Well done, Kestrels! A fabulous poetry performance.
Category Archives: English
Super Books
Today Kestrels visited Toucan’s classroom to read with the children. They chose some super books to share with them and thoroughly enjoyed it!
World Book – Live Lesson
This week is all about Books and Reading and today, Year 5 participated in the live lesson from the BBC. They received advise from Michael Rosen (one of our favourites!) And had a chance to take part in activities such as drawing a character and writing an ending to a story with a new twist! It was great fun and the children got to see lots of children dressed up in costume to celebrate World Book Day! The children are now so excited to be dressing up for our special celebration of books, tomorrow.
Drama with Narnia
This week, Kestrels have been reading Narnia and using Drama activities to better their understanding of the text. They acted out a conversation Lucy had with Mr Tumnus and then discussed their feelings, in order to write a letter in the role of Lucy, to Mum. Kinda and Amelie demonstrated their conversation and it was fabulous; the girls both earned themselves a gold card. Well done girls!
Katya Balen
Year 5 had a fabulous treat this week…Katya Balen, author of October October, read aloud to the children via Zoom. It was wonderful and the children got to see one of our favourite authors in person!
Drama in English
Year 5 have been using their drama skills this week; acting out a conversation between the main 2 characters in their novel…Oranges in no-man’s land. They had a lot of fun, and their writing really shows the relationship between the 2 characters. Well done Kestrels!
Author Visit
Year 5 were given a super surprise on the last day of half term! We were visited by Tim, the super author of Poppy and Lord Ted: The First Summer. He had sent a video message for Lily on her last day with us, and wanted to read extracts from his next book!
Thankfully, Tim brought Lord Ted so we could have a cuddle with him. The video was a lovely surprise for Lily and everyone in the class. Tim will be visiting again for his title launch in September, which will be with us here at Bells Farm! How exciting is that!
Tim read out some edited parts of the book that we had heard before, the changes were amazing. The headteacher is now called Mrs Calbreath as well as now EVERY member of Kestrels having their name in the book. Every single member – that is so special. We are all now part of Poppy’s new adventure. It is extra special that Poppy’s new best friend is called Lily Rose (Rosie for short). We can’t wait to read the whole book…well Mrs Sabir has read it but she has been sworn to secrecy….
Tim was kind enough to sign his first book for all those in the class who have bought their own copies. We are looking forward to seeing our friend Tim again and can not wait for the book launch in September.
Watch this space…
Welcome Back!
A huge welcome back to everyone, especially Year 5. It was lovely to see everyone back in again. We certainly felt like we had shrunk, as so many had grown so much in two weeks!
Well done to everyone who came in with full school uniform, we are at the top end of the school and always need to be a good example to all.
As well as all the exciting news from the holiday, we have been sent the next instalment of Poppy and Lord Ted’s newsletter. It truly is a bumper edition and with all the winners we had for the character competition, it really is a brilliant read. There will be a copy in each classroom for you to read but you can always look on the website or click here.
We have a good start to the term as we dive into our class novel, Pig Heart Boy. Year 5 made some great predictions and recapped newspaper reports ready for further work.
Keep up the good work Year 5.
The children in year 5 have been studying all about Kings & Queens in History. They focused on how the Magna Carta came about and put together a production to show their understanding.
Mr Lo has worked his computer magic on the videos and they are a pleasure to watch!
Please enjoy your children at their most confident…
Group 2
Presenting the Weather
As part of their computing lessons, year 5 have been discussing how the weather is presented: the development process involved and the part technology plays in creating the magic of weather forecasting programs.
Kestrels then got involved in creating their own weather forecast show.
This involved each group: creating the script –> choosing the correct technology –> producing the video.
Kestrels were knowledgeable in the technology required to complete this project. First, they chose our school’s own green screen ( (a green background in front of which moving subjects are filmed and which allows a separately filmed background to be added to the final image) and then took turns using an iPad to capture and edit the video footage.
Top tips when filming
- Both feet spaced wide apart and flat on the ground to keep yourself steady.
- Hold the camera / image capturing device (e.g iPad) with both hands.
- When filming for video to be presented on TV or PC’s , hold the iPad landscape mode.
- Ensure the subject you are filming is within the centre of the frame.