Spring Poetry in Year One

This morning, Ollie and Trystan came to see me with some fantastic Spring-themed poetry.  The improvements in the quality of the writing and their presentation is phenomenal.

Well done boys!

Ancient Greeks

This term, children in Years 5 & 6 have been learning about the Ancient Greeks.  As part of this unit of work, children have created their own Ancient Greek board games to demonstrate their learning of the era.  The results are excellent!

Excellent Mental Maths

This academic year, in my role as Maths leader, I am keeping track of the progress children make with their mental maths, in particular their rapid recall of times tables.  Children in Years 3 - 6 (and those in Year 2, who are ready) complete a weekly times table grid in 4 minutes.  Their score is recorded and we celebrate the following mile-stones:

2x, 5x and 10x tables completed within 4 minutes
50% of the grid completed within 4 minutes
75% of the grid completed within 4 minutes
100% of the grid completed withing 4 minutes

It has been fantastic to see children applying and challenging themselves to beat their last score. 

Max and Willow are now able to complete the grid within 4 minutes, so have a new 'time challenge': they now  have to complete the grid in the fastest time possible.  (Miss Williams and I are joining them for this part of the challenge!)

Well done to both Max and Willow for their continued application with their mental maths.

Marvellous Maths!

This week, Kaia and Eleanor were sent to me for some truly marvellous Maths!  Years 3 and 4 have been developing their understanding of division and both Kaia and Eleanor have made excellent progress this week in their understanding of the 'bus stop method'.  Division can be the trickiest of the four operations, however Kaia and Eleanor have applied themselves well with excellent results.

In addition to this, we have been increasing the expectations of presentation in books and these two have risen to the challenge.  Excellent work!

World Book Day ...

In our continuous drive to promote a love of literature, one of the activities children took part in last week was 'Buddy Reading'.  Children, of mixed ages, shared a range of texts together.