What’s been happening
Year 6Newspaper Reports
Year 6 have been writing newspaper reports. To support their learning they have looked at a number of newspapers aimed for children. They have been interested in reading the articles, playing the games and learning about their community.
We have also got a subscription to First News, which is proving of great interest to the children.
Year 6Researching Animals
Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed researching and learning about some rather unique animals. The topic has been about how different animals have adapted to their environments in order to help survival.
Year 4Story Maps
Art
The year 3’s have been designing and creating a template for their clay pots before developing the clay model next week. Great work!
Year 4Music
In music, we put into practise our understanding of the pentatonic scale by using just 5 notes to work out the tune for a song we had learnt. We then played it on the glockenspiels as the class sang along! What fun!
Year 4The Golden Age of Islam
In year 4, we have been focusing on “The Golden Age of Islam.” Here, we have focused on the 5 pillars of Islam and what they mean.
Year 2Art
The year 2’s were busy mixing colours to create different values; lighter colours were tints and darker ones were hues. We then shared our work and discussed it using our new art vocabulary! Fabulous work year 2’s!
Year 4Art
Maths
Our practical application of area had the year 4’s calculating tile squares down the corridor! Well done!
Year 2Ice
Year 2 have spent a chilly lesson exploring ice. Things that we discovered and wanted answering were;
- Ice can melt and turns slippery when handled. The warmth from our hands make the ice melt which turns the ice into water. This is a reversible change.
- Ice shrinks when it melts.
- Some of the ice was opaque and other pieces were transparent. Why is this?
- Salt speeds up the melting process if put onto ice.
- Some ice is bumpy and rough but it can also be smooth.
Adapted Multi Sport Competition
Four children from our school took part in the annual Primary Adapted Multi Sport PLUS Competition which took place with school children from across the Cambridge & South Cambs School Sports Partnerships.
The morning was full of activity and excitement with children competing in pairs as they rotated around four different sports: Polybat, Boccia, Table Cricket and New Age Kurling. For many of the children this was their first experience of representing their school and taking part in competitive sport so the event was very much about the children having an enjoyable experience and trying out some new sports, with an element of competition added in. The points from each activity were added together to give each pair a total and determine the winners.
Year 4Cricket
This half term the year 4’s are enjoying honing their skills in cricket. With the help of a coach, we are learning some techniques to help practise and understand the game a bit more. Well done!
Year 5Flashback Stories
Having completed their flashback stories, the children worked in groups to act them out. They focused on some key aspects of drama, such as body language, voice projection, physical gestures and facial expressions.
Year 4Music
The year 4’s have been learning about pentatonic scales and some songs with that in mind. In our initial lesson, we practised one such song and accompanied it with various instruments.
Year 5Multiplication
Today year 5 worked collaboratively to create posters representing multiplication through build it, say it, write it and draw it!
Year 2
Fire Dance
Penguin class have been busy creating a dance based upon fire. We came up with a variety of movements that represented a burning ember, to a roaring fire and then slowly the fire dying out. We have also listened to the classical piece of music titled ‘Ritual Fire Dance’by Manuel da Falla basing our movements upon the dynamics of the music. Finally we used paper flames to help us with our movements. We can’t wait to perform it to another class!
Year 4Calligraphy
We have started to think about the Golden Age of Islam. By looking at art in Mosques, we spotted calligraphy as part of the decorative touches that can be found there. We tried our own calligraphy by writing our names in Arabic!
Year 4Factor Bugs
In maths, we took time to review multiplication facts, including factors of different numbers. We complete “factor bugs” to help represent factors of these numbers.
When we finished factor bugs, we put our understanding into practise by playing a game designed to test us on our knowledge of the factors we discussed.
Year 4English
In English, we used the picture book “Quest” to discuss our ideas of features of a quest story. We shared our thoughts and created a list we then referred to throughout the week.
Year 4I-Pad Challenges
We had the opportunity to use the ICT suite this week to look at coding within the Purple Mash programme. At the end of the week we used what we learnt to complete I-Pad challenges. Fantastic work!
Year 5Flashback stories
Our new English unit is flashback stories and Year 5 had en exciting ‘hook’ lesson to get things started. Working with a partner, the children decided where each of the mysterious items had come from and the story that each item told. We shared some amazing ideas – from dragons guarding castles to hidden treasure beneath the desert!
Year 5Maths
Year 5 have already been very busy in 2019, in our maths lessons. We have been learning to multiply using concrete resources (base 10 and place value counters) before moving on to the abstract calculation. The children always have access to the concrete resources should they need them.
Year 5Space Day
Year 5 had a fantastic end to our topic with Space Day! During our day we tested our dexterity skills; worked on our teamwork; ensured we hand great hand-eye coordination and even landed some Mars Rovers! We finished the day with a talk from an astronomer Mathew and graduated from the Queen Emma Space Academy. We would like to thank the parents who helped the children with their costumes.
Year 588 Pianists
Year 5 had a terrific day with our visitors, 88 Pianists. We learned a little bit about pulse and rhythm, before we constructed our own mechanism for playing a musical note. Later, we explored our creativity when designing a unique way to play the piano. We would like to thank our visitors from 88 Pianists for taking care of us and making our day so enjoyable!
Year 4Atlases
We have used Atlases to help with understanding our own geographical area as well as those surrounding us.
Year 4Quest Stories
We have been looking at Quest stories and developing our ideas through partner work and idea sharing.
Year 4Calculation
Looking and noting the various methods for calculation and proving our ideas has helped when focusing on multiplication and division facts.
Year 4Paper Mechanisms
Our paper mechanisms allowed us to design books based on our topic of study. By practising first, we were able to create a spring mechanism, an open the flap example, and a pull and push model for our books.
Year 4Performance
We used performance to develop tableaus based on Robert Falcon Scott’s Diary entries. This helped us with our later writing.
Year 5Space Poetry
In English the children have been performing space poetry as part of our poetry unit. The children agreed that it is important to practice reading poetry, as this develops our speech and acting skills. We had a great time thinking about expression and actions.
ReceptionChristmas Show
The children worked really hard at preparing for the Christmas show and then performing it to the school and their parents. We are very proud of the way they learnt the Christmas story and sang a range of Christmas songs in the play. Well done Reception!
Year 6Maths
The children in year 6 really demonstrated their growth mindsets this week in maths. The challenge: Can you make letters of the alphabet from a piece of A4 paper, by folding as many folds as you need, but only make one cut in a straight line? The answer: YES! The letter ‘G’ is proving difficult and is a work in progress, however the children managed to write the word ‘TEXTIN’. Lots of mathematical elements contributed towards the success of this lesson.
Event, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6Cross Country Championship
The children in KS2 had a fantastic morning at Netherhall taking part in the annual Cambridge CSSP Cross Country Championship! The key theme of this year’s event was ‘determination’ and the Queen Emma team certainly were determined! We were so proud of all who took part. We look forward to returning again next year!
Event, Year 5, Year 6Football Tournament
Queen Emma entered their first ever football tournament this year. The children played extremely well together, demonstrated amazing support for each other and played fairly. All of which helped win the tournament! The children, parents and staff are all excited about progressing to the next stage of the competition.
Year 5Maths
In Maths, the children developed their understanding of perimeter during a practical maths lesson outside! They took rulers and measuring wheels with them, to measure the perimeter of the school playground.
Year 5Music
In music, the children have been focusing on songs based on the solar system. This week the children learnt the term ostinato (a repeating pattern). We then played the ostinato in the song ‘A Starry Night’ using the glockenspiels .
Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6The children of Queen Emma remember
To honour all who lost their lives in WW1, every child in Queen Emma made a poppy to create a whole school art installation. Come to the top of the Atrium stairs and take a look.
Year 5Painting the Moon
As part of our topic, the children have been creating their own paintings of the moon. To do this, the children practised mixing black and white paint to make numerous shades of grey. The varying shades, were then used to create a detailed painting of the moon and its many craters.
Year 1Aliens love underpants!
We enjoyed the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ but then something strange happened.
The pants we made went missing! We looked around the school and asked questions to find out information. We are going to write news articles about what’s happened using time openers.
Footprints and a pair of pants were found. There were a pair of pants in the bushes! Pegs that were dropped.
Year 1 searched for clues outside and investigators reported back information from the office staff and Miss Stubbs.
Year 4Explorer Posters
We looked at some different explorers we will concentrate on throughout the term. We discussed some important details about each before making our own posters. Fabulous work!
Year 4Falcon Class Assembly
Falcon Class was very excited to perform their class assembly for friends and family. We had an amazing response to our efforts, all down to the work put in at home. Thank you all who helped to make the performance outstanding.
Year 4Perimeters
We worked in groups using squares to find the design which would give the biggest and smallest perimeter. Great cooperation and communication was used throughout the activity.
Year 2Fairy Tale Maps
Penguin class have been exploring maps and will eventually make their own fairy tale map, relating to their topic of ‘Traditional Tales.’ The children looked at a variety of maps and discussed their similarities and differences. They also went on an epic journey on google maps, travelling all over the world and exploring far flung cities.
Year 6Posters
Making a poster for topic lessons to advertise South America, showed off the children’s hard work learning of persuasive writing, team work, communication and also, their enjoyment of learning. The posters are displayed for visitors to share the pride the children have taken in their work.
Year 6South America
Learning about South America in topic lessons has been a great way for us all to learn even more about each other. We have some first-hand experience of families from Argentina and lots of places that some of us have visited. Using the maps has helped to understand climate change and make predictions about why age expectancy varies from continent to continent. The topic has lead to some children continuing their learning at home to find out challenge questions of interest to us all.
Year 4Maths
In maths, we practised our number-line work by creating different numbers using place value charts, and then ordering them.
Year 4Football
A full football practise! We put or skills together to have some mini football activities based on the skills practised throughout the term.
Year 4Adverts
We began looking at adverts and found key features in them and named them. We then created our own advert based on our own product and used the same features in our own written texts. Fantastic work!
Year 4Roman Day
The year fours had an amazing “Roman Day” to finish off Last term. We dressed as Romans, had a Roman feast and practised some Roman Army formations. A brilliant day for all!
Year 6Poppy Making
Year 6 have been marking the 100 years since the end of WW1 with the upmost respect that it deserves. The children listened to music by a group of girls who all had a parent in the armed forces.
Poppy making was a great way to be creative, respectful and share time talking with friends about how fortunate we are today.
ReceptionBonfire Night
This week we have been talking about Bonfire Night. The children have enjoyed making their own fireworks using paint, chalks, crayons and even leaves!
ReceptionNumicon
In Owl Class we have been practising recognising Numicon. Some of the children went on a hunt in the outdoor area to find the giant Numicon and place it in order from 1 to 10. We have also been looking at using Numicon to make different numbers, for example ‘4 and 2 make 6’ and ‘8 and 2 make 10’.
Year 6Electricity
This term year 6 are learning about Electricity and the symbols used to draw a range of circuits. They started off by making a range circuits, using: a cell, light bulbs, buzzers, motors and crocodile clips. Team work to problem solve shone through strongly.
The children then had the challenge to turn a drawing using pictures into a Scientific drawing using symbols. A good start to the topic.
Year 6Bikeability
As the children are becoming more independent and considering travelling to school independently, Bikeability has provided the children with lots of skills and learning to help keep them safe on the streets. The children took part in level 1 on the school playground before many achieved level 2. The children took on board their new learning and worked well supporting each other throughout the week.
Year 5, Year 6Pride in our school
Later years have been working hard creating posters to depict ‘pride in our school’. To do this, the children had the choice of using: pens and pencils, paint, pastels and chalk or collage. We really enjoyed working as a phase and using our art skills.
Year 2Story Telling Afternoon
Year 2 invited parents and carers to come in for a story telling afternoon. There were lots of fun activities enjoyed.
Year 6Fractions
Simplifying and ordering fractions on a number line has been a real challenge this week. However, everyone has really persevered and challenged themselves, meaning that the progress throughout the week has been amazing. The children enjoyed finishing the topic by playing some quite challenging fraction games.
Year 4Natural Sculptures
Classification
October
In science we looked at classification. We designed our own questions to help classify animals.
Year 1Traction Man and Scrubbing Brush!
October
We have had such a busy half term in Year 1! We embarked on an exciting adventure with Traction Man and his trusty pet Scrubbing Brush! We wrote adventure stories and character descriptions in English, we investigated materials for Traction Man’s waterproof suit in Science and we became addition heroes in Maths! We loved exploring a range of toys from the past, lent to us by the Toy Museum in Cambridge. We cannot wait for some Space filled excitement next half term….
stay tuned!
Florence Nightingale
September
This week Penguin class went back in time to the Victorian Era to learn a little more about the significant nurse, Florence Nightingale. They learnt that Florence had to persuade her mother and sister about her desire to help people, rather than get married and go to lavish parties. So the children worked in groups of 3’s, taking on each character and role playing what Florence may have said to her mother and sister. The children took their roles very seriously and there were some fantastic performances at the end.
Year 3
English
September
We have been using Talk for Writing techniques to explore and learn ‘Stone Age Boy’ by Satoshi Kitamura. The adventure story is about a boy who time travels back to the stone age and meets a girl who shows him what stone age life was like. They have an exciting time together before he time travels back and becomes an archaeologist later in life. We retold the story using actions and made story maps. We also looked at the parts of the story and boxed it up into 5 parts.
Year 3Stone Age
September
In History we found different artifacts around school and inferred what they were used for. They were all from the Stone Age! We have also been learning about Stone Age art. We discovered that they draw or painted on the sides of caves using hands as stencils. They also painted amazing pictures of the animals that were around in the Stone Age, many of which are extinct now. We used chalk and charcoal to make our own cave pictures.
Year 4PE
October
We combined our year 4 classes to practice some football drills in PE. We looked at handling and control of the ball. During our indoor PE lesson we have been working on balance. It is all in preparation for our gymnastic competition at the end of this half term.
Year 4Maths
September
We worked together to place numbers on a number line in Maths. We then discussed our reasoning. We also worked together to create numbers from different digits and then order them.
Year 4English
September
For English, we worked in a group to select the writing features of our model text. This helped us to recognise important elements to include in our own writing.
Year 4
Place Values
September
We have been settling into the year 4 routines. In maths we spent some time working in groups to think about place value.
Year 4Class Rules
September
We worked together in groups and then as a class to choose 5 rules for our year 4 classroom. We enjoyed sharing some of our ideas with the class
We have created some spaghetti art! After looking at examples of art from Andy Goldsworthy, we made our own using some of his techniques.
I-Pads
September
We had an opportunity to use I-pads and think about coding. We followed instructions to direct a sprite to move in different ways.
Year 4Roman Research
September
We have done some research with the computers. In ICT we logged onto the computers before finding our research page about Romans. This has helped to work towards a topic-based word mat for us to use throughout the term.
Year 5Building Structures
October
To kick start our year, Zebra class made the tallest structure they could, out of spaghetti and marshmallows. This enabled us to work on our team building skills and was a lot of fun!
Year 5Maths
September
The children have been using the maths resources to create different numbers in our place value lessons. Even in year 5 it is important to use the resources available. These will always be accessible to the children in their lessons (should they need them).
Year 5
West Stow
September
Year 5 immersed themselves in their Ancient Britain topic with a visit to West Stow. We had an exciting morning exploring some reconstructed homes of Anglo-Saxons and in the afternoon, observed some ancient artefacts in the museum.
Year 6
October – Art
Art in year 6 has been focusing on Paul Nash art. A lot of discussions about the colours and themes used to represent World War Two. The children took their time to recreate a piece of art work in the style of Paul Nash.
Year 6October – Writing
Year 6 writing has got off to a fantastic start. The children are further developing their editing and proof reading skills that they have learnt throughout the years. It has been exciting to share the children’s newspaper reports with each other about World War Two.
Year 6September – Light
During Science, year 6 have been learning about light. The children have had the opportunity carry out practical experiments to help understand theories and see the results for themselves. The new scientific vocabulary has been remembered well by the children and they are developing confidence using it verbally when discussing their learning so far.
Year 5, Year 6Shakespeare Rocks
Congratulations to Year 5 and 6 on your fantastic production of ‘Shakespeare Rocks.’ This fresh, funny and up to date look at the life and times of William Shakespeare, gave us a cast of hilarious historical characters, amusing glimpses into some of his works and an understanding of how he came ‘to be!’ The singing was full of energy and the acting superb throughout. Special mentions must go to the wonderful soloists who performed so confidently in both performances. An enormous thank you to everyone who played a part in making this fantastic production come to life – what a wonderful way to end our summer term.
Spread the word…Shakespeare didn’t just write….he rocked!
NurseryActivity Days
Children in nursery enjoyed welcoming families into the nursery garden to enjoy our Activity Days. They enjoyed practising the activities and then leading the adults. We talked together about healthy eating and keeping healthy. The children made fruity flapjacks and enjoyed sharing them at the end of the session.
Thank you very much to all the parents and family members who came to join us. We all had a really great time and it was wonderful to spend time together.
ReceptionThree Billy Goats Gruff
This half term, we have enjoyed learning the story ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’. Once we had practised the story, we created a class story map to help us to remember it. The children took part in a variety of activities to develop their learning linked to the story. They made their own puppets of the characters from the story and put on puppet shows for others to watch. Additionally, they designed and created their own bridges using different construction toys. They also painted their own trolls and carefully cut them out.
Important Dates
18 February 2019
Half Term
18th – 22nd is Half Term so school will be closed.
25 February 2019Start of Term
Monday 25th February
25 February 2019School Improvement Committee
Monday 25 February, 5.30pm.