Keeping us all connected

A huge well done...

A HUGE well done to Phoebe-Louise and Evelyn-Rose for raising £200.01 for Africa Alive and Banham Zoo! Wow! Concerned about the plight of the animals because of the zoo closures, the girls decided to bake some cakes and sell them to relatives and friends to raise some money. What a fantastic achievement! You should both be incredibly proud of yourselves!  

Year 4

Year 4 have had a fantastic first week back with their home learning. Sophie has been learning Spanish colours and even found a way to work with her friends using Zoom. She's also made a start on our new project and has investigated the weight of gas in a variety of fizzy drinks. Moses and Hannah have been writing stories and Hannah has completed an evaporation investigation. Meanwhile, Noah has been spending lots of time perfecting his handwriting and used it to write a report about a character.

Year Six - Freya B's Noun Swap Work

The Deathday Wake 

Santa arrived, spreading a damp chill over the bodies and into the coffins. Doctor Death, the funeral director, was kept busy by a sudden spate of deaths among the adults and children. Her bringing back the dead serum worked instantly, though it left the drinker steaming from the butt for several hours afterward. Millie-rose Brown, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking some by Wilson. The steam pouring from under her vivid butt made it look like her whole body was on fire. 

Ash the size of hundreds and thousands thundered on the coffin lids for days on end; the piles rose, the ashes turned into mountains, and Doctor Death's Graveyard swelled to the size of a castle. Ralph Whites enthusiasm for regular killing sessions, however, was not dampened, which was why G was to be found, one late windy monday morning a few days before Autumn break, returning to his small hut, drenched to the skin and splattered with blood.    

Jayden

Jayden has written some lovely alliterative sentences.

Ethan

Ethan has been working very hard on his learning this week.

Morgan has worked so hard on his summer 1 project based on Lowestoft. His final project is fantastic, well done! 

It was so good to hear from Lucy in 3KM. She has been so busy since school closed. She has worked so hard to complete all the work she has been set and I am very proud of her outcomes. She has also been practising her drawing skills, has been growing strawberries and has been helping her family with chores. Keep up the good work Lucy. 

Ronnie's learning at home (RFS)

It was lovely to get an update from our lovely Ronnie; loving the creative ways of learning Maths and Literacy! Keep up the good work my friend. Miss Saunders 

Ethan's learning at home (RFS)

A lovely update of what Ethan has been up to at home. I am amazed at his brilliant tuff tray! It's exactly like the ones we have at school. He has his very own small world play and I am rather jealous! Looks like SO much fun. I'm pleased you are enjoying our 'Mad about animals' topic 

Leo's learning at home (RFS)

Another wonderful update from Leo. We really do enjoy seeing all of the lovely activities you are getting up to at home! Miss Saunders is really jealous of the farm animal models you have made; they are super cute! 

Corey's learning at home (RCH)

It has been lovely receiving photos of all the wonderful activities and learning that Corey has been doing at home. From practising phonics, to learning all things Maths, to baking, creating and exploring our new topic - Mad about animals!

We can tell from the smiles you're having a great time at home! Thanks for keeping us updated 

Year 4 Poetry

Year 4 were tasked this week with writing a poem about life during these strange times. Sophie chose to write her poem about the things she has been up to whilst at home. Hannah wrote hers with her family about how they are all feeling. 

Austin 3GC

Austin has been busy measuring the perimeter of lots of household items this week.

Hermione, in 3KM, continues to be a busy bee! She has been practising the calculation of perimeter by measuring objects around her house. She has also been testing magnetic things around the home and then seeing how much weight 4 toilet roll holders can take.. 36 books.. and a Hermione! How amazing is that! 

Hermione's also been busy building her lighthouse for her project. She also had a Mexican party the other, which looks brilliant! 

Agatha's learning at home (RFS)

It was lovely to learn about all the activities and learning that Agatha has engaged with at home!

She has created her own perfume (which I'd love to be able to smell!), chalked outside with her siblings, helped with the DIY, completed lots of lovely arts and crafts; including her own sock puppet! I am super pleased with how Agatha is getting on 

Leo's learning at home (RFS)

I am extremely proud of how busy Leo has been at home. He has completed many wonderful learning activities; from writing a thank you card to our police, to helping Dad in the garden, creating his own 2d farm with 3d animals! He explored estimation in Maths and he continues to practice his reading! His little sister has also enjoyed the farm animals learning alongside Leo - what a great role model!

One very proud teacher 

Daniel Jillings, a former Elm Tree student, has taken part in his own 26 challenge - please see below his YouTube video link and his 'Just Giving' page:

Daniel is Deaf and a full BSL user. Whilst he is proud of his deaf identity and language, deafness had a huge impact on sleep and school life, including being able to make friends, as he has few friends who can sign.  He was matched with his hearing dog, Varley, in 2016 and since then his life has been transformed. Now he is able to sleep knowing that Varley is there beside him. He feels safe knowing that Varley will alert him to danger and wake him in the morning when the alarm goes off. 

Daniel has grown in confidence and independence since he has had Varley at his side. Varley is a very special part of our family, he is Daniel's best friend, helping him to leave loneliness behind.

'Hearing Dogs' rely on donations to train amazing dogs like Varley, the Coronavirus outbreak will affect all fundraising activity so please give a little if you can. 

Daniel has created a signed clip, showing signs for the finger spelt alphabet and 26 signs linked to lock-down. He would love you to watch, enjoy and learn a few signs, regardless of whether you can donate at this time.

Jayden has written a setting description for the park in 'Hodgeheg' which is our current class book in Year 3. He has tried really hard to vary his sentence openers.

4JH

4JH have been busy again. Sophie has been completing tasks from our project and has created a poster with instructions on brushing our teeth. Chloe has been working hard on her maths, completed her crossword all about our teeth and has made cinema boxes for herself and some friends. Sophie has still been able to have Brownie meetings online so has been busy with school work and completing tasks to earn badges. She also made a lovely banner for her Nanny and Grandad.

Morgan - 3KM

I have been so proud of how hard Morgan has worked since school closed. He has been working hard in all subjects and has even researched other topics that we are not studying - but that interest him. Well done Morgan! As a treat this weekend, his mum asked him to name something that he would like to do. Morgan decided to become a gardener for the day and planted some seeds and added lights to his garden. He also created a fantastic NHS rainbow at the front of his house. 

27.04.2020

Max in Year 1 has been making a word search around one of his favourite TV programmes, 'Henry Danger'. He has used character names to create the word search. Can you find any?

27.04.2020

Kobie has been busy again! This time he has been experimenting with a homemade tin can phone! He even taught Mrs Lewis that when you listen through a closed door the sound is muffled! 

Keep up the great work!

Poppy Lincoln in Year 3 has created a word search based on Henry Danger. Can you find the words?

Evie in Year 5 has been busy working on her Maths and English.  She has written a great short story about a floating sheep and been working incredibly well on Maths work on fractions and decimals. Keep it up Evie!

Tom Gates Book Review

Charlie has reviewed a Tom Gates book that he has just finished if you are stuck in choosing your next read.

Jayden

Jayden in Year 3 has continued a story and applied lots of grammar skills he has been learning in the week.

Imagine the story in Lucas' sequence of pictures to the song.

https://youtu.be/Oextk-If8HQ

Is it better out than in?

Year 4 have been enjoying learning about the digestive system. Moses and Sophie have found out all about our teeth and their jobs. Noah has started an investigation into what different drinks do to our teeth and has even made predictions about each drink and Hannah has discovered how our digestive systems work by making poo! 

3GC

Jake has been learning how to cook and has created this delicious carbonara dish from scratch! 

Poppy Year 3

Poppy has been working really hard on her maths tasks this week. She has completed questions about fractions and made her very own times tables revision poster.

Charlie Year 3

Charlie has been practising using inverted commas correctly. He has also completed another reading book and worked hard on his maths tasks.

4JH

Children have been working hard and finding time for lots of fun activities as well as completing their home learning tasks. Sophie has been making sausage rolls and painting the windows using bright colours, Moses has been practising his times tables, Sophie has been making chocolate treats and Hannah has enjoyed reading to her cat Bobby in the conservatory!

Year 6

Lucas

Whilst reading material might be in short supply, it is a great opportunity to read books that you might otherwise not have chosen. Lucas has read a novel called 'I am David' by Anne Holm. It was published in 1963 and is a powerful story about a boy who escapes a concentration camp. Lucas has written a book review about the story.

In our project, we challenged Year 6 to create a model of the heart from anything at home. Lucas chose Lego. It is fabulous!

Year Six (DS) - Mason:

Mason has been very busy helping his dad build a summer house - WOW! He measured all of the wood for the frame, used a variety of tools, felted the roof, nailed on the outside cladding, helped with the electrics inside, covered the floor in concrete and has shown great pride in every aspect. Not only that, Mason has been learning to cook meals and helping with planting flowers in the garden. Alongside all of this Mason has found the time to build his own bike!

It was lovely to receive an email update from Mils in 3KM today. She sent a lovely letter attached to her email updating us on what she has been doing as well as sending her spelling work and some poetry she has written. Well done Mils, keep up all your hard work. 

Year Six (DS) - Freya's Discussion Text                      

Planning and writing my discussion text on homeschooling. 

Positives of homeschooling: 

* flexible hours 

* more familiar with the surroundings 

* more free time for hobbies/spending time with family 

* can work at a pace that is suitable for them 

* do not have to work out ways for the child to travel to school

* no money needs to be spent on school uniform 

Negatives of homeschooling: 

* lacks social skills for the future

* more distractions at home than at school 

* one parent can’t work because they have to teach the child 

* seen as a parent can't work, not enough money can come into the home 

* may not have suitable equipment 

* can get sick of being stuck with a parent so life away from school can become tricky 

Intro:

In this piece of text I will be relaying the reasons why people think homeschooling is a good idea and also why others disagree and believe that it isn't a good idea. I trust that this text will help you make your own opinion on the subject known as homeschooling.  

1st paragraph:

To begin, when you are homeschooling only one parent is able to work because the other one has to teach and look after the child/children, therefore not enough money is able to come into the home. That means that you may not be able to provide the child/children with the correct learning equipment, so they will not have the full potential in learning. Whereas, when they are at school both parents can work whilst the child/children are at school.  

2nd paragraph:

When children are at school, hours are not flexible but when they are at home their hours can be flexible. In real life, after your time at school is over, you can't always choose when you work you just have to work so if they are to stick to a timetable in their younger years they will be used to it. On the other hand, flexibility can be rather important for doing activities outside of school or spending time with family. This also helps you with time management allowing you to spread out the work evenly within the time that you have.  

3rd paragraph:

Whilst working at home there will probably be a large number of distractions such as a phone, an iPad, television or a laptop/computer, these items can stop you from completing your work. Whereas, in schools these distractions are not available, therefore, it will be significantly easier to concentrate. On the other hand,if you are homeschooling, you can remove those distractions during the school day so they aren't a hindrance. Although, if a parent/guardian does decide to do this the child/children may become annoyed or upset with them, for this reason the relationship between them may become complicated.

Conclusion:

Finances, flexibility, distractions. These are all important elements of homeschooling, there are always positives and negatives to things and homeschooling is one of those things. Homeschooling is different for everyone and may suit some more than others, we all have our own opinion on homeschooling.

Mia, in Year 6, has created her Nuisance of Nouns poem. She has used an alphabetical structure to order her unusual collective nouns. Great vocabulary Mia!

Lucy, in 3KM, has shared some of her home learning so far. She has been busy practising all of her times tables, which is a brilliant skill to focus on as that will help with the rest of her Maths learning. She has also completed some English description work and has included lots of 2A sentences, well done! Her next challenge is to also include time conjunctions and fronted adverbials. Lucy also adapted Miss Saunders' popcorn game so that she had questions that were more appropriate to her year group - what a great idea! Keep up all the good work Lucy! 

Hermione, in 3KM, checked in with Miss Molloy today to share all of her learning. She sent a lovely email to tell her all the things that she has been doing, which included have a playdoh FaceTiming session with her cousins. She made giant snails, flowers and worms, which fits in perfectly with our 'plants' topic. She also said that she wished that she could help the NHS, which is a very kind thought. To feel more in touch with school, she has been wearing her school uniform and is currently missing school, as are we all! 

It was great to hear from Aleaha in 3KM today. She has been trying hard with her learning and has also created a greenhouse out of an old battery box. She is using it to try to grow four sunflower seeds that she got from some of her bird's food. Already she has one that has started to shoot, so she is very happy. This is a perfect activity as we have started our topic on 'plants'. I have suggested that she might want to start keeping a diary of the progress that they make. It would be interesting to see all the changes that happen over the next few weeks. 

Even more exciting than that, Aleaha's sibling is due in 8 days time! Wishing the family all the best for the new arrival. 

Charlie, in Year 1, has been keeping super busy. He has been doing his home learning, which has been to make an musical instrument, using different materials and write some instructions. He has made a great start writing a list of the equipment he has used. He has also been exploring other activities in the afternoon. Take a look at what he has been up to!

Olivia C (Y6) has created a questionnaire for her mum to take into her workplace - a care home. She was inspired by our WWII topic and the work on Rose Blanche:

Hi, my name is Olivia. At school I was learning about WW2 and the Holocaust.

We have been reading about a girl called Rose Blanche. She lived in Germany and saw children being captured and taken away to a concentration camp. So, she followed the truck and saw lots of children behind barbed wire, one of the children said they were hungry then she remembered she had a slice of bread in her bag and passed it though the fence. Every day after school she would bring bread and apples to the camp and give it to them so they could eat. It was very lucky that she didn't get caught otherwise she would have been killed. Rose sadly got shot and died in a crossfire while taking food over to the children.

I would really like to know about your life in the war:

What is your name?

Where did you live?

How old were you in the war?

What food did you eat?

What did you do for fun?

What did you do for a job?

Did you know about the concentration camps? How did that make you feel?

What was it like in the war?

Thank you for answering my questions.

We hope to hear about the answers Olivia gets and will upload them if we are able to.

Isla (Y6) - Rose Blanche Synopsis 

Rose Blanche Synopsis

I think it was symbolic because spring represents a new beginning and a change: when the flowers start to bloom.

At the end of the World War 2, English became the predominant second language of Europe.

The Nazi party, who were a part of Germany, despised the Jewish people. They held Jewish people in concentration camps to later be killed in gas chambers. This was often done in large groups, in small cage like buildings. Therefore, if Rose Blanche was a Jew she would be killed like all the others.

I think Rose Blanche, was selfless and brave. She risked her life to give as many people as possible, in the concentration camp, food. If she was caught she could have been potentially killed.

by Isla 

Freya Be (Y6) - Descriptive Writing Home Learning

Danger in a Safe Place

A gloomy, dark night falls upon the girl and her dog. From the safety of her small tent, to the broad lake in which her boat (Luna) sways gently in water, a world of mystery lay before her. She slowly ventures out into the unknown, heading towards the lake. The trees tower over the young woman as shivers creep down her spine whilst the wind tickles her ice-cold ankles. She almost screamed in terror, she was on the verge of crying her eyes out. Willow (her adorable dog) licks the girl's legs as an attempt to comfort her owner (Emma). Emma felt as if the woods were trying to eat her whole, draw the life from her slim body, suck out her soul. This though made her squeal in fear.

By Freya Be