Christmas Jumper Day - 16.12.16

This week we have been busy celebrating Christmas.


Today is Christmas jumper day and we have been raising money for Save the Children. Thank you for your donations.


On Wednesday, we had Christmas lunch which was delicious. Benjamin said 'My favourite part was the rice crispy Christmas tree for pudding!'. We also had a VERY special visitor on Wednesday...Father Christmas! We were so lucky to all receive a present.


In English, we have been learning how to write letters. After reading The Jolly Christmas Postman, we wrote our own letters to Baby Bear and Little Red Riding Hood. We then applied this skill to our computing and wrote letters to Santa whilst practising our touch typing skills.


Well done to Deahn who is Star of the Week for always using kind words to talk about others. Charlie is spending the weekend with Night.


Don’t forget our Christmas party day in on Monday 19^th December. We will be wearing our school uniform and our party hats that we made. The teachers will also be providing a yummy treat.

Home Learning is to keep a diary of what you get up to over the Christmas holidays. You can write sentences, draw pictures or add photographs to your diary entries.

Please make sure all costumes are in school Monday morning as we will be doing a dress rehearsal. Please make sure they are placed into a named carrier bag which will be placed on your child’s peg.

We cannot wait for the pantomime this afternoon!

Counting down to Christmas! - 9.12.16

In Maths we have been measuring length. We have been learning to use rulers to measure accurately in cm. We enjoyed following instructions to measure card and create a Christmas tree picture. We have also been learning to measure time. Please continue to practise this at home.


In Creative writing, we read the beginning of a Christmas story  called 'Coming Home'. We then created our own stories about the journey that the robin took to get home and what adventures he had along the way.


We have enjoyed doing Christmas activities in the afternoons this week. We have been busy creating Christmas hats to wear next week as well as making Christmas cards.


Well done to Jamie who won the star award this week for celebrating other's achievements.
Erin has taken Night home as she challenged herself in her Creative Writing today.


REMINDER:
Please practise your lines and songs for our Christmas sharing assembly. We start our rehearsals next week.
It is Christmas jumper day next Friday.

Christmas Calender - 2.12.16

It is the start of December and we are all very excited about Christmas in Maple! Today we have helped to decorate the Christmas tree in the hall. We have also started our advent calendar in Maple.


In English, we have been looking at the traditional tale Little Red Riding Hood. We created a character description about The Big Bad Wolf. John thinks that 'The wolf is greedy because he ate Granny up'. Deahn read a different version of the story during Guided Reading and said that Granny ran through the back door and escaped. We thought of similies to describe the wolf's appearance. Liam said 'His teeth are as sharp as razors'.


In Maths, we have been learning about division. When we divide we share into equal groups. We have learnt different strategies to help us solve division problems including sharing out multilink, groupings and arrays in our books. We now know that divided by 2 is the same as halving.


In Games, we have continued to practise our hockey skills. This week we have been learning to shoot accurately and pass the ball as a team.


Well done to Liam who is Star of the week for being a kind and caring friend. Luca has taken home Night for his wonderful attitude towards his writing.


REMINDER:
Next Wednesday it is Maple's turn for Forest School. Please make sure you have wellington boots and a warm coat.

Sustainable St Albans Week - 25.11.16

In English this week we have been learning about explanation texts. We looked at similarities between non-chronological reports and explanation texts.
- They both have headings
- Only non-chronological reports have subheadings.
- They both have facts and photographs.
- Only explanations are in a numbered order.
We wrote our own explanation texts about how chocolate is made. It made us very hungry!


In Maths, we have been multiplying. We have used lots of different strategies to multiply such as grouping, arrays and using counting in 2s, 5s and 10s mentally. We know that when multiplying, the number always gets bigger.


This week is Sustainable St Albans Week so we went to Tesco to learn about where our food comes from. Well done to everybody in Maple Class for representing the school so well on our visit.


In Geography, we learnt what 'local produce' meant. We used directional language (North, East, South, West) to answer questions about a map of a farm.


Well done to Benjamin who has taken Night home this week for his fantastic, independent maths work.
Tina has won Star of the week for being such a kind and caring friend to others.


REMINDER:
Tomorrow is our Christmas Bazaar. Our amazing Christmas tree decorations will be on sale for £1 each.

Children In Need - 18.11.16

This week has been work shadowing week and we have loved having our grown ups in school and showing them all of our learning.


In English, we have been using our nocturnal facts to create non-chronological reports. We have included headings, subheadings, introduction and paragraphs.
'When hedgehogs are born, they are blind for 14 days' - Tommy
'Foxes bury their food underground when they are full up and save it for later' - Beth
'Badgers live in big groups. Their home is called a Sett' - Charlie


In Maths, we have been learning about money. We know that the same amount can be made in different ways e.g.
10p + 10p = 20p (Kiki)
5p + 5p + 5p + 5p = 20p (Isabelle)
We have been using empty numberlines to add and subtract amounts.


Yesterday was World Philosophy Day. To read 'Zoo' by Anthony Brown and thought about whether animals should be kept in zoo's. We looked at both sides of the argument...
Freddie said 'If animals are injured, zoo's have vets to help make them better but they wouldn't have those in the wild'
Erin said 'Not all animals have a lot of space in zoo's and they are not in their natural habitat'.
We know that there is no right or wrong answer in philosophy and we have to respect everyone's ideas.


Today is Children in Need. Thank you to everyone who has dressed up, brought a teddy and donated money to help children who are less fortunate than us.


The library will now be open on Thursday and Friday mornings between 8.30-8.45 if you would like to visit with your grown ups.

Remembrance Day - 11.11.16

Hello,


A huge well done for your fantastic sharing assembly this morning!


Today is Remembrance Day and we had a 2 minute silence at 11 O'clock. We've been learning about why we have Remembrance Day in Topic this week. Thank you to Caeden and Liam who have been visiting all of the classes and selling poppies at school all week.


It is also World Kindness Day on Sunday. We discussed how we can show kindness to one another and agreed that this should be done everyday.



In Maths, we have been learning about fractions. A fraction is a part of a whole - we know that all parts must be equal. We have been shading in halves, quarters and thirds of shapes and also applying this to quantities. Can you recall halves of numbers to 20? You may want to continue to challenge yourself to do this at home.


In English, we have begun looking at non-chronological reports. We have been researching nocturnal animals ready to write our own report next week. Today we made some fantastic posters about Badgers and Mrs Stewart and I were so proud of how you all worked collaboratively with your partners. You even earned a marble for it!


Nat has taken home Night this weekend for continuing his learning at home. Well done to Akeem for getting the Star Award for helping his friends in the classroom.


Enjoy your weekend!

Fabulous Fireworks!

This week we have been learning all about Bonfire Night. In Topic, we learnt about The Gunpowder Plot in1605. Well done to JJ who was able to talk in detail about the event.


In English, we have been creating our own acrostic poems about fireworks. We included lots of adventurous word choices. John was able to include alliteration and a simile in his poem
'Fizzing fireworks are zooming up into the midnight sky.
In the midnight sky fireworks are banging and falling like sparkling, shimmering glitter'


We also made our own firework dances in Dance this week creating different shapes for explosions.


In Maths, we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes. We know that 2D shapes are flat and 3D shapes are solid. Some of us made our own clues. Can you guess which shape Charlie is describing
'I am a 3D shape. I have 3 faces, 2 edges and no vertices. What am I?'




Well done to Charlie who has been awarded Star of the Week for helping others.
Kiki has taken our Learning Owl Night home this weekend.


Enjoy your weekend and if you are going to a firework display this weekend then remember to stay with your adult at all times to stay safe.

Maple's blog is back!

Welcome to our Maple Class blog.


We have had a brilliant 1st half term. Our topic is called 'Brilliant Books'.


We are now up and running and are looking forward to sharing our learning with you on this blog every Friday.

Maths Problem Solving Day

Today was Maths Problem Solving Day. We talked about why maths is important - you will be able to see our mind map on the website soon. We spent this morning solving problems to do with money. First we had to work out "Ben has 5 coins in his pocket. How much money could he have?" Our answers ranged from 5p (5 x 1ps) to £10 (5 x £2). Jennifer went in the Star Book for recording this is a systematic way.


Then we had to solve lots of problems about going to the shop and what we could buy to spend an exact amount of money. There were some very tricky questions, but Mrs McLellan was pleased that we persevered so well. Well done Emily, Eleanor, Lily, Matilda and Lottie for going in the Star Book for showing resilience - they didn't stop until they had solved ALL of the problems.


"It really was a fun day!" said Matilda


On Wednesday, we went outside with Chestnut Class to have Sports' Day. We threw javelins to a cone. We got one point for getting it to the first cone and 2 points for getting to the second cone. We ran in and out of the cones; if we missed a cone, we didn't get a point. We had to balance a tennis ball on a racquet and walk in and out of the cones. We all had great fun.


Most of this week, we have been rehearsing for Reach for the Sky - we still need to practise our words at home.


We also painted some flower pots which we can buy at the Strawberry Fayre, which is 11-2 tomorrow.


Some children in our class went to Childwickbury Arts' Fair today - we can't wait to hear what they did.


The Star Award this week went to Vedant, for making good choices about who he sits with on the carpet. Well done, Vedant.

Healthy Lifestyles

This week, we should have had Sports' Day, but the weather was too rainy. So, we are looking forward to having it soon.


We had a day finding out about Healthy Lifestyles. We looked at what a balanced plate of food should look like and other ways we stay healthy. We took our learning forward by creating a balanced plate of food or by doing a PowerPoint.


Harry's dad came in and talked to us about fire safety. He asked us all to check that we had a smoke alarm at home and explained how to call for help if we needed it. We knew not to ring 999 unless it is an emergency though. We had great fun looking in the fire engine. There's room for 6 firefighters and they have a big machine for cutting through metal as well as the hoses.


In Creative Writing this week, we read some of Roald Dahl's Magic Finger. Then we had to create a story about another character with a magic finger. Our stories were lots of fun!


We  listened to some of The Enormous Crocodile and then had a problem to solve in maths today.


Twelve children want to cross a stream to meet their friends on the other side. There are three boats tied to the bank. Next to the boat there is a sign that reads:

BEWARE OF THE CROCODILES!

If the children wish to cross the stream safely they must row all three boats across the river at the same time; there must be an even number of passengers in each boat.


We worked in small groups to solve the problem and chose different ways to record. Lily also took her learning further in Learning through Play and tried to see if 15 children could make the journey...


We really enjoyed Lime Class' assembly this morning. We thought they all spoke clearly and we could tell they have been working very hard.


Lily got the Star Award this week for the way she took her learning forward in maths. Well done, Lily.


Our Home Learning is to continue learning our lines for the play.


We have a French Café for our grown ups on Monday 4th July at 2:30 - please let Mrs McLellan/Mrs Grimes know if you can come.


Have a good weekend.

Green Day!

On Wednesday, we celebrated Green Day. We came to school dressed in green and we weren't allowed to use any electricity. We had to do activities that didn't need electricity. It was also World Wind Day, so we all made a kite to fly.


In English, we had to research a country that takes part in the Olympics. We created mind maps, wrote reports and created the country's flag. We also found out about a sports person from that country.


In maths, we read the story 'The Five Creatures.' Then we had to use the style of the story to write a number story about our families.
I have 5 creatures. 1 of us sings in the shower, 4 do not. Jennifer
I have 5 creatures. 2 of mine argue. 3 don't. Adi
I have 7 creatures. 6 have 2 legs, the other one has 4 legs. Isaac


We also had the chance to write our own trick that Mr or Mrs Twit might play. We had lots of fun and disgusting ideas that made the grown ups in Maple laugh!


We have taken home Roald Dahl books to read. When we've finished our first book, we can go to Mrs Byrne to talk about it and get a Bookworm badge. Well done, Amy for being the first person in Maple to do this.


Our Home Learning is to practise our words for the play, because we are starting practising next week.


It's Sports Day on Wednesday, so we need to come to school in our PE kits. We should bring our uniform to get changed into afterwards. Everyone needs a water bottle.  Mums and Dads, remember you can get a bacon sandwich before Sports Day starts, so bring your money!


The Learning Owl this week is Grace. Mrs McLellan is really proud of Grace because she has been working independently and taken risks in her learning. Well done, Grace. Have a nice weekend with Night


Every single one of us could have won the Star Award this week as we've all been getting better with our learning. Well done to Riley, though who got the certificate for trying really hard and believing in himself.

A busy week!

What a busy week we've had!


We have all worked very hard to create an owl by cutting out felt and sewing pieces together. You will get to see them at the art exhibition on Open Evening.


We went to Forest Schools. It was a very sunny day and we took some different activities to do there.
I made a hotel with Grace and Amy. I looked for some animals to put in there to make it a bug hotel. Emily
My friends and I made a bug hotel too. We called it The Bug Resort. We used some wood and stones. We made a tightrope and put a snail on it. Isaac
We took the water colours down and I did a painting of the pond. Matilda
I found a branch from a tree and I got some ribbon and wound it round the branch. Olivia
On Redbourn Common, there's knitting all around a tree. It inspired us to do it at Forest School, using ribbon. Harry


In Topic we have been learning about the Olympics.
Women who were married weren't allowed to watch the Olympics in ancient times. Grace
When they ran, the men were naked so they could show off their muscles. Edward
Women weren't allowed to run in the ancient Olympics. Jennifer
Women can run now. Albie
The only event was a running race. Holly
18 more events were added over the next 100 years. Cory


In Games, we have been learning about golf. We were trying to hit the ball accurately to hit the target. We have also been practising our Sports' Day activities.


Today, we met our Year 5 buddies and did some reading with them. It was good fun and they also started to answer our questions about being in Year 3.


Our Home Learning this week is to look for 2d and 3d shapes and write about their similarities and differences.


The coin challenge finishes on Wednesday, so any more loose change would be appreciated.


Wednesday is Green Day, so we can wear non-uniform/something green. We could also bring in a small donation for Tiggywinkles animal hospital.


This week, the Star Award is for coping with an unexpected change. Well done, Albie who really deserved this.


Night is going home with someone who has a fantastic attitude towards their learning. This week, she persevered with her owl - cutting it out and sewing it all by herself. She also offered to help Mr Joyce getting some resources ready for next week. Well done Amy - have a great weekend with Night.

Creative Writers

Today, we all showed off our creative writing skills by writing our own stories. We could choose to write a story about whatever we wanted.


Mine was about 6 beasts and 6 portals. Cory
My story was about a magic tree. Ruan
Mine was about a girl who had a dream about horse riding. Grace
My story was about an angry bird. Riley


The adults in our class were really impressed with our ideas and the vocabulary we chose to use.


In Topic, we had the chance to design our own sculptures. We had lots of creative ideas - flowers, animals, Ninjas, water features and spaceships. We were able to chose what we want to use to create our sculpture:


Cardboard boxes and clay. Jennifer
Wire and tubes. Holly
Bottle tops and wire. Olivia
Paper, wood and cardboard. Max


We are looking forward to making our sculptures next week.


On Thursday, we went to Forest School. We did 3 activities - we played in the muddy kitchen, pond dipped and looked for animal habitats.


I enjoyed making the chocolate muffins and soup in the muddy kitchen. Lottie
When I did pond dipping, I found a wiggly tadpole. Isaac
I found a pond skate. It was fast and good at hiding. Adi
I enjoyed making hot chocolate with my friend in muddy kitchen. Matilda
I looked under logs to see what bugs I could find. I found a couple of slugs. I think they were there because it's muddy. Amy
Under the logs, we found a really big slug. We made a good habitat for it using wood. Edward


We also started talking about our end of year play. It sounds very exciting and we will be learning all about the Olympics to get us ready for it! Our Home Learning is to find out about a London 2012 Paralympic athlete. We can record our work in our own way.


The Star Award this week is going to Emily because she is really good at helping her friends when they are sad. Well done, Emily.


Our Learning Owl this week is Jorgie! She has been working very hard this week to persevere and be independent. She wrote a lovely story today, remembering everything she needed to include. Well done, Jorgie. Have fun with Night...


Don't forget to come and see our fabulous dancing next week. Community Tea 2pm on Thursday (in school uniform) On Friday we need to come to school in our smart clothes and bring our uniform to change into... Our dancing will start just after 9am.

Sculpture

This week we have been finishing our work on The Sweetest Song. We thought about what the next chapter of the story could be and wrote this. Mrs McLellan thought we all had very different ideas and our stories were fun to read.


In science, we have been learning more about electricity. There are lots of things that can produce energy and turn it into electricity like a wind turbine, water turbine and coal. In Learning through Play, Max and Isaac finally completed their K'nex helicopter that needed an electrical circuit. They followed the instructions and persevered through 3 Learning through Play sessions.


In Topic, we have continued our learning about sculpture. We looked at pictures of different sculptures and then asked questions about them. In Philosophy, we wondered "What would happen if there were no sculptures made?" I wonder what you answer would be?


IN PE we've been practising our Maypole and country dances and we are starting to get ready for Sports' Day.


Next week, we have Forest School on Thursday - so we need our welly boots in school. Our home learning is to see what animal habitats we can find near our home and choose a way to record what we find.


We also need boxes, tubes and yogurt pots to help with our topic work.


Well done to Amy for getting the Star Award this week for being great at telling the truth saying sorry if she needs to.


Ruan thoroughly deserves to take Night home this week, for showing a really positive attitude to his learning, trying hard with all of his work and listening well. Have a great weekend with Night, Ruan!

Wonders of The World

In topic this week we have been learning about the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. The Pyramid at Giza is the only wonder left standing today. It took twenty years to build, without any machines. It is 139 metres tall.
 Our home learning this week is to find out about one of the Modern Wonders of the World.

In English we have been planning a new story based on the characters in The Sweetest Song.

In Maths we have been looking at inverse. 4+5=9 is the same as 5+4=9 you can also say 9-4=5 and 9-5=4.

 We have been practicing our Maypole dancing this week ,we have learnt a Barbers Pole .

In computing we having been learning how to write logarithms so we can programme the beebots.

Well done to Isaac for getting the Star Award this week for being pleased for someone's achievements.

Vedant has taken Night home this week for always being ready to learn and taking his learning forward this week.

Electricity

One of our favourite things this week has been learning about electricity...
Don't put electrical things anywhere near water. Jennifer
Don't turn on a light with wet hands. Vedant
Don't overload a plug socket. Olivia
When you go out of the house, switch your electrical things off. Grace
Electricity comes from coal. Adi

In Learning through Play, we have started to build some electrical circuits and toys that we bought with our money from FORIS. We are working well in teams and one group managed to build a circuit to fly a helicopter!

In dance, we have been practising for May Day. We are doing well with dancing round the Maypole and this week we started to learn our country dance too.

In games, we are developing our football skills. We had to dribble the ball with control, look for the goal and shoot accurately. We made it more challenging by putting a goalkeeper in the goal!

In English, we have been reading the story "The Sweetest Song." First, we had to give our opinion about the characters. Lily chose Little Daughter and said she was wise and naughty because she shouldn't have gone out of the gate, but she was clever to trick the wolf. Next, we wrote a letter, either to Papa or Little Daughter. Harry wrote to Little Daughter telling her what she should have done.

Home Learning this week has been set by Mrs O. We've been asked to create a colourful poster for Redbourn in Bloom, on the theme of gardens. These need to come in to school on Tuesday.

This week the Star Award is for being proud of someone else's achievements. We chose Max to receive it as he always says well done to others. Well done Max.

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend everyone.

Our Trip to Waddesdon

On Thursday, the whole of Year Two went on a trip to Waddesdon Manor. We went on a double decker bus and it took us an hour to get there. When we arrived, we walked down the crickly, crackly drive to the terrific, royal looking house!


We spent some time inside the house where it was like a museum. We looked at sculptures in the house. They were made from different materials like purple volcanic rock, bronze, gold, silver and metal. Outside, we learnt about some Greek Myths and had to find the sculpture of Flora; the goddess of Spring. We knew when we had found the right sculpture because she had spring flowers over her.
After lunch, we used some clay to make a pot and we are looking forward to developing our clay skills at school. Last, but not least, we went on the adventure playground. There was a really big slide and we went down forward and backwards! We also enjoyed spinning round the fireman's pole. Mrs Byrne was pleased to see all the risks we were taking.


"We saw sculptures made out of bottles." Lottie
"Hercules was brave and the horses that he had to defeat were scary, but in the sculpture they looked nice." Amy
"I twisted round the pole - it was fun!" Riley
"It was the best trip ever!" Harry


Maple Class have had a very successful week - Ruan's  Easter Garden was highly commended and Harry's won the prize! Well done.


Jennifer and Eleanor found out their stories had got through to the 2nd round of the Radio 2 500 Words competition! The first round had 123,400 stories and now they're one of  4,500 stories. Well done, girls :) and fingers crossed you get to the final 50, but you should be very proud of yourselves.


We also found out that our May Queen and King this year are Lily and Edward. Well done both of you...


Our Home Learning this week is to research The Queen and Royal Family - record your work in your own way.


This week's Star Award is going to Amy C for always being fair. Well done, Amy.


Night is going home with Riley this week for showing a really good attitude towards all of his learning. He's worked independently and was able to tell us loads about Hercules when we were on our trip. Well done, Riley. Have fun with Night.

Mrs Byrne's Birthday

We've had a fun last week of term.


On Wednesday, it was Mrs Byrne's birthday! We've been keeping lots of secrets from her - fun, rainbow bunting, birthday cards, a rainbow picture we all helped to create and learning words to a special song. We enjoyed her birthday assembly. Thank you Mrs Byrne for the delicious birthday cake.


In Topic, we brought all of our learning together by completing some Thinkers' Keys. These are questions and phrases that make us think creatively about our learning.
I did a space alphabet. Edward
I designed a new rocket which was purple. Grace
I made a mouse trap using 10 lolly sticks, 10 rubber bands, 2 straws and 1 carrier bag - Lily
I thought of 10 animals I'd probably never see. Vedant


We had RE day. We did some Indian Dancing and learnt about the festival of Holi. In the afternoon, we decorated a simnel cake and finished our learning about Easter.
I enjoyed making the simnel cake. I found out there are 11 balls for Jesus' disciples because Judas wasn't really Jesus' friend. Jennifer
I went in the Star Book for doing some really good Bollywood dancing. Riley
We watched some video clips about Easter. I found out that there were 2 other people on crosses near Jesus - Matilda


We've enjoyed sharing our home learning about how to look after our teeth.


We're looking forward to the FORIS Easter Challenge. Our other home learning is to read and spell some words we're bringing home.


Our Star Award this week goes to Holly for stopping and thinking before she makes a choice. Well done, Holly.


We are back at school on TUESDAY 19th April. Have a wonderful 2 weeks off school!

Happy Easter everyone!

We continued our learning about the body this week. We found out all about teeth!
Teeth are not made out of bone, they're made out of enamel - Emily
There are 4 types of teeth - they can be spiky, straight, small, medium or large - Harry
If you lose your big teeth, they don't grow back - Lottie
Remember to brush your teeth - Albie
You should go the dentist twice a year - Olivia


In RE, we've been learning more about Easter. Today is Maundy Thursday.
It is when Christians remember Jesus' Last Supper - Grace P
At the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples feet to show that he wasn't too special - Matilda
Christians believe that Jesus said the bread was his body and the wine was his blood - Cory
Jesus asked his friends to remember Him and to love each other - Harry


We watched Year One's play - Rise and Shine
It was good because the acted like the animals they were - Riley
Year One spoke loudly and clearly - Johnny
They were really confident on the stage - Lily
They all knew what to say straightaway - Lottie
It was all about Spring - Amy
It was about Easter - Freddy


Today we had Forest Schools. It was fun to take our learning outside. We used tape measures, metre sticks and the trundle wheel to measure trees, areas and each other. We used our English skills to write poems and descriptions of Spring at the Forest School area. We also worked in groups to build habitats for wild animals.


Our Home Learning is to design a poster about looking after our teeth.


This week's Star Award was for listening to and helping others and it was given to Grace as she is very kind and helpful. Well done, Grace!


Have a great Easter weekend. See you on Tuesday.

Sport Relief

We have been very busy again this week in Maple.

This week in Maths we have been learning to measure: capacity and temperature. We measure temperature in degrees Celsius and capacity in litres and millilitres. Max

In English we continued with our non-chronological reports and finished our own space books.

In Topic we have been learning about the skeleton, there are 205 bones in our body! Josh.

 We have 12 pairs of ribs, these protect our lungs and heart. Our skull protects our brain. Harry, Jennifer

In creative writing we were thinking about going on a space adventure with Tim Peake.

This week we have been thinking why exercise is good for our health. It strengthens your muscles and heart, and it can give you a good night’s sleep. In order to investigate how our blood pumps round our body we recorded our pulse before and after 10 minutes of exercise.

On Friday, we were thinking about keeping healthy and in aid of Sports Relief we raise money by running 2 laps around the school. Amy

This week the star award went to Grace for listening and helping  others. Well done Grace for being kind and such a good friend.

Night went home with Amy for taking risks with her learning. Well done Amy, enjoy your weekend with Night.

Home Learning this week is to record signs of spring in your own way.

Don’t forget next week on Thursday afternoon we have Forest School.

Digestion!

We've had another busy week in Maple Class!


In English, we've been looking at non-chronological reports and non-fiction books all about space.


The sun is a ball of gas and it is a star. Jorgie
Space is very quiet. Johnny
It is cold in space. Holly


We have started our own space books and we will finish these next week.


In maths, we have been practising our measuring skills. We have used the rulers and tape measures to measure length. We've been reading scales to measure weights too.
When you're measuring something, you have to start at zero. Olivia
We measure length in centimetres, metres and kilometres. Jennifer
We measure how heavy things are using grams and kilograms. Eleanor


Last week's Home Learning was fantastic. Mrs McLellan was delighted with the amount of books that came back and the work we did about the digestive system. We used this to help us in science.
We learnt a tricky word -oesophagus. It's the tube your food goes down. Emily
Your food gets broken into tiny pieces. Harry
The large intestine takes all the water away. Vedant 


In games, we've moved on from tennis to football, so we've been learning to dribble a ball with control.


We had a Pedestrian Skills workshop this week. We went on a walk around Redbourn. We talked about the signs and we practised crossing the road safely. You have to look every way that cars come, to check it is clear. You also need to listen for vehicles in case you can't see them! You walk across the road, looking left and right for vehicles. Thank you to the grown ups who helped us.


This week's Star Award is for someone who shows confidence when working in a group. Well done to Edward for getting this.


This week's Learning Owl is Max! He showed good perseverance with his learning - especially when he explained features of living things. He also did some amazing Home Learning and showed what neat handwriting he had. Well done, Max. Have a great weekend with Night.


Our Home Learning this week is to spell the months of the year and days of the week.


We haven't won the Walk with Friends Friday sticker yet :( Mrs McLellan has challenged us all to try and walk next Friday. (Park at the common and walk from there if you live far away!)

Book Week

This week has been Book Week. We spent the week looking at different types of poems. We started with Ning, Nang, Nong which is a nonsense poem. We drew pictures of what we thought the land looked like, made music to go with it and had a go at writing our own Ning Nang Nong poem.
"Where the cars go honk!" Edward
"On the Ming, Ling, Ting. Where the books go bling." Olivia


Yesterday was World Book Day and we worked with our Year 5 buddy class. We read the book "The Rainforest Grew", which was written as a poem with repeated phrases. "Then I wrote  a calligram in the shape of a butterfly." Grace "I wrote an acrostic poem, using the word FROG." Amy  "We also had a little rainforest picture which we stuck on paper and then finished it off using pastels." Adi When the juniors came back to us they performed the poem using actions and musical instruments. We thought they did really well...


Today, most of us came to school dressed as a book character...
Max was Dennis the Menace,
Ruan was Ron Weasley
Matilda and Holly were Matilda
Lottie was Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Have a look at the photo on our website next week to guess who the rest of us were.


All week, we've been doing Stop and Read and we did it the most- 14 times! So we had an extra 5 minute play as a reward.


The Star Award this week is going to Freddy for doing something to be proud of. He wrote a lovely story about a knight and a dragon, remembering his finger spaces. Well done, Freddy.


Our Learning Owl is Isaac! Isaac cares and shares well, he perseveres with his learning, takes risks and works well on his own and with others. Well done, Isaac. Have a nice weekend with Night.


Home Learning is to find out how we digest our food.... We can record our work however we like.


Next week, we have Forest School on WEDNESDAY afternoon and


Pedestrian Skills on THURSDAY afternoon

Our Outstanding Sharing Assembly

Today, it was our turn to do a sharing assembly. We wanted to show off all the things we had learnt since Christmas - there was so much we wanted to say! We had to remember to speak clearly, holding the microphone on our chin. We had to wait our turn and remember to smile when we were singing! We hope you enjoyed it!


In maths, we have been learning to tell the time. We practised making times on a clock and then used that to solve some problems. We found quarter to and past quite tricky, so maybe we can try it again at home.


In English, we have been reading space poems. In them, we had to find alliteration and onomatopoeia. Alliteration is when there's a few words together that start with the same letter like roaring red rockets. Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like the sound it makes. You'd use an exclamation mark after it - BANG! WHOOSH! We will be continuing with this learning next week, in Book Week.


Verb of the week this week is 'To be'.


On Tuesday we had a science workshop. It was called Moondust on my Socks. We explored making electrical circuits to make a light switch on and off. This helped us to speak alien! We also made a card with a moving rocket on it. We learnt about astronauts going to the moon, too. Did you know the moon is made out of rock? It has craters on it, too.


This week our home learning is to find poems we like and say what we like about them - we could also have a go at writing our own poem. Next Friday we can dress up as a book character if we want to, otherwise we come to school in our uniform.


The Star Award this week goes to Matilda - her story for the 500 Words competition was great, she really persevered with it.


Our Learning Owl this week is Harry. He tries hard with his work, he's a great friend to others and lots of adults around school comment on how kind and polite he is. Well done, Harry. Have a great weekend with Night.


Building work starts next week, so please come to the back door at the playground to drop off on Monday morning. On Tuesday, we need to be dropped off at Treetops as we'll be working in there....

Our Amazing Learning

We've done loads of amazing learning this week...


In maths, we have been learning more skills to help us multiply. We learnt that multiplication is commutative , so it can be done in any order. We used empty number lines to multiply and then used all of our skills to solve some problems.


In English, we have been reading non-fiction texts. The books we've looked at were all about space. We had to compare 2 or 3 books to see whether they all had good pictures, what the size of the writing was like, whether they had labels, a contents page, index and glossary. We created a mind map to show the facts we found out.


We also challenged ourselves to write our own stories, or carry on ones we'd already started in Creative Writing.


In science, we had to find out which materials were waterproof to fix Mrs Grimes' umbrella. We thought that plastic would be the best material. We tested it by pouring water onto it and we were right!


Well done to Riley for achieving his goals and getting this week's Star Award.


Over the half term holidays, we have assembly words to practise and a poster to design for the fun run. Our challenge is to practise reading and telling the time.


Have a great half term holiday everyone!

NSPCC Number Day

Today has been NSPCC Number Day. We all came to school wearing a number. We had numbers from 1 to 5172! We played lots of games using our numbers - odd one out, adding them and ordering them! In the afternoon, some children from Year 5 came to play maths games with us. We thought it was a very fun day. Maple Class raised £30 - Max counted the money.


We've been learning about special places in RE, so we went to visit St Mary's Church. A church is a special place for Christians. Reverend Will showed us around the church and answered all of our questions!


Joshua: Can only Christians go to church? No, everyone is welcome.
Lily: Who started churches? Jesus' friends.
Albie: Why do people pray to God? To spend time, talk and share with God.
Max: Is it hard working at St Mary's? I work long hours and only have one day off, but I love my job!


In the church, it was peaceful and silent. We were all sensible and showed respect.


In English, we were finishing our unit of work, so we wrote a new story based on The New Coat. In our writing we had to remember to use sentence starters, noun phrases, inverted commas and maybe even paragraphs! Some of us achieved our challenge leaves. This week ''to walk' has been our verb of the week.


In topic, we have been using our mapping skills. We imagined we were birds and drew a map, using a bird's eye view of different places inside and out! On a bird's eye view, a map is just different shapes, so we added a key to our map, so that people know what the shapes are.


This week, our home learning is to go for a family walk and the create a map to show where we've been. Mrs McLellan has challenged us to add a key.


This week's Star Award is going to Harry for bouncing back when things don't go right. Well done, Harry.


Our Learning Owl this week is Eleanor. Maple class said that she always tries her best and never gives up. She is good at challenging herself and works well on her own and as part of a team. Well done, Eleanor - have a good weekend with Night!

Forest Schools!

This week, it was Maple Class' turn to go to Forest Schools. We had a look around the pond for objects that we could find. Then, we drew them. After that, we drew a map of the Forest School area - we had to remember to do a key. A key is where you draw a symbol of the things you've drawn on your map and label them. Cory told us the if you see a cross with 'N' at the top, that means North. We all had lots of fun there.


We also started our pedestrian skills training. A lady called Jane took us into the hall and asked us questions about how to cross the road and we had to choose the right hoop to stand in. One of the questions was "Would cross the road by:

• skipping?
• walking?
• running?"

We are looking forward to going outside for walks soon.


In English, we have been learning to use dialogue. This means that we had to add speech for different parts of the story - thinking about what Tom or Mum might have said.


Did you know, we are going to be taking part in 2 different story writing competitions. So this week, we had a go at writing our own stories! Mrs McLellan is looking forward to reading them.


In maths, we have learning to do division. This means sharing numbers into equal groups. We worked well in small groups to solve problems like 'If I have 12 apples and share them between 3 people, how many apples will each person get?' Our challenge was to show our working out.


In science, we were investigating which parts of the classroom were warmer than others by putting ice in different places. We waited 5, then 10 minutes to see how long it took the ice to melt. The warmest part of the classroom was where the heater was because the ice melted really quickly.


Home Learning this week is to take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch...  https://ww2.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdwatch/?gclid=CjwKEAiAuKy1BRCY5bTuvPeopXcSJAAq4OVs0gBLTnttD1q2KLDv-ZnJdJtyJxFPk-6tYqMugPxjLRoCgE_w_wcB


This week's star award is for trying hard to reach our goals. Lots of us have been trying hard with this, but Joshua has done really well at trying to start his sentences in different ways! Well done, Joshua.


This week, Night is going home with someone who always tries hard to use all of the Learning Owl skills. He takes responsibility for his own learning, asks good questions and thinks carefully all of the time. He is also very kind and thoughtful. Well done, Edward - have a great weekend with Night

Awesome Stephen Wiltshire

This week we have been looking really carefully at Stephen Wiltshire's art. We have tried to draw different buildings in Redbourn using our sketching and mark making skills. We had to look closely at the picture we had. First we sketched the outline, thinking about the shape of the building. Then we drew in other shapes we could see and added detail at the end. You will be able to see some of our pictures on the website next week.


In science we were learning about 3 inventors who helped to discover some important materials. John Dunlop discovered that tyres worked better if they had air in them, John McAdam made roads better. They were all muddy and the roads got soggy - he discovered if you put big stones on the road and then small stones on the road, and finally put gravel on the road would be smoother. Charles MacIntosh discovered how to make materials waterproof.


Our Home Learning this week is to research a different inventor. What did they invent and why is it important today?


Verb of the week this week is 'To help.'


In maths, we have been adding and subtracting numbers using an empty number line. Today, we used those skills to play a dart board game where we had to add numbers. Can you show your grown up how to add or subtract on an empty number line?


We have Forest Schools next week, so need our wellies and warm coat, scarf hat and gloves for Thursday.


The star award this week is for trying hard to reach your goal. Olivia always tries her best and listens to feedback, which helps her to reach her goals. Well done, Olivia!


Our Learning Owl this week is someone who is really good at taking responsibility for her own learning. She listened to what she needed to do to move on to the next reading level and followed this feedback. Well done Holly. Have fun with Night!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to Maple's new blog!

 

This week in maths, we have been learning about fractions. We know that half is 2 equal groups or parts and a quarter is 4 equal parts. Vedant explained that 2/4 is the same as 1/2.

 

In Creative Writing, we wrote new adventures for Stick Man. In Albie's adventure, he  In Olivia's story, Stick Man went to Mars! We used some phrases that Julia Donaldson used like "Stick Man, oh Stick Man beware of the.... "

 

In English, we have been learning about narrative story language. We read The Ugly Duckling and Storm Whale and then we had to look for noun phrases. Some noun phrases:

• Soft, fluffy duck
• Squirty whale
• Smooth table

Last week for Home Learning we were asked to find out about the artist Stephen Wiltshire. Mrs McLellan was really impressed with what we found out and with the ways we had presented our learning - using a mind map, PowerPoint, bullet points and even trying to draw in his style! This week, as part of Inside Out, we have drawn an outline and filled the spaces inside using different marks.


Our verb of the week is 'To like.' Ask us to show you the actions for this.


This weekend, Night is going home with Cory. He has shown a really good attitude to learning and has shown that he can care and share. Well done, Cory


Jorgie has won the Star Award for taking responsibility for her learning. Keep it up, Jorgie.


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