Kahlo Year 3-4

Welcome to Kahlo Class!

Class Teacher: Mrs Rossiter

TA: Mrs Rimmer

PE day for Years 3 and 4 in Kahlo Class for Spring Term 2 is Thursday. Please ensure that you send your child into school wearing their kit (named).

The children are settling back into school.

Please read through the Parent Meet the Teacher ppt

Here is some key information for you:

Key Information:

• Children are expected to bring in their reading books and Reading Records every day. 
• Children are expected to read for at least 15-20 minutes every day at home. They should record every time they read with a comment and date. Parents, please comment and sign the Reading Record once a week.
• Reading books can be changed once children have read them.
• It is the expectation at Longlands that children complete a reading quiz on Accelerated Reader every time they finish a book: AR Quizzes: https://ukhosted57.renlearn.co.uk/6708488/default.aspx
• Swimming for Year 4s is on Mondays. Children need to come to school dressed in their uniform along with a swimming costume, goggles (if required) and a towel.
• Homework (English, Maths, Spellings, Times Table) will go out on a Friday. English and Maths is due back on the following Wednesday . Homework will be uploaded onto Google Classroom and should be completed in the Homework Books.
• Spelling and times tables test will be on Fridays.
• Times Tables Rock Stars (https://play.ttrockstars.com/) should be used to practise for Times Tables tests. Children in Year 4 are expected to learn Times Tables up to x12, and they will be tested randomly on all Tables each week. Children in Year 3 will be set different Times Tables to learn each week.
• PE day will change each term.

Gregory Cool

Our core book this term is called Gregory Cool.

It is about a boy who goes to Tobago without his parents, to stay for a whole month with his grandparents and cousin. Everything seems different to Gregory in Tobago and Gregory does not find it easy to settle.

There has been lots to learn about the geography of Tobago...the land, climate,  people, culture and the environment.

As part of our learning, we have written poems and recipes, and also taken part in some role play to help us 'get into character' as Gregory for our diary writing.

We learned that many of the houses in Tobago are built on stilts, which helps with the problems they have with vermin and flooding.

In DT, we set about making our own models of the houses.

World Book Day

As well as dressing up as characters from different books, some children made a 'book in a jar' and we guessed which book it was from the clues inside.

We celebrated our WBD by pairing up with the younger children in years 1 and 2 (O'Keeffe Class).

We shared reading from the Worst Witch by Jill Murphy...learning about how her spells go wrong.

We wrote our own spells using lots of descriptive language and imperative verbs to engage our readers. Then, we went on to write our own short stories. We shared the writing and illustrating with our partners.

Later, we celebrated our learning in an assembly for the whole school.

What a fabulous day!  

Science Week 2024

This year, the theme was time.

Lesson one

We carried out an experiment with our Reading Buddy class, O'Keeffe.

We talked about time and how long it takes for a jelly to set.

We considered the question, is all fruit able to set in a jelly? We made predictions as to whether this is true. We made observations of different fruit and the results and came up with some ideas, before considering our conclusion.   

Lesson two

In Kahlo Class, we carried out some research around the ideas on why dinosaurs became extinct.

We then created posters to display our findings...using diagrams and illustrations to explain the ideas.

The Great Kapok Tree

In English, we have explored rainforests, talking about the different layers of the forest, and the animals and plants that are likely to be found there. The children have thought carefully about descriptive language, and using their knowledge of rainforests, they created wonderful information leaflets about the rainforest. They have also explored the language used by poet Grace Nicols in her poem For Forest, which focuses on the problem of deforestation and they went on to create their own descriptive poetry.

Our History this term has been focused around the Ancient Maya, a civilization of people from over two thousand years ago. The children have been very excited as they have learnt about their lives, how they lived and their customs and rituals. As part of our learning, we had a Maya workshop this week, where the children had a wonderful time learning more about what they looked like, how they hunted, how they worshipped their gods and more about their customs and rituals.

We have linked our PE (dance) with the Maya by learning different dance moves and putting them together into a sequence, and also learning a song in Music, which tells the story of the Maya.

The children have also been working hard, thinking about layering fabrics, patterns and shapes to create their own rainforest in a box.

As part of their learning, the children also took part in an Ancient Maya workshop.

This gave them a chance to revise some of the things we have been learning in class, such as what the Maya considered to be beautiful and the steps they would take to make themselves have flat foreheads, long noses and cross eyes.

The children also learnt more about hunting and how they showed respect to the gods that they worshipped through sacrifice.

They had a wonderful day, where they played lots of games to help them remember their learning. 

Mouse Bird Snake Wolf

Science...

children have been learning how muscles work...in an antagonistic way...one muscle will contract while the other relaxes.

They made models to help them understand this. 

Over the last few weeks, the children have been busy with our core text. They have written line poetry, a diary, written balanced arguments, letters of advice and also created a graphic novel. In addition, they have been working really hard on their spelling, grammar and handwriting.

Word Guerrilla

A visit from David Bowden, the incredible Word Guerrilla, a genius of modern-day poetry.

The children were mesmerized as he carried out his stand-up display of clever poetry, incorporating beat boxing, rapping and looping. Excited, wowed, elated are just some of the words to describe how the Word Guerrilla left us all feeling. The children didn’t stop laughing and clapping during his performance. The children then went on to create some of their own poetry, with the help of the Word Guerrilla of course, as they were now totally engaged, enthralled and inspired by his clever use of words. His words really did set the children free, and we can’t wait for his next visit.

Kindness Week

Team Kahlo wrote kindness quotes in class.

We took them to Christchurch and placed them on the pews in the church. We hope that the congregation will be pleased when they find them and read them at the next service.

Our hope is that we spread kindness (just like confetti) and that others will be inspired to carry out other acts of kindness.  

Pugs of the Frozen North

We are now at the start of The Great Race and the children have been using a drama techique called Freeze Frames to help explore the feelings and emotions of the contestants as they begin their journey to the top of the world.

Kahlo Class took part in some role play...using dialogue and actions to show their emotion as Shen and Sika...head towards the Snow father's palace, as they rescue Helga's polar bears as they slip down the great chasm, and also where Sir Basil Sprout-Dumpling wins the race.