Sports day!
What a brilliant day! The children all had so much fun, enjoying the wonderful weather and cheering one another on! It was an absolute pleasure to see the sportsmanship displayed – all the children radiated positivity and encouragement! I myself especially needed it after getting convinced to do the woods run – not an easy race!
Lots of races were completed, such as the beanbag race, obstacle, sprint and woods run. As well as field competitions such as high hurdle, long jump and javelin! Not forgetting the treat of maypole dancing to kick-start the whole afternoon – the girls were exceptional!
It was very tight this year with only 13 points between the winning team and Crooked spire, but Hardwick Hall took the trophy from Ault Hucknall! We are already eager with anticipation to see who will get their house name on the trophy next year!
Tough runner!
Wow – what a way to end the week! We had a blast completing the tough runner course, great fun was had by all! The children all displayed resilience and positivity, cheering one another on all the way! I lost count of how many laps some children completed! We were blessed with fantastic weather, is was such a fun way to cool off!
We are already looking forward to next year!
Rainbow Day!
We had a great day celebrating diversity on Friday 1st July! The children loved dressing up in bright colours to show their support! It was a joy to see children participating in really interesting discussions and we shared our favourite books which celebrate diversity!
At Bramley Vale, we are proud to be LGBTQ+ allies. Love is love!
Summer Term 1
This term we are studying art, with a focus on sketching pastoral landscapes using water colour pencils, taking inspiration from John Constable. We have some exciting activities planned such as a walk down to our own woods to sketch the bluebells in full bloom, as well as a walk to Hardwick to appreciate and draw the natural beauty on our doorstep! The children will also enjoy an art immersion day on the 13th May. Another medium of art we are focusing on is wet felt making. The children are very lucky to have a local artist supporting their art work, with Gwenda Culkin teaching the art of wet felt making, where the children’s landscape drawings will be created using this technique and she is kindly providing us with a tour of her studio at the Doe Lea Centre.
Plenty of other fantastic learning will be going on this term and I am looking forward to seeing the children continue to make excellent progress and enjoy their time in school.
As always, I would appreciate it if you can take the time to read with your child at home 3 times per week, as I know many children are chasing after their next badge on the reading Olympics!
All in all, it is set to be another busy term! The year is flying but we are enjoying every minute in year 4/5!
Take care,
Kate Foley
Bluebells are blooming!
We have been enjoying the warmer weather in our woods this week! We wandered down to sketch the bluebells and we were blown away with how wonderful it looks.
We were all grateful for the sunshine and hoping it decides to stick around!
History Immersion Day
We had a great time on our ancient Egyptian immersion day this week, from painting traditional Egyptian collars and mummifying tomatoes to a drama workshop delivered by The Drama Hut! Great fun and fantastic costumes!
The Big Read!
What a fabulous time had by all! Our classroom was taken over by all the children in our Crooked Spire house, giving the children opportunity to read to others in different year groups. Many lovely stories were shared and the children loved it. We already can’t wait to do it all again!
Mother’s Day
Last week we celebrated all the lovely ladies in our lives by baking brownies! Thank you to all the inspirational female role models who are raising such wonderful children. We are so grateful for all of you!
Comic Relief
Check out our crazy hair!
The children certainly got creative with their hair, from mermaids to the joker – we saw it all! All for a great cause, raising money for Comic Relief 2022!
Spring Term 2
For topic this term we are studying history, with an exciting focus on the achievements of the ancient Egyptians. The children will use their enquiry skills and critical thinking to investigate how and why the pyramids were built. We will look at how the earliest civilizations in Ancient Egypt progressed and how Egyptian society contributed to their achievements throughout history, particularly how the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only one of the seven wonders of the ancient world which still stands.
In science, we are learning all about sound! Children will learn how sound is created and carried and will learn the difference between pitch and volume. Children will experience using different instruments and even have a go at making their own!
Over the course of this term, I will be keeping a close eye on handwriting. Myself and Mr Rumsby are eager to see children graduating to the use of a pen!
SUPPORTING LEARNING AT HOME
Maths homework x 1 per week. This will be sent on worksheets to fill in and return.
Please also support your child with practicing their times tables.
Reading homework – Please support your children with regular home reading and talk to them about the content of their stories. All children need to be reaching at least bronze on the reading Olympics but striving for silver, gold and even platinum! Ten minutes home reading a day helps with reading fluency, story engagement and reading stamina. I love hearing all about the books the children are reading at home.
Topic homework – To be completed by Friday 25th March. I cannot wait to see what the children come up with this time! I have a sneaking suspicion there may be some excellent board games! There will also be an immersion day, date to be confirmed.
GENERAL REMINDERS
This term, our school value focus is ‘Positivity’. This is something which year 4/5 wow me with every day, so let’s keep this up and continue showing positivity towards our learning and towards one another!
PE has now changed to a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon as swimming has now finished. Please ensure you send your child to school in their correct PE kit. This is available to purchase at the school office.
Spring Term 1
This term, we are covering DT (Design Tehnology) with the topic ‘Alarms, Traps and Electrical Systems’, where children will design and build their own burglar alarm. Our DT topic will link closely with our science topic, electricity, where children will learn how to build various circuits to achieve different results.
In English, our focus will be on looking at playscripts, identifying the features and writing our own playscripts, ready to be performed to class. I am excited to witness the children become actors and actresses! Following this, we will be moving on to writing reports. We will continue to cover spelling, grammar and comprehension each week also.
We are still working hard at school developing the speed of times table recall. Please continue to support your child with this. Even if your child knows their tables, keep testing to develop their speed further. Many pupils have a personal target to recall all times table and division facts at a speed of less than 2 seconds per question.
This term, our school value focus is a ‘sense of adventure’, a quality which I see in all of the children in year 4/5! I am particularly keeping an eye out for children to push themselves out of their comfort zone in English when we are doing drama performances and also in dance!
PE is on a Tuesday, please send your child to school in their PE kit. PE kit can be purchased from school. Children will be doing dance with Miss Wilbourn on a Tuesday afternoon.
Swimming is continuing on a Friday, please send your child to school in their school uniform, with their swimming kit to get changed into at the swimming baths. As always, girls need to wear a one-piece swimming costume and boys need to wear tight swimming trunks or shorts.
The last date of swimming is 11/02/2022.
There are 18 Year 4 and 9 Year 5 children in our class. Miss Barker is the class teacher and we are supported by the lovely Mrs Dutton and Miss Wilbourn.
Autumn Term 2
This term, we are covering geography with the topic ‘Exploring Chesterfield and Bramley Vale’, with a particular focus on land use and settlements. Our geography topic will run through our other subjects, with us writing about our local area in English.
In English, we will begin our focus by looking at the features of persuasive writing and different examples, before producing our own pieces of writing. Following this, we will be moving on to writing recounts. We will continue to cover grammar and comprehension each week also.
This term, our science focus is ‘Food Chains’.
All in all it should be a very busy term and I am really excited for what we have to come!
Best wishes and stay safe, Miss Barker
Let’s get Pudsey to Puerto Rico! This week we are raising money for Children in Need by walking the distance from Bramley Vale to Puerto Rico, over a whopping 8 million steps needs to be accumulated by the whole school!
The children had great fun on their walk today around our local area. Lots of tired legs now!
Roman Immersion Day – 18th October 2021
On Thursday the 10th June, we had the amazing Potted Sports people visit school. We had a full hour with lots of different activities and the children had a fantastic time. Have a look at the pictures below to see the fun we had.
Here are some links to games and activities we will be using this term.
