Year 3 Newsletter

 Year 3 Newsletter

As the term comes to an end we have been lucky enough to enjoy some lovely spring sunshine. Year 3 have worked hard to develop their tennis skills and handling of a racket and ball.

We have:

• Practiced catching a ball both on our own and with a friend
• Practiced balancing a tennis ball and using hand-eye co-ordination
• Explored different techniques of hitting a tennis ball (from the ground/our hands)
• Practiced how to aim a tennis ball at a target or partner
• Explored how to use the power to hit a ball further or closer

Year 6 Newsletter

 Another busy and productive fortnight in year 6 - the children have continued to work hard, with their trademark enthusiasm and positivity. 

In our English lessons, we have donned our lawyer caps, and constructed balanced arguments on the most controversial of tales...Jack and the Beanstalk. We reviewed case files (including video evidence!) and wrote very thoughtful pieces examining whether Jack was the hero we know and love or whether he was, indeed, a villainous criminal. The children have been very impressive lawyers, and wrote clear, compelling and non-biased accounts....only revealing their true opinions right at the very end!

Science lessons have been fascinating, as we have immersed ourselves in the Classification system. We are now proficient at classifying everything from marsupials to mammals...fish to reptiles. We were all bemused to learn about the duck-billed platypus - who would have thought this species could try and creep into so many parts of classification?!

DT has seen the successful completion of our Ancient Greek sculptures - we are all very pleased with how successful they are. With everything from pankration to discus throwing, the children took great care not only with the skills in the process - but also with the history behind these pieces of art. We have a new generation of classical art experts!

Our Religion and World View lessons have been interesting - and full of lively debate - as we discussed the impact of Christianity worldwide. These lessons are rich learning experiences, with all class members sharing thoughts, theology - and their own religious viewpoints.

We are all very excited about Ancient Greek Day next week - stay tuned for a gallery of gods, monsters, Spartans, and Athenians!

Year 1 Newsletter

 Wow what a busy week we have had in Year 1!

Science

This week in science our focus was on birds. First we discussed what makes a bird a bird! One of the msot important parts of a bird are their feathers. We looked at 4 different types of feathers: body feathers, wing feathers, tail feathers and beautiful peacock feathers! We drew two feathers, compared them and even measured them. We were impressed to find out that the body feather, wing feather and tail feather were all from the same bird, a wood pigeon. 

Design and Technology

We had a really fun afternoon on Wednesday working on creating joint's to attach straws together. This is in preparation for our project on making a model of a playground for an African school. We experimented with three different types of joints; triangle joints, pipe cleaner joints and pinch joints. We had a lot of fun creating our own version of the strongest shape- a triangle! As an extra challenge we practised using these joints to make a strong 3D shape.

Nursery Newsletter

We have been very busy over the past couple of weeks. 

We have been continuing our topic of Transport by looking at vehicles that go on water.  We read the classic book ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’ By John Burningham.  This is a story about Mr Gumpy who goes out for a ride in his boat and a collection of animals want to join him until there are too many and they all fall into the river.  We role played this story a number of times with Shiv, Freya and Jacob taking on the role of Mr Gumpy and the other children taking on the role of the animals.  Great fun was had by all, especially when they had to all fall into the ‘water’ at the end of the story!

We have been singing the classic song ‘Row, Row, Row your Boat’, including some new versions of the song.  Maybe you can sing these with your child at home.

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.

 

Rock, rock, rock your boat,

Quickly up the Nile.

Snap, snap, snap, snap,

Here comes a crocodile.

 

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently to the shore.

If you see a lion,

Don’t forget to roar.

 

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently up the creek.

If you see a little mouse,

Don’t forget to squeak.

 

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the river.

If you see a polar bear,

Don’t forget to shiver.

 

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently as can be.

If you are not careful,

You’ll fall into the sea.

 

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently under the stream.

Ha ha, fooled you,

I’m a submarine!

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day on 17^th March.  The children learned about who St. Patrick was and why he is so important to the country of Ireland.  We made lucky Irish pebbles, learned about Kissing the Blarney stone and even had a go at Riverdancing!

In our SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience, Friends) lessons we have been continuing to use the story Giraffe’s Can’t Dance’ to help us think about developing resilience and perseverance in our learning.  We thought about how Gerald could dance at the end and how he was proud to show what he could do.  We linked this to learning how to do something, getting better at it and being proud of our achievements. 

We wish you and your family a happy and restful Easter break.  See you in the summer term.

Year 4 Newsletter

What an amazing week it has been in Year 4!

Thank you to everyone who attended our exhibition of work on Friday. It was fantastic to see all of the hard work the children have done this year and how much amazing progress they have all made. We are all so proud of the children and their remarkable work!

Last week Year 4 were lucky enough to engage in a Forensic Science workshop. The children worked in groups, finding clues and putting them all together to uncover who committed the awful crime. 

In writing, the children have been writing a diary entry based on Shackleton's Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition. They have been using a variety of lenses from our Writing Rainbow, such as speech, similes   to create fantastic pieces of writing.

Well done Year 4 for all your fantastic work!

Year 2 visit Mountfitchet Castle

After learning about castles this term, year 2 visited a Motte and Baily castle.

They had such fun exploring all the elements of the castle they had learnt about.

Some things were very gruesome and punishments were harsh in the medieval times! 

The children tried out the stocks.

Lunch was a highlight too!

They finished the day with some sketching of the environment.

We were very proud of the children who behaved beautifully.

 

 In Reception we have been making the most of the beautiful Spring weather. Many children chose to go outside during free play. Lots of exploring took place in the water area, investigating the bubbles and sponges. Some children have been making up their own physical games using hoops and balls, helping to develop their turn taking skills and build relationships. 

We also went on a Spring walk to help us learn about the world around us. We saw lots of buds blossoming and some newly sprung flowers. Unfortunately we couldn't see any birds nests yet, but we will keep our eyes peeled!

In Maths we have been learning to use the mathematical language 'more', 'fewer' and 'equal' to compare quantities. We has lots of fun playing a game called 'Fill Your Basket'. The children had one minute to fill their basket with as many items as they could find. We then recorded how many we had on a whiteboard and compared the amounts. 

Year 5 newsletter

 Year 5 have worked so hard this week in their learning. They have managed to write the story ‘I believe in unicorns’ by Michael Morpurgo by using great narrative language features such as personification and metaphors. This enabled the children to create a moving atmosphere, which successfully showed the bombing of a small village. 

In science, the children have been continuing their learning of life cycles and linking with our science, Malala class were able to release their butterflies into the wild. Hopefully, Mandela will release theirs next week!

Finally, in History the children wrote some amazing newspaper articles which reported on the deeds of the Suffragettes. These newspapers were written from the anti-suffragette viewpoint and were therefore shaming the women and the actions they were partaking in to get the vote.

Year 2 History - concentric castles

 

The children learnt that the Normans wanted to make their castles even better at defending the enemy, so they designed concentric castles.  They had two walls of defence! The inner wall and outer wall.  The inner wall was higher too so that the knights could see the enemy approaching.

The children worked in teams to create their own concentric castle.  They carefully made turrets/towers, the inner and outer walls and added labels too.

Year 4 Newsletter

 What a busy week it has been in Year 4!

On Tuesday Ben and Frida took to the stage at the Windhill21 Speech Evening - "We are all Changemakers". The quality of the children's speeches was impeccable and both of the Year 4 pupils went above and beyond with their performances. After such fantastic speeches from all year groups, Ben was named as the winner for Lower Key Stage 2. A huge well done to them both for such excellent and mature performances. 

In writing, the children have completed an independent write - crafting their own non-chronological report all about Leopard Seals and how they have adapted to the harsh climate in Antarctica. We were captivated by the shocking facts and the amazing adaptation's of this marvellous animal. It looks like we might just have the next David Attenborough at Windhill21. 

Rowling class also got to visit the homeless shelter on Tuesday morning. We asked lots of questions and gave the volunteers a brilliant supply of donations. Thank you so much for all your generous donations, they were hugely appreciated by the homeless shelter and they were overwhelmed by the donation of £85 raised by our fantastic clock faces.

Well done Year 4!

Year 6 newsletter

 What a WOW week we have had in year 6. We kicked things off with the Windhill21 Speech Evening - "We are all Changemakers". The quality of the speeches our year 6 winners, James Allen and Louis Blind, delivered was exceptional. James and Louis both made such compelling arguments as to why the British Museum should return the Parthenon Marbles to Greece, thus protecting Greek cultural heritage, that not one person in the audience was left unconvinced. We were also exceedingly proud of our poetry performers - we were taken on a real journey with our emotions during their performance, and can't wait for their event in April!

The children also completed an independent write this week - composing their own Greek myths. We couldn't have been more engrossed in their tales of adventure, heroes, heroines, monsters and magic...they have truly taken these tales to a level that Jason and his Argonaut's would have been proud of! 

We also thoroughly enjoyed welcoming parents into school to share and celebrate the work year 6 have produced so far this year. We couldn't believe how much we have already done! From World War I poetry to Kahlo and Da Vinci portraits....from narratives on fictional monsters to experiments with electricity! We are so very proud of the children - their ambition, work ethic and attitudes to learning. This was a truly lovely opportunity for parents, children, and the year 6 to share in this celebration together. 

Year 3 Newsletter

Year 3 newsletter

This week in RE, we have been exploring the theme of forgiveness. To understand what forgiveness is, we first looked at ways we could forgive ourselves and help to bring about a positive outlook on negative situations.

We then used our knowledge of forgiveness within the Easter story to get inside the minds of Jesus and his disciples and how they may be feeling during the "Last Supper". Using drama, cloth and body language we were able to replicate the story and consider the emotions of our chosen person. 

Year 2 newsletter

This week year 2 explored wind up mechanisms in preparation for their D&T project where they will be building a castle with a moving drawbridge. 

We tried two different ways of making a moving mechanism and tested which was easier. We found the mechanism with an axle support was better as it meant you had to move your hands less and you could use the straw as a handle. 

We enjoyed racing each other to see who could wind up the mechanism the quickest. We even tried using our mechanisms to lift up objects like rubbers and glue sticks.