We have had a very busy and exciting week in Ash Class.

We were lucky enough to be visited by a brilliant storyteller to accompany our learning in History about the Vikings. He told tales of seafaring adventures to lands far from Scandinavia, and explained all sorts of fascinating information about Viking battles, weapons and life. There was opportunity at the end for the children to try on the helmets, use the shields and see how heavy the chainmail was! It really brought our learning to life and we had a great morning.

In Life Skills, we have finished our learning about how to keep our bodies and minds healthy by focusing on keeping our teeth clean! We explored how difficult it is to remove plaque if you don't brush your teeth regularly (replicated with cornflour on a yoghurt pot) and every child was offered a free toothbrush and toothpaste to take home.

Another highlight this week was designing, making and evaluating torches in D.T. The children worked through the whole process of creating a product. They had to think about a brief and establish what features their torches would need, consider which materials they would use to create them and finally assemble them. Great problem-solving skills shown by many.

Finally, today, we've finished off the week with a sporty day. We had our weekly SAINTS P.E. lesson followed by taking part in an OCRA Quad kids event. Fantastic running, long jumping and javelin throwing!

Another week flies by! 

The children have worked really hard this week practising their times tables. I've seen some great increases in score on TTRS and the times table check! Please keep up the hard work at home. 

In English, we've been practising using a thesaurus to find better words to use in writing. They will put this into practise when they write their own version of Cinderella of the Nile. In Maths, we've been telling the time and learning how to convert analogue times to digital times (both on a 12 and 24 hour clock). We had a great History lesson discussing whether the Vikings were actually the first people to discover the Americas. Plenty to keep us busy this week!

Keep up the regular reading, spelling practise and especially times table practise please.

​Have a lovely weekend.

We've been busy again this week! 

A big focus this week has been learning to tell the time in Maths. We started by revisiting how to read o'clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to times. We then moved onto telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes, and from there telling the time to the nearest minutes The more chance children get to practise this, the better! Why not challenge them to tell you the time over the course of the weekend? I shared a link on Dojo to a great website with a telling the time game that they could play at home as well. Next week, we will move onto converting between analogue and digital time (12 and 24 hour clocks).

On the subject of Maths, well done to those children who have worked hard this week to improve their score on the Times Tables Check! There were a few children in particular who I could see have worked really hard at home. TTRS is a great online resource for practising this but please support your child to learn the tables they find a bit more challenging.

Now for a quick summary of our learning in other subjects. In English, we have started a new text called 'Cinderella of the Nile'. We compared it with the well-known fairytale version of Cinderella to look for similarities and differences. In History, we learnt about a treaty signed between King Alfred and the invading Viking chief Guthrum. Science involved understanding how animals and plants are adapted to survive in hot and cold environments. We had a really interesting Life Skills lesson where we looked at how much sugar is in drinks. The children enjoyed seeing this visually and we had some great discussions.

Another week has flown by, especially since this one was shorter with the bank holiday Monday!

We've been working really hard on handwriting and presentation this week and I've seen an improvement in effort from all of the children, so well done. In English, we have used the skills of persuasive writing to write a letter encouraging people to cycle to school rather than drive. Next week, the children will be planning and writing their own persuasive letters. We've been adding and subtracting money in Maths, and understanding how to find change from an amount. Have a look at the photos. In History, the children learnt all about what happened at Lindisfarne when the Vikings invaded in 793 and sequenced the events that happened.

Today, we made the most of the nice weather and went outside onto the playground to design some times tables playground games! We had snakes and ladders, hopscotches and some original games. The children were practising the times tables they find most tricky. Take a look at the photos below.

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