Kestrel Class 2023 - 2024

Miss Newbould

Welcome to Kestrel Class

 

The Kestrel Class team

  

Class Teacher: Miss Newbould

 

Class Teaching Assistant: Mrs Fletcher

 

SEND Teaching Assistant: Mrs Dean

 

PPA Cover Teacher: Mrs Chastney on Monday afternoons

 

Together, we work hard to create a classroom environment which inspires confidence and a love of learning. Our learning is theme-based and this is reflected in the look and feel of our classroom. From surviving Prehistory to flying over France, we use our Geography, History and Art topics to draw together our other learning.  

I am passionate about creativity and am always thinking about the next artistic project we can do as a class. I believe that learning should be fun and that the new skills learnt should be applied in real life situations and challenges.

 

How we learn in Kestrel Class

  • We focus on building their independence and the children will be taught how to use different resources to help themselves (word banks, dictionaries, maths resources). 
  • Much of our learning involves teamwork and children having the opportunity to discuss their thinking.
  • We will be supporting the children to develop confidence and resilience. We talk a lot about Growth Mindset and the importance of believing that everyone can improve with effort and practice.
  • We love feedback in Kestrel Class and children are encouraged to give each other helpful feedback, improve their own work and listen to the feedback from adults.

 

 

Spring Term 2023-24

What journey do rivers go on?

                                 

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This term, we are exploring the Geography question: What journey do rivers go on? We will be finding out about some of the most famous rivers in the World and using atlases to locate and compare them. We will explore the features of a river by investigating the River Severn using maps and images. We will also find out what happens when a river's journey goes wrong and causes floods and damage. We will find out how to keep our rivers healthy and flood-safe. We will be using our geography field work skills to create a flood plan for our local rivers. 

 

Knowledge Organiser

These Knowledge Organisers show all of the sticky knowledge (facts that we want to stick in the children's heads) and vocabulary that we want children to be able to know by the end of the topic. You might like to ask your child about some of these words or ideas at home. Find this term's knowledge organisers for RE, Science and Geography by scroling to the bottom of the page. 

 

 

Reading in Kestrel Class

Now that your child is in KS2, we like to build their independence to choose their own book and write in their reading record. To support them in making the right book choices, we carefully curate the books we have available in class.

When children first join us, they can choose from our selection of class 'bridge books' which are chosen to help the transition from levelled reading books into chapter books. Once an adult has checked they are ready to move on, they will begin to choose their own books from our class selection. This selection is kept small and changed at least once a term to keep the offer of books exciting. Adults regularly talk to children about their reading choices to support them in this journey.

Reading Passport

Our reading passport books in Year 3 and 4 have such a range of exciting fiction and non-fiction texts. These will always be available for your child to read and borrow from class. Once your child has read seven of these books themselves, they can bring their passport into school to be awarded a £5 book token. 

Reading P Y3.jpg

Reading P Y4.jpg

Our texts this term

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The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

This term, we will be taking inspiration from this children's classic to support our writing in English and our understanding of food chains in Science. We will use extracts to support our mystery writing and will continue reading the full text in our afternoon story time and guided reading sessions. 

"The Wild Wood seems a terrifying place to Mole, until one day he pokes his nose out of his burrow and finds it’s full of friends. He meets brave Ratty, kind old Badger and the rascally Mr Toad, and together they go adventuring … but the Wild Wood doesn't just contain friends, there are also the sinister weasels and stoats, and they capture Toad Hall when Mr Toad is in jail. How will he escape? And can the friends fight together to save Toad Hall?"

 

 

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The Rhythm of the Rain by Grahame Baker-Smith

To support our geography understanding of rivers and water cycles, we will be reading this beautifully illustrated picture book. 

"Issac plays in his favourite pool on the mountainside. As rain starts to fall, he empties his little jar of water into the pool and races the sparkling streams as they tumble over waterfalls, rush through swollen rivers and burst out into the vast open sea. Where will my little jar of water go now? Issac wonders. On the other side of the world, Cassi welcomes the rain to her parched village . . . From tiniest raindrop to deepest ocean, this breathtaking celebration of the water cycle captures the remarkable movement of water across the earth in all its majesty. A stunning new non-fiction picture book from Greenaway medal-winner, Grahame Baker-Smith."

 

Important information

Uniform

General uniform:

Dark blue sweatshirt/cardigan, light blue polo shirt, grey trousers/skirt/shorts, grey/navy/white socks or tights, dark coloured school shoes or boots in winter

 

PE kit:

Randwick PE Shirt, navy shorts/cycling shorts/skirt, trainers, change of socks (white/grey)

In cold weather, navy blue joggers/leggings and a school sweatshirt are recommended

 

Forest school kit:

Navy blue joggers, usual t-shirt and school jumper. They can wear their shoes/trainers to school and bring their wellies with them in a bag. Don’t forget a waterproof coat!

- Please clearly name everything -

 

 

Helpful Websites

These are websites that we use to support your child's learning in school. Your child might like to build on thier learning at home and complete thier own projects. Do get in touch with me if you would like a copy of the children's school log in details. Most of these websites will also allow you to set up free accounts for projects at home. 

On Scratch, children can use coding to build a whole range of creations:  https://scratch.mit.edu/

Book creator allows children to make thier own eBooks: https://bookcreator.com/

Brush Ninja is brilliant for creating animations: https://brush.ninja/

Chrome Music Lab allows children to explore music and compose thier own pieces. We particularly use the Song Maker app: https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/

DK Find out is an online encyclopedia for children. We often use it to complete research for science, history and geography topics: https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/

Spelling frame supports children with learning the spellings for their year group and has a range of games that the children enjoy: https://spellingframe.co.uk/

 

Doodle Maths and Tables

All children from Year 1 upwards have a Doodle Maths and Doodle Tables account set up. We ask children to practise doodling regularly at home to build on their maths learning in school. Each week, one class will be awarded the trophy for 'Top Doodling Class' for the most number of children in the 'Green Zone'. There is also a certificate and small prize for the child who has impressed us with regular practice at home. 

You might like to download the apps at home if you have a device your child regularly uses.  Please get in touch if you need another copy of your child's password. 

https://doodlelearning.com/

 

Guardians - Defenders of Mathematica is a brilliant gamified maths program created by BBC bitesize: https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/guardians-mathematica?exitGameUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbbc.com%2Fbitesize%2Farticles%2Fzn2y7nb

 

Get in touch

If you wish to contact me, please use this email address: lnewbould@randwick.gloucs.sch.uk

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