Hello all of my little kinders from P5! This has been an amazing fortnight in P5 and I have absolutely LOVED hearing from so many of you. I thought it would be a real boost to you all if I shared some of the marvellous creations you have made, the high quality work you have produced and the bounty of photographs that you have sent in to our virtual classroom. While I can’t mention everyone – this is a chance to break away from your normal routine and find out what your friends have been up to! Firstly, well done to everyone who has achieved their A.R. target so far this half term! I take time out every day to check your AR scores and have been amazed at how many of you are reading good books and taking tests. A special mention to the TWO Word Millionaires in P5: Kayleigh and Olivia you are my heroes! What an achievement! Several others of you are very close too so keep reading! Joel (the bookworm) has not only achieved his third target this half term but he also sent me this video link to a pair of nesting ospreys in Scotland. We don’t need to catch an aeroplane there, we can sit and watch them up close in our living rooms. Try pressing control on your computer and clicking on the link. Can you tell how many eggs they have? The view from their nest is spectacular. https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/osprey-cam/ Talking of birds, Olivia sent this sweet video which shows a bird taking a bath is someone’s hands. Try clicking on it below. VID-20200511-WA0 001.mp4 Evelyn has also been spending time attracting new birds into her garden. She has set up bird feeders, a bird bath and a fabulous stash of alpaca fur for the birds to use when building their nests. Now for my favourite topic – yummy food and baking …….. So many of you have been baking over the last few weeks: Sophie has made rice krispie bun cakes, Evelyn has cooked some strawberry pancakes and cookies (I just want to chomp on them straight away!), Ellie bakes every Monday (that’s what that delicious smell is!) and even made a birthday cake for her dad. Kayleigh made a stunning birthday cake for her mum too with icing butterflies all over it and Pippa has made really tasty cheesecakes and buns. Well done everyone who has been cooking up a storm. This is such a good activity to do as it includes all sorts of maths skills. Sometimes it’s hard to choose betwix chocolate and freshly baked buns. Well, it is finally confirmed – you are all real smarties when it comes to literacy. I have read some truly terrific diaries this week and you have all become experts on Howard Carter and recount writing. Charlie made me travel back in time with his recount and James had me feeling quite spooky as he described going into the tomb for the first time. Dylan’s diary felt so authentic that I’m sure he did extra research into Carter’s life. Sarah’s diary made my spine tingle as she let me enter the mind of Carter as he uncovered that first step and Daniel found amazing ways of describing the whole experience of discovering the tomb. Well done everyone who has written their recounts this week. It was certainly no picnic – it required hard work and dedication. There is one person who went that extra mile – William S. used not only his imagination but actually started digging in his back garden on a hot day to uncover a time capsule that had been buried there. He actually felt like Howard Carter. How ingenious was that?! James Olivia Some fabulous artwork has been accomplished these last two weeks and I have to show you these cats from mars! Well, somewhere in the milky way………… These are some of the mummified cats that were made by James and Olivia. I love the mummified dog Olivia! Sarah has been making her own T-shirts by decorating them. I’ll have to put an order in! So what other wispas have I heard recently? Rebekah’s dad has become a brilliant teacher at Ballycarrickhomeschool and is probably up for an award soon! Zoe is working very hard on a puppet project which I am very excited to read about when it is all finished. Toby and Isaac are both learning about looking after hens and eggs and are finding lots of important skills in caring for horses (Toby) reptiles (also Toby) and cute little kit kats (Isaac). Isaac is also trying to earn a Blue Peter badge. I know there will be great celebrations when that arrives! Sarah’s death mask (apparently there’s a story to go with this but she hasn’t told me yet.) It is so lovely to hear that you are all staying in touch with each other. Lily, Rebekah, Izzy and Lexie all connect together on Roblox and Sarah and Sophie find time to get together while retaining their social distancing. Make sure you zoom (somewhere within our galaxy), call and facetime each other as much as you can. Our friends are so very important. Pippa and Joel have been working on their ICT making powerpoints. I saw Joel’s brilliant presentation on the Corona Virus and was blown away by the detail in Pippa’s Egyptian powerpoint. Here are a few more teasers for you: In literacy, William S. wrote some very funny limericks which cheered me up no end. I had to snicker while I read them and Mr Faulkner kept asking me what was so funny. Brooke is really enjoying our topic of decimals even though they make some people’s brains go all curly wurly and end up in a twirl. I’ll have to find you some harder ones to have a go at! Thomas has been memorising his number bonds and is getting to be quite an expert at his numbers. He is a fabulous hard worker. In another piece of news, Bethany has a new member of her family. Her new little brother Toby was born and I have to say, he is the cutest! Congratulations Bethany! Pippa also has a new member of her family – not a baby, not even a lion but a gorgeous puppy called Penny. Isn’t she beautiful? Can she rolover yet Pippa? I’m not good on breeds of dogs so I’m not sure if she is a Yorkie or a terrier or something else entirely. But I do know she looks very friendly and cuddly. This has been a bit of a marathon of a letter and I’m sure you are ready to flake out for a while and rest. But first – I hope you are impressed that I got through all of this and I didn’t mention chocolate even once! Did you notice? Well wake up and smell the roses because actually, I did mention chocolate – in fact I mentioned it 30 times! All you have to do is find all 30 of them in my letter …………… look for some dodgy spellings! To help I’ve listed all the chocolate underneath for you to find. I want to say a special hello to Alfie, Riley, William K., Enzo, Emma, Izzy, Jack and Lily. Send me an email and let me know how you are getting on. So until next time – remember that Mrs Faulkner loves you (and chocolate) and that’s all that really matters. Lots of love, Mrs Faulkner. P.S. If you couldn’t find all 30 chocolates, I’ve listed them for you on the next page. 1. Topic 2. Mars 3. Picnic 4. Time out 5. Bounty 6. Aero 7. Milky way 8. Kit kat 9. Teasers 10. Galaxy 11. Wispa 12. Snickers 13. Boost 14. Breakaway 15. Rolo 16. Lion 17. Heroes 18. Celebrations 19. Roses 20. Curly wurly 21. Twirl 22. Twix 23. Flake 24. Chomp 25. Marvellous creations 26. Yorkie 27. Marathon 28. Kinder 29. Target 30. Smarties .