: Blog items
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:22am
Date: 2nd Nov 2020 @ 10:20am
Date: 30th Oct 2020 @ 10:25am
Music was our focus for Black History Month in Year 5. We focused on the contributions that artists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Marley made to twentieth century music and culture. We listened and appraised different genres of music and created some wonderful artwork.
Date: 26th Oct 2020 @ 12:05pm
This week we have been learning about Black History Month. We started the week by reading the story 'Handa's Surprise,' talking about the characters, setting, and key points in the book, before sequencing and retelling the story.
We looked in depth at the illustrations of the setting and how this enabled us to know where the story took place. We also recapped on the use of adjectives, and how we could describe each fruit. We had ideas such as 'spiky large pineapple,' 'green, creamy avocado,' and 'yellow, bendy banana.' Later in the week we then wrote sentences to describe what was happening in a picture from the story, focussing on using capital letters, full stops, and segmenting and blending the words we wanted to use.
We also spent an afternoon creating and designing African masks. We explored a range of masks from countries we have looked at during the week, discussing the features, colours, and emotions the masks portrayed. Children cut out shapes from different coloured and textured paper to create the features of their masks. We discussed the use of symmetry and tried to make our masks as symmetrical as possible!
Throughout the week we have explored lots of similarities and differences, learning that everyone is different, but everyone is special.
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 12:15pm
In Year 1 this week we read the story 'How Full Is Your Bucket?' We discussed what it meant to be a bucket filler and a bucket dipper, and how the choices that we make can impact those around us. We also talked about how different actions make us feel, and how they can also make others feel. The children then sorted a variety of statements, deciding if they were bucket filler or bucket dipper behaviours.
Whilst learning about World Mental Health Day we recapped on being a bucker filler or dipper, and identified something we can do during our every day routine to be a bucket filler. We drew a picture and explained to an adult/wrote a sentence to explain something positive we had done that week that had filled our bucket.
Date: 23rd Oct 2020 @ 1:30pm
This week, we ended the half term and October in school by celebrating Black History Month. The children learnt all about what Black History Month is and why is it important to learn all about it. We looked at many black men and women who have had amazing achievements; including Ruby Bridges (ask your child/ren who she is and why she had such a brilliant achievement). After we learnt all about what Black History Month is, we focused on the sporting achievements of black men and women. Firstly, we looked at the achievements of American black men and women. For example, the Williams sisters and Barack Obama. Then we focused on British black men and women and their incredible sporting achievements. For example, Marcus Rashford, Jessica Ennis Hill and Dame Kelly Holmes. On Friday afternoon, we went to the Dance Studio and had a look at the black post boxes which each year group had created about their Black History Month learning. Then we went back to class and watched the videos each year group made.
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 5:02pm
We have had such a busy and fun half term! It has been a pleasure getting to know all of our new starters and we have done so much exploring and investigating. We finished off this half term talking about similarities and differences for Black History month and the children were able to talk about how they were similar to their friends. We have also been practising our cutting skills, developing our fine motor skills by pegging numbers on to a washing line and talking part in collaborative play with activities in the tuff tray.
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 1:02pm
This week we have been learning about 'Black History Month'. We have enjoyed learning about Mary Secole, Nelson Mandella and finding out why Black History is so important. We read the book 'Sulwe' by Lupita Nyongo, who is a Kenyan-Mexican actress and author. The story helped us to understand that our beauty comes from within, everyone is different but everyone is special and beautiful. Our differences should be celebrated and our similarities bring us together. Our learning also linked in with our school characteristic this week - tolerance.
Half Term Boundary Learning Together
Date: 22nd Oct 2020 @ 8:06am
Please make sure you use the websites we have directed you to already. Keep your learning fresh in your mind and make sure you use Timestable Rockstar, MyMaths, Spelling Shed and Seesaw. Tasks have been set. Read, Read, Read!!
Date: 20th Oct 2020 @ 10:05pm
The children have been busy in the mud kitchen, using their motor skills to pour the mud, mix the mud into "soup" and chop up the left over carrots from snack time. They took care when doing this and held the knife safely and with increasing control.
Rosie's Walk In The Outdoor Area!
Date: 24th Sep 2020 @ 9:51pm
After reading the story Rosie's Walk, the children went outside to act it out and learn their new positional language. They went "under the bench" and "through the blocks" then they climbed "over the blocks" and finally "around the pond". They all managed to do this and "get back home in time for dinner"!
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.
