: Blog items
Date: 20th Oct 2020 @ 9:29pm
Everyone has been very busy weeding the raised beds and preparing the pots to plant bulbs in a few weeks time. The children worked together, sharing tools, digging and chatting about the different creatures they found living in the soil.
"Look! A worm! It's wriggling!" Amy.
"It's very long (worm)" Oscar.
Date: 20th Oct 2020 @ 9:07pm
The children in Reception have been having a great time riding the new balance bikes and scooting around on the scooters. They have also been enjoying climbing up the slide (three points of contact at all times!) and then sliding straight back down again! At all times, they took care when moving freely and loved being active and energetic!
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 7:55pm
This half term our PE unit has been OAA (Outdoor Adventurous Activities). The main focus has been working together as a team. Today we took part in several activities that required us to work together as a team and communicate so that the team succeeded. The main part of the lesson was a game called 'Crossing the Swamp'. For this, we had to move the entire team from one end of the hall to the other by only using hoops to stand in. We had to make sure that everyone was playing their part and moving the hoops carefully down the team to put at the front so that we could all get across quickly.
Mayan Sacrifice - brutal or civilised?
Date: 7th Oct 2020 @ 7:45pm
In History today we began learning about why Mayans sacrificed animals/humans. We began by exploring a painting of a sacrificial ritual. We discussed what we thought was going on in the photos and generated questions we wanted to ask based on the photo. We found out that some animal sacrifices were carried out by the high priests and was taken very seriously. The animals would be sacrificed as an offering to the gods, usually as part of big event such as a wedding, birth, death.
We then worked as groups to look through a set of photos. We had to discuss whether we thought the pictures showed that the Mayans were either a brutal or civilised people. Many of us thought that even though they were capable of great things, such as creating a number system, developing their own language, using the stars to predict the future etc. we felt that they were a brutal people.
Date: 18th Oct 2020 @ 6:27pm
Year 2 found themselves stranded on a deserted island. We had a think about what the essentials to survive would be and what things would make us happy. We wrote our final list of essentials on the ground in chalk to help any others that may get stranded in the future. Luckily, we found our way back to the classroom safe and sound!
Date: 2nd Oct 2020 @ 6:16pm
We had a very exciting day voting for our new school council representatives. Each child had the opportunity to present their manifestos and their peers voted for who they thought would do the best job! We spoke about having a democracy and ensuring that we had the chance to be heard and vote. Well done to the 2 children who were chose to represent their class this year, we are sure that they will do us proud!
Date: 17th Oct 2020 @ 8:49am
This week in PE, it was all about the teamwork. We learned about how to effectively communicate to solve problems and discussed the qualities of a good team player. We talked about how effective communication can make tasks easier and learned that mutual respect and tolerance of other people's opinions was important.
Date: 16th Oct 2020 @ 2:22pm
In PE this half term, we have been doing Orienteering (OAA). We have been doing a lot of work on team building skills for most of the half term and we have also looked at map skills. Today, we put all the things we have learned to the test. In pairs, the children received a map of the KS2 playground with A-R on. At each letter, there was a a times table question or a map symbol. The children had to navigate the map and make sure they were holding it the correct way round (tricky at times!!), then they had to write down what they found at each letter. They all worked very hard in their pairs and some pairs even helped others out once they finished.
Numbers, Dancing and Squeegees!
Date: 15th Oct 2020 @ 4:34pm
Another week has gone whizzing by! This week we have been learning all about Numberblocks 1, 2 and 3! We have done lots of counting and have been sorting groups of objects. We have also been developing our gross motor skills by using the water and squeegees outside. On Thursday, everyone in school thought about Mental Health and in Nursery we thought about ways to feel happy when you are feeling sad. We decided that dancing was a great way to cheer yourself up, so we all had a good dance!
Date: 14th Oct 2020 @ 4:36pm
Year 1 have had a brilliant Design and Technology journey this half term. They have made their own fruit salads! The were told they were going to a Tiger Tea Party. They had to design a healthy and colourful snack to eat at the tea party. They were going to go to the tea party with characters from a book they are reading. One of the characters, Sophie, asked that the children design and make a fruit salad. The children had lots of fun and even got to do some sensory evaluations tasting the food!
Date: 14th Oct 2020 @ 2:44pm
This afternoon, the children in Platform 1 and 2 came together and worked in groups for Lego Therapy.
We made a range of models including a whale, windmill and a racing car.
All the children work will together showing good teamwork and communication skills.
Date: 12th Oct 2020 @ 8:48pm
This week we have been talking about celebrations and achievements. Our lesson started with the question 'What is a celebration?'. As a class we discussed the different things we celebrate with our friends and families and why we do this. The children had some super responses and were able to identify lots of different ways we can celebrate including birthdays, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, weddings and even a new baby being born.
"My mummy is getting married and I will wear a special dress" Mia said.
"On my birthday I have a party with my family. We have a cake, balloons, presents and play games" Riley said.
"I'm getting ready for Halloween at my house. My mum put up some scary teeth lights in the living room" Ella-Rose said.
Once we had discussed the different things we can celebrate we passed the special 'Let's Celebrate' box around the circle. Inside were lots of different items and we had to guess what was being celebrated. We also talked about how we can celebrate our own achievements like learning to count, ride a bike or write our name. Throughout the year we are going to be adding different things into out 'Let's Celebrate' box when we learn about different celebrations.
During continuous provision the children then enjoyed writing their own cards for their friends, having a birthday party in the home corner and making birthday cakes and counting the candles in the play dough.
Exploring percussion instruments
Date: 30th Sep 2020 @ 8:10pm
This week in music Reception have been introduced to a range of different percussion instruments including triangles, tambour, tambourine, bells, maracas and claves. The children have been learning the names of the instruments and exploring different ways of playing them and making sounds. We learnt some new words including percussion, instrument, orchestra and conductor and added them to our vocabularly wall.. We talked about the role of the conductor and how it was important to watch him or her carefully to know when to play and when to stop. The children showed great concentration and good listening skills during this activity. After exploring the instruments sounds we listened to a famous piece of music called 'Four Season' by a composer called Vavaldi. We listened carefully to see if we could hear any different instruments and discussed how it music made us feel. We identified the season we are in and some of the different things that happen during the Autumn including leaves changing colour and falling off trees as the temperature cools down. We then used the ribbons to move in time to music.
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 8:09pm
Today for no pen day we have used physical objects to complete part part whole models, practised our number bonds to ten, ordered a set of instructions for our morning routine, and even completed a little experiment!
Germs and hand washing have been involved with a lot of our work this week and we spent some time today looking at how easily germs can spread around our environment, First we used glitter to represent the germs. We put a small amount onto our hand and moved around the classroom for 30 seconds, touching lots of different things. We couldn't believe how much glitter there was around the classroom, representing how quickly germs can spread across everything we touch if we do not wash our hands properly. We then took part in the pepper experiment. Each child had a small bowl of water with pepper in. We firstly observed what happened when we put our finger into the bowl, ''all the germs went all over our finger!'' We then covered our finger with soap, and put this back into the bowl of 'germs.' ''All the pepper moved away from our finger!'' We talked about how the pepper represented germs, and what we need to continue to do to keep ourselves safe and healthy.
Date: 9th Oct 2020 @ 8:00pm
This week in Year 1 we have been looking at instructional texts. We looked at the features of instructional writing, learning about imperative verbs, and how these are used when writing instructions. We then followed a set of instructions to complete a picture, and found out what happens when we don't follow instructions in the correct order! In small groups we ordered a set of instructions to tell us how to do something that is very familiar to us, washing our hands! We followed these instructions carefully, talking about the order things needed to be done, and how many steps we needed to follow. We then received a very important call from Mrs Bunday, asking for our help. We had to create our own set of instructions to help other children learn how to wash their hands. We were the perfect people for the job, and we all tried very hard to each complete our own set of instructions!
Date: 7th Oct 2020 @ 8:46pm
In Science today we have learned all about refraction. Refraction is where light waves travel at a different speed when they go through other transparent materials, such as water or glass. This causes the rays of light to change direction and bend.
Refraction creates illusions. Because light bends when it travels between air and water or glass, objects seen through these materials look bent or distorted. Objects can look bigger or smaller. They can also look as if they have turned the opposite way or flipped upside down. We carried out several investigations to see refraction in action!
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 3:44pm
This week we have been reading the story "The Gigantic Turnip". We have had so much fun learning lots of new words to describe something that is big - ginormous, massive, huge, colossal, giant! The children have been practising using one handed tools by carefully cutting up different vegetables, they have also been printing with different vegetables and giving the. Alongside all of this, they have been using the doctors equipment in the role play area. We might juts have some budding surgeons amongst us!
Date: 8th Oct 2020 @ 3:23pm
This week in Reception we have been reading the traditional tale 'Little Red Hen'. We read the story together and talked about how the Little Red Hen worked hard to grow the grains and to harvest them to make bread. She never gave up even though her farm friends didn't want to help her. We talked about how it is important to help others and the qualities of being a good friend.
We also made our own story maps and orally retold the story, used a range of different materials to create a little red hen at the creative table and moulded the play dough to make our own models.
As a class we then made our own loafs of bread by working together to follow a recipe. We collected the correct ingredients including flour, salt, water, oil and yeast. We measured out the flour and water and added the yeast to help the bread rise. We then kneaded the dough and placed it in the oven to bake. When the bread was ready we all had a chance to taste it. It tasted delicious.
"It's so soft and yummy" Riley said.
'It's fluffy" said Ella-Rose
Date: 6th Oct 2020 @ 4:26pm
This week we have enjoyed a different Tuesday morning - it was no pen day! We had to complete all of our learning without using a pen. We used teamwork, collaboration and worked on our communication skills. In Maths we did three digit subtraction (using hundreds frames and counters) and in Reading into Writing we ordered hand washing instructions ready to include in our explanation texts which we will be writing next week. We really enjoyed our morning!
Date: 7th Oct 2020 @ 8:44am
With pens and pencils removed from the desks, Year 5 had a morning of debate and discussion. We talked about some challenging issues and learned how to express our opinions in a respectful way. The children won the 'Beat the Teacher' dictionary challenge and proved they have excellent dictionary skills!
Date: 6th Oct 2020 @ 7:46pm
Today we held another No Pen Day in Year 6. We began the day looking through a set of 'Thunks' - these are statements/questions where this isn't one specific answer. The idea of 'Thunks' is to get us all talking and communicating. We are free to give our own opinions and give reasons for our thinking. Some of the 'Thunks' we discussed were:
- Where does the sky begin?
- Is it better to do the right thing or to do things right?
- Is there more future or more past?
We then took part in Maths challenges and completed sets of tarsias in pairs. A tarsia is a Maths 'jigsaw' - the shapes fit together by matching questions and answers. We enjoyed the sessions and look forward to more throughout the year.
No pen day in Maple and Laurel
Date: 6th Oct 2020 @ 3:53pm
It was a very exciting day today in Maple and Laurel, because (after break) we took part in NO PEN DAY! This was a great opportunity for the children to use other skills, such as their verbal and listening skills. In Reading into Writing, they read and discussed some cinquain poems. The children had to then sort them into 'good' cinquains and 'bad' cinquains. They did brilliantly at working out how many syllables were on each line. In Maths, the children had to match together their 12 hour or 24 hour times with their partner somewhere in the room. In RE, we researched what dharma is in Hinduism. We discovered that dharma is the religious duty of Hindus and that Rama is an avatar sent from Vishnu to help good overcome evil.
Date: 6th Oct 2020 @ 11:44am
Today in The Platform we have been tasting some different foods in preparation for making a pasta salad tomorrow.
Before we tasted the foods, we learnt how to safely cut them up safely with our hands in a 'claw' and a 'bridge'.
We look forward to making and tasting our pasta salads tomorrow!
Date: 12th Oct 2020 @ 4:46pm
This half term Bracken class are enjoying learning how to play the Samba drums. This week we learnt how to play four beats together, in rhythm, missing a different beat each time.
Date: 5th Oct 2020 @ 6:18pm
Year 2 worked very hard practising making wheels and axels in preparation for their final moving vehicles. They trialled 2 different methods for making wheels and axels and tested which was more effective. The children had to work with accuracy and carefully measure their axels. They did a great job!
