GOLDFINCH

Welcome to

GOLDFINCH CLASS

THE FINAL HALF TERM!

ARE YOU READY?  HERE WE GO!..

SUMMER ONE - A QUICK ROUND-UP!

APRIL / MAY 2019

What a term!  Goldfinch have been working hard, really hard.  We seem to have packed in an awful lot in the last few weeks.  English has seen some outstanding writing based on true life survival stories on  mountains.  The writing has been of a real quality, the children have embraced the topic working individually and with partners.  Their story mapping skills have sharpened to then allow them to write, drawing on their newly-acquired punctuation and grammar skills.  You are welcome to come and look at our Writing Wall or at the children's books. to see for yourself! 

Maths has brought around Decimals and Shape, primarily angles.  Lots of skill building has been in evidence, using their prior knowledge, to solve those tricky problem-solving questions.  Reasoning has forced Goldfinch to be more focused in their use of mathematical vocabulary which is great to see! 

Our topic work, all based around Mountains, has caused a stir!  Geography and map skills!... Science - discovering about different animals who live on various mountains... RE - Buddhism and pilgrimages... Art - using a variety of media to draw and paint in the style of two artists who use mountains as the focus for their artwork.

Please come in and see our working walls if you'd like a peek!

THE SUMMER TERM - HERE COMES THE SUN!..

Mrs Hart will welcome you back to school on 

Tuesday 23rd April 2019

Happy St.George's Day!

 HAPPY EASTER! 

MARCH 2019

Goldfinch Class became detectives during this half term as The London Eye Mystery was introduced. 

Ted likes the weather, he also likes statistics and routine but his life is thrown into disarray when his Aunt Gloria and cousin Salim arrive, like a hurricane, to stay in London en-route to a new life in New York.

Ted and his older sister Kat arrange to take Salim on the London Eye but although they watch him go up in a pod, he never comes down again. Salim is missing. Ted's analytical mind becomes an asset as he and Kat piece together the information surrounding their cousin's disappearance and begin to unravel the mystery.  

Once again, it had many of the Class providing all sorts of theories as to what had happened to Salim.  Predictions flew around the classroom.  Debates, arguments, possibilities were brought to the table.  You could have heard a pin drop when all was revealed on the last day of term.  Nail biting stuff and some amazing writing too!!

The 'Dynamic Decades' intrigued and amazed.  Starting in the 1950's, just after the Second World War, the children discovered what life was like even though the fighting had ceased.  The journey continued through the 'Swinging Sixties' - the popularity of The Beatles caused a stir! ; the 'Flower Power' Seventies fashion made them all laugh; at the beginning of the Eighties they met Britain's first female Prime Minister and discovered all about her strength of leadership; the Nineties - the children couldn't believe that the World Wide Web was made available to the public.  A massive learning curve compared to the amount of technology the children have at their fingertips today.  Eyes were well and truly opened!

In Science the children carried out experiments, discovering the properties of materials and the changes that can take place.  IT gave the children opportunity to learn how to touch type, trying to use the correct finger for each key.  They were on a mission to build the speed of their typing so they could publish their final piece of writing for the term. (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!)  Finally DT taught me to buy needles with larger eyes so the children could each thread their own needle!  Sewing is always a challenge but I naively thought as the children were older, they would be fine.  NEVER has a queue of children been so long for such a length of time!!

Phew!  I was glad when it was all over! 

FEBRUARY 2019

With 'Cosmic' taking over Goldfinch class, leaving them all wondering what lengths Liam would go to be included in the trip up to Space, the learning atmosphere was truly magical over the weeks.  Finding out all about the first telescope invented to look at the stars, the Space Race between the USSR and the USA, the Apollo mission of 1969 and who was involved in the first landing on the moon certainly fuelled the children's imagination and their thirst for knowledge.

Their musical talents came to the fore when they had to compose a piece of music to represent the journey of a spaceship using tuned & untuned instruments.  What began as, quite frankly, a bit of a racket (!) quickly became a thoughtful, effective composition with clear sections showing the different parts of the Space journey.  Great work Goldfinch!

To conclude this first half term, it was lovely to welcome our parents and carers into the classroom to share all the fabulous work which had been produced.  Goldfinch Class organised this themselves, deciding on their favourite piece of work from the topic and presenting it in their own individual way.  It was really well attended and after our whole class presentation, the children were able to share their work and books with their adult.  A fitting end to a super topic. 

JANUARY 2019

Goldfinch spent some time looking at an artist called Peter Thorpe, whose own interest in Space and Space Rockets, led him to produce paintings with this concept in mind.  The children liked the abstract look of his work and the colour combinations he used.  Inspired, they produced a 'draft' piece of work in preparation for creating their own artwork in the style of Peter Thorpe.

To create our own 'In Class' Solar System the children learnt how to make stars.  Charlee and George led the way with their 'Origami' skills but it wasn't long before the entire class was folding paper and putting it together to make a beautiful 12 point star.  Some children then began to experiment with different coloured paper and we soon had stars everywhere.  The results can be seen hanging in class.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

WELCOME BACK TO THE SPRING TERM!

This term our focus topic is Space.  We will be exploring and discovering lots of fascinating facts and information.  Most of our subjects will be linked to this topic and I hope the class will enjoy this term's learning journey. 

Just a few reminders...

Please remember FRIDAY is our Spelling Check Day and Spelling homework is given to complete for the week.  There is an activity to do on the back of the sheet.  Please ensure your child does the work and then return it to class the following Friday.  We are working hard to teach and revisit lots of spelling rules and it is important this knowledge and understanding is consolidated.

Also on a Friday is our 'Times Table Pledge'.  Goldfinch Class have been working very hard and many of them are now an 'ULTIMATER'.  This means they know all their table up to and including 12 x 12.  Now they are working on their speed of recall and are striving to answer 144 times table facts in three and a half minutes.

Please make sure your child's PE kit is at school.  With the weather turning colder, tracksuit bottoms, jumpers, hats and gloves are needed.  The children wear their coats when we go outside too.  Trainers must be worn too please.  School shoes really aren't suitable for PE.  All being well, TUESDAY & FRIDAY will be our PE sessions this term.

As always, we are in class at the beginning and end of the day.  If you would like to pop in and see what is happening, please feel free.  Also if you are worried or concerned about anything, please let me know.

Here's to an exciting Spring Term!

Mrs Hart 

DECEMBER 2018

Today Year 5 spent the day all together.  The first task they were set was to prepare three wartime dishes using rations.  One group made 'Fruity Buns', another 'Carrot Biscuits' and the third, 'Beetroot Pudding'.  It was of course, organised chaos but the outcome was fantastic!  There was super teamwork going on and it was great to see the Year 5's back together again.  After all their hard work baking, there had to be a 'Taste Test!'  The children were surprised that the most popular recipe was the 'Carrot biscuits!'  Many asked for seconds and some even asked for the recipe to try at home!  RESULT!

NOVEMBER 2018

Especially poignant because of the learning in our Quest, Goldfinch each made a poppy to contribute to our class wreath.  We held two minutes silence in the Quad alongside the rest of the school to remember those who bravely fought for our country.

OCTOBER 2018

Monday 15th October

  WE LOVE READING WEEK! 

Today saw the launch of our Reading week.  There are lots of challenges to take part in during the week to earn points.. Goldfinch class each have their own bookworm to record their points as they complete each task.  Some of the tasks can be completed at home.  Share your own favourite book from when you were young with your child...  How about reading something new and different?...  Perhaps take a trip to Bruton library together?  Have fun and enjoy!

Our Book Corner is evolving and the class voted to be spiders on a web this year to record their adult signatures when reading.  Once they reach the centre of the web, one of the spiders legs will be coloured and then they start again on the edge of the web.  I wonder who will be 'Bookworm of the Year' this year?

This week it would be lovely if the children brought in their favourite books to display and share with the rest of the class.  We have begun a class display and this will continue to grow as the week progresses.

Please remember to send your photos of reading in strange places to the office as soon as possible.  Today we had a first DEAR session - DROP EVERYTHING AND READ! - even I got to read my own book for 10 minutes!!  Complete bliss I can tell you!

Have a great week.  

HAPPY READING! 

Monday 8th October

The start of another new week!  It was lovely to see so many of you at Parent's Evening last week and share with you the work Goldfinch Class has done already.  I think there were plenty of proud parents and the positive vibe has put a smile on many of our faces!

This afternoon we were fortunate enough to welcome James Elkin, badminton teacher from Sexeys.  Goldfinch took part in a 30 minute workshop where he put the children through their paces, enabling them to show off as he put it, " some impressive badminton skills!"  I have to say, I too was pleasantly surprised!  The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and many took a flyer home to see if they could attend the badminton sessions at Sexeys Sports Hall on Mondays from 4pm.  Sessions will continue from Monday 5th November.  If your child didn't get a flyer, I have some spare ones!

Check out some of the pics below! 

SEPTEMBER 2018

27th September 2018

Another week of hard work and fun!  Goldfinch are really starting to find their mo-jo and are already proving they are a force to be reckoned with.  

English has had Goldfinch absolutely hooked this week.  Based on our Quest lesson on Monday, our English work has been on a journey that not even I could have predicted.  The children created their own character and returned to 1940 to experience the Blitz.  Using World War II clips - pictures and sounds - as their inspiration, Goldfinch abandoned their Learning Journals and set to work on sugar paper, writing in felt tips.  As their character, they recalled their memories and experiences of the Blitz.  Listening to the children read out their own work to each other this morning, the sense of pride and achievement each pupil showed was truly unbelievable.  Currently I am a very proud teacher - their writing was amazing!  I have SERIOUS SUPERSTARS on my hands! 

Continuing with our Place Value focus in Maths, this week the children have been counting in Powers of 10 and calculating using negative numbers.  Not as easy as it might sound!    Maths mastery is now at the front of everyone's minds, with the children using their skills and knowledge to answer reasoning and problem solving sorts of questions.  Whilst we're still in the early stages, all the children are embracing this way of learning and giving 100%.  This is all I can ask.

The first piece of artwork has gone up in our classroom this week.  Despite taking two weeks to produce - we'll work on the speed aspect - the results are worth it.  They were asked to design a poster in the style of World War II propaganda to try and encourage people to behave in a way they believed would help win the war.  The children enjoyed thinking of a slogan and illustrating it.  You're welcome to pop in and have a look if you'd like.

So with the weekend around the corner, it's been a busy but hugely successful fourth week.  Remember, Spellings and our X table pledge take place on a Friday.  We're on a mission to get our heads around the strange spelling rules our English language has, and be able to recall all x table and division facts quickly and accurately.

GO GOLDFINCH!

With kind regards

Mrs Hart  

20th September 2018

As the second full week back draws to a close, Goldfinch Class are well and truly back into the swing!  New class routines have been established, PE and Swimming kits are arriving on the correct days and the learning is fresh and exciting. 

In Maths, the children have improved their knowledge and understanding of Place Value with many now eager to challenge themselves with some of the Reasoning & Problem Solving questions available to them.  Carrie's War, linked to our World War II Quest has begun to capture their imagination and today they became either Carrie or her brother Nick, and wrote postcards home to 'Mum'.  They have begun to watch the film and not a peep was heard as they took in the characters and surroundings of Wales in the 1940's!

Our Quest is proving popular with many of the class already going home and quizzing parents and grandparents.  Some of them have brought objects and photographs in to share and present to the class.  A few children have been creative at home and no doubt there'll be more to come.  Geography was at the forefront of this week's Quest lesson with them being challenged to find the countries who were our Allies and those who were our Axis.  Powerful stuff I can tell you with plenty of questions being asked and answered!

Fortunately Goldfinch have managed to dodge many of the showers and have successfully completed PE sessions outside on the field and have been swimming in the pool a couple of times.  A little chilly in the water I've been told but I have a class of tough cookies!  The chill is not enough to put them off.  Happy Days!

So, all in all, a great start.  As the weeks go by we'll keep you posted on what's been happening and all being well, the photographs will build.  If you have any questions or you simply want to come in at the end of the day to have a look at our learning in class, please pop in!

With kind regards

Mrs Hart