Well that was a really heavy week. If ever a bank-holiday was needed… The main focus this week has been refinement of application. Take maths for example. Early on in the week, we did a test or two leaving us with the overriding sense that there was a disconnect between…
English The quality of the compositions this week has been absolutely mind-blowing. The children are working so hard to improve their work and are showing so much learning. I can’t wait for you to see the finished products. They should be so proud of everything they have achieved. Maths We…
English I think this has been a fantastic week for writing. We are currently working on an extended piece of narrative which ultimately will read more like an opening chapter to a story. The quality so far has been outstanding as if the whole class have really taken their compositions…
Maths The first part of each lesson begins with some basic arithmetic questions. These are taken from a variety of sources such as the tests that you will have seen over the half-term. I spend a lot of time analysing mistakes and then generating different calculations to try to stretch…
English The composition is moving into some really interesting waters. We have been studying how to bring more sophistication to writing by taking a more cinematic approach, starting off on a very broad focus and gradually focusing in to a main point or question. The class seem to have taken…
Special thanks Before anything else I would like to say how proud I am of the class this week. We had a visitor (Shirley Clarke) in school on Thursday that in educational circles would be as influential as David Bowie to the music scene. She was over the moon with…
English This week, we have begun to look at reading skills in detail. We started off looking at an assessment, taking time to mark through it together and identifying various elements contained within. The main focus over the next couple of weeks will be to establish different categories of questions…
English It has been a lot of work but I think that the planning is becoming much more effective. Certainly the children seem to be reporting that once they are able to talk through the plan in detail, their composition feels easier and more flowing. The more we work this…
English This week has seen a subtle shift in emphasis. We are still studying persuasive texts with a firm focus on the use of counter arguments, but the effort is largely being directed at the planning phase. We have been working closely together to collect and sequence ideas as a…
A shorter blog for you this week, but hopefully still informative English We are starting to take the persuasive writing into more refined territories now by looking at the use of counter arguments. The planning will look the same, collecting both positive and negative sides for the argument. The skill…
