Friday 6th November

This week in English the children have started their new Power of Reading book “Traction Man is here!” by Mini Grey. The children have explored how to make a prediction for the story and how to read what is going on using an expressive voice. The children have also independently created their own evil characters following the style of the story, eg. the evil pillows, the mean toothbrush, the mischievous brush. The children all created a role on the wall to show what the character looked like and what they felt.

In Maths we have been exploring the meaning of the word difference when subtracting numbers. We have been looking at how consecutive numbers always have a difference of 1 and how consecutive even/odd numbers always have a difference of 2. To explore this we created a class bar chart to show who our favourite superheroes are. With this information, the children answered word problems to do with the difference between results on the bar chart.

In RE we started our new topic of Prophecy and Promise. We started by learning about prophets and how they have been chosen by God to spread his message. We looked at scripture from Isaiah and reflected on his words and designed a symbol of light.

Thursday 22nd October

This week in English the children have been focussing on understanding different types of sentences; statements, commands, exclamation sentences as well as questions. They have been challenged to write their own, focussing on what makes each sentence distinct:

• Statements give the reader information.
• Commands have imperative verbs that tell you what to do.
• Exclamation sentences have an exclamation mark at the end as well as usually starting with how or what.
• Questions end with a question mark and start with words like how, what, why, when, where.

We have also made posters and presented to the class reasons why we need to help hedgehogs because the hedgehog population is in decline. We learnt about having hedgehog highways in our garden and ensuring that we put food out for hedgehogs. We also learnt that we need to look for places where hedgehogs can shelter for the winter.

In Maths we continued our learning of addition and subtraction. We have been using the make ten strategy to add two single digit numbers together. We have been swapping between addition and subtraction, to make sure that our understanding is secure and that we know that subtraction is the inverse of addition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In RE we concluded our topic of Creation and Covenant by having a class celebration. We then designed a baptism card to share with our families.  

Friday 16th October

This week in English the children have learnt what an exclamation sentence is and that they usually start with what or how. We also edited a set of instructions so that we knew what a good set should look like. The following day we wrote our own instructions on how to cross the road safely.

In Maths we focused on subtraction. We have been looking at how we can subtract a single digit number from a two digit number. The focus has been making 10 first. This week we have been using a number line to help us. First we draw our number line, then make 10, then partition the subtrahend and lastly, subtract the 2^nd part. We also solved some subtraction word problems.

 

In RE we learnt about the symbols of baptism. We wrote about the meaning of the symbols and how they are special to become part of God’s family.

Friday 9th October

This week in English the children have been focussing on poetry as well as grammar. They have edited their poems from last week, learnt all the rules for adding the suffix ‘ing’ to a verb and have also learnt the rules of how to make a word plural. The children have also explored different ways to write poetry, exploring the layout of the words on a page, e.g.,

The leaves were

F

        A

                L

                        L

                                I

                                        N

                                                G

Based upon this the children wrote a poem about how they could describe Autumn.

In Maths continued our learning of our new topic which is Addition. We have been looking at how we can add two single digit numbers together. Last week we used part-part-whole models and tens frames with counters. The focus has been making 10 first. This week we have been using a number line to help us. First we draw our number line, then make 10, then partition the addend and lastly add the 2^nd part.

In RE we have learnt about psalms and that they are prayers to Praise God for his creations. We then wrote our own psalm and wrote about the things we love in God’s world.

For Black History Month we have learnt about the life of Martin Luther King. We read the book ‘Little people Big dreams’ and remembered facts about his life.

Friday 2nd October

This week in English the children have been focusing on poetry. They have performed a hedgehog poem, creating their own actions, as well as creating other poems as a class. The children have also looked at how adjectives can make their writing more interesting and how, when writing a poem, adding adjectives can be the pattern that they use to make their own poem. The children have concluded the week by writing their own short poem, using the skills that we have worked on.

In Maths we have started our new topic of Addition. We have been looking at how we can add two single digit numbers together. We have done this using part-part-whole models and tens frames with counters. The focus has been making 10 first. For example, 7+5=, we make ten first, 7+3=10. We then still have part of the 5 and we know that 3+2=5 so then we need to add the 2, 10+2=12.

In RE we been learning about Stewardship, part of our Catholic Social teaching. We learnt that Stewardship means caring for and looking after God’s Gifts. We wrote a letter to Canon John to explain what we are going to do to look after God’s world.

Friday 25th September

This week in English we have then started to explore what we think might have happened to the hedgehogs after they crossed the road to get to the park and the children have written a short narrative describing what they think happened. We have also researched hedgehogs, found some interesting facts about them and then created a fact file all about hedgehogs.

In Maths we have been comparing numbers, moving towards comparing two-digit numbers. The children have started to use inequality symbols; = < >, and have created number sentences including these symbols. The children have also continued exploring commutativity, 35 > 21 so we know that 21 < 35. We have been practising using the phrases greater than and less than when using the inequality symbols. Eg 35 is greater than 21, 21 is less than 35.

In RE we have been learning about God’s promise to Noah and how when we behave unkindly towards others we are creating a sin. We have thought about times when we have made bad choices and how we can then show that we are turning back to God. We wrote a sorry prayer to reflect this.

In Geography we have been finding out about the local parks in Brentwood. We have used maps to locate the parks and then found out what it is like to go there. We found King Georges Playing fields, Thorndon and South Weald. We wrote about the good things in each park.

Friday 18th September

This week in English we have continued reading our Power of Reading book, ‘The Hodgeheg’ by Dick King Smith. We have made a character description of the main character, Max. First we thought about his appearance and then his personality. We used a range of adjectives to describe him.  We have also created a story map for Max and his family’s crossing across the busy road. Using this story map, all the children have written their own retelling of the events of the first crossing for Max the hedgehog!

In Maths we have continued exploring place value. We have been practising partitioning into tens and ones using both part-part-whole models and bar models and, based upon this, have been writing number sentences to go with these different models. We have also explored the concept of commutativity, which is changing the order of the numbers but the result does not change. For example: 10+6=16 becomes 6+10=16.

In RE, we have reflected upon the story of Noah’s Ark, focussing upon the Covenant that God made with Noah, promising not to flood the world again. The symbol of this Covenant appeared in the form of the first rainbow. We learnt that a covenant is a promise to turn back to God. We reflected on times that we have sinned and how we have turned back to God. We wrote sorry prayers to reflect on times we have turned away from God.

In Science, we have investigated materials to make a bridge. We had to choose a suitable material from foil, cardboard and wooden sticks and made a bridge to go across two points. We then talked about which material was the most successful and why.

Friday 11th September

This week in Maths we have been partitioning into tens and ones using a part part whole model and writing an addition sentence underneath our models.

In English we have been learning about Max the hedgehog and imagining how he felt when he crossed the road for the first time.

In RE we looked at our mission statement and thought about ways that we can live out our mission statement every day.