Hello! I am Mrs Rayner and I am delighted to be teaching Raven class this year. Here’s a fun fact: ravens are one of the world’s most intelligent and playful birds. They are also shrouded in mystery – how wonderful!

A little about me, I adore teaching! Despite enjoying teaching many subjects, reading, writing and history are my favourites.

I am excited to be leading Writing at St John’s this year. My goal is to show as many children as possible that there is a writer inside us all and to ignite their writing passion. In addition to writing, I am also leading History. It can be so much fun diving into the past and exploring how our ancestors lived.

In my spare time I love to read, take my dogs on a long walk and ride my bike.

 

Other staff working in our class are:

Miss Barden – Teaching Assistant

Miss Walker – Third Teacher

Mrs Woodward - Cover Teacher

 

Our timetable:

Our learning this term:

Our English this term is 'Way Of The Waves' written by Janina Ramirez. This book follows an exciting adventure set in Viking times, where a brave girl named Alva is on a mission to find her missing father. The story takes place just before King Edward becomes King of England, and Alva faces many dangers along the way. Even though things seem hopeless, Alva never gives up. This book never fails to excite children and produce some wonderful writing. This term we will be focusing on narrative and non-chronological reports. 

Our maths learning this term begins with shape. We learn to identify, calculate and draw angles accurately before moving onto regular and irregular polygons and 3D shapes. Towards the end of the term we begin to look at position and direction, focusing on reading, plotting and problem solving with coordinates. We finish the term with translation, lines of symmetry and reflections. 

Our Science unit this term is Forces. Throughout this unit we are learning to explainhow unsupported objects fall towards the Earth because of the force of gravity. We also identify the effects of air resistance, water resistance and friction, that act between moving surfaces, as well as recognise that some mechanisms including levers, pulleys and gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect. This unit is packed with fun investigations and is always a hit with the children!

In History we begin our exciting new unit on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking struggle for the kingdom of Britain. Not long (in historical terms) after the Anglo-Saxons asserted their dominance over much of Britain, war reared its head again on our turbulent island. Beginning with coastal raids, famously at Lindisfarne in 793AD, the Vikings became the latest in a long line of invaders. They were painted, and have been since, as brutal barbarian savages. Recent evidence of trading and culture has, however, challenged this long held view. In this unit, we will be engaging with this raging debate by examining multiple sources.

In RE we are learning about Islam. 

German: learning to express wants and needs, in preparation for a shopping role play.

Computing: coding using micro:bits.

Learning at home for Raven Class :

• Reading AR books 

• Spelling shed (login details are stuck into your child's reading record)

• TTS Rockstars (login details are stuck into your child's reading record)

 

Be ready for learning! In Raven class your child will need to have these items in school: 

• PE kit (to be worn on Wednesdays) 
• Water bottle (no squash or juice) 
• Small rucksack (big enough to hold lunchbox and reading books) 
• Coat (weather appropriate) 
• Sun cream and a sun hat

Please don’t bring other items into school, as we do not have space to store these, and it can cause upset if things are lost or damaged.

Please do not allow your child to bring fidgets into school as these are often a distraction from learning. We will provide your child will a fidget if it is required. 

Term 4 highlights

Raven's absolutely loved our statistics outdoor learning lesson! We used natural items to create Venn diagrams, bar charts and tally charts.

 

 

 

 

We also went outdoors for Science last term. We participated in river dipping, mini-beast hunts and life cycle activities.