Welcome to Badger Class!

Spring 2

English 

This half term we will transferring what we have learnt about autobiographies and using those skills to write one as though we are a character within our story, 'Town is by the Sea', by Joanne Schwartz. We will then focus on writing our own stories. We will focus on writing gripping and interesting problems that the characters go through. We will be using our knowledge of a story mountain to plan and write our stories. 

Maths

We will be focusing on measurement, geometry and fractions this half term. We have already began to look at measurement so I know the children will do really well in this and love getting to measure bigger objects in and around school. We will investigating shapes and the perimeter on bigger scales and seeing what shapes we have in nature and around school. With how well the children took to division, I have no doubts that the children will work really hard at fractions this half term, and although it might be tricky to start with, I'm sure they will pick it up quickly. 

Time and Place 

We will be investigating mountains. We loved learning about volcanoes and learnt so much (have a look at some of the questions from spring 1, and see if your Badger can answer them)! We will be looking at features of a mountain, climates and uses of mountains. We will also be looking in details on photographs so that we can sketch our own mountains. 

If we go down to the woods today... 

Badgers had a brilliant time at forest schools with Hedgehogs today! We learnt so much about bones, berries, whittling, risk taking, water safety, trees and other kinds of plants. They were brilliant! I loved watching their minds explore, be inquisitive and lead their own learning! It was so lovely to see their teamwork as the built dens and explored new things, well done! #TeamBadger

Rocks and Soils...

In Badger Class this morning, Mr Hawthorne came in to teach us about the different soil types he has on the farm. We spent last half term learning about rocks and soils in Science. We learnt so much from how soil is made and the components of soil to how fossils are made and the pioneer for paleontology, especially female paleontologists, Mary Anning. Badgers really enjoyed this topic and we were able to apply our knowledge to how different soil types effect what can be planted in the field and how it has to be treated differently depending on the crop. We learnt so much and we got to be hands on with the soil itself. Thank you so much Mr Hawthorne for taking to time to work with us. 

Down on the farm...

Badgers have been working hard on their measurement skills in maths. They have built up a huge bank of knowledge, so now it was time to put it into practice. We were lucky enough to get to go to the farm where Mr Hawthorne had cut some shapes into the field. We worked in teams to measure the sides of the shapes. We then had to work out the perimeter from those measurements. We used a trundle wheel, measuring tape and metre stick to help us. Team work was the key and we worked so hard. Well done Badgers!!

Forest School Fun!

We have been lucky enough to have 2 PGCE students from the University of Cambridge working with us this week. They have been working with us in the classroom and we have shown them our wonderful outdoor learning. We spent the morning at the new forest schools site, were we got to whittle sticks, climb trees, bug hunt, identify leaves and lead our own learning. We love forest schools. 

Spring 1

English 

This half term will begin with a look into coal mining as we are currently reading the book 'Town is by the Sea', by Joanne Schwartz. We will then take a small turn and look into biographies and autobiographies. This will allow us to gain the knowledge of what we need to include in our own autobiographies. We will ensure we have used first person, everything is in chronological order and we have included real places and times. 

Maths

We will being this half term with looking at division. We are already so good at multiplication and our knowledge of times tables, that we can transfer some of this knowledge into looking at the inverse operation. We will then move on to looking at statistics. We will be gathering our own data to create our own tables, tally charts, pictograms and graphs as well as interpreting others too. 

Time and Place

This half term will see us investigating and asking questions about volcanoes. We will be using our knowledge to create our own volcanoes in DT, making our own lava in Science and even having our very own explosion. We will be answering questions such as ' Are all volcanoes the same?', 'Are there any volcanoes in the UK?', 'What is lava?',  and 'Can we name the parts of a volcano?'. 

Barnham's Biggest Boom!

We have been looking at volcanoes in Geography this half term and we got to make our own lava and observe what happens when you mix a minty sweet with fizzy pop... It's fair to say the reaction was quite something.

Autumn 2

English

This half term we are focusing on the book 'The Wild Girl', By Chris Wormell. It is about a little girl who lives all alone in the Stone Age. She has a pet dog and the are taken by a great surprise in their cave. The Children have already imagined themselves as the little girl and written letters to long, lost family members and imagined what she can hear, see, smell and feel sitting on the edge of her cave. I have been super impressed.

Maths

This half term we are looking at addition and subtraction of hundreds numbers. We will build our money knowledge into this. We are starting with adding and subtracting tens numbers and working to 2-digit numbers. We will be working on multiplication towards the end of the half term. This will be great as Badgers are already great at their times tables. 

Time and Place

We are still investigating the stone age this half term. We are also looking into forces and magnets in science, colours and numbers in french and of course we are doing the christmas play. 

What an exciting half term we are going to have!!

Miss Anderson. 

Autumn 1

I am so excited to be back at Barnham this year and teaching Badger Class. We have already had a wonderful start to the year and our learning is off to a great start. I can't wait to get to know all of Badgers' interests, talents and to celebrate all of their achievements along with them. 

If you ever have any questions, concerns or worries please do not hesitate to come and have a chat with me. I am happy to help with anything, big or small! 

Here's to a brilliant year!

Isabella Anderson.

English

We have been looking at the book 'Into the forest', by Anthony Browne. The book is the story of a boy's adventure to his grandma's house through the forest. He meets lots of interesting characters and notices unusual objects in the distance. The children have loved getting their teeth into the text and stepping into the character's shoes. We even had our very own trip 'into the forest' with Mr Hawthorne. We learnt about the different areas of the forest, age of the forest, uses of the wood and how they maintain the woodland. The children wrote incredible recounts of their trip, including facts they had learnt. 

Mathematics

In Mathematics this half term we have been focusing on place value. We have used our knowledge of place value to order and compare numbers to 1000. The children have loved the new structure to Mathematics and have already made lots of progress. 

Science

In Science this term we are investigating forces and magnets. The children have already completed an experiment about friction and investigated magnetic objects in our classroom.

Time and Place

This term we are focusing on history and in particular 'the stone age'. Badgers have shown a real love for this topic already and even been pretending they are some of the first humans in Britain during their time at forest schools.  

Key information

P.E.

Badgers have P.E. on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. We also have a Movement lesson every half term as part of our health and well-being program. 

Slippers

The children are more than welcome to bring slippers into school. We are trying to keep our school looking as tidy and clean as possible, this will help keep the mud to the minimum and keep our classrooms cleaner.