Welcome to Goldfinch Class!

Here is some useful class information for you We will be adding information and photos of what we have been doing on here throughout the year for you to see.  

Teachers: Mrs Litt – Monday and Tuesday (alternate Wednesdays)

                Mrs Bingham – Thursday and Friday (alternate Wednesdays)

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Chaplow

                                 Mrs Walton

PPA Cover: Mrs Chaplow – Wednesday afternoons

                  Sports Coach – Wednesday afternoons

PE Day: Wednesday

Topics

Our main topics for the year will be “ClaverhamThrough The Ages,” “Movers and Shakers,” and “Throughout the Ages”   If you have anything at home related to anything we are learning about in school, please feel free to bring into school to share with the rest of the class.

Reading

It is really important you try to read with your child at home as much as possible. Please try and hear your child read every day and record in their reading record when you have read with them. For our whole school reading challenge, we count all the reads that your child does with an adult in school and at home. Reads will be counted at the end of each week and they gain different certificates for the number of reads they achieve throughout the school year.

Spellings/homework

Spellings will be given out in their homework books at the beginning of each term and labelled with the date, the children will practise these in school, but these will also need practising at home. Please use the homework book to practice them in. There will then be a test every Friday morning. The spelling will be marked with the children so they will be aware of their scores and these will be recorded in their reading records. We may also give out more practical topic related homework projects throughout the year.

Times tables

All children will have a login for TT Rockstars, a fun, interactive website to help them learn their timetables. Their logins will be in their reading record books. We are able to set the correct timetables for your child and monitor usage. Timetables are a crucial part of maths. We carry out our school times tables challenge on Fridays and awards are given when children pass a level.

For information regarding our termly learning and topics please click the stars below! :)

Practise your handwriting at home using your own log in from school. Click on the Letterjoin link below. If you have any questions, please see your class teacher. 

Thank you to the parents and carers who came to our 'Welcome to Goldfinch' meeting. Here is the PowerPoint presentation with all the information, if you were unable to attend.

Thank you to the Year 2 parents who attended the Year 2 SATs information meeting. Please refer to the following presentation if you were unable to attend. 

Week 3

We have had a busy week! It started with a teddy bear hunt with Owl class to ignite our Talk for Writing text 'Nothing'. We have also been on a village walk to learn more about how our local area has changed. We enjoyed getting the paint out this week in Art. We learnt about the colour wheel and mixed the primary colours to investigate the secondary colours they made. 

Week 4

We really enjoyed taking part in a wild flower planting workshop this week. We are looking forward to seeing the bright, colourful flowers grow and the many insects that they will attract. 

In English we have been learning about adjectives, nouns and verbs and identifying them in our modelled text. This week in RE we spent time reflecting on times in our lives that have been special to us. 

Week 5

During this week Goldfinch have continued our writing journey and have written fantastic character descriptions. We are looking forward to presenting them as 'Our Best Writing Yet' for this term.

As Historians we asked, 'How long ago was the 1950s?' We challenged ourselves to label a time-line with the names of each decade and then worked in small groups to place events on our time-lines as they happened. We had a great class discussion about how much time had passed between the 1950's and the present day.  

Week 6

To ignite our new Talk for Writing text, we found a mysterious clue in the classroom! It took us on a scavenger hunt around the school, where we had to work together to find the last envelope...inside we discovered our new information text all about Court de Wyck school. 

On Tuesday we supported World Mental Health day by checking in with each other and reminding ourselves of who we can talk to if we need to. We discussed how we can look after ourselves, our well being and our mental health.

This week we have also been busy writing a Harvest poem to share at our Harvest Celebration. We have had to think about using intonation, tone and volume so that everyone can hear us! Thank you to all of our parents/carers who came to celebrate and watch our Harvest Worship with us, we really enjoyed performing our poem to you. 

TERM 2

Week 1

Welcome back to Term 2! We hope that you have a restful half-term.

Goldfinch Class have had a good start this week to the new term. There was much enjoyment igniting our new learning in English, our text is 'The Magic Porridge Pot' and we worked in small groups to make our very own magic porridge potions. Over the week we have enjoyed becoming familiar with our new text by making a story map and discussing our likes, dislikes, patterns and puzzles. In DT we have started thinking about Shelters and Shade. The class have been given a challenge to complete over the weekend at home - when you are out and about how many different shelters can you spot? 

There is a copy of this sheet under Term 2 useful documents below. 

We are looking forward to designing and building shelters later in the term.

Enjoy your shelter spotting! 

Week 2

This week we have all been very excited to be starting our Christmas Production. we held auditions for the parts and have been doing really well learning the songs!

In English we have been continuing our Talk for Writing journey and been learning how to use speech marks. We looked at different story openings and got very creative in writing our own.

We had to help a vet in Science to find the most absorbent material. We looked at how we could help the vet by doing our own science investigation. We tested lots of materials and found out that sponge and cotton wool were the most absorbent material.

Week 3

On Wednesday we celebrated Positive Noticing Day. Throughout the day we spent time thinking about the power of positive noticing. It made us feel really good about ourselves. 

We each made a label for someone in our class and wrote something about them that we positively noticed. Here are a few examples of what some children wrote about others in our class, 

"You are a kind friend because you are good at sharing"

"Thank you for always helping to tidy up our table so our equipment is ready to be used"

"You are really good at PE"

Everyone wore their labels home so that they could be shared and celebrated.

Also throughout week we have continued on our writing journey and started writing our own story endings. As Mathematicians Year 2s have been learning to add two 2-digit numbers and Year 3s have been using and building on their subtraction knowledge to subtract 1s across a 10 and then progressed to subtracting 10s across a 100.

Week 4

This week we did our Ignite activity to start our new English non-fiction text on instruction writing. We followed instructions on how to build a shelter in the woods. We then thought about our likes, dislikes, puzzles and patterns about the text.

In Science, we started a new topic called Human Senses and started by looking at the different parts of the body. We drew around the smallest person in our group and added on what we knew about our bodies.

Thank you to the parents who came to our Math open morning. We had a lovely morning showing how Maths is taught in Court De Wyck. The Year 2's did a reasoning problem involving trying to add numbers to 100 to find our way through a maze. The Year 3's enjoyed demonstrating TT Rockstars and some even challenged their parents!

Week 5

This week as Scientists we discussed our five senses and what each of them can do, for example our ears can her loud, quiet, low and high sounds and our tongues can taste salty and sweet flavours. We then carried out a range of practical activities to explore our senses. In our groups we had great fun exploring different sounds, sights, smells touches and tastes - some of us liked them and some of us didn't!   

Week 6

This week we have been very busy rehearsing for our Christmas Production of Prickly Hay. We performed to the rest of the school. I think they would agree it is a fantastic production and we are ready to perform to our parents/carers next week.

We have been continuing our Instruction writing in English. We have made some Christmas decorations from twigs and have been decorating them ready to write instructions on how we made them.

In Maths we have started our topic on shape and are learning all about 3D and 2D shapes.

Week 7

We have really enjoyed successfully performing 'Prickly Hay' twice to our parents and carers this week. Everybody worked so hard and did their very best with fantastic acting skills and remembering to speak loudly and clearly in-front of an audience. 

We have also enjoyed two school trips. Our first one was to Holy Trinity Church in Cleve for a Christmas Carol Service. The whole school took part in beautiful singing and some of us from Goldfinch were lucky to get to wear our Nativity costumes and sit at the front of the Church. We listened carefully to the Christmas story being acted out. 

Our second trip was to The Redgrave Theatre to watch the pantomime Rapunzel - We had great fun joining in and shouting out!

We have eaten our school Christmas dinner and have been busy completing lots of Christmas activities in the Classroom.... it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Week 8

Lots of finishing off this week and making beautiful Christmas cards for the people who are special to us. Alongside this, we made our own Christingles in our Crew groups which was led very well by our Crew leaders. Our Christmas party was also a highlight. We have enjoyed a Christmas school celebration and ended the term with an exciting show celebrating everyone's talents - well done to all that took part.

Merry Christmas to you all and a very Happy New Year. 

TERM 3

Week 1

Welcome back to Term 3, we hope that you had an exciting time over Christmas and the New Year. We have had a busy first week back in Goldfinch Class starting all of our new learning themes. In English we have ignited 'Bob Man on the Moon' and have enjoyed getting familiar with this new text. You will find a copy of it in your Homework books and in the Term 3 useful documents below. Our new History topic 'Movers and Shakers' has introduced us to some historically significant people such as Mary Anning, Neil Armstrong and Vincent van Gogh, we are looking forward to finding out more about them and how they have had an impact on the world. This week we have also had a great first lesson in Geography where we looked in detail at using an atlas. We were surprised to find out how much information we could find in them!

Week 2

Every week on a Tuesday lunchtime throughout this half-term, a group of our class are able to attend a Forest School Club. The children really enjoyed their first session with Becky, who showed them around our new outside area and the fire pit. The children learnt about keeping themselves safe and they asked lots of questions finding out all about the fun things they are going to be learning over the next few weeks. 

If you are in this group, please remember to bring in appropriate outdoor clothing and wellies/shoes to school every Tuesday - it was very muddy! For those children not taking part in this lunchtime club yet, it will be your turn after half term.   

In the classroom this week for Maths, the Year 2s have been continuing their learning of 3D shapes and the Year 3s have started using array diagrams to help them develop their understanding of multiplication. 

Goldfinch spent a busy afternoon as Artists and worked hard to complete a colour study. Here they were challenged to look at a piece of artwork carefully and notice the colour details. They then had to mix paint to create the same colours that they could see in the original artwork. 

Week 3

This week we have been getting to know our new Sports Coach and have been enjoying our dance lessons with her. We had great fun competing in a 'Goldfinch Dance Off' and worked well dancing together in our teams. Some of us showed great courage and enjoyed having the opportunity to perform freestyle dancing in-front of others. 

We have also been busy writing our own stories from the perspective of an alien on the moon and are looking forward to presenting them in 'Our Best Writing yet'. In Geography we have been looking at maps that use a key with symbols and know that a symbol is a picture or icon used to show a geographical feature. We are all really enjoying our learning in our 'Movers and Shakers' History learning theme - ask us at home if we can name any of the very early explorers and why they are considered significant. See if we can tell you which countries these significant explorers discovered and why their discoveries were so important!

Week 4

The highlight for us this week has been celebrating TT Rock Stars where we spent the day working on and improving our times tables. We really enjoyed coming into school dressed up as Rock Stars and taking part in the best dressed competition, which was very hard to judge as everyone really did look amazing! 

Throughout the day we took part in lots of different times table activities, spent time in the ICT suite on TT Rock Stars and had a special whole school celebration which included a pupil Vs teacher times table battle! It was great fun!

Alongside this exciting day, this week Goldfinch class have continued to work really hard across all areas of the curriculum. 

Week 5

This week we have been focusing on e-safety and celebrating Children's Mental Health week. The theme this year, 'My Voice Matters' highlighted the importance of us all having a voice and being proud to use it. We carried out daily activities throughout the week, discussing and celebrating what we have done to make us feel proud of ourselves, what things are important to us, how to talk to someone when we need to and different ways to keep our minds healthy. We enjoyed listening to Mary Ellis our school MHP who also focused on some of these things during our school worship. 

As part of e-safety day Goldfinch Class read 'DigiDuck' and had a good class discussion about what the internet can be used for and how to keep ourselves safe whilst being online. 

TERM 4

Week 1

It was lovely seeing everyone back at school with smiling faces this week and lots of news to share about half term - welcome back to Term 4!

Over the week we have started our new learning in English, getting to know the story of Beegu and writing our own opinions about the book. We thought about what we liked and disliked. We then asked questions about what we wanted to know more about and looked carefully at the text to see if we noticed any patterns. Please see a copy of Beegu in the Term 4 useful documents below to read again at home. In Maths this week Year 2 have started recognising, making and adding equal groups ready to move onto making the link between repeated addition and multiplication. The Year 3s have been working hard on improving their knowledge and recall of their 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10 times tables - have a go at logging in to TT Rock Stars at home for extra practice. 

This week was the final week for our first group of Forest School lunchtime club, the children in this group had a wonderful last session (luckily in the dry!) where they worked in pairs to make super hero shelters - they looked amazing! The second group are already excited to start next Tuesday lunchtime so please remember to bring appropriate waterproof clothes and footwear. If your child is in this group, you will receive a reminder!

In Science we have been carrying on with our topic on habitats. We looked at how prey protect themselves from predators. We made two moths each, one that would be camoflaged and one that wouldn't. We then hid them in our woodland habitat. The Moth Eater then came to find the moths. We then looked at which ones he didn't find. There were nine of the camoflaged ones left and only one of the non camoflaged moths. This demonstrated how effective camoflaging is for animals to escape their predators.

Week 2

In DT we have started our new learning theme 'Remarkable Recipes' where we have already been thinking about sources of food. This week we spent time investigating a range of different tools used for food preparation. As a class we prepared ingredients by peeling, grating, chopping, mashing, mixing and slicing. We noticed that each tool has certain characteristics that make them suitable for specific purposes. We enjoyed making close observations and discussing how food could be prepared in different ways. 

Week 3

Goldfinch Class have had a very busy and exciting week of learning this week! The first highlight took place on Tuesday morning with a Space Explorer Dome being set up in the hall for us to learn all about the planets, stars and constellations, some of us had never been inside a space dome before. This opportunity also linked well with our English writing texts and with our History theme, where we have been learning about Neil Armstrong and how his significant explorations impacted on the world. 

We had a great day on World Book day and dressed up in some fantastic costumes. We did a book scavenger hunt and shared our favourite book with children in other classes in our Crew meeting.

We had fun with our parents and carers at Science morning as part of British Science Week. They helped us to make Water Clocks.

Week 4

This week as part of Science Week we have continued our Time investigation and answering the question, 'How can we make a clock with water?'. We have worked hard to create our class science board.  

We have also enjoyed creating digital artwork for Science Week. We used Paint 3D to paint a background using a variation of our chosen colour and then added tress, shrubs, flowers or waterfalls in the darkest shades to create a silhouette effect. 

Week 5

We enjoyed lots of practical activities this week in our DT lesson. We discussed how to work safely and hygienically when working with food and completing cooking activities. We followed a recipe to make Eton Mess. 

We then had to plan and make our own lunch time meal. As a class we chose to make a vegetable casserole. In groups we used our peeling, chopping and cutting skills to prepare the vegetables. We thought about what we needed to add to the vegetables to make our casserole taste nice. 

We really enjoyed tasting and evaluating the Eton Mess and Vegetable Casserole that we had all worked so hard to make. 

Week 6

Goldfinch Class were very lucky to have a visit from Reverend Nigel and friends from Holy Trinity Church. We all took part creating Easter in a box where we thought carefully about the Easter Story in six different scenes.

We really enjoyed sharing our Easter boxes and our learning with the rest of the school and parents in our Easter Worship. 

TERM 5

Week 1

Welcome back everyone to Term 5 - we have had a busy first week back in Goldfinch Class! We have started our new learning in English, 'The Iron Man' and have focused on becoming familiar with this new text, which has definitely captured our imaginations.

We have also enjoyed starting our new learning projects for the upcoming term. We worked hard to finish painting our Still Life artwork from last term, where we put into practice all of the colour mixing skills that we have learnt. Our finished Still Life artwork will make a wonderful addition to our school Art Gallery. 

Week 2

This week we were all very enthusiastic to look in detail at a variety of prehistoric picture cards. We had great group discussions about Stone Age cave art, hunting, weapons, tools and fire thinking about what information they gave us about life for Stone Age people. We enjoyed sharing our ideas and then wrote descriptive sentences about each of the themes. 

We had fun igniting our Geography learning theme, 'One Planet, Our World' by taking part in a game called 'True or False'. We worked in pairs to discuss different statements, we had to think back to last terms Geography learning and see what we could remember. For an extra challenge we had to explain why each false statement was not true. 

Term 3 - Useful documents:

Term 4 - Useful documents:

Term 5 - Useful documents: