Beech Weekly News

Week Beginning 01.3.21

​This week we have completed, what we hope is the very last, week of home learning and CWC.   We have been learning all about 3D shapes. We learnt the difference between a flat shape and a 3D shape and we started describing 3D shapes according to the number of edges, faces and vertices. We also looked at repeating patterns, made 3D shapes with the polydron and with playdoh and straws. In Literacy we have continued to learn about reports. We used all the information we found last week to write leaflets about Emperor penguins.  We edited and improved these before using our compute skills to publish them. In the afternoons, we learnt lots of new words for a range of emotions. In our topic work, we are learning about hot and cold places.  We discovered that penguins and polar bears are from different poles and that there is an aurora in the South Pole, like the North Pole! We also celebrated World Book Day and dressed up as our favourite book character.  We had great fun guessing who everyone was   We shared stories and made a book character from a tube.  In our final week of learning apart, we spent some time this week chatting online – it was so great to catch up with our friends! We are very much looking forward to being together as a class next week.  

Week Beginning 22.2.21

This week we have been learning all about 2D shapes in Maths. We have learnt how to spot vertical and horizontal lines of symmetry and we noticed that some shapes have lots of lines of symmetry. We have been making patterns with shapes.  In Literacy we have been reading reports all about Penguins and learning how to extend our sentences.  We have continued to practice our cursive and pre-cursive writing and we have revised different ways to write the sound /j/.   We created beautiful hare collages using some colourful wallpaper. We have been programming Beebots to follow simple pathways through mazes and maps. We also practised being robots in the playground and following a simple set of instructions.  From this we created maps with instructions to find buried treasure.   It was lovely to catch up with home learners over Google meet, and some children who had not seen each other for a while were able to have a chat.  Our home learners have continued to work very hard and we are looking forward to when we are all back together.   

Week Beginning 8.2.21

This week we have been reading the Shoemaker and the Elves, and developing our descriptive writing by using pairs of adjectives. We are really good at spotting and using adjectives but still need to think about using better words  - for example ‘enormous’ instead of ‘big’. We also wrote a postcard imagining what the elves did once they had left the workshop.  We are continuing to practice our cursive and pre-cursive writing and we learning about soft ‘c’ in our spellings – fancy, race, nice. In Maths we are learning about 2D and 3D shapes.  We were able to apply our knowledge of shapes to a range of problems.  In the afternoons, we have been doing lots of arts, crafts and some junk modelling. We have been using watercolours , masking tape and wax crayons to create different effects.  We made marble runs and catapults and even had a competition to see which catapult could fire the furthest!  We have also made many objects associated with Chinese New Year and wrote our name using Chinese characters.  Our home learners have also been very busy this week completing their work to a very high standard. It has been a very strange half term but the class have shown enormous resilience. We are incredibly proud of every child in our class.  ​

Week Beginning 1.2.21
 This week, we have been looking at performance poetry based on the Great Fire of London.  We have investigated rhyming and sound within poems.  We recreated the sound of the fire and the gunpowder.  We also devised actions and changed our voices when performing poems.  We watched poems performed by Michael Rosen to inspire us.  At the end of the week we wrote incredible poems all about the Great Fire of London, taking into account all that we have learnt.  We definitely have the next Michael Rosen in our class!  In mathematics we begun looking at data handling.  We are now very confident at interpreting tally charts.  We also applied our knowledge of multiplication to pictograms.  We have continued to have lots of fun with our science experiments.  We devised an absorbency test to see which material absorbed the most water.  We also sorted materials into natural or human-made.  We used this knowledge to make a chair from junk modelling which could hold a 1kg weight.  All our chairs were very sturdy and survived the test!  Finally this week we have also been involved in many activities for mental health week, dress to express.  As part of our activities we discussed why it was important to look after ourselves and what makes us happy.  Our home learners have continued to join us on our Zoom lessons and are continuing to work incredibly hard.  

Week Beginning 25.1.21
This week, we have become really confident with the ÷ symbol. We already understand grouping and sharing and have done lots of practise with counters. We can now tackle more abstract maths using the ÷ symbol. Learning how to use the division symbol has meant that we can get higher scores on Times Tables Rock Stars! In Literacy we have continued to write interesting diary entries but this time about an important event within our own lives.  We have also been investigating verbs in the past progressive form.  In the afternoons we have been doing Science - learning all about the properties of different materials and their uses in the real world. We had a lot of fun testing different materials for a hamster cage. Instead of using our teeth like a hamster, we used a nail file to recreate the chewing action. We enjoyed testing the polystyrene as it looked like it had snowed in Beech class.  Another investigation we conducted was to test which material made the best umbrella. Beech class were very careful to ensure they carried out a fair test.   We have also continued learning the ukulele. We are getting really good at 'My Dog Has Fleas' and have started strumming a C chord. We have learnt about beats and rests.  The home learners have continued to join us everyday for our Zoom Literacy lessons and they have contributed many ideas.  They are working incredibly hard and we are so proud of the work that they have produced.  ​

Week beginning 18.1.21

This week we have carried on our learning about the Great Fire of London. We have looked at how the fire spread so quickly and why it was so difficult to put out. We have compared the equipment used by the fire brigade now and in 1666.  We have learnt that the famous diarist Samuel Pepys buried his parmesan cheese and wine in the garden to protect it from the fire. We have explored colour mixing with water colour paints to create a flame effect. We have overlaid a silhouette of Tudor houses. In Maths, we have begun looking at division. We are sharing and grouping counters. In Literacy, we have continued with our diary writing. Home learners have been baking bread and painting watercolour pictures too. We are getting good at unmuting ourselves during a zoom lesson, so that everyone gets a turn to share their ideas!

Week beginning 11.1.21
We have learning been all about the Great Fire of London this week and were able to interview Thomas Farrinor, who popped into Beech class to say hello. He told us all about his bread over and how the fire may have started. We learnt about how houses were built and what they were made in 1666. We designed and made our own Tudor houses, with beams and straw roofs. We have also started learning the ukuleles this week. In Maths, we have been continuing to learn all about multiplication and linking our learning to real problems. We have been writing diary entries in the style of Samuel Pepys in Literacy. The children who are home learning have been joining us everyday for Literacy lessons and to share our work at the end of the day.