Garnet Class

Teachers: Miss Frewin and Mr Thomas

Adults in class: Miss Fido

Garnet Class Planning pathway Autumn 2023

Garnet Class Spring term learning pathway 2024

Garnet Class pathway planning summer 2024

Garnet Class yearly overview 2023-2024

Garnet Homework project menu Easter holidays

 

We have PE on Monday and Friday afternoons.

Please make sure your child has their kit in school ready to wear on these days.

Your child ‘s TT Rockstar and Edshed logins are at the back of their reading record – please ask if you need another copy.

Parent Showcase – The children became the experts and shared their learning around the Ancient Egyptians. There were a range of activities for the children and parents to involve themselves in from sculpting clay amulets and scarab beetles to writing secret codes and name tags in Hieroglyphics. Thank you to all of the parents and families that came.

The children in Garnet class have been learning the Ukulele. They have worked extremely hard this term and had the confidence to perform what they had learnt to the rest of the school.

The tomb of Tutankhamun – As historians the children debated whether or not the Howard Carter should have opened the tomb and removed the items or not. The children then opened an envelope containing pictures of all the items found inside Tutankhamun’s tomb and after describing what they saw they made their own tombs underneath the tables in the classroom.

This week we had a visit from the Dogs Trust. We learnt how to be dog smart after becoming detectives and investigating a case, The children learnt about how to approach dogs, how to stroke a dog and how to tell if a dog wants to be left alone.

The children have been exploring electrical circuits as part of our science topic – electricity. They have been connecting batteries and bulbs using wires to make simple circuits.

Garnet Class went out into the community, on a visit to a local care home. The children had a wonderful time playing games, painting and chatting to the residents there and were even given an ice lolly to enjoy before returning back to school.

Garnet class are continuing to enjoy their ukulele lessons each week! We have now learnt a series of chords and we have even been using them to play some simple songs. The children have been learning about dynamic, tempo as well as major, minor and 7 chords.

We had a special visitor in Garnet class today, one of the children’s aunties, she is an electrician. This was a lovely opportunity for the children to ask questions and find out about what electricians do. We learnt about different types of wires and then even had a chance to wire a socket and a plug. It was very fiddly but the children did brilliantly. We look forward to learning more about electricity in science this term.

We have been exploring the properties of 3D shapes in different ways. The children used lollypop sticks and blue tack or masking tape to make their own 3D shapes. They then worked out how many flat faces, curved faces and vertices the shapes have. We then made other 3D shapes out of paper using the net of the shape.

As part of part our topic this term – How did they do that? We have been learning about pyramids. The children filled in each part of the net of their shape with a different fact before cutting it out and making it into their own 3D pyramid.  We have learnt about the why they were made, the skill needed to make them, what they are made of and where they are located.

A team from Garnet class went to a ‘Run for Fun’ event at another school nearby. They competed in lots of different events and had a brilliant time.

We were lucky enough to have a session on finance skills provided by a parent. The children were given a weekly budget and they had to decide what they needed and what they would do with it. The list included food, housing costs, water, electricity as well tv subscriptions, swimming sessions and saving for a holiday. The children were really thoughtful and it generated some brilliant discussions. Thank you!

WOW! Garnet class had an Egyptologist come to visit; it was a brilliant way to start our topic. The children had the chance to explore artefacts, learn the Egyptian number system, use hieroglyphics, identify Egyptian kings, mummify a body and sculpt their own scarab heart beetle. The children turned into true Egyptologists and can’t wait to deepen their understanding and  knowledge.

 

 

 

This term our PSHE Jigsaw piece is relationships. We have been talking about gender roles, challenging stereotypes and recognising our responsibilities within our families and homes.

This term Garnet class will be having ukulele lessons from a peripatetic music teacher. The children were very excited to have their first lesson and learnt about the head, neck and body of the Ukulele, how to hold the instrument properly and then we even learnt some chords. We can’t wait to learn more.

Welcome back, we hope you all had a lovely break. Thank you so much for bringing in the home learning projects you have completed over the holidays – it looks like you had lots of fun. If there are any more then please bring them and if there are photos please send them to the office, your children have loved showing the class their projects and discussing their learning.

Happy Holidays everyone! If you would like to help your child complete a project over the holidays then take a look at the holiday menu. These will prepare your child for next terms learning. We cannot wait to learn all about the Egyptians and we will be having an Egyptologist coming in to launch our new project too. Please keep reading and practicing your times tables too.

Garnet Homework project menu Easter holidays

We have been very busy celebrating British Science week! At the beginning of the week we investigated which foods contained starch by using iodine solution. If the food turned blue/black then it contained starch. We have been learning about the importance of eating a balanced diet and the need for starch as it is a slow releasing energy. We were interested to find out that some foods release starch when cooked such as pasta and rice.

In maths we have been thinking about weight and measure, so we carried out another scientific investigation. This time investigating whether  weight would have an impact on how long a pendulum moved for. The children worked together to set up their experiments. Our results showed that if we increased the weight then the pendulum rocked for longer, however, we decided that some of our results were not reliable due to other variables such as different people holding the pendulum and height it starts from.

To finish off science week the children created amazing artwork based on the skeletal structure of animals using chalk and black paper. We learnt that some animals have endoskeletons (internal skeletons, like humans have)  where as others have exoskeletons  (skeletons on the outside, like snails and beetles).

Thank you so much to all of the parents and carers that joined us for Garnet Class showcase. The children were so pleased you could come and share with you their learning around looking after the environment, identifying and locating countries and the work of Henri Matisse.

In Garnet class we have been learning about the artist Henri Matisse. The children have looked at some of his earlier paintings and discussed the bold use of colours and shapes. Then we moved onto his later work and the interesting collages he made. The children had an opportunity to make their own collages in the style of Henri Matisse, some of us even came up with a name for our artwork.

WORLD BOOK DAY

Always a day to remember! We had great fun dressing up as our favourite book character, discussing our favourite books, designing book covers and searching for hidden book characters . There was even a themed school lunch and the opportunity to buy chocolate from the office in the hope of finding a golden ticket! Please let us know if you did find one which had an in-school prize so we can sort it out for you.

We have been learning about how to reduce our carbon footprint and why it is important. The children came up with lots of brilliant suggestions such as walking to school, turning off lights, not leaving TVs on if nobody is watching them and planting trees. Garnet class were then able to plant a few new trees for the school. They had to work together in groups to dig a hole big enough to plant their trees.

To recognise that it was a leap year, the school took part in a ‘dare to be different’ day – the children loved joining in! We have been talking a lot about courage as it is our current school value focus. The children have been sharing brilliant examples of when they have had courage and recognise the importance of trying new things.

To start off the new term, the whole school have been focussing on a text from The Lost Spells. Garnet class have been exploring the poems about The Red Fox.

As a class we picked apart the language used by the poet, giving us an image, which then helped us to create beautiful watercolour artwork focused on the animal.

This term we have been learning about the theory of music – reading notes, finding notes and recognising that they sound different to one another.

The children were lucky enough to take part in a specialist PE session where they were taught how to speed stack. The children recognised that they needed to focus and be determined in order to beat their times.

 

 

 

In forest school the children helped to saw up wood for the fire. The children had to work in pairs and communicate in order to do this effectively. The following week we used the wood to help to build our fire so that we could cook up a storm. The children learnt about fire safety and the fire triangle  before cooking their yummy treats.

 

For PE this term Garnet class will be learning new skills in gymnastics. To start of the new unit, the children went on a class trip to Gemini Gym where they were part of a gymnastics festival. The children had the opportunity to try out different gymnastic equipment have specialist training.

This term the children are learning about Hinduism. We have learnt about Divali – the festival of light.  After learning that Hindu’s traditionally create Rangoli patterns in their doorways to invited the good spirits in, the children had an opportunity to draw their own Rangoli patterns on the playground with chalk.

This week we started our block in forest school and we were so lucky with the weather. The children have been working together, assessing and taking risks and den building.

We have been learning all about the Vikings, this week we made our own long boats out of cardboard boxes. The children were split into two teams and set to work. We have learnt all about the design of the boats and what made them so effective. The children added shields, oars, sails and vicious dragon heads to their boats.

Parent showcase – The parents were invited in today so the children could share their topic learning. The children took on the role of the experts and taught their parents about Anglo – Saxon settlements, Viking shields and Viking Runes (alphabet). The parents and children loved writing secret messages, building settlements and designing fierce shields. Thank you so much to all of the parents that joined us.

We have been learning Mamma Mia as part of our music lessons. Today, we explored finding the beat on a glockenspiel and playing a small part of the song.

Today we had a visit from a first aid responder and we learnt all about choking, bleeding and CPR.

The children asked lots of interesting questions and enjoyed performing CPR on the mannequins. The children have been asked to learn their home address, including postcode, so if you could help them then that would be brilliant. If not then it is a good idea to have your address somewhere in the house and let your child know where just in case there was an emergency.

Today was odd sock day to mark the start of anti-bullying week. We have been learning about what bullying is and what to do if you think you are being bullied. We have also learnt bout ‘banter’ and how joking around can turn into bullying if it is upsetting the other person. The children all designed an odd sock and added some thoughtful words and phrases to them. We then role played different scenarios, practicing how to say stop in different ways.

The children in Garnet class have been making poppies to add to our school remembrance display. Some of the children have also written some thoughtful prayers we we shared as a class.

This week the children have been introduced to our new class text – Jack and the Beanstalk. Although a familiar text for some we discussed how this version was similar and different to the stories they had heard before. The children engaged in some brilliant book talk. Learnt the opening to the story and had a chance to ‘hot seat’ the main character Jack. The children have immersed themselves in the story and are excited to be moving on to the innovation stage before taking on the challenge of writing their own stories.

We had a very special guest today – Loki the guide dog.

The children were excited to meet Loki, who is a working guide dog. We learnt all about the important role a guide dog and we even got to have an extra special stroke as he was off duty for the day!

A large number of children in Garnet class had the opportunity to join in with Open the Book this week. They were excited to get into costume and act out the story of ‘The flood’ for the rest of the school.

06.10.23

The children have been learning about the importance of harvest. They had a chance to research their own questions around harvest and then they chose which part of harvest they wanted to represent through their artwork. The children used oil pastels to create vibrant pictures which were displayed in the church during our harvest festival.

22.09.23

Garnet class have been learning the story of Kassim and the Hungry Dragon as part of their writing unit.  The children have found the story engaging and are looking forward to writing their own versions of the text using this story as their structure.

04.09.23

Welcome to Garnet  Class! We are a Year 3 and Year 4 class. We have had a busy start to our new term and we are excited about all the learning to come in the year ahead. Please see the documents above for our yearly overview and our Autumn term planning pathway. Please also keep visiting our class website page as we will aim to update it fortnightly.

Our author of the term is Enid Blyton and we have enjoyed listening to some of her stories and finding out more about her life. So far we have read a Famous Five adventure and a Far away tree adventure. The children are enjoying her short adventure stories, maybe you could find one in the local library or ask to borrow one to take home.