Welcome to Otter's Class Page

Teacher: Mrs Marie Bird

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Sue Evans

BMX Worshop

Otter Class enjoyed their BMX workshop this week.  They were able to learn some news skills and tricks, enjoyed racing each other and riding over the ramps.  

Blood

Today, Otter Class learnt all about the importance of blood .  they learnt about the four main components of blood (plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells) and their functions.

The children then made their own representations of blood to help them remember before writing about their new knowledge.  We made a lot of mess and all came away with red fingers!

A visit from Dr Jepson

Otter Class were extremely lucky to have a visit from Dr Jepson from Thurston Community College, where she helped us all learn about negative numbers.  We learnt that negatives numbers have not been around forever and only arrived in the UK in 1650AD, all about 'zero pairs' and how to add negative numbers.  It was a fantastic lesson and the children were excited to talk about their new knowledge in maths.  Thank you, Dr Jepson!

Looking after our environment

Today, Otters went to Euston woodlands to help collect the plastic cones that once protected the trees.  There were hundreds of cones to collect and we all worked tirelessly to clear the woods of plastic.  To pay us for our hard work, we had giant roasted marshmallows 

Pig Visit

Squirrels and Otters had the chance to enhance their learning in Literacy and went on a visit to meet Ben, a pig farmer.  The aim of their visit was to research pigs and find out as much information for their non-chronological reports next week.  Ben was a fountain of knowledge and answered all of the children's (well prepared) questions.  We never knew there was so much maths involved in pig farming!  We can't wait to get stuck into writing our reports now - watch this space...

Hercules

This week the children learnt about Hercules with Miss Hoskins.  They enjoyed the story but loved learning how to tie their own togas!

Adaptation in our Local Environment

Otter Class visited Euston Estate and Farm to learn more about adaptation in our local environment.  The children looked at the adaptation of Red Poll cows, Suffolk Punches, deer and many species of plants.  We even had time for lunch in the woods, a play among the trees and some toasted marshmallows 

SUMMER TERM

I hope you all had a lovely Easter, have relaxed and recharged ready for a summer term of learning 😀

Just a reminder that PE has changed to a Monday so make sure that you come to school in PE kits on this day each week. 

CHRISTMAS LUNCH 2020

Christmas lunch was a little different this year with only our bubble but we still had a fantastic time.  Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS FUN!

Otter Class have had fun this afternoon making hats for their Christmas lunch tomorrow. 

PANTO AFTERNOON - "Oh, yes it was!"

The children enjoyed an afternoon at the panto (well, the panto came to us on the big screen).  Lots of jokes, songs and fun had by all.

ELECTRICITY

Otters enjoyed experimenting with electrical components in Science this week.  They were asked to make a complete circuit and then to include a switch to make the light turn on and off.

Otter Class Websites

Otters have enjoyed their learning about renewable energy in their local environment.  They have worked really hard in designing their own websites to inform others about all they have learnt.  Some even managed to sneak into their websites the scary story told by Edward.

OTTERS FARM TRIP

On Thursday, Otters kick-started their Electricity topic with a visit to the AD Plant at Euston and solar panels.  The children learnt about renewable energy within their local environment.  They even got the chance to make their own electricity using a 1-watt generator!  The children squeezed in a little play in the woods after lunch and then gathered round to hear a gruesome story from a local historian.

Guess who visited us today...

LETTERS FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE - TODAY'S DEBATE

Today, Otter Class took to the Barnham Crown Court.  The children's jury had to come to a decision as to whether the lighthouse's light should be left on or turned off.  Eye witnesses put forward their points of views and the 'For' and 'Against' sides debated well.  It only took 3 minutes for the jury to come to a unanimous decision - the lights should remain on.  Of course, Judge Harvey was on top form keeping the courtroom in order!

Science

Following on from our Law of Reflection investigation, we decided to design and make periscopes that obey this law. We sounds realised how effective and efficient periscopes would've been during WWI and WWII; they helped soldiers see over trenches!

Geography 

Today we linked our Geography and History learning by identifying countries that were involved at the beginning of WWII. We completed this task by using atlas's to locate the countries that played a role in the war and then highlighted these on a blank map. The children used their prior learning of continents to determine where specific countries were situated - very impressive. To follow on from this we discuss which countries were enemies (The Axis Powers) and which countries were allies (The Allied Powers). Next week, we will be writing a short explanation about our learning - watch this space...

Science

This term we have been learning about light. As a class, we have investigated the following hypothesis: the incident ray is reflected at a different angle to the reflection ray.

Each child has written their own predictions, listed the equipment they needed and written a thorough method. Today, the children have carried out the investigation and recorded their results - take a look at our amazing pictures. We even managed to conclude our results using the correct scientific vocabulary!

Art

Our art lesson was focused on the following WWII image:

History 

In our history lesson today, the main focus was on influencers and leaders within the second world war. We identified the leader (Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minster) when WWII started. We then listened to the audio footage that he released when he declared war on Germany. After listening to the footage, we discussed how we would've felt at that particular time and then listed some great questions that we could've asked Mr Chamberlain. To develop this idea further, we discuss similarities and differences between this audio footage and the footage Borris Johnson released when he declared a National lockdown due to COVID-19. 

Science

Today, we started our new Science topic 'Light'. We learnt about the two types of light sources: man-made light sources and natural light sources. Using this new found knowledge, we were then able to sort a range of images into those two categories. What a great way to start the topic!

Our focus text for the term:

Literacy

Today, we have been judging a book by its cover and making predictions. Our predictions were thorough; to back up and support our ideas, we unpicked the detailed illustrations and used supporting evidence from the blurb.