Beech Tree Class Blog 2023-2024
Beech Tree Blog
Weekly Update-17/1/25
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, in our writing, we have been working on the different features required for a diary entry, planning our diary entry and we have just completed our first two paragraphs. The children have been working really hard on these and it’s been lovely to read what they have produced so far.
In maths, our focus has been on multiplying by 10 and 100, dividing by 10 and 100 and using related multiplication and division facts to solve a range of problems. The progress that the children have made has been fantastic and it’s been great to see them using their place value maths mats to show the movement of the digits and to hear them explaining what is happening to the value of the digits depending on which way they move and why.
In computing, as part of our sequencing sounds topic, the children’s first lesson focused on creating two of their own sprites, two backgrounds and a range of movements to be applied to the sprites. The children used Scratch to create their code and produce their basic animations.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)
Weekly Update 10/1/25
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, we have started reading our new book called Kidnap in the Caribbean by Lauren St John. The children have made predictions about what the story will be about based on the front cover of the book and we have read the first six chapters of the book. The children have also completed vocabulary work and retrieval and inference work based on those six chapters. It’s lovely to see how excited they are about the book already.
In our writing, we have started working on our diary writing unit of work. The children will be writing diaries based on a true story of two survivors of the Mt St Helens 1980 eruption. We have looked at the features of a diary entry, read the story about the two survivors, done freeze frames based on the emotions of these survivors at different points in the story and we have focused on identifying and using time conjunctions in our own sentences which relate to the story. I was really impressed with the sentences that the children came up with.
In maths, we have focused on understanding what factors are, identifying factors of numbers, using factor pairs and multiplying by 10. The children have made great progress with this.
In science, we have started our unit of work on sound, with the focus being on vibrations for the first part. The children learnt about how sounds are made, which parts of instruments create the sound and what sound can travel through. The second part of the lesson focused on ears. We looked at the different parts of the ear and what the role of each part was in relation to sounds that are created. The children really enjoyed the two part lesson and were so keen to show off their knowledge at the end!
Finally, well done to everyone who has been in all week. Even though the week has been made trickier due to the weather, your attitude and behaviour towards your learning has been amazing!
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-20/12/24
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, the children were focusing on their final rehearsals for their Christmas performance, which included a range of lovely carols, along with Winter themed poems that the children had produced as part of their poetry unit of work in English. When it came to the performance, the children were absolutely amazing. The narration, the poems and the singing were all excellent! Well done!
Our final European Art and Artists lesson revolved around Coco Chanel. The children learnt all about her life and the fashion brand that she is known for. Hats were the specific focus of the lesson in relation to Chanel and the children were tasked with designing and creating their own hats. The children were given some options about the type of hat that they wanted to design and create and then set to work creating them. They used cardboard and tape to create the basic structure of their hats and then strengthened them with a layer papier mâché. Once they did this, using the exterior designs that they had originally drawn, they drew their designs onto their hats and painted them. Finally, once these were dry, the children added their own extra details onto the hats e.g feathers. These were fully completed over 3 lessons and the children have done a great job, as can be seen below.
The children also made their own lovely Christmas cards this week. These designs required lots of patience and good listening to create the proper three-dimensional effect with them and I think everyone did a fantastic job with them!
The children also had their Christmas party today and really enjoyed it.
There is no homework over the holidays, however, we are encouraging the children to still be reading to an adult as often as possible over the two-week break. We are also encouraging multiplication tables practise on TT Rockstars or Maths frame whenever it is possible to as well.
Have a great Christmas!
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)