It has been lovely to see all the Wrens back refreshed after our half term holiday and goodness what an exciting week we have had.  Firstly, we noticed some big changes to our outdoor area this week.  Over the half term holiday and this week, the area has been transformed so we now have a builders construction area complete with maths station, a lovely new playhouse (which is currently an ice cream parlour) and a new stage which is fantastic for singing and dancing.  It has been wonderful to see the children enjoying these new resources and observing the imagination they are using in their play.  Thank you to all the parents and staff who worked hard to create this wonderful new area.

There was also great excitement on Monday morning when we discovered our butterflies had hatched out of their cocoons over the holiday. We kept them in class for a couple of days so we could observe them (we had to feed them fruit and sugar water) before setting them free.  Maybe you will see them flying around school.

On Tuesday we had our first football session. This will be a 6-week programme and we are very lucky to have a coach from Kidderminster Harriers to work with the children.  We should be up to speed on our skills in time for the Euros just in case Gareth Southgate needs a few extra players!   Please can you ensure all children have their PE kits in school on Tuesdays for this activity.

We have also started a new initiative called Drawing Club which the children have been very enthusiastic about.  This week we have been focussing on Jack and the Beanstalk and the children have been coming up with some very creative ideas when drawing the giant, the giant's kitchen and a trap to catch the giant. They have also been exploring lots of new vocabulary along the way.

In maths we have been looking at grouping and sharing objects and calculating whether the groups are equal or unequal.  Next week we will be exploring how this learning links with our previous work on doubles and odds and evens.

Look out for our new topic next week - we think it is going to be "Roarsome!"

This week, we spent Thursday morning rehearsing our summer production 'Pirates of the Curry Bean'. Given this is the children's first rehearsal, myself and Mrs Gregory were astounded at how brilliant the children were. Their performances were already so refined and all were almost script-less! It is a testament to the work they have all been putting in at breaktimes and the time spent learning lines over half term. It should be noted that the backstage crew have also worked hard this week, creating some brilliantly creative scenery for the show.

In geography, we began our new topic 'Where does our energy come from?'. This week, we began by exploring the significance of energy in our lives. We explored the different forms of renewable and non-renewable energy and then we looked at the correlation between energy use and population growth and discussed the many reasons for this link. The children then used atlases and blank maps of the world to mark the various links around the world where energy is traded.

In music this week, we have started our final project for the year, Oceans. We used Call and Response to learn a warm up song and discussed what the difference is between a verse and a chorus. We started to learn a song about the oceans of the world.

In English the children have been working towards writing a character description of one of the main characters in our new book which is the story of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In maths, we have completed our work on time and the children are beginning to get to grips with angles and rotation.

Our topic for geography this half-term is "Where does our food come from?" The children used their geographical knowledge to identify different biomes and where in the world these are. We discussed food miles and the advantages and disadvantages of importing food. Don't be surprised if your child/ren are looking more closely at where their fruit and vegetables come from as we are gathering data about foods we import. We want to see just how much of our world map we can cover!

In science, the children conducted a fantastic experiment on the differing rates of tooth decay in different liquids. 

In RE, we have changed from studying the Gospels and we are now looking at the importance of festivals throughout the year in the Jewish faith.

In English, we are reading Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The children have created character sheets for the main characters, drawing them and finding description from the text. The children have highlighted what they think are the most important parts of the book, ready to write a precis next week.

In maths, we have been continuing with our statistics topic. We have looked at how to draw line graphs, looking at scale and labelling the axes. The children then moved on to interpreting data in a line graph.

This week in Merlins class, we began the week by hearing the beginning of the story of Macbeth, the famous Shakespearian play. This week, we were introduced to the main character, Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis. We learnt that soon after defeating the Norwegians and the Scottish rebels, King Duncan names Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and his heir after his two sons, as the three witches on the battlefield prophesised. We made predictions about how we thought the story might progress. We delved into Macbeth's thoughts, feelings, desires and fears before writing sentences using figurative language which provides further inside into his thoughts and feelings. Next week, the children will be using their learning to write soliloquys.

In maths, we learnt to interpret line graphs before moving onto drawing line graphs of our own, given a set(s) of data. Later in the week, we learnt to read and interpret pie charts. Next week, we will learn to draw pie charts using numerical data.

Our focus this half-term in science is investigations based on topics covered this year. This will give the children the opportunity to revisit and embed their learning to ensure they are secure with their knowledge. This week, the children were investigating how to change the size of shadows. We discussed how they could carry this out and what results they would record. The children then used their maths skills to present their findings in a line graph.

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