Corvus and Draco - Reflect and Review

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week included two fantastic trips - the whole class going to the cinema to watch The Wild Robot (which some students described as the best film they have ever seen!) and a trip for some to Christchurch College for a tour and some singing. Both were very interesting and great fun! 

As Writers, Corvus have been planning and writing a pen portrait of Ivan, protagonist of Ice Palace, exploring the different facets of his character and the important scene setting around him. In Draco, we  proofread and edited our diary entries from last week using our purple polishing pens to correct any mistakes and add extra detail to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be learning how to write a newspaper report. As journalists, we have been identifying features of a newspaper report. Today, working in small groups of three, children were allocated the key features of a newspaper report: the orientation, columns, name of publication, headline and formal language, and needed to match these features to the correct definitions.  

As Mathematicians, Corvus have been finishing our unit on Addition and Subtraction - deciding on the best strategies to use, building our problem solving skills and consolidating and assessing our knowledge. Draco have been consolidating our understanding of multiplying a 1 digit number by a 1 digit number in preparation for working towards using the grid method to multiply a 2-digit number by a 1 digit number. Key vocabulary: commutative, inverse operations and number families.

As Scientists, Corvus concluded our unit on electricity by studying and creating circuits with switches. As Geographers, we began our exploration of the Antarctic (though we’ve yet to learn about Antarctic explorers themselves - more on that to come!)

As artists, Draco have been familiarising ourselves with the work of an artist called Emma Stibbon, whose artwork is  inspired by the physical landscape of Antarctica.  We replicated some of the techniques used by the artist paying close attention to the use of line, shape and colour. We had an Oracy Lesson where we had to offer our interpretations for the following question: if this art was a piece of music describe what it would sound like? This question sparked an interesting discussion where some children challenged their peers in a constructive way offering a variety of viewpoints. 

Next Week

Next week in English, we continue our exploration of Ice Palace by looking at the description of wolves so far in the book and thinking about how they have been portrayed elsewhere in literature. In Maths, we will begin our unit on Multiplication and Division, exploring equal groups and multiples. In Geography, we continue our study of Antarctica, looking at its key physical features and its climate and weather. A reminder to children in Draco that Mr Waldock will be away on Monday and Tuesday as he is with Aquila in France. Miss Mac will be with the class all week. Children in Draco should also come to school wearing PE kit on Friday as they will be having a one off sports coaching session.

Home-learning

All the children should have a book selected from our class library. 

Maths Homework books will be due on Monday so please make sure that they are brought in for marking. 

Every child should also have a Times Tables Rock Stars login, which they can use to practise their times tables. We are currently consolidating our knowledge of 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables if you would like to direct their practice. 

Coming Up

3rd December-  Christmas Dinner and Jumper Day

11th December - Hercules and Science Museum Visit

12th December - Christmas Service at St Peter and Paul's (2-6 only) – Children in Draco and Corvus can come dressed as shepherds for the Christmas Service if they would like to. Please don’t buy anything for it specifically, each phase will be a different part of the nativity, but think low-key, tea towels on the heads etc – Be excited for the staff’s important dressing up role too! Starts at 10am, please be at school for 9.15am if you wish to walk with us. 

12th December - HSA Christmas Bazaar after school

15th December - Reading Passports Returned to School

19th December - End of Term 1pm finish time