​It has been a busy few weeks in Hawthorn Class. 
 
The pupils have been working hard on their times tables and more children have Gone Green on TTRS. This means they are able to answer times table and division questions on each times table. The year 4 times table check will happen mid June. There is still plenty of time to get some more practice in before then. Please check with your child to see if they have Gone Green on TTRS and what times table they are still working on. 
 
We had a fantastic marble reward treat day. We played on the gymnastic equipment in the hall and played lots of games in class. Thank you for all the tasty snacks and drinks. 
 
In computing we have been using Tinkercad to make online 3D models. We have explored how to use a variety of shapes to build more complicated designs. We designed pencil pots and are putting the finishing touches to our dream houses. George and Paddy are here showing their designs. 
 
Forest school has been lots of fun and the highlight of our recent session was lighting fires using flints and King Alfred cakes. We learned that this interesting fungus only grows on ash trees and when dried out makes a great fire starter.
 
In art lessons we have linked our topic to our science space theme. We used Jackson Pollock splatter painting techniques to create our cosmic backgrounds and based our rockets on the designs of Peter Thorpe. The final pieces look out of this world! 

The pupils are really proud of our latest piece of writing based on the text The Last Garden by Rachel Ip and Anneli Bray. This beautifully illustrated story explores the complex issues of war, refugees, peace, hope and the resilience of the human spirit. The pupils have written their own version of the story focusing on a negative event that people work together to overcome. The pictures show some of our stories. 
 
We are putting the finishing touches to our end of term trip preparations. More details to follow very soon once we have finalised our plans. 
 
Hope everyone has a happy and safe half term and we look forward to welcoming you back soon. 

Since returning from the Easter holidays Hawthorn have continued to make steady progress with their times tables. Progress has certainly been made but we still have a bit more to do before the official check towards mid June. So please allow your child time to sharpen their recall skills on Times Table Rockstars.
In our maths lessons, we are starting to put our newly honed timestable skills to good use and work out areas of rectilinear shapes. The speed in which the class are picking up the concept of area is clearly down to a more in depth understanding of factor pairs and their products. 
We have thoroughly enjoyed reading The White Fox by Jackie Morris this term. It’s a really thought provoking read, dealing with emotionally deep topics such as loss, love and finding where one belongs. 
We have the common theme of migration and the reasons for it running through our writing and geography lessons at present. We are reading the last garden by Rachel Ip and Anneli Bray which tells the story of a young girl fleeing her war torn country and leaving her garden behind. So far the children have used abstract nouns to write some lovely empathetic pieces to the central character Zara. 
We have linked our art topic to our space theme in science and have been exploring the works of Jackson Pollock. We have created space scenes using the drip techniques shown in Pollocks famous works. They will be ready to share by the next newsletter. 
Ms. Rowe, one of our amazing music teachers, has been working hard with the class to develop their recorder skills. The class did a brilliant performance in assembly of Eye of the Tiger. It was really special to see them performing in front of the school and everyone singing along.