We love to learn whilst having fun in Cherry Class!

Spring Term

Our theme this term is, 'Ingenious Geniuses'.
We will be learning about different inventions from famous geniuses, focusing on how an initial idea can be developed throughout history.
Our main genius is 'Leonardo Da Vinci', this allows us to learn all about his artwork and inventions.
We will look closely at the development of flight starting with Da Vinci and moving onto the Wright Brothers.
Our theme will link throughout our other lessons (when appropriate):

English:
Fiction - Fantastic Mr Fox, Stories on a theme.
Non-fiction - Report writing and instructions.
Poetry - Calligrams
Maths - Multiplication, Division, Statistics, Measurement, Shapes
Science - Parts of Animals and Uses of Materials
RE - How do festivals and worship show what matters to Muslims? and 'What are the deeper meanings of the festivals?
History - Significant individuals, place events in chronological order, recognise similarities and differences from the past to their life and understanding how events in the past can affect change for the future. (linked to theme).
Art/DT - Kite making, portrait drawing, use of different mediums and an artist focus.

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Cherry Class love to read!

We are currently reading:
​
Danny the Champion of the World
​Talk to your child about our story, they can retell where we are up to, describe the characters and the unusual language used by the BFG.

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Homework
Homework will be given out every Friday and should be returned the following Thursday.
Homework will include at least one piece of Maths or English work and children can also complete extra work or a creative task linked to our termly topic.
Lots of our children love to complete extra work at home, practising their times tables, writing, art work or something unique and we love to celebrate these pieces of work in class.
Spellings
Spellings will be practised throughout the week during SPAG sessions. Children have a focus set of words and choose from a range of strategies to practise in their spelling journals. Spellings will be assessed in your child's writing throughout the curriculum.
If you have any worries or concerns regarding your child's homework then please do not hesitate to come and speak to me.

Reading Books
Children in cherry class are encouraged to read at home as well as in the classroom.
All children will take ownership of changing their reading book in class, allowing them to find a suitable and engaging book to read at home. Some children are moving onto free readers and we have some exciting new books added to our library, thanks to our Reading Sponsor Event that took place in July 2019.

All children have access to the class library and can choose a book/comic to read in class during quiet reading time.
Children also love choosing and changing a reading book from the school library with Mrs Cersell on Friday afternoons.

Our WOW Water Morning!
Kensworth were very lucky to have a visit from John who works at Affinity Water.
He came to talk to us all about the uses of water and what we can do to save water.
Did you know 98% of the world's water is salt water? And, of the remaining 2%, only 0.15%  is available for us to use.
Cherry class took part in exciting experiments to see what materials break down when flushed down a toilet and how dirty water can be cleaned by filtering through gravel, sand and burned coconut shells. The children also learned about the water cycle, by playing out the roles of the Sun, Wind and Clouds.
We loved it!
We also got to play games such as; Snakes and Ladders, Twister, Top Trumps and Bingo. All these games were based on saving water and we learnt some tips to use at home with our families.

Curriculum Maps

2019/20
​Autumn Term
Spring Term

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World Book Day - March 2020

Cherry Class took part in World Book Day this year as characters from Roald Dahl stories as we have read many of his books during daily story time!
We were visited by:
BFG, Sophie and Her Majesty.
Willy Wonka, Oompa Loompas and Veruca Salt.
The Grand High Witch and witches.
Danny the Champion of the World
Ladybird
George
The Enormous Crocodile
Fantastic Mr Fox

During the day, the children had to talk about their character, interview other characters to find out more information. We looked back at the BFG story to talk about, write and then make their very own 'Dream Jars'. Cherry class also joined up with Holly class to share stories, reading and listening to one another. In the afternoon, Cherry class joined together with Oakbeam to make some reading props to further improve our wonderful school library.

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Watch Me Learn - February 2020
Our wonderful parents/carers visited Cherry Class this month to work with the children to create their very own kites. We discussed what we had learned this half term, including kite shapes, what kites had been used for in the past (which not many knew before) and how to build a stable kite with all the known features.
Our children and adults worked fantastically together and children were looking forward to testing out the kites over half term.
Thank you for all who attended and we look forward to the next 'Watch Me Learn'.

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Leonardo Da Vinci's parachute invention
We had lots of fun creating the Da Vinci parachute, using folding, cutting, sticking and threading skills. We did find it difficult at times but we all persevered and helped each other to complete the parachutes.
We then tested them out from a high but safe place!

Supporting your child at home - Useful links
Literacy games online:
Phonics -   www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/literacy/phonics/play/
Phonics - https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
Phonics   -  https://www.phonicsbloom.com/
Phonics - http://www.oxfordphonicschecksupport.co.uk/
Teach Your Monster to Read - https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/
Phonemes -   www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/phonics/sandcastle/
Past tense -   www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/blast_the_rocket/big_sound/full.shtml
Maths games online:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/mental-maths-train