Churchill CofE Primary School
Term 3
Happy New Year
Welcome back!
Useful information
EdShed Spelling
www.edshed.com
Please find your child's username and password in the back of the yellow reading record book.
The spellings for your child are set specifically for him/her. Paper copies of the words to learn for the week will still be sent home in the weekly homework folder.
Please come in and see us if you have any problems.
Our topic this term is...
Animals Around the World.
There are very strong Geography and Science links - learning about the continents and oceans, which animals live in different parts of the world and why they are so suited to these habitats.
Country Dancing
This term we have been learning some country dances. We have been practising circle dancing and line dancing. Watch our videos to see how amazing we are!
Circle dance
Line dance
Subtraction by crossing multiples of 10
The children have shown real resilience when mastering the skill of subtracting 2 digit numbers when needing to exchange a 10. They have used the base 10 resources really well to support their thinking. Here's a video of the method they have been following...
Subtraction.mov
Our final destination is......Australia
We investigated and responded to Aboriginal Art using a palette of 'earth colours'. We learned some signs and symbols and talked about their meanings too.
Fifth 500 Reading Points Achieved
On Monday 14th February, we achieved our fifth 500 points for reading regularly at
home. As a reward for their achievement, the children will be voting for their next special treat.
Well done everyone! Keep up with your regular reading.
This week is Children's Mental Health Week.
Children's Mental Health Week
Linking with this term's PSHE learning about Dreams and Goals, we spent time reviewing our personal goals and targets that we set at the beginning of January.
At the start of this week, we thought about our achievements..........
What we can do now that we couldn't do at the start of Year 2.
'I can swim.'
'I have gone up 2 levels in Numbots.'
'I can do a handstand.'
'I have learned sign language and can sign my name.'
'I have made some new friends.'
'I have learned a new sport......fencing.'
'I'm really good at running faster. I've joined a club.'
Sharing kindness
We are learning that we can grow together by being kind. As we grow, there will be times when we struggle or feel uncomfortable emotions. Being kind to ourselves can help us to feel good inside and keep trying when things are tricky. Being kind to others can help them to feel happy and positive.
We thought about who we could share kindness with.
We also listened to this story which highlights themes about friendship and emotions.
During the last few weeks, we have learned about destinations......
Asia
Europe
The Americas
The Americas
In Geography this week, the children worked as detectives to match up images of physical and human landmarks in North and South America with their names and a description of them. There were some tricky South American names where they had to 'hunt for clues' to decipher e.g. Estadio (stadium) and Cristo Redentor (Christ).
Can we trust our internet search?
In ICT this term we have been learning about technology in our lives. This week, we have been thinking about what is on the internet and how this information is put onto the internet. The children explored a website about 'Apple Ants'. They had some information to find out, but started to question it slightly the more they read! The link to the website is below if you'd like a look!
The children will not be in school tomorrow as they are all going to Australia. Please make sure they have packed a suitcase ready for the helicopter when it arrives at 9am tomorrow.
(This isn't really going to happen but we have been learning about how easy it is to put fake information on the internet!)
Using the idea of Apple Ants, we made up our own characters for fake web pages.
Our second destination is......
AFRICA
In Art, we have been creating 3D surfaces using the inspiration of traditional Ken-te cloth from West Africa.
We learned that Ken-te is the name given to a colourful silk cloth which is made in a traditional way. Shapes like squares, triangles, zigzags, crosses and circles all have special meanings and are used in the patterns. The bright colours used also have special meanings.
Next week, we will be painting our 3D surfaces using the warm colours of the colour wheel........yellows, oranges and reds.
Ken-te designs....work in progress.
Painting our 3D surfaces.
Our amazing final results.
Fourth 500 Home Reads Achieved!
The children have earned their next treat for 500 home reads. We are very proud of how much reading is happening at home!
If everyone reads 5 or more times each week - the rewards come round much quicker!
To celebrate, this Friday (28th January), the children may bring in a soft toy for the day to share in our learning.
Music
In Music we are learning a song called 'I Wanna Play in a Band'. We have been listening to and comparing a range of rock songs. This week we looked at how to produce a good sound on the glockenspiels and next week we will add these into our song as an accompaniment.
Maths - adding and subtracting through 10 (and multiples of 10)
The children have been working REALLY hard to master this maths concept over the last few weeks. We've used a lot of practical resources including 10s frames, bead strings and numberlines before moving onto our own jottings and finally calculations without jottings.
It's a really useful skill that will support the children's calculations as they move up through the school.
Our first destination is......
ANTARCTICA
Our Art unit for this term is 3D.
Making links with this term's topic, we used our prior knowledge of the colour wheel to learn about cool/cold colours.
We are learning a new skill, the technique of card wrapping, and using only cool colours of wool to make an Antarctic scene.
This technique is great for developing hand eye coordination. We also found that our weaving skills from last term, pushing the paper strips carefully together, helped us to ensure our wool strands lay neatly together. Some of us have even learnt how to tie knots! This is our Antarctic work in progress.
Have a look at a selection of our amazing Antarctica scenes. We are really proud of our learning.
In Geography this week we looked at the different directions on a compass, learnt a rhyme to remember them (Never Eat Shredded Wheat) and then made the most of a sunny afternoon to play a running around game following compass directions.
We also looked at the differences and similarities between maps, atlases and globes. The children then used an atlas to be geographical detectives and find out where all the continents and oceans of the world are. This was quite challenging and the children rose superbly to this challenge!
Our text in English this term is The Journey Home by Frann Preston-Gannon. For our introduction lesson on Wednesday, the children used descriptions of animals to identify which animal had made the footprints.
We were all very happy to see our friends back at school. Starting with a check in, we had lots of exciting news to share with each other.
Third 500 Reading Points Achieved
At the end of last term, we achieved our third 500 points for reading regularly at home. The children have voted for their next special treat .......... bring in a game from home (eg. card game, board game) We will be having this treat on FRIDAY 14th JANUARY.
Great team work everyone. Keep up with the super reading!
(We are currently well on our way to achieving our fourth set of 500 points)