Welcome to Chestnut Class!

Chestnut class is fun, friendly and fabulous! This year your teachers are Miss Fisher, Mrs Titchener and Mrs Slade. We are really looking forward to sharing some fantastic learning, with everyone trying their best. In Chestnut class, we are always willing to ‘have a go’ at our learning, celebrating marvellous mistakes as they help us to learn. We respect everybody, making the class a welcoming and happy place for everyone.

There are a few things we need to remember this year:

• PE kit: your full (named) PE kit needs to be in school every day;
• Reading: daily reading at home is strongly encouraged and progress with this will be celebrated in class through the 100 club. Please listen to your child read regularly and record this in the back of their orange Learning Destination (Homework book); please ensure their homework book is sent in every morning.
• Spellings and maths homework will be set on Monday each week and are due in on Friday. Please encourage your children to write sentences with their spelling words.
• The learning destination book can be used for any other home learning that your children wish to do. They will always be rewarded for this.

We are really looking forward to getting to know all the children in Chestnut class this year and I’m sure we’re going to have an amazing time with lots of engaging learning opportunities planned.

Coventry Building Society visit

Today, Chestnut and Ash had a wonderful visit from a local building society. Lucy and Taylor taught us what it meant to budget. We were all given a budget and in teams we had to plan our holiday making sure we didn’t overspend! It wasn’t as difficult as we had first thought, as we managed to save money by including free/ cheaper things such as forest walks and picnics. The children showed exceptional maturity as usual by discussing the importance of not over spending and always leaving ourselves with a little bit left over in case of emergencies.

Smallbrook Meadows

On Tuesday 27^th February, Chestnut class took an exciting train ride to Warminster. When we arrived, we visited Smallbrook Meadows to explore the nature. Our favourite activity was when we went pond dipping. This was so exciting as we managed to catch pond skaters, water lice and much more. It was a very muddy day but the sun shone beautifully and we had an epic time. We even found time to play in the adventure playground at the end of the day and user our binoculars to spot birds and squirrels in the trees.

Term 3

We have had a very busy Term 3 in Chestnut class. We have achieved so much incredible learning, and we should be so proud of ourselves for this. A particular highlight of this term was our Science Week. With an ‘Up in the Air’ focus, we had lots of fun making orange bird feeders, finding out about peregrine falcons and we even had a visit from West of England Falconry, who brought in their special lugger falcon, Indali in to see us! As well as this, we enjoyed carrying out a film canister rocket investigation, where we were able to launch these rockets up into the air by adding Alka Seltzer tablets and water. We found out that the more tablets used, the more carbon dioxide and air pressure was produced and the greater the upwards force.

Geography

In Geography, we were also very busy! We found out about flooding, droughts and the water cycle. Together, we made mini water cycle models using plastic bottles and blue coloured water. We tested the bottles on the windowsill, on the shelf in our classroom and in a dark cupboard. The water cycle models which worked the best were the ones on the windowsill, as they had the most sunlight and warmth for condensation to occur.

Merry Christmas from Chestnut class

Look at our fabulous Santa cards. Chestnut class wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Roman shields

We have been very busy creating our very own Roman shields. Did you know that they were called scutums and they were curved to protect the body? The children worked very well in pairs to create their very own shields ready for battle!

Roman Baths trip

On Wednesday, Chestnut and Ash class visited the Roman Baths and had so much fun! The children had a tour of the museum where they learnt about the hot springs and how they were made and used in Roman times. They were also engaged with an immersive workshop where they learnt how to dress up as Romans in tunics and togas; create beautifully designed mosaics and also handle real-life artefacts that were over 2000 years old! What an awesome day!

Foodies

Foodies has returned to Chestnut class this week. The children learnt how to make a fruit crumble using the fruits grown in our very own secret garden here at school. They all enjoyed the taste of the apples but some children thought the rhubarb was a little bit sour!

Robots

Wow! We have been working so hard to complete our wooden robot moving toys this week. The children used saws to cut and shape their wood; drills to drill holes for the limbs; bench hooks to stop the wood from sliding when sawing/ drilling and sandpaper to refine and shape the edges. They have shown great safety skills in all sessions and we even had 4 DT experts within the class who showed exemplary skills when measuring and fixing all the pieces together. The children are so proud of their robots and cannot wait to take them home next term.

Harvest

Autumn is finally here and what a colourful season it is. Chestnut class have been learning about the celebration of Harvest and what it means to them. The children have been learning about scarecrows and their importance to farmers. Take a look at out fantastic scarecrow faces and poems.

DT

This afternoon, Chestnut class have made their prototype for their robot. We used our measuring skills to ensure that we cut out a square for the head, a rectangle for the body and eight identical rectangles for the arms and legs. They carefully inserted split pins to create pivots in the limbs. We are very excited now about making the final product out of wood next week!