"Pupils behave well. They play happily together and consider each other’s needs very well.""Parents are right to be pleased with the quality of teaching at the school.""Pupils learn well because the work they do provides good levels of challenge and helps them learn new skills."100% of parents said they would recommend this school to other parents"The curriculum supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively.""Pupils get off to a good start in early years."

Kingfishers 2018-19

Up to date with our royal timeline 2019

Fri 12th July

This week saw Kingfishers investigate who made up our modern royal family and how it was structured. It was so impressive how many children had linked this with the topic homework that had been set at the start of the summer term. The children's understanding of chronology has developed so much over this term with all children able to describe significant changes instigated by monarchs and ruling families. 

In maths, we have explored angles in more detail and everyone has become much more accurate when measuring angles to the nearest degree and using sensible checking methods to ensure accuracy. The homework this week is based on this learning.

In science, we began to explore how different liquids affect enamel. Although we are only 5 days in, it has become clear which liquids rot enamel. Earlier in the week all the children posed questions and we will be answering thes using out observational skill early next week. We also learned about the main parts of the digestive system- the ones that are essential and the ones that are not ;-) 

Spelling this week focus on silent letters and can be found below.

A special well done to Alice, who was our Star of the Week for being, quite simply, inter-stellar. 

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Arts Week 2019

Fri 5th July

 

This week was arts week and the stimulus was The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. We read the story together admiring the wonderful images and discussing the impacts of deforestation. We spent the first day exploring the text through drama and music, with all children exploring the themes and setting well. Some of these performed in the Friday assembly and were so good that the other classes were able to guess which animals were being portrayed.

We used recycled materials to create some lflowers and animals. Thank you for all your donations. We also explored finger knitting to create flowers and sometimes snakes. The kind Kingfishers have spread the love of finger knitting throughout the school and hopefully feel proud of the support they gave to younger and older children alike. It may come as a relief to some parents that the stock of wool has finally run out- we have knitted miles of the stuff this week!

As there were no formal literacy and numeracy sessions, no homework has been set. All KS2 classes have been requested to ensure they have learned the song words for the production as we will be removing song words this week. The request for costumes also went home with children this week. Please can all children bring in some shorts and a t-shirt as the chorus as well as those up on stage will be taking the role of holiday makers in this year's play. The brighter the better! 

A special well done to April, who was our Star of the Week. This creative power-house is never short of ideas and has been a real inspiration this week.

Due to teacher malfunction, no spellings were set on Monday 1st, therefore there will be no test on Monday 8th July. New spelling will be set so that Kingfishers can get back into a normal pattern for the last few weeks of term. 

Victoria's Empire

Fri 28th June

This week, Kingfishers Class tracked forward in time and explored the British Empire during the Victorian era. The children have a good grasp of the chronology of the British monarchs they have studied and were able to compare and contrast the achievements of Victoria with at least one other monarch. 

In literacy, Kingfishers came to the end of the unit about formal letters of complaint. I was particularly proud of the very formal language that the children were able to use alongside a range of different senetence structures. Excellent Kingfishers.

This week in maths, Kingfishers developed their skills in reading and plotting coordinates, with many now able to reflect shapes in the first quadrant. The Year 4 pupils aso completed their times table check this week. In preparation for next week's assessments, Kingfishers revisited a lot of the maths learning we covered in the first 2 terms. Homework this week is to continue to revise this learning further and the children have all taken some practise assessments home to help them with this.

 

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Sunny for Sports Day

Fri 21st June

 What a fab Friday! Our annual Sportsday was a lot of fun and Kingfishers gave a good representation of themselves. Ther perseverance and support given to each other was fantastic and made the event so enjoyable. 

Within the rest of the week, Kingfishers worked hard to explore relationships within metric measures, explore the features of formal complaint letters, find out more about the flammable properties of materials and identify the key thinking within the Humanist movement. How did we ever fit in Sportsday as well?

This week's homework recaps further on time and can be found using the link below.

https://join.quizizz.com 855612 

Spellings for this week looked at some trickier homophones and can be found below. 

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A rather soggy lapathon

Fri 14th June

This week saw us completing our lapathon. Even though we practically had to snorkle round the track, Kingfishers powered through, with some of us achieving the highest lap totals within the school. Our school target was to complete 1500 laps. We smashed it and completed a mammoth 2004 laps in total. 

That was as well as our usual learning for the week. We had some crazy coordinate games, a formal letter text feature hunt and a journey into the history of Hanukkah. In science, we had planned to explore flammability outside, although with the weather, this was impossible and so we explored the waterproof properties of materials. Well done to everyone who managed to keep their lego man dry and warm overnight on Thursday into Friday. 

Homework explores dialogue this week and is based on a grammar lesson from earlier in the week.

 

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Anne's Angst

Fri 7th June

This week saw us begin to explore how Queen Anne changed the shape and make-up of our country. We had a debate in the roles of both rich and poor Scottish and English people, who either wanted to unite the country or not. There were some memorable performances (and accents!), but Kingfishers did begin to understand the impact that this change would have on a range of different groups.

A big thank you to the Warts 'n All Theatre Company, who helped us to recap on some very important protective behaviours training from previously. In this wonderful workshop, we explored bullying and how it affects everyone from the victim, to bystanders and beyond. We will follow this up next week, but in the meantime please chat at home about this incredibly important topic.

Literacy lessons also had a historical focus and everyone mnaged to complete their hot-write biography about King Henry VIII.These were not only rammed with oodles of very detailed facts, but also organised into well ordered paragraphs that were linked using a range of great adverbial phrases. 

Science had us discovering how to identify flammable materials. The children began to ask questions that we will investigate in the next session. 

In maths, Kingfishers delved deeply into time. They explored the relationships between units of time and were able to generalise about how to convert from one unit to another by the end of the week. 

Well done to Aella, who was our very wonderful Star of the Week. She has been head down and working hard and really deserves to be recognised as a superstar this week. 

This week's main homework requires the code 206321. Click on the address to follow the link https://quizizz.com/join/. We have had the same person at the top of the leaderboard for 2 weeks now- well done! Who will it be this week? There is an additional quiz that looks at the 2 times table and the code for this is 362713

 

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Horrible Henry and his miserable wives

Fri 24th May

 Henry the VIII has been the focus of our investigations this week and what a man he was. Apparently, he had a waistline of 54 inches at the end of his life and we investigated to find out just how many children would have been able to fit into a pair of his considerably sized hose. Our results are in the slideshaow. By the end of our studies, I think we were all feeling sorry for each of his six wives. 

Science explored changes in materials when heat was used. The children found out about reversible and irreversible changes and how to recognise them. Our gooey dough experiment was a good demonstration of an irreversible change and helped everyone to understand the changes in state and texture that might take place.

www.quizizz.com. This week's code is 204754 . There was a lot of good competition last week- keep it up Kingfishers! I have also asked many Y4 and 5 children to complete some extra times table practice. Y4 will be completing their times table check next half term and will be able to practise for this in the coming week. An online resource that can be used to support this can be found by clicking on the link. . https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477 The Y4 children had their first practice this week and many commented that the questions came up very quickly! To help with this, lots of practise at home will help the children to feel more confident and get used to the sytstem.

Well done to Josh, who was our Star of the Week. An excellent librarian, a hard worker and an all-round good chap. Thanks for making Kingfishers a fun place to learn Josh.

I hope great half terms are had by all. 

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Riotous King John and the Magna Carta

Fri 17th May 2019

This was the week where Kingfishers learned all about the tyranical rule of King John, who taxed his country almost to breaking point. It was a good example of how the power of the people was used for good to ensure that with the signing of the Magna Carta, all free men were entitled to a fair trial and that everyone, including the King, had to follow the rule of law. The poor peasants still didn't have many, if any rights and we will be exploring how this changed under the reign of selected monarchs from our colourful history. It inspired us to create our own Magna Carta that we would like to  see in place in our school.

In maths, Kingfishers have explored different ways of presenting data including pictograms, bar charts, pie charts and line graphs. We delved into the way a line graph showed changes over time and used this method to create an exercise line graph that explored how our pulse rate was affected by exercise.

In literacy, Kingfishers have almost concluded the unit on instructional writing and are poised ready to create a tricky set of instructions where they will be writing as William the Conqueror and creating a set of instructions that could be used for becoming king during the medievil period.

www.quizizz.com. This week's code is 995371. There was a lot of good competition last week- keep it up Kingfishers! I have also asked many Y4 and 5 children to complete some extra times table practice. Y4 will be completing their times table check next half term and will be able to practise for this in the coming week. An online resource that can be used to support this can be found by clicking on the link. . https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477

A big well done to Olivia, who was our Star of the Week. She's so kind, helpful and hard working that she makes a great rolemodel. 

 

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Instructions, decimals and the first king of England

Fri 10th May 2019

Considering it was a 4 day week, we have certainly packed in the learning again!

Decimal work has continued, with children now being able to choose from a range of methods when adding and subtracting decimals. 

In writing, the children have explored the genre of instructional writing in great depth and have spent some time planning their hot write. This has been a huge challenge because children have to think about the content, the layout, the vocabulary and the all important grammar features that will showcase their talent as writers. 

Science was again very practical, with childen thinking about the properties of materials and using this knowledge to separate solids and liquids. Kingfishers also delved deeper into materials which react together and therefore cannot be separated. 

The children are all making great progress with their swimming sesssions this term. Please can everyone remember their hats each week.

Well done to Ruby, who was our Star of the Week. Ruby is simply amazing in every way and we feel lucky to have her at Greens Norton. 

Kingfishers are trialling a new way of completing homework this week. There will be a choice between a written task and an online, quiz option. To do the quiz online, you will need to visit the site www.quizizz.com. There is no need to sign up, just ask to join a game and enter the game code. This is 820723 for this week's literacy task. There are 20 questions and you can complete the quiz more than once if you want to improve your score. Good luck! 

The spelling that will be tested on Monday all contain the 'ough' spelling pattern and can be found below.

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Summer term begins

Fri 3rd May 2019

Another wonderful week has passed by in Kingfishers class and as always, we have crammed in a lot of learning.

Maths saw the children diving back into the world of decimals and apply this understanding to lengths within one metre. Due to some particularly lovely sun, we were able to take this learning outside.

Our writing this half term will focus on instructional texts and this week the children spent time getting to grips with this genre, before moving on to the tricky grammatical skill of modifying noun phrases with adjective and prepositional phrases in order to make these very exact.

Science on Thursday was very practical, with everyone exploring soluble and insoluble solids within water. We will explore these mixtures further next week, but for the meantime, we eagerly anticipate who will have won the largest salt crystal growing competition we set up on Friday.

On Thursday we had a visit from an Imam, who explained the importance of Ramadan to Muslims and put a smile on every face. Thanks to Aella’s mum Cheryl for organising this.

Well done to Asa- our Star of the Week. As was mentioned in assembly, you are a ray of sunshine in our classroom.

Greens Norton's Got Talent 

Fri 5th April 2019

What a wonderful final week of the Spring Term!

Thursday saw our Easter church service take place in St Barts. Well done to all the children who got involved in this fanstatic service. It was very thought provoking.

There was no Star assembly as we were all busy demonstrating what stars we all are in our end of term talent show. It put a huge smile on all our faces as children really showed how brave they were by standing up in front of the whole school and demonstrating their passion. Our 2 musical entries were phenominal. well done to Taylor on vocals, Giorgio on vocals and guitar and Ellie on piano. Simply wow!

The spellings that went home this week looked at tricky homophones that Kingfishers have been finding tricky this term.

I hope everyone has a egg-cellent break over the Easter holidays.

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 Marvelous Muffling 

Fri 29th March 2019

We are coming to the end of our unit about sound and explored sound proofing in this week's lesson. The children designed their own experiments and carried them out to find out which of the materials we collected would be the best at absorbing sound. Brilliant group work all round. 

In literacy, we have been exploring balanced arguments and using what we have found out about plastics to plan their own text. The children recognised what an important topic this is and are beginning to recognise why plastics are still in use and why so many people have high hopes that we will be able to find an alternative to this durable, but polluting material. 

Maths saw us move onto decimals. This is a tricky concept, but the whole class are working very hard to develop a good understanding of it. This week focussed on the place value of decimals and how parts and wholes can be represented. This week's homework mirrors the activities we have done in class.

On Wednesday, we explored the idea of sacrifice in RE a little further and discussed how Christians view Christ's sacrifice during Holy Week. We acted out short darams and thought about which aspects of sacrifice were represented. The children showed a good undersatnding of how this links to 'the big story' and why Christ's sacrifice was necessary in Christians' eyes to bring people closer to God once more.

Well done to Matthew, who was our Star of the Week. Always working hard, this young man is a good role model for what is expected at Greens Norton School.

The spellings this week are attached below and explore how nouns and adjectives can be converted to verbs using the suffix -ate.

 

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Assessments and more... 

Fri 22nd March 2019

The children worked hard as they completed their assessments this week- well done all!

In addition, we have begun to explore the genre of discussion texts in literacy. The class contrasted two different texts and discussed similarities and differences between their structures. 

In science, the children have been exploring how sound waves travel through both gases and solids as they created string telephones. Great fun!

Maths saw the children move onto decimals this week and link this back to fractions. 

Well done to the very wonderful Lucy who was our Star of the Week. What amazing, kind and hard-working young lady she is.

The spellings that will be tested on Monday link to some of the common homophones that have cropped up recently in discussion with the class. 

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Seeing red by the end of the week 

Fri 15th March 2019

Another week of hard work from Kingfishers Class ending with some great fundraising on Friday for Comic Relief.

In maths this week, the children have been learning about addition and subtraction in fractions, with the Y5 children adding and subtracting fractions with different denominators. I was particularly impressed with the modelling children use to support and explain their answers. 

In litercay, we finished our recount unit with an extended write about our visit to the Buddhist retreat. After 3 weeks of pulling this genre apart and learning about its individual elements, the final recounts weren't just fact-filled, but wonderfully organised as well. 

In RE we explored symbolism in Buddhism and how it is used in Buddhist art and statues to remind Buddhists of key teachings. We focussed in on the lotus flower and how it demonstrates the path of a person on their way to enlightenment. 

In PSHE, we explored the idea of fairness and how it is different to being equal. This tricky concept is important to recognise throughout life and the children in Kingfishers Class had a really good go at defining fairness and what it might look like in sport, in school and in physical spaces such as libraries. 

Kingfishers also completed their learning about Fairtrade this week, demonstrated their understanding in a leaflet and celebrated by making some delicious lemonade. Yum!

Our 2 Stars of the Week were Leo for being so open minded to new ideas in our visit the the Nagarjuna Kadampa Retreat last week and Alice for being a dynamo of creativity. Amazing rolemodels!

The spellings that will be tested on Monday use the 'OU' spelling pattern, with Y5s also including the idea of using syllables when spelling words.

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Books and Buddhism 

Fri 8th March 2019

What an exciting week!

World Book Day was another huge sucess as Kingfishers explored the different precepts from the book, 'Wonder'. It was wonderful to join in with some buddy reading, where different classes mixed together to share their favourite books.

On Friday, Kingfishers visited the Nagar Kadampar Centre for Modern Buddhism. Everyone learned a huge amount from our guide, Pet, who told us about meditation and how Buddhists worship. Hopefully, the children had a lot to share on their return.

 

Fri 1st March 2019

It's been a busy week, even though it was 4 days rather than 5.

In literacy, Kingfishers have explored the text and grammar features of a recount and have identified how time adverbials help to guide a reader through the text. Lists are also very useful in this genre to avoid repetition. Next week, we will be exploring these further as we build towards writing our recount of our coming visit to the Buddhist retreat on Friday 8th March. If there are any parents, grandparents or carers, who are able to support during out trip to the Buddhist retreat, please let the school know.

Fractions continue to be the focus in maths. This week, Y4 have explored equivalent fractions and this skill has been used to help compare and contrast fractions. Y5 have also moved on to finding the lowest common denominator and using this to order a group of fractions.

In science, pupils explored pitch and began to make some good generalisations about how to alter pitch and the difference between this and amplitude.

Well don to Oliver, who was our Star of the Week. You really are a ray of sunshine!

The spellings that will be tested this week bring together the 4 spelling patterns the children have been learning about in the last lists. -sion -ssion -cian and -tion.

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Happy Half Term! 

Fri 15th February 2019

During this week, the hardworking Kingfishers have completed the unit on metaphorical poetry, with some fantastic explorations of colour. We also used this to help develop understanding of colour theory by creating abstract colour pastel pieces.

In maths, we continued our journey into fractions by exploring how to find fractions of a number. This will continue after half term as well.

Patrick, a true role model in Kingfishers, was our Star of the Week for our final week of Spring 1.

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Metaphors, maths and more! 

Fri 8th February 2019

It has been another full week for the wonderful Kingfishers.

The children have excelled themselves in writing, creating some amazing metaphors for the colour black and then linking these to create a poem. As the children shared these on Friday, the adults were left simply stunned by the vivid and imaginative descriptions. We have also explored the world of colour in art this week, with all children creating colour wheels to explore primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

In maths, the journey into fractions has continued as Kingfisher Class explored equivalent fractions. By using a range of equipment, jottings and looking for number patterns, the children have been able to prove or disprove equivalences in a variety of ways.

Wednesday was a real highlight for us all as we had a visit from a very inspiring man called Alistair Patrick-Heselton, who represented team GB in the 2012 Paralympics. He left us with many powerful thoughts to reflect on and ponder. Talking with Kingfishers Class afterwards, they picked key messages that they would take away including, 'always believe', 'no matter what life throws at you, you have to get up again' and 'do something that makes you happy'.

A special mention to our Star of the Week, Panos. He is a true role model in our school, a true friend and a deep, reflective thinker.

Below are the spellings that will be tested 11.2.19.

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A wonderful, white end to our week

Fri 1st February 2019 

Well, Friday felt like a reward for all our hard work this week, with children from all classes being able to go out and enjoy some fun in the snow. Epic snowmen (and snowpigs!) Kingfishers :-)

 This week, we have ploughed (sorry, there will be many snow puns this week) our way through Area, with Y4 children mastering how to apply an understanding of arrays to working out the area of rectangles and Y5 working out the areas of composite rectilinear shapes.

 In literacy, no one drifted off-track and everyone completed a narrative. The expectations were high as we had explored some tricky grammar features including, relative clauses, using conjunctions at different parts of a sentence and speech. Kingfishers created some wonderful characters in these pieces, but by far the best were the dark and mysterious Ravens. These evil characters’ hearts melted during the resolution of the stories and were very well explained.

 In science, Kingfisher class learned about parts of the ear and how sound waves are turned from vibrations into electrical signals that are interpreted by the brain. The children drew some very detailed diagrams to support their explanations- icely done Kingfishers.

 We were a blizzard of conversation during PSHE, with no flaky answers as we explored how belief guides the lives of many. We are beginning to understand how our own believes shape the decisions we make and will next move onto expressing emotions in art.

 There was a flurry of excitement because this week’s Star of the Week was Lilia. This young lady sparkles every day due to her hard work, perseverance and kindness.

Thank you to the many Kingfishers who helped to come up with the puns this week.

This week’s spellings can be found below.

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Meeting an Olympian

Fri 25th January 2019

As wonderful as most Mondays are, this one really took the biscuit. We were visited by Gail Emms, who won Silver in the 2004 Athens Olympics for badminton doubles. It was inspiring to hear first hand, how much drive and passion is needed to push yourself to be one of the best in the world in your chosen field. She gave us some great things to reflect on, such as that to get to the top, you will lose more times than you win. She also asked us to question ourselves at the end of each day saying, "Have I been the best me I can be?" It was a wonderful example of how the power of self belief can overcome so many obstacles.

Friday saw the result of some hard work and determination from one of our very own Kingfishers. Lilia decided that she wanted to raise money for a cause very close to her heart, Birmingham Children's Hospital. Earlier in the month, supported by friends, she had held an assembly to explain her plan and the wonderful children of Greens Norton jumped on board raising over £200 for this hardworking charity.

Another shining star this week, is Emily. Emily was chosen as Star of the Week due to her quiet determination when working in class and being a role model for how to treat people with respect. 

The spellings that are being tested on Monday can be found below. Y4 'ch' words and Y5 'ency/ancy' including their root words.

 

 

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A wonderful week

Fri 18th January 2019

In literacy this week, Kingfishers have continued to explore the idea of characterisation by writing a diary entry from a different viewpoint. It's quite enlightening to explore a series of events from a 'baddies' viewpoint and the final pieces explored character motivations very well.

In maths, we continued to explore multiplication and in Y4, moved onto division. The children are feeling much more confident about the written methods and have linked these to the previous learning about using an area method for larger multiplication calculations. Great effort!

In topic, Kingfishers have been learning about the main religions of the world and basic facts about them. The children then compared and contrasted this with atheism and being agnostic and used these term to begin to define their own beliefs.

Our Star of the Week was Taylor this week. This hardworking, young lady has really pushed herself this week and it was wonderful to share this with the rest of the school.

The spelling test on Monday 21st will be on 'ch' words (pronounced k).

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A Stunning Start To 2019!

Fri 11th January 2019

Kingfishers made an excellent start to the school year on Monday when they explored how they might express their interests and hobbies through what they wear. We also experienced goalball, and began to explore how sport can be adapted so that it is inclusive for all. Back in the classroom, we explored how this idea of inclusivity is so important in life if we want to live in a fair and happy society. We have challenged ourselves to set personal targets that we will review throughout the term. Good luck everybody!

In literacy, we have begun a narrative unit and have looked at how to create detailed and entertaining characters in our description. By using carefully planned expanded noun phrases and experimenting with conjunctions, Kingfishers created some wonderful descriptions, which will be used in the next weeks to write an alternative ending to a text.

Multiplication representations have been the focus in numeracy and the children are busy perfecting various written methods. It has become clear, just how important knowing the times tables is and there are many children who have renewed their determination in learning them. This week's homework explores some of the methods we have looked at.

Good vibrations filled the classroom during our science lesson, because Kingfisher's science topic this term is sound. We completed some simple experiments to explore how sounds are made of vibrations. We began a sound survey to explore which are the quietest and noisiest areas of the school at different times of day.

Well done to Eli, who was our Star of the Week. He is such an amazing role model in the classroom, but I wanted to celebrate his hard work in maths in particular. Well done Eli.

The spelling test on Monday will look at suffixes for both Y4  (ous) and Y5 tious/cious).

 

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Fri 14th December 2018

This week began with an RE day where we began to explore the nature of Jesus in relation to the Trinity. We used drama, bible study and discussion to explore our own ideas about whether Jesus was a son of man or a son of God. This was a wonderful day, full of deep thinking that ended with some wonderful modern art nativity scenes.

Kingfishers also worked hard to complete the newspaper unit that we have been working on. All the class tried hard to find a balance between factual and evocative language that would make a reader want to buy their newspaper. The children also had to weave in the grammar features we had been learning about including fronted adverbials, exciting expanded noun phrases and relative clauses for the Y5s. Amazing job Kingfishers.

Christmas dinner went down well on Friday, Thank you to Di and her team for making this such a highlight of our week.

Our Star of the Week is Ruby- superstar- Dodd. This really could be your middle name Ruby!

There won't be a spelling test this week as we have our carol concert at 9.20 at St Bartholomew's. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

A big thank you to all the families who have brought in wire coat hangers. We currently have 16, so are well on our way to making sure there are enough for our dream catcher project next week.   

A Marvellous Middle! 

Fri 30th November 2018

We started the week with an adventure into a text we are currently sharing.

The whole of KS2 immersed themselves in the world of Michael Morpurgo's novel Kensuke's Kingdom on Monday. We completed a range of activities including recreating Kensuke's island in pastels using the setting description from the novel. We then used our co-ordinate skills to plot and locate  some of the geographical features of the island. Some of us were even plotting in four quadrants using negative numbers! We also completed a message in a bottle to help Michael get rescued from the island. We decided that our letter would have been more successful than the one in the book, as we used physical geography clues to help passing ships recognise our island. Finally, under the careful watch outside, we learned how to build and light a fire. We found out that a great deal of perseverance was needed! However, we all succeeded! We even managed to display some of our work in the hall.

In literacy, we have been looking at newspaper reports and linking this to our grammar work where we have been punctuating direct speech. By the end of the week, everyone had cracked writing a quote that could be included in a newspaper recount.

In maths, we immersed ourselves in perimeter and have been using different methods to explore the perimeters of various rectangles and rectilinear shapes. To deepen this understanding, we will be stepping out of the classroom next week to explore perimeter in the real world.

A special well done to Tia, our Star of the Week. She has such a bubbly and enthusiastic approach to her learning that all those around her are caught up and brought along.

On Monday, we will be testing spellings that include silent letters.

 Friday saw us develop our coding skills and everyone has applied their knowledge of using the program Scratch to create a short quiz about an area of America that we have previously researched. There was lots of testing and debugging and again, Kingfishers impressed with their levels of perseverance and enthusiasm.

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Lots of learning!

Friday 23rd November 2019

On Monday, all classes had the opportunity to show what they had learned about in anti-bullying week.

In literacy, we have come to the end of our formal persuasive letter writing. Kingfishers applied the persuasive language features well as they chose who to write to and what viewpoint they were going to take in their letters.

In maths, we have continued to explore multiplication and division by applying written methods to problem solving. Y4s have looked at whether a written or mental method would be more useful and Y5s have begun to explore how to interpret remainders in division problems. We will continue with this next week.

In science, Kingfishers have been working practically to explore how to use reflective surfaces to change the direction of light. Some children even got as far as applying this knowledge to designing a periscope.

We have linked our geography and computing knowledge this week and have begun to think about how to write code to create an interactive quiz. We have learned the basics and are raring to continue with this next week.

Well done to Lily who was our well-deserved Star of the Week. Thank you for your kindness and hard work Lily- you are such an asset to Kingfishers Class.

Spellings will be tested on Tuesday of this week as we are having our Kensuke's Kingdom Marvellous Middle on Monday 26th November.

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A spotacular end to the week

Friday 16th November 2019

What a busy Friday! We really did seem to have spots (and stripes!) before our eyes as we raised money for Children In Need this year. Thank you to all the children (and very helpful grown-ups) who took the time to bake, buy and donate to this very worthy cause.

In literacy, Kingfishers have been exploring the structure of paragraphs, using an introductory sentence that is then backed up by several persuasive points. This will be used next week to plan and write our own persuasive letter.

Maths saw Kingfishers exploring patterns within times tables. It is clear that many of the children are working hard on their times tables, improving their recall and understanding the inverse. Keep practising please!

Another important element of this week has been anti-bullying. We had many conversations about what bullying is and the many different forms it can take. We created comic strips to explore how an example of bullying could be dealt with and how victims can be supported by both adults and children. Our central theme was, 'The Power of Good' which explored how having a positive approach to other's differences and meeting negativity with positivity, can make everyone feel safe. We each decided on 5 key action points that could be done every day that would make our school a happier, more accepting and positive place to be. We will return to these later in the term and reflect on how we are doing at making sure these actions are happening.

 

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 Sprinting forward

Friday 9th November 2019

There was an actual cheer from Kingfishers when the running track opened earlier this week. We have made the most of it , building our stamina and using the short bursts to energise our bodies and minds. By the end of the week, some very fit Kingfishers were running a mile.

In literacy, we are learning about the text and language structures of formal, persuasive letters. Kingfishers are clear on the placement of addresses, greetings and sign-offs and are now moving on to thinking in more depth about how to use powerful verbs, adjectives and nouns to change a person's thinking.

We have continued with multiplication this week, with many children earning the next award in this week's assembly. Practise really does pay off!

In science, Kingfishers explored reflective surfaces and came to understand that all surfaces reflect some light, otherwise we would not be able to see them. Some surfaces are more reflective than others and the children have been looking for similarities between surfaces that do and don't reflect.

Our exploration of the globe continued and the children in Kingfishers have begun researching a state in America. This will help us to explore similarities and differences between parts of America.

It was wonderful to speak to so many parents this week during the parent consultations. Thank you to all who made the time to come and see me.

 

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A busy first week

Friday 2nd November 2018

It has been an busy week for Kingfishers.

In literacy we have been developing out understanding of descriptive writing- using powerful verbs and adjectives alongside similes and metaphors to create a setting description which really immerses the reader in the place being described. From our first draft, Kingfishers really took ownership of the editing process and supported each other well to improve the language and grammar of each piece.

In maths, we explored patterns and methods for learning the 3, 4, 8, 6 and 9 times tables. It is so important to develop quick recall of these facts in order to be mathematically fluent in later years.

In topic, Kingfishers landed in America and learned how it was divided into States. There is a really helpful (if a bit silly) song that places the States throughout the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxHGiLYEaV8

 

In PSHE, Kingfishers began preparing for a special event that is coming up. We learned why so many people wear poppies at this time of year and began making our own preparations by creating poppies and writing poems to explore this.

 

 

 

Autumn 1 Half Term- POW!

Friday 19th October 2018

What a half term! The children in Kingfishers have worked incredibly hard and I am proud of each and every one of them. With some very lyrical similes and metaphors in our narrative settings, some impressive sessions in maths to develop our maths toolbox and the start of a very exciting project that will show us showcase our understanding of light and materials, this final week has been packed with learning.

Over the half term, I have asked Kingfishers class to spend some time learning the times table group that they are learning and have included some links below to help support with this.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables

http://www.maths-games.org/times-tables-games.html

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Singing, stories and seeing

Friday 5th October 2018

During this week, we were introduced to Curly Clare from Pop UK, who has taught us some really wonderful songs. We have been practising hard and cannot wait until our concert day next Wednesday.

This week saw Kingfishers really immersing themselves in the class text. Michael, from Kensuke's Kingdom, finds himself overboard and alone. Y4 thought about what might happen if he were to find land and create a shelter. The children thought about making sure he was safe from the elements, wild animals and that he had food and water stores to see him through a few days. What an amazingly creative bunch! The Y5 children took part in a very important and thought provoking workshop hosted by the NSPCC and explored how they keep themselves safe and what tools they have at their disposal when they inevitably come across challenges in their lives.

Somehow, we also managed to complete writing at length, investigations into place value and deepening our understanding of how we see (including some nifty optical illusions to trick the brain!). What a packed week!

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Week three

Friday 21st September 2018

I have been truly impressed by Kingfishers this week and will go home with a huge smile on my face due to the kindness, hard work and enthusiasm of the children.

We have dived into Kensuke's Kingdom and have had a debate about whether or not the family should sail around the world. The children elaborated points well and challenged each others' ideas respectfully.

Our literacy work delved deeper into how to structure paragraphs in a non-chronological report and by the end of the week, all children had designed their own town and used this to create a plan for their own writing.

In maths, Kingfishers learned more about  place value and how partitioning can be used to explore numbers in more detail.

Our geography work explored rivers around the UK and the children used atlases to locate major rivers. In RE, we began to learn about Sikhism and asked sensible questions that we will be exploring in the coming weeks.

Our Star of the week was April. What a super star she is, always pushing herself in lessons and going above and beyond to help the class understand more about the RSPCA's compassionate class project.

Josh A was spotted going above as well. Whilst playing football, he noticed a younger child who looked sad and alone. He left his own fun behind to make sure the other person was okay.

As requested, here are this week's spellings.

Y4: hyena, pyramid, hyphen, hydrogen, pyramid, typhoon, hygiene, tyrant, dynamic, analyse, hygienic

Y5: official, artificial, special, artificially, confidential, essential, partial, circumstantial, torrential and influential

 

A Stunning start to a new year

Friday 7th September 2018

This week saw the return of the fantastic Kingfishers to Greens Norton School. Along with many familiar faces, we have made new friends and spent some time getting to know each other.

Our topic this term is 'Earth Explorers' and Kingfishers have been developing essential map-work skills this week alongside  perspective drawings, basketball tasters, collage creations and online safety. What a packed week! In all honesty, it is a good job there are a full 5 days next week.

Singing our hearts out

Friday 12th October 2018

What a busy week!

With our amazing Pop UK concerts on Tuesday and Bikeability for Y5 children, it is a wonder that we managed to fit in anything else.

We are well into thinking about settings descriptions and have been playing around with similes and metaphors in order to create vivid pictures in the reader's mind.

In maths the children have been working on their strategies for solving addition and subtraction problems. They did so well, that today they were able to apply these skills in an 'Around then World Travel' game.

We discovered how Sikh children are welcomed to the Sikh community and shared some wonderful stories of how we got our names.

The discussions became quite heated as we thought about our compassionate class project. We began to explore whether using animals to help us is always the right thing to do. I was so proud of the children who were so accepting of other people's opinions.

Well done to Edward, who because he is such a star, was our Star of the Week. You are an amazing role model for what a great learner looks like Edward.

Sunday is our church service and I am looking forward to seeing you lots of you there.

 

Feeling thankful

Friday 28th September 2018

So much learning has been packed in again this week, as well as a lovely shared Harvest celebration.

Kingfishers have been learning about negative numbers this week and how to solve problems that cross zero. The homework this week will help the children to consolidate this knowledge.

The non chronological reports are almost finished with everyone trying hard to include factual expanded noun phrases, adverbial phrases (excellent homeworks this week by the way) and a range of conjunctions. This is not easy when alongside, the children are trying hard to consolidate kinetic letters and making sure that their writing is entertaining to read. Great job Kingfishers.

We learned about the human eye in science and thoroughly enjoyed looking at the range of iris colours, as well as how the pupil expands and contracts in different lighting conditions.

Thank you to all the children  (and families) for the generosity shown at the Harvest festival today. The messages we heard from the different classes, about thankfulness and fairness, were so important and the donations will no doubt make a difference to families in our area.

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Finding our way through our second week

Friday 14th September 2018

This week saw Kingfishers class developing their geography skills by using compass directions to describe where places were, relative to somewhere else. We had a great outdoor session, where we directed our partners using compass directions.

Maths continued to focus on number and the numbers system. We finished the week by looking at an alternative number system- Roman Numerals. This week's homework task also links to how to write and read numbers using a system where the place value system is different to our own. There are sheets to help support this learning in Kingfisher's classroom.

In our writing sessions, we deconstructed a non-chronological report in order to understand the features of this type of writing and began to explore some of the language we might use to describe places.

Well done to Ellie, who was our Star of the Week for being an all round superstar. What a fantastic role model you are!

Lilia was also noticed this week for going above and beyond when helping a younger child who had been hurt.