Sea Otters May Update!

Well, Sea Otters, we have had a very busy term already!

In the first week, we had a fantastic time at Maidstone Museum for our Victorian Workshop and tour of the exhibits. We learnt what school would be like in the Victorian times, writing with chalk, how washing would happen and about the jobs available to the rich and poor.

We also toured the museum, looking at many exhibits including military, Greek and Roman. The children were all very well-behaved and learnt a lot about the Victorians.

The children were all very impressive during their class assembly. They have all worked incredibly hard learning the Ukulele! We hope you all enjoyed their performance!

This week, we have been looking at a range of careers, being ambitious about our futures and showing curiosity in the vast amount of careers out there. We have had visitors from swimming teachers, zookeepers and flight attendants. On Tuesday, we attended the Careers Fayre. During this time, we visited people from various industries, including construction and architecture, medical, entrepreneurs and hairdressers. The children loved learning about these various careers and asking many questions. They have all been thoroughly inspired this week – please do ask your children about everything they have learnt this week!

P.E. is on Thursdays this term. Please ensure that your child has the correct PE Kit and shoes.

Well done for all of your hard work this term!

Miss Kilmister

Happy Easter from Sea Otters!

Happy Easter Sea Otters!

It has been a very busy but very fun end of term! I hope you have all enjoyed the Easter Bonanza!

To finish our English topic of the Wishgranter, we created explanation texts about how the wishing fountain works. We created double-page spreads and focused on our layout, pictures and diagrams.

During Science Week, we welcomed Boffin Dave for our Illusions workshop and Science show! We also visited the ducklings and watched them hatch. They were very cute! We also had an assembly from Southern Water, teaching us about water conservation and water recycling.

We have been working hard on our DT, linking our Science topic of electricity with it to make torches. We designed, made and tested our torches. We made switches for the torches, using our knowledge of conductors and insulators. We all managed to make our torches work and they shone very brightly!

During the Easter Bonanza, we visited the fair, played games, and took part in Easter activities and Easter crafts. In class, we made Easter crowns and went on an Easter bunny hunt!

I hope you all have an egg-cellent Easter! Have lots of fun and I will see you next term!

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otter March Update!

Well Sea Otters, what a busy term we have had already!

In English, we have studied 1 text and 1 film this term. From our text, They Bogeymen and the Trolls Next Door, we have described characters, written a diary entry and created our own narrative verse about the story. From our film stimulus, The Wishgranter, we have described the main character and have mapped the events of the story.

In Maths, we have moved onto fractions. So far, we have ordered, compared, converted from mixed fractions to improper fractions and vice versa, added and subtracted fractions. Working with fractions really requires children to know their timetables, so please keep practising at home!

In Science, we have started our topic of Electricity. The children have loved this topic so far. We have looked at the difference between main and battery powered appliances, the items in a circuit, how electricity flows through a circuit and what makes a circuit complete. The children have loved the practical element of this topic and have been creating and testing a range of circuits.

Our DT this term is linked directly to our Science as we will be making torches. So far, we have looked at a range of torches, identified their uses and looked at exploded diagrams to see all the components that make up a torch. Stay tuned for our finished products!

In History, we have started our new topic of the Anglo-Saxons. So far, we have looked at where they have come from, why they settled here and the different kingdoms and their rulers.

The children all looked wonderful for World Book Day! They loved sharing their favourite books, discovering who the masked readers were, listening to stories from other teachers and having an author workshop! Please visit the Book Fair after school over the next few days if you can!

It was so lovely for the children to be able to share their learning with you during our Book Sharing session. Please let me know if you were not able to make this session so that books can be available to you during Parents' Evening.

I hope you enjoy Science Week next week! Keep up the hard work Sea Otters!

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otter February Update!

Well Sea Otters,

What a busy term we have had! Full of learning, fun and creativity!

Over the past few weeks, we have been studying ‘The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold. We have read about April’s adventures travelling to Bear Island with her dad. In response to this, we have written a diary entry as April and written to the Prime Minister about Climate Change and what we can all do to help. This week, we have written beautiful setting descriptions around this, focusing on fronted adverbials, personification, similes and metaphors.

In Science, we have planned and completed several investigations around sound. We have used elastic bands to explore how different sounds can have different pitches. We also investigated which materials would have a higher or lower pitch. To sum up all we have learnt about sound, we have created our own instruments, showing how we can make them go louder and quieter and how we change the pitch.

In PE, we have been continuing with developing our gymnastics skills. We started the term with exploring different balances, using different points of our bodies. We then moved onto creating partner and group balances. We have then moved onto forwards and backwards rolls, ensuring that we perform these safely.

In Geography, we have looked at the mountains, rivers and human and physical features of India. We are now creating our own fact files on Purple Mash to combine our computing skills and our new Geography Knowledge.

We have all really enjoyed Storytelling Week! We loved sharing stories with the Reception Children in our Pjs! We have also enjoyed listening and creating our own stories in class! A huge thank you to those family members who came in to share stories with us this week! We loved it!

We have also celebrated languages from around the world! We started off with an amazing Languages Workshop. Rachel performed ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and ‘The Three Little Pigs’ completely in French. She used props, actions and expressions and children to recreate these stories. The children all joined in with the stories and really enjoyed the French performance. We then spent the rest of the day exploring different ‘countries’ within different classrooms around school.

Have a wonderful last week of term and come back after half term refreshed for our new topics and learning!

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otters January Update!

Welcome back Sea Otters!

We are glad to see you back after the Christmas holidays!

We have started two new books this term, one in Guided Reading and the other in English. In Guided Reading, we are now looking at ‘Oliver and the Sea wigs’ by Philip Reeve. We have been looking at the meaning of new words in context, using a dictionary to find the meaning of new words, retrieving information and making inferences.

In English, we have been using the book ‘The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold as a stimulus for our creative writing. We have written beautiful descriptions of the different settings using alliteration, similes and expanded noun phrases and have planned out our retelling of the first three chapters!

In Maths, we have continued with Multiplication and Division, furthering our understanding of formal methods and finding remainders. Next week, we will be moving onto the topic of measure.

In Geography, we have started our new topic of ‘Investigating India’. So far, we have located India on the map, looked at it in relation to other countries in terms of location and size, identified the capital city and investigated its climate.

In Science, we have started our new topic of 'Sound'. We have looked at how different sounds are made, how we hear sounds and the parts of the ear.

This term in our Ukulele lessons, we have started working on learning some new chords to play Stevie Wonder’s ‘I just called to say I love you’! We hope to be able to perform what we have learnt to you soon!

We really enjoyed learning Greetings from Mrs Gasson this week. She came and taught us different greetings in a range of different languages!

As always, please can children read daily, recording this in your reading records and homework to be handed in by Friday.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Multiplication Check meeting on the 27^th February!

Best wishes,

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otters December Update!

Wow Sea Otters – what a busy term!

In Maths, we have come to the end of our first block of multiplication and division. You have all worked so hard at learning the remaining times tables and their corresponding division facts. We have also started to look at how our multiplication facts help us to know our factor pairs. We did a practical lesson, making arrays to show which numbers multiply together to make a factor pair.

In Science we have continued to look closely at the human digestive system. We have studied the different parts of the digestive system and the part they play. We then made a model of the digestive system to simulate what happens in our bodies. We used Weetabix, orange juice and some tights to help us!

We have continued to read and write about the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We have created very detailed descriptions of the White Witch and also looked in detail about the author, C.S. Lewis to create a biography about him. We are very much looking forward to seeing how closely the film sticks to the book.

In Art, we have used our plans to start to build our Mayan masks. We used Mod Roc to build up the facial features and create key prominent parts of our masks. Watch this space for the finished masterpieces!

In History, we have continued our in depth study into the Mayans through looking at the Mayan Gods, their hierarchical society and the everyday life of a Mayan.

We all enjoyed being spotty for Children in Need and we looked closely at the charity, the causes that they support and some of this year’s challenges!

I hope that you enjoy all of the festive activities that are coming up in the next 2 weeks!

Well done for all of your hard work this term!

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otter November Update!

Welcome back Sea Otters!

What a busy term we have had already!

We have started our new topics this term, which include Digestion, The Ancient Maya and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

In English, we have been reading the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and have used this book to inspire our writing. So far, we have analysed some of the characters, sequenced the key events so far and have written beautiful descriptions of Narnia.

In Maths, we have just finished the topic of Area and now we are onto Multiplication and Division, particularly looking at our Times Tables. This week, we have looked at the 3, 6 and 9 times tables and next week we will be looking at the 7, 11 and 12 times tables. Please make sure you keep practicing these times tables on TTRS and ensure you complete your weekly times tables homework.

In History, we have just started our new topic of the Ancient Maya. We have looked at where they lie in history on a time line, explored where they came from and have started asking questions as though we were the Spanish Conquistadors discovering the Mayan Temples for the first time.

We have linked our Art and DT to our Mayan topic. We are working towards creating our own Mayan Masks. Last week, we looked at some Mayan masks, colours, shapes and patterns that were used. We have analysed and critiqued these and used these as inspiration to design our own. Keep your eyes peeled for our finished masks!

In Science, we are looking at the digestive system. We have started this topic by looking at our teeth. We have looked at the different kinds of teeth, their functions and how to keep them healthy. The children really enjoyed making models of the mouth, creating teeth of the right shape and size.

We have been lucky to have our Road Safety Workshop this week. We learnt more about how to cross roads safely, and we particularly learnt about clothing and accessories that will be more visible and therefore keep us safer, especially when crossing roads in the dark.

We really hope you enjoyed looking through the books with your children and have seen all of their amazing learning and work so far!

Please make sure Reading Records are filled in daily – we want to keep our Reading Trophy!

Keep up the great work Sea Otters!

Miss Kilmister

Sea Otter October Update!

Well Sea Otters! What a busy few weeks we have had!

In our Music lessons, our Ukulele skills have been going from strength to strength. We have learnt several chords now, are getting more fluent with our strumming and have learnt to play a song!

In Geography we have been looking at different rivers around the world through research and video clips. We have also been discussing the problems that some have without access to clean water. We looked into the different types of water pollution and how this can get into the water. We then investigated effective ways of cleaning water. In groups we built and tested water filters, using various sized rocks and filter paper. The children loved seeing the water travel through the filter and come out cleaner!

In Science, we have looked at the various melting points of chocolate, the rate of evaporation and the water cycle. We have undertaken several experiments over the past few weeks and we have created our own ‘Water Cycle Bags’. These bags have mimicked the water cycle, showing evaporation, condensation and precipitation – if a little weather dependent!

It was so lovely to see so many of you join us for our Autumn Craft Workshop. The children loved doing crafts with you all and sharing their art work with you!

A huge thank you for all of your Colour Run sponsorship money so far! I had so much fun with all of the children last Friday during the colour run! It was amazing to hear and see them all having so much fun together, enjoying the sunshine and getting messy! I hope you enjoy all of the photos!

Nearly half term Sea Otters! I hope you have enjoyed this term as much as I have! Well done!

Miss Kilmister

September Update!

What a start to the year Sea Otters!

It has been so lovely to be back with you all, settling into our new classroom and new year group.

In English, we have been read ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. We have learnt new writing tools, including fronted adverbials, and applied them into our first Big Write of the year! The children all worked hard to retell the first part of the book and showed off their wonderful use of vocabulary and skills. Over the next few weeks, we will be writing a newspaper report about the destruction and chaos that the Iron Man causes.

In Maths, we have just come to the end of our first topic of Place Value. The children have recalled their knowledge from last year and have endeavoured to build upon it further, looking at numbers to 10,000. We will soon be onto our next topic of Addition and Subtraction. The children have also been working hard on their times tables and have been practicing daily. Please do encourage your child to continue this practice at home too!

In Science, we have been looking at States of Matter. We have done various experiments looking at solids, liquids and gases, melting and freezing, melting points and changing states. The children have enjoyed this practical element of Science and have been developing their ‘Working Scientifically’ skills.

In Geography, we have started our topic of ‘Rivers’. We have been looking at the parts of a river, the importance of rivers and the impact of rivers on the water cycle. 

In Art, we have been learning about the artist Georgia O’Keefe and her inspirational work. We have recreated our own version of her ‘Poppy’ and we have been experimenting with water colours before recreating some of her landscapes.

The children have absolutely loved having Mr Ball in on Fridays for Ukulele lessons. The children have been learning the parts of the Ukulele, the different strings and notes to play a tune. A great idea for upcoming birthdays or Christmas!

Keep up the hard work and dedication that you have shown so far!

Well done Sea Otters,

Miss Kilmister

If you were unable to attend the 'Meet the Teacher' session, here are the slides shown for your information.