The summer term has got off to a great start, with new topics and active learning today. The children are clearly interested in the world around them, making a good start to our Geography topic about Europe. We all also started learning about Pentecost – with a theme of Energy – and the RE home learning is on the website. The new books are being distributed and enjoyed. Even more arrived during the Easter holidays – thank you so much again for your generosity. These new books form the class library, from where the children can choose freely. The reading books are matched to year group expectations. It’s fantastic that we now have many more Copper and Topaz books to choose from so the children are able to broaden and deepen their reading skills. Please remember to return these books promptly so that as many children as possible can benefit from them. Thank you. Spelling homework is on Google classroom and the test of these words will be next Wednesday. And don’t forget about Times Tables Rockstars – an incredibly effective way to learn those essential times table facts off by heart.
Today was all about Science. We kicked off the new “Light and Dark” topic with a workshop from STEMPoint, who run educational sessions on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths topics. The class talked about sources of light, the revolution of the earth around the sun, how we need light to see and that the absence of light is darkness.
Several Mums were very generous with their time and came to help at the workshops. Thank you so much as without your help we couldn’t provide enrichment opportunities like this.
Some of the photos aren’t worth showing as some activities were done in the dark! E
Everyone make a kaleidoscope and did a variety of “hands-on activities.”
As it is Earth Day, we learnt about the “greenhouse effect”, how it is essential for human life on the planet but also how the temperature has risen too much. We did a class investigation today – the photo is below. The cling-film on one jar represents the earth’s atmosphere. We took the temperatures of the air in the jars and put them in a warm place and took the temperature regularly. The children’s prediction was correct in that the temperature in the jar with the cling- film rose more and stayed high, compared to the other one.
We watched a video about the greenhouse effect and sequenced pictures and captions to show understanding. The children also wrote something they’d learnt on post-its. Their engagement and understanding was excellent and they have a good knowledge of the steps we all need to take to try and halt/reverse the overheating resulting from the greenhouse effect – using cars and appliances less figured highly.
It’s been a great first week back. Have a lovely weekend, before more exciting learning next week.