Beech Tree Class Blog 2023-2024
Beech Tree Blog
Weekly Update-28/4/23
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, the children did their pedestrian skills training, which is designed to help and protect children from the dangers of crossing busy roads and to teach them key safety skills. The children were excellent throughout the activities and really enjoyed it.
In maths, we have continued our work on fractions, focusing on calculating equivalent fractions and also adding and subtracting fractions, mixed numbers and improper fractions.
This week, we have continued working on the features of instruction writing. The children have then planned their instruction text, written their draft and then revised and edited them. Their texts revolve around instructing people how to make a fire using only the materials that Stone Age people had to create them. They've done a brilliant job with these texts, including all the features required and have revised and edited them well to make them as good as they possibly can.
As part of our DT unit of work (Edible Gardens) the children have been looking at a variety of different herbs and also doing sight and smell tests to see if they can identify what the different herbs are. We have also planted lots of our own herbs this week as well, which the children really enjoyed doing.
We have also been planting sunflowers this week, which will relate to our science topic in Summer 2 (Plants) and the children will be recording the weekly growth of these sunflowers, as well as recording the growth of one sunflower that will be sat in the dark.
That's all for now :)
Mr Kyriacou :)
Weekly Update 21/4/23
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
It's been a lovely first week back for Beech Tree and the children have come with so much eagerness and enthusiasm. For our writing, we are focusing on instruction texts and have been focusing on what instructions are, why we use them and what they help us with. We have been looking at multiple examples of good instruction texts and identifying the features required to write a good set of instructions and we have then started to focus each lesson on different features, understanding what they are, why they're needed and how to use them effectively e.g imperative verbs.
In maths, we have been continuing our work on fractions, with the focus being on converting mixed numbers into improper fractions (and vice versa) and we have also been focusing on finding unit and non-unit fractions of amounts.
In science, sound is our new topic and this week, the children were focusing on understanding how sound is created (the children also experimented with hitting instruments and using tuning forks) and on identifying different sounds throughout the school and identifying what the source of the sound is and how it is created.
In PSHE, the topic for this half term is revolves around being your best. Our introduction lesson focused on having a balanced diet, and understanding the health benefits of different foods and a balanced diet. The children were then given the task of creating a three course meal for children which they thought would be healthier and more nutritionally balanced than the one that was shown to them.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)
Weekly Update-31/3/23
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
We have had an extremely busy and very productive week. This week, we finished Kidnap in the Caribbean (our class novel) and the children really enjoyed the story. We wrapped this up with a piece of work that involved writing a persuasive blurb for the book and designing their own alternative front cover. They did a super job with these and it was a lovely way to finish our reading off for the term.
As part of the children's homework, they were tasked with producing a research project about a volcano in the Ring of Fire and were given several weeks to work on the project. This week, they brought their projects in and presented them to the class. They did a brilliant job with these and presented them really well. Well done!
The children have also produced some brilliant art pieces this week that combine the work of artist Jackson Pollock and our topic of volcanoes. For this piece, we focused on the black and white (low mood) paintings Jackson Pollock and produced purely black and white pieces of work. The children's pages were split into four quarters, they were then tasked with drawing the outline for their volcano which would go across all four quarters. once that had been completed, the children were then tasked with creating one section that would be textured using foil, sand and acrylic paint, one that had different types of shading, one that had watercolour painting and one that was created using coloured pencils. By doing this, we combined different skills that we have been focusing on and also creating a piece of work that reflected the low mood style of Jackson Pollock's work and our topic of volcanoes. The resulting pieces looked great and that's due to the children's super listening, attention to detail and hard work.
The children have also produced some brilliant ammonite clay sculptures this week, which links into both our topic and previous science lessons. The children loved making them and are eager to take them home to show to parents.
Finally, the children made some lovely goodbye cards for both Miss Roberts and Miss Hanna. They all looked lovely and I know that both Miss Roberts and Miss Hanna really appreciated them.
Well done for all of your hard work this term. I hope you have an EGGcellent Easter break. Have fun and stay safe :)
Mr Kyriacou :)