Birch Class

Spring Term Curriculum Letter

Autumn Term Curriculum Letter

14.03.25

This week, Birch class have completed their non-chronological reports on recycling and waste, with some really creative and persuasive writing that encourages the reader to delve right into their reports! It has been really impressive to see the children's passion for change when it comes to improving our treatment of waste. We have also solved some multiplication challenges in Maths, calculating the exact number of weeks, days and even the number of total hours left of school until the Easter Holidays. In project, we have looked at different inventions from the Industrial Revolution and research more about them. The class have shown great resilience this week, to be honest hammering their Times Table practice and we have a few children edging close to that "Gone Green"!

  

07.03.25

The highlight of this week has to be World Book Day with so many FANTASTIC (literally, in the case of the Fox ) characters visiting the classroom. The children displayed great understanding of their characters traits, personality and motivations - taking part in a whale-of-a-ride hot seat activity. Mrs Trunchball and a Witch even became best friends with their self-declared mutual hatred of children(!). We have now collected all the recycling we need, thank you very much. A reminder that we will be holding a Class Concert with the children showcasing their woodwind skills on the afternoon of Thursday 27^th March from around 1pm (please await a text message for precise timing). In maths we are revisiting multiplication and division and in writing we have begun making improvements to our model non-chronological report all about the world's oceans. Birch have been a vibrantly creative class this week with their book characters from Roald Dahl - well done!

                                             

28.02.25

Our theme of recycling and the environment continues this week, as we have gotten started with learning about non-chronological reports and their features. We will be writing reports all about recycling and the effect of waste in the environment. We spent the day on Wednesday learning all about time, as the children took over looking after the clock-watching for the day and Mr Richards had his watch confiscated. We answered questions based on the story Cluck O'clock and learnt to tell the time to 15, 5 and 1 minute(s), as well as calculating time forwards and backwards. In art we have now begun to think about shape and form in installation art, as we piece coloured objects together. The children worked very well together this week in maths timing the duration of different activities that lasted 1 second and 1 minute, with great creativity thinking of different activities! In our project work, the children have started to learn about The South Downs National Park and they will be comparing this geographically to The Alps.

                             

14.02.25

Birch class have continued to consolidate their addition and subtraction knowledge this week, deciding which methods are most efficient from round-and-adjust to the formal written method. In English we have picked apart a similar persuasive letter and imitated it with our own language, beginning to draft our own letters to Colgate. Of course the painting continues, please do keep that recycling coming in, we really appreciate it! In science the children have finished their unit on electrical circuits and we also spent the day exploring scams and how to avoid them on Safer Internet Day. The class have been very creative with ideas this week, well done Birch class. 

 

07.02.25

Birch class have explored Children's Mental Health Week this week exploring the idea of "Know Yourself". We have discussed the benefits of knowing yourself, and how this can support your emotions and feelings. In maths, we have looked at rounding and how this can help us with the helpful "round and adjust" method for addition and subtraction. In art and project, we have experimented with how different paints stick to different surfaces ready for our large art project later this term. Please do continue to bring in recycling - thank you to everyone for your mammoth efforts so far! We have been Resilient Rubies with some tricky maths this week. Our writing continues, exploring what formal and informal language is.

                 

 

             

 

31.01.25

Thank you AGAIN to everybody that has been bringing in recycling to the Birch Class Recycling centre - we are building up a great resource of materials and we are not at capacity yet! Please keep them coming in all term - we really appreciate it! This week, the class have showed off their addition and subtraction knowledge with a range of tasks including subtraction with exchanges in Year 4, using the formal written method. We have also solved logic problems using multilink. In English, we have learnt about persuasion and thinking about recipients for letters that we will write encouraging change. Our theme is (of course) recycling and the environment and the children have had some fantastic ideas! The children made their own switches in Science and brought together computing and art to design our art piece using computing software. Well done Birch for being real resourceful emeralds this week and using lots of maths resources!

 

24.01.25

 Birch class have worked like Reflective Sapphires all week this week, as they have received last week's test papers back with their marks. Reflecting on questions that they did not answer correctly, the class have grown their maths skills and also fixed little errors that they identified. This is a great skill to strengthen, so well done Birch class! We have also continued writing our narrative and looked at the grammatical features of speech, including reporting clauses. In science, Birch have continued to work with electrical circuits and in reading we have been practising our evidence finding and comprehension skills. Well done Birch for being such Reflective Sapphires!

               

 

 

17.01.25

The recycling centre is in full swing in Birch class! We have explored how recycling is sorted this week, and what is involved in a "recycling loop" - the children have devised different methods of sorting waste and recycling, and explored further installation art and what it is and can be. We continue to be inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama and in particular her installation art. Birch class have impressively undertaken 5 tests this week, showing their Arithmetic, Problem Solving, Reading and Spelling and Grammar (SPAG) skills and have showed excellent resilience, determination and a calm attitude to practising test conditions. As a result, they have earnt additional relax time this week to unwind afterwards. Well done Birch class. Please do continue to bring in your recycling from home - we need a LOT for our project, and will be collecting all this half term. Thank you!

20.12.24

                                                    Merry Christmas from Birch

                                      

13.12.24

This week in Birch we have been exploring mass, the children have been measuring objects through estimation and lots of practical activities. In English the children have been publishing their final interviews for their chosen animal and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these and exploring ideas. Its been a fantastic week in Birch with the children showing an aspiring attitude to their learning. “Eric the Elf” has been super mischievous playing tricks in the classroom and hiding himself each day. A sprinkle of magic to spread the Festive cheer in every way.

 

06.12.24

Birch class have really enjoyed reviewing their learning for the term this week as we have prepared for class exhibition. In maths, we have explored mass and used balancing scales to balance weights as well as measure the mass of items in the classroom. In English, we have been working on statements and relevant questions, as well as using up to 10 different subordinating conjunctions, learning to identify the subordinate and independent clauses in a complex sentence. This has helped us write some really interesting animal interview questions and answers! In PE, we enjoyed some volleyball practice and games before we return to hockey next week. The class have been very resourceful emeralds this week as they reference their exercise books for all the components of writing that have taken place this week.

 

29.11.24

We have had a very busy week in Birch class this week. In Maths we have been exploring time and looking at past and to the hour, we have explored word problems as well and Birch class were super at this. In English we have started to look at the book Interview with a Tiger by Andy Seed and thought about questions we may want to ask our favourite animals. In science we explored the question whether oobleck is a solid or a liquid this got lovely and messy! As a class we loved the stepping workshop and really showed off our creative skills, we are also still practising our Samba drumming, hopefully you can come see us perform soon. What a great week Birch class!

 

22.11.24

Our marathon of fractions work is coming to an end this week! Year 4 have been measuring the playground with our super-length tape measure and calculating fractions of the length. In English, the children have been super writers and editors finishing up their Viking poetry with some wonderful literal and metaphorical interpretations of "journeying somewhere". In science, the children conducting a mini-experiment on the very cold day of the week, seeing if water would freeze and if ice would melt! In PSHE, we have explored families and what this word means, as well as what different families can look like. We have been real reflective sapphires this week (as we had hoped) with reviewing and editing our poetry, improving it bit by bit!

                              

15.11.24

A varied week of activities in Birch class across the week, starting with Birch class performing their thoughtful Remembrance performance and service in the church, followed by a fantastic visit from the Royal Air Force in a Chinook to Micheldever Village. The children were lucky enough to board the helicopter and ask questions to the service people on board, and we are very grateful. We have continued working on our Viking poetry in English focussing on word selection with a black-out poem, and in maths we have been finding fractions of very large areas on the playground as well as fractions of increasingly complex shapes. Thank you to everyone that brought in their copper coins for our Children in Need challenge today, we made a very very long line through the school! I hope you enjoy watching Children in Need on BBC One tonight if you're watching!

08.11.24

Birch class this week have been preparing for their part in the Remembrance Service next week at the church and learning about the importance of this key date in our year. We have spent a lot of time practising our lines, thinking about the meaning of remembrance and reading names from the Micheldever cenotaph war memorial. In maths, we have started looking at fractions with Cuisenaire rods, finding equal parts of different lengths. In English, we have been exploring poetry and all its forms, looking at different structures of poems and how they are laid out on a page, as well as word choices within single lines of poetry. We have been great Resourceful Emeralds and Resilient Rubies this week!

 

 

25.10.24

With our final week before half term, we have been enjoying all things autumn in Birch class. Collecting autumn leaves and painting them lovely patterns and colours to create a wonderful autumn-inspired mobile and adding our autumn and leaf themed poem. In maths, we have taken part in the EPIC Birch vs Teachers TTRS battle, and whilst it was neck-and-neck for a while, congratulations to Birch who pulled through and won the battle! 469 vs 226. Well done Birch class!  Every single member of Birch class contributed to the final huge score, so well done. We have also been exploring strategising in maths with a counter game of NIM7, thinking about which strategies were more likely to make us win. In RE, we have finished our Diwali mobiles and decorated the classroom. In music, the children have continued to practise their fantastic drum beats! We have been wonderful Reciprocal Ambers this week as we have strategised and played with a good winning/losing spirit in our NIM-7 games.

 

18.10.24

This week we have dug into one of our favourite maths operations: division! We have learnt division as grouping and sharing, and dividing large numbers by partitioning first. In our writing, we have completed our instructions and begun typing them up in neat to create a printed version. In project, we learnt all about King Arthur and created "The Great!" comics to show all the things that he became known for. In RE we learnt all about Diwali and created our own hanging colourful candle decorations. In computing, we learnt how to use and programme the microbits and creating our own scrolling LED matrix name badges. 

      

 

11.10.24

The weeks are flying by! This week we completed our paper models of an Anglo-Saxon Hut, reading, writing and editing written instructions using imperative verbs and adverbs to describe how. We have also practised our adverbials of time. In maths, we have learnt about the link between multiplication and addition and shown that repeated addition is the same as multiplication. We then began grouping objects with our really "group-ey" circles! In project, the class split themselves into two teams and prepared for a visit from a nearby tribe by building a small village in our outdoor woodland. Were the tribes friendly or aggressive visitors, and what laws did they need in place to keep their Anglo-Saxon villages protected? We have been fantastic reciprocal Ambers this week working very well together in our tribes and during a basketball match.

04.10.24

This week's writing has moved onto instructional writing and as a class we have been having fun exploring the different ways we can give instructions and how important it is to be clear, precise and use adverbs to assist. We have explored a week of money in maths converting pounds and pence, calculating change and playing different money games. In our project work we explored the Anglo-Saxon gods and goddesses and how their names related to the days of the week. Music continued with drumming and in DT we have made Anglo-Saxon brooches with a jewellery box. Birch class took an abundant collection of foods over to harvest festival so thank you everyone for your contributions.

 

27.09.24

We have had the luxury this week of slowing down our English writing and really dig into some edits of our civilisation story, as well as learning about clauses and compound sentences.  Our David Hockney inspired paintings now have beautiful colour and lines that look fantastic and we can't wait for you to see them. In maths, the children have learned to accurately measure and are beginning to add measurements together to find the perimeter of shapes. Our week finished off with our trip to Stubbington, enjoying visiting an Anglo-Saxon roundhouse and trying different Anglo-Saxon activities and den building!

 

20.09.24

The term is whizzing past and so are our writing projects! The children have been creating wonderfully rich paragraphs for our Weslandia civilisation story conveying characters personality through their actions, settings that excite the reader and sentences that advance the plot. In maths we have strengthened our flexible partitioning skills, so that children are able to break numbers down to make additions and subtractions easier and possible for them to process mentally. In PE we have learnt further outdoor games working as a team and building our competitive nature with friendly teamwork. Project work this week explored what grave goods are and how they can help us learn about the past. Please remember next week on Friday is our school trip to Stubbington - we are very excited!

                      

                            

 

13.09.24

Only week 2 and it already feels like the weeks are flying by! Birch class have continued their adventure with the wonderful Weslandia and have created their own alphabet for their newly formed civilisations. They have looked at how to use conjunctions and fronted adverbials to improve their writing, as well as all the things that make describing settings really powerful. In maths the children have continued to secure their place value knowledge, with Year 4s getting more and more comfortable with thousands and even some tens of thousands. We continue to learn about David Hockney and have started a new science unit all about plants. The children have set their own ambitions for the year and created a shared goal together: if we have enough golden rule role models over the coming weeks, we will celebrate as a class!

06.09.24

What a wonderful first week we've had in Birch! Everybody has contributed to our lovely new classroom, getting to know each other, showing our respect for each other and sharing interesting things about ourselves! We also built a life-size Viking Longboat together and sailed the rough seas, shown everything we know about place value in Maths and begun reading the enchanting Weslandia story together, which will form the basis of our English writing this term. The children have shared their motivations for our #TeamBirch wall and everybody has begun their weekly reading and explored our new Reading Garden in the corner of our classroom. We begun our RE unit by thinking about the symbolism of a candle and sketched our own candles after lighting some to see how they changed the atmosphere in class. Homework letters with Spelling Shed and TTRS logins will be sent home soon.

 

19.07.24

This week has been a reading focus in Birch class as we have completed our English curriculum for the year. We have made some sensational predictions based on evidence, dramatizations of scenes and discussed characters and settings in The Last Firefox. The children directed their own maths learning, choosing a topic they wanted to delve in deeper to, or practise more on. We finished our week off in the woodland area and with some creative art using different mediums of expression. We have been very resilient as our Year 4's met their new teacher as they will move into Year 5, and our Year 3s met the other half of their class coming to join us from Year 2 - we are very excited!

 

12.07.24

It has been lovely to return to Birch class this week to see the wonderful work they have been doing while I have been away. The children have engaged in a robust and detailed debated about the Swing Riots, managing to convince several people several times to change their view on this important history in Micheldever. Birch class have completed writing their balanced argument and we have refreshed all of our Guided Reading group readers for our last book for the Summer term! In maths, we have begun a week of learning all about money and are taking ourselves "shopping" for the week, estimating, formatting, adding and subtracting prices. Birch class have done some great editing this week in their writing and as such have been very Reflective Sapphires.

05.07.24

 Birch have had a fantastic week and been very busy! In English we have been looking at the skills needed to write a balanced argument ready to write our own about the Swing Riots in 1830 which we have gained so much knowledge on, even Mrs Talt has learnt new information!! In Maths we have been exploring equivalent fractions, year 3 have been looking at how to add fractions and year 4 have been looking at the decimal equivalents. In PSHE we have been looking at our goals for next year and in Science we have been looking at how we can classify animals and plants using a classification key. What a busy week! I have very much enjoyed teaching Birch; all the children should be so proud of their hard work and attitude this week. 

 

28.06.24

Birch have had a really excellent week this week. We were so impressed with how they took on Sports Day on Tuesday and the support they had for each other was fantastic. In English this week, we have begun a unit of writing on balanced arguments; trying to decide whether the Swing Riots should have happened. Maths this week has seen us doing division, including divisions that have remainders. We are looking forward to Mr Richards being back with us, although his return has been delayed by 1 week so we will be having Mr Johnston and Mrs Talt with us again next week.

 

21.06.24

Birch class have really impressed me this week. We have ben writing narratives based on James and the Giant Peach and they have managed to really excel in this. Their efforts to edit and improve their work was admirable. We have continued to look at expanded column multiplication and will be moving onto division next week. We have this afternoon made our animal homes, which we are hoping will begin to house some animal this weekend.  Mrs Talt and I have really enjoyed teaching Birch this week and look forward to it next week as well.

 

14.06.24

Congratulations to our Year 4s that have completed their Multiplication Check this week - everybody studied very hard to do the best that they could in these checks, and we are really proud of Birch Class Year 4s this week for their efforts and successes. Year 3s have also done amazingly well preparing themselves early for their own checks next year. We have continued to delve into the history of Micheldever this week learning about the Swing Riots of 1830 in the village, which we will delve into further over the coming weeks. The class have also begun designing their animal home for our woodland area, been working with negative numbers, and learnt how to use prepositional phrases to add detail to both characters and settings. Well done Birch class for once again being Resilient Rubies and persevering with so much times table practice!

 

 

07.06.24

This week has been terrifically Times-Table-ey in Birch class! We had a bumper TTRS day on Wednesday when we also awarded our first "Gone Green!" certificate for completing their entire Times Tables averaging every question under 5 seconds. Each child will receive their certificate when they have mastered their Times Tables to 12 - keep up the awesome TTRS efforts at home to get their soon! We have also begun exploring Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach and the children have started creating their own fantasy insect creatures themselves for their own "buggy" narrative. We have been looking at how Roald Dahl writes and the impact of this on the reader. In project work, we explored "Micheldever Mysteries" asking questions about the local area we would like to answer, before beginning our dive into the history of the local area. This week, Birch class have been more resilient than ever as we have clocked up minute after minute of Times Table practice, shaving seconds of our top speeds! Well done Birch!

 

24.05.24

We have had a very packed and productive last week of the half term in Birch Class! In maths, we have been using column method in calculating addition and subtraction with exchanging. In English, we finished our river poster using desktop publishing software.   We have also had a split PSHE lesson this week: the Year 4's learned about relationships, including boyfriends and girlfriends, with Mr. Richards and Mrs Talt; and, with Mr. O'Neill, the year 3's looked at the importance of how to maintain good friendships, before then performing some role play on what good and bad friendships look like. We have all been Resilient Rubies in our maths race, cheering each other on and succeeding under pressure! 

                                                               

17.05.24

Another week, another rush of rivers! This week, we have visited part of the River Dever in Micheldever (thank you Mrs B and Mrs B's dad!) to sketch it and its surrounding wildlife. The class have produced some beautiful sketches onto which we will add watercolours later in the week. In maths, we then plotted the area of the land we visited and calculated an imagined area in meters squared, with both Year 3 and Year 4 tackling area of rectilinear shapes. In writing, we have reviewed our previous research and refined our technique to clarify some definitions, before we begin drafting. We have also looked at angles, delved deeper into sacred spaces in RE and continued our athletics in PE. We have been Reflective Sapphires this week as we improve our research and knowledge capture skills.

           

 

       

10.05.24

With our beautiful river poems now written up in neat, we have moved onto our new text type in English: information texts. Sticking with the theme of rivers, we have created small fact-finding groups to discover new information about rivers, including their physical and human geography, flora and fauna and environmental considerations. In project, we have begun to learn about significant rivers around the UK as well as our glorious local rivers in Hampshire. In maths, we also begin a new unit: geometry - Year 3 are focussing on 2D shapes while Year 4 are looking will look at 3D shapes and coordinates. In PSHE, the children approached the theme of grief with great sensitivity and insight, as we discussed what kinds of feelings different kinds of loss might present, and how we can help ourselves to manage them. In PE, we continue our work in athletics for the summer term. We have been real Resourceful Emeralds this week, as we research all about rivers independently!

 

03.05.24

Our highlight of the week this week has to be our mini-hike along the River Dever, among the rapeseed fields, along the crystal streams and underneath the woodlands. We saw lots of wildlife, stopped to hear the natural sounds around us - and used our OS map reading skills to locate ourselves on a map. We have used the trip in English to further inspire our poetry with new adjectives, nouns and adverbs. In maths, we have turned to problem solving and using all our new multiplication and division knowledge to help us. This week, since Resilient Ruby joined us on our walk, we have to say that Birch class have been very resilient indeed!

                 

 

              

26.04.24

The poetry that has continued to come out of Birch class this week has continued to astonish. We have incorporated similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration and an increasingly rich vocabulary around rivers, streams, lakes and waterfalls. We have continued our project work on maps and our local area, this week using symbols on OS maps and discussing the make-up of small areas of land. In maths, the class have mastered division with remainders and multiplying/dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000. In PSHE we have discussed feelings of jealousy and how to handle them. Our touch-typing work continues in computing and the class have been very resourceful Emeralds using increasing amounts of vocabulary in the classroom within their writing.

19.04.24

We have had a wonderful first week back in Birch class for the summer term, getting started with our project "How do we share our local area?". The class have been practising rhyming couplets and quatrains in English and have written some stunning nature poems already. In maths, we have been focussing on our Times Table this week and noticing that 2s, 4s and 8s all double to make the next Times Table. Year 4s have been getting to grips with some challenges in their 11 and 12 Times Table. In project, we have explored the meaning of the word local and created a short route on a simple map. Birch class have been good Reciprocal Ambers this week performing poems and giving feedback on this and their written work.

 

22.03.24

Thank you to all our visitors at our class exhibition this week, we really enjoyed showing you our learning this term including the digestive system, the Romans, viaducts and aqueducts, the different human teeth and our wonderful fantasy narratives. This week, we also enjoyed a wonderful visit to The British Museum where the children explored various areas including the British Roman room - all of Professor Fig's challenges were completed! We have been ordering numbers up to (Year 3) and beyond (Year 4) 1,000 on a number line in maths. In English, we have written some cracking titles and learnt about different layouts and bulleted lists. Birch class have shown great pride in their work this week preparing for Exhibition, well done.

                                               

         

 

15.03.24

This week has been very busy in Birch class. In maths, we have been practicing our subtraction and addition skills to find and calculate fractions! We have also started our new writing unit and have been looking at persuasive writing for a Roman banquet. In science, we are carrying out a very fun investigation into the effects of sugary drinks on our teeth, and have placed eggs into a drink to observe this. Birch class have also worked hard continuing their viaducts in DT, well done for a week’s good work everyone!

 

08.03.24

This week in Birch class, we have had a busy and productive week - as always! In English, we have been continuing with our story writing and have now got onto the 'action' part of our writing. In maths, we have been looking at division and multiplication with problem solving. In our history, we've reached the end of our Romans unit and have finished out fact file posters with Mr. O'Neill, ready to move onto learning about volcanos.     

Well done Birch class on a great week, and have a restful weekend!

                                   

 

01.03.24

This week Birch have been real Resilient Rubies in working through our tests in English and maths, well done everyone! In science, we learnt about the functions of the different organs in our digestive system and even got to watch and take part in a rather yukky demonstration. In R.E., we have continued to look into the concept of courage by drawing and writing about times we have had to show courage. In English, we have learnt writing skills we will use our fantasy writing, like expanded noun phrases and successfully writing direct speech. Birch class have very nearly finished reading our class book ‘Varjak Paw’ and we are all very excited to see how it ends! In DT today, we have started our work towards making our very own viaducts!

       

23.02.24

This week, Birch class has been transformed into a fantasy wonderland! We have been Reciprocal Ambers working together to construct our fantasy world in our English writing. In maths, we have learnt to tell time to the nearest minute – wow Birch! We also tested our amazing Roman aqueducts, well done everyone for working so hard to make them, they all passed the test! In Science, we learnt about our digestive system and where in our body the organs belong. In RE, we discussed courage as a concept and how we could be courageous in all different parts of life.

     

08.02.24

This week Birch class have completed one of their most successful hot writes yet, writing up their three-day diary entries in neat. Children have included descriptive writing, thoughts and feelings, roman numerals, apostrophes for possession, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions and most importantly a rich passage of writing set convincingly in the pre-Roman/Roman period of Britain. In maths the children have become excellent problem solvers, choosing the most efficient method for their calculations. In art, Children have completed their beautifully colourful self portraits in the style of Frieda Kahlo. Professor Fig has gone a bit quiet this week it seems, however the children have been encouraged to offer their help to Professor Fig during our visit to the British Museum. The children have been wonderfully resourceful emeralds this week using our vocabulary wall, as well as discussing and learning with each other: What makes a great conversation?

 

19.01.24

This week in English, Birch class have been working hard towards writing their non-chronological reports on the Roman Empire. In Maths, we have learnt about different types of angles, such as acute, right angle and obtuse. We then looked for these angles in triangles and other 2D shapes. In Project, we have been looking at important features of the Roman Empire on a timeline. In RE, we discussed the concepts of good and evil and made collages from these ideas. In Art, Birch class have continued looking at portraits by the wonderful Freida Kahlo and creating their own self portraits inspired by her work. In PHSE, we have been Resilient Rubies, looking at dreams and goals, talking about broken dreams and how to be resilient when you feel disappointed.  Finally, the class have received a very mysteries letter from Professor Fig (according to the children - more to follow!).

 

12.01.24

This week we are really excited to welcome our new student teacher Miss Collier to Birch class, who the children have loved getting to know and working with this week. Miss Collier joins us from the University of Winchester and will be with us for the Spring term, working alongside Mr Richards. We have continued to explore the Romans this week in our project "How many times a week do you think about the Romans?", discovering where they lived in the world, including in Britannia. In maths, we have continued to explore fractions and the children have done a great job of ordering, comparing and adding fractions. Our non-chronological report continues to be explored in English, with the children writing introductions and sub-headings that make their readers want to read more.

 

05.01.24

Our week began with the transformation of Birch class into a Roman amphitheatre! We have explored a range of new Roman vocabulary that the children have begin using and are now also even preferring to write in Roman Numerals when writing numbers in some circumstances! In maths, we have revisited what we know about fractions so that next week we are ready to begin exploring ordering and comparing fractions. We have begun practising catching and throwing for our unit on handball in P.E. Our amphitheatre remains in place for the next week as we prepare for Boudica's battle with the Romans and how they established themselves in Britain. In English, we have immersed ourselves deeply in Roman vocabulary ready for our non-chronological reports in which we will record our learning.

15.12.23

It's finally here, the last week of school before Christmas! We have had a week full of Christmas joy, with Christmas themed learning, making, decorating and planting. Our hedgerow is now planted in the woodland area and all children have marked the trees that they planted. We used our maths skills to create carefully cut and measured paper-chain decorations all around the classroom, with some children even dividing decimals by 10 successfully. Thank you for all the Christmas cheer, cards and kind gifts that have made their way into Birch class one way or another, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

 

08.12.23

The children's playscripts in English have started taking shape, all themed around "a missing something". We have learnt about playscript formatting and consistent use of the present tense in stage directions. We have explored adverbs, pronouns and verbs all useful in a playscript and planned scenes and settings. In maths, we have been measuring mass using balancing scales and comparing objects for their mass. We have also learnt about the prefixes centi, milli and kilo. Our Christmas advent calendar now has some wonderful poems, prayers and jokes that the children have written. In science, we have made giant shadows and learnt about the movement of the sun and its effect on shadows. We are very excited about Christmas week next week.

 

01.12.23 

Our exciting DT project of building a model roundhouse has come together this week in style. We have constructed and finished our Stone Age roundhouses according to our designs, thinking carefully about them so they are as authentic to our understanding of Stone Age as possible. In maths we have been improving our measuring skills, which have been applied well in our roundhouse construction. In English, we have had a dramatic start to our final unit of the year as we begin reading, performing and writing playscripts. This week, Birch class have been particularly resilient in the building of their roundhouses, working carefully and meticulously to their finish!

                               

 

                                           

24.11.23

Our focus for DT this term has been the planning phase of a construction, and now that we have spent a thoughtful amount of time indeed planning our model roundhouses, we have now been collecting the materials (decided in our designs) needed to make them! The class' designs include twigs and clay, and so Birch class went out foraging for twigs this week, carefully choosing them for impact on their surroundings and suitability for our project. We have also decided where our new hedgerow will be planted in the wooded area, and thought about access, protection and its use for wildlife. The children have completed their unit on shape and Year 3 have finished their week-long car park investigation - ready to let Hampshire County Council how many spaces are needed on each floor! We have finished our hot writes for our historical fiction, and the class have used their resilience learning power making sure their work is neat and error free.

                         

17.10.23

We have explored further into the worlds of our historical fiction, and children have been deciding on the plot of the story, their setting, object and characters. We have also explored the definition of bullying and how to spot it when it might not be so easy as part of Anti Bullying Week. In maths we have been exploring 2D and 3D shape, with Y4 additionally learning about symmetry. Year 3 have focussed on counting faces on 3D shapes and working out the number of vertices. And next week, it's time to get our hands dirty! We will be planning and making preparations for where to plant our new hedgerow in our outdoor area, with plants donated by Woodland Trust. Birch Class have been very supportive of one another particularly when individuals have been learning their 4 times table for the first time.

                      

                

 

               

 

10.11.23

Birch Class led a wonderful Remembrance Service this Friday, working very well to rehearse their work while not having their usual teacher for two days this week! We have also looked deeper into the remembrance poem and what the author Laurence Binyon may have inferred by the words. The children had thoughtful and provoking ideas and have showed a deep understanding of Remembrance, particularly thanks to Charles Holden and his Friday morning assembly at the school. We have also had an excellent week working finishing our fractions unit and Year 4's have also been working with decimals below and above 1. Next week we will begin our work with 2D and 3D shapes and start final-drafting our Stone Age Historical Fiction! Birch Class have been great at reciprocity this week in PE working well together in small teams calmy, supportively and energetically. Finally, in DT the class have begun designing their neolithic roundhouses that we will begin to construct next week.

                     

20.10.23

This week Birch class have been counting in 3s, 4s and 25s, both forwards and backwards. We have explored some large arrays in Year 4 and in Year 3 we have found different arrays that match our new Times Table facts. In English, we have finished our poem inspired by  Michael Rosen's I Was Born in the Stone Age. We completed our unit on basketball with an indoor game in PE. We have also have continued our journey exploring the word neighbour in RE. Birch class have been very reciprocal this week, supporting each other in maths and English, particularly with spellings!

13.10.23

This week we've had enourmous fun playing with our new Story Cubes in class, generating short stories to make predictions from, as well as generate new maths questions! In maths, we have had a week of Times Tables, looking at our 3s, 4s and even our 8s, new for some Year 3s! We have mainly focussed on our 3s, and explored some word problems involving these facts. Our Year 4s have been challenged with more complex work problems involving a wider range of times table facts.  In English, we continue to explore Michael Rosen's Stone Age poem, and have looked at how poems are structured and shaped. We have begun our computing for this term, learning how to use Logo Code, including PENUP and PENDOWN commands. The children have been very resourceful this week, using maths resources to support their multiplication and doubling.

                  

06.10.23

Birch class have started to explore their poetry this week, firstly by exploring lots of poetry books and then spending some time getting to know I Was Born in the Stone Age by Michael Rosen. In Art, the children have continued their sculpture using carefully cut pieces of wood as we continue to think about sculpture. In maths, Birch class have been learning about accurate measurement and combining lengths together to measure perimeters! Birch class have been very supportive listening to each other read poems to the class, and all very enthusiastic to do so themselves, well done Birch.

 

29.09.23

A very exciting start to the week for Birch saw us travel to the ancient stone site of Stonehenge, where we spent the day being curious and answering many of our questions that we had thought of beforehand. Back in class, we have been looking at money and the coins and notes needed for items in the Stonehenge gift shop. We have also had a wonderful week of free writing before our poetry unit begins next week. The class did a great job of following all our golden rules while being off-site this week, well done.

 

              

 

22.09.23

This week we have learnt how Stone Age people made fire and written up our final set of instructions for how to do so, while continuing to expand our Stone Age vocabulary. We have placed the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods on a timeline and begun thinking about expanses of time and their duration. The children have used a great range of imperative verbs in their writing. In maths, we have used numberlines to help us bridge across 10 when adding and created our own multiplication grids for our Times Tables. We have further explored sculpture with doweling rods, and prepared ourselves for our exciting trip on Monday! Birch class have been very resourceful this week, using word banks in the classroom regularly. 

            

15.09.23

Birch class have ended the week creating a dramatisation of a Stone Age story that describes Auri using and making Stone Age tools, featuring their tame wolf, Bones! Next week we will begin exploring Stone Age history in our local area using Ordnance Survey maps in preparation of our visit to Stonehenge. In maths, we have secured some of our work using number lines, using a variety of numbers lines with different jumps on them. In English the children have worked with time adverbs, imperative verbs and lists to prepare for their instructional writing. P.E. continues with Invasion Games which builds on our new Early Morning Social Communication work of working together and improving our group communication skills – the children have done a great job of engaging with this work and working with each other this week.

    

08.09.23

Birch class have been so welcoming to each other this week and have made themselves proud following our Golden Rules and working very well together in our first week back! We have been exploring our new project focussed around the Stone Age: "Has life always been like this?" We have done some place value work in maths and began our Times Table journey for the year starting by revisiting our 2s, 5s and 10s. In English we have begun looking at what instructions look like, and the kinds of vocabulary we might use in them. The children have also done a great job at using a range of Stone Age related vocabulary already and have been using the words Neolithic and megalith in sentences and discussions. It is lovely to have the children spreading so much love already in the Autumn term, welcome back Birch

                                              

14.07.23

Birch class have surpassed themselves in their writing this week, with some stunning poetry - the range of subjects and moods conveyed is impressive and there are some really moving pieces of writing. We have been practising character voices and intonation in reading and in maths have completed a range of lessons on measurement. In art, we have finished creating our Egyptian death masks and now just waiting for them to dry! The class have shown great reflection and resilience this week as well as great team work and encouragement in P.E. That encouragement followed through into Sports Day and I'm very proud of how Birch class encouraged each other along the day.

       

07.07.23

Birch class revisited computing this week and have spent some time coding, as well as reflecting on their year and writing up their personal reflections for their end-of-term reports. We have continued our work with money in maths and will be looking at calculating change from set amounts. In English, the class have set the success criteria for their poem writing and found examples of success and similar writing in poetry books. The class have enjoyed painting their Egyptian Death Masks and preparing posters showing their artefact knowledge for the classroom exhibition. Birch class have followed goldren rules well this week and continue to do an amazing job of lining up for all our transitions!

                          

30.06.23

Birch class have planned the design of their Egyptian Death Mask this week in their sketch books and completed the neat write up of their newspaper articles reporting on the discovery of Tutankhamun. In English we have then begun a new unit on poetry, and already I have been stunned with the beauty and skill on display in the poetry written! The children have performed their initial poems to one another. In maths, we have begun exploring money using coins and notes in class. Towards the end of the week, Birch class had a go at some tests in Reading and Maths, as we learnt about what 'test conditions' means - we discussed how this will prepare them well as they progress though to Year 6. The class have shown excellent reciprocity in PE working on volleys and forehand and backhand, as well as a game of King/Queen of the Court!

         

                                                    

23.06.23

In science the class have been finding out which objects in the classroom are magnetic and testing out their prior predictions. In maths we have been hunting for fraction problems in the wooded area and Birch have made great progress in their fractions work this week! We have related our earlier learning on division to finding fractions of amounts. In English we have continued to work on our newspaper reports and this week have been inserting quotations from Howard Carter and his team. Birch's tennis skills this week have really strengthened as they have been practising volleys as well as their forehand and backhand. RSE has continued this week learning about puberty with the Year 4's additionally learning about the menstrual cycle. On Wednesday afternoon the class went on a "noticing" walk around the local area, exploring the landscapes and wildlife of beautiful Micheldever! The class have shown how excellent they are this week at both following instructions and also working with each other to solve problems as a class.

                            

   

16.06.23

In maths we have begun to look at division as part of our multiplication and division unit, firstly securing our knowledge of equal groups. In writing we have started drafting our newspaper article on Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. To get into the mood for writing headlines for their articles, Birch have been listening to the BBC News theme music and announcing various headlines to camera. There may have been the odd dance to the tune also in the warm up task (it’s quite a bop!). The Year 4’s have shown great problem solving skills this week in Maths tackling larger divisions with dienes and Birch class have all shown great paired working solving division equations together.  In RE, Birch visited the woodland area to think about the symbolism of trees, and in Geography we have been discussing Egypt on the world map, with all its wonders up and down the country.

                     

09.06.23

It has been a joy and a pleasure to teach Birch class this week. Birch have been learning to write a newspaper report—we begun the week by recreating the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter and have even had Carter, the water boy and Lord Carnarvon visit our class and talk to us. In maths, we have been learning about multiplication and learning many different techniques for solving these. Birch have risen to every challenge that has been thrown at them and have shown great resourcefulness in their learning.

                                 

25.05.23

Another week of outdoor registrations saw Birch class finding spellings outdoor this week, inspired by nature. We have focussed on subtraction this week in maths as well as using the inverse to check our calculations. In English, we have continued writing our mystery narrative, following the story of the imagined Birch class trip to the pantomime showing "The Mystery of the Egyptians Treasures"! For our active early morning work this week the class constructed pyramids from K'nex and identified their vertices. We have been making posters showcasing our artefact knowledge in history and PSHE has continued with e-safety.

 

       

 

19.05.23

This week Birch class have returned to learning about addition and subtraction, with a particular focus on what it means to be efficient - which method would be most efficient when solving addition and subtraction equations? We have begun learning more about our artefacts in history in preparation for our exhibition. Our morning register is now taking place outside where we will do a number of quick early morning tasks. On Wednesday we tidied away any dropped rubbish and on Thursday we sketched some wildlife. We also found a bird's nest with fledglings in the hedge! Music continued with African Drums and in PE our athletics continued back on the wonderfully green field.

                                              

                                             

 

12.05.23

This week Birch have been exploring 3D shapes and coordinates. What examples of prisms can children find at home? In writing, the children have been able to identify all the wonderful features they demonstrated in their diary entry hot write, and we are now exploring our new unit: a time-travelling mystery narrative! We have been practising running along a curve in PE and our African lessons will continue next week. in PSHE, we have been exploring friendships and strategies to deal with conflict. Finally, Birch class also created a wonderful set of mini-posters exploring the rules of our new woodland area,  "The Animal's Home".

        

 

05.05.23

This week Birch class have worked really hard to get their Howard Carter diary entries written up for their hot write. There is a long list of ingredients that the children have included in their writing, from subordinating conjunctions to wonderful subject-rich language and describing observations, actions, thoughts and feelings. In science, the children have continued to explore sound and this week experimented with pitch by making their own paper flute. We have made some jelly in the student kitchen for our Coronation party! In PSHE, we have been discussing roles in work and the home and in PE the children have continued their athletics, once again on the field!

 

28.04.23

Birch class have been wonderful writers and historians this week, exploring their diary writing and the Egyptians further and deeper. We revisited the artefacts from our tomb exploration in Week 1 and considered what each one could teach us about our understanding of the Egyptians and what kind of people they were. In maths, we have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100 using a Gattegno chart. Our "Very Important Things" we have explored in the morning have included the 7 tallest mountains,  and the 10 most deadly animals! In Art, the children have been exploring colourways and colour theory and we continue our athletics in PE. Last but not least, the children have begun learning how to play the African drums!

                                       

21.04.23

This week began with the classroom looking a little different. Birch class had been replaced with a large crawl-through tomb! The children discussed what mysteries are and how we uncover them, and then went on to explore the tomb taking photos inside. We pieced together the clues and discovered that they were Egyptian! This has led the children to researching who both Howard Carter and Tutankhamun were, and exploring the first parts of writing in the first person for a diary entry. In maths we have been exploring multiplication and division and in science we have started learning about sound. Can your child tell you how sound travels from an object to your ear?

                                         

                                                      

31.03.23

What a bumper Easter week! We have all enjoyed practising our Easter prayers in handwriting this week as well as writing some Easter themed poems for our last writing unit of the term, based on Spike Milligan's On the Ning Nang Nong. We have assessed our skills in football (passing, defending and control of the ball) and brushed up on our 6 times tables. In geography, we learnt about how the Alps have changed over time, and thought about how this was different to how the South Downs have changed over time.

    

24.03.23

This week we have been exploring volume and in particular the volume of water. Y3 have been pouring and measuring while enjoying a game of "just one more drop!", and Y4 have been calculating how much water they would need to fill the assembly hall entirely with water. In English, we have almost finished writing our persuasive letters and the children have been learning to peer review and edit each other's work. We have continued our football practice in P.E. and our new Times Table station is getting great results every morning!

         

17.03.23

Birch class held an amazing Mini COP event joining Hawke Owls class at Barton Stacey this week. The children worked fantastically together to come to an agreement across their 24 countries, prioritising real-life climate goals, all reasoned with sound arguments and considered prioritising. We enjoyed a lovely performance from the Barton Stacey choir and the day began with a very special letter from Buckingham Palace! The suggestions, team work and consideration shown by the children during our Mini COP gives me every confidence that Birch class will be excellent stewards of our planet Earth for years to come. On Friday we enjoyed a day of science experiments as part of Science Week, from exploding sandwich bags to creating more circuits with buzzers and bulbs!

        

               

10.03.23

A week of persuasion in Birch class has seen the children split into two teams debating on both sides of the argument: should children wear school uniform? The children have gotten excellent at their persuasion skills and even managed to persuade Miss Stirling to complete press-ups at the front of class! We continue to learn our football skills in PE and have explored what happens when we double arrays (in any direction) in maths. We’re very excited about our Mini COP27 event next week and look forward to reporting back on this! A special well done to the children of Birch class for such excellent and beautiful homework projects. It has been wonderful seeing the children share these  – the pride that children have shown demonstrates the effort that went into them – well done Birch class!

         

03.03.23

Naturally the highlight of this week has been our World Book Day festivities this Friday! As I write this we have begun the day with some fascinating interviews with Florence Nightingale and Marie Curie who have taken a range of questions from their very interested audience! Later we look forward to interviewing all the other wonderful individuals gathering in Birch class today! Earlier this week we completed our explanation texts on climate change and continued our times table deep dive, introducing Year 3's to new tables and challenging ourselves with word problems. The children are now excellent at calculating the number of legs on a zebra!

                                                                     

 

                                                        

10.02.23

You’re stuck in a tree with precarious looking branches all the way down and a few metres up a clearing to the views beyond. Would you climb down those frightful looking branches and risk falling or continue climbing upwards to call for help and risk never being able to get down?! Just one of the dilemmas to come from Birch class stories this week as we finish drafting our narratives. We have also started putting together our sculptures and our highlight of the week was a visit from Mr Hornby who explained his fascinating work in climate change, oceans and visits to COP27 - ahead of our own Mini COP27 next half term! Have a wonderful break over Half Term and we look forward to Spring 2!

                 

03.02.23

Birch class have continued to explore the meaning of dilemmas this week as they flesh out their narrative story writing. The children have imagined some complex scenarios with characters having to make some difficult decisions! In maths, our addition and subtracting work continues as we move into using the formal written method (a fan favourite for some!). The clarinets are beginning to sound pleasing as children grapple with the delicate reed and we have been listening to more Nina Simone as we explore her life and story in Guided Reading. Thank you to all those that have sent or dropped in their recycling for our sculptures (which have begun taking shape) – please feel free to keep these coming in various shapes and sizes until next week (any old fabrics are welcome too)!

                         

27.01.23

With our non-chronological reports now published we have moved onto narrative writing in English. We are exploring stories with dilemmas and reading about Greta Thunberg. The class have continued their leaning of claranet and are listening to the music of Nina Simone. In maths we have started looking at addition and subtraction again, with a revisit to place value and lots of organising ourselves into hula hoops! In art, we have begun looking at artist Yayoi Kusama at how we can create a sculpture from recycled materials - if you have any fabrics or used packaging at home that can be used, please send this in with your child!

        

20.01.23

Birch class have had a lovely week learning more about the Industrial Revolution and fact hunting along a timeline of events. They have put this new knowledge into their Non-Chronological Reports which are now at the publish stage and contain lots of lovely subject-specific language. The children finished their unit on fractions by creating a “fraction flower” out of paper, puzzling over the fraction of a tiny petal – we had some insightful approaches and great investigating. On Friday, Birch class are learning all about time – we will be speaking and learning about time all day – if you need someone to keep their eye on the time this weekend, why not ask your child!

 

13.01.23

We have continued our learning about the Industrial Revolution this week increasing our vocabulary understanding of the factors revolution and conditions of the time. The children have created another giant number line in the classroom and measured their arms, head circumference and handspan all as part of their fractions work. We continue to explore how to write a non-chronological report and have begun gymnastics in PE. Our new wind instruments are in the building ready to begin learning on next week! Apologies that Spelling Shed settings were not correct at the beginning of the week; this has been fixed and all children should now have their spelling homework set.

 

06.01.23

What a wonderful start to the term we have had in Birch class! We have begun exploring what is meant by non-chronological report and the children have written some wonderful first attempts across a range of topics. In history, we have explored when the Industrial Revolution was and some of the inventions and advances it was responsible for, as well as some of the hard-fought workers’ rights came out of this era. In class, we began to explore our new project question “Do you have to be in adult to change the world?” and the children already have some beautifully poignant answers. The children have begun a new gymnastics unit in PE and a fair bit of mental gymnastics with further fractions work in maths! Quick quiz for the children at home: what is a numerator and what is a denominator?

 

16.12.22

What a lovely finish to the year we have had in Birch class. From learning how reindeer fly to meeting Santa in what we thought was the ELSA room (turns out to be a portal to the North Pole), we are well and truly prepared for Christmas. The children finished their unit on measurement by weighing themselves and different objects in the classroom, we wrote a commentary of Santa making special lichen for his reindeer and our poetry is now on display in the classroom for all to read. All that’s left to say is Birch Class wishes everyone at Micheldever and their families a very Merry Christmas!

                  

09.12.22

In Birch, we kicked off the week with a super Ukulele concert of which we are very proud. In maths, the children have been measuring and weighing in the classroom and will begin comparing and adding lengths, heights and weights soon. We have learnt about the Viking invasion of the small island of Lindisfarne and explored the theme of “holiness” in R.E.. Perhaps our proudest moment this week however was the write-up of our poems – we have some superb pieces of writing that the children have worked very hard and the results are wonderful. The children will take a copy home soon. Next week, we will very much be ramping up all things Christmas!

 

02.12.22

Birch’s dance formations this week have come on spectacularly. We have been studying more street dance moves and some of the transitions are looking wonderful. The class have been working on their poetry and writing some beautiful lines and verses, we can’t wait to share them with you at our exhibition. Our Viking longboat models have been a joy to make and the class have used the adverbs they learnt in their instructional writing to think carefully about how they need to build their longboat. Our fractions work continues as we plot fractions onto number lines. Finally we have been rehearsing for our Ukelele concert with Mrs Highland and we look forward to seeing you if you can make it!

25.11.22

This week Birch class have been exploring poetry with some beautiful black-out poems and discussing effective word choices. We have begun making our cardboard Viking Longboats and exploring the theme of “Viking Longboats at sea in the night” as our poetry theme! The children have conducted an experiment measuring the rate of evaporation in different temperature environments and made predictions about melting ice. We have also begun a new unit in maths – fractions! This week we have learnt about “equal parts”, the “denominator” and “tenths”. In PE, the children are now developing their own street dance.

      

 

18.11.22

Birch class this week have continued to work on their Hakka dances this week introducing formation to their skills of appropriate-aggression and synchronicity. We have begun to learn who the Vikings were and how they came to settled across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The children have also written up their instructions for building a Viking longboat which we will begin making next week. In Maths, we are wrapping up our unit on multiplication and division, which will be revisited later in the year.

                             

11.11.22

This week Birch have been busy preparing for their performance during Remembrance service this Friday. I am very proud of the confidence and effort Birch have put into their practising. We have also been developing our Hakka dances in PE! Some fantastic moves and poses with the children perfecting their synchronicity. You may like to ask your child to show you some moves! We continue our work in multiplication using arrays with larger times tables and in writing we have practised all the components of our instruction writing. Birch also learnt about gasses in Science with Mr Johnston and planned their experiment to see if gas weighs anything!

 

04.11.22

Birch class have been getting busy with multiplication this week learning about arrays, repeated addition number lines and the roles of the four operations in relation to each other. You may like to ask your child if they know what inverse means – some will know that multiplication is the inverse of division (this fact will become more secure over the next two weeks). We have started a new unit in science looking at States of Matter with Mrs Owen and the children have been doing wonderfully on our new writing unit: instructions. We will be writing a list of instructions for how to build a longboat – something we will be building later in the term!

 

21.10.22

This week Birch class have been finishing writing and performing their playscripts as well as learning about the use of colons and brackets. Some of the class also visited Henry Beaufort School for a Times Table Rock Stars competition – congratulations to our very own Semi-Finalist Lottie! In maths we have been learning how to bridge across 10 for mental addition. The children also completed their investigation into what plants need to grow, with some interesting observations on the seeds the children potted with no sunlight. May you have a very pleasant half term!

   

14.10.22

Birch Class this week have been excelling at their Times Tables as we have been inventing our Times Table song. Next week some of our Year 4s are heading to a Times Table Rock Stars challenge, which we are very excited about. We are now subtracting with the column method – please do practise this at home for extra support if possible! – and have learnt the “round and adjust” method. In English, we are continuing to learn the features of playscripts and are planning our own. By the time you read this we will be enjoying our Anglo-Saxon day at Stubbington!

 

07.10.22

In Birch class we have been tackling the formal written method of addition in maths and getting confident in making sure that all our numbers are written in the correct column. In science, our planted seeds are beginning to sprout, which is very exciting as we are proving or disproving our predictions about what plants need to grow. We have learnt about how Christianity spread in Anglo-Saxon Britain and have been rehearsing our songs for the Harvest Festival, both KS1 and KS2 are sounding wonderful! In English we are exploring playscripts – a quick quiz for your child at home: what is a playscript, and what are the “directions” that you find written in them?

                             

30.09.22

Birch class have concluded their Place Value unit this week with a real focus on number lines. I'm really pleased with their progress and most Year 3s are now counting confidently in 100s and Year4s in 1000s. We have learnt about the Kings of Anglo-Saxon England and how the endings of place names denoted something about the town. -ton meaning settlement, -ford meaning river crossing. We continue our practice in basketball and the children are now almost finished writing their first narrative, focussing on direct speech, apostrophes and fronted adverbials. If you'd like to, please ask your child what apostrophes can be used for and what the formal name for "speech marks" is..! The children also did wonderfully with Ofsted visiting this week and some of them discussed their Maths and Art work with our visitors. Homework letters are going home this week, please look out for them and thank you for your patience.

23.09.22

Birch had a wonderful time creating their own settlement in History and imagining the different facilities and resources they would need as a new Anglo-Saxon settler in England.. Children have now settled into their seating formations and are doing a wonderful job of practising new KS2 routines, I am very pleased with their progress and the maturity they are showing! This week we are rounding up our place value number work and will soon be moving on to addition and subtraction. The children have learnt how to use inverted commas for speech and apostrophes for possession and by the end of the week will be using these accurately in their story writing.

                

16.09.22

On Friday after our special worship in the name of our Late Queen Elizabeth II, Birch class discussed what public mourning may mean for them and we created our book of Condolences with touching messages from the children. This is available to view in Birch class and you would be very welcome if you would like to read it. We also made a card with love which has been taken up to London. Thank you so much for the donations to Birch class this week for our science project, we are now stocked and ready to start our growing experiment next week. This week we have been continuing our learning about civilisations and in particular the Ango-Saxons and invaders and settlers. Children have been ordering numbers and continuing their place value work and all children should now have their reading book and band. A letter explaining homework for your child will be sent home shortly. We look forward to welcoming the children back next week and may Monday be a special day for you whatever you will be doing.

 

09.09.22

We have had a lovely start to the term in Birch class, getting to grips with our learning enquiry "How are some nations formed?". The children have learnt who the Anglo-Saxons were and where they travelled to England from, as well as what kinds of things might make up a civilisation. This has linked nicely to our English reading book "Weslandia" where Wes has the wonderful spark of an idea to set up his own civilisation in his back garden. I've been so impressed with the children's contributions to our shared understanding of what makes up a civilisation. In maths we have been exploring number and place value, and the children were rather excited by our giant number line to 1,000 spanning the classroom. We have explored what our value of Love means in Birch class and rehearsed a lot of Respectful Listening. In PSHE we shared what we are proud of and our personal goal ahead for the year, reminding ourselves that we can achieve and believe in ourselves.

   

15.07.2022

Wow! What a year we have had in Birch! I am so proud of all of the children for their dedication to their learning. We have made some brilliant memories together; I am going to miss all of the children and wish them all the best next year with their new teachers. We have had a lovely week in Birch. We have listened to ‘River Music’ composed by Handel and then had a go at creating our own music following the journey of a river. We also became photographers and went on a local walk to capture images of nature. Have a lovely weekend all!

       

08.07.2022

Birch have had another busy week. We have started a newspaper write based on ‘The Animals of Farthing Wood’. We have applied our knowledge of habitat loss to help us with this. In maths, we have continued learning about time and made clocks with Mrs Jackson to complete a time quiz. We have learnt the French alphabet and how to count up to 20. In art, we explored the movement of water and created some art work using tissue and watercolours in an attempt to capture how water moves. Well done Birch! 

              

01.07.2022

Birch have had a lovely week. They have worked hard on the narrative writing and have made their own books in preparation for our class exhibition. We got the laptops out early in the week and started our own animations and chase games on skratch. The children enjoyed and showed resilience. We have done some learning around the types of habitat loss caused by humans and created posters. We were also very luck today enjoy a French lesson delivered by a teacher from Henry Beaufort! We would all like to say a MASSIVE thank you to Mrs Hann and wish her all the best on her next adventure.

24.06.2022

This week Birch have really impressed me with their attitude towards their learning. In Literacy we have started inventing our own Narratives based on Beatrix Potter's 'The Tale of Jeremy Fisher'. We create a shared plan as a class and then the children had a go at completing their own. They all had some wonderful ideas and cannot wait to see then end result. In Maths we have continued exploring the properties of shape. Some of the children have been continuing their work on angles while others have been exploring horizontal, vertical, parallel and perpendicular lines. We went on a walk around the village during the week to identify human and physical geography features of our local area during our Geography lesson. At the end, the children enjoyed a well deserved play in the playground as they correctly identified it as a human feature. We have also continued our work on local wildlife and went on a pollinator walk to see what we could find. Well done to all!

17.06.2022

Well done to all the children in Birch for their efforts this week. In maths, we have started our new unit exploring the properties of shape. We have explored different angles, with some children using a protractor to accurate measure angles. We have also learnt how to identify isosceles, scalene and equilateral triangles. In Literacy, we continued to get to know the 'Tale of Jeremy Fisher' paying particular attention to its structure, grammar and punctuation. In Project this week, we have done some work on pollinators and conducted some research into creating bug houses which will provide an inviting habitat for local pollinators and wildlife. We then designed our own bug hotel; congratulation to Lottie and Celia whose designs won!  On Thursday afternoon, as a class, we built our bug hotel in 'Ash Corner' outside Birch. We are looking forward to adding to our creation and keeping an eye on the wildlife that visits! Thank you all for providing the resources that have allowed the children to build their structure.

 

 

10.06.2022

Birch have had a really good week. In Literacy we have lunched our new writing unit based on Beatrix Potter’s ‘The Tale of Jeremy Fisher’. In Maths, we have completed our work on fractions. The children have really impressed me with their resilience and perseverance. We have completed some French learning around introducing our family members. In Science we have explored the 7 life processes which categorise living things. We then went on a living thing walk around our local area. 

       

 

27.05.2022

Birch have had a lovely final week of this half term. We have completed our unit of writing producing guides for Dever Springs Trout Fishery. In maths, we have been adding and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators. Most excitingly of all, we have been preparing for our platinum jubilee celebrations. The children have completed some learning about the Queen and her time on the throne and have produced some lovely art and writing to commemorate this event. I hope you all have a lovely half term and I look forward to seeing you in June!

                                       

 

                       

 

20.05.2022

Birch have had a really lovely week full of fun activities! We started the week with a trip to the river where we went river dipping. We caught a lot more than we were expecting and thought about what we share our local area with. In literacy we have continued our work writing a persuasive flyer for Dever Springs Trout Fishery. We had an opportunity to try some local smoked trout which was a fun activity based around our senses. In Maths we have been exploring tenths and fractions of amounts. We used oranges to help us with our learning. Well done to all children, especially to the new member of the class who has settled in beautifully. 

           

 

        

                                              

13.05.2022

We have had a really lovely week in Birch. The children have impressed me across all subjects with their enthusiasm and determination. In Maths, we have all been learning division methods including short division. In Literacy, we have begun writing a persuasive flyer for Dever Spring Trout Fishery. We will be sending them the children’s finished writing in the next two weeks. We explored sorting animals in Science depending on whether they lay eggs or not or fly or not. In RE we learnt about a Buddhist temples as scared places and made our own shrine in the class paying particular attention to the symbolism of our chosen objects. Well done to all! Have a lovely weekend.

                          

06.05.2022

The children have had a brilliant week. In maths we have been applying our multiplication knowledge to problem solving activities. In Literacy the children completed their river poems and created pictures for them for our display. In RE we explored what makes churches sacred places and visited Micheldever church to deepen our understanding of special objects. Have a lovely weekend all!

 

          

29.04.2022

Birch have had a brilliant first week back. They have all impressed me with their positive attitude to their learning. We have really enjoyed launching our new Project and learning lots about rivers, particularly the River Dever. We also learnt how to use points on a compass to complete treasure maps and give our partners accurate directions. In Maths we have been exploring multiplication through arrays, multiplying 2-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers and factors. In Literacy we have been exploring a poem about children enjoying playing in river. I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend.

                     

 

                                                    

08.04.2022

massive well done to all of the children for working so hard this term. You have all impressed me with your attitude towards your learning and resilience. I wish you all a lovely and relaxing Easter holiday and I look forward to our summer term together.

                         

01.04.2022

Well done to all the children in Birch this week. They have tackled some really tricky learning  in maths. Some children have been learning to tell the time in 5-minute intervals while others have been converting between hours, minutes, seconds and between analogue and digital time. In Literacy the children have enjoyed learning Boudicca's rallying speech and have got to know it through acting. They then went on to use a green screen to make a video in preparation for our class Exhibition. In Jigsaw this week, the children were thoroughly engaged in a topic about smoking. They explored the harmful effects on the body and what 'peer pressure' means. I was really impressed by the maturity shown by all. I hope that you all have a lovely and restful weekend and I look forward to returning to school.

25.03.2022

We have had a busy week in Birch. The children have completed some fantastic diary entry writing and we have written it up on tea-stained paper. In Maths, we have started a unit on time. We spent some time outside ordering jumbled up clock faces. In Science we learnt about components of electrical circuits and how to draw an open and closed circuit. In Project, we bought our mosaic designs to life. We are excited to showcase them at our exhibition next week. Have a lovely weekend in the sunshine.

     

18.03.2022

This week has been very busy in Birch! In Science we have looked at electricity and did a learning walk around the school to find battery and mains-powered devices; in maths we've looked at tally charts and how to present data in graphs; and in English we've been completing at our 'Boudicca Diary Entry', where we have invented our own version of the story in 61 AD. Birch class, have a lovely, restful weekend - you've earned it!

 

11.03.2022

We have had a very busy week in Birch. In Literacy we have rehearsed our Boudicca diary entry and created a story map altogether to help us remember. In Maths, we have completed our unit on length and perimeter; all of the children have made great leaps in their learning! In RE we have explored the importance of symbols and identified that they can be universal and mean the same thing throughout the world. In Science we have been building aqueducts that need to transport 100ml of water without any leaks! 

                 

04.03.2022

Well done to all the children in Birch for a great return to school. We have had the pleasure of welcoming two new members of the class on Tuesday, they have settled in well. In Maths we have been converting between units of measure, using a place value grid to support us multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000. While we were on a ‘spring watch’ walk, the children uncovered a hidden diary entry written by Boudicca! We are going to use this to inspire our writing next week. We had a great day celebrating World Book Day. The children measured the perimeter of books, produced comic strips and made masks. Have a lovely weekend.

                

 

18.02.2022

We have had a busy week in Birch. The children have all worked extremely hard, I am very impressed. In literacy, the children completed their non-chronological reports about how the Romans changed Britain. In maths we have been measuring accurately in my, cm and m. We have also been converting between different metric units. We have had the most fun in science this week. We learnt about the digestive system and created an experience to show what happens at each stage in the process, including the very end! We explored different teeth and their functions. This was accompanied by us cleaning our teeth and then using disclosure tablets to reveal how well we had done. Well done everyone. Have a lovely half term and a well needed rest.

                                  

 

                                      

11.02.2022

We have had a busy week in Birch. In Literacy we have been planning for our non-chronological reports which we will be completing next week. In Maths we have explored negative numbers and Roman numerals. In science we were learning about vertebrates and invertebrates and how to classify them. As part of our safer internet day, the children created their personal online footprints. We followed the journey of an alien visitor we named ‘Simon’. As a class, we taught Simon how to enjoy the world of gaming safely and in an age appropriate way. We rehearsed the chant: “screenshot it, block it, report it”, to help us remember what to do in the event of something unsafe happening while online.

 

04.02.2022

We have had a really lovely week in Birch. The children have been busy in Maths rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 and some of us have been comparing and ordering amounts. In literacy we have explored the key features of a non-chronological report and the purpose of this type of writing. In Science we were understanding the different  bones in our skeletons. We learned some cool facts and the children thought up songs to help them remember. We took our spellings outside this week and practised writing them in chalk. On Thursday, we thoroughly enjoyed being transported to a far away safari and learning about Willow’s zoo-switch animals. The children have been eagerly awaiting our trip to Fishbourne Roman Palace. I’m sure everyone will enjoy a well deserved rest at the weekend.

                    

 

                  

28.01.2022

We have had a lovely week in Birch. The children completed a final setting description write in Literacy. I have been really impressed with the high quality of their writing. The children then enjoyed the rest of the animation we have based our writing on. In Maths we have been comparing and ordering numbers. In Science, we have explored different food groups and nutrition. The children got to see how much sugar goes into common snacks. 

21.01.2022

We have had a busy week in Birch. The children have been exploring how they can use their senses to help enhance a setting description. In Maths, we have been counting in multiples of 4, 8, 25, 50, 100 and 1000. We also enjoyed a place value treasure hunt in the church yard. The children explored the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and created contrasting collages in R.E. I have been impressed with the children’s resourcefulness this week, they are becoming increasingly independent it getting the resources they know will support their learning. Well done Birch. 

14.01.2022

The children have had a busy week in Birch. In Literacy, the children have really impressed me. They have explored noun phrases and how they can be modified with the addition of adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases. They had fun acting out a page from our text which included market haggling. In Maths, the children have worked hard on their times tables, multiplication and division facts. In Project the children explored traditional Roman naming rules and followed instructions to make their own Roman names. Everyone has worked really hard, well done!

 

07.01.2022

It has been so lovely to see the children after the holidays. They have all returned with a positive attitude towards their learning and have dived straight into their new units of work. On Wednesday, we launched our new Project: Is Change Good? The children explored a series of images and they had to work out what connected all of them together. In Literacy, we have started a new key text called: 'Escape from Pompeii'. The children have explored the front cover in detail and have used the evidence provided and their personal knowledge to write some fantastic, logical predictions. In Maths we have been working hard on our multiplication and division knowledge. We have represented multiplication facts in a variety of ways and looked at how we can use the inverse to work out and check an answer. Well done to everyone for a brilliant return to school!

                                     

17.12.2021

What a lovely way to end our first term! The children have had such a Christmassy fun-filled  last week. We thoroughly enjoyed our Christmas meal, stories with Santa and of course, the Christmas disco yesterday. The children have all worked so extremely hard this term; I am really proud of all of their efforts and their learning journey so far. I look forward to seeing you all again in January after a long, and well-deserved rest. 

10.12.2021

We’ve had a very productive week in Birch! We have started to get prepared for Christmas by making Christmas cards in Art with Mrs. Hann! We have also decorated the classroom with the stars we made in relation to our Worship around Christmas. In English, the children have been learning about syllables and alliteration and applying this knowledge to writing their own Haikus – which have also been performed in our Talk for Writing! In maths, we have been finding different types of angles in shapes and how many parallel and perpendicular lines we can find in them. Mrs. Hann and I are incredibly impressed with the Birch class children’s work and effort this week. Have a lovely weekend – and a well-deserved rest! (and congratulations to Mr O’Neill who has completed his first teaching practise.)

                               

 

                                                  

03.12.2021

We have had a great week in Birch. We are starting to get into the Christmas spirit play Christmas songs and earning golden time minutes which we will use to decorate our classroom. This week, the children completed their Playscript hot writes; I am so proud of all of their efforts and the end result. All of their individual personalities shone through as they had an opportunity to create their own versions ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The children also demonstrated their resourcefulness by independently editing their writing before I marked it. In Maths, the children have been learning about position and movement with Mr O’Neil. Excitingly, this week we were able to enjoy our first football fixture. I would like to say a massive well done to all of the KS2 children who participated, you were fantastic! Have a lovely weekend.  

                          

 

                        

26.11.2021

We have had a great week in Birch. In English the children completed their Playscript hot write. I am so proud of all of them. The writing they have produced is some of the best the have done! Well done! In Maths, we have been finishing off our unit on fractions. The children enjoyed getting the apparatus out for Gymnastics this week. We have also been busy getting ready for our class Exhibition, including designing and decorating their own Iron Age Shields! The children are excited to showcase all of their fantastic learning! 

                             

 

                              

 

19.11.2021

We have had another busy week in Birch. In Maths, children have continued learning about fractions. In English, we have explored an innovated version of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ to take inspiration for our own versions. In Science, we have learnt about reflection. We have worked particularly hard in Guided Reading paying attention to our inference skills. Most excitingly of all, we enjoyed our ‘Experience the Iron Age Workshop’. We enjoyed exploring real furs, armour and cauldrons and trained to become Iron Age Warriors!

                                          

                                 

12.11.2021

We have had a lovely week in Birch. The children have worked really hard rewriting the classic fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood. In Maths we have continued out fractions learning journey with some of us tackling quarters and others exploring equivalent fractions. Mr O’Neil has completed a unit on Angels in R.E. We enjoyed our first gymnastics session as a class. In one of our spelling sessions the children got to ‘graffiti’ on the tables with whiteboard pen, they found this particularly enjoyable! The highlight however, has been our Remembrance service at the church. The children did such a fantastic job. I am very proud! Have a lovely weekend.

                                   

05.11.2021

We have had a wonderful and busy week in Birch. We have started a new unit of writing in English. We have become playscript writers. We have got to know the story of Little Red Riding Hood very well. The children have acted scenes out and explored the features of a playscript. In Maths we have been busy learning about fractions. We got to make our own fraction walls to support our learning. In Science, we have started a new unit of work: Light. We began by exploring sources of light and sorting objects based on them being either transparent, translucent or opaque. In Project we built our own Stonehenge models using clay. Well done Birch for all of your hard wo   

 

 

22.10.2021

I would like say a massive well done to all of the children for getting through the first half term. They have all worked incredibly hard and deserve a rest over the break. In our final week we have explored poetry in English and identified devices and looked at the impact that can have in writing. In Maths, we have finished our addition and subtraction unit. We started learning about Stonehenge in Project and the mysteries surrounding the ancient monument! Well done Birch

       

 

15.102021

It has been a fantastic week in Birch. All of the children have worked incredibly hard. On Tuesday, we enjoyed our final swimming session. The children have come such a long way with their skills in the water. Afterwards, we enjoyed a lovely trip up St Catherine’s Hill where the children completed a scavenger hunt and explored the ancient hill fort. We also made some furry friends! The children completed their hot write in English, I am so impressed with the result, well done to all of you. 

                                     

                                

 

08.10.2021

This week in Birch the children have been working hard on addition. Some children have been adding 2 4-digit numbers together and tackling some tricky problems. Others have been working hard on their number bonds knowledge. In English, we have explored adverbial and similes, all in preparation for our hot write. In Science, the children had an opportunity to act out the different ways rocks change on the Earth’s surface. The children had a lovely time creating their Harvest artwork. We had some lovely home grown vegetables to support our creations!

 

            

01.10.2021

Birch have had another busy week. We have started our new English unit: narrative writing. We are basing our work on the book ‘The Stone Age Boy’. The children have been memorising the story using our story map to help us. In Maths, some children have been comparing numbers, while others have been rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. Our Project lesson this week took us to the Orkney Islands where we were researching Skara Brae and what early farm settlements looked like. All of the children are making huge progress in their swimming lessons, some managed to swim 75 meters! I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend! 

 

 

24.09.2021

It has been a really lovely week in Birch. The children have continued their work on place value and looking at numbers on a number line, finding more and less than an amount and comparing 4-digit numbers. The children have been helping one another with their learning; using lots of concrete resources to support this. They completed their hot writes in English and all edited their work with a peer at stations which each had a different focus. We made our own sedimentary rock in Science using grated chocolate, the children demonstrated their will power in this activity as most of the chocolate remained as part of the experiment. When we went swimming, some of the children managed to swim 25 meters confidently. I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend!

             

17.09.2021

This week the children have worked really hard in all subjects. We got creative in English and innovated our story, coming up with new scenes which they acted out. In Maths we have continued our work on place value, the children have had lots of problem solving opportunities and have looked at ordering large numbers. In Project this week we explored cave art and how it provides a window into the past. The children immersed themselves in a dark classroom and lay under tables to draw their own cave art scenes in charcoal!

                                  

                                

 

10.09.2021

Wow! What a fantastic first week back in school. I am so proud of all of this children and their efforts this week. The new year 3’s have settled in well to their new learning environment and the year 4’s have been wonderful helping them with this. They have worked extremely hard, their books are already filling up! In Maths, we have been doing lots of work on place value, understanding that each digit in a number has a value. In English, the children have got to know the story: ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’. They have done work on imperative verbs and prepositions to produce some lovely written work. In Science we have looked at how igneous rock is formed and how to classify intrusive and extrusive igneous rock. Our Project lesson took us to the church yard where we became hunter-gathers and looked out for assets as well as threats. Most excitingly of all, I discovered that all the children in Birch are part mermaid/merman! They all took to the water with ease when we went swimming and had a great time in water. Well done to you all, you deserve a rest this weekend!

                                  

 

                                                            

 

23.07.2021

What a year it’s been in Birch! The children have faced so many obstacles which have been out of their control and have still managed to achieve so much. I am extremely proud of each and every member of the class and want to thank them all for making my first year at Micheldever so magical. I hope you all have a lovely summer and a well deserved rest! Our highlight this week has undoubtedly been welcoming our grownups to our exhibition. This children loved showing off all of their wonderful work, it was a delight to see. We have explored the Olympics; ancient and modern, and enjoyed a trip to the church yard where we sketched some nature scenes. Again, thank you all for a wonderful year and have a lovely summer!

                                                     

                                               

 

                                             

 

16.09.2021

It has been so lovely to return to the classroom this week; I have really missed the children. The children have had a sport filled week enjoying sports day on Monday and Tokyo 360 on Tuesday. In maths, we have been exploring our multiplication and division fact families and have learnt some new vocabulary such as factors, product and prime numbers! In English, our time-slip scarab story continues. We have been looking at changing the portal objects to create our own versions. We have had a focus on the use of colons and semicolons in our writing. Most excitingly, we have started work on our ancient Egyptian deaths masks, I think they are going to look amazing once we have completed them! Have a lovely weekend in sunshine! 

 

                             

 

                        

 

09.07.2021

Birch class have been showing the learning power of  'Resilient Ruby' this week, working hard to expand their vocabulary knowledge. They have been using a thesaurus to look for synonyms and then thinking carefully about which words they should use in their writing to make it more creative and ambitious. In Project this week we have been researching Egyptian Death masks and looking at their significance. During our Maths lessons, Birch have been solving word problems involving multiplication and division. Well done Birch class you should be very proud of all your hard work. 

                              

 

02.07.2021

This week the children in Birch class were very excited to share the information and experiences about their trip to Marwell Zoo on Tuesday. Their heads were full of interesting facts and they wrote some excellent recounts about their time at the Zoo. In school they have been working hard too - solving missing number problems in mathematics and writing stories independently in English. Yesterday they enjoyed their music lesson where they played the Samba using a combination of Russian instruments to create their own piece of music. Miss Day would like to personally thank all of  Birch class for making her first week back at Micheldever so enjoyable - you have been fantastic!

         

 

25.06.2021

Birch have had a fantastic week. In Maths we have been revising column addition and subtraction, many have us have been solving problems with regrouping and exchanging. In English, we have been working hard to complete our newspaper reports. We have used a template on the laptops to achieve this. In Science, we were investigating the rate of transpiration using celery and food colouring. We concluded that the warmer the condition the faster the rate as we saw the fastest change in the warm condition. I will be off now for a couple of weeks, I wish all the children well and can’t wait to see them when I return

               

      

18.06.2021

Birch have worked really hard this week. In maths we have been tackling addition and subtraction problems on a number line. We have been partitioning numbers (calling upon our place value knowledge) to break down our ‘jumps’. In English, we have been exploring the use of prepositions, we have focussed some out our writing around an image of Tutankhamun’s tomb filled with wonderful objects. We have also practiced our role playing skills to interview Howard Carter. In Science we have explored how plants cleverly transport water. Most excitingly of all, we have entered into a class sweepstake. The children have all pulled out teams for their 2020 draw! I wonder who the winner will be?

 

 

 

11.06.2021

Birch have had a really busy week back at school. We have had the company of the Year 5 Willow children this week; it has been especially nice playing with them on the playground. In maths we have revisited place value, we have been reading and writing numbers and looking at different ways of partitioning. In English, we have been looking at the timeline of events surrounding the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. In Science, we went on a pollinator hunt and to look for evidence of seed dispersal. This paved the way for an art lesson where we made our own visualisers. We examined images of pollinators and drew our favourite sections in ink. We then explored ink dispersal on the page. We had some beautiful results. Well done Birch and Willow Y5

                           

                        

28.05.2021

We have had a very exciting week here in Birch. We have completed our non-chronological reports in English; focussing on Egyptian gods and goddesses. A group of us went on a school trip to St Mary’s Stadium to take part in a series of sports activities. In R.E were have been exploring how Hindus show their devotion to Krishna. Investigated a series of objects and dressed in colourful Hindu attire. I would like to say a massive well done to all of the children in Birch; you have all worked exceptionally this half term. I hope you all get a well deserved rest next week! 

          

         

21.05.2021

Birch have had a week full of new learning. We have started investigating mass and capacity in maths. We have learnt how to read scales and work out intervals to accurately measure liquids. In English, we have started researching Egyptian gods and goddesses as part of a non-chronological report. In Science, we acted out the life-cycle of a plant; using our new scientific vocabulary to narrate each stage.

                       

 

14.05.2021

Birch have been very busy with all of their learning this week. The children have completed a hot write in English; I am so impressed with the level of work produced. The children should be exceptionally proud of their efforts! We have been exploring 2D and 3D shapes, using mathematical vocabulary to describe their properties based on angles and vertices. We have also investigated the difference between regular and irregular shapes. We have started learning about Egyptian god and goddesses; it is lovely to see how passionate the children are about this project. In Science, the children have enjoyed studying the life cycle of plants. We have seen some impression growth in our onions as part of our ongoing investigation.

   

 

 

07.05.2021

Birch have had a brilliant week! We have been really busy across all subjects. We have been applying our knowledge of homophones in spellings, exploring symmetry in Maths and looking at examples in real life and in English we have been planning for our hot write next week; the children have worked really hard expanding their vocabulary. Most excitingly, in Project we have attempted to make our own version of papyrus paper and we have dissected tulips in Science! Ask the children if they can explain the parts and functions of a flower over the weekend

    

 

30.4.2021

Birch have had a busy second week back at school. We have continued our work on angles, exploring acute, obtuse and right angles. Some of the children have gone on to use a protractor to accurately measure angles! In Science, we learnt all about the parts and functions of a plant. Some of our own plants have begun to sprout in our ongoing investigation! In project, we have been considering the geographical location of Egypt and explored the importance of the River Nile and cracked some hieroglyphic codes! I hope that you all have a lovely and restful bank holiday weekend!

Summer Term Curriculum Letter

Spring Term Curriculum Letter

Birch class exhibition - Autumn Term 2020

Have a watch of our exhibition video below to see all the learning we have been doing this term.

A very warm Micheldever welcome to Miss Donohue-Waite.

Letter From Class Teacher

Autumn Term Curriculum Newsletter

NEW Home Learning Pack 10 (week beginning 20th July)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.  The History resources do contain links to YouTube; please ensure that all internet use is supervised, thank you.

Year 3   Year 4

Home Learning Pack 9 (week beginning 13th July)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.  

Year 3   Year 4

Home Learning Pack 8 (week beginning 6th July)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.  

Year 3   Year 4

Home Learning Pack 7 (week beginning 29th June)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.  In this week's pack, there are a number of video links from websites, including YouTube.  Please ensure that your child's internet use is supervised; thank you.

Year 3   Year 4

Home Learning Pack 6 (week beginning 22nd June)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.

Year 3   Year 4

Home Learning Pack 5 (week beginning 15th June)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.

Year 3    Year 4

Home Learning Pack 4 (week beginning 8th June)

Below, you will find the Year 3 and 4 Home Learning Pack for this coming week.

Year 3    Year 4

Home Learning Project (week beginning 1st June)

Below, you will find the Year 3/4 Home Learning Project for this coming week.

Home Learning Project

 

Home Learning Project 3

Below, you will find Home Learning Project 3 and supporting resources.

Home Learning Project 3          Additional Resources         Pop-Up Planning & Resources

Home Learning Pack 2

Below, you will find the second Home Learning Pack for your child.

Home Learning Pack 2

Home Learning Packs

Below, you will find the Home Learning Pack for your child’s year group. A further pack of work will be posted to the website on Sunday 29^th March.

Year 3 pack

Year 4 pack

Please click here for a list of useful resources you may find helpful during school closure. 

 

 

Birch class were exemplary today at Fishbourne Roman Palace. I was very proud of them all!

We had such a fantastic day learning all about the 2000 year old remains of the Roman Palace and how the residents lived all those years ago.  The workshop session was particularly fun where all the children were dressed as slaves and had to try out a range of different activities. They experienced bridge building, making mosaics, grinding corn, writing on wax tablets, making a tile roof and making up games suitable for a Roman Prince and Princess.

 

We were amazed by the remains of all the mosaics and loved walking round them all. The museum was fascinating and we enjoyed looking at so many old artefacts.