Term 6 Week 1
Welcome back!
I hope everyone had a wonderful half term. I cannot quite believe we are already in the final term of the year. I am determined not to think about September just yet because I still have lots of wonderful memories to make with the children before then!
The Owls came back full of energy and stories from their holidays. It was lovely hearing about trips away, family adventures and even a few very late bedtimes.
As the children settled back into school life, there was something rather intriguing waiting for them when they walked into the classroom on Monday morning.
As part of our weekly Pobble activity, the children were greeted by a picture of a mysterious house hidden inside a giant apple deep within a woodland. The image immediately sparked their curiosity and before long the classroom was buzzing with ideas and questions.
Who lived there?
How did they get inside?
Was it a pixie house, a fairy house or something else entirely?
Within minutes, the children were creating magical adventures, secret kingdoms and unexpected twists. It never ceases to amaze me how one picture can inspire so many different stories. The creativity on display was wonderful and it was a lovely way to begin our first week back after half term. Take a look at some of their marvellous stories below.
The imagination continued into our English lessons as we began exploring balanced arguments. We started by learning the difference between causal conjunctions and contrasting conjunctions and discussing how they help writers present different viewpoints fairly.
To put our learning into practice, we played a balanced argument game. The children selected debate topics at random and had to create arguments both for and against each statement. The discussions were lively, thoughtful and, at times, very entertaining! Topics included whether dogs make better pets than cats, whether children should have mobile phones, whether homework is helpful and whether children should be in bed by nine o'clock. The children did an excellent job of considering both sides of an argument, even when they strongly disagreed with one of the viewpoints.
One of my favourite moments was listening to the children justify their opinions. It is easy to argue for something you believe in, but much harder to consider another perspective. The Owls rose to the challenge brilliantly and demonstrated some excellent reasoning skills.
In Maths, we continued our work on fractions. The children learnt how to add and subtract mixed numbers and explored how to find unit and non-unit fractions of a quantity.
I won't pretend they found it easy! Some of the concepts were quite challenging and there were certainly a few furrowed brows along the way. However, I was incredibly proud of the perseverance the children showed. They tackled each problem with determination, discussed their ideas with their learning partners and refused to give up when things became tricky.
It was wonderful to see the children growing in confidence as the week progressed and realising that, with effort and resilience, they could solve problems that had initially seemed impossible.
Photographic evidence to follow.
We also enjoyed an exciting STEM challenge this week.
On Thursday afternoon, the Owls took part in an exciting STEM workshop. We began by learning what STEM stands for and exploring some of the careers linked to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The children were then placed into teams and given a challenge: to design a new product for a company. Each member of the group took on a different role, including Project Manager, Product Designer etc. Working together, the children had to consider the design brief, share ideas and make decisions as a team to create a product that met the company's requirements.
The classroom was soon buzzing with discussion as the children debated ideas, solved problems and worked collaboratively to refine their designs. It was wonderful to see them embracing their roles and recognising how different skills and responsibilities contribute to a successful team.
The workshop provided a fantastic opportunity for the children to develop their teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills whilst gaining an insight into how people work together in the world beyond the classroom.
After our recent visits to Donnington Castle and Newbury Museum, the children enjoyed a lesson designed to consolidate their learning about the English Civil War. They explored the causes and consequences of the conflict and learned about key historical figures including King Charles I and Oliver Cromwell.
Working collaboratively in teams, the children discussed, organised and placed significant events in chronological order to create their own English Civil War timelines.
This hands-on activity encouraged rich historical discussion and helped the children develop a deeper understanding of how events unfolded over time and shaped the future of England.
Throughout the week, we have also been reflecting on our Christian value of thankfulness. During Monday's whole-school worship, Ms Munday introduced the value and helped the children think about what it means to be thankful for the people, opportunities and blessings in our lives. The children shared their own ideas about gratitude and discussed ways they can show appreciation both at school and at home.