​In the afternoon, on Friday 28th June we had great fun when parents and carers were invited to come into our classes to work with their children on maths problems. The children really enjoyed working with their parents, who also very kindly worked with lots of other children too, showing them some of the type of work we do in school and also facing new challenges we have not attempted before. 

Across the school we used a range of problem solving activities such as challenge cards, Nrich problems, sudoku problems and Buzz Boz activities and played games such as Top Trumps, hit the button and beat the clock.  

It was lovely to see so many parents and carers in school interacting with their children in a Maths environment. There was a lovely atmosphere around the school with parent feedback very positive. Below are a few of the wonderful comments from parents that attended. 

“The children all seemed really happy in school and all the learning was made to be fun!” 

“A really lovely afternoon. It helps me to understand what my child is learning and how I can support them further at home. I also got to see how well she is doing in class.” 

​This week in Year 3 we have been learning how to stay safe at home and outside. We went on a Road Safety walk on the streets around our school. We learnt how to cross a road safely with and without a crossing. Even when we are walking along a pavement we learnt that we need to be careful of driveways, especially when they are hidden by hedges.  

We had a firefighter in to talk about preventing fire and staying secure in our homes. We were instructed to go home and check we had working smoke alarms and make an action plan for if we ever had a fire at home. We were surprised to learn that the fire service will come out to anyone’s house in Essex completely free to fit a smoke alarm on each floor.  

We also learnt about railway safety, so now know why it is important that we only cross a railway track at a crossing and still look and listen for trains. We found out that some railway tracks have 25,000 volts of electricity running through them at all times of the day and night but also the electricity can jump three metres! 

On Friday our parents and carers joined us for a fun Maths afternoon. They helped us play lots of different games and solve problems. We were able to show them how we learn in lessons and teach them some of the strategies we use to solve problems. 

​This term Year 1 have been focusing on the life cycle of a bean plant. At the beginning of the term we planted some beans and have been recording the growth of our beans as a class. This week, we began measuring our beans where our tallest bean plant has grown to be a staggering 30cm tall! Additionally, we have carefully examined the complex network of the roots that have entangled themselves around the cotton wool and have discussed and completed a range of activities to understand what plants need to help them grow big and strong. Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a bean plant where they have expressed their excitement through discussions and various activities. 

In 2MH this week we have continued looking and learning about food. In DT we made Rocky Road biscuits in groups with our teacher. We had to follow a recipe and take it in turns to follow each instruction carefully. We also learnt about food hygiene and where different foods come from around the world.  In English we have been writing instructions on how to create a medicine just like in George’s Marvellous Medicine. We had to use imperative verbs to tell people exactly what to do. In Maths we have been working outside and solving lots of problems.  ​

 This half term so far has been an exciting one for 3CB! Last week we got to practice a number of different skills such as juicing, chopping and straining while making our very own fruit smoothie. We had a selection of fruit to choose from and in our group chose the fruit we all liked best. It was very messy but we created a lot of juice (from some fruits more than others) and got to try it at the end of the lesson.  

This week we also made our own salt dough, there was flour everywhere! We spent a long time kneading our dough to ensure it was the right consistency as we were using to it to make a model. We were modelling a coastline which we have been learning all about. We were discussing how erosion effects our coastline and using this knowledge to create an arch, a headland, a stack, a stump and a beach. 

In 3DL’s English lessons this week we have been writing informal letters using the features we learnt about last week. As our class book this term is The Iron Man, we have been writing letters between the main characters; The Iron Man and Hogarth. We needed to imagine we were the character so needed to think about how they would feel and what they would say to their friend. 

In Science we have been learning about different food groups. We used the Eatwell Plate to plan a balanced diet for one day. We found it quite tricky sorting some of the food into one group because many foods can fit into more than one group.  

We made a fruit smoothie in DT, which was fun because we didn’t use a blender. Instead we pureed the fruit through a sieve after cutting it up using the bridge technique. We enjoyed tasting our finished product but found it was hard work for not a lot of smoothie! 
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In RE we have been comparing religious stories from Christianity and Judaism. In groups we acted out the story of Passover. We looked at how the stories relate to the festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pesach. In addition, we thought about how these festivals are celebrated by their followers. ​

​During our outdoor learning sessions we have been looking at the work of the inspiring artist Andy Goldsworthy. The children have been making art in nature to create sustainable pieces of art work, using the things we have in our natural environment.
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We have also been looking at the herbs growing in our garden area. We have been learning to identify and name them. The children have been interested to learn about how they can be used in cooking and for other things.
Children have been continuing to look for the trees and observing the sessional changes. We have been looking if the trees are ever green or deciduous.