Birch Class

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