Dear Diary, 

This week has been such an enjoyable week in Team CB. We have been full of enthusiasm for learning and have created some absolutely fantastic diary extracts about Christmas as a child. The class have been so incredibly immersed in their writing and have produced some fantastic work as a result. We have edited our drafts and will spend time publishing these in best before storing them in a time capsule for the children to open at the end of their Park Street journey. 

Elsewhere, in Maths we have started our new unit of multiplication and have made a good start to investigating the new content. The class have looked at multiples as well as multiplying by 10 and 100. We will be continuing this learning next week, as we begin to look at formal written methods for multiplication and exploring factors. 

In our Science this week we have been busy investigating what makes a circuit complete and incomplete. We used the electrical equipment to create our own circuits and test their effectiveness. We have also explored the concepts of "conductors" and "insulators". The class were fantastic at making links to types of materials which would conduct and those which would not. A truly brilliant scientific inquiry full of inquisitive minds and questions.

Next week we will be moving on to a new Literacy unit which closely follows on from our last theme of Christmas. It should conclude with a wonderful performance for parents the following week. Check back for more updates then.

This week has been a busy week throughout school as it has been our Assessment week. The class have worked so very hard putting in to action everything that they have learned this year. They have shown some fantastic resilience and determination at tackling any challenge that has been asked of them and I could not be more proud. 

Whilst assessment week has been going on, the children have also started their new writing unit. The class were tasked with creating their own Christmas diary so that they can capture the feelings they have about Christmas as a child and look back on it fondly as an adult. The enthusiasm for completing this work was simply wonderful to see. The class are so eager to put pen to paper next week and bring their diaries to life, but for this week we have been busy unpicking features, looking at good examples of diaries and generating language linked to our topic. Be sure to check back next week and see how we are getting on.

This week, we have also been busy investigating our new Science unit of electricity. The class have been busy learning about the different forms electricity can occur, as well as investigating how the atom carries electrical charge through free electrons. The class were fabulous at recreating this in a drama piece consisting of a  nucleus made up with protons, neutrons and electrons! We are excited to see where this learning takes us next week. 

We have also been busy continuing to explore our geography topic of Europe this week. We have looked specifically at the countries which make up the UK, Zooming in closer. we then investigated urban areas within the UK and used digital maps and the zoom function to locate and name such places. 

Another busy week in Team CB as always. Keep up your fantastic efforts Spectacular Space Cadets.

This week has been a week full of important learning. From subtraction to fronted adverbials and anti-bullying week to Children in Need. The children have learned many new things and are confident in understanding their importance. 

In Maths this week, we rounded off our work on subtraction. The class worked hard to consider how to subtract across zeros, how to solve any form of subtraction problem through varied fluency, applied their learning to reasoning and problem solving questions and became the expert in supporting others in subtraction. All that, is to name just a few of the things we have been up to this week. Next week is assessment week, so the children will be working to show just how much they have retained so far this year, although having seen the fantastic accomplishments they have gone on to achieve so far this year, I have no doubt they will do a fantastic job. Check back to see where our math goes next, following next weeks busy schedule. 

In Literacy. we have been concluding our instructions this week, as well as beginning to look at some of the Year 3 and 4 spelling and grammar skills. We have worked hard to develop our understanding of prefixes and how these can change the meaning of a word. We have also explored what 'synonyms' and 'antonyms' are! As mentioned above, next week is assessment week, but be sure to check in and see how we are getting on as the children have a lovely piece of writing to do based around a Christmas diary extract! I really hope it will be a piece of work they will cherish long into the future! :)

This week we have also welcomed Mr Smith to our class. He will be based in Team CB on Thursday and Friday mornings. The class have already made him feel very welcome, and as our Sports Coach he has enjoyed getting to know the children and their talents immensely. 

Beyond the core curriculum, across school we have been driving home very important messages this week around Anti-bullying. As it is anti- bullying week, the class have thought carefully around this years theme "Power for Good" and created their own acrostic poems which serve as a reminder for how we can always use our kindness to care for others. The poems are lovely and I cannot wait to see them on display! Today also marks Children In Need campaign day. The class all look simply splendid in PJs or Pudsey clothes in an effort to raise money for children across the UK! Some very important messages that I am sure our children have loved been involved in!

Pop back next week to see how we are getting on in Team CB!

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely break. 
Team CB have settled back into learning really well and have had a busy week of learning. 
In our Maths, we have moved on to our new unit of subtraction. The class started the week investigating what subtraction was and what language we knew which related to this. We then used the Manipulatives App to help gain an understanding of subtraction and how this happens. We explored regrouping and the need to exchange when the bottom digit is greater than the top. From this, we moved into applying our visual understanding into showing this in the form of formal written methods. I was most impressed with how quickly the class picked up this skill. We will be working on subtraction in to next week also, but the class have already made promising strides in their learning, and I have every belief that they will go on to being super subtraction solvers!
Elsewhere, in Literacy this week we have been visiting Italy as part of our learning. On Monday, the class followed verbal instructions to make an authentic Italian pizza. From this, we developed our focus for the week's writing - instructions. The class have worked hard to identify different features of instructions, as well as explore imperative verbs and adverbs. They have carefully planned the way instructions should be presented and have sequenced images to support in recalling the steps to baking a delicious pizza. Next week the children will conclude their instructions writing, when they write up in best their interpretation and provide these to Year 5 as an example of good instructions writing, before Year 5 create their own later this half term. 
In Science, we have concluded our learning around states of matter and will be moving on to our new unit of electricity as of next week. The class are already really excited about this as they know that they are going to be making their own fully-functioning torches! I can't wait to see the end result. 
Enjoy a restful weekend! Check back next week for further updates.