Team CB have really been giving their all this week in learning and have produced some fantastic work. Read below to find out exactly what we have been up to!

Literacy:
In our Literacy this week we have been busy completing our shared write all about the Emerald Goddess from The Firework Maker's Daughter. We have developed our own ideas for how she became the goddess and have worked hard over the week to include the skills we have learned this year so far, such as expanded noun phrases, adverbs and conjunctions to extend our ideas. The piece of writing the children have produced is excellent quality and beautifully captures how a small girl's life could have changed. The children will apply what they have learned this week to support their independent write next week where they will describe how Razvani became the fire-fiend. 

Maths:
In Maths this week we have focused specifically on adjusting and redistributing to solve arithmetic problems mentally. The class loved using base 10 to support their understanding and see how we can adjust or redistribute to make a calculation easier to solve. Once we were confident doing this practically we moved to abstract problems for the class to solve, identifying which number was closest to a multiple of 10/100 which would make it easier to solve. To conclude the week we then spent time looking at how we could find the difference through counting on/back and understanding that difference was the resulting answer of a subtraction equation. We will continue to explore mental methods for addition and subtraction next week. 

One Life:
In our One Life session we looked at Bullying this week. We began by defining exactly what bullying was, discussing the language of hurtful, intentional, repetitive and involving a power imbalance. We looked at some scenarios and how we could be an upstander in the situation rather than an bystander and how to best support our friends. The class were very respectful during the discussion and could confidently articulate whether situations would be deemed bullying or not. 

Science:
In our Science this week we have been looking at forces and describing these as either pushes or pulls. We spent time sorting every day activities into whether they were push or pull forces and then looked in more detail at types of contact force. We discussed that a contact force was where 2 objects were touching. We then used toy cars to model impact forces and frictional forces before looking finally at strain forces. We will continue our learning next week, looking more specifically at friction. 

Please pop back next week to find out more about our learning.

This week has been a productive week in Team CB where we have been busy learning lots to support our development.

Literacy:
In Literacy this week, we have concluded with our work on speech and how to punctuate this appropriately when using direct speech within our writing. We have then progressed to looking in more detail at what paragraphs are and how we use and construct them. To begin with we explored how they aid writing through keeping linked ideas together as well as separating them from different topics, points in time or places. We then organised paragraphs appropriately and explored the construction of a paragraph through writing topic sentences, supporting sentences and concluding sentences. Children used the burger visual to support them in remembering this so that they could form their own coherent paragraphs. We will apply both of these skills to our work next week as we begin to plan and write our shared piece - a prequel of the Emerald Goddess. 

Maths:
In Maths this week we have spent time revising some key arithmetic skills and ensuring that we have identified and addressed any misconceptions which have arisen. We have also concluded with some work on polygons before moving on to a new unit next week where we explore additive relationships and applying these to rearrange equations. 

Geography:
In our Geography this week we have explored the uses of rivers. Children in the class were fascinated to explore all the different ways that rivers can be used either for survival, food, transport, energy or even fun. They were also intrigued to learn just how close their local river is, with some thinking it was much further away. We discussed how important rivers were and justified if we felt there was a more important use for rivers than others. The children in class were torn and could not all agree despite giving their best convincing arguments. 

Computing:
In our recent computing sessions we have been working on programming using Scratch Jr. The class have been getting to grips with how to program using the motion blocks and the start and end commands. They have created their own algorithms and followed algorithms to identify an end point. This week, the class explored how changing the value of a block impacted the algorithm. We discussed as a class how this could be a more effective use of time as it saves children have to add repeated individual blocks. 

Check in next week to find out what more we have been up to.

It has been another busy week in Team CB, with the class working exceptionally hard in all areas. Since the start of the new year the children's attitude to learning has been fantastic and they have given their all in every part of the curriculum. I could not be more proud! 

Literacy:
This week in Literacy the class have been working hard to understand the concept of punctuating speech within writing. We have spent time physically building sentences, identifying the spoken words, placing inverted commas around these and including the correct form of punctuation before closing speech marks. The class have continued to work on this over the week as it is a new skill and have spent time constructing their own conversations as well as editing writing to ensure it is appropriately punctuated. Next week, we will begin to look at how a paragraph is constructed as well as when we would start a new paragraph to support children with understanding how to structure their own writing later in the half term.

Maths:
In Maths this week we have continued to explore shapes and angles. We have spent time looking specifically at rectangles, squares and their properties and how we know they are the respective shape. We have also investigated what happens when we cut these shapes along the diagonal and were interested to see that the shape changed from a quadrilateral to a triangle. 

Geography: 
In our Geography this week we started our new unit on Rivers, Mountains and Oceans. We began by exploring the water cycle and how this prevents the seas from drying up. In class, we created our own water cycles in a bag to support our understanding. We then learned in more detail what a river was before using digital maps to identify some of the worlds largest rivers.

PE:
In our PE this week we have spent time exploring our new unit on Hockey. As a class we have learned how to correctly hold the stick with the right grip and how to dribble with control and awareness. Once we were confident doing this, we progressed to begin to dribble with our heads up so that we were aware of others when moving with the ball under pressure.

Pop back next week to find out what more we have been learning about.

This week has been a lovely first week back in Team CB. We have started the new year with a bang and have really sunk our teeth into our new learning.  Read below to find out what we have been up to:

Literacy:
In our Literacy this half term Team CB are using the Firework Maker's Daughter as our text driver. We have started this week to read, discuss and learn from the text, encountering new characters and exploring the setting, build up and climax of the story so far. We have used this to establish our text, audience and purpose for writing, as we hope to write our own prequels about how Razvani came to be a fire-fiend. The children have text mapped the story, identified narrative structure and made informed inferences and predictions based on what they have read. 

Maths:
In our Maths this week we have been busy exploring angles. We began the week by creating angle finders and using these to understand that an angle is an amount of turn and we can make bigger and smaller angles. We also explored clockwise and anticlockwise to know directions we can turn in. As a class we also spent time exploring what a right angle is and using this to navigate a particular route giving clear instructions which included direction and amount of turn. Next week we will continue to explore this further and look at angles within shapes. 

Wider curriculum focus:
As with a new term comes new focus for learning we will be working on the following content over the Spring Term:
Science - Forces and Magnets
Geography - Oceans, Rivers and Mountains
One Life - Bouncing Back 
Computing -  Programming
RE - Sikhism 
Spanish - Seasons
PE - Gymnastics and Hockey
Music - Exploring feelings through music
Art - Collage related to under the sea

Check back next week for further updates

I can't quite believe we have already made it to the end of the Autumn Term! Where has time gone? The children have been so busy this week with all their learning and have worked right until the last minute so today they have had an extra special treat with a performance put on by support staff. They have loved it!

Literacy:
This week in our learning we have been busy creating poems which featured rhyming couplets linked to Charlotte the spider from Charlotte's web. The children were able to identify words that rhyme and then use these to structure their poem to tell a story about the spider. 

Maths:
In our maths we have been consolidating our learning on times tables we have learned so far this year. The class have been fantastic at reciting their 2, 5, 10 and 4 times tables. When we return in the Spring term we will be focussing on our 8x tables. 

Science:
In our final science lesson this half term we spent time learning about the different types of soil and the soil layers. To support our understanding we created edible soil pots to represent the different layers. Our topic over the Spring term will be Forces and Magnets. 

DT:
In our DT sessions this week we have been busy working to create our roman chariot mechanisms. We spent time designing these carefully before considering what materials we would use and how we would make the chariot freely moving. The class then worked in pairs to create these and evaluate the strengths and areas for development if they were to make the product again.

With that, I hope you have a restful Christmas holidays, enjoy time with loved ones and pop back in the New Year to find out what more we have been up to as we enter 2026!

How are we 1 week away from the Christmas holidays? Time really has flown by! This week the class have worked so incredibly hard and are giving their very best to all we are working on. 

Literacy:
In our Literacy this week, the class have started a new unit based on rhyming poetry. The class entered the class to a spell left on the board and we spent time unpicking what type of writing this was. We deduced it was a poem and spotted that some words rhymed. We discussed what rhyme was before identifying that we would work to write our own poem featuring rhyme linked to a character from Charlotte's Web. We then read and rated different poems and discussed what we liked about these and what we did not like. Once we had decided that we were going to write poems we practiced rhyming words which we may want to include in our poem. The class were fantastic at generating these. Next week we will work to build lines of rhyme before constructing our poem based on Charlotte. 

Maths:
In Maths this week we have been busy further developing our understanding of bridging through 100. We have used multiples of 100 initially to subtract a 1 digit number from, before then working to subtract from any 3 digit number by bridging through the hundreds. The class were excellent at partitioning numbers and recognising how the get to/from the multiple of 100 and then deducting/adding the rest. Later in the week we spent time exploring counting forwards and backwards in multiples of 2, 20, 5, 50 and 25 before solving problems. This is important for us so that when we are identifying scales we know common sequences. 

History:
In our History this week we have explored the Roman invasion. We have specifically looked at the three attempts made to invade Britain and which were successful and why. We learned about both Julius Caeser and Emperor Claudius. As a class we used drama techniques to act these parts out to deepen our understanding. We will conclude our learning on prehistoric Britain next week as we look to learn about Boudicca and her importance in Roman Britain. 

Music:
In our Music this week we have been working really hard to practice our singing ready for our performance in Church next week. The children can not wait to share with parents and carers their lovely singing of traditional Christmas songs. Their projection and clarity when singing is sure to be a real treat for you all!

Check back next week to find out what we have been up to!

How have we made it to December already? It seems like it has been such a busy week in Team CB and I could not be more proud of the fantastic work ethic the class have shown to their learning. 

Literacy:
In our Literacy this week, we have spent time writing our own diary from the perspective of Wilbur, this time aiming to capture thoughts and feelings about the day he was sold to the Zuckermans. The children planned this first and then considered how they could incorporate previously taught skills such as adverbs, expanded noun phrases and causal conjunctions to strengthen their writing. They will edit this and write it up in best at the beginning of next week. 

Maths:
In our Maths this week we have focussed further on our understanding of number. We have looked at adding and subtracting multiples of 100 using our knowledge of simpler facts to aid our mental strategies. We have also explored writing 3 digit multiples of 10 as a multiplication equation, learning that x means lots of. Finally, towards the end of the week we have partitioned numbers in standard and non-standard ways and used base 10 manipulatives on Braining Camp to find missing values within a bar model. Next week we will explore addition and subtraction involving 3 digit numbers and mental methods to do this. 

Science:
In our Science this week we have been working hard on learning about the process of fossilisation. In pairs we used bread, gummy snakes and various fillings to model the process, creating a fossil sandwich. Children loved the hands on experience of being able to replicate the animal being buried by sediment and it being compressed over time to form a rock and could speak through the process articulately when asked to do so. 

One Life:
In our One Life session this week we have explored how looking after our bodies is important to keep us healthy and discussed the ways in which we could do this. We spoke about the importance of sleep, hydration, balanced diets and exercise as ways we can protect our body from illness and keep it as strong as possible. The children could share lots of examples of the things they do within a day to look after themselves well. 

Pop back next week for more updates as we head into the penultimate week of the half term.

It has been a fantastic week in Team CB with so much productive learning taking place across the curriculum. Read below to find out what our learning has looked like this week. 

Literacy:
In our Literacy this week we have been busy constructing our shared writing all about Wilbur's first day on earth. The children used their plans from last week to develop well formed sentences discussing his days events and how he was feeling. We worked hard to incorporate expanded noun phrases, adverbs and causal conjunctions in to our writing. Their work was such a fantastic standard! Next week we will take all we have learned and apply it to our own writing about the day Wilbur was sold to the Zuckermans. 

Maths:
This week in maths we have had a close focus on comparing and ordering numbers up to 1000. We began the week by reasoning how we would compare numbers and why we would begin in the hundreds column before moving to the tens or ones. This supported us greatly and the class were super speedy at being able to record whether one number was more or less than another. We then extended this learning and began to look at how we could order numbers from smallest to greatest or greatest to smallest using the same methods of comparing number. The class have shown real confidence in doing this this week and it will certainly support their deepening of understanding the place value system. 

DT: 
As part of a practical DT session this week, the class went down to the nature reserve with the task of creating their own stone age weapons, much like they would have in the Stone Age. Children problem solved and thought creatively about what they could use to make weapons. After some exploring, most children chose to use sticks to form the base of their weapon and then found rocks to form an axe head. We used string to tie these together but discussed how back in the Stone Age they may have used vines. The children were exceptionally proud of their work and loved making these for our display. 

History:
In our history this week we have been looking at the Bronze Age in more detail. We learned about some of the key changes in this time period, including how wealth, housing, travel and weapons all advanced. We also spent time looking in more detail about how Bronze was discovered, how it is made and why it was better. We discovered both copper and tin were needed to form bronze and learned about the smelting process. From this, we looked at the Great Orme Mine near Wales and how it would feel to be a miner. Once the class had seen how narrow the tunnels were they were immediately off put at the job. They were even more shocked when I told them children often were sent down the mines as they were small enough to move through the smaller tunnels! We worked to apply our recent literacy skills and wrote a diary of what it would feel like to be a copper child back in the Bronze Age. 

Pop back next week to find out more about what we are up to as we head into the first week of December! Where has time gone?

What a wonderful week Team CB have had! It has been non-stop in the classroom this week and each and every one of the children have made us so incredibly proud. Well done Team CB  - keep it up!

Literacy:
In our writing this week we have continued to explore Charlotte's Web as we work towards writing our diary. We began by deepening our understanding of what a sentence is. The class identified sentences need subjects and verbs in order to be complete and were then able to apply this to write their own and assess if it was accurate or not. We then used this to support us in extending sentences through the use of causal conjunctions such as because, since and as. Later in the week we spent time planning what our diary would be about from the perspective of Wilbur. We will work towards constructing this next week. 

Maths:
This week in our maths we have been working on place value. We have practised counting in multiples of 10 and 100 within 3 digit numbers as well as learning how to represent 3 digit numbers using base 10. When we knew this we then used a place value chart to aid our understanding. The class showed fantastic skill when doing this. Towards the end of the week we spent time working with number lines to position numbers using our understanding of place value. We began with marked number lines and identifying the intervals before working out missing numbers. Finally, we looked at marking numbers on an unmarked number line using our midpoints to support positioning numbers with accuracy. 

PE:
In our PE this week we have been working hard on our Tag Rugby skills and Gymnastics. In our Tag Rugby session this week we have worked hard on our skills of passing and receiving the rugby ball. In our Gymnastics we have continued to refine our understanding of low and medium level shapes and forming these within a routine which includes moving across and jumping from apparatus. 

Computing:
Within our Computing sessions this half term we have been working on creating media through the use of digital photography. The class have developed an understanding of how to take a photo, whether to take it in portrait or landscape and how this will alter the shot. This week we have spent time discussing what makes a good photograph through looking at examples of photos taken and considering which is better and why. We have then tried to work on the areas we identified as weaknesses to take our own photos which are well planned, carefully set up and clearly taken. 

Pop back next week to see what more we have been doing across the curriculum!