"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."

Ravens 2021-22

Mrs Brickwood, Mrs Wright and Mrs Barnett

Thursday 21st July 2022

And that's a wrap!

Well done Ravens for a fantastic final week of learning.  It may have been the end of term, but the children were still working hard this week, completing maths lessons and writing the final version of their explanation text.  I was blown away by the quality of the writing and they have really shown how far they have come this year.  

We also opened our time capsules on Monday.  The children completed these on transition day last year and it was fascinating to see whether they had achieved their goals for the year and to see how much they had grown!  However, one or two of the children appear to have shrunk according to the string in the envelopes!

We've had a wonderful last day together with the whole of team Ravens, including Mrs Barnett and Mrs Wright, playing rounders, eating ice lollies and then we enjoyed a film and popcorn this afternoon.  The children have worked so hard all year; they thoroughly deserved their end of term treat!

I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you for your lovely gifts and very thoughtful words in the cards you have given me.  It has been a very busy year for us all and I honestly could not have asked for a better class to begin life as a 'proper' teacher!  I have now read all of the entries into the book you made me and I'm so pleased that you seem to have enjoyed our year together!  It has been an absolute privilege to be part of your learning journey and you can always be proud of being the first ever Ravens class at Greens Norton school! 

I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September as year 6 pupils!

 

Friday 15th July 2022

Wow, another Friday already and the last one of the school year!  

The Ravens have been very busy this week with maths and literacy.  The plans for their explanation texts are coming on nicely and they have impressed me with their ability to include many of the grammar features they have been taught this year.  I have high hopes for some excellent writing, even if we are starting to feel a little tired!

In maths, the children have been learning about translation and reflection.  They have done well to understand the similarities and differences between them and they have been able to reason and problem solve too.

In RE, I was impressed with their end of unit assessment and their deep thinking about how theists, atheists and agnostics behave according to their beliefs.

The children have completed their book covers in DT and they look fantastic.  The children were also able to evaluate the process and think about what went well and what they would change to make it even better next time.

Enjoy your weekends everyone and try to stay cool!

Friday 8th July 2022

Another busy week in Ravens full of learning and sport!  The children thoroughly enjoyed sports day on Tuesday and they showed lots of determination and team spirit.  There was lots of encouragement from team members and parents, which spurred everyone on.  Everyone was very tired in the afternoon!

In literacy, the children have been learning the grammar skills they will need to write their explanation texts.  We have tackled colons and the passive voice.  Next week, the children will be innovating a model text and applying the grammar skills they have learnt.

In maths, we are almost at the end of our unit on decimals and we will be moving onto translating shapes for the last few weeks of the term.

In DT this week, the children have had lots of fun sewing their designs for their book cover.  The children are now experts at threading needles!  

Finally, in French this week, we have written one last letter to our French pen pals.  The children have written sentences about members of their family and what they like and don't like to show the French children what we have been learning.  

Have a lovely sunny weekend and I hope to see lots of you at the fete on Sunday!

Name
 Week 4.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 1st July 2022

Another great week in Ravens, which started with an online safety day hosted by Cherwell Theatre Company.  The children watched a film that depicted three characters who had found themselves in trouble online.  In the afternoon, the actors hosted an online workshop to explore the different situations in more detail.  The children took part in parliamentary debates and drama activities, which they enjoyed.  The feedback from the children was very positive and they all learnt something new about staying safe online, which is fantastic.  

In literacy, we have started learning about explanation texts by finding the structural and grammar features of the genre.  The children have learnt their first grammar skill today; semi-colons!  There homework is further practise of this new skill, which I look forward to seeing in their writing.

In maths, we have been adding and subtracting decimal numbers and tackling increasingly challenging problems and reasoning questions.  Once again, I am so impressed with the resilience and perseverance of the children, as they take on these challenges with determination.

The children have been learning about recognising and dealing with different emotions in PSHE as part of our 'growing and changing' unit of work.  They have shown real maturity today, thinking about trusted adults and we used games to explore what we would do if someone made us feel unsafe or uncomfortable.  

In RE, we have been exploring what has the biggest impact on a person's beliefs.  The children looked at statements to identify whether they would be said by a theist, atheist or agnostic and then ranked them to say which they felt had the largest impact and why.  The responses were very thoughtful and clearly explained, showing the children had thought deeply about their learning.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Name
 Week 3.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 24th June 2022

Well done Ravens for making it through to the end of assessment week!  The children have worked hard both in the assessments and in their lessons and have created some wonderful pieces of work.

In literacy, I was blown away with the quality of the final diary entries.  The children have worked so hard planning and making sure they had included the grammar features and correct structure.  They also created the right tone and mood to engage the reader, which was fantastic.  

In maths, the children have continued on their decimals journey and have been ordering and comparing them as well as adding and subtracting them.  They have achieved a lot in maths in one week and have kept their focus and enjoyed lots of success.

Yesterday, we had a visit from my university tutor, who came to observe me one last time.  The children have got so used to people coming and watching our lessons now that they barely batted an eyelid!  They all did themselves proud, showing what eager learners they are and I was very proud of them all. I was also impressed with the quality of the work they produced in the lesson.  We were learning about Viking beliefs and the children had to go on a fact hunt around the classroom to find out all about the gods and goddesses.  We learnt that Vikings were polytheists and the children did an excellent job of using their RE knowledge to work out what that meant! We were all fascinated by the different gods and what they were responsible for.  I think we were all surprised that there was a god of poetry!  They produced some excellent fact files and thought carefully about how to present the information so that it was cohesive for the reader.

There was much excitement earlier in the week when the new trim trail was opened.  Ravens enjoyed being the first children to test it out and it was a huge success, as you will see from the photos!  We are very lucky to have such a great piece of equipment that we can all use at break times and lunchtimes.

Finally, as the children have worked so hard in assessment week, I have decided that there is no homework, other than reading 5 times and recording it in their reading records and practising their spellings.

Have a great weekend everybody and see you for another exciting week of learning next week.

Name
 Week 2.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 17th June 2022

Bonjour!  Today was fun French Friday and the children have been learning to talk about different members of a family.  They watched a video of a French family talking about who everyone was and then worked together to name the cousins, aunts, grandparents and so on.  They then translated some French sentences to work out who they were talking about.  They did brilliantly and I was impressed with their ability to translate the French into English.  

The children have finished planning their diary entry and they are all of an excellent standard.  I'm really looking forward to reading their final versions, which they will complete next week.

In maths, the children have been rounding decimals to the nearest whole number, tenth and hundredth.  They have then moved onto ordering and comparing decimals.  Next, we will be looking at percentages and comparing fractions, decimals and percentages.  With Mrs Barnett, the children have been exploring angles, reviewing what they are called and how to recognise them.

The children have enjoyed DT this week with Mrs Musson and have been practising their sewing skills ready to make their material book covers.  

In music, we are reflecting on what we have learnt throughout the year and practising our appraising skills.  We had a great time listening and dancing to Chuck Berry!

Have a great weekend and I hope you all enjoy whatever sun we may have!

 

Friday 10th June 2022

Well here we are at the end of another week already!  It’s been a busy one again in Ravens and the children have worked hard in many different subjects. 

In literacy, we have continued to practise the skills needed to write an effective diary entry.  We are now at the planning stage and I’m enjoying listening to the children’s ideas about what should be included and how to make their writing exciting.  We are imagining we’re the main character – Magnus – from our class novel and we are about to go into battle!  This has led to some very good descriptions about how we would be feeling in that situation.

In RE, we have started a new unit of work about why some people believe in God and others do not.  I was very impressed with the debate the children had about statements different people might make depending on whether they were atheist, theist or agnostic.  There were some very thoughtful discussions and all the children showed respect for other people’s views, which was lovely to hear.

In maths, we are now studying decimals and will soon be looking at percentages too.  The children have shown that they have retained lots of the learning from last year, which has meant that they have all made good progress through the unit so far.

The Vikings are invading!  We start our new history topic this term, which continues from the Smashing Saxons topic.  Now we will be learning about Viking raids and invasions and what happened in Hastings in 1066.  I was delighted with the amazing creations the children produced for their homework and I will make sure that as many as possible are put on display.

In French the children are learning how to talk about and describe the members of their family.  They started by learning how to say whether they have brothers or sisters.  They played a matching pairs game and used the French dictionaries to help them write sentences in French.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Name
 Week 1.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 27th May 2022

Wow, what an exciting end to the first half of the summer term!  Ravens have been very busy this week and have shown great determination to complete their work to a very high standard. 

The children have been learning about the Anglo-Saxon’s beliefs and how they converted from Paganism to Christianity.  They produced some excellent information texts to showcase everything they learnt. 

They have also completed their RE assessment for their pilgrimage unit of work.  They wrote some very thoughtful diary entries to show what happens on a pilgrimage and how people would feel on a pilgrimage.  It was lovely to see how much they had learnt throughout the unit.

In art, the children have been creating reliefs ready to do some printing.  This is following on from their fantastic mosaic self-portraits.  Mrs Musson was very impressed with their hard work and said that the children had made great progress throughout the lesson.

On Tuesday, we all enjoyed a fantastic day out on the PDET maths enrichment day.  I was so proud of all the children for their teamwork and their ability to work with pupils from other schools.  Teachers from other schools commented on how friendly and inclusive the children were, which was lovely to hear.  They enjoyed taking part in several problem solving activities.  I think the favourite was the escape room/box!  They had to solve series of problems to find codes to the padlocks and had to beat the other teams to stop the clock.  Several Ravens enjoyed success in being part of the teams that came first and second.  The problems were very challenging and the level of perseverance and resiliance was brilliant.  I didn’t see anyone give up!

Finally, we have all enjoyed a wonderful day today celebrating the queen’s jubilee.  We have made crowns, enjoyed a ‘street’ party on the field and have created some great designs to upcycle old clothes and junk, all with a red, white and blue theme.  We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Kestrels dancing around the maypole too.  The weather was kind to us, so we could celebrate in the sunshine.

Ravens, you’ve all worked so hard, I think you’ve earned your half term holiday!  Have a wonderful week off and I’ll see you all soon for the last half term of year 5!

Name
 Week 6.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 20th May 2022

This week the Ravens have worked very hard in every subject and it has been wonderful to see their perseverance when tackling their hot writes and some very tricky maths!

In literacy, we have finished our character descriptions and they are brilliant!  I have been particularly impressed to see the children becoming more confident in using grammatical features and figurative language.  They really captured the sinister nature of the ominous beings in the short film we used for inspiration.  Some children challenged themselves further by describing another character in the short film, who was quite different to the person in our model text, so they had to think of a whole range of other adjectives to capture their characteristics.  I’m very proud of all of you for producing some really great writing.

In maths, we are finally at the end of our fractions journey.  There is a lot to learn about fractions in year 5 and the children have shown great resilience when tackling some difficult concepts.  Onto decimals next!

In history, the children continue to learn about life in the Anglo-Saxon period and this week we had some very interesting discussions about equality (or lack of it!) for women and slaves.  The children seemed genuinely surprised at how unfair life was for certain groups of people!

In music, the children created some lovely word clouds whilst listening to a piece of music.  They included feelings that the music evoked, as well as naming some instruments they could hear.  They also included some of the lyrics.

In art, the children have created their mosaic self-portrait.  They were excellent and some children were so pleased with the result, they came to find me at break time to show what they had learned with Mrs Musson!  They will definitely be up on display soon!

Finally, NMPAT came and performed for the school on Tuesday.  They gave us a fantastic pop concert and the children appeared to thoroughly enjoy it.  We went back to class and did a performance of our own using body percussion!  It was great fun!

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday ready for the last week before a well earned rest!

Name
 Week 6.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 13th May 2022

 

This week the Ravens joined a live online session with Karen Daper, who was the most senior black female police officer before retiring recently.  She has over 30 years experience of policing and has held many different ranks during that time.  The children thought of some fantastic questions they wanted to ask her and some of them were even answered during the session.  She was fascinating to listen to and very engaging.

In literacy, the children have finished planning their character descriptions and I am so impressed with the quality of their work.  Not only have they remembered to include the grammar features and figurative language they have learnt during this unit of work, but they have also used many of the features they have been taught throughout the year.  This shows great determination to be there best and has made their writing really exciting to read.

In maths, we continue on our journey with fractions and although the work is challenging, all the children are showing perseverance and resilience when tackling even the toughest problems! 

In RE, the children have been very thoughtful when considering how people of different faiths might feel when on a pilgrimage.  This week they were listening to people discuss how pilgrimage had changed their lives.

In history, the children have been learning about why the Angles and the Saxons came to Britain.  They had their own ideas and used these to form and ask historical questions.

In PSHE we are looking at how to be the best we can be and today we discussed healthy and unhealthy habits.  We found our resting heart rate and talked about how important it is to stay active to keep our bodies healthy.  We also explored how physical activity is good for our mental health.  We then went outside and played some games to get our heart rate up and to see how playing can help make us happy and healthy.

Well done on another great week of learning.  Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Name
 Week 4.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Ravens 2021-22

Mrs Brickwood, Mrs Barnett and Mrs Wright

Friday 6th May 2022

I was very impressed with the wonderful and creative homework the children produced during the Easter holidays.  We have now started to display some of the work on our Anglo-Saxon display board.  These pieces of work will be changed occasionally, so that everyone will see their work on display.  We learnt some key dates from the Anglo-Saxon era this week and have created timelines to show how much time passed between each event.  Our class novel also links nicely with our history and it is interesting to pick out events or people in the novel that we have learnt about in our history lesson!

In French this week, the children have been learning about the different endings for irregular verbs.  They have made a 'verb wheel' to help them practise the verbs and the correct endings.  These will be a very useful tool to use in the next few lessons.

Swimming went well again this week and Mrs Barnett was impressed with the enthusiasm and determination of all the children.  

We are nearly at the end of our fractions unit and have now moved onto adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  The children have done really well learning fractions and there is a lot to remember, but they have become experts in spotting patterns and this has helped enormously.

We have finished our literacy skills lessons and next week, the children will complete their hot write of a character description.  They have been impressing me with their knowledge of figurative language and I'm looking forward to seeing what they write next week!

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and I look forward to another great week of learning next week.

 

Name
 Week 4.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 22nd April 2022

Wow, what a busy and fantastic start to the summer term in Ravens class. We have all enjoyed the lovely sunshine, which has meant breaktimes and lunchtimes on the field.  The children have impressed me with their cold writes of a character description in literacy and I’m looking forward to seeing how they develop their skills throughout the unit in order to write an even better character description at the end of the unit.

I was also impressed this week at how much the children remembered about fractions!  We continued our learning journey by comparing and ordering fractions less than 1, before moving onto comparing and ordering fractions greater than 1.

In reading, the children have been looking at images and inferring meaning from them.  They have been writing what they see, what they think and what they wonder about the pictures.  They will then move onto applying the same skills to pieces of text from our exciting new class novel ‘Saxon-Boy.’  This is a fantastic novel and is full of adventure.  I’m sure the children are really going to enjoy listening to it being read aloud everyday, as well as studying it more closely in our reading lessons.

Finally, the children have enjoyed their first swimming lesson.  Mrs Barnett reported that the children were very well behaved and listened well to the instructions.  I hope they are all looking forward to more time in the water over the next few months!

Well done for a great first week back Ravens.  Enjoy your weekend and I’ll see you for more exciting learning next week.

 

Name
 Week 1.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 1st April 2022

Wow Ravens, what a busy final week of term!

The children have worked hard all week in every subject and I’m very proud of them.  They have completed their newspaper articles and I’m so impressed with the standard.  They have included lots of wonderful vocabulary and remembered to use grammar features that they have been taught throughout the year and not just the ones they have learnt for this unit of writing.  This has made their writing very effective and they have thought carefully about the effect of their writing on the reader. 

In maths, all the children have tackled some very tricky questions when sequencing and comparing fractions and again, I’m so impressed with their hard work and perseverance.  They have all seen some success this week in maths, whatever stage they were at.

We have finished our geography work all about London and the children have enjoyed using digimaps on the iPads to see how the land in London is used in different ways and to see how London has changed over time.  The children were fascinated to see how much London has grown and to find out that it was a Roman city.

On Thursday, the children sang their hearts out in church and thoroughly enjoyed our Easter service.  Well done to the children who read the poem so beautifully too.

The children have also designed and made pneumatic toys this week.  They learnt how pneumatics work using pressurised air and looked at different everyday uses for pneumatics, before creating some very exciting toys with moving parts!

The children also had their final session with the Saints rugby coaches this week.  They have thoroughly enjoyed the chance to be taught by the experts and the coaches have commented on how well they have learnt all the skills of playing tag rugby.

Ravens, you have had a wonderful half term and it has been so lovely to be back teaching you all.  I can’t believe we’ve only got one more full term until the summer holidays!

Have a fun and restful Easter holiday and I look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks, ready for some more great learning!

Friday 25th March 2022

We came into school on Monday to find that there was warning tape on our door!  It seemed the alien invasion has reached our classroom!  There was a message from the Martians on the white board and some sort of red weed draped around the display boards.  There were also newspapers strewn around the room!  We were all very confused!  However, it hasn't stopped us cracking on with the newspaper reports and it might give us something extra to write about!

The children have enjoyed bikeability this week and have all done really well.  I had the pleasure of popping out to see them one afternoon and I was impressed with how sensibly they were cycling and how well they were listening to the instructors.

On Thursday, Mrs Barnett made the most of the lovely weather and took the children outside for science.  They used chalk to create food chains.  They labelled the apex predator, primary consumer and secondary consumer and colour coded them.  They welcomed the chance to learn in a different way and Mrs Barnett was impressed with how they showed their understanding.

We have continued to learn about the different regions of the UK, describing where they are using geographical terms and in RE, we have had some very thoughtful conversations about the sacrifice Jesus made in order to save mankind.

It has been a very busy week and I think we're all starting to feel a little tired.  Have a good rest this weekend Ravens and then one last week of great learning before a well-deserved Easter break.

Friday 18th March 2022

Another great week of learning in Ravens class, made even better today by having the sun shine down on us during our rugby session with the Saints!  The children always look forward to this part of the week and I heard several of them today saying how much fun it was.

In literacy, we have started to box up our model text, ready to start planning our own newspaper article next week.  The children now have a wealth of grammatical features they can use in their final piece and we have been planning where to use them in their article.

Our fractions journey continues in maths and the children have started to find equivalent fractions and answer more reasoning and problem solving questions to deepen their learning.

In our ‘dancing through the ages’ unit in PE, the children learnt some rock and roll moves and had a go at dancing to the Jive Bunny Megamix!  It was challenging, as the music is quite fast.  We slowed it down so that we could concentrate on the steps, but some children persuaded me to put it on full speed towards the end of the lesson and we tried to keep up (with varying results!)

In music, we continue learning about old school hip hop and this week, we listened to The Fugees ‘Ready or not.’  The children also played along to ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ on glockenspiels, making sure that they kept in time with the music. 

Amongst all of that, the children have also completed their assessments this week.  I am so proud of all of them for their hard work and their mature attitudes.  They have all worked incredibly hard and it was obvious that they all tried their best. 

Well done Ravens!

Name
 Week 3.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 11th March 2022

This week, Ravens have impressed me with their continued enthusiasm for our literacy work.  We are still finding out more about our breaking story and will soon be ready to write our newspaper report.  This week, we have interviewed witnesses who saw a devastating heat ray destroy trees and bushes!

In maths, we have moved onto fractions and we used some practical equipment to explore unit and non-unit fractions, as well as making equivalent fractions.  We are now ready to start using that knowledge to look at fractions in more detail.  We have also used the ipads this week to access Times Tables Rockstars.  The children have all been given their login details, so now they can practise at home.  

In RE, we have moved onto the Salvation unit in Christianity and will be exploring what Christians believe Jesus did to save human beings.

We have also had another fantastic session with the Saints rugby coaches.  This week, the children were focusing on accurate passing skills.

Another great week of learning Ravens, well done. 

 

Name
 Week 2.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 4th March 2022

THE MARTIANS ARE COMING!  The Ravens have been finding out more about our breaking news story this week and strange things are still happening.  As well as the eyes in the walls, we now keep having interference on the whiteboard!  Bizarrely, it only seems to happen on the days we receive more information about possible alien invasion!  It's very odd, but I am sure that our budding reporters will be able to get to the bottom of it soon and write a detailed newspaper report to explain it all.  They have been busy writing notes about what is happening, as well as learning some of the key grammatical features they will need to include in their report.

In maths, the children have been dividing 4 digit numbers by 1 digit with remainders and learning the vocabulary needed to explain some of their answers.  Ask them what a dividend, divisor and quotient are and see if they can impress you with their knowledge!

World Book Day was a huge success and we loved seeing all of the wonderful costumes.  The children had a fabulous day full of listening to stories and learning some poetry to perform.  They even went speed dating to tell their partner all about their favourite book.  I know the children enjoyed this and many of them have been inspired to read something that has been recommended to them.

The weather did not stop play today and our rugby session with the Saints coaches was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  The children are learning lots of new rugby skills and rules and they even had me joining in at one point!

Well done Ravens for another successful week of learning.  Have a restful weekend and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.  Let's hope we learn a bit more about what the Martians have in store for us!

Name
 Week 1.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 25th February 2022

Strange and exciting things are happening in Ravens class this week.  The children noticed some fiery eyes peeking out of the walls at the beginning of the week and nobody knows what they are or how they got there!  We have been given snippets of information about a possible breaking news story and as investigative journalists, we are putting the evidence together ready to write a news report.  Watch this space!

In maths, we have re-capped our previous learning about division and are now moving onto learning about division by 2 digits.  We have used various different methods for division, such as place value grids and flexible partitioning and the children have impressed me with how much they have remembered from last year.

The children have been learning how to use digimaps this week on laptops and ipads.  This is a fantastic tool for looking at maps and the children used various features to find the area of the school playgrounds, as well as plotting their journeys to school.  They were also able to use the aerial view to look at how the village has grown over time and to find their houses!

In music this term we are learning to rap along with Will Smith!  The children have listened to  ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and have appraised it, saying what they like and dislike about it.  They have also started to learn the lyrics and join in my tapping along to the pulse.

Name
 Week 6.docxDownload
Showing 1-1 of 1

Friday 11th February 2022

Ravens have had a wonderful final week of the half term. Tuesday was a real highlight with our visit to Barnwell Country Park, where the children were able to consolidate and add to their knowledge of rivers that they had been building up throughout the last six weeks.

Having learned so much about river erosion, it was wonderful to actually see The River Nene flowing through the Northamptonshire countryside and see the beautiful meanders that this creates. Ravens also learned about how the Rivers Agency tries to minimise this by adding willow stilings to reduce the impact of erosion and keeping the beautiful footpaths that wind through the park safe.

It was wonderful to see the amazing wildlife this habitat encourages and for a short while, it felt like we were on an episode of Countryfile as we spotted the many invertebrates that live in the lakes and rivers there. We also learned an important lesson about bird feeding. Did you know that many birds who eat a lot of bread don’t develop feathers correctly in their younger life and struggle to keep warm and fly? Out ranger Helen gave us some much more balanced food to share with the birds and it was great to be able to get so close to the mute swans, mallards, terns and other species.

There was also a lot of history to be learned here as well. It was amazing to think that 12,000 years ago, the last of the ice from the last ice age was melting to create a channel that was about a mile wide. Ravens stood where Roman invaders would have stood and found the sand and gravel left behind from the ice, which Roman road builders would have made great use of! The children also saw the old mill, which would once have ground flour, now standing next to the modern flood defence gate that protects Oundle.

Our fabulous Star of the Week is Lilly-May, who always works so hard, has high standards for herself and is so respectful to everyone around her.

This week, Ravens have also been thinking about our wellbeing. On Friday, we explored various activities that help is to find happiness and balance in our often hectic lives. The top tips from Ravens include

  • Listening to music and singing (inventing funny lyrics like ‘Squidward On A Chair’ raised some smiles this week!)
  • Spending time with a pet (you could visit someone else’s if you don’t have one)
  • Talking to someone you trust
  • Doing something nice for someone else

We also created some positive messages which we will share around school- so look out for these next term. It is always important to make sure that we care for our emotional health and Ravens discussed some great ideas of how to do this. Hopefully, all Ravens will have a wonderful, restful and happy half term break. We look forward to seeing all Ravens back on Tuesday 22nd February.

 

 

Friday 4th February 2022

This week, we have started a new type of writing- recounts. Ravens have explored different styles of recount; looking for similarities and differences between the two. We explored the differences between formal and informal language choices and when it is appropriate to be used. We have also explored parenthesis using dashes and we created some epic action scenes about a super spy on a mission. In our final week of this half term, we will use these features in our own recounts.

Maths has again explored multiplication and we have explored how to multiply larger and larger numbers. Ravens have perfected using and area model, beginning with using base 10 equipment to act out the process, moving on to drawing it and finally, shortening the process by writing digits. Ravens are now using this method to solve missing digit problems as well as multi-step problems.

We have continued to learn about rivers in geography. Ravens have learned about the process of erosion and how this can change the landscape. This will come in really handy when we visit Barnwell Country Park and enjoy learning about it first hand in our field study. We also explored the changing relationship between people and rivers and thought about how, although rivers cover only 0.1% of the earth’s surface, civilisations have been drawn to them since they began creating towns and cities.

In RE, we have continued to explore Judaism and think about Jewish communities near to Greens Norton. The Jewish community in Milton Keynes have a wonderful and vibrant website which really helped us to understand how both orthodox and progressive members can feel supported and celebrated.

Our Star of the week is Josh, who as well as being his wonderful friendly self, has been working extremely hard in maths and has impressed the adults with his perseverance when learning how to multiply larger numbers.  

Friday 28th January 2022

It has been a week packed with learning again.

In maths, we have continued our learning about multiplication and explored how multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 can help us to work out related facts. We have also recapped the vertical method and have pushed on and learnt how to use a vertical method to solve questions involving 1-digit x 4-digit numbers.

In literacy, we have completed our river poems; showing a good understanding of metaphor and personification. This week we have focussed on key skills that we will apply in our next unit. We have explore subordinating conjunctions and the use of commas for clarification.

We thought carefully about online safety this week as we explored clickbait. Our online experiences are often bombarded with tempting stories and offers and we thought carefully about who might create these and their purpose and to always consider whether or not it is safe to open these links. 

In our art we have been exploring rivers and spent this week exploring watercolour techniques. 

Our wonderful Star of the Week is Olivia, who has been working amazingly hard this week in all lessons, responding to feedback and really pushing her own learning forward. A great job!

Friday 14th January 2022

Ravens have had a great week.

We have plunged deeper into our river poetry in our guided reading. This has helped us to learn about some of the features of rivers, which we practiced further in our geography and by the end of this week, Ravens were much more confident about describing the path and features of rivers.

We began a new unit in ICT and this week where we explored a database and how records can be searched and organised to answered questions about fiction characters from different planets. We had great fun creating new records as it gave Ravens the perfect opportunity to showcase their creativity and epic sense of humour.

We dug deeper into prime, square and cube numbers this week with some very tricky problem solving once we got to grips with the core concepts. It is always impressive how well this class rise to open ended problems and are willing to challenge and support ideas mathematically.

In science, we investigated thermal insulators. After being given one of a range of materials, pairs were asked to encapsulate blocks of ice in that material and we then tracked the changes in temperature throughout the day. More on that next week as we will review the results and decide which was the best thermal insulator. 

Our Star of the Week this week is Harriet, who is without doubt, a true role model.

 

Friday 7th January 2022

It has been a wonderful first week of learning- well done Ravens!

In maths, we have been exploring multiples and factors. This week has shown just how important instant recall of the times tables is and there have been some Ravens who have set themselves a target of making sure this gets quicker this term. There was some tricky problem solving required, but using systematic approaches, we got there!

It was great to get back to the library today and use this wonderful resource. There is nothing quite so nice as sharing a good book!

In literacy, we have started a new unit on poetry. This week, we have explored the features of a formal non-rhyming poem and concentrated on identifying metaphor towards the end of the week. So as some children put it today, we have been busy bees with lion's hearts as we smashed through our first week of learning. 

Our Star this week was Owen who has been demonstrating some excellent mathematical skills. 

Friday 17th December 2021

Well done Ravens for another successful week of learning.  This week, the children have managed to finish their statistics maths unit, complete their RE work as investigative reporters, practise their activities for the sports hall event at Sponne and finish their science unit on electricity! 

Yesterday, we also enjoyed a wonderful carol concert at the church.  The children were so well behaved and I was proud of them all, especially our fantastic readers, who only had a day or two to practise their words.  Well done Ravens, you were all brilliant role models for the younger children.

We spent the rest of Thursday completing our night lights for our D&T project.  The children have worked very hard on these and the results were great.  The classroom looked lovely when we turned on all the LED candles and turned off the light.  As well as making them look good, they also evaluated their project, deciding what went well and what they would do differently next time to make it even more successful.

The children also finished their persuasive letters this week.  They were writing to Mrs Marsh to try to persuade her to let us all have a longer Christmas holiday, or to tell her they shouldn’t have homework!  They were so well written that the children have convinced Mrs Marsh not to give them homework during the holidays!  Unfortunately, she cannot extend the holidays but I’m sure she would if she could!

Finally, I would just like to say a big thank you to all the children for working so hard this term, I’m really proud of all of you. I hope you all get the chance to spend some quality time with friends and family this holiday season and I look forward to seeing you all after the February half term and hearing about all the wonderful things you have been up to with Mrs Barnett!

 

Friday 10th December 2021

This week, Christmas arrived in Ravens class!  The Christmas tree went up on Monday and we have spent this afternoon creating some wonderful Christmas cards, whilst listening to some Christmas songs.  It was a lovely way to end another busy week in Ravens.

In literacy, the children have learnt all the grammatical skills they need to include in their final version of their persuasive letter next week.  I look forward to seeing if they are successful in their persuasion!

In maths, we are nearly at the end of the statistics unit and the children have been interpreting two-way tables.  

They have been creating their designs for their night-light in DT.  Evaluating which shapes they will cut out for the light to shine through and thinking about what the final product will look like.  

Today, we were treated to an excellent performance by KS1.  It was an excellent nativity and the children thoroughly enjoyed it.  We look forward to seeing Wrens perform on Monday.

 

Friday 3rd December 2021

This week the Ravens have had some tough tests to complete, but they've also had quite a lot of fun!  Well done to all of you for trying your absolute best in the assessments.

On Wednesday, the children had their brass concert and performed to several other classes.  They were amazing and it was incredible to see just how much they had learnt in only 9 weeks.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching them and felt very proud.

On Thursday, the children had a visit from Atomic Tom.  They all had a wonderful time exploring static electricity and taking part in some great experiments.  The photos show just how much they enjoyed it!

We've continued to learn about graphs this week in maths and had a go at plotting information on a graph today.  We'll be practising this again next week and start to look at other statistics too.

In literacy, the children wrote a persuasive letter cold task.  I suggested that they write to persuade parents or Santa to get them what they would really like for Christmas.  I have to say that if they wrote a letter like that to me, I think I'd have to give them what they wanted!  Some of them were so funny, I actually cried with laughter!  All we need to do now is add a few more grammatical features and they will be expert letter writers!

Finally, well done to all of you for your amazing death mask creations!  I was super impressed with the standard of your artwork.  A few people even made a mask that they could wear!  Absolutely brilliant effort all round.

Have a wonderful and restful weekend.

Friday 26th November 2021

Another busy week in Ravens has ended on a high note, with an RE lesson which reminded me of how thoughtful the children are.  In our unit 'Kingdom of God,' we have been learning about how Christians want to make earth more like heaven.  We reflected upon how we could do that in our communities and thought of different groups of people we could help and how that would make the world a better place.  The children all had some excellent ideas and were really clear on who they would like to help and support.  They were also able to link this learning to our previous learning about the parable of the great feast, which teaches us that in the Kingdom of God, everyone is welcome and celebrated.  Excellent work Ravens, well done.

We've continued our biography writing and have now finished planning, ready to write it up on Monday.  Biography writing can be tricky, but I'm so impressed with the way the children have listened to feedback and edited their work to make it the best they can.

In maths, we are still studying statistics.  The children have been looking at different types of graphs and charts and interpreting the information.  Onto line graphs next week!

On Tuesday, we couldn't resist having a play amongst the fallen leaves.  We had great fun kicking up the leaves and running around in them! The photos below show how much fun was had by all!

Have a restful weekend everyone and I hope to see lots of you at the Christmas fair on Sunday!

 

Friday 19th November 2021

In maths this week, we have finished our addition and subtraction work and are now moving onto statistics.  The children will be looking at different types of graphs and interpreting them.

This morning, we enjoyed finding out all about Thomas Edison ready to write our biography about him next week.  The children discovered many interesting facts and have started to sort them into chronological order, deciding which paragraph each fact should be written in.

We have had fun being formula 1 cars in PE on Monday, racing around the playground!  That is until the ‘safety car’ came out and made them all slow down!  They had to avoid the puncture zone and if they touched a cone, they had to stop and do 15 star jumps!  This was all to build their stamina as part of our cross-country unit of work.  Even after all that running around, they still wanted to do laps of the running track!

In ICT, we have continued to learn about spreadsheets.  The children can now use formulae to calculate the value of different cells.  The work has great links to maths, as the children had to calculate the area and perimeter of rectangles as part of the work.

The children also enjoyed science this week with Mrs Barnett.  They were learning about electrical circuits and they had a go at making a simple circuit to see if they could make a bulb light up.

Finally, this afternoon we had a visit from the PCSO who gave them some great advice about road safety. The children listened very respectfully and asked some very good questions and found the session very useful.

Friday 12th November 2021

In Ravens this week, we have made good use of the iPads for a range of purposes.  In literacy, we researched the work of Albert Einstein, ready to use the facts to innovate our biography.  In science, the children used the iPads to look for electrical dangers around the home.  Maybe this weekend they can revisit 'switched on kids' to view how to keep safe with electricity.

The children also had a virtual trip to the British Museum this week!.  They really enjoyed exploring the Rosetta Stone on the iPads and noticed that there were 3 languages on the stone:  Hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek. 

We started our orienteering lessons this week in PE and the children had great fun completing some team building tasks.  Trying to get 8 children through a hoop whilst holding hands is trickier than they thought!

 

Friday 5th November 2021

Welcome back! 

This week in Ravens we have played musical instruments, experimented with balloons, run around the track and played benchball!  I'm tired just remembering all of the activities from this week!  Make sure you all have a rest this weekend and come back full of energy and enthusiasm on Monday!

In literacy, we have started our new unit of work and have studied the features of biographies.  We have also learned the difference between formal and informal language and when to use each one.

In maths, we have continued our journey with subtraction and are now rounding in order to estimate and approximate.

In science, The children enjoyed learning about the effects of static electricity using balloons with Mrs Barnett.

We have started our new unit of work in RE this week too.  We are now looking at the Kingdom of God.  Today, the children read some parables and made inferences about what the Kingdom of God might be like.

We have also made good use of our brand new thesauruses and dictionaries.  These were very kindly paid for by the Frogs!  We are very grateful to have them and will make sure we use them often and look after them, thank you!

 

Friday 22nd October 2021

Wow, we made it!  Well done Ravens for all your hard work, not just this week, but for the last 7 weeks.  I am super proud of all of you for your great start to year 5.  There will be a lot more learning next half term, so make sure you take this week to rest and recharge your batteries!

This week, we have completed the planning for our Ancient Egyptian adventure story and I am so looking forward to seeing them up on our display board.  

In maths, we have continued on our addition and subtraction journey and are now getting really skilled at answering some pretty tricky reasoning questions.

We've enjoyed lots of sport this week, starting with bench ball.  Today, we finished our unit of Netball with some mini matches.  Of course, I can't forget to mention all of the super children in Ravens who took part in the cross country too.  I'm very proud of you all and well done on a brilliant win!

The brass lessons are coming along well and I even ventured into the hall to hear some of it this week.  I think you sound great and some other adults in school have commented on how well you're doing too.

Lastly, a big well done to Mia for being our star of the week this week. Truly deserved Mia, keep up the good work!

Have a wonderful half term everyone and see you in a week's time.

Friday 15th October 2021

This week, the Ravens have been impressing me with their maths skills.  We have moved onto addition and the children are now adding 6 digit numbers with exchanges.  They have worked really hard to get to the reasoning and problem solving tasks and have pushed themselves to learn more and do more.  We celebrated their hard work with a bit of a longer break this afternoon in the sun!

In literacy, we have started to plan our 'hot write.'  Our adventure narrative will be set in Ancient Egypt.  We watched a short film about what Ancient Egypt might have been like, so they could use it for inspiration and the children have thought of some wonderfully imaginative plots. I'm looking forward to reading them all once they're finished.

We enjoyed our netball lesson today, practising pivoting and dodging.  We also practised some shoulder passing, which is quite tricky!  

In PSHE, we have been thinking about emotions and our emotional needs.  The children worked in groups to create a character and thought about all the things their character would need to be happy and have good mental health.  I was very impressed with how the children discussed this in a sensitive way and were respectful of each other's ideas and feelings.

Finally, a big well done to Matilda for being our star of the week this week.

I hope you all have a fun and restful weekend.  

Friday 8th October 2021

Yet another busy week in Ravens class and the children have worked incredibly hard as always.  We have had some fun along the way though!  Our music lesson this week was excellent and the children are really getting the hang of playing some tricky instruments.  They're sounding better every week and are enjoying the opportunity to try something new.

In science, the children have been studying the effects of various drinks on the enamel of teeth.  See below for a particularly gruesome picture of what energy drinks do to them!

In literacy, we have been developing our skills in narrative writing and have started to innovate our model text with our own ideas.  The children have been impressing me with their imaginations!

In maths, we have now finished our place value unit and next week we will be moving onto addition and subtraction.

Our Harvest Festival service went well at the church on Thursday and Mrs Barnett was very pleased with the confidence the children showed when speaking in church.  Well done!

Finally, in RE today, the children have been learning about the work of the leprosy mission and carrying out research about it on the laptops.  They then created an information leaflet from what they had learnt and linked this to the teachings of Jesus.

Have a great weekend and a well earned rest!

Friday 1st October 2021

This week the Ravens have completed their cold write to show me how well they can write an adventure story.  I was very impressed with their imaginative ideas and they all used paragraphs to help structure their story.  Next week, we will be focusing on some more grammatical features to make their stories even more exciting!

In maths, we have been ordering, comparing and rounding numbers to a million and next week, we're moving onto negative numbers.  I'm really pleased with the way the children are pushing themselves to explain their answers using great mathematical language.

In science with Mrs Barnett, the children have been studying teeth and as you can see from the pictures, they have been getting up close to some jaws and skulls!

Finally, we have been looking at all the gory details of mummification in our history lesson.  The children loved hearing about how the brains were removed through the nose with a sharp tool!  They used what they learnt to ask some historical questions.  They also had to sort the steps of mummification to see if they could remove the organs in the correct order!

Have a wonderful weekend Ravens and I'll see you on Monday for another productive week!

Friday 24th September 2021

This week, the Ravens have been really impressing me with their descriptive writing.  We started in a pirate ship at the bottom of a dim and murky ocean and innovated the text so that we were then in a maze of dark and ominous corridors in a pyramid in Egypt.  The setting descriptions have been excellent and I'm looking forward to reading the final pieces of work next week.

In maths, we have been rounding within 100,000 and comparing and ordering 6 digit number.  Onto the millions next week!

We have enjoyed our outdoor netball lesson in the sun today and are starting to learn the rules of the game and how to pass effectively to members of our team.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and make the most of the sunshine while it lasts!

 

Friday 17th September 2021

What another busy week we've had! On Monday, we had our first gymnastics lesson of the term.  I was very impressed with the balancing skills on show and the way the children put different types of balances together to create a sequence. 

We have also worked hard on our skills ready to write our setting descriptions next week.  We have worked collaboratively to think of the best sentences to describe a forest using the five senses.  The children thought of some fantastic ways to describe it by 'showing and not telling!'

In maths we have been rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 and we'll be moving onto 6 digit numbers next week.

On Thursday, the children had a very interactive science lesson with Mrs Barnett all about the digestive system.  The children had great fun learning how the food travels through our body.  See the photo below!

Finally, we have visited the library today and borrowed books, so the children can enjoy sharing them at home.

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday for another week of learning.

Friday 10th September 2021

What an amazing start to the year for the first ever Ravens class!  The children have really impressed me by settling into our new classroom and routines so quickly. 

We had an artistic start to the week, creating Egyptian collars and having a go at writing on 'stone' tablets, all linked to our history topic this term. 

We have also looked at a setting description and identified the features.  I've never seen so much enthusiasm for expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials! 

Our maths journey for this year has begun too, looking at place value. 

We have even started visiting our reading buddies again and shared our books with children from other classes, which is fantastic! We have also visited our new library and we are looking forward to borrowing lots of exciting books.