Next term we have lots of exciting events planned to engage the children in their learning. We shall be exploring the world of the Ancient Greeks, experimenting with electric circuits, drawing Greek architecture, developing our handball and athletic skills, considering what inspires us, writing diary entries and biographies and studying geometry, decimals and conversion. Please see the attached topic web for further details.

This week the children were fortunate to be able to take part in a carousel of activities at Freeland Church hosted by Be Space. The theme was The Lord's Prayer and the children were able to create models of themselves out of Playdoh to show their role in the world, use Plasma balls to learn how God is everywhere, add their thoughts to a bubble tube, use fizzing forgiveness to let go of negative thoughts and worries and draw images of things they are grateful for. Their behaviour was excellent and the children answered questions carefully, giving deep thought to their responses. 

We have been busy this week learning more about the Titanic and investigating the ship's design to gain a better understanding as to why it sank. The children have been using this new knowledge to plan newspaper reports based upon the sinking of the ship on its maiden voyage.

During maths this week, the class have been learning how to solve division calculations using Place Value Charts and the 'Bus Stop' method; building their confidence to solve problems involving up to 5-digit numbers.

Next week we are looking forward to creating Chinese Dragons in our Mandarin lesson to discover more about Chinese New Year, visiting the church for our Bespace activities, writing our newspaper reports and celebrating the end of another successful term.

Week commencing 15th January 2024

This week the children took part in a 3D relief print workshop run by the artist Neil Wood. Neil Wood is 'a professional sculptor and fine artist with many years' experience lecturing in fine art and sculpture at institutions in the UK. He has worked in various settings; in education, as artist-in-residence and visiting lecturer, alongside his practice producing sculpture for exhibition and public commissions.' The children worked using the mediums of clay and plaster of Paris to create Titanic themed pieces of art which they have been able to take home and share with you. 

https://www.neilwoodsculpture.co.uk/

We have also learnt how to say our birthdays in Chinese Mandarin, calculate the area of compound shapes and polygons, 'box-up' a story, investigate how light travels by examining opaque, transparent and translucent objects, develop our understanding of Hindu Gods and Godessess, learnt about the route the Titanic took on her maiden voyage and discovered that Kingfishers are fantastic swimmers! 

Week commencing 8th January 2024

We have had a busy first week back in Kingfishers, and it has been lovely to see the children after the Christmas break. Our learning journey began with a series of poetry lessons followed by; story mapping, hot seating, a poetry competition, learning how to calculate area and perimeter, developing our understanding of why the Titanic was so significant and plotting its main events upon a timeline, swimming, introducing Hinduism and listening to the parable of 'The man in the well', a Chinese Mandarin lesson in which the class learnt the months of the year and much more!

We have also begun to read one of this term's class texts, 'Survivor' by Stephen Davies and the children have been reading this aloud to their peers. The children are excited about our fourth coming trip to The Titanic Museum on Monday 22nd January and this will be a wonderful opportunity to immerse the class in the experience of those who travelled on the Titanic and to learn more about how the ship was built and why its maiden voyage was so significant. 

^{After the Christmas holidays we shall be beginning our new top 'Titanic'. The children have thoroughly enjoyed learning about World War Two throughout the Autumn term and have been taught how to crack and decipher codes, how and why the war began, the role of women during the war, about rationing, evacuation, machinery, axis and allies and much more! Our trip to Blenheim Palace was a fantastic way to engage the children and as part of their visit they were able to take on the role of MI5 detectives, visit the Winston Churchill exhibition, take a tour of the Palace and explore the grounds as Winston Churchill would have done.}

Please see the topic web below for details of which areas of the Curriculum we will be covering during the Spring term and I am looking forward to seeing the class make even more fantastic progress over the next two terms.