Class Blog
Sunny Worthing Trip
On Tuesday 7th June we went on a trip to ‘sunny’ Worthing town centre and visited lots of different places. To begin with, we went to the Dome cinema. Whilst we were there, we went into the projection room and learnt about how they project films onto the big screens. Did you know that’s also where they control the curtains? After that, we had a whole room to ourselves to watch some Pixar short films…We even had popcorn! The weather wasn’t very ‘sunny’ so we also ate our lunch here before we went on our next adventure.
Luckily the rain had stopped so we went onto the promenade, ate ice lollies on the pier and looked at all the different rides in the Lido.
To begin our walk back to school, we walked down Montague St. and looked at all the different restaurants and shops. There were loads!
Although it definitely wasn’t SUNNY Worthing, it was a great and fun RAINY day out!
Curry Tasting!
As part of our RE learning for Hinduism, we had the opportunity to taste a variety of traditional Indian foods including onion bhaji, chapati, vegetable curry, papadom, saag chana bhaji, saag paneer, bombay potato, cauliflower bhaji and a very special home cooked rice by Mrs Ramprasad. It was all delicious!
Our new topic is...
Sunny Worthing!
Forest School Trip!
We visited a Forest School at Summerlea School in Rustington to enhance our Saxon topic.
Whilst we were there, we took part in activities such as bread making, whittling to produce bows and arrows or swords, making clay Saxon brooches, painting runes and making rune medallions. We were give lots of opportunity to achieve and develop our confidence and self-esteem through a hands-on learning experience in a natural woodland environment.
Clay Modelling
We have been using clay to make our own mythical creature eye!
Church visit
As part of our Anglo Saxon history and RE Christianity topic, we walked to St. Mary’s Church where we met meet Father Thomas and a local parishioner.
We learnt about the features of a church, the local Anglo Saxon history and information about the Rhenish Helm spire. Whilst we were there, we sketched and went on a treasure hunt inside the church. This trip has really inspired our poetry writing back at school!
World Book Day!
We had lots of children dressing up as their favourite book character. They looked fantastic!
Kingfishers had the opportunity to visit year 2. They read stories and spoke about lots of different books they enjoy reading!
Rubbish Pet Portraits and Turning Tides
Artist Hercule Van Wolfwinkle came to visit Bramber with fundraiser Sophie from ‘Turning Tides.’ Hercule is a unique artist who draws ‘rubbish’ pet portraits. His work has captured the eye of many people and has helped raise money for ‘Turning tides’ – a charity for homelessness. Sophie is one of the leading fundraisers for Turning Tides. This was a great opportunity for the children to talk about homelessness and reflect on the impact and importance of charities like ‘Turning Tides’.
The children had a go at drawing their own ‘rubbish pet portrait.’ Hercule Van Wolfwinkle signed their books at the end of the day!
Our new topic is...
INVADERS AND TRADERS
Charity Run
To raise money for Chestnut Tree House, we ran 1 mile around the playground!
Spy Gadgets!
As part of our topic ‘crack the code’ we have read the book Alex Rider. This novel inspired us to make our own spy gadget – A source of light, disguised as something else. We used lots of recycled materials such as toilet roll tubes and cereal boxes. We experimented with crumble kits and made an electric circuit to produce the light for our gadget.
Spy Night
On Tuesday the children arrived at school at 5:00pm ready to release their inner spies and hide from the guards!
To fit the part of being a sneaky spy the children wore black clothing and brought with them their special spy gadgets such as flashlights, spy glasses, binoculars, notepads, magnifying glasses and more!
As the children arrived, they grouped into their teams:
EJOPS 64 agents: 002, 009, 0012, 0017, 0023 and 0024.
#Mr. Potato agents: 003, 008, 0013, 0019, 0027 and 0030.
Silent Snakes agents: 001, 007, 0011, 0018, 0022 and 0026.
Special Spy agents: 004, 006, 0015, 0020, 0025 and 0029.
BNRAM Spy agents: 005, 0010, 0014, 0016, 0021 and 0028.
There were a variety of challenges to complete in order to be successful, crack the codes and earn points!
For the physical challenge, all the spies had to work as a team to complete the obstacle course. There was lots of climbing, balancing and crawling!
Each team watched a video of Miss Dale and used their memory skills to recall what they had seen and find any clues!
In order to crack the code, the spy agents analysed a letter with a secret message hidden in Morse code. The message contained confidential instructions on how to complete the mission.
In the circuit challenge, a secret undercover spy asked questions about the book ‘Storm breaker’. With each question answered correctly, a circuit containing a light and a buzzer was built.
As the spies moved secretly around the school into Heron class, each team had to pick the right set of keys for the right locker, to find envelopes containing letters and a hidden message.
In-between all these fantastic challenges the spies were stealthy, sneaky and careful as they ventured around the school trying not to be found by the security guards – agent Scott, agent Dale and agent Duncan.
Well done Kingfishers, you are all brilliant spies and successfully completed your missions!
W/B - 24/01
Parachute Experiment
In science we are learning about gravity and air resistance. We made 6 different sized parachutes out of bin bags. We attached 4 bits of string that were 30cm long to each of the corners. Miss Dale dropped the parachutes 3 times from the ceiling and we timed how long they took to reach the ground. It is a parachute’s job to cause as much air resistance as possible by trapping the air inside. The air resistance caused the parachute to fully open and become as big as possible. The bigger parachute took the longest to reach the ground showing that the bigger something is, the more air resistance there will be pushing against it.
South Downs Planetarium Trip
On Tuesday, we took a coach to the South Downs Planetarium in Chichester! When we got there, we put all of our things in a room and a man called Roger spoke to us about what we were going to do. He asked us lots of questions to test our knowledge of what we already knew about space. He was very impressed!
Next, Dr Mason led us into the auditorium that was shaped like a dome. It was really dark in there with cinema-like seats…they were really comfy! This part of the trip was awesome, it felt like we were in space! Dr Mason spoke to us about Star constellations, missions to the Moon and Mars and lots of other interesting facts about all the planets! We watched some videos of astronauts living in space and all the different things they have to do to survive.
After that, we searched for information displayed on boards around the planetarium to find answers to a quiz. We learnt some really fantastic facts, did you know the planet Venus rains acid?!
Hindu Workshop!
Last Thursday, we had a special visit from a lady called Krishna. She came to tell us all about her religion ‘Hinduism’. We felt very lucky to be able to learn about her lifestyle.
She brought in lots of special things for us to look at and try on. We dressed in traditional Hindu clothing called ‘Sarees’ and wore ‘Bindis’ on our head. We learnt that married Hindu women wear red Bindis.
Krishna showed us how incense sticks, bells and candles are used as part of a shrine when they pray to their Gods.
Once we were all dressed up in traditional Hindu clothing, we recreated the story of Hindu God Krishna lifting Govardhan Hill.
We learnt different kinds of Hindu dancing. Krishna brought in wooden ‘Dandiya’ sticks for us to use in a traditional Hindu stick dance. This was lots of fun! We also learnt Bharatanatyam dancing that celebrates Hindu god ‘Lord Shiva’.
W/B - 22/11
Space projects
As part of our home learning, we researched space and creatively presented our facts in lots of different ways. We used junk modelling, drew pictures, crafted and molded lots of cool models of planets, rockets and satellites. We had the opportunity to display our projects to year 6; showing them how much we have learnt from our topic.
Diwali Day
For Diwali day, Mrs Ramprasad showed us how to create our own Rangoli designs, using corn flour and powder paints.
Art
After learning about abstract artist Peter Thorpe, we had a go at creating our own abstract paintings of space. We used circles and lines to create shapes around our rocket and filled these using water paints.
We learnt to create a gradient, blend hot and cold colours and add texture by using a fine liner to add detail.
W/B - 05/11
Phases of the Moon
We have been learning about the different phases of the moon. We drew a diagram in our books to show how the moon changes over 29 days.
We also had a go at using Oreos to show the different phases in the moon cycle. This was really fun (and tasty!).
Peter Thorpe
In art, we have been looking at abstract artist Peter Thorpe. He is famous for his space/rocket paintings. Peter uses bright colours that make his paintings stand out! We have looked at lots of different ones and picked out our favourites.
The Darkest Dark
We have started to read the book ‘Darkest Dark’ which is based on the childhood of real-life astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield. The story is about a boy who faced his fears and went on to reach the stars!
We are now planning on writing our own biography about Neil Armstrong. We have learnt lots of interesting facts about him throughout our research. He was the first man to walk on the moon…Wow!
They use different types of hose…the bigger the fire, the bigger the hose! They also use big hydraulic cutters called ‘the jaws of life’ that are used to cut through thick metal. For example, when they go to car accidents. They also use ‘spreaders’ to open the metal if it cannot be cut and someone needs to get in or out!
Fire Crew Visit
On Tuesday, we had a visit from the Worthing fire station crew. Their names were Vicky, Steve, Darren and Libby. Libby and Steve came inside to talk about the different duties within their roles. Libby showed us their fire/heat resistant uniform and how it protects different parts of their body. This is really important to make sure they don’t get burned. They also explained how they use an oxygen tank and mask to give them clean air when they are in a fire to protect their lungs from smoke. We loved hearing about the different types of emergencies they go to. They don’t just save people from fires, they go to water rescues, car accidents and save animals!
W/B - 04/10
Space Art
Kingfishers made their own universe painting. They flicked the end of their paint brush creating a spray effect on the paper. They drew rockets, planets and astronauts on white card to stick over the paint. They look amazing!
Space Game
In the afternoon, we played 'Race to the Galaxy!' They had to gather resources for their planet using their hovercrafts (hoops) to move around their toxic planet! They had to work as a team to move from hoop to hoop so they could collect all their resources before the others did!
Show and Tell...
Kingfishers were asked to bring in anything related to space that they wanted to share from home. We had books, activity packs, proof of ownership of a part of the Moon (how cool!), and space globes!
We were even lucky enough to have our very own Astronaut in the class!
Mission to…
Each group of children worked as a team to create a poster about their table planet. The poster had to include important information that you would need to know if you were travelling there. They assigned jobs to each other such as artist, researcher and designer so they could use their time efficiently.
They presented their posters at the front of the class, sharing lots of useful information about their planet and explained the thinking behind their designs. They look awesome!
Space Day!
On Monday, Kingfisher class had their very own space day. The day was filled with lots of fun and interesting activities relating to their topic…Space!
W/B - 27/09
Art
In art we carried on designing and adding colour to our 6x6 squares. We used paint, fine liners, pencils, colouring pencils, felt tips and other kinds of resources!
RE
In RE this week, we finished our Hinduism posters. We included lots of facts about the gods, the enteral city Varanasi and where India is on our planet! We used lots of color to make them bold and eye-catching!
English
In English we practiced our handwriting, focusing on our y’s and g’s. We continued to edit our Wonder diary entry to make sure all the correct grammar and punctuation was used. We revisited some learning about nouns, verbs and adjectives and practiced using them in sentences.
Math's
This week in math's, we learnt to round numbers up to 1 million. We played some games using a number line. We made a guess of where the number would be on the line. We also used a dice to create our own numbers and round them to the nearest 10, 100, 1000 & 10000.
W/B - 20/09
Maths
This week in math's, we learnt about numbers in the tens of thousands. We placed the numbers from smallest to largest or largest to smallest. We partitioned the numbers to help us understand the value of each digit. Bigger numbers aren’t so scary!
We have been practicing our fluent in 5 and rapid reasoning… We are getting quicker and quicker!
This week in math's we did fast adding. We added 15 + 8 and then made the 15 into a 20 by adding 5 to it. Then that left us with 3. So we did 20 + 3 = 23. This will help us in the future with activities because we will be able to add really quickly!
English
In English, we have started to read the book ‘Wonder’. We have read a few chapters already. We have made character maps which include writing about August, Via (Sister of August), Mum and Dad. The special message we have learnt so far from reading ‘Wonder’, is that being different is ok and it’s really important to treat everyone kindly. In the book, Via defends August against bullies. This shows how important it is to support friends and make sure everyone feels comfortable and happy.
We pretended to be August from ‘Wonder’ and wrote a diary for his first day at his school.
We also did some spellings with the silent letter ‘b’.
Art
We have linked our artwork to the book we are reading in English. We painted outlines of a face using water colors and sponges. We covered the background with words that related to us. For example, our favorite color or hobby.
We also did six by six squares in our sketch books. In the little squares we did any sketch we wanted to and used different resources such as paint, fine liners or pencil.
R.E
We have been learning lots about Hinduism. We are so lucky to have Mrs Ramprasad in our class...she is Hindu. She has shared lots of really interesting facts with us about their gods. We are making information pages including all of the things we have learnt recently.
P.E
For our first P.E lesson, we watched 2 different dances. The first one was ‘Swan Lake’ which was very different to the second video showing ‘Lindy Hop’ dancing. We all found this style a little bit funny but also very cool! We talked about the different techniques and skills used such as strength, and gymnastics. We can’t wait to learn how to Lindy hop dance.