Kestrel Class

Welcome to Kestrel Class! 

Class Teacher - Miss Jarvis

HLTA - Mrs Shoesmith

Spring 1 2022 - Kestrel Class

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas break and enjoyed spending some quality time with your families - it was very much well-deserved after all of your hard work during the Autumn term! 

In Kestrel Class, we love to maximise our learning time and, even though we have only been back for three school days, the Spring term has certainly started! We have: hosted and taken part in a Shang Dynasty themed day with cooking, clay work and code-cracking; investigated and attempted some ‘continuous line’ artwork that captured the imagination of Pablo Picasso and explored how to use formulae in a spreadsheet during our Computing lessons - all on top of our normal reading, writing and math lessons (oh, and the odd game of ‘Back to Back’ to secure our times table recall). In addition, we look forward to our visit to the local allotments and the ‘Webster’s’ farm as part of our Sow, Grow and Farm topic this term. The children have continued to ‘WOW’ me with their outstanding attitude to learning and their enthusiasm for new learning - keep it up, Kestrels!

Miss Jarvis 

Sow, Grow and Farm

This term, our Topic in Kestrel Class will be, 'Sow, Grow and Farm'. Throughout the unit, we will be developing our Geography, Science and Design Technology skills by: exploring the varying types of agricultural land use (arable, pastoral and mixed); investigating animal and plant lifecycles (including dissecting flowers to identify the different structures) and inspecting the seasonality of different ingredients with a 'taste test' before creating our own seasonal dishes. We eagerly await our ‘Coton Masterchef’ competition that will conclude our topic at the end of term. Please see the Kestrel Class newsletter for more information. As always, please do get in touch if you have any resources of information that may support with this topic!

Homework

On the first Friday of this half term, the children will receive their homework grid for the Spring term. Additional homework that focuses on Reading, Writing, Spelling and Maths will continue to be issued on a Friday and is due back the following Wednesday. Please see the, 'Home Learning - Spring 1' tab for more information regarding this.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, KESTRELS!

Wishing you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Enjoy the Christmas Reading Challenge (see homework tab for details). I look forward to seeing you back in January for lots of exciting new learning! 

Miss Jarvis 

Autumn 2 2021 - Kestrel Class

Welcome back! I hope that you all had a wonderful half term break and are ready to begin our exciting half term of learning that will lead us up to Christmas. Despite only being back for a couple of days, Kestrel Class have been as busy as ever! It has been wonderful to see the launch of our new 'House Point' system with many Gallant Griffins, Phenomenal Phoenixes and Dynamic Dragons already on their way to achieving the 'Bronze Award'. In addition, we have shared information regarding the Year 6 trip to Hilltop which is set to be a highlight of the half term, we have welcomed a specialist football coach in for our P.E lesson, we have been busily exploring colour theory in Art to identify the tints, tones and shades used in varying landscape artwork and have also spent time creating a 'Peace' garden as part of our Collective Worship...the list goes on! As always, I could not be more proud of the children's hard-working attitude, their determination and the pride they are taking in their learning. Keep it up, Kestrels! 

Miss Jarvis 

Homework

On the first Friday of this half term, the children will receive their homework grid for Autumn 2. Additional homework that focuses on Reading, Writing, Spelling and Maths will continue to be issued on a Friday and is due back the following Wednesday. Please see the, 'Home Learning - Autumn 2' tab for more information regarding this.

Dynamic Dynasties

This term, our Topic in Kestrel Class will be 'Dynamic Dynasties' with a focus on The Shang Dynasty. We will be: investigating when and where the Shang Dynasty fits in History; exploring how historians first discovered the existence of the Shang Dynasty; discovering the important role that oracle bones played in the understanding of the Shang Dynasty and exploring why the warriors in the Shang Dynasty were so powerful. We will look forward to a 'WOW' day to conclude our topic towards to the end of term where we immerse ourselves in Chinese culture, tasting foods, dressing up, practising writing and creating our own oracle bones. Please see the 'Knowledge Organisers' for our Art and Dynamic Dynasties projects in the 'Class Documents' section below. As always, please do get in touch if you have any resources or information that may support with this! J

Autumn 1 2021 - Kestrel Class

Wow, wow, wow! What an excellent start to the year we have had in Kestrel Class!

It has been wonderful to welcome the children back to school and to see them socialising with their friends, full of enthusiasm, ready to learn and modelling our school values. It has been a pleasure getting to know the children of Kestrel Class and I look forward to this continuing to develop over the year!  Miss Jarvis

General Information

Our daily routine follows a similar structure to previous years with break time from 10:45-11:00am and lunchtime between 12:10-1:10pm. In Kestrel Class, P.E. will take place on a Wednesday. We would like to encourage the children to come to school dressed in their P.E. kit on their allocated day and to have appropriate clothing in response to the weather conditions.

Reading

The children have all been issued with lovely, new reading diaries. Please encourage your child to read as regularly as possible at home and record this in their reading diary. Reading diaries should be brought in to school every day so that teachers and staff can share in the wonderful reading journeys of the children. I can't wait to hear about what is going on in the children's stories! 

Homework

Homework will be issued on a Friday and is due back the following Wednesday. However, please see the Home Learning 'tab' for more information regarding this. 

Britain/Coton at War

This term, our Topic in Kestrel Class will be World War One. We will be: exploring the causes of WW1; investigating what life was like in the trenches and discussing the role of women and children during the war. In addition, we will be making local links, identifying how Coton and residents of the village were affected during WW1. We will use all of this knowledge to support us in writing diary entries and balanced arguments. Please do get in touch if you have any resources or information that may support with this! J