Greens Norton CE Primary School

Robins 2018-19

Mrs Murray, Mrs Musson and Mrs Murphy

A final farewell.

Wednesday 24th July 2019

I don’t know where to begin to explain the year I have had. These children make up the most fantastic class and I have been blessed to have had the experience of them this year.

I came to this school, new to the area and having no idea about the school I was walking into. I have found the most kind and caring staff, the most supportive parents who go above and beyond for their children and I am so lucky to have met you all. I was lucky enough to share my wedding with you and that will make it forever a memorable year. 

The class have been adventurous and energetic every day, even when it has been hard. They have worked incredibly hard to do their best this year and I have been very lucky. Even when I’ve been low, these children have put a smile on my face! These children have the ability to put a smile on anyone’s face and their sense of humor is truly outstanding.

Thank you for this year, both parents and children of Robins class. I have been fortunate to have been a part of your children’s life and I will always remember the Robins as they have taught me a lot about myself as a teacher and as a person. I hope for the children it has been a good year and they have just as fond a memory as I do!

Thank you so much and good luck in Year 2!

Mrs Murray

A right royal feast!

Friday 19th July 2019

Well, this week has been a riotous week full of topic based fun!

Firstly, we have finished our English stories with Mrs Sims and we are fully ready for year 2! The children are a buzz with their stories and are happy to share them as they know they have done their best!

In Maths, we have looked at all the amazing things we have done this year. We have used this to solve various puzzles all by ourselves. I think Robins have found this very hard but very rewarding as after each maths session they are very ready for their lunch!

We also had a royal lunch which included us making bunting, candles, crowns and place mats ready for our banquet. The children also made carrot soup, which was slightly trickier than any grown up could imagine.  After 50 carrots and 25 onions, the soup was finally boiled and then blended to create a beautiful soup that was tasty with the bread that Year 2 made!

Our final star of the week was Georgia. I could not imagine this year without Georgia who is an integral role in the classroom. She supports others and always has a smile on her face.

It was a lovely week and we are nearly at the summer holidays.

Robins, please stay hydrated and in the shade!

Lapping the competition!

Friday 14th June 2019

In this weeks learning, Robins have been learning about the adventures of Flame, the dragon and how he is adventuring around to find friends. They have worked very hard with Mrs Sims to get their writing nearly there for Year 2. 

We have worked really hard in maths to be clear about our place value. We are now using this to order our numbers and get ourselves ready to use this for addition and subtraction with larger numbers.

In topic we have had a fun time talking about taxes in medieval times in comparison to today. The children agreed that the taxes today are much fairer than in the medieval times when the King did not use them for the right thing!

Thank you Robins who all took part in the Lapathon, We got over 300 laps as a class in 30 minutes. Thank you so much for a fantastic achievement! Well done!

One term to go till Year 2!

Friday 7th June 2019

One more half term down and only one more to go! Wow Robins - you haven't slowed down!

We have been perfecting place value in maths, making sure we can identify tens and ones in every number! This is tricky but we are getting more confident at this.  We can partition these numbers in part whole models and show our number in lots of different ways. 

In English, Robins have been in for a treat! Mrs Sims from Year 2 has been coming to see how amazing they are. I believe they have done us all proud and really shown of their writing. Robins I am so proud you could show your story writing off! Make sure to keep it up after half term.

We were also lucky enough to have warts 'n' all drama company come to talk to the children about bullying and use drama to discuss the emotions that come with bullying. They also discussed how to spot it and how we can make a difference with a few simple steps. 

We have been working hard on our topic this week, looking at how a Lord would spend his day - each child wrote a diary entry to discuss a typical day. The children came to the conclusion that all the Lords did were pray and eat, however we realised that they had some important jobs to do! 

Our star of the week is Pearl! You have blown me away throughout the year but this week has been extra special. Thank you for your amazing presence in my class. 

Rocking Robins!

Friday 24th May 2019

I think we are all ready for our break this week!

We have been making sure we are good friends by being able to share carefully and equally. We have also been working on sharing shapes as we realised pizza is a very important thing to share carefully otherwise people might be upset!

In English, Robins have finished their story map and done their hot write. The children described the troll in such amazing detail I could really imagine it being in our classroom which was a little scary! Well done Robins - remember, we have a special guest after half term which is super exciting.  

We have been working hard on our topic this week, looking at how a Lord would spend his day and creating our own castle out of 2-D shapes using a technique inspired by Paul Klee. 

Well done Robins - enjoy your half term!

No slowing down for Robins!

Friday 17th May 2019

Robins have had a superb week once again and I’m blown away with their commitment to learning. Well done to all of them.

In maths we have been working on sharing equally between a group. We have made sure we are being fair and splitting them equally to make sure that these groups are the same as each other. The children have been doing this in lots of different ways and I am impressed with their recording and presentation.

In English we have been working hard to start describing the grizzly troll from the three billy goats gruff story. The children have been enjoying picking up on adjectives they have heard being used and supporting their work by using them. The children’s vocabulary is amazing and a testament to how much reading they do at home and school. Thank you so much for all your support in their reading.

The children have also started their science project linking to their topic learning. We have put ourselves in the shoes of William the Conqueror and think about how we would create a seaworthy ship to get us over to invade England. The children will be exploring different building materials and their properties before designing and creating their ships in the coming weeks o see whether they are ship shape!

Our star of the week this week is Isla and what an incredible young lady she is! Throughout the year, Isla could have been star of the week multiple times. Well done for your amazing attitude to learning and your continual smiles, you brighten up our day.

Riotous Royals strike again!

Friday 10th May 2019

I am thoroughly enjoying this topic and I'm pretty sure the children are too. All the children have pretended to be Kings and Queens - we've looked at what is important to maintain a throne. 

The children have been working on arrays and this is helping them to look at grouping and what is important to count. The class have made these with counters and other blocks. We have then used this to create repeated edition. 

In English we have done our own hot write - writing instructions for your favourite sandwich. The children really enjoyed creating their favourite or most disgusting sandwiches. It's exciting to hear what they are interested in and we have some wonderful instructions.  

We've also had a musical performance from four boys in our class and also Georgio who came to help us! Well done to all of you. I am incredibly proud of your courage. 

The star of the week is Miller! He's had a fantastic week and he's working really hard to get his learning to reach new highs. Well done Miller!

What a magnificent week!!

Friday 3rd May 2019

Robins have had a super busy week this week starting to think about castles and why royal families are important.  We have looked at the difference between wooden and brick castles and are learning to understand why they are important.

We continued to work on our instructions for the best sandwich and this has lead us to look at bullet points and headings to see how we can structure our instructions to make them more user friendly.

In numeracy we are working on creating equal groups - these have been slightly tricky and we've used lots of different things to group and make sure they are equal We have tried very hard and I think we are getting there. 

 Thank you to Kyle! You are our star of the week! You have done a wonderful job this week and have worked really hard! Well Done!

Back to work!

Friday 26th April 2019

Robins I am so glad to have you back! It's been a fantastic week, filled with lots of exciting first steps into our new topic ' Riotous Royals!'. We have created junk model castles - using different materials we could recycle. We have discussed different looks of castles and what features helped them to be effective in a battle. We then have been looking at house seals and family crests, explaining that these were used in battle to help other people identify them. We discussed their uses in showing who was wealthy or royal and that these crests were beautifully thought out and crafted with great thought, even down to the colours they picked. 

We have started looking at how to create effective instructions that inform others of how to create something. Our cold writes were fantastically thought through and I was impressed with how much they already knew. We are looking at bossy verbs and how these can help us instruct others on how they should carry out that task. 

In numeracy we are focusing on place value, discussing how our numbers must start with how many tens we have, before we add in our ones. This has been very important to support us in getting our numbers formed correctly. We have then been working on our fluency, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. We are getting quicker and quicker the more we are practicing.

This weeks star of the week was Teddy. He is working very hard and his maturity levels are incredible. He has a very respectful way about him and his work this week has been incredible. Thank you so much!

Easter spirit!

Friday 5th April 2019

Robins have managed to have a super week, even though there was so much to get through! We did a hot write, learnt all about capacity, did an Easter service at church and even had a talent show!

Robins continue to amaze me with their effort and fun with everything they do. Thank you Robins.

Below, please see some wonderful pictures of our fantastic work. Have a restful Easter holidays and enjoy it!

P.S. Above is a (slightly embarrasing) video of Mrs Murray explaining our sound buttons for you. I hope it helps you to all prepare for Phonics screener. Please also look up Mr Thorne and Geraldine (youtube) for specific sounds you want clarification on and Phonics Play which is fantastic for extra practice with games. Thanks for all your support.

Mrs Mussan takes charge!

Friday 29th March 2019

Wow Robins, have made me super proud this week! I have been poorly for three days and Mrs Mussan has taught our class spectacularly! I have received texts every night stating just how wonderful you are! Well done for making me one happy teacher!

In English, you've been working on little red riding hood and retelling the story with the best vocabulary you could and in maths your work on measurements have been thorough and super exciting. Below are some pictures of this wonderful week.

Our star of the week was chosen by Mrs Mussan and Mrs Murphy, who were astonished by Gabriel's hard work. Well done - your manners are always noticed and your smile lights up our days. Thank you!

A week full of rest and the world!

Friday 22nd March 2019

In English we have done our big write about our poems which were fantastic! I was so proud of how much all the children remembered and could put into a poem independently. We have then moved onto fairy stories. The children have picked to do their retelling of 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Their cold writes (where they don't get help!) have been amazing and I'm stunned at the quality already!

In maths,  we have started to think about measurement. We have worked hard to estimate a measurement using blocks and the children have measured almost every inch of the classroom using something different and exciting. Today we started to think about how we could use hands and this created fun and creative measurements of bigger things in the classroom. Next, onto rulers!

In R.E. we have looked at the world and considered the Jewish creation story. Children discussed similarities to other religions we have studied and were amazed to see how close Jewish and Christian creation stories are! We then looked at an amazing book called 'Dinosaurs and all that rubbish' which focused on a man who destroyed the world to go somewhere else. Only to find a different plant (which was actually earth!) that was so amazing he couldn't wait to live on it. We then thought about our own world and how we could help create the best world we wanted to live in. 

Our star of the week this week is Jake! Jake has had an amazing week and since starting Robins has gone from strength to strength! I'm amazed at his work and his attitude to learning. It's fantastic that Jake has now found such a strong voice in Robins. Thank you for always being a pleasure!

What a busy week!

Friday 15th March 2019

In English we have worked really hard on creating imagery of animals in order to create fantastic poems. These have been wonderful so far and the language the children have been using is phenomenal. We have used this to start our own story maps about how we can describe lions to make them sound either real or fantasy. We have had bouncing lions and lions that are kings of castles. I can't wait to see how the poems work out!

In maths,  we have been comparing numbers with each other and using symbols for less than or greater than. This has been amazing too see the children really try hard and they have been heard talking with the mathematical language all around the school which makes me very proud. We have then started to look at counting in jumps of 2, 5 and 10. The children are really good already, so we are having a fantastic time exploring this further.

In R.E. we have looked at the creation of the world in the Jewish faith and exploring Shabbat - the Jewish day of rest. We have discussed what we would change to help the world and why this is good to help the world around us. We also discussed why a day of rest is so important to not only Jewish people but to everyone to help them rest and regroup for the learning we have to do daily. It was lovely to see everyone thinking of their own mindsets.

Our star of the week this week has been Thomas! His attitude has been infectious this week, along with his laughter. We have had a great breakthrough in check in's and Thomas is determined to take charge of his own learning. A very grown up attitude towards things in his learning he must work on. You are a fantastic role model! Well done Thomas!

A pirate, a dinosaur and a book worm walk into a classroom...

Friday 8th March 2019

This week is always my favourite in every school year. World Book day really is just the icing on top of the teaching cake. The enthusiasm and excitement of the costumes is fantastic. I loved the buzz in our classroom as we shared our favourite stories throughout the week and then on Thursday we were lucky enough to do buddy reading with other classes in the school. The children behaved wonderfully and I was proud of their reading skills as they didn't just listen but were offering to read their books too.

In English we have been continuing to look at poetry and the best ways to give the reader a beautiful image of a lion. This has been fantastic as the children have been super excited to use similes and metaphors, plus their ideas for alliteration have been fabulous. We have worked very hard and I can't wait to start finishing of our poems next week.

In maths,  we have been looking at tens and ones. This has been really hard but as always Robins have risen to the occasion and worked really hard.  It has not been easy and we have been trying this in loads of different ways to make sure it sunk in. 

We have worked a lot on the stories in the Jewish faith and children have been enjoying learning all about the stories that make the Jewish faith fantastic. It has been a pleasure to work with them this week!

We have two stars this week, Caitlin and Beau! Caitlin has worked very hard to get fantastic results in her work and her kinetic letters are superb. She is an asset to the class and is very supportive to others. Beau has worked hard to make sure she is asking the right questions and getting any help she can. Well done Beau and Caitlin! We are very proud.

Parents evening and poetry reading!

Friday 1st March 2019

I finally think Spring has sprung in Greens Norton and the Robins are ready for some super hard learning.

In English this week we tried our best to remember our special descriptions and put this towards describing a penguin completely independently. They really wowed us with all the learning that they showed and they could remember so much! We have now moved onto poetry and the children are really enjoying listening to some of the wacky poetry we have found - I have been introducing them to Michael Rosen and Carol Anne Duffy, two amazing poets who create amazing kids poetry. The children are really excited about the idea of writing their own and have already made strides in the similes they can create independently. 

In maths,  we have focused on our new unit of place value to 50. All the Robins have fantastic number knowledge and we are now working on using tens and ones to split a number apart. This is hard as they are really big numbers buts Robins of course are getting it in a flash. We have used lots of different resources to create different visual ways to show a number and this is all adding to their already awesome facts.

We have also focused in R.E. on their favourite stories that they heard from the Rabbi when we visited the synagogue. Their favourite seems to be Joseph and his dreams which they have had fun acting out. 

Well done Robins, what a way to start the week!

Superb Synagogue!

Friday 15th February 2019

In numeracy, we have been continuing our work on subtraction. This weeks main focus has been on doing word problems that involve number problems and how these are trickier to work out. We have been able to succeed though with a lot of determination and hard work from all children. I have been hearing some lovely teamwork with children asking each other for help to read and even seen some teachers in action. I have loved seeing some children being super helpful and grabbing out equipment to show and discuss how to work things out in the best way. You are all amazing and so good at what you do.

In literacy, we have built on what we created last week and used this to create an amazing description of a 'something else'. Their work has been superb and really created some beautiful imagery. Their animals called Tim were all wild and wonderful but incredibly detailed. This has been due to so much concentration in the classroom and I'm really proud to take home what they have written to mark as I can't believe what they can achieve. 

We also got to visit a wonderful synagogue in Northampton this week! The children were very respectful and asked loads of questions. It created a fantastic atmosphere of learning within the room and they were very engaged and excited. The children were able to show off some of the things they learnt in class but also got to learn first hand about the religion from the Rabbi. It was a pleasure to have such a wonderful trip with the class and even the teachers learnt loads.

Well done Robins! Rest up over half term!

Busy week, busy brain!

Friday 8th February 2019

In numeracy, we have done lots of work on take away this week - using tens frames to support out learning. We have practiced a lot and have been working on crossing the tens using our superb number knowledge. 

In literacy, we have had an intense sentence structure bootcamp! We have worked on full stops, capital letters and finger spaces intensely and creating the best sentence we can. Some tables have even been making adjectives to place into the sentences to make sure that the sentences are clear and more exciting. The sentences have come out fantastically and hopefully now we can put this on our sentences about describing our own something else. 

In art we have been looking at perspective, creating facial features of each other using real life models. We hope to use this next week to create our own Picasso portrait. 

In ICT this week we have worked really hard as it is internet safety week! We have looked at how to stay safe and also how to use a computer correctly. We have worked on logging on correctly and trying to write using a keyboard on a word document. The children have been super supportive of each other and this had been a lovely way of seeing their great teamwork. 

Our star of the week is Theo. Theo is a kind and caring member of the class who is always beaming from ear to ear. He is a wonderful friend and always supports others. He always wants to try his best and is often found working hard on his maths. Thank you Theo! 

Snow fever!

Friday 1st February 2019

This week has been super busy in Robins and the arrival of the snow did not stop our learning!

In numeracy, we have been using our counting on knowledge and the tens frames to start thinking about how we can take away. This is going to take some practice, but I know that the Robins are tough enough for the challenge! During the week, we have done this practically and we are now starting to record this in our books on tens frames. Crossing out our counters is helping us to remember how many we have removed as we go. 

We have been creating our own stories in English, based on our book 'Anything is possible'.  We finished of our hot write, looking at what animals would be making what flying machine. The Robins have worked really hard at this and are amazing! We have now moved onto a book called 'Something else', which tells a story of something slightly different who can't find his own place. We are going to be describing him for the next few days and thinking about how to make our sentences perfect. 

In art we have been looking at self portraits made by different artists and thinking about how we could recreate them. Our first artist is Picasso and we will be looking at how we can recreate his signature art!

In Science, we have been predicting what will happen in our science experiment and what will happen when we take away different things. In R.E, we are looking at Moses and how he helped to shape the Jewish religion. We have even created our own classroom commandments.

Our star of the week is Kyle, he has taken great strides towards a great week. He is working fantastically at all his goals and thinking about how to be his best self. Thank you Kyle.

Lastly, we loved the snow in Robins! Thanks for sending everyone in! We all enjoyed the snow and made the biggest and most spherical snowballs we could. We then compared which was the biggest and smallest, tallest and shortest or the heaviest and lightest. It was amazing! Thank you so much!

Olympic fever!

Friday 25th January 2019

This week we have had a very special guest in school and it has begun a real new class mantra in Robins. Gail Emms (MBE) did an assembly on never giving up and it really made us think in Robins. We thought about what we had to do to get better at things we aren't naturally good at. The children thought about a topic that they needed to work harder on for example swimming and running and made it there hope that this year they continue to persevere with this. She encouraged us to think daily about whether we have been our best selves. We have used this as the end of the day reflection throughout our week. 

In numeracy, we have been looking at counting on and using tens frames to see how we can count over the ten. The children have been really good at this and we are starting to think about bigger numbers that would be fun to add together. Next week we get onto recording this more and using practical tens frames to help us use number bonds to ten to support. I know this has been very tricky for them but I'm so glad that we have a class who work hard to achieve their goals!

We have been creating our own stories in English, based on our book 'Anything is possible'. We have pigs, cats, bears and even whales trying to build flying machines in Robins! They have continued their hard work on punctuation and they have been looking at WOW adjectives that make our work even better. We have also thought about connectives and how words like 'and' make our sentences have more information. 

In topic, we have been thinking about our values and how we can persuade people to do wonderful things for our school. We have been making posters to give people advice on how to eat healthier, drink more water and be more respectful to others.

In Science, we have thought about plants and learnt about the four main parts of a plant. We have learnt what each part does and why it is important. We also looked at what we need to do to keep plants healthy and happy. We will be conducting an experiment to see how plants react when we take these things away and recording these in a giant floor book!

Our star of the week is Emma. She is a polite and kind member of the class who is asking for help and advice to now continue her work. I am very proud of her progression throughout the term and we are hoping that Emma continues to grow in confidence.

Well done Robins and remember to be your best self!

I believe in myself!

Friday 18th January 2019

As a class, we Robins are pretty amazing and this week we have explored what is important about ourselves and why we are just amazing in every way. It's been lovely to learn more about my class and how each one of my children is special. It is also super fantastic to see how many of the children can discuss why they are special and what makes them, them. 

We did some tricky reasoning problems in Numeracy, thinking about how we could show someone how to fix a problem. We also have been thinking about our number bonds and how this allows us to know so much more. We even discussed that if we know our number bonds to ten, we also know our number bonds to one hundred and even to one thousand! However, I think we will stick to ten at the moment!

In English, we have been continuing our work on 'Anything is possible' and how our work can be improved when we work hard and edit. We have looked at adjectives and conjunctions that we could put into a simple sentence. I would also like to say well done to EVERY Robin, because I think we are really improving on our use of full stops and capital letters which has really put a smile on my face!

In R.E., we have spoken about the star of David, it's importance to the Jewish faith and created a small stained glass window with our artwork inspired by it. We have also looked at ourselves and thought about what clothing would describe ourselves. We had some brilliant ideas about beach hats and slippers but the children were very stunned with my idea of a onesie to represent myself!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my week and the children have made me so proud as they have just worked so hard! I also was lucky enough to give out two 'over and aboves' to Eleanor and Arthur this week. Eleanor for her wonderful and polite manner with guests in our classroom and Arthur for his kindness towards me when I haven't felt well. 

Our star of the week this week has been Rosie. She is a fantastic role model to everyone in the class and she shows others how they should behave. She loves a challenge and her learning this week has been fantastic. She is continually improving and it is wonderful to see. Thank you Rosie for just being you!

A new beginning!

Friday 11th January 2019

I cannot believe it is already 2019! We have started back with a bang in Robins. We have had such a fun first week back and I can't wait to continue learning with you all.

We started off our new topic ' I believe' with a day where we thought about ourselves and what makes us special. All the children had wonderful ideas and it was lovely to hear everyone offering ideas as to why others were special. It makes me very proud to have such a kind class and this showed it off perfectly. We then thought about our future and what we would like to be when we grow up. 

We also got back into thinking about our maths and English and how we were going to get even better this year. Thinking about a small target in our head to focus on throughout the half term.

In Maths we have worked on counting on to add numbers together on a number line. The children have been brilliant at this and it has been fantastic to see such hard work. In Literacy we have thought about our new book focus 'Anything is possible' and have started by using adjectives to describe our characters.

We have spoken about online safety and how to use the internet with the help of our grown-ups. We spoke about discussing anything that makes us unhappy or gives us a weird feeling and we read a story about Smartie the penguin and what he did with his brand new tablet.

In R.E. we have been starting to think about the Jewish faith and what makes it important. The children seem very excited to learn about a different religion and it seems like a fantastic opportunity to ask some wonderful questions.

Our star of the week this week is Lydia! Lydia has been working super hard on her writing and it has blown us away! She is a keen reader and has worked hard to achieve her own personal goals. Throughout this week, Lydia has shone and we are very grateful to have her in our class. Thank you Lydia!

A truly Alien Christmas!

Friday 14th December 2018

Wow! Just wow! We can finally breathe again over the weekend! Robins have been so super busy, I have no idea how we've fit all the amazing things we have done in one week! Firstly, last Friday was the Christmas Fayre and I am overwhelmed by the generosity that was shown. You guys at Greens Norton are the most kind, giving and polite community and it is wonderful to be part of. I was very proud with our stall and think the Robins did wonderfully! 

Then we have had our Christmas dinner and jumper day. We really enjoyed having lunch together and celebrating Christmas. It was wonderful for me to see such beautiful table manners and politeness from such a lovely class. We made Christmas hats and wore them with pride throughout our day.

Then we really need to talk about the Alien in the week! Christmas with the Aliens was just fantastic, the children worked so hard and it really paid off. We were all just blown away by the talent and hard work the children put in. It was completely exhausting for everyone and even though the kids were super tired, they showed perserverance throughout the week by just carrying on with no fuss. Thank you Robins!

Our star of the week is Lucie! Lucie has been incredible for the past few weeks and has slowly been proving that her manners and kindess is above and beyond her years. Lucie continually works hard in lesson and I know at home she is working so hard with her Mum to do her spellings. In lessons she really wants to show others the way in their learning and is trying everything to the best of her ability. Thank you so much Lucie for being such a Christmas super star!

Please rest this weekend and come back for our final festive days this year!

It's beginning to look at lot like...

Friday 7th December 2018

Christmas is in full swing within Robins class! From practising the nativity to describing Santa with lots of reindeer food and mess on the way! We are having such a wonderful time thinking about the festive season in class and how important it is to everyone. Thank you so much for all your support in our Christmas bits and bobs, from coming tonight to bringing in costumes. We really appreciate it!

In Literacy, we have written a cold write about the littlest elf called Oliver and his reindeer Dot all before looking at the big man himself!! We are looking to write a wonderful character description of Father Christmas by the end of next week. This will show off all the amazing techniques we have learnt over the term and we are aiming to use all those things to really make these character descriptions shine!

Our maths is focusing on number knowledge. We have been splitting and moving sums around all week. Hopefully by the end of the next week, we will be thinking about how this can help us with some super Christmassy maths problems.

R.E. has been wonderful this term with Mrs Elliott and your wonderful work on Diwali has come out stunningly.You have made fantastic pom poms to decorate, cards to celebrate and fact files to inform! Well done Robins!

Robin's have also had their first take of a test and they behaved amazingly. They worked really hard and were very grown up. We were very proud!

Our star of the week is Freya! Your hard work has really paid off. You are really helpful and kind to all in Robins and your work is just amazing. Thank you for being such a good example and trying so hard. Continue taking ownership of your learning and you'll continue to fly!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. See you next week!

What a wow week!

Friday 30th November 2018

In Literacy we have been focusing on our fact file and creating a creepy animal to say lots about. We have used question marks and adjectives to make our fact file more exciting. In numeracy we have worked on number bonds and how we can break numbers and record this. The children are getting very good at this and are able to record this in loads of different ways. Well done Robins!

In topic we are still exploring American landmarks and why these are important. We've had lots of fun discussing this. In R.E. we are celebrating Diwali and learning why this is important. The children have made cards, fact files and pom poms to celebrate. In PSHE we have worked on how we can be kind to each other and support each other to do the right thing.

Our star of the week is Jake. We are so impressed with his growth over the last few weeks. Jake has tried new food and worked hard to make sure his work is done on  time. Thank you Jake for being a wonderful member of Robins class!

Rest up over the weekend and we will see you next week!

Learning Rocks!!

Friday 23rd November 2018

This week has been an amazing week and every single member of Robins has been working really hard in their learning. I am very proud of all my class this week!

In Literacy this week we have begun working on fact files and how we can use these to give information on a specific topic. This has been fantastic and the children have noticed a lot about this genre of writing. Over the next week, they will begin working on their own fact file on their own  made up animal.

In Numeracy we have been looking at the wholeness of numbers and how we can split them in different ways. The children have gained a lot of knowledge about numbers to ten and what they are made of. This had been noticed by loads of members of staff - including people from other classes! We have also been working on what equals means and they have been seeing if they can make number sentences that balance equally. 

In topic we have moved to America and luckily a lot of children know a lot about America. They already discussed lots of simple facts and they started to make pinwheels to celebrate the 4th of July. Over the next week we will discuss thanksgiving and why the Americans celebrate it each year.

Our star of the week is Logan! Logan has worked really hard this week and therefore has done loads of amazing learning. An unsung hero in our class, he is always ready for a challenge and will work so hard to do his work to the best of his ability. Logan you are a wonderful friend and a superb member of Robins!

Show us your spots!

Friday 16th November 2018

Wow! What a week! I’m so proud of my rocking Robins for such an adventurous week. Firstly, thank you for all your beautiful cards and presents, I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful class of children and parents. The children are finally getting used to Mrs Murray (or Mrs Curry!) and the three M surnames have not confused them!

In Literacy this week we have worked on our own version of the magic paintbrush. Children have changed the story to have different characters and we have had some brilliantly funny outcomes! I can’t wait for the children to tell you about all the silly stories they have created. We did our hot write today and next week will move onto a fact file on an animal.

In Numeracy we have been looking at part whole models and seeing how children could split them to create number sentences. The children have been fabulous at doing this and their number knowledge is coming along well.

As it is also anti-bullying week, we have looked at what makes a good friend and how we can be a good friend to one another. This has been done in pictures and then telling thank you stories to the person in the class who has helped them before. 

In topic we have moved to Africa and looked at the animals of the Sahara and how safaris are important to African tourism. We have also been looking at the climate and lifestyle that Africa has. Finally, we created beautiful sunsets and then cut out outlines of animals to go on our safari pictures. 

Our star of the week is Arthur! He has had an amazing start in Robins and we are really happy to have him in our class. He has a real can do attitude and shows others so much kindness and compassion. Thank you Arthur!
P.S. Please make sure to check out our spellings at the top of the blog! These will be changed each Monday :)

Frankie and the running track!

Friday 9th November 2018

We had such a busy week this week that it's hard to remember everything we have done. I'll start with all the new things in Robins class - firstly we have Frankie the donkey visiting our class to look at all the wonderful behavior and beautiful work the children have been doing. Secondly, we have started to use the running track. The children love using it to burn of some energy and get competitive at how fast they can get round.  

In English, we have worked on how to make sentences more exciting for the reader. We have enjoyed thinking of different adjectives for Shen and her story. In Maths, we looked at addition and how we can add numbers practically using blocks and number lines.   

We have also been looking at Safety in all areas and looking at how we can stay safe in different areas of the house. In topic we used aboriginal symbols to create our own hunting story using symbols the aboriginals used many years ago. The children loved the retelling side pretending to be fierce hunters!

Our star of the week is Georgia! She is a star member of Robins class who always helps others and supports children to understand the work. I am very proud of Georgia's progress in all her work and she is making everyone happy to be a part of Robins. Thank you Georgia!

First week back!

Friday 2nd November 2018

Welcome back Robins! We have missed you and hope you had a safe and fun half term! We got so much done this week that we can't wait to share it with you all!

Firstly, we started a new book in English called 'The Magic Paintbrush' which is a Chinese story that talks about giving to the poor. Ask your children about it as they were very engaged in the story itself. We have learnt how to use and in a sentence to add more information. We also did a cold write this week to show what we already know, before we start our learning. 

In Maths, we have been working on number lines and how we use them to find numbers and order correctly. We also worked on greater than and less than symbols to show how these are important to compare various numbers.

For our marvelous middle, we had a food tasting afternoon in Robins and we tasted food from China, America and lots of other places. The children really enjoyed the opportunity and even found things they really enjoyed.

Our star of the week is Teddy! Teddy is a very selfless member of Robins class who often gives his own free time up to support others. This is not just to help other children but also to support grown ups! He continually does the best work he possibly can and always asks for a challenge. Thank you Teddy for making Robins a wonderful environment!

Half term!

Friday 19th October 2018

What an amazing first half term in Robins! I am so proud of everything that the Robins have achieved. The class has done really well in settling in and they have made all the teachers very proud. 

The children have done an amazing big write, which is completely unaided work. This is all the little bits we have done within lessons, helping to create a beautiful piece of work. They wrote a story about Meerkat Mail and adapted this to create their own animal and settings. This was the first time they have done this and therefore is a huge achievement. 

In Numeracy we have done lots of number work to make sure we are forming our letters correctly. We have used number lines to order numbers and our favourite has been trying to create number bonds to 10 in loads of different ways.

We have continued on with Australia and focused on the ways Australia is different to England and how their days are very different to ours. We even looked at some postcards and things from this country.

In PSHE we looked at safety on the internet again and how this is different to real life situations. This also lead us to think about how we can keep others safe and keep safe in our own homes.

Our star of the week this week is Adele! She has been a secret and super member of our class who always tries her best and never makes a fuss. She is growing in confidence and we are very proud of how far she has come. Thank you Adele!
Also, a very sad blog post today as we are loosing Hollie from our class. We wish you all the best Hollie and we hope to see you again soon!

A week of super stardom!

Friday 12th October 2018

What a week! I think everyone in the school has been so busy that the weekend will be very much needed for all staff and pupils. We have worked amazingly hard with PopUK to not only record an album but to do two concerts. We have thoroughly enjoyed PopUK and I think we will all still be singing pop swagger for months. Many thanks to all the parents that came along, you were amazing in your support and we all really enjoyed showing off our learning.

The classroom has also been super busy with lots of fun and exciting learning. We have worked on our sentences this week in Literacy, making sure we are able to put in all the extra information our readers would like. We remembered to use the word 'and' to add more information and also learnt about describing words with their posh name - adjectives! In numeracy we have been working on our number formation of our teen numbers, making sure we remember which way round they go. We have also learnt about how to add and make number bonds to 10 and 20. This means that we are getting even quicker at our snappy maths.

In topic, we have started to learn about Australia and some of the different things that belong there such as Kangaroos, Australian Dollars and the flag that represents the country. We have also done work in PSHE about being good friends and how this can help us to stay safe, just like our school rules remind us to daily. We have also started to talk about ICT and how this can be used safely so we can start to look for research on the internet. 

Our star of the week this week was Lennox! Lennox has been working really hard recently at making sure he always aims for the stars. He makes everyone smile in the classroom and always tries to make everyone's day brighter by helping. Thanks Lennox, you really did us proud!

We are all secret popstars!

Friday 5th October 2018

This week has been my personal favourite so far at Green's Norton and I think the kids would totally agree with me! We have all become secret popstars with the help of Curly Clare from PopUK. We have learnt 7 (YES 7) songs in 2 days of hard work and they are absolutely loving it. We have been able to sing and dance and show our own personalities through these songs and we cannot wait to show you what we have been working on next week! Even us teachers have been booging along, which the children have found hilarious. 

We have also been working hard in our classroom this week to remember our story map about Meerkat mail. We have also been learning our three special rules for a sentence and how these make our sentences even more exciting for people to read. 

In Numeracy, we have enjoyed working on simple addition and making sure we remember which way our numbers go when we write them. 

In our topic, we have enjoyed listening to Chinese tales and doing traditional Chinese writing.  We have also learnt how to say hello, goodbye and thank you to everyone we meet. 

Next week, we will practice our songs ready to show you our hidden talents and get ready to become recording artists! We will also be saying Xie Xie (thank you to China) and hopping onto our plane to the great land down under, Australia!

We hope to see you next Wednesday at one of our amazing concerts!

Happy harvest!

Friday 28th September 2018

This week has been a very busy week in Robins. We have spent a lot of time working on classroom routine and ensuring that we are always trying our best. 

In Literacy, we have been enjoying learning the story of Meerkat Mail, following Sunny as he tries to find a new home which suits him. We have had fun ordering the story, thinking about what he would need in his suitcase and creating what we thought would be his perfect house.

In Numeracy, we've enjoyed looking at counting both forwards and backwards, using ten's squares to help us count effectively. 

We also explored China, looking at the language and what famous landmarks there are. We looked at some of Miss Dodson's videos of Chinese traditions that she took when she was teaching there and listened to lots of Chinese music. We learnt about the lantern festival and watched the traditional Chinese dragons that dance around at these festivals. 

Next week, we are continuing to look around China and learn more about the culture and how they write. 

Finally, I would like to say thank you to all parents who came to support the school at the Harvest Festival. The children worked really hard and mastered a very tricky poem. Well done Robins! 

Welcome to France!

Friday 21st September 2018

Another fantastic week in Robins Classroom! We have had a superb week where we have worked super hard!

In Numeracy, we worked on our number formation and counting correctly. We did a lot of practising our teen numbers and making sure they are the right way round. In Literacy, we have continued to work on making our sentences even more wonderful by making sure we add capitals and full stops. 

In Topic, we have gotten on our plane to France. The children have enjoyed learning some words in French, recreating the flag and seeing where France is on the map. We learnt about the capital city and what amazing things there are to see and do. We found out what French people like to eat and even got to build our own Eiffel Tower!

Our star of the week this week was Gracie! Another new member of the class who has come in prepared to learn and work hard. She is a very polite member of the class who always remembers her pleases and thank yous. She has been doing lots of reading at home and it has really shown when working with the adults in the class. 

Au revoir France! Next week we say Ni Hao to China!

What a week!

Friday 14th September 2018

We have been working super hard this week on our learning and it really is impressing everyone! We have been working on the start of our topic, talking about different countries, how we get to them and why it is exciting and important to go to other countries and experience new cultures. 

In Numeracy, we have been working really hard on grouping objects in different ways and reasoning why we would put them together. We have also been showing off our number knowledge and writing lots of numbers. We are practising making sure our numbers are in the correct order and making sure that we form our letters correctly. 

In Literacy, it's been a wonderful week. We have been looking at how we can describe our forest train station and looking for different ways to make our sentences even more fantastic. We have been trying to use the word 'and' to extend our sentences and we have made everyone very impressed with our super vocabulary.

Our star of the week is Tom! Tom is new to our class and has settled in wonderfully. We all feel very lucky he has joined us as he puts a smile on everyone's face and always wants to do his best. He is embracing every opportunity and we are very proud of him. Well done Tom!

Next week, we are travelling to France! We will see you there!

Welcome, Robins!

Friday 7th September 2018

What an amazing first week we have all had in Robins! I have been blown away by how our Robins have done in their new classroom and how responsible they have been in their new responsibility of being year 1 students! They are a kind and friendly class and have made me feel so welcome joining the school and I am so proud of them already. I cannot wait to see what is in store for the entire year with them.

This week we have launched straight into our topic Earth Explorers and have had a wonderful time exploring different countries in our aeroplane. It's been a stunning start, exploring where the children have been before and all the wonderful countries we know about. We have done some wonderful artwork using paint and collage to recreate flags from around the world.

Robins have started to show off their fantastic knowledge by showing me all their numbers and writing about their summers. I am so impressed with their hard work and their enthusiasm! 

Thank you very much for all your welcoming chats and I cannot wait to see what the Robins show me next!