A busy week for the Year 4`s and 5`s!

Maths: Birch Class have been working through the Place Value unit in White Rose Maths and have recently looked at ordering and comparing numbers.

English: We are currently looking at our book, “Here We Are (Notes for living on Planet Earth)”, by Oliver Jeffers. In connection, the children have been writing an information/explanation text in the form of a letter advising ways in which you can stay healthy and look after your body. 
BOOK CLUB: The children are enjoying the book, “The Explorer”, by Katherine Rundell. A plane has crashed in the Amazon Rainforest and the children, who have survived, must find a way out. They have just discovered the ruins of a “lost” city, but someone sinister is already there to greet them. Exciting stuff!   

HISTORY: Birch Class are continuing to learn about Medieval Monarchs. They found the fact about Henry VIII not having to wipe his own bottom particularly fascinating!  
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It was lovely to see parents and carers at the recent “Meet the Teacher” meeting. Many thanks for your kind words and support.

Until next time,
​
Mr Dray

​Class Blog – Year 5:                                                                                                                                            19/07/24
Such a busy final week for my wonderful Year 5`s!
Maths: Birch Class have completed their White Rose work on capacity and volume. They have all shown real determination and focus this year and deserve a lot of credit. Well done to everyone!
English: We are almost at the end of our book, “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. What will happen at the end? Will Lizzie and Belle be saved? Or will they be spirited away on a ship heading to foreign shores? We are about to find out….!
The Tempest: Year 5 really excelled themselves in our wonderful production of “The Tempest”. There were great performances from Magnus, Toby, Seth and Doris but ALL of Birch Class did a wonderful job. You should be very proud of yourselves!   
I would like to finish by saying that it has been a privilege and an absolute pleasure to teach Birch Class this year. They are a fantastic group of children, and I am immensely proud of them all. Whatever your plans, Have a wonderful summer! Kind regards,
Mr Dray

A busy, busy week for Birch Class!
Maths: Year 5 have had done their initial White Rose assessments on decimals and have made a positive start on that unit of work. The children have also had three NFER assessments to do this week too! They have all shown great resilience and determination throughout.
English: The children have been writing character profiles about the actor Ignatius Sancho this week focusing on the use of adjectives and abstract nouns. These profiles have been based upon their current book, “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. Additionally, Year 5 have completed their NFER reading assessments.  
Book Club: Year 5 are enjoying their new book, “Letters from the Lighthouse” by Emma Carroll. This is a story about the events of World War 2 and is set in 1941. It features Olive and her younger brother Cliff - two children who are evacuated from London - and find themselves on the Devonshire coast with a mystery to solve. Exciting stuff!    
Enjoy your weekend! Kind regards,
Mr Dray

​Plenty going on - as usual - in Birch Class this week!
Maths: Year 5 have successfully completed their White Rose end of unit assessments for shape and have made a confident start on the next unit – position and direction. We have also been looking at coordinates, how to understand and plot them as well as using our knowledge to play Battleships!
English: The children have been extending their diary entries this week by adding conjunctions and modal verbs. These entries have been based on their current book, “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. The children have written them in role as Lizzie (Ignatius Sancho`s daughter).  
Book Club: Year 5 are beginning to reach the exciting climax of “Cogheart” by Peter Bunzl – only two chapters left! What will happen to Lily, Robert, John, Anna and Malkin the mechanical fox? Will it be a happy ending or will it all end in disaster?     
History: Birch Class are continuing to look at the Middle East and - in particular - the Exodus Story this week. They have also completed their home learning project based on the Ottoman Empire. I can`t wait to look at it!
I hope everyone enjoys their half-term break. Kind regards,
Mr Dray

​Yet another busy (and warm) week for Birch Class!
Maths: Year 5 have been working on the White Rose unit on shape and have made excellent progress. We have also been looking at angles and how to draw them accurately using a ruler and protractor as well as working out missing angles.
English: The children have been writing diary entries this week based on their book, “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. They have already studied Ignatius Sancho – the first Black actor to perform Othello and tread the boards at Drury Lane Theatre – way back in 1777. Birch Class have written some expressive diary entries in role as Lizzie (Sancho`s daughter) just at the point where he gets struck by a flying chandelier!
Book Club: Year 5 are continuing to enjoy “Cogheart” by Peter Bunzl – a mysterious adventure featuring a little girl called Lily, Robert (the clockmaker`s son) and Malkin (a mechanical fox). A new character, Anna, has entered the scene – but can she be trusted?    
History: Birch Class have made a start on our unit on the Middle East and some children have begun their home learning project based on the Ottoman Empire.
That`s all for now. Kind regards,
Mr Dray

​Another busy week for Birch Class!
Maths: Year 5 have just started the White Rose unit on statistics and have made good progress. They are really getting the knack of drawing accurate line graphs with a ruler and being able to interpret information.
English: The children will be writing poems this week based on dreams for another national competition. I am sure they will come up with some creative ideas. Let`s keep our fingers crossed – we may get a winner!  We have started to look at “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. In connection with this book, we have been studying Ignatius Sancho – the first Black actor to perform Othello and tread the boards at Drury Lane Theatre – way back in 1777. Birch Class have designed some great posters to advertise this historic event as well as adding some persuasive writing to encourage the public to attend.   
Book Club: Year 5 are continuing to enjoy “Cogheart” by Peter Bunzl – a mysterious adventure featuring a little girl called Lily, Robert (the clockmaker`s son) and Malkin (a mechanical fox).    
Geography: Birch Class are continuing with their work on Biomes – and will be creating one in class – along with a Worm World.
That`s all for now. Kind regards,
Mr Dray

Class Blog – Year 5:                                                                                                                                            24/04/24
Another busy week for Birch Class!
Maths: Year 5 have just started the White Rose unit on statistics and have made good progress. They are really getting the knack of drawing accurate line graphs with a ruler and being able to interpret information.
English: The children will be writing poems this week based on dreams for another national competition. I am sure they will come up with some creative ideas. Let`s keep our fingers crossed – we may get a winner!  We have started to look at “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. In connection with this book, we have been studying Ignatius Sancho – the first Black actor to perform Othello and tread the boards at Drury Lane Theatre – way back in 1777. Birch Class have designed some great posters to advertise this historic event as well as adding some persuasive writing to encourage the public to attend.   
Book Club: Year 5 are continuing to enjoy “Cogheart” by Peter Bunzl – a mysterious adventure featuring a little girl called Lily, Robert (the clockmaker`s son) and Malkin (a mechanical fox).    
Geography: Birch Class are continuing with their work on Biomes – and will be creating one in class – along with a Worm World.
That`s all for now. Kind regards,
Mr Dray

A busy last week and a half for the Year 5`s!
Maths: Birch Class have just completed the White Rose unit on decimals and percentages and made excellent progress. When they return from the Easter break, we will be looking at Perimeter and area.
English: The children recently completed Monster Mini Sagas for a national competition. These stories had a limit of just 100 words – quite a challenge for them! They have completed their work based on “Freedom Bird” – a story about the slave trade and, in connection, have written a chronological biography about Harriet Tubman – a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. What a brave, determined and remarkable lady she was.
After Easter, we will be looking at “The Lizzie & Belle Mysteries – Drama and Danger”. This book is about “Friendship, a fight for freedom and a race against time to solve a mystery before danger strikes again!” Exciting stuff! Subsequent writing will be based on this.
Book Club: Year 5 are continuing to enjoy “Cogheart” by Peter Bunzl – a mysterious adventure featuring a little girl called Lily, Robert (the clockmaker`s son) and Malkin (a mechanical fox).
Geography: Birch Class are continuing to look at Biomes – and have initially researched Grassland, Rainforest, Aquatic and Desert.
That`s all from me for now. I hope you all have a wonderful, restful Easter break. Thank you so much to all the parents for your kind words of support and encouragement. Best wishes,
Mr Dray

We've had a busy, BUSY couple of weeks in Birch Class.

First and foremost, the Year 5s were amazing at organising their own "Secret Sunshine Project", inspired by a novel of the same name for our picnic in the park up on Rainbow Day. They came up with, organised and ran games for different year groups and did such an amazing job. They should take great pride in what they did to make sure everyone was included. 

This week, we had an athletics session with OCRA. The kids really challenged themselves to improve their skills and did a really awesome job. Same goes for our woodland schools session this afternoon. They learned how to make squirrel traps and worked really well as a team to put them together and also learned some fun deer facts during the natural mystery activity.

Most of our time is being taken up by Fantastic Mr Fox rehearsals. Their perseverance is really being put to the test as we fast approach show day with long rehearsals 2-3 times a week. It has been great to see them working so hard to put an amazing show together with the rest of the school. Just a reminder that costumes should already be in but any that haven't, need to be in BY MONDAY 3RD JULY as we will have our dress rehearsal on Tuesday and the costumes need to be checked before.

In maths, Birch Class have finished a topic on decimals and have now moved on to negative numbers, a topic that everyone has shown a knack for and have already tested well at the beginning of topic assessment. We have high hopes when they finish the topic next week. In English, we have continued working on our contraption descriptions and the writing is now underway, having learned all our skills.

The spellings this week focus on 'ere' spelling words and six of our statutory words. Please find them below and make sure you practice for Monday's test!