Beech Tree Class Blog 2023-2024
Beech Tree Blog
Weekly Update-12/7/24
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
In maths, we have been focusing on statistics this week. We have been looking at pictograms, bar charts and line graphs, interpreting and analysing the information, and asking questions about the data being presented. We also collected data together as a class which revolved around the favourite foods of children in the class. After collecting the data, the children presented it in the form of a bar chart, labelled it all and then asked and answered questions about the data being presented. Well done!
In reading, we have completed our class novel (The Cat Mummy) and this week we generated ideas about what a possible tenth chapter would be about, where it would be set, which characters would appear in it and whether there would be any sort of time gap. The ideas that the children came up with were lovely and then they titled it and wrote a summary all about it. We also did a really fun activity which involved the children ranking all of the class novels we have read this year, from favourite to least favourite, with a reason about why they have ranked it in that position and a lovely image associated with that book to go with it. We had lots of different opinions for the ranking order and good reasoning to go with those opinions. Well done!
In science, we are continuing our unit of work on magnets. This week, the children have been experimenting with how powerful different types of magnets are and also testing out different materials to identify whether they are or aren't magnetic. It really surprised the children to learn that not all metals are magnetic e.g aluminium. It was lovely to see the children working well together in their pairs and using good scientific vocabulary to explain their findings.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)
Weekly Update-5/7/24
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, we have been working on our Kenning poems. We have written them, edited them and published them. The poems were all about the children's hobbies, personality traits and favourite things to do. They were so lovely to read!
In our reading, we have just completed our class novel, which the children really enjoyed. The children also completed a book review, which involved summarising the story, writing about who they would recommend the book for, rating it out of five stars and drawing an illustration to go with it.
In art, the children have started working on their three dimensional death masks, which will be made out of papier-mache. So far, the children have really enjoyed the process and are eager to continue working on them.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)
Weekly Update-28/6/24
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, in our writing, the children published their fantastic diary entries and they were able to do this outside on the field, which they really enjoyed. We have then moved onto out new unit of work, which revolves around Kenning poems.
In science, our unit of work has revolved around forces, and this week the children planned, made predictions and then conducted an experiment, which was all about friction and which materials create higher or lower friction when another surface rubs against them. The investigation involved the children using a wooden car, a ramp, different materials to allow the car to roll on and rulers for measuring the distance that the car travelled when rolled over a particular surface. The children worked well together in their groups and it was great to see that the results of each group were very similar and highlighted which material caused the most friction and which caused the least as the car rolled over them.
In computing, we are focusing on animation. The children have been learning all about what animation is, how it is created and the different styles of animation. This week, we focused specifically on stop motion animation, and the children were tasked with creating a four frame animation, with the stick man drawing in each frame photographed and then adjusted for the next frame. They then played all their images back together, which created their stop motion animation. We also looked at onion skinning, which is a feature that allows a ghostly image of your previous frame to remain on screen, which can then help you to know where and what to draw for your next frame to allow all the frames to flow smoothly when you play them back at the end. Below are some lovely examples of simple stop motion animations.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou :)