Herons Year 3 2022-23
Mrs Barnett, Mrs Brennan-McCord, Mrs Musson and Mrs Murphy
PE days- Wednesday and Thursday
Herons Year 3 2022-23- Final day!
What a wonderful year we have had! I was so proud of each Heron as I dismissed you today for the final time. I hope your summer breaks are packed with fun. I will leave you with the poem I wrote and read at the church service this week.
Herons Class- inspired by Edward Lear
When Herons arrived at the start of Year 3,
With uniform clean and bright,
You brought your ideas as well as some fears, but you worked with all of your might!
In every lesson, you worked so hard, every Heron a star,
Oh wonderful class, oh Herons- my class!
What wonderful Herons you are, you are, you are,
What wonderful Herons you are!
Right from the start, you were terribly smart,
TT Rockstars was always such fun,
So long did we learn, feeling happy not stern- we were proud of all we had done!
We sailed that way for a year and a day, to the land where determiners lie,
Of ‘a’ and ‘an’ you weren’t such a fan, but when writing you’d reach for the sky,
The sky, the sky,
When writing, you’d reach for the sky.
Miss Whitwhood. I beseech, are you willing to teach,
This group who are bubbly and loud?
With a smile on her face, I know she’ll embrace, the challenge of teaching this crowd,
With a pen in each hand, they’ll stroll through the land,
Of the curriculum set out in Year 4,
And side by side, they’ll enjoy the next ride,
As this bunch are good to the core, the core, the core,
This class I have come to adore.
Mrs. Barnett
Friday 14th July 2023
It has been a busy penultimate week of the summer term. In literacy, Herons have revisited key skills of using conjunctions, adverbs and the determiners a and an. They have been crafting the ending to a story they were introduced to in their cold write. This is now planned out and the children will be creating their ending in the final week.
In maths, Herons have completed their learning about time. It would be wonderful if they could continue to reinforce this over the summer as it is a key life skill that is easily forgotten if not practised regularly. The new topic is mass and capacity and Herons have been learning how mass is measured in grams and kilograms. They were brilliant when reading from different scales and remembered that 1000g=1kg, so were able to write masses in different ways as they recognise equivalents.
In science, Herons have explored magnetic and non-magnetic materials. Working practically, they quickly discovered that there were only some metals that were attracted to magnets. They also completed their assessments and demonstrated just how much they had learned. Great job Herons.
In geography, Herons learned how underwater earthquakes can create tsunamis. They also compared a Japanese and Indonesian earthquake and learned why the human tragedy was so much greater in the poorer country.
RE saw the children explore common themes in festivals and how different religions and secular groups celebrate important dates and events. I was very impressed with their mature approach to this and how many links they were able to make.
There was a wonderful treat for us all on Friday. The whole school were treated to a production of ‘The Railway Children’. It was great fun!
Our final Star of the Week was Maisie. She is a wonderful Heron, who has worked hard all year!
Friday 7th July 2023
In literacy this week, Herons have been completing their non-chronological reports about animals. I was very impressed with their editing skills as the class carefully thought about vocabulary and grammar improvements. They have created their final hot writes where they added in their enhancements. These again showed how much their kinetic letters and handwriting have improved. We looked back at writing from the Autumn term and were all staggered by how much improvement had been made.
In maths, Herons continue to learn about time. They have been learning about standard and leap years as well as months and the number of days in each. They then progressed to problem solving. Great job Herons!
Herons became architects in geography and built their own Lego town. We used this to learn more about earthquakes and explore the effect of these destructive vibrations on structures. In PSHE, Herons have explored basic 1st aid skills as well as learning about copywrite and giving credit in online safety lessons.
Tuesday was amazing as Herons competed in the year Sports Day challenges. From javelin, to long jump, tri-golf to netball- Herons gave their all. In the end, it was YELLOW team who won. Well done!
Mr Bricknell returned on Friday to judge our amazing gliders. There were some brilliant and creative approaches. Everyone was given a small prize for taking part, but best decorated prize went to Daisy and longest flight to Jasper. Excellent job!
Our Star of the Week was Luna- an amazing Heron who always works hard.
Friday 30th June 2023
What an exciting week Herons have had!
Our visitor on Tuesday will be the talk of Herons for a while. Roy Bricknell, a member of the local Rotary Club came in to teach us how aeroplanes fly. Herons explored the history of flight from the earliest balloon flights in the Georgian period, to the first flight by the Wright brothers in 1903. Herons went on to explore how features of modern planes keep them stable in flight. They also linked their great understanding of forces as they explored the 4 main forces acting on a plane in flight. The highlight was certainly Mr. Bricknell’s homemade air tunnel which demonstrated how a propeller pulls in air which causes the aerofoil to lift as the air is forced to travel further over the top surface of a wing than the bottom route. It was very noisy- although not quite a noisy as the very impressed Herons and their standing ovation for Mr. Bricknell! The lucky Herons then went on to create their own model. These have been sent home for decorating ready for Mr. Bricknell’s return. He will be back in school on Friday 7th July. Please can the models come back on or before that date? Mr. Bricknell will judge the best decorated and then the longest flight. If there are any ‘casualties’ and planes that don’t make it back to school, these children will be able to have a go at flying the model plane I used to demonstrate how to build the model.
Wednesday was Herons art development day. They used a poem as a stimulus to develop an idea and develop this to a final piece. This has enabled the children to apply the art skills that have been taught by Mrs. Musson throughout the year in a style of their own choice.
There was a familiar face in Herons on Thursday. Mrs. Sims came in for the day as she prepares to return to working as a teacher after her maternity leave. Thank you, Herons, for being so welcoming. Mrs Sims is very much looking forward to teaching in Greens Norton again.
Thank you for your fabulous support at the village fete last Sunday. It was a fantastic day and it has been wonderful to hear the children’s tales of the fun they had.
Our Star of the week is Ava this week. She is a wonderful, kind Heron and great friend in Herons class.
Friday 23rd June 2023
It has been another wonderful week of learning in Herons this week. There have been end of year assessments and I have been very proud of how maturely and sensibly these have been completed by the children.
Maths learning has continued with time. This week we have consolidated reading time to the nearest 5 minutes, with some children moving on to the nearest minute. This is such a vital life skill and if you are able to help at home by encouraging your child to read the time from an analogue clock, it would be much appreciated!
In literacy, Herons are exploring non-chronological reports- with a focus on animals! As well as some brilliant new facts, the class are learning about the structure of these texts and have finished the week by innovating a report about giraffes that was based on the structure of a report about pandas. Herons did a fantastic job of structuring the paragraphs and using sub-headings. This learning has been well supported by the summary skill we have been practising in guided reading this week.
Herons explored magnets in science this week and learned which poles attract and repel. These keen observation skills will be needed in other lessons in the future, so it was good to practise them this week.
I have no doubt that a highlight of the week for many has been the clay work in art. Herons learned 2 different methods (thumb and spiral) to create pots. The end results were great- although the heat did take its toll on some that cracked as they dried so quickly.
Thank you for all your support on Friday. We amassed many tombola prizes in Herons ready for Sunday. I wonder who will be taking home the delicious chocolates and who will win the beans? Well done to Sianna who was our Star of the Week. She is a kind and hard working member of our Herons Class.
Friday 16th June 2023
It has been another wonderful week of learning in Herons this week. There have been end of year assessments and I have been very proud of how maturely and sensibly these have been completed by the children.
Maths learning has continued with time. This week we have consolidated reading Time to the nearest 5 minutes, with some children moving on to the nearest minute. This is such a vital life skill and if you are able to help at home by encouraging your child to read the time from an analogue clock, it would be much appreciated!
In literacy, Herons are exploring non-chronological reports- with a focus on animals! As well as some brilliant new facts, the class are learning about the structure of these texts and have finished the week by innovating a report about giraffes that was based on the structure of a report about pandas. Herons did a fantastic job of structuring the paragraphs and using sub-headings. This learning has been well supported by the summary skill we have been practising in guided reading this week.
Herons explored magnets in science this week and learned which poles attract and repel. These keen observation skills will be needed in other lessons in the future, so it was good to practise them this week.
I have no doubt that a highlight of the week for many has been the clay work in art. Herons learned 2 different methods (thumb and spiral) to create pots. The end results were great- although the heat did take its toll on some that cracked as they dried so quickly.
Thank you for all your support on Friday. We amassed many tombola prizes in Herons ready for Sunday. I wonder who will be taking home the delicious chocolates and who will win the beans? Well done to Sianna who was our Star of the Week. She is a kind and hard working member of our Herons Class.
Friday 16th June 2023
Herons have had a great week of learning this week.
In maths, they have continued to learn about statistics with bar charts and 2-way tables. The focus has been on grammar in literacy, with Herons exploring the third person and beginning sentences in different ways.
In art, Herons had their first lesson of clay where they were looking at rolling to a required thickness. Science saw Herons exploring the amounts of friction created by different surfaces as well as a quick test to find who had the most grippy shoe! In geography, Herons looked at the physical structure of volcanoes and were able to describe these in good detail.
Well done to Logan, who was our Star of the Week for excellent enthusiasm in his learning.
Friday 9th June 2023
It has been such a busy week as Herons have launched themselves wholeheartedly into their new topics. In science, they have begun to learn about directional forces, in geography they are exploring volcanoes and weather, in art they have begun a unit on modelling. In French they are learning to use a dictionary to identify the gender of French nouns and in ICT they are creating pictograms and graphs. It was wonderful to welcome Beth back to our school as the children enjoyed the first of 7 tennis lessons. Thankfully, the weather was wonderful.
In maths, Herons have begun to explore scales as well as finishing their learning on fractions. They have also come to the end of the literacy topic on problems within stories.
Herons thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Towcester Museum this week. They were able to explore in detail how the Romans in Britain spent their free time, what it was like to work in the army and even what Roman toilets were like. A highlight was trying on some Roman style clothing as partners took on the roles of servant and master to ensure that the head of the household was dressed to impress.
Our star of the week is Nellie who always works hard and is willing to stand up for the causes she believes in.
Thank you for the wonderful support you have shown to the school's Wolf Run. Donations are still coming in and we will share a total with you all when we have one. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and enjoys the sunshine.
Friday 26th May 2023
It’s been a wonderful final week of the Summer 1 term. Having finished their newspaper reports, the children started a new unit on narrative. They are exploring how the problem element in stories are created. In this unit they will learn how to create tension and action through careful word choices and different sentence constructions. In reading, Herons are now exploring the skill of prediction. They have been exploring sections from ‘The Iron Man’, building their fluency and looking for clues to help them with their predictions. In maths, Herons have worked extremely hard and have completed a sequence of learning about money which they completed by exploring how to give change. In fractions, the children have moved on to adding and subtracting using resources, pictures and jottings.
In history, Herons have explored what the end of the Roman era in Britain was like. In 410, Emperor Honorius left a message and quickly, those who had ruled Britain returned to a crumbling Rome. Herons considered how the Celts moved on from this time and what impact this would have had on the Romans who were left behind. In science, Herons worked on the conclusions they could draw from the shadow experiment that they carried out in the previous week. In PE, Herons enjoyed some mini games in their cricket lesson. Activity levels were high on Tuesday! Herons did themselves proud during the Wolf Run- they even asked to complete extra laps once the time was up. What amazing stamina.
Well done Herons on another excellent half term. I hope you have wonderful adventures over the half term.
Friday 19th May 2023
There has been a steady improvement in the temperatures this week and Herons noticed this in their PE lessons this week. They have talked about the importance of keeping hydrated and they had lots of drinks breaks in between hurdling sessions on Thursday.
In literacy, Herons have completed the writing and editing process and completed the hot writes of their newspaper articles. Great job Herons! In maths, Herons have continued learning about fractions with a focus on equivalents this week. The children have become experts at finding equivalent fractions using bar models and explaining what they notice about numerators and denominators in fractions that are equivalent to one half.
The children have explored the changing religions of ancient Rome and how a vision of Emperor Constantine led to the start of Rome embracing Christianity. They have also explored the similarities and differences between the ancient Latin alphabet and the modern English one and thought about how people of ancient Britain communicated. The investigation in science this week had the children on their hands and knees as they explored how moving an object away from a light source changed the shadow that it created. There was some brilliant teamwork during this activity and I was very proud of the mature way the class worked in groups.
Big thanks to Molly and Maisie who led some fun games to help raise money for The Woodland Trust this Friday- well done girls! Well done to Thomas as well who was out Star of the Week for being his wonderful, hardworking self.
Friday 12th May 2023
Another short, but great week of Learning in Herons.
This was the week where Herons made those delicious tarts they had designed in the previous week. Having learned about seasonality, the children created and ate their creations. Yum! In history, Herons explored secondary sources to learn more about the technology introduced by the Romans into Ancient Britain. They created some really detailed posters that they shared with each other. In French, Herons learned to explain how to travel from one country to another. A popular method was hot air balloon- so let’s hope the air currents would be kind! In science, everyone planned an experiment to explore what happens to shadows when the object creating the shadow moves away from the light source. In PE, the focus has been on bowling and our coach Hayden has congratulated Herons on their improve accuracy.
Herons have been learning even more about fractions this week and were learning to count in fractions as well as place these on a number line. In money, the children were learning to subtract amounts and worked well both practically and using pictorial representations. We have now planned the newspaper recounts of a shocking event in our local village. We have even begun to write the introduction and first paragraphs including the grammar taught earlier in the unit. Guided reading has delved deeper into the skill of retrieval. This important reading skill involves finding information in the text and answering questions using it without changing that information. Herons have really enjoyed doing this as we have been using the very entertaining, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.”
No long weekend this time, but I hope we all get to enjoy some lovely May sunshine!
Friday 5th May 2023
What a great week, finished with a fabulous, shared picnic to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III tomorrow. The sun even came out in celebration. Let’s hope this is a good sign for the weekend ahead!
In literacy, we have been continuing our work on newspapers and had a go at innovating a newspaper report based on ‘The True Story of the Big Bad Wolf’. We also explored headlines and had a go at writing some based on the coronation. We finished the work on the spelling pattern ‘-ian’ this week and have now moved on. We are exploring the prefix ‘re-‘. Children will come home with this today. We will explore this spelling pattern thoroughly at school over the next 2 week, but feel free to do some extra practise at home if you feel it would benefit your child.
In maths. Herons have delved deeper into fractions and have explored fractions that make a whole and how fractions can be expressed on scales.
In ICT, children have begun to explore yes and no questions that will enable them to create branching databases. They also looked at online information and how to distinguish if it is trustworthy or not. Dt saw Herons designing their final fruit flans- they look delicious! In history we explored the saying, ‘All roads lead to Rome.’ Watling Street follows a very similar path to the original Roman road. Herons were able to create a diagram that explained why these roads lasted so well and also plotted some of the more well-used Roman roads on a map.
I can’t wait to hear about all the wonderful celebrations from over this long weekend and I hope the weather is kind for all the street parties, picnics and outdoor celebrations that are planned.
Friday 28th April 2023
Our literacy learning this week has centred around newspapers. We have learned about how this type of writing is organised from the headline to the concluding paragraph. The children were also very good at picking out the grammar features of this text and are clearly feeling confident with spotting the punctuation used for quotes in a report. In the grammar lessons, Herons explored how the conjunction so is used to link 2 sentences or clause by cause and effect. In our reading sessions, the children continued to learn about the skill of summarising. They used a technique where important information was highlighted and noted. They then used this to create a summary of a character. Great work!
In fractions, children have been securing their understanding of the way we write fractions and are now using the terms numerator and denominator accurately. This has meant that they have been able to add fractions as they recognise that if the denominator stays the same, they just have to add the numerators. Herons have now moved on to comparing fractions and have come up with mathematical generalisations to help them. In money, Herons now recognise coin values quickly and accurately and have moved on to combining amounts.
Herons were making close observations in science as they tested how reflective certain materials are. In history, we were learning about the Roman army. Although they were very organised and known as the best army for about 500 years, I don’t think many Herons would have liked a career as a Roman legionary. DT was marvellous fun this week as Herons mixed, cut and combined ingredients to make a tasty crumble. Most of us enjoyed our helping!
In PE, Heron’s cricket skills are developing well. Our catching skills in particular are far more accurate now. In athletics, Herons were exploring racing starts. An efficient start to a race can really make a difference, so were deciding which leg to place back in a standing and crouch start.
Our Star of the Week was Jaymi, who has worked so hard both at home and at school.
I hope everyone has a fantastic 3-day weekend. I’m looking forward to hearing about all the adventures Herons have had on Tuesday.
Friday 21st April 2023
Welcome back to the summer term!
Herons have jumped straight into a new genre and have started to explore newspaper reports. Now that we have completed the cold write task, the learning has begun and pupils have begun by learning about the present perfect tense. In guided reading sessions, children have begun to learn how to summarise and are particularly excited about our new class text- The Witches by Roald Dahl.
Fractions is our new topic in maths. Herons have explored what fractions are and how this is written mathematically. They delved deeper into unit fractions and have been able to compare and order set of unit fractions. The children have also reviewed their knowledge of coins and time ready to move this forward in the coming weeks.
In science, Herons learnt about light sources. This is a tricky concept as some reflective surfaces sometimes appear to be light sources. The key knowledge from this lesson was that our Moon is not a light source and that we see it because it reflects light from our Sun. DT was incredibly exciting this week as Herons explored where fruits come from and created delicious Japanese style kebabs- yum! In music. Herons explored some jazz music and began to learn about the key features about this type of music. A real highlight from this week was the litter pick on Thursday. As a class, we had talked about doing this around the school and thoroughly enjoyed the experience of tackling this issue around the village. We were all really impressed by how clean our village is generally, but we did manage to collect one large bag full. How lucky are we to be part of such a wonderful village!
Herons Star of the Week is the wonderful Daisy who is always so hard working and kind.
Friday 31st March 2023
Herons have had a wonderful week to finish the half term.
With poetry writing in literacy, perimeter in maths, skeleton comparisons in science tag rugby matches in PE the class have been busy.
We all enjoyed our visit to the church on Thursday where we shared some of the diary entries we wrote from different viewpoints about Holy Week. They were very thoughtful and Rev. Paula even asked for a copy that she could share with others in the church.
Herons looked at online safety in detail this week. The children talked about the need to speak out when they encounter bullying online by reporting it and telling a trusted adult. The discussions highlighted how for some children, starting a conversation about this can sometimes be difficult. We came up with a plan and all children made door hangers saying, 'Can we talk?' These have come home this week ready to be used if needed.
I hope that all the wonderful Herons have a fantastic break and I look forward to seeing them back in school in a couple of weeks. Happy Easter!
.
Friday 24th March 2023
What a busy week have had in Herons!
We enjoyed a wonderful visit to St Bart's on Thursday where volunteers from the church guided us through stations representing different parts of the Easter story and helped us to relate these big ideas to our own lives. It was a great reflective experience and really helped the children to understand what they had been learning about at school more deeply.
Thursday was also the day we performed our poetry choices to the rest of the school. Some Herons were nervous, while some were excited, buy every one stood up and took part. Amazing Herons!
This was all around the amazing work done in literacy about settings and character descriptions, the multiplication and division in maths, the chronology work in history, the sorting in science and much more.
In art, Herons completed their final projects. These will be combined (thanks to an amazing and talented parent in the class) to create a larger fabric square. We can’t wait to see the results.
The only bad news I can see this week is that as the clocks spring forward on Sunday, we miss out on an hour of sleep. I hope all Herons and their families have a wonderful weekend.
Friday 17th March 2023
Herons have spent a few sessions completing assessments this week and have done themselves proud. These quick checks have shown that the children have been learning really well and I was proud of the sensible and mature approach they had to these assessments. Amazing Herons!
In maths, Herons have explored expanded methods for dividing a 2-digit number by a 1 digit number. They began with base ten to physically share the total before progressing to using jottings. With practise, they were even able to use flexible partitioning and exchanging when needed.
In literacy and guided reading, Herons continued to explore ‘The Lost Thing’ by Shaun Tan. This wonderful book has started to inspire some wonderful setting and character descriptions as the children started to explore the concept of being ‘lost’.
Tuesday was an exciting day as Gary from Cricket Northampton came in to visit us. Herons enjoyed a high-energy session exploring batting and bowling skills. In rugby, Herons continued to explore the role of attacking and defensive positions and movement. This is very game-based at the moment, but these skills will be drawn together into team games of tag rugby in the next two weeks. In art, Herons used fabric to create a layered design in felt. These turned out very well! The plan is to attach these to the quilt squares the class made in a previous session and combine these squares to make a quilt. In science, Herons considered how animals that didn’t have a skeleton like theirs moved, protected internal organs and supported a body shape. They posed scientific questions and thought about whether it was possible or impossible to find an answer to these questions. In history, Herons learned about the early life of Julius Caesar and considered why he made the decisions he did during this time.
Friday was a wonderful opportunity, thanks to our fantastic FROGS, to find a gift for someone special this Mother’s Day. A huge cry of thanks goes out to the organisers- the children thoroughly enjoyed choosing the presents they were going to give. Thanks as well to the mothers, grandmas, aunts carers and all who take on the role of mother. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday and feel truly spoiled.
Our Star of the Week this week is Freddie. A whirlwind of energy, who is working immensely hard in Herons.
Friday 10th March 2023
This week the weather has taken a turn for the worse, but the learning in Herons has continued to go from strength to strength.
In literacy, we have moved on to planning and drafting our setting and character descriptions. Dictionary skills have played an important part of the learning in the classroom as children have been using the first 3 or 4 letters to check the spelling of words they are unsure of. We came to the end of the spelling unit exploring adding ‘-ion’ to verbs ending in ‘t’ or ‘te’. Herons have worked through many exercises to help them explore the spelling and meaning of these words. All this helped them to feel confident in the final check this week. Great job Herons!
In maths, Herons have explored an expanded method for multiplying a 2-digit number by a one digit number. By using pictorial representations, the children have been able to find answers to these larger multiplication problems. They have also been linking their understanding of scaling from the previous week to explore related multiplication and division facts.
Herons became gladiators in history this week and created some fabulous diary entries imagining that they had faced down opponents in the Colosseum in Ancient Rome. Did you know that to celebrate it’s opening, there was a 100-day celebration and that by the end of it, they literally ran out of competitors? In science, Herons explored the role bones play in creating movement. Herons became textile designers in art when they created a fabric square in the style of Kandinsky. They would have made an amazing duvet if stitched together!
Our Star of the week is Ivy. This ray of sunshine works hard every day and is a wonderful asset to both Herons and the school.
Friday 3rd March 2023
It's been a busy week, with the eagerly anticipated World Book Day on Thursday which was definitely a highlight of the week.
Heron’s grammar skills are certainly getting stronger with further practice of speech punctuation and a lesson on determiners. The children also spent time getting to grips with the new spelling pattern that we have been learning. This explores what happens when ‘-ion’ is added to verbs ending in t or te.
In maths, the children continued to consolidate their knowledge of mm, cm and m. In addition, they were also taught to use an informal method to multiply a two digit number by a one digit number. We will explore this further next week.
In science, Herons were learning about how some bones protect organs as they carried out an experiment to find out what might happen to organs if they did not have the protection of bones. In history, Herons learned about what Roman schools were like. With harsh punishments like whippings, a limited curriculum of boring subjects and so few children being able to actually attend, we all decided that our school system is better. In art, Herons continued to explore colour and fabrics using dye. This week they reflected on the dye they used and the overall effect they created. Herons are thoroughly enjoying their PE at the moment. They continued to explore the link between health and fitness on Wednesday before moving on to evasion tactics and the use of space in rugby on Thursday.
What a day Thursday was! With characters aplenty, Herons enjoyed a range of reading and writing activities- including the national World Book Day lesson where they played around and twisted a tradition story into something new.
Friday 24th February 2023
It has been a very busy first week for Herons as we explored the new topics for this term.
In science, Herons explored an interactive skeleton as they began to learn about bones in the human body. The first lesson explored how bones support the body and we came the conclusion that we would be a wibbly-wobbly mess without them. Without a rib cage we probably wouldn’t even be able to breathe! We looked at different sources to help us understand what life was like in Italy during Roman times. Herons did well and were true history detectives as they explored this society through writing and pictures.
There have been dictionary skills in both reading and literacy this week as children have got to grips with how these books are organised. The focus has been on locating words to find definitions and all Herons have become much quicker at finding a whole variety of words- well done all!
In maths, Herons have been consolidating their understanding of converting units of measurement between cm and mm as well as measuring accurately. They have also explored the tricky concept of scaling multiplication facts by 10. They already know that 5x2=20, so 5x20=100 I recently sent home the KIRF from the previous term. These facts from the 4 times table have been taught in school, but I would encourage extra practice at home if possible. Alongside this, all Herons practise timetables at the level that is appropriate for them in school and this can be supported at home by accessing TTRS regularly. Watch out for the new tournament that runs from this Friday until next. The last one was a boys v girls special and…girls won! These boys v girls battles are only set once a term and the score is now even at one all. The next tournament will be a random split.
We are very lucky to be supported by Saints Rugby this term who will be delivering masterclasses throughout the half term. Please make sure outdoor kits are in school as some sessions are likely to still be on the chilly side!
Our Star of the Week this week is Beth, who could be Star of the Week every week.
Friday 10th February 2023
What a busy end to a half term! It was wonderful to see so many of you on Monday, when you came in for the book look. The Parents’ evening over the next two evening were incredibly positive as well and it was a joy to share the progress the children in Herons have made.
The hard work has continued into the final week of the half term. In literacy, the children have now completed their own narrative, using the grammar skills they have learned over the past weeks. They really are fabulous and fit the brief of ‘writing a great sharing story for bedtime’.
TTRS scores have been phenomenal this week, with children demonstrating progress at school or at home and often both. This hard work is really supporting the learning in maths lessons. A big well done to Herons!
We completed our tour of Europe in geography as we explored the main exports from European countries to the UK. The children used an interactive map well to explore the concept of exports and imports and learned where much or their food comes from. In our final French lesson, we all played a game of marelle (hopscotch in English) to help consolidate our learning of French numbers up to 12. What fun!
We have been lucky to have two wonderful visitors to our class this week. On Monday Mrs. Sims visited with baby Hannah and on Thursday, Clare Reetz came in to explore the theme of the upcoming family service. It would be wonderful to see as many of you as possible on Sunday. As always there will be tea, coffee and biscuits and the service will begin at 11am.
Our fabulous final Star of the Week for this half term is Foster, who has worked tirelessly throughout this term.
Friday 3rd February 2023
The penultimate week of the half term has been a busy one.
We began the week with a special assembly to explore the role of our Houses of Parliament. It was and amazing presentation which helped us to understand how new laws are passed- and we almost created a new law to reduce the school week to 4 days!
In our writing, we have moved onto and innovation stage where we created a new ending to our now well-known story using the 3 grammar features that we have learnt about. We also began to write the beginning to our own story.
In maths. We continued to explore the 3, 4 and 8 times tables using a range of different methods, including our well love TTRS. The children have again been divided into 2 teams to see who can earn the most points in a week.
Herons finished their pneumatic models this week and were very proud of the results. Some monsters were cute; other frankly terrifying- but all showed great movement when the jaws opened.
In science, Herons continued to learn more about the 7 main nutrients we need to eat to stay healthy and were able to explain the similarities and differences in what different animals need to eat in order to stay healthy. In Geography, Herons were learning about the different climate zones in Europe, while in computing The children continued to develop their touch typing skills.
I’m looking forward to seeing Herons on Monday. There is a book look on Monday which all parents will be welcome to come to. Thank you to those of you who have booked appointments for the remote parents evening. Please get in touch if you need help with your logins.
Our Star of the Week this week is the amazing Sofia. She always puts in 100% to every lesson.
Friday 27th January 2023
In maths this week, Herons have been exploring multiplication and division. There has been some tricky vocabulary and models to understand and Herons have worked hard to demonstrate the difference between sharing and grouping as well as improving the quick recall of facts from the tables learned in Y2 as well as the 3 times table. Another Times Table Rock Stars battle came to an end this Friday. This great app is really helping Herons make great strides with learning their tables.
In Literacy, Herons have worked hard to understand the 3 skills that have been taught this week. Skill one was writing direct speech, skill 2 was writing in the present perfect tense and the final skill was writing using the coordinating conjunction ‘when’. Next week, Herons will apply their detective skills and find these within a model text.
Heron’s wonderful creativity was clear at various points this week. They are creating moving monsters using pneumatics and there are some great looking creatures with snapping jaws coming together. In music, Herons began to record their musical compositions. In dance, Herons have combined the different parts to create a great sequence celebrating dance steps from around the world. In geography, the children began learning more about Europe as they compared human and physical geographical features in Northern Europe as well as comparing land use across the continent.
Our wonderful Star of the Week is Lucas this week. A wonderful ray of sunshine who has worked incredibly hard this week.
Friday 20th January 2023
It has been a great week of learning in Herons class!
Herons enjoyed a wonderful visit from Neelam who helped the children to gain a better understanding of Hinduism in the UK. She shared many of her own religious practises and brought in items from her murti or own home altar. She gave Herons a chance to ask questions and supported us to understand some key concepts in Hinduism.
In maths, we have been learning about multiples of 2, 5 and 10. The children have been working on using mathematical language in their explanations and I have been impressed by their perseverance, as this is not easy!
In literacy, the children combined the skills of similes, strong verbs and appropriate adjectives to create poems about themes of nature that interest them. They published them using what they had learned about kinetic letters and created some wonderfully creative final poems.
The children explored different nutrients in science. Some brave souls offered to share what was in their lunches to explore the question. ‘Are lunches in Greens Norton healthy?’. Good news everyone- we should hold our head high as the lunches (yes- even Mrs. Barnett’s) contained a healthy range of nutrients that would contribute to a healthy diet.
The children have been learning the home keys in ICT and have begun to explore which fingers of each hand are used to strike the different keys on a keyboard.
I have been immensely impressed by how the children have thrown themselves into the dance unit they are following in PE. The children have researched dances from different continents and we have started to combine them into a group dance which showcases examples of steps from around the world.
Our star of the week is Carter who has worked immensely hard this week, showing some great deep thinking and questioning skills.
Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all on Monday.
Friday 13th January 2023
Our first full week of the new year has been wonderfully busy.
Herons have begun new topics in maths and have spent time exploring equal groupings and metric measurement in maths. Alongside this, the children are regularly reviewing the key instant recall facts about the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. These are revisited at the start of each maths lesson.
In literacy, the children have been delving into their understanding of adjectives and verbs in English and applying this in their poetry writing. Heron have earned that when listing adjectives, those with the same theme require a comma, while adjectives from different categories do not. Similes have made their way into our poetry tool box too and Herons have been busy as bees adding this new skill to their writing. We continue to share our class text, ‘Ice Palace’ by Robert Swindells. This has also supported the learning in reading lessons as we learn more about the skill of prediction. In spelling, Herons are learning about a spelling pattern that originates in Ancient Greece. This spelling pattern is ‘ch’ and has been explored in detail this week and will be continued next week as well.
In science, nutrition has been the focus. Herons began by asking scientific questions before learning more about the different nutrients that our bodies need. In geography, after learning about European countries last week, the children used a digital mapping tool to explore major cities in the countries they are learning more about.
Our Star of the Week this week is Alivia- a hard working Heron who can always be relied upon to bring add some happy sparkle to our learning.
Friday 6th January 2023
Happy New Year to you all! It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to school for the new term. They have settled quickly back into our existing routines and enjoyed being back together. A short week for us but lots of learning has already taken place.
The maths this week has been varied as the children spent time developing their mathematical thinking as they applied methods of addition and subtraction as well as learning new skills about measuring length in mm, cm and m.
In literacy, the children have started to explore poetry and have used London as a stimulus to create a poem of their own. As they explored a poem called, ‘Northern Lights’, the children learned how one poet structured their lines to create an effect. Herons are a wonderfully creative group and have embraced this new type of writing brilliantly!
DT was an exciting lesson as Herons explored how the transfer of air can be used to create movement using pneumatics! In PE, the Herons had their first football lesson as well as dance lesson. The children worked equally hard as they explored and applied the skills that were taught. In geography, the children recapped previous learning before exploring the countries of Europe using atlases. They were able to label these on both blank maps as well as a much trickier physical map of Europe. In music, the children began to learn a new song and used tuned percussion instruments to respond to the chorus.
Friday 16th December 2022
As we sang in the church on Thursday, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year!” Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our KS2 carol concert.
In amongst all the festivities, Herons have completed a writing unit about formal letters where we organised addresses, introduced complaints and generally had great fun innovating a traditional story to create a new complaint about an imagined school trip that went wrong.
In maths, Herons continued to learn about 3D shapes as well as applying number bonds to 100. The children have completed their end of term assessments in history, science and RE and I am so proud of the knowledge they have retained over this term.
Our Star of the Week is Freddie, who has set himself ambitious targets that have made amazing improvements in his learning throughout this half term.
After such a hard-working term, the children have certainly earned a break over the next 2 weeks. I hope everyone has a wonderful, restful Christmas break. I look forward to seeing Herons back in the classroom on Wednesday 4th January 2023!
Friday 9th December 2022
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
We thoroughly enjoyed the KS1 performance of baubles today and adults who are lucky enough to be coming to watch it next week are in for a real treat.
Herons have continued to work hard this week with vertical methods in maths, researching the ancient Beaker people and their culture, improvising using a virtual glockenspiel in music and exploring the art of blogging in our online safety lesson.
As we move towards the end of the term, the children have been completing assessments and doing a brilliant job of showing how they are learning more and remembering more.
We have also been talking and implementing the 'catch it, bin it, kill it message' in Herons as we try hard to protect those around us from bacteria and viruses.
One more week to go Herons!
Friday 2nd December 2022
Herons have worked immensely hard this week with the added challenge of assessments in reading and maths.
Our literacy focus has moved on to formal letter writing and this week the children have written a letter to The Man On The Moon, explored formal vocabulary and identified the physical and grammar structures used in this genre.
Maths explored exchanging and regrouping both tens and hundreds when using the vertical method for addition. This is the focus for this week’s homework as well.
Fossils were the focus of our science this week and the children explained how fossils were formed before making careful observations of Devil’s Toenails.
Herons were very energetic in both PE sessions this week as they began to play small games in hockey and solve problems in the outdoor and adventurous activities. I wonder how many Herons were able to explain the age-old problem of the farmer who had a chicken, a fox and some grain that he needed to get across a river?
Our Star of the Week is Jasper, who has worked really hard this week and produced excellent pieces of work. Great job Jasper!
Friday 25th November
Herons have worked exceptionally hard to start to learn the formal written methods for addition and subtraction this week. This new step required them to link together a lot of the previous learning about both these operations, but also about place value. Great effort Herons!
The children have been working on their writing stamina this week and have produced some excellent diary entries that incorporate the grammar we have been exploring. The children imagined that they had travelled back to The Stone Age and met some of the people who lived at this time. There was not only some great writing, but clearly a lot of historical understanding of this time period.
The DT projects are coming along nicely! Herons have been exploring shell structures and have added to their castle structures this week by incorporating some of the recycling they brought from home. I n RE, the children continue to explore what God means to Christians and looked at artwork inspired by the different aspects of God. In PE, the children have been working hard in hockey to use their stick to control the movements of the ball. Indoors. Herons have taken on problem solving challenges involving communication this week.
It was great to have so many wonderful donations for out chocolate mufti event on Friday. The chocolate tombola stall will be very tempting!
Our Star of the Week is Molly; an exceptional student with a calm and friendly approach to whatever life throws at her. Keep up the amazing work Molly
Friday 18th November 2022
As the weather has worsened this week, Herons have retained their sparkle and produced another excellent week’s learning.
In maths, Herons have pushed on and conquered the vertical written method for addition this week. Laying out these tricky calculations is a real challenge and the class rose to it with many using this method to solve word problems and reasoning questions later in the week.
In literacy, Herons have begun to apply all the tricky grammar features of prepositions, exclamations and perfect past tense as they began writing their diary entries about what a day in The Stone Age might be like.
In DT, the children have been exploring shell structures as they began to construct castle shapes with Mrs. Musson. Thank you to all the children who have brought in recycling ready for the next project next week.
In science, there was a small cheer as the rock collection came back out again. This week’s task was to work as scientists to explore permeable and impermeable rocks and identify each through a simple test.
Our Star of the Week this week was William- and amazing Heron who sprinkles smiles wherever he goes. Well done on all your hard work this week William.
Friday 11th November 2022
It has been a busy week of learning in Herons and we have been pleased to welcome some visitors to our school.
In literacy, the children continue to learn about the grammar included in diary writing and practised these throughout the week.
In maths, Herons learned some tricky concepts for adding and subtracting across tens and hundreds. Everyone did a fantastic job of constructing number lines and applying what had been taught to solve problems.
In history, timelines were the focus. Herons have been learning to place what is known about the development of Stone Age civilisation into timelines and exploring how life changed during this period.
Music explored how stories can be told without words. The children compared 2 very different pieces and responded by drawing a picture. When they compared each other’s, it was clear to see how major and minor key choices can create different feelings.
On Thursday, we had our shared Remembrance service. We were joined by members of The British Legion who shared The Last Post and led us in prayer. We responded with a song and all took part in a respectful and thoughtful silence.
On Friday we were joined by Atomic Tom who shared some exciting and very interesting learning about rocks and fossils. This opportunity was funded by our fantastic FROGS team who do an amazing job- thank you!
Our Star this week is Ella. She is an absolute inspiration with her hard work and determination.
Friday 4th November
It has been a wonderful week back after half term with lots of learning taking place as the new topic of 'Stones and Bones' was introduced.
In literacy, there has been a grammar focus where Herons have been learning about and applying prepositions and exclamation marks.
In maths, the children have been continuing to learn new methods for adding and subtracting and have progressed on to crossing tens and hundred boundaries using mental methods and jottings. Herons also explored the 3, 4 and 8 times tables as these are the KIRFs (key instants recall facts) for this half term.
There was so much fun during our double music lesson this week, where Herons dived into disco. The children were asked to listen and respond to ‘Love What We Do’ by Donna Summer. It was great to learn about the history of disco music. They then had a chance to improvise a musical response using a range of untuned and tuned instruments.
There were new topics introduced in other subjects as well. In DT, the children explored the structure of castles. In PE, Herons played hockey and began orienteering. In science, children explored the main 3 ways that natural rocks are formed. The history lesson helped Herons to understand what is meant by The Stone Age. In French, children wrote to their new French pen pals- can’t wait for the replies!
Somehow, we managed to fit all this in to four days. I hope all Herons have a wonderful, restful weekend and are ready for a 5-day week when they return on Monday.
Friday 21st October
What a great final week! I would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents who took the time to talk to me this week during the parents’ evening meetings. It was a pleasure to talk about the children in Herons as well as share ideas about how to make our partnerships in this learning venture even better.
Herons class have been incredibly busy as they raced towards their well-earned break and have been completing final lessons and assessments as they conclude the blocks of learning in this first half term.
In literacy, Herons have completed hot writes on their character descriptions. Their final pen portraits of Horrid Henry have been wonderful to read. The children have carefully included adverbs to explain manner, accurate use of pronouns and cohesive paragraphs to create some frighteningly good descriptions. Our reading unit on inference has also been completed- with all children showing that they understand how to look for clues when finding out about characters and settings.
In maths, we have already started a unit on addition and subtraction and have linked the knowledge of place value to adding on multiples of 1, 10 and 100 to 3-digit numbers.
In science, Herons completed their learning about plants by exploring seed dispersal methods of the plants around the school. In geography, Herons compared 2 regions of the UK using digimaps. Re saw the children creating a mind map of all the knowledge they had acquired in their unit about what Christians learn from the story of Creation. In art, the children completed their drawing unit by creating sketches of UK landmarks.
The homework over half term is to keep reading, practise spellings and to log on to TTRS as much as you can (there will be stickers and marbles for those who manage this).
Our Star of the Week is Oliver P, who has simply blown me away with his amazing literacy work this week.
I hope everyone in Herons has a wonderful, restful break and I look forward to seeing the children back on Tuesday 1st November.
Friday 14th October
Our week kicked off with a lovely Harvest Service at St. Batholomew’s. Our theme was to explore the world as if it were a village with 100 people in it. In Herons, we shared the fact that within our village, of the 36 children who could go to school, only 30 did. It is a sad fact of life that because of this, some people never learn to read or write. We shared a poem called ‘The Land of Story Books’ by Robert Louis Stevenson as we are thankful that we can learn to read and enjoy stories at school. I want to say a big thank you to the children for taking the time to rehearse the poem as part of their homework and to the adults who were able to join us for this service.
In literacy, Herons continue to explore character. We have learned about 2 key grammatical skills this week- using adverbs and using pronouns for clarity and to avoid repetition. Herons have written sentences demonstrating how both are used and are now ready to apply these when writing cohesively next week.
In maths, Herons completed the unit on place value and completed assessments on this first block of learning- well done Y3! We have now begun learning about addition and subtraction- in particular mental methods for solving questions.
The children completed a gruelling PE session this week where they first had to see how many laps of our school track they could complete before moving through to applying the passing and interception skills they have been learning in netball. I imagine Herons slept very well on Thursday night!
I am looking forward to seeing parents at our first parent's evening of the year. Books will be out and available on Monday 3.30-4.30 and there are still appointments available on both days. Thank you for booking in!
Our star this week is Maisie because she is such a hard-working and determined member of Herons. She gives every task her all and can be relied upon to demonstrate our school rules at all times.
Friday 7th October
We began October very well in Herons and are quickly working our way through the first half term. It was Herons final day on Tuesday with Mrs. Sims before she began her maternity leave. With the rest of the school, we wish her and her imminent new family member well and cannot wait to hear the happy announcement. Going forward, Mrs. Musson will be taking on the teaching responsibilities on Wednesdays.
The children completed the unit on setting description this week- finishing with a ‘hot write’ where they polish and present all the elements of cohesion and conjunctions they had been working on. All the children in Herons have been working hard on their letter formation and this was really clear in these final pieces. We have now moved on to looking at character descriptions and have begun to analyse how writers might tell a reader about a character through how they look, what they say, what they do and how other characters in the narrative react to them.
In maths, Herons have continued leaning about place value and have explored how to compare and order larger amounts by looking at the largest place value column first and moving onto smaller and smaller place value columns if needed. In geometry, Herons have been exploring angles and have been sorting these according to size.
In science, Herons presented what they had learned about the water transportation in stems and used careful observations to explain what they believed had happened inside the stems.
On Thursday this week, half of the children took part in a Rugby festival at Sponne School. It was great to hear of their successes when they returned. The children who stayed in school took part in challenges to design catapults. Overall, a great afternoon for all!
Homework this week is a reading task. All Herons have taken home a copy of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson which they will be reading during the Harvest service on Monday. Please do support the appeal for non-perishable foods by bringing along a tin or packet of food that can be donated to the local Food Bank.
Our Star of the Week is Jack this week. He has worked extremely hard to learn his times tables and is a wonderful helper in our classroom.
Friday 30th September
Another busy week in Herons! The children have been engaged in some excellent practical learning this week.
In literacy, the children have linked their literacy and science learning by writing instructions that would help a younger child to plant a seed. They acted out the instructions to check that they made sense as well as publishing their final versions. Also in science, Herons have set up observational experiments to test their theories about how quickly water and nutrient are transported up stems to leaves and flowers. Within this busy literacy learning, the children have also managed to write 3 sections of their setting descriptions.
In maths, children continue to explore larger numbers- this time using number lines as a way of representing numbers. Children have learned to label intervals by working out what each jump along the number line is worth. This skill has also helped them to label points between intervals by working halfway points.
In netball, Herons have been working hard to refine the types of passes used in netball. We put these into practise this week by completing some mini challenges leading to a small team game.
In French, the children learned a traditional French rhyme to help them practise the greetings they have been learning over the last weeks. Listen out for this at home!
Our Star of the Week is Oliver. Oliver has impressed those around him with his hard work and by being a great friend.
Friday 23rd September
Herons are well into their first term now and have completed a solid third week of learning.
In literacy, we have begun to innovate our model text. We explored our new underwater setting through drama and then created a word bank to help with describing what was in the setting using all 5 senses. All these new wonderful words and phrases helped us to create a sort description of a shipwreck scene. Next week, we will look forward to writing about this exciting new place in more detail! We are 1/3 through our class text, ‘The Firework Maker’s daughter’ now. Herons are really enjoying this modern fairy tale- especially the laugh out loud moments.
In maths, Herons continue to delve deeper into place value. There has been a particular focus on solving the trickier problem solving. This often means not finding one possibility, but several that answer the question and children often need to make jottings and drawings to express their mathematical understanding. Well done Herons!
In science, we have designed our first experiment of Year 3. I posed the question, “Why does a plant need a stem?” Herons were quick to answer that stems hold up leaves and flowers and carry water and nutrients. I challenged them to prove how they knew that stems carried water and nutrients. With some celery, carnations, water and food colouring they are hoping to have some clear scientific evidence for next week.
Heron’s art skills were particularly impressive this week as they explored mixing paint and creating tertiary colours. They will need this important skill later on in this term. In geography, Herons have been using atlases to find regions of the UK. These key map skills are developing very well and the children are now far more confident when dealing with maps of the UK in different scales.
Heron’s earned a full complement of stickers for handing in their maths homework on time this week- an amazing achievement. Please do support your child to complete their reading challenge of reading 5 times a week and writing this into their record as well as practising times tables using TTRS. As requested, log-ins for these will be sent home again to help with this.
Our Star of the Week is the very hard-working Lainey. She is a real superstar in Herons who has competed some excellent pieces of work especially in art, maths and guided reading.
Friday 16th September
Well done Herons on another excellent week.
In literacy, we have been exploring the 3 key skills we will be using in our setting description. These skills are using capital letters and full stops in line with Y3 expectations, writing cohesively and using the conjunctions when and if. We have been exploring these skills while describing a very stormy scene. Herons earned lots of stickers this week when they handed in their reading records. Please do remember to read 5 times a week!
In maths, we continued to explore the place value of 3 digit numbers and have extended this to the tricky concept of flexible partitioning. Have a look at our picture gallery for some great examples of this.
We enjoyed our music session this week where we explored how pulse and tuned notation can be recorded. We copied the rhythms and musical refrains using clapping, glockenspiels and xylophones. In Geography, we continued with our mapping skills by using a range of maps to add locations to UK maps.
In science, we continued to learn about the structure of plants. Herons explored how plants in different parts of the world have adapted to some harsh conditions such as cacti that can survive with limited water, deciduous trees that survive both temperate and cold conditions and tropical orchids which don’t even need soil!
Herons got their first piece of homework this Friday. This week it was maths and it will alternate with literacy going forwards. Homework will always be consolidation of a key skill taught in school and this week it is partitioning 3-digit numbers.
Our Star of the Week is the very hard-working Archie, who has challenged himself to be the best he can be in every lesson this week.
Friday 9th September
Welcome back to a brand new year and a huge well done to the children of Herons for returning to school with such positivity and energy to a new term packed full of learning. The children have settled well in to their new routines and have shown that they are ready, respectful and safe both in their new classroom and around the school.
In maths, Herons have begun a unit on place value and this week, they have spent a lot of time exploring how partitioning can help us to understand the place value of digits within numbers. We have also relaunched Timetable Rockstars (TTRS). Children will bring home their log-ins for this program today. Please support at home by encouraging children to practise regularly (5 sessions of 5-10 minutes would be wonderful).
In literacy, Herons have been introduced to our new spelling program. The school has moved away from the ‘lists to learn at home’ approach and have adopted an approach where spelling lessons take place throughout the week; helping children to understand spelling rules and conventions better. Children will have a spelling log which they will bring home in the coming weeks. Here, they will record spellings that they have found particularly challenging. Please do talk through these with your children and help them to practise. Reading books have also gone home and next week the school library is reopening and the children will be able to choose another book for the week. In our class reading, we have begun to explore ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’ by Philip Pullman.
Herons got hands on with some different roots this week. In Y2, they learned how roots absorb water and nutrients and they built on this today by learning about tap, fibrous and storage root systems. We asked scientific questions about what they saw and began to think about how these questions might be answered.
A huge well done to Lucia, who was our Star of the Week. She made a brilliant impression on all the adults this week, was kind and helpful and a general all-round super star.
