: Blog items
Year 5 - African Drumming 2024
Date: 29th Oct 2024 @ 4:16pm
Today, all of the children in Year 5 were given an amazing opportunity to take part in an African drumming workshop. Pupils learned about the different percussion instruments from west Africa and had a go at playing a djembe - an African drum. We learned different dances and rhythms and performed what we had learned in an assembly at the end of the day to parents and carers. It was an amazing experience!
Date: 29th Oct 2024 @ 10:18am
We starting our unit about Animals including humans and what a great start to the unit. We focused on our teeth. We explored which teeth we use to bite, tear, chew and grind - practising with an apple. Then we looked at the correct names for our teeth and their functions. We then used our knowledge of our teeth to make a model.
Date: 28th Oct 2024 @ 4:51pm
To finish off our Ballet workshop, Year 3 invited people from home to come and watch them in action. They were very excited to show what they had learnt including, spotting and jumping. The children even showed off their Stone Age dance that had linked to our History topic. We incorporated key facts from our History lessons about how people from the Stone Age lived and created key movements to represent these facts.
Date: 28th Oct 2024 @ 11:05am
Today in Year 6, we had a visit from someone who works for Lancashire County Council - Tim. His workshop focussed on the 5 British Values: Rule of Law, Mutual Respect, Individual Liberty, Tolerance and Democracy. We talked about how we can all demonstrate the British Values in school and the wider community. It was a really informative workshop and the children gave some excellent answers to questions posed. We are very proud of how mature Year 6 were during the session.
Date: 21st Oct 2024 @ 1:59pm
During the final week of the first half term, we had a discussion about who inspires us to show goodness in the world and compared our role models.
Next, we created some rangoli patterns using coloured rice. Rangoli, which means rows of colours, is drawn on the entrance and filled with colours during Diwali. They are used to welcome guests and Lakshmi into homes. We took our time creating the intricate patterns and created some brilliant art work!
Reception Music this Half Term
Date: 20th Oct 2024 @ 5:08pm
This half term we have enjoyed singing Nursery Rymes and Action Songs. We have learnt a 'Hello Song' using Makaton to support our communication.
We really enjoyed learning the 'Owl Song' and 'Dingle Dangle Scarecrow' to help our learning across the curriculum.
We can now start and stop all together using instruments (Maracas and Claves) and we are beginning to find a steady beat.
What a fantastic start to Music in Reception!
Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 5:29pm
Acorns have been exploring their senses over the past couple of weeks as part of our topic marvellous me! We have been focusing on our touch and smell in particular and have enjoyed lots of sensory experiences to support our understanding.
Acorns loved having surprise cups to sniff. We didn't know what was inside them but all had a good sniff. Some were definitely much nicer than others, especially the garlic, yuk!
Acorns enjoyed exploring a variety of textures through touch. We especially loved our sensory walk without our shoes and socks on, so we could experience touch in different ways.
We can't wait to explore sight and sounds of Autumn next term.
Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 10:40am
On Thursday, Reception visited Forest School with Jenna and Emma.
We had a great time listening to a story, searching for bugs and making homes for them using leaves and twigs that we found. All the children worked together, helping each other and sharing what they had found.
"I can't believe we have found slug eggs!" Kevin.
"Worms come up through the soil" Dennis.
"Look! I've found a bug under the log" Harley.
"I made a house for my bug from leaves and some mud" Hazel.
"I've found a secret path in the trees" Harry.
Date: 18th Oct 2024 @ 8:13am
This week Acorns have been reading the Colour Monster. We have had lots of fun exploring colours, colour mixing and emotions linked to our story.
Pupils have explored colour sorting and matching in maths, learning new makaton signs for colours and looking at their faces in mirrors, making different emotions.
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 9:13pm
We have worked hard on following our final designs to create our pencil cases. We had to put all the skills we had practised into action including tying knots, threading needles and completing a running stitch. Some of us even used zips and buttons so we had to apply our skills to something new! We did a great job in following our designs and showed resilience, creativity and persistence in abundance whilst creating our final pieces. Well done Year 3!
Year 6 - Symbolism and words used in Christian ceremonies
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 3:40pm
In our latest RE lesson, we explored how words and actions can convey meaning in Christian ceremonies. We looked at the words used in baptism, the symbolism used in holy communion and the symbolism of the rings in mariage ceremonies. We worked in small groups to answer questions about what we had learned.
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 9:47am
In RE we have been learning all about Christianity (God) and we focused on the question of how (and why) have some people served God? We began thinking of what makes a good leader and discussed different famous people that have been leaders and role models to people in the past. We shared our opinions with one another and created a booklet for the qualities that makes a good leader. We recapped what is the bible? What is the old testament? We then read and understood all about the two stories, ‘story of the Moses’ and ‘Noah’s Ark.’ In pairs we shared our ideas as to what do we learn from the stories? Why do you think Christians follow God? We then compared the two stories thinking about how people felt when they heard God? As a class we discussed what life of service means and then looked at three Christians who have served a life of service. We thought about their role, the impact they had on other people and how they had a positive effect on others by being helpful. We discussed what the word vocation means and linked it to the role of a church leader. We researched how a church leader serves in church, but also in the community. We then carried our research as a class to find out about The Salvation Army and how it links to how Christians serve others? We shared ideas as to what Christians do for the community and the positive impact the Salvation Army has on the world. We applied everything we have learnt to then our personal life to think, are we good examples to others? Also, who inspires us?
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 9:08am
Today we had a visit from the ladies who organised 'Buzzing about books'. We had to chance to feedback back how much we have enjoyed getting new books, deciding which book we want to read and then the time to read it. Thanks so much!
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 9:07am
This half term in Music, we have been learning all about finding the steady beat in the music that we have been listening to. We have learnt lots of new musical vocabulary to help us when discussing what we can hear. We have had lots of fun playing a variety of notes on the glockenspiels and learning about one of our composers, Mozart. Our favourite lesson was learning how to play Twinkl, Twinkle Little Star on the glockenspiels.
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 8:22am
In RE this half term, we have asked ourselves ‘Why is it sometimes difficult to do the right thing?’ and considered this question through the teachings of Christianity. We have thought about the meaning of temptation, sin and forgiveness. To aid our understanding, we listened to the parables, The Fall and The Lost Son from the Bible and challenged ourselves to compare how forgiveness was shown in both stories. In class, pupils role –played the parts of Adam and Eve and were subjected to questioning by their peers about their actions. We also thought about the metaphorical and literal meanings of the story of The Fall and the children gave some very thoughtful answers. To try to answer our question, we discussed the temptations in the modern day world and how this may lead Christians to commit a sin. We looked at how Christians seek forgiveness through various practices in the Protestant and Catholic churches and compared these. Finally, we thought about what right and wrong looks like for us as individuals and created a moral compass poster to demonstrate our beliefs.
Year 2- Does how we treat the world matter?
Date: 17th Oct 2024 @ 8:00am
This half term in R.E, the children have been learning all about Christianity and how Christians believe that God created the world. We have looked at the Creation Story of how God created the world in 7 days. We then went on to learn all about Harvest and why this is an important celebration for Christians, as this is the time where they thank God for food that He has provided. At the end of the topic, we reflected on how we can make a difference to our world, as it is our responsibility to look after it.
Nursery and the Colour Monster
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 9:30pm
We have been reading the story "The Colour Monster" and learning about the different emotions we feel. The children have been thinking about what can make us feel happy and sad. What it feels like to be angry and how we can keep ourselves nice and calm.
Nursery, Some Sponges and a Giant Caterpillar
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 9:18pm
Sometimes all you need is a giant caterpillar, some water and a couple of sponges and then watch the learning unfold! We had provided water and sponges in the outdoor provision so the children could wash the windows but quiet often they have their own ideas! The children decided that the caterpillar was very dirty and needed a good scrub! They worked together with some children pouring water on the caterpillar and others scrubbing him with the sponges. They talked to each other as they worked about how the caterpillar had got dirty, commenting when he was clean and negotiating using resouces. The end result was a very shiny caterpillar!
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 4:47pm
This half term, we have enjoyed listening and appraising lots of different songs, trying to use the key musical vocabulary that we know from Year 1 and introducing some new vocabulary for Year 2. Throughout the unit, we have practised singing a range of songs and the glokenspiels.
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 4:33pm
This half term we have linked our writing with our work on Black Hisgtory Month. We learned about Harriet Tubman, a slave who lived and worked on a plantation in Maryland in the early 1800s. She escaped from her master and went on to have a successful life helping other slaves who escaped. We wrote news articles linked to her escape and typed them out. Have a read at some of our work below...
Year 5 - Active Listening - PSHE
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 1:54pm
This week's Skills for Life and PSHE focus was Active Listening. In Year 5, we looked the importance of active listening linked to the British Values of respect and tolerance and to friendship here at school and at home. We talked about the importance of active listening not just when adults are speaking but when our friends and adults at home are too! Finally, we put our skills to the test. In pairs, one person had 2 minutes to tell their partner facts about themselves or about their day so far; while this was happening the listener had to show their active listening skills (and ask any clarifying or probing questions). At the end of the 2 minutes, the speaker had to ask the listener 3 questions to test their skills - we decided that Year 5 are very good at Active Listening!
Year 5 - Reading into Writing - Oracy
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 1:43pm
A new Reading into Writing journey has begun and we are looking at Non-Chronological reports; specifically linking to our learning in Geography: Mountains! As always, our first lesson was an Oracy lesson. We looked at Physical Oracy and how facial expression and eye contact can impact how we speak and how (and if!) we are listened too. In the second part of the lesson, we looked more closely at our writing focus of mountains and, using key vocabulary (such as foot, summit and valley) we climbed our very own mountains in class - looking at our actions, thoughts, internal dialogues and the five senses...some of us were very cold and some of us had to overcome our fear of heights!
Year 5 - Blue Peter badge winner!
Date: 16th Oct 2024 @ 11:50am
Albie was very proud to share the news that he has recently recieved a Blue Peter badge for his passion for reading. He had to get in touch with the Blue Peter team and share a list of his favourite authors and books and then write about his passions and opinions when it comes to childrens books. The team were so impressed by his penmanship and passion that they awarded him a very special Blue Peter badge made from recycled yoghurt pots!
Well Done Albie, we are so proud of you!
Date: 15th Oct 2024 @ 8:20pm
Acorns have had a surprise visit today from a hedgehog brought in by Blackpool's hedgehog rescue. We were excited to meet the little hedgehog and watch him snuffle along our table. Carolyn talked to us about some hedgehog facts and we'll be learning more about nocturnal animals including hedgehogs next term.
Date: 15th Oct 2024 @ 8:03pm
Acorns have been enjoying the book 'You Choose' to explore and develop their understanding about choice and making a choice.
We have encouraged Acorns to make different choices throughout the week in all aspects of their learning and play.
Acorns have enjoyed a multi-sensory approach to making choices. We loved choosing different hats to wear, different outfits, especially super hero's, to dress up in and different tools to explore with in art and mark making.
We also used visuals to support our choice making during snack and lunch times.
