Beech Tree Class Blog 2023-2024
Beech Tree Blog
Weekly Update-22/1/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, the children published their Christmas holiday recounts. We have then started our new unit of work, which is focusing on adventure story writing. We have looked at a WAGOLL story and identified all the features and the structure required to write a successful adventure story. We have then started working on understanding and using the features. The focus has been on understanding what inverted commas are, what they’re used for, what they look like and all the rules that are required for using them successfully.
In maths, we are continuing our unit of work on multiplication and division. This week, we have focused on multiplying 2-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers using the short multiplication method. This was challenging for some children at first, but it was great to see the children rise up to the challenge and show the amazing progress throughout the week.
In DT, for our first lesson, as part of our Great Bread Bake Off unit, the children were learning all about the history of Warburtons and how the company has evolved since the beginning. Alongside this, we also looked at a range of different types of breads as well. The children really enjoyed it and it created a lovely discussion.
In our Geography unit, which is focusing on where our food comes from for the first half of this term, the children learnt all about different fruits that grow in tropical climates. The children learnt about different countries which have tropical climates and where they are situated in the world. The children learnt all about how bananas are grown and looked after i, how they are n these tropical countries, how they are transported and how they eventually end up in our supermarkets. The children also learnt about Fairtrade and what the organisation does for farmers in third world countries. The children were constantly asking really good questions and they produced super posters which explained the process of how a banana goes from being grown to the final stage of being a supermarket ready to be purchased.
We also had Steel from Gladiators come in and provide a motivational and positive assembly to help encourage the children to understand that they can achieve their dreams with the right attitude and mindset.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-16/1/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
This week, the children have been working on their Christmas holiday recounts. It’s been lovely to see them effectively use a variety of features that are required and to hear all about what they did during the Christmas break when we have read them aloud together. The children been continuously editing their work as they have gone along to make their pieces as good as they can be. They have been a joy to read and I know the children will enjoy publishing these pieces after all fo their hard work on them throughout the week.
In maths, we have been focusing on multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100, understanding what is happening to numbers when we are doing this and using place value mats to show the movement of digits going left or right and by 1 or 2 places depending on the calculation that they are trying to solve. It’s been so lovely to see the children becoming increasingly confident with using their place value mats to show this and to hear the children using great mathematical vocabulary to explain what they have done and how they have solved different problems.
In reading, we have continued to read The Chocolate Touch, which the children are really enjoying, we have also continued to make numerous predictions about the story as it progresses and focused on retrieval and inference skills alongside this. We have also continued reading our story time book, which the children are finding very funny.
As part of our Keeping Safe PSHE topic, the focus of our lesson this week was on dangers, risks and hazards, understanding what each of them are, identifying a range of different examples of each and coming up with a range of their own examples. The children were super during the lesson and we had lots of interesting discussions about it based on the children’s different questions and opinions.
Finally, it was lovely to see al the parents and children who could attend the residential meeting this week. We hope we covered everything that you need and answered the questions that you asked in as much detail as possible. If there are any other questions or concerns, please feel free to email the Beech Tree email provided in the letter or to ask me in person at the end of the day.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou
Weekly Update-9/1/26
Mr Kyriacou (n.kyriacou) on: Beech Tree Blog
Hello everyone,
The children have settled back in really well this week, which has been lovely to see.
In reading, we have started to read our new class novel which is called The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling. We had a lovely lesson making predictions about the story based on what we could see on the front cover and what the title of the story is. We have also read the first chapter together, discussing the meaning of any tricky vocabulary as we read and we have also completed a retrieval and inference comprehension task based on the first chapter. We have also continued to read our story time book, which the children have been really enjoying.
In maths, we are continuing our unit of work on multiplication and division. This week, the focus has been on understanding what factors are and identifying factor pairs. The children have also been learning about how to use factor pairs to break down trickier multiplication calculations and solve them more easily using their factor knowledge. We have also started looking at multiplying by 10 and understanding what is happening to a number when it is multiplied by 10. We have also been using place value charts to show which way the digits move and how many places when a number becomes ten times bigger. The children have been working very hard and it’s lovely to see their confidence increasing so much.
In writing, we are focusing on a recount piece of writing based around the children’s Christmas holidays. Together, we have read a WAGOLL piece and identified the different features that have gone into it to make it work so successfully. We then created a mind map of all the wonderful different things that the children did over the break and then the children were tasked with creating a six-part storyboard about their Christmas holidays. The children have worked really hard on these and it’s been so lovely to find out all the wonderful things that they got up to over the break.
In PSHE, our lesson was based around out Mind Mate assembly which was all about coping with change. The children gave lots of really good examples of changes that have occurred within their lives, however big or small, and we discussed how they felt during those changes and how they dealt with it. Then, together as a class, through a really lovely discussion, we created a top tips poster about strategies that individuals can use to cope with changes in their lives more effectively.
Take care,
Mr Kyriacou