Week Beginning 2nd May

It IS rocket science!  The rocket seeds tat we received from Tim Peeke are growing well.    Out of the 100 seeds sown 76 have germinated.  We do not know whether the seeds in the red packet or the blue packet we were given are the ones that have been in space but both sets are thriving.  .We are very excited to be one of the 8,000 schools taking part in the experiment!  

Welcome to Badger Class!

Summer Term 2016

We are very proud of our excellent portraits of the Queen to commemorate her majesty's 90th birthday.  Thank you to Mrs Lee for hard work and expertise.

2016

We have made a positive start to 2016 and are really enjoying our new topic, 'Top of the Pops.'  Badger Class are learning about the popular music of the 1950s and have already enjoyed singing and hip-shaking to Elvis Presley and jive dancing to Chuck Berry.  After a bit more practice we will hopefully perform to parents before half-term.  We are going to go on to compare and contrast life in our locality today with life in the 1950s.

2015

Hope you all had a good half-term break.  We are looking forward to a busy and exciting time at school in the run up to Christmas.  

Badger Class comprises 27 Year 3 children and is taught by Mr Holman and Mrs Lee.  An overview of the Year 3 curriculum is attached below.

We have had a very encouraging start to the term.  We have been very busy deepening our understanding of place value in our maths lessons. We will go on to work on the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) and work on statistics including interpreting data from a range of tables and graphs.  

In English lessons we have been practising our reading, speaking and listening skills by doing some performance poetry.  We are looking forward to sharing our work in the first sharing assembly of the new school year.  We will be going on to write poems of our own and will also focus on writing recounts.

Our science work this half-term is on animals, skeletons and nutrition.  We will be finding out about different types of skeletons and will be learning the scientific names for bones in the human body. We will also be learning the importance of eating healthily in order to look after our bodies.

Homework will be set every Thursday this year and is to be handed in on Tuesday.  A copy of this week's homework is attached below.

Week beginning 7th March

We have written some amazing recounts of the story of Hansel and Gretel this week,  Many of the children have really impressed me with their use of adverbial phrases.  Read Milo's wonderful work below:

Week beginning 29th February

 It was wonderful to see every member of the class dressed as characters from books to celebrate World Book Day.  We enjoyed making our own book covers in the afternoon.  In the morning we wrote some excellent descriptions of the witch from the story of Hansel and Gretel.

We enjoyed a great PE lesson today with an expert coach who taught the children a variety of jumps from the horse-box including pikes, straddles and star jumps.  

Week beginning 1st February

This week we have been finding fractions of amounts and have been adding and subtracting pairs of fractions in our maths lessons.  In English we have been writing descriptions of Mr Twit and, in the process, have written some similes that would have made Roald Dahl proud!  We have also created our own characters - friends of the Twits - and we are going to write our own stories involving the playing of a mean and nasty Twits-style trick.  It has been great fun and some of the children's ideas have been ingenious! 

Week Beginning 25th January

In maths this week we have been working hard to subtract pairs of numbers and have even managed to solve tricky problems involving regrouping.  We have also been solving multiplication and division problems using arrays.  In English we have written some superb descriptions of Mr Twit from Roald Dahl's classic book.  We have also worked hard in our topic work.  We interviewed Mrs Lee in the 'hot-seat' and then wrote our own interviews which we enjoyed performing to the class and which you can see in the photographs below.

Fin's Amazing Description of Mr Twit

His eyes bulged like a bush-baby staring at someone in the dark.  Mr Twit is a demon headmaster with hypnotic powers He is an evil, fatter version of Santa and plays horrible tricks on his wife.

Week beginning 18th January

We have had a busy week in maths mastering the column method of addition.  We have worked hard and most of us can now regroup.  In English lessons we have been identifying subordinate clauses and have been constructing complex sentences.  We have been learning more about life in the 1950s in our topic work and have produced some terrific pop art.  Pop art began in Britain in the early 1950s and then caught on in America before gaining popularity in the 1960s.  despite the cold, we also had a great time in our forest School session.  The children showed great trust in one another to negotiated their way through the trees blind-folded!

Week beginning 11th January

We have been learning about the properties of 2D shapes and have been identifying acute, obtuse and reflex angles in our maths lessons.  We had great fun learning jive dancing in PE.  In art have used blocks of colour to create art work in response to Sean Scully.

Week beginning 30th November

We have been considering the importance of eating nutritious food in order to give our bodies the energy and goodness it needs to help us grow and to help us to be healthy.  We made a very healthy and nutritious porridge with banana and most of us agreed it was absolutely delicious!

Group 2 enjoyed their first Forest School session.  The wet and muddy conditions only seemed to add to the sense of fun and adventure.  We hope you like our wonderful tree sprites which were inspired by Mrs Pointer.

Week beginning 23rd November

This week we have been solving word problems involving length by using the bar model and number-lines.  In English we have learned about prepositions and have completed our 'hot task' of describing a setting.  We have improved our writing by including a greater variety of adjectives, adverbs and similes and by using interesting sentence openers.  We also had a busy RE day on the theme of reconciliation.  

The first group had their sixth and final Forest School session before swapping with the second half of the class.  We finished by lighting a fire without matches.  We simply sued fire-steels and dragon snot!  We toasted (and cremated) marsh-mallows and it was great fun!

Maths investigation: how many children can you fit into one square metre?

We discovered we could fit all the boys into one square metre and all the girls into another square metre.  Altogether we managed to fit 21 children into one square metre! 

RE

Here are some photographs of the wonderful sculptures we made from clay on the theme of reconciliation.

Week beginning 16th November

This week we have been busy in our Maths lessons estimating and measuring in cm and mm.  In English we have been making our writing more interesting by using exciting and varied sentence openers.  We have also been learning about adverbs.   In Science we have been learning the importance of eating nutritious food to help us grow healthily and to give us the energy we need.   

Week beginning 9th November

We had two unexpected treats this week.  Firstly, the forest elves had set up a rope-swing before we arrived and secondly some curious (clay) woodland creatures were found lurking by our log circle.  

We had great fun on the rope-swing and were great at negotiating turn-taking so that everyone had a fair go.  Our own clay creatures were fabulous!  We also experienced using bow saws and hand-drills to make hazel medallions. Thank you to Mrs Cole for bravely supervising the rope-swing and to Mrs Truman for getting so absorbed in the clay work!

The rain added to the fun  - especially when it came to splashing in the puddle which the children noticed was heart-shaped.

Week beginning 2nd November

We had great fun making stars out of recycled materials.  The stars will look amazing as part of the '1000 Suffolk Stars' art project which is to be displayed in the Apex and at Snape Maltings over the Christmas period.  

We have also been busy making 'fraction men' to help us learn that fractions are parts of a whole and that by you can halve and halve again to make a quarter and that that two eighths is equivalent to a quarter.  

We also wrote some wonderful poems.  Below are some fabulous  poems by Elias and Evie:

Autumn

Pink squidgy marshmallows melting in the bonfire

Orange leaves piling under the pointy trees

Brown, sticky mud rotting in the sunlight

Frosty ice glittering as you carefully make your footprints

Through the dark forest

By Elias

Autumn

Wet soggy leaves under the tall chubby trees

Sweet roasted chestnuts sizzle away

Burning sticks on the flaming fire

Swirling yellow leaves dancing in the road

A red-breasted robin pecks amongst the thin twigs

Colourful fireworks shooting up like birds flying from an evil fox

By Evie

Forest School Week 3

We played a game of 'hide and hear' and by keeping so quiet we were able to hear so many birds singing and Josh was excited to get very close to a robin.  

We investigated the elder trees, cut some branches with loppers and enjoyed hollowing out the soft centres with tent pegs before threading the elder pieces onto string to make wonderful necklaces and bracelets.  

Forest School Week 2

We started our session by finding a quiet 'sit spot' to see what sounds of nature we could hear.  Mr Heading joined us and helped us to identify finches, blue tits, crows and a rook.  We also discovered some pigeon feathers and Mr Heading explained that the pigeon had most likely been hunted by the buzzards that roost in nearby tress..  

We had lots of fun playing 'Capture the Flag' and enjoyed being creative by using acorns to write 'Forest School.'  

Week beginning 12th October

We had a tremendous time on our first Forest School session this afternoon.  We walked across the farm land behind the school to an excellent site near East Farm, which Mr Heading has very kindly allowed us to use.  For more details and further photographs, please do look at the Forest School section found via the home page on our website.

Week beginning 5th October

This week we have been busy in maths lessons using arrays to help us understand multiplication and to explore the link between multiplication and division.  In English we read and then recounted the traditional story of ''The Enormous Turnip' and have started to plan our own versions of the story which we will look forward to writing next week.  

We have also been thinking of how we can use kind words and deeds to fill our buckets with happiness.  We all loved Mrs Pointer's suggestion, "If you see someone without a smile - give them one of your own!"

Pingo Pond Trail

Badger C;lass had a wonderful day out at Thompson on the pingo pond trail, as you can see from the photos below!   Pingo ponds are ancient ponds formed during the ice age and there are more in Norfolk than anywhere else in the country!  We were excited to see buzzards, dragonflies, deer and hundreds of frogs.  Holding baby frogs was a highlight for many of the children.  We also picked and ate lots of delicious blackberries and plan to make an apple and blackberry crumble in class tomorrow!  

Week beginning 21st September

 I am looking forward to seeing how Alice - who has been selected as a special class representative - gets on with her 'rubbish diet' campaign to help slim her family's bin following Friday's assembly.  I was inspired to buy some tupperware containers at the weekend in a bid to cut down on the amount of clingfilm that my family throws into our black bin.  How can you help slim your bins at home?  Share your ideas!   

Week beginning 14th September

We have all written a first draft of a poem inspired by Roger McGough's 'First Day at School.'  We have looked at other poems too and will be editing and redrafting our work on Friday.

Well done Amy who wrote the following poem:

First Day at School

Just as I walked through the most dirty door

And all around the door were cobwebs

All I could see were people running around the room

And jumping on the tables

Also people having food fights

People throwing boots right past me

What do I do?  Copy them?

Then . . . 

A shadow appeared near the door

The teacher came in and I stood there like nothing had happened

All of a sudden he came up to me and said

'Hey! You over there!  Don't just stand there looking at those horrible people

I'll look after you!"

'Open the Book' Assembly

 Evie, Elias, Aimee, Holly and Olivia starred in last week's sharing assembly.  They all did really well! 

Science

As you can see from the photographs below, we had great fun collecting sticks and twigs from the school grounds to construct human skeletons.  The children showed good observation skills and worked well as part of a team.  We have thought of lots of interesting questions to research in future lessons:

• Do children and grown-ups have the same number of bones?
• What is the difference between boys' skeletons and girls' skeltons?
• Do bones have blood in them?
• Are your eye-balls held in place by bones?
• Do all animals have bones?
• What would we look like if we did not have a skeleton?.  

PE

The children enjoyed practising running, dribbling and passing skills in glorious September sunshine.  Watch out Wayne Rooney!

(Don't forget that our PE lessons are on Mondays and Thursdays.  We will be going outdoors as much as possible before half-term to play invasion games).

Music

We will be performing a call and response song that originated in Ghana in our harvest celebration at the church on Wednesday 23rd September.  The children love the song and are looking forward to performing live.  Below is a link to the song which you might like to enjoy with your child (please note that it is on YOUTUBE).

HAWK CLASS WEB PAGES 2014-15

Euston Farm Visit

The children in Hawks Class and Falcons Class really enjoyed their visit to the Euston Estate Farm.  Matthew Hawthorne very kindly arranged for us to tour the farm on a trailer pulled by a tractor.  It was great fun!  The visit included practical learning activities to help the children find out how bio-gas is produced from maize plants, how the reservoir is used to irrigate the land, how potatoes are harvested and how maths is used to predict and calculate the yield of crops.  We were also fascinated to meet an archaeologist who was on site excavating fossils and bones from the stone age.  He told us that half a million years ago lions, elephants, bison and rhinos roamed Barnham!  

Thank you Matthew!

The Circus!

We are all hugely excited to be learning about the circus and we have had tremendous fun this week learning some amazing circus skills in the big top!  Below are  some photographs of the mind-maps completed in class showing what we already know and what we are looking forward to finding out. 

Circus Display

Hawk Class loved drawing around one another before using paint and collage to make Harry the ringmaster, Jaedyon the strongman, Ava the acrobat and Kyle the clown.  Thank you to Mrs Lee and Mrs Malloy for creating such a stunning display outside our classroom.  (I am not sure whether to be pleased or worried that they have portrayed me as a human cannonball!)

The children in Hawks Class are very excited about the new topic 'On a dark, dark night . . '  They have thought of lots of interesting enquiry questions including:

Do the stars just come out at night or are they always there?

Why does the moon change shape?

Why is it night-time here when it is day-time in Australia?

How many species of bats are there?

What creatures live at the bottom of the deepest oceans?

We look forward to sharing our findings with you soon!

Dissecting owl pellets

After learning all about owls during a special assembly with a visitor from the BTO we spent a fascinating afternoon dissecting owl pellets.  We were thrilled to discover the skulls of shrews, mice and even a mole as well as lots of bones which we were able to identify with the aid of an information sheet.

Maths

So far this term we have been developing our written methods for addition including the column method and have been improving our knowledge and understanding of fractions.

The photographs below show the children calcualting the total number of bones found in their owl pellets before calculating the fractions of the different amounts of bones and identifying equivalent fractions.  Furthermore, the children made bar charts to show the different types of bones that they discovered.

Art

Art is very much a favourite subject in Hawk Class.  We are very proud of our pastel pictures of cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds.  We hope you like them too!

DT

We made our very own trebuchets during our topic work on castles.  We seem to have a number of budding engineers in the class!  Thank you very much to Mrs Brooks who spent hours helping the children to use junior hacksaws and  glue-guns to complete their models.  The photographs show the class having fun trying out their trebuchets in the outdoor classroom.

Rocks and Soils Experiment

We carried out an experiment to see the effects of coastal erosion as part of our work on 'Rocks and Soils.'

We took some plastic trays and worked in groups to make cliffs from damp sand. We made houses from Lego and placed them on top of the cliffs.  We then added water to the trays and tilted them back and forth to create waves.  We had great fun watching the water erode the cliffs, causing the Lego houses to fall into the sea.  

Visit to the Farm and Country Fair

The children in Hawk Class had a brilliant time at the Farm and Country Fair.  Highlights included learning about the development of the tractor and the advancement in farming methods, finding out about the life story of a carrot from seed to the supermarket, seeing piglets, calves and lambs, watching a sheepdog round up geese, enjoying a falconry display, discovering how sausages are made and, of course, holding day-old ducklings!

English

We have had great fun writing and performing raps in our English lessons.  Following our visit to the schools' farm fair, we have written raps about to tell the story of a carrot from seed to plate.  Our finished pieces are being entered in a poetry competition and we hope to win a visit to a nearby farm.

Well done Hawks for performing our class rap so confidently in sharing assembly.  Below are some of the raps written by the children:

Carrot Rap!     By Polly and Ruby

Ho, ho, ho

Let’s go, go go!

Let me hear you clap

For the carrot rap!

When I was a baby seed

They had to clear every stone and weed

I grew chunky and round

When I was in the ground

Take a bite and have a munch

Have me in your packed lunch

Don’t ask me why

But what makes me die is a fly

Ho, ho, ho

Let’s go, go go!

Let me hear you clap

For the carrot rap!

The farmer has no doubt

The tractor pulls me out

The farmer is ready

To send me to the factory

I am washed and I gleam

I am wet, I have steam

I am in the carrot team

I am juicier than I seem

Buy me

Have me for your tea

I will help you see at night

You know you can’t resist a bite

Ho, ho, ho

Let’s go, go go!

Let me hear you clap

For the carrot rap!

Carrot Rap   By Cameron

Sow, sow sow

You need to sow, sow, sow

Do a boogie-woogie to the carrot rap

I am pointy and bright

My green hair is a delight

I am chunky and round

I am found in the ground

Sow, sow sow

You need to sow, sow, sow

Do a boogie-woogie to the carrot rap

I am not a weed

I am a seed!

I am planted in a field

In a long straight row

Sun and water make me grow

Sow, sow sow

You need to sow, sow, sow

Do a boogie-woogie to the carrot rap

Carrot Rap! By Max

Hi, hi, hi

Are you asking why?

We go clap, clap, clap

For the carrot rap

I start as a seed

I am not a weed

What do I need?

I need water

Hi, hi, hi

Are you asking why?

We go clap, clap, clap

For the carrot rap

My leaves are green

I do not lean

I grow straight and tall

And ready for the ball

Hi, hi, hi

Are you asking why?

We go clap, clap, clap

For the carrot rap!

Carrot Rap!  By Molly

Yo, yo, yo

Let’s go

Come and clap

For the carrot rap

I am orange and bright

I let you see at night

I am fabulous and round

And I am pulled out of the ground

Take a bite and listen to me crack

Try me in a carrot pack

I am good for you

Yeah you know it’s true

Castles

Hawks Class loved learning about castles.  Here are some photographs showing our amazing motte and bailey castle paintings, incredible models and our tasty gingerbread square keeps.  We also enjoyed the banquet where we performed 'Greensleeves.' 

Homework

If your child's homework book didn't make it as far as their book-bag or they 'forgot' to glue in their homework sheet, don't panic!  The homework is attached below!

Welcome to Hawks

Your teacher will very soon be filling this page with exciting class news, pictures of things we’ve done and more.

Do you have any ideas for this page? Why not let you Teacher know!

Have you seen the Kids’ Zone? Play games and visit some cool websites. You can vote for your favourites.