Term 5 - Roots to Food

Robin's News - 25.2.22

We have had a busy first week back to this term in Robin’s class. The year six children had the pleasure of being taught by two secondary school teachers from Casterton Collage. The children were given a question to look deeply into and answer using language expected in their next school, it was an eye opening experience for many. In R.E this week, the children were looking at the term ‘commitment’ and how many people commit to many different things. We looked at how well known sports personalities committed to their training and how pop stars committed to their music to enable them to be successful. The children then made their own commitments to something tat could help them in school. From committing to beautiful handwriting to committing to listen, the children will track their progress. In P.E. this week we started our course of dance lessons, beginning with moving in different ways – rowing and climbing- I was very impressed with the dexterity and balance of many of the children. This week we have started our new focus text ‘ The Templeton Twins’ and were sent a voice note and prototype top secret invention from Professor Templeton. This, however, was stolen by a saboteur – Dean, D, Dean! Professor Templeton visited the class ands the children were able to get some more information and clues as to why his prototype was stolen. The children have been looking at the text to write from the perspective of the twins. In science this week we researched the life and inventions of Alexander Graham Bell and looked at the controversy about his claim to patients. The children presented their research before then diving into how sounds are made with the help of twanging rulers and tuning forks. 

Rockin' Robins End of Term Round Up - 11.2.2022

This term has been one of discovery for Robins class. Our focus text has been ‘Hidden Figures’ written by Margot Lee and the children wrote letters (formal and informal), adverts, information pieces and memoirs based on this text. We have learnt the word ‘segregation’ and studied what this actually meant in the lives of black people in America in the 1950s. The Appollo 11 mission to the moon would not have happened without these inspirational women who invented the maths and landing pods to go to space. We have also looked at the lives of other inventors that have changed the world. Thomas Eddison, inventor of the lint in a lightbulb and the operating system to bring electricity into the home. The children used magazine photos of electronics to create collages. Next was Garret Morgan , inventor of the 3 bulb traffic light, The children applied their science skills and knowledge of electrical circuits to build their own 3 bulb traffic light. We have also learnt about Alexander Flemming, who discovered penicillin (consequently saving countless lives) on a type of mould, the children, therefore, have been doing an experiment to grow our own mould samples – results will be shared at the end of next term… The children have been learning about digital wellbeing and resilience when using the internet and computers – in preparation for us to learn some programming and coding skills next half term- and how to build online relationships safely. It has been lots of fun with gymnastics, swimming, brass lessons and forest school continuing each week and next half term we will be starting street dance in PE.

Rockin' Robins news 4.2.2021

In Robin’s class this week the children have written their own newspaper opinion pieces about the story of ‘Hidden Figures’. They all thoughtfully wrote about why the achievements of Mary Jackson, Christine Darden, Dorothy Vaughn and Katherine Johnson (who were good at maths really good). They wrote pieces asking how these inspiration women should be remembered and how the four women helped to change the future of America by enabling black people and women to go to the best colleges, become engineers and work as supervisors at NASA. The grammar and language used by the children was very impressive! In maths this week our class have been using different units of measure to calculate the perimeter of various rectangular shapes – this will continue next week. Science has been all about electrical conductors this week. The children tested a variety of materials to figure out the best material to use make their rockets! The week has ended with a very creative day to celebrate the Chinese new year, the year of the tiger. Keep an eye out for the photos. Congratulations to Meliha for earning her pen licence this week – keep up the beautiful handwriting!

Rockin' Robins news - 14.1.2022

Robins have been continuing their top secret work for NASA and have been learning about some very clever and influential women who worked as computers for NASA – Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn. The children have been using some fantastic abstract nouns to create character profiles for the women who suffered segregation in the work place. In the big write session, the children wrote persuasive letters to a judge to ask him to allow Mary Jackson (a black woman) into an all-white school to study engineering, I would certainly be persuaded! In maths, Miss Page’s group have been using geometry and co-ordinates to create their own emoji faces and animals. Also in maths, we have been learning about prime numbers and why they are important in mathematics, ask your children if they can name the prime numbers to 100? Continuing with our topic of ‘inventions that have changed the world’ the children have stepped into the shoes of Garrett Morgan and have built their own sets of traffic lights using bulbs, wires, cells and switches. They have experimented with adding more power and/or more components to their electrical circuits and how to open and close a circuit.  PE has started again this week and Mr Tillen lead an exciting and engaging gymnastics session, we looked at the strength and ability used by some top athletes, such as Max Whitlock, to see how hard gymnasts have to work. The children used balancing to help with their strength. This afternoon some of the year 4 and 5 children have gone to a swimming gala at Uppingham sports centre – photos to follow.

Rockin' Robins News 7.1.2022

The children in Robin’s class have all been enlisted into NASA (previously known as NACA) and have had top secret missions to undertake. In English the children have written a non-fiction report about the changes in NASA/NACA and the segregation there used to be in the work place. Our top secret missions will continue this week as we start to look at ‘Hidden Figures’ – the story of four black women and the space race. In maths this week the year 6s have been using the four quadrants to place and chart co-ordinates in geometry. The year 4s and 5s have been looking at factors and multiples and how these can help when we know our times tables! We have started our new topic of ‘Inventions that have Changed the Wold’ this week so we have leant about the difference Thomas Edison and Lewis Latimer have made to our lives – Did you know that Thomas Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb, but he improved it so that they work more efficiently? We have started creating collages of Thomas and will continue to look at inventors of the past and present throughout this term. Science is heavily linked to topic and we have refreshed our memories of how a simple circuit works to enable us to become inventors ourselves. We have also been looking at how to have a digital well-being in PSHE/computing and in forest school this afternoon we wrote algorithms for our friends to follow. Well done to the many children who have moved up in the times table Rockstar studio – there will be some rockin’ robin rock legends in no time!

Rockin' Robins news 17.12.2021

The last week of this term has been an exciting one in Robins class. The children and adults have been in the Christmas spirit with festive activities galore! The children have been planning and writing their own versions of the fairy tale ‘The Firebird’ using many of the skills they have been learning including fronted adverbials. The story plans have been very imaginative varying from a Pokémon theme to the attack of the Big Macs - lots of giggles have been had. The children also were inspired to write their own Christmas poems after listening to the classic ‘T’was the night before Christmas’ and had the pleasure of sharing their poems with some of the YR and Y1 children in Perfect Parrots class. Again, the creativity shown in the poems is a testament to the children’s hard work this term in English. In Maths this week, all three year groups have been working  together to solve some of Santa’s conundrums. They were able to find out which one of the elves ate the most mince pies and whose present was left under the tree. Due to the current situation, the Christingle service was unable to take place, however, Robin’s class kept the spirit of Christmas alive and were able to find fun in Christmas karaoke – look out for the Robin rendition of ‘Rockin around the Christmas Tree.’ Today was party day and we had such fun playing party games with Hazel beating all others and winning musical statues, Poppy won the grand pass the parcel prize and Nico pinned the nose on the snowman’s face to perfection – our Kahoot! Quizzes were also a hit with the children.

On Monday, many of the children stayed behind after school for a festive film night and popcorn was enjoyed by all – many thanks to our school PTA for organising the event. I wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Rockin' Robin's news - 10.12.2021

We have had a very busy week, full of lots of fun and creative activities in Robins. We began the week looking at our new book, THE FIREBIRD- who had left a golden feather of fames in our classroom. The children have enjoyed creating expanded noun phrases, using modal verbs to show possibility and even using the verbs in their subjunctive form. PE was another fantastic dodgeball session run by Mr Tillen. The children had a successful tournament in their teams with lots of skill and athleticism being shown. We have also been getting our bodies moving with some cosmic kids yoga stories. Wednesday was Christmas jumper day and I was not disappointed – The class looked fab! It was also Christmas dinner day and I was able to sit share a meal with the class. We created some wonderful snow globes using photos of the children leaping in mid air! The week has ended with an amazing Egyptian day (again the costumes did not disappoint. The children looked amazing with Pharos and Gods galore. We enjoyed a plethora of craft activities this morning including clay canopic jars, mod rock mummies and paper people. This afternoon we have been learning Egyptian dancing and enjoyed our Egyptian feast – with bread made by the children.

Rockin, Robin's news 3.12.2021

It has been a pleasure to be back in class after a couple of weeks not being here, and the children have not disappointed me! Some of the children have created story maps for their adventure stories and have been filmed reading them. I have been mightily impressed with the level of detail, expanded noun phrases and creativity in their writing – superb!  In maths, year 4 and 5 children have been focussing on subtraction and addition being inverse operations, creating fact families, bar models and part whole models in maths. I have had the opportunity to work with a small group of year 6 children each day for boosters and I have been delighted to see their enthusiasm to learning. On Tuesday, the year 5s and 6s went on a trip to Empingham church to see how the organ worked. It was very enjoyable trip that the year 4s look forward to. P.E this week was in the hall (due to wintery weather) and a fun game of dodgeball was had – Well done to Meliha and Teddy for creating an exciting match. The week has ended with a Christmas Craft morning (see the photos) and forest school. Much fun was had making mud faces and prints. Next week we have Egyptian day on Friday – Get your costumes ready.