: Blog items
Our Royal Shakespeare Ambassadors loved their Zoom training session!
Date: 2nd Dec 2020 @ 4:30pm
This week, our RSC Ambassadors participated in a training session with Jo Cleasby from Blackpool Grand Theatre. They discussed the characteristics needed to be an effective ambassador who is able to represent their school and work with other schools. Everyone could suggest important characteristics such as: being confident, organised and keen to participate.
The group also discussed ideas that we could work on as a school and as part of a cluster of RSC Associate schools with their peers from other schools.
Date: 4th Dec 2020 @ 3:00pm
Nursery have had a jam packed half term so far!
We have been spooked with lots of Halloween activities. We made some pumpkin prints and used different shapes to create a shape witch.
We remembered all the brave soldiers and planted a poppy for them on Remembrance Day. We talked about the different jobs soldiers do and how they look after us.
Then it was time for Odd Socks Day when we celebrated our differences. We read the story “It Okay To Be Different” By Todd Parr and talked about how we are all different.
Next, we had an unexpected visit to space! The children decided to build a space rocket and fly to the moon. We made a space den and even made some intergalactic space slime!
We have also been doing lots of outdoor learning and we’ve had some great tunes tapped out on our new music wall! The bikes have also been a great hit and it’s been brilliant to watch the children build their confidence and ride down the hill!
And now it’s time for all the Christmas fun to start! Sorry in advance for all the glitter!
Date: 3rd Dec 2020 @ 8:01pm
Today we came into school to find out our Christmas elf had returned! Not only was he back, but he had also brought something with him...a letter! We discussed why we might receive a letter, or why we might send one, and what information may be included in a letter.
We then compared the features of three different text types, beginning to discuss how we knew which ones were letters, and which weren't. We have done lots of work on invitations and lists over the past couple of weeks, and so we compared the features of these two text types to those included in a letter, beginning to discuss similarities and difference. We found out a letter is always set out in a particular way, and we write a letter when we want to send a message to someone.
We used our phonics skills to segment and blend the information in the letter, and found out we had received a letter from Goldilocks as well as our class Elf!
We then moved on to identifying the features of a letter in greater depth, highlighting the address, date, who the letter is for and who the letter is from.
We will continue to look and read lots of different types of letters and are very excited to eventually write a letter to the Elf that he can take back to Santa!
Date: 3rd Dec 2020 @ 3:15pm
In art we have been studying George Seurat and using pointilism to create a picture. In PE we have been creating our own dance routines using 4 different moves, repeated.
Date: 1st Dec 2020 @ 10:27am
Last week, we started our first of three Forest School sessions. The children firstly gathered around the campfire to see if they could remember the Forest School rules - they were great! Then we had lots of time to explore our Forest School area and make nests. The children had to make a nest thinking about which animal it would be for and how it would keep their animal safe and warm in the cold winter weather. Next week, we are going to be lighting the fire and having s'mores and hot chocolate! We can't wait for them to keep us warm in the cold December weather.
Date: 1st Dec 2020 @ 8:00am
Today, we welcomed Hindu visitors (via Zoom!) to Year 6.
They started their talk about being a Hindu in general; they explained about the different types of Hindus, prayer, chants and the special clothes they sometimes wear.
They explained the 4 Ashramas and the stage they are currently in. The main focus was their belief in reincarnation and karma and how this has an impact on the choices and actions they makes in life.
Date: 28th Nov 2020 @ 3:09pm
Each week our Year 1 children cannot wait for Thursday to come around! They know that Thursday afternoon means it's computing time!
We began our first session of computing by discussing the devices and technology we use both in school, and at home. We discussed how we use each device, and how they can be important in day to day life. We then discussed what we need to remember when accessing online devices, and introduced SMART. We discussed the importance of staying safe, not meeting up, accepting files, reliability and telling someone.
We have then been practising our essential skills. We have learnt how to turn the Chromebook on and off, click and scroll on the mousepad and type with the keyboard. When using the keyboard to type in our personal log in details, we have also had to get used to the fact that some letters look slightly different to the ones we are used to seeing, but we have all been trying really hard to do this independently.
We have also explored the program Paintz App. We spent some time exploring the different tools available, and we found out we could do things like change the background colour, add 2D shapes, and even add text! During our Reading into Writing sessions we have been exploring the book 'Aliens Love Smelly Jelly,' creating invites to an alien tea party from an alien. We then linked this to our computing session, and we designed the alien using the Paintz App!
Year Five loved interviewing Shakespearian actors!
Date: 27th Nov 2020 @ 2:04pm
Today in Year Five, both classes had the opportunity to participate in a question and answer session with two actors from the RSC. They learnt about how actors deal with pre-performance nerves, how they learn their lines and what inspired them to become actors.
This week, we have also been learning how to create our own space inspired interpretative dance with small groups of children being each planet. A number of children have also been keenly rehearsing for the first ever Blackpool digital dance festival. Another creative week in Year Five!
Date: 26th Nov 2020 @ 4:19pm
We have been on a bear hunt this week! We have read "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and the children have really enjoyed joining in with repeated parts of the story. We have been exploring all the different colours and textures from the book like oozy brown mud and green swishy swishy grass. We've made collages with materials and explored different coloured paint. Some bears even got stuck in some gloop! We've been counting bears in the maths area and developing our finger muscles by pegging words from the story on to a washing line. Its been a beary good week!
Date: 3rd Dec 2020 @ 11:20am
This week in Reception the children have been learning about how to keep safe whilst crossing the road. We watched a shorted video about 'Monster Moe' and discussed what he needs to do to keep safe.
"When you cross the road you Stop, Look and Listen" Ella-Rose
"don't run across because you might fall over" Leyton.
"Hold your mummy's hand to keep you safe" Emily
"Cross at a zebra crossing" Lauren.
"Find the lolly pop lady and she will stop the cars for you" Lyra-Rose.
The children then enjoyed making their own road signs and role playing in the garden.
Date: 25th Nov 2020 @ 5:20pm
Our French learning continued this week with our topic - As-tu un animal? This translates in English to, Do you have an animal? This week we learned how to use the negative structure - je n'ai pas de (I do not have). We completed a listening activity and then learned how to write sentences.
Date: 25th Nov 2020 @ 4:55pm
In Science we have been learning about Rocks and soil! We did an experiment to find out about which soil was the best drainer, and we found out that it was sandy soil. We kept our experiment fair by only changing one variable. This week we have also started learning about different types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. We have sorted them and looked at how they were formed.
Date: 24th Nov 2020 @ 3:39pm
This week in PE, we focused on perfecting our point and patch skills. A point is where a smaller body part is being used to balance, whereas a patch is where a larger body part is being used to balance. Today, we got apparatus out. We had to travel in different ways up the benches to the podiums. Once we were on the podiums, we had to hold our chosen point or patch. Then we had to safely jump off the podium and land on two feet.
Date: 18th Nov 2020 @ 4:42pm
This week we have been doing lots of activities around unit-bullying day. We thought about how we can be kind and support each other, how we can make sure everyone has a friend and who and where we can go if we feel upset or need to share something with someone. We also all wore odd socks to celebrate our differences and anti-bullying day. it is our differences that we need to celebrate and these differences which make us special. Take a look at some of odd sock picture below.
The Week We Wore Odd Socks and Went To Space!
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 4:45pm
It has been a jam packed week in Nursery! We started off the week wearing odd socks to celebrate Anti - Bullying week. We read the story "It's Ok To Be Different" By Todd Carr and talked about how being different makes us special. Then we read the story "The Tiger Who Came To Tea" By Judith Kerr and practised our counting by counting out stripes to put on tigers. On Wednesday the children chose to build a rocket out of the chairs and fly to space! They had a bit of engine trouble and got the tools out to fix it and then off they flew! The children had their snack on the moon and then built some rockets out of junk modelling! To finish off the space theme, we made some intergalactic space slime! Phew! We all need a rest now!
The start of our toddler night light journey..
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 1:41pm
Last week, we looked at how circuits work within toys and night lights. This week, we started our journey to making a night light for a toddler. We learned about the interests of two toddlers, so that we knew what they liked before starting to draw our designs. We also decided that we will make our own switch for the night light. This will be made from paper clips, paper fasteners and card. As a class, we made a design brief. This means that everyone knows what they must include to hit all the design criteria. We are so excited to continue the designing process, before making prototypes, then evaluating them before making the real thing! WATCH OUT FOR THE FINAL PIECES TOWARDS THE END OF THE TERM!
Date: 19th Nov 2020 @ 8:12pm
As part of our Science topic, Everyday Materials, pupils in Year Two were set a challenge to design a boat to carry an 'orange' across a river. We were given a range of materials including paper, clingfilm, tinfoil, sponge and fabric. We then had to use these materials to create a boat that would float. During this investigation we found that the sponge floated well initially, but when it began to absorb the water it became too heavy and started to sink. We also found that tinfoil was a useful material as it was waterproof and it didn't absorb any water. Then some of us had the brilliant idea of covering the sponge with tinfoil, this made a great boat as it floated well and the tinfoil kept the sponge from absorbing the water. We really enjoyed working in small groups to tackle this challenge and we found out a lot about the properties of some everyday materials.
Date: 19th Nov 2020 @ 8:28am
This week in Year Five, we have been participating in Forest School sessions and have loved learning how to build a fire (on which we then toasted marshmallows), den building and playing outdoor team games! On anti-bullying day, we discussed why we shouldn’t use stereotypes and make assumptions about people or unfairly judge people because of their appearance or ethnicity. We all wore odd socks to remind each other that it is ok to be different.
Year 5 - This week in learning
Date: 20th Nov 2020 @ 3:00pm
Recently in Year Five, we have been participating in Forest School sessions and have loved learning how to build a fire (on which we then toasted marshmallows), den building and playing outdoor team games!
Everyone is different but everyone is special!
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 9:02pm
The children in Reception have enjoyed celebrating Anti-bullying Week by coming into school wearing wonderfully mismatched socks. We took part in a whole school assemble via Google Meet learning about what bullying is and what to do if we are affected by it. In class we looked at our similarities and differences and learnt that everyone is different and it is our differences that make us unique. We talked about how we should treat everyone fairly regardless of our differences. The children also enjoyed designing their own odd socks.
"I have glasses but Alfie doesn't. We are different but he's my friend" Leyton
"You should always be nice to people and have kind words" Lyra-Rose
"If someone is being mean you tell a grown up and they can help you" Elliott
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 8:06pm
In PE this half term we have started gymnastics, focussing on balancing and spinning on points. We have been learning how to perform controlled spins, supporting our body weight in symmetrical balances, and spinning on apparatus.
We initially discussed what is a spin and what parts of our bodies we can spin on. We practised spinning on our front, side, back, and bottom in symmetrical shapes. We really focussed on performing with control and imagination! After we perfected three spins we then added a balance in between each spin. We had to try and hold our balances for 5 seconds each!
We are going to be practising and perfecting our sequence over the next couple of weeks! We will then be working on peer assessment of each others performances, observing and giving feedback to refine our sequences and performance.
Date: 17th Nov 2020 @ 7:51am
Date: 11th Nov 2020 @ 9:18pm
The children in Reception have been learning about the importance of wearing poppies and remembering those who gave their lives to secure our future.
"We wear poppies because the soldiers died" Leyton.
Date: 16th Nov 2020 @ 7:48pm
We began anti bullying week by talking about different types of bullying, and how these types of bullying may occur. We then took part in the whole school assembly, which explored this years anti bullying week theme, 'United Against Bullying.'
This afternoon we then designed our own class jigsaw pieces to show how we are going to be 'United Against Bullying.' We thought about what changes we could make to our class and our school to make it a bullying free zone. We then also designed our own odd socks, and took part in an experiment which helped us explore what bullying can do to people on the inside, even though the effects might not be shown on the outside.
Date: 13th Nov 2020 @ 7:41pm
This week we have been thinking about all the brave soldiers and saying thank you.
On Wednesday, we joined the rest of the school to take part in our Remembrance Service. We each planted a poppy in our school Remembrance Garden. Each poppy has the name of a World War One soldier. We thought of these soldiers during our whole school assembly and two minute silence.
We have also painted Poppies, learning about the significance of Poppies for Remembrance Day and why we wear them.
