when they got to see the cows and sheep. The tractor ride was very fun but also very informative, we met different people along the way. One particular lady worked in the dairy part of the farm, she told us that they have nearly 250 cows on their farm, all of which produce 21 litres of milk a day that makes our cathedral city cheese and David stow milk! Exploring a career in farming is something Duchy Farm are really passionate about and this was evident in the friendly welcome and high-quality care of their animals.

Reception had the best time visiting Duchy Farm, I wonder whether any of them will become a farmer one day?

Forest School Team Work

Today in forest school we had a fantastic rope activity set up. The activity focused on balance and co-ordination along with teamwork and trust.

We started off by following the rope around and we were not allowed to let go, they had navigate through low parts and high parts. The next part that impressed us the most was when the children were in pairs and they had to give instructions to their partner who had their eyes closed, their communication skills with one another was great and they guided their partners well. 

They also tried walking backwards whilst trying not to let go of the rope. 

They worked really well as a team and enjoyed the activity. 

Today, in the morning, group one started with archery and bushcraft; group two did zip lining, the leap of faith and a climbing wall; and group three did tunnels and stream studies.
After a lunch of assorted rolls, group one did problem solving; group two did bushcraft and archery; and group three did zip wiring, the leap of faith and climbing.
We are looking forwards to our woodland walk and bonfire. See you back at school tomorrow!
By Tom 

The children did not let the early start this morning put them off their activities today! They have had a super day. After unpacking and lunch, Group 1 completed the zip line, leap of faith and climbing wall whilst groups 2 and 3 carried out the problem solving activities.
We were incredibly proud of all the children for giving the zip line a go and lots even tried out the leap of faith!
The problem solving groups impressed us with their determination and communication skills- they did not give up and worked really well in their teams.
This evening, the children have enjoyed their evening meal and spent time in the games room and watching a movie.

Hopefully we will all get a good night sleep ahead of tomorrow’s activities.

Please see below for some more pictures. 

Maths

This half term we will start by focusing on shape before swiftly moving onto money. We will also keep refreshing our arithmetic skills once per week. I can see lots of the children are accessing Times Table Rock Stars at home which is fantastic, please do keep practising at home as this really supports their mental arithmetic. We'd like children to be able to count in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s by the end of Year 2. Below are some of the songs we use in school to help us. I have included lots here as the homework we send home will touch on all of these at different points so it may be a useful bank of resources to support your child at home.

Counting in 2s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTcpfSnOMQ

Counting in 3s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_cn87hOCDM

Counting in 5s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EemjeA2Djjw

Counting in 10s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftati8iGQcs

This half term we are learning all about shape. Here are some songs and videos we will watch in class.

2D shapes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjv39j6/articles/ztpwdmn

3D shapes: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjv39j6/articles/zcsjqty

Shape videos and resources: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zjv39j6

Some other helpful resources:

Sharing (division): https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h/articles/z6pqh4j

Multiplication sentences: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h/articles/zbmk239

Using an array for multiplication: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h/articles/z3tvcj6

Using an array for division: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqbg87h/articles/z9pc8mn

Addition and subtraction (all of these guides and videos will be useful): https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwv39j6

Fractions (all of these guides and videos will be useful): https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z3rbg82

English

This half term we will start by very quickly finishing off our recounts from before the Easter holidays. Then we will be moving onto story writing once again focusing on Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.

Science

Our topic this half term is living things and their habitat. We explore microhabitats and lots of different living things so we are excited to take our learning outside as much as possible!

History

This half term we are learning all about The Great Fire of London! The children are beyond excited about this topic and cannot wait to learn all about what happened, why it happened and how it happened. 

Our trip to The Box in Plymouth

On Friday 19th April we went on a school trip to The Box in Plymouth. The children were brilliant and their behaviour was exceptional! They listened intently to our guide and loved each and every exhibit we went into. They listened and asked questions and it was a joy to watch how enthusiastic they were. 

The second part of the day was an artist workshop focusing on sea life sculpture. The children explored plankton and noticed how different it all looks. They discussed how art made them feel and even got to use different materials to design and make their own plankton sculptures. The artist leading the workshop then joined all their sculptures together and this is now hanging up in the classroom if you'd like to come and see it! Please enjoy these great photos from our trip.