This week, we started a science experiment to find out what different drinks might do to our teeth. We used boiled eggs because their shells are similar to the enamel on our teeth. We carefully placed one egg into each drink: water, milk, orange juice, and coke. We’re leaving them for a few days to see what happens. We think the drinks with more sugar or acid, like orange juice and coke, might change the eggs the most. We’re excited to check the eggs soon and find out which drinks are better or worse for our teeth!

This week in Religion and World Views, we learned why water is important in religion, especially in Hinduism. We listened to a story about the River Ganges and how it is connected to Hindu gods. It's a sacred river, and people believe that bathing in it can wash away sins and bring them closer to their god.

We also explored a huge festival called Kumbh Mela, where millions of people gather to take part in ritual bathing in the Ganges. It’s a special way for them to show their faith and feel spiritually clean.

In pairs, we designed posters for the Kumbh Mela festival. Our posters showed why people go, what they do, and what it means to them. We really enjoyed working together and learning about this important part of Hindu belief.

This week in our writing sessions, we have started exploring our new video stimulus, A Cloudy Lesson. We began by watching the video and discussing the key events to help us understand the story. Our focus has been on using double-ly sentences to retell parts of the story effectively. We took part in a shared write, where we worked together to create a model piece of writing. This helped us understand what a good recount looks like and gave us ideas for our own writing. Next, we planned and wrote our own recounts of A Cloudy Lesson. As we wrote, we focused on using fronted adverbials with commas to open our sentences and made sure to end our sentences with double-ly phrases to add detail and flair.

This week, we were very lucky to have a special assembly led by a local Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) and a representative from the Road Safety team. During the session, we learned all about how to stay safe when walking near or crossing roads. One of the main things we focused on was the Green Cross Code, which is a set of important steps to help us cross roads safely. We talked about the importance of stopping, looking, listening, and thinking before crossing any road.

We also learned about the different types of pedestrian crossings that we might see, such as zebra crossings, pelican crossings, puffin crossings, and traffic light-controlled crossings. The visitors explained how each crossing works and showed us how to use them correctly and safely. We now know how to wait for the right signals, make sure the traffic has stopped, and always stay alert when crossing. It was a really useful and informative assembly that reminded us how important it is to be careful near roads and to always follow the safety rules.

In our DT workshop, we used our sewing skills and knowledge of different stitches to create our own pillow. This was a special parent workshop where our families joined us to support and participate in the project, making it a collaborative and fun learning experience. Thank you to everyone who came to our workshop!

This week in writing, we learned how to use emotion comma sentences, where an emotion is followed by a comma and then a main clause (e.g. Nervous, he stepped onto the stage.). We discussed how these sentences help to show how a character is feeling. Then, we moved around the room to find sentences with missing or incorrect punctuation, such as capital letters, commas, and full stops. We corrected the errors and wrote the improved sentences into our books, helping us to strengthen our punctuation and sentence structure skills.

This week in PE, we continued learning about dance.
We focused on key movement techniques including unison, canon, mirror, and formations. We practised each one to understand what they looked like and how to perform them clearly. Then we worked in small groups to begin choreographing our own dances using these ideas. We’re excited to keep building our routines!

This week, we have started our geography where we are comparing Venice and Cleethorpes! In our lesson this week, we looked at human and physical features of both and completed a Venn diagram to show the comparisons as well as labelling Cleethorpes and Venice on a map of England and Italy.

This week, we started our new writing sequence. We used conscious alley to encourage and explore how to persuade someone to chose or make a decision. We had fun debating with peers and being creative. We used lots of descriptions and adjectives along with good reasoning to plead our case. We debated food choices, sports teams, weather, hobbies and games to play.

This week we started our new stimulus in Writing. We went on a trip to Weelsby Woods where we walked around to gather ideas for our 5 senses ready to create our own map and explain what we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch at our own forest. I can't wait to see your own map creations of your mythical and enchanted forests!

In History, we have used the Ipads to assist in research on the Persian wars. We have learned about the Battle of Marathon and the Battle of Salamis, Greek Victory and the democracy in place following the victories. We created an information poster in groups and shared and presented them to the rest of the class.

SCIENCE WEEK - OUR WORLD OUR FUTURE WORKSHOP

In the workshop by West End Schools, we explored important environmental concepts through drama. We learned about carbon, carbon sinks, and renewable energy. The session included discussions on fossil fuels and their impact on the environment. Through drama, we depicted the role of carbon and carbon sinks and explored how the Earth was different when it began compared to today. The use of drama helped bring these complex ideas to life, making it easier to understand the concepts and their importance in the context of climate change and sustainability. We turned the process from a straight line which is unsustainable to a cycle which is sustainable. We acted out both to see how we can change so that we reduce waste and reuse instead.

On World Book Day, we all dressed up as our favourite book characters and took part in exciting reading activities. We enjoyed a fun quiz that tested our book knowledge and had the chance to read our favourite books. We also shared with our partners why we love our chosen stories. Everyone looked fantastic in their costumes, making the day a wonderful celebration of reading!

This week, we have started our new stimulus 'Voices in the Park'. The children worked in pairs to explore emotions of different characters within ‘The Voices in the Park – Voice 1’. They thought about a variety of emotions each character might feel and the reasons why this might be. Each table shared their ideas with the class verbally, seeing if they thought different emotions and reasons for the same characters, listening carefully to one another's reasons, comparing these with each other.

In our DT project, we worked together to design and create a functional drawbridge using cardboard, dowels, and a pulley system. The process begins with brainstorming and problem-solving to determine how to lift and lower the bridge efficiently. We used scissors and tracing tools to sketch out the design, then cuts the cardboard to form the bridge's base and structure. Dowels are sawed to create the bridge's supports and pulley system. Hot glue is used to assemble the parts, while threading is incorporated to enable the movement of the drawbridge through the pulleys. Throughout the project, we adapted our design, working collaboratively to address challenges, test their system, and ensure the bridge functions as intended. The result is a creative, hands-on solution that showcases teamwork, problem-solving, and engineering skills.

This week in our writing sessions, the children have been debating the positives and negatives of having a screen limit. They explored how limiting screen time can encourage outdoor play and improve sleep, but also discussed how it might hinder access to educational resources or limit social connections. As part of the debate, they practiced writing subordinating conjunctions and clauses, which helped them create more complex and detailed arguments. To further engage with the topic, the students took part in a conscious alley activity, where they stood in two lines and listened to differing perspectives on screen limits, helping them to consider both sides of the issue more thoughtfully.

This week in geography, we looked at the long term impacts of natural disasters such as volcanoes and earthquakes. We located the case studies on the map and looked at how the volcanic eruption or earthquake affected each country. We bullet pointed how each area responded to their natural disaster. We then did a group project where we created a disaster preparedness poster. We had to Imagine we were planning for a small town that is located near an earthquake or volcano. We then had to think of the best safety measures, what community actions would take place and also the long term plans using our knowledge that we have learnt this term. Incredible work, Chestnuts!

This week, in our music sessions with Mr Hutton, we learnt how to play different notes on the keyboards. We then set about learning our songs that we made ourselves last week. We all had so much fun!

This week during our PE session with GTFC we took part in circuits. We had a main focus on practicing our jumping skills with a range of activites. 

This week, we have started our Geography topic on Volcanoes and Earthquakes. We completed our pre-assessment task where we amazed Miss Denniss with our prior knowledge. We then looked at key vocabulary for this topic and matched our key words to their definitions. 

This week, we have been super busy with lots of lovely Christmas activities. We had our Christmas House Event where we did Christmas crafts and created our own Christmas cards. We had a visit from Santa on the last day as well as taking part in our Christmas Concert!

Year 4's were looking at factor pairs in their maths lessons and we made our own arrays to help us solve the questions. 

We had a lovely Christmas Service hosted by Mrs Thirde where we took part in the telling of the Christmas songs. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This week, we have conducted a Science experiment, been to see the Panto (Oh yes we did!) and also made our own pizza in our DT day. 

In Science, we conducted an experiment to find out how the temperature of the water affects the time it takes for an ice cube to melt!

In our DT day, we made our own pizza! We learned the history of pizza, the food content, ingredients and even taste tested toppings! We conducted market research within our class to find out what flavour of pizza was our favourite. We learned how to chop, grate and knead - all skills required in pizza making! Finally, this afternoon we combined our skills to make the pizza! It has been lovely seeing the pictures coming through of you enjoying your pizzas at home!

We also took a trip to Grimsby Auditorium to go and watch the Pantomine which was a lot of fun!

PE

This week in PE, we have been practising our Yoga skills with a focus on our balance. We ended the lesson by showing our partner our favourite one and they had to guess our Yoga pose.

Calendar Making

We had a busy afternoon on Wednesday where we made our calendars based on our DT topic of making pizzas. Each slice represents a different month of the year. We cannot wait to bring them home!

Science

This week in Science, we have been use equipment to carry out an experiment. We tested hot water as a class and cold water in groups. We measured the temperature and how it changed across a 15 minute period. 

This week, in our writing lessons, we completed our final piece of retelling part of the story based on the stimulus 'The Present'. We have then spent the rest of the week focussing on emotion commas sentences. These are where our sentences begin with an emotion followed by a comma to add a dramatic effect to our writing. We spent one lesson using our favourite story books to look at the character's expressions to understand their feelings and then write our sentences. We ended the week by being introduced to our new stimulus 'Santa Clause 3'. We wrote emotion comma sentences to add effect to explain how Jack Frost and Santa Clause would be feeling in a clip from the film. 

Science

This week, we have explored solids, liquids and gases further by working scientifically. We have looked at a range of items such as honey, shaving foam, cola, flour, ice and oil. We have classified them and explored their similarities and differences! We discovered that some items, such as the shaving foam can be classified as a liquid and a gas based on its state of matter. 

Reading

This week we have been focussing on comparison in reading. We have looked at the different characters and setting in the book the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe compared to the characters and setting from the Great Kapok Tree. We have shown resilience and determination this week as it has been a new skill.

Religion and World Views

We have been researching the different ways language helps Christians to express their belief. We have been put into teams with the challenge of working together to earn 20 dojos each to the team who show the best teamwork! We have had great fun researching and creating a poster on our way that belief is expressed through language!

Hinduism Workshop

We had our Hindu workshop where the children heard stories relating to the Hindu religion and the deities, learnt some dancing from their celebrations and were given the opportunity to dress up and play some music using batons. They all had a wonderful afternoon and even got the chance to buy their own diva souvenir!

Dog's Trust

We had a Dogs Trust workshop where we learnt how to be a good friend to the dogs in our lives. We learnt how to read their behaviours and understand what they are communicating with us. Finally we made promise cards to dogs that we know about how we treat them and be friends with them.

Children in Need

It has been lovely seeing all of your outfits based on all the things that makes you happy. We had a class assembly where we found out about the history of children in need, why we support them as well as how we can raise money for them. We then went on a Pudsey Bear hunt after finding out he had escaped from Mrs Finney’s office! We found him hiding in the roof by Mrs Finney’s office. Well done everyone!

On Tuesday this week, we had an amazing afternoon at Clee Academy taking part in Multi Skills activities. Everyone showed their Bursar values throughout the afternoon and had a brilliant time!

On Friday, we had Portals to the Past in to deliver a workshop all about Ancient Egypt. We began our Ancient Egyptian day by listening to the story about history of Ancient Egypt from how the pyramids were built to the different pharaohs. We then completed a quiz an Ancient Egyptian quiz using our comprehension skills to skim and scan the pieces of text to find our answers. We moved around different tables to find specific pieces of information needed to answer the questions.

After break, we looked at several different artefacts and their importance in Ancient Egypt. We looked at a heart stone which was believed to tell the God Anubis whether you have been good or bad. On the back it was scribed with hieroglyphics which translated to say ‘Please heart tell the gods all the good things I have done, but not the bad things’. We held a stone which was carved over 3,000 years ago and was used in real mummification. We also saw real mummification bandages which were 3,000 years old.

The children then played an ancient Egyptian game of snakes and ladders. We worked in pairs to race to the top of the tree with all three of our counters. We were very competitive!

This afternoon, we went to what we thought was the Pharaohs party. However, he died! This then turned into us learning all about mummification and how the brain, intestines and other internal organs were taken out of the body, but the heart was left in. We bandaged up the body to make it a money and put it into its coffin. We have learnt so much about Ancient Egypt today!

Writing

This week we have continued to focus on writing and punctuating direct speech. We started with mixed up cards and we had to put them into the correct order to create direct speech, ensuring it is punctuated correctly. We have been looking at synonyms for said and finally built up to writing our own direct speech when we had a conversation with our partners. 

Art

In art, we have continued to look at the work of our artist Rosalind Monks. We practised adding tones and learnt how to make our sketches darker and lighter using sketching pencils and crayons. We finished the lesson by learning how to draw a bee and adding our new-learnt skills. They looked incredible and I was so proud of each and eveyone's efforts. 

Behaviour Treat

Due to our amazing behaviour this half term, the whole of Chestnut class got to take part in loads of Halloween party games! A lot of fun was had by all and it was a lovely way to end the half term!

Have a well rested break everyone!

Writing

This week, we have been focussing on using speech marks/ inverted commas. We started the week by adding the macaroni pieces to show where the speech marks/ inverted commas should go. We then copied these into our books. We have then been working up to writing speech where we add in the capital letters and punctuation including placing the speech marks/ inverted commas in the correct place. 

PE

In PE, we did our final assessment for the unit. We showcased our skills. We took part in speed bounce, bean bag throw as well as using different techniques on the hurdles. After half term, we will be moving onto Yoga. 

Music

We continued this week to improve our skills on the glockenspiels. We learnt how to play ‘DeeCee’s Blues’ and ‘Flea, fly, mosquito’. 

Art

We started our Art unit where we have been discovering primary and secondary sources of art. We looked into how our imaginations and photographs influence what our sketches look like. We finished our lessons this week by using secondary sources of images by Rosalind Monk to sketch insects with line and pattern work, ensuring they had lots of detail.

This week in Religion and world views, we have been remembering the Hindu celebrations that we learnt last week by having a verbal rally with out partner! We then learnt all about Raksha Bandham which is a Hindu celebration that traditionally celebrates siblings. We got into teams and all went to different stations to be the 'experts' on a certain aspect of this celebration. We then fed back to our group and taught them what we knew. This was a new activity and everyone showed Stamina and Determination throughout this task to learn new things and teach their peers! Well done Chestnut!

In Writing, we have been learning all about using question marks. We have been looking at writing questions from statements as well as checking that we are using our question marks correctly. Year 3 have been looking at words witht the suffix -ness, while Year 4 have been looking at the 'ay' sound spelt; 'eigh' and 'ey'. We have been continuing to focus on punctuating our sentences correctly using capital letters and full stops/question marks. 

In Music, we started by learning to sing and play a brand-new song in music. We had to pay particular attention to the beat so we could sing in time. We supported our partners by saying the notes as they played. We ended the lesson by performing the song. We took it in turns to sing or play the song. 

In P.E., we went into the hall and practised our skipping skills and our tennis racket skills where we practiced bouncing a ball using forearm and back arm. We have been working really hard on our skipping skills to see how many skips we can do in a minute. For our tennis, we made sure to keep the ball under control as we bounced it towards the ground as we remained stationary.

In Geography, we took a walk around the grounds of the school to spot different features. We identified whether the feature was human or physical by writing ‘H’ for human and ‘P’ for physical. We learnt that physical features would be there even if humans did not exist whereas human features have been built by humans. We then learnt all about Cleethorpes by focussing on its features and categorising them by human and physical features. 

What a brilliant week! Well done Chestnuts!

This week, we have had a lot of fun playing the glockenspiels, focussing on the notes D, E and F. We worked in partners to help us play. As one partner played the other told them the notes. It was lovely to see the team work. In Religion and World Views, we have learnt all about Diwali. We now know what the festival is and the story behind it about Rama and Sita. We then 'Brain dumped' all of our knowledge as teams and then created our own poster to explain everything we know about Diwali. Well done Chestnuts!

We have had an amazing and busy week this week. We have learnt about the capital cities of European countries in Geography where we particularly enjoyed playing 'Fastest Finger'. We have been working really hard to learn our spellings as well as punctuating our sentences correctly with capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. In Spanish, we have been learning the Spanish alphabet to help us with our pronunciation.

Well done Chestnut!

This week, I have been amazed with all of your learning attitudes and the encouragement you all have for your peers. This week in Science we started our first lesson using White Rose Science. We looked at animals and different ways we can classify them. I was so impressed with all the different groupings you came up with. Well done, Chestnut!