Hello from Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Porter (class teachers) and Mrs Lamb (teaching assistant)

SUMMER TERM 2022

Please take a look at our Parent Theme Web to find out all about the learning we will be doing in class.  Our main topic is The Shang Dynasty with lots of exciting activities planned including a Chinese feast - all being eaten with chopsticks (of course!)

As part of our English work on writing balanced arguments, we have been learning about how to care for exotic pets.  Henry's family own a parrot and they kindly brought Jeff into school so we could learn all about him.  Jeff is amazing as he not only looks beautiful but can say a few words too!

SPRING TERM

Welcome to 2022!

It's new beginnings in our English Curriculum with 'The Write Stuff' becoming our new style of teaching and learning.  Taking inspiration from 'Feast', a short Disney film, we are creating the story of Winston - a stray dog who is taken in by a kind man.  So far, our children are relishing new vocabulary opportunities.  Our reading text in VIPERS for this term is 'Varjak' Paw' by S.F. Said; an enjoyable story about a kitten going on an adventure to the 'Outside'. 

This term, we will be learning about Vikings as part of our topic work on Raids and Invasions and will be designing and making Viking-inspired brooches.  In Science, we will be studying the circulatory system in the first-half term and the classification of living things after that.  

'Charanga' continues to inspire our musical learning and we are becoming more adept at playing a wider range of notes on the recorder.  

Our french topic this term is all about fashion - a la mode.

What is it like to follow God is the main question we are asking in RE.  Using the story of Noah and the Ark, we look at how some individuals have faith in God against all odds.

We have discussed the importance of British Values (Respect, Tolerance, Individual Liberty, Democracy and Rule of Law) and examined how we uphold these within school life.

Please take a look at Team Phoenix's Parent Theme Web which gives extra detail about our learning this term.

Viking Brooches

As part of our Viking topic, we researched, designed and made Viking 'turtle' brooches using card, wire and foil.  We then made and attached our paper and clay beads.  Some of us decided to add Thor's hammer for extra decoration!  We then wore our brooches on our costumes for our Viking and Anglo-Saxon Experience Day in school.

AUTUMN TERM

This term, we have been excited to be back all together again and able to mix freely with all of our friends across school.  Simple pleasures, such as eating together in the school hall and coming together to celebrate Harvest in the church have helped us to feel totally connected once again with our wonderful school community.

In class, our topic 'What a Load of Rubbish' has been far from rubbish!  We have been learning about the environment and how we affect it with our use of, for example, single-use plastics and fossil fuels.  Thinking of ways we can take responsibility and improve our world has been mirrored by the world leaders during their COP26 meeting in Glasgow.  We are looking forward to presenting our homework projects on the environment to each other in class which have taken the form of models, posters, leaflets and fact sheets.

Our art work this term has also been influenced by the theme of rubbish.  In the first halt-term, we honed our sketching skills by closely observing and drawing 'rubbish' such as crumpled cereal boxes and crushed pop cans. In the second half term, we are using 2D and 3D recyclable materials to explore colour resulting in colour-wheel constructions.  To help us, we are welcoming a local artist, James Owen Thomas, into our class to talk about his artwork using 2D recycled materials and will be studying an artist who makes sculptures from the flotsam and jetsam she finds along the seashore.

We have been 'tootling' on recorders as part of our music work this term alongside learning notation and appreciating music from across the ages. 

Our french topic 'Les Monstres' has involved the learning in french of parts of the body, shapes and colours and will result in the making of our own monsters!

In Team Phoenix, we enjoy learning more about our topics through research done both in school and at home.  These projects are then shared with the rest of the class.

We learnt how to make our own buzz wire games using circuits and draw them as scientific diagrams. At the end of our block of science learning about electricity we used the buzz wire games to test our nerves whilst asking and answering questions about what we had learnt. 

Our Forest School experiences were so much fun! We worked outside collecting things, building shelters, using tools safely, learning how to start our own fires and of course playing in the mud kitchen. The hot chocolate was lovely too!

MEETING A LOCAL ARTIST AND WORKING WITH THE TREE COUNCIL

We were lucky to be able to talk to local artist James Owen Thomas on Zoom about his wonderful collage artwork using 2d waste materials such as lottery tickets, train tickets and receipts.  James works as an ambassador for The Tree Council so we had the extra treat of meeting Richard Pollard who is the Tree Council's National Tree Manager.   Richard told us lots of interesting facts and the Tree Council have given us fruit trees and hedge whips to plant in the school grounds.  We also took part in a quiz about trees which Phoebe won.

Richard has declared us all 'Forces for Nature'!

Zoom Meeting with the author Alex T Smith

"I really enjoyed drawing Mr Penguin and listening to Alex. I though it was funny as a penguin wore a bow tie. Weirdly, I can’t imagine penguins wearing a bow tie in Antarctica. He is an English author and an illustrator. He was the illustrator for world book day in September 2013. His books have been published in several languages including Welsh, French, German, Swedish, Hungarian and Chinese."  (Tom Year 5) 

"When we had a zoom call with Alex T Smith he did a tutorial on how to draw one of the characters from one of his best selling book series Mr Penguin ( adventurer and penguin). He also talked about his connection with books from when he was a small child to being a professional author and illustrator.  He has been doing this professionally for 15 years! He also talked about how when he was a child if he asked his parents for a toy he wouldn't usually get it but if he asked for a book the answer would be yes. Something else he told us was he has written around 60 books in 15 years of professionally creating them.  (Sophia Year 4)