Today was a very exciting Friday. The children looked amazing in their red outfits, and the sun was out to add to the atmosphere.
In RE, we thought about how raising money for Red Nose Day shows that we represent Jesus. We considered the verses from 2 Corinthians 9 – “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” We talked about charity and that doing what is beneficial for everyone, not just ourselves, should be part of our lives, in the same way that Jesus did good for others as part of his daily life. Jesus used the gifts he had to help others; and we can be like Jesus by sharing what we have. This doesn’t need to be huge gestures or large sums of money, but actions and contributions which we can do willingly and happily, like Jesus did for us.
Year 3 has its own rockstars! Neve and Austin were two of the band members in the Rocksteady workshop today. The rest of us provided the backing percussion and singing and we all had a great time. I was very proud of year 3 as they joined in with gusto and volume and then returned to thoughtful, calm learning in the classroom. Well done, year 3: a exciting and productive day to end the week with. Wishing you all a relaxing weekend and let’s hope the sun stays out.
Books have been arriving since Friday before last and are making a huge difference to year 3’s reading corner. Thank you so much for your generosity, which will directly impact the children’s enjoyment and learning at school. The reading corner is in a process of transformation. We’ve made space for your books while also keeping record of this year’s World Book Day, to remind children of the books they all enjoy and which their friends could also enjoy.
Here is an update: there will be more changes to come….
We celebrated the growing theme in this year’s Science Week in year 3 by comparing the elasticity of different objects – in other words, what is the stretchiest – a sock, an elastic band or slime? This meant making slime, a task year 3 were more than game for. They combined the materials which combined irreversibly. We were fascinated to find out that some slime stretched for metres – and could have gone on longer, if that had been practical – and some broke very quickly. We also found that if you carefully kneaded and pulled the slime, that made it more elastic. Strict health and safety guidelines were followed throughout. Well done, year 3, like all good scientists, you stayed safe and observed very well. Also, you all learnt collaboratively very well.
Another aspect to science week in year 3 is to “ask a scientist a question”. I showed the children a picture of a real scientist – my son, who recently started his career in a Biochemistry lab. As I explained to the class, everyone in year 3, who would like to, could do the same, by doing your best at school in science, taking opportunities to explore the world around you, remaining curious and open-minded. Never stop asking questions! Already one class member says he would like to become a palaeontologist, which is a fascinating field to work in. My son would love to hear of any questions year 3 might having about being a scientist, working in science, or studying science after school. Please email me any questions, or post them on Google Classroom or tell them to me at school, by the end of this week. Friday morning is going to be busy already, so we’ll share any answers next week.
The photos show some of the enthusiasm in year 3 this morning.
Experimenting with the consistency…
Team work is bestThis slime could have gone on and on….We found out the most socks were much less elastic than slime.Measuring and recordingAlistair doesn’t make slime at his lab! But he does enjoy his work as a scientist and would be very happy to answer questions about studying science after school or working in science.
Year 3 looked fantastic today, particularly the Mr Foxes! One of the particularly great things about their outfits was that many of them were made from home things, which had been carefully selected so the children could play a character they found very interesting or admirable. Like other classes, year 3 is in the process of revamping the reading corner. The children played a part today by making bunting about their favourite books. Emphasis was put on spelling every word correctly, starting every proper noun with a capital letter and also describing the book in a “strapline” or three key words. I shared my favourite book – “Little House on The Prairie” which I described as “girl’s adventurous life-story”. One piece of bunting describes “George’s Marvellous Medicine” as “funny, energetic and weird” – I quite agree. Another says for “Fantastic Mr Fox” – “Looking for food, What a disaster that’ll be soon!” Here are a few other pieces, to give you an idea of the care the children took with them…
As Mr Haynes said in his email yesterday, the class library could really do with some more, up-to-date texts so children can really benefit from the wealth of literature around now. If you would like to contribute, here is the link from his email: https://amzn.eu/bXpVAyq . Thank you.
Here are the children in their marvellous outfits, showing their bunting and focusing on book reviews they wrote. They also did well, collectively, to answer questions in our “literary quiz”.
The range of books the children brought in was wide – fiction, non-fiction, adventure stories, stories about school. Roald Dahl and JK Rowling featured quiet strongly. We talked about reading being the single-most important activity you can do for yourself: not just for knowledge, academic achievement and vocabulary building, for also for imagination, creativity, enjoyment, mindfulness and to share with others. Keep reading, everyone!
On Tuesday of this week Year 3 celebrated St David’s Day, which they did in style with their red white and green outfits. We even had a very spectacular dragon! They learned to say Happy St David’s Day in the Celtic Welsh language, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
On Ash Wednesday Y3 joined in receiving The Ashes with the rest of the school in a whole school Ash Wednesday Liturgical Assembly led by Brother Nelson and attended by parents. They will be thinking about and making their Lenten promises soon.
The children in year 5 will develop these skills through a game which was novel to most of the class – Danish Longball (also known as Swedish longball). This is a fun-packed game to practise the skills of batting/kicking, catching and running while also being a good team player and sportsperson. It’s like crickets and rounders but the pace is faster and (nearly) everyone is involved. The diagram below shows what the play area typically looks like. This week year got the hang of running to first base and back to home to score a point while the fielders passed the ball to each other as quickly as they could. We are looking forward to introducing more rules in the coming weeks as well as running around in what will surely be warmer weather, cheering each other on to team success.
In the meantime, other classes are enjoying a return to gymnastics, indoors. It’s been a long time since children could enjoy jumping, balancing and rolling in the gym and it’s fantastic to be doing these activities again. It’s essential that children are attired safely and comfortably for gymnastic activities, so please make sure your children have gym shorts and T-shirts in school all the time for whenever they are needed. Thank you for your support.
This week in Design and Technology, year 3 have begun to learn about pneumatics and how the idea of pressurised air being used to make machines work goes all the way back to ancient Greece! Many of them knew that their bicycle and ball pumps use air but they were surprised to learn that the drills used to drill holes in the road are powered just by by air, and that it can provide enough power to create that amount of force! They watched as just air, powered a small rocket and are excited to be making their own pneumatic toys.
3-D printed pneumatic rocket launcher
They are going to be using a mixture of new and recycled items to create their moving toys, which may look something like this:
In History, Prehistory is in the air… as the children have just begun to learn about the last part of the Stone Age and the children will be going on to learn about the Bronze and Iron Ages too. They have been imagining what their life would be like if they lived as Stone Age farmers up in Skara Bray on the Orkney Islands and wrote a diary entry for a day in their lives, as we compared just how different life was, then to now.
Year 3 celebrated Wellbeing Week on Friday by reflecting – and dancing about – growth. The amaryllis now on the classroom window-sill is a metaphor for the growth which everyone experiences. We asked the question “Can all growth be seen?” We’ll see how the amaryllis grows taller (quickly), but it will also grow in other ways which we won’t be able to see, resulting in a beautiful flower. We discussed how growth is exciting and leads to fantastic new skills, but it isn’t always quick or easy. To think more deeply about this, we considered a skill we’d already learnt, such as swimming. We thought about the steps and breakthroughs taken along the way to gain this skill, as well as the things which went wrong. It’s these little steps and mistakes which, over time, lead to success and pride. This goes not just for the subject learning at school, but the growth we experience in our relationships with family members, friends and other people at school. Everyone in year 3 is growing, in lots of ways; and has much to be proud of. Here are some of the fantastic records the children made to show their understanding. A great motto for life which the children in year 3 shared is “Practice makes progress”.
Year 3 have had another busy week! They had a lovely visitor in the form of Mrs Hayes to lead an in class assembly from Galatians on the Fruit of the Spirit. The children then updated or wrote a plan to lead their own in class assemblies each week and I look forward to assisting them as do so. For Safer Internet Day they created their own, named, Gaming Guide, instructing him or her as to what advice they should give gamers, and then designing an avatar for their gaming Guide. In Art and design they finished their water colour paintings in the style of pop art to great effect.
As you can see they have worked carefully and precisely to create colourful images of everyday items, not forgetting to include the iconic Ben Day dots.
Safer Internet Day takes place every February. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate all the amazing things we all do online; and also to find a different way, each year, for everyone to safe online. This year the theme is being respectful and maintaining good relationships when playing games online.
As a show of hands in the morning’s “kick-off” assembly showed, nearly everyone in the school loves playing online games: there was palpable excitement as the children thought of it! And every device is used to play games on. All the more reason to make sure we can all enjoy a favourite hobby while keeping ourselves and everyone else safe!
We want gaming to be a fun, respectful way of spending some time, according to each family’s rules. What we do online should make our online friends post emojis like these
We discussed the questions “Should you behave as well towards your friends online as well as you do offline? Why?“, “If you’re online and no-one knows your identity, can you behave how you like?” and, perhaps the most difficult one, “If someone else makes the wrong choice and doesn’t show respect, what can -or should – you do in response?”
Following are some photos of children completing activities in their classrooms and a few photos of the sharing assembly at the end of the day. As well as developing understanding of online safety, the activities provided opportunities for collaborative learning and creative writing.
We hope you enjoy finding out about what the children have learnt about the essential topic of internet safety.
At the end of the day the children shared what they had learnt with the rest of the school.
Reception learnt the Smartie the penguin song which tells us, “Before you click, click, click, make sure you think, think, think – and tell someone.”
Year 1 learnt about what it’s OK to share online and what not to. You can share non-personal things, such as the colour of your socks, or your favourite fast food, but not your full name or where you go to school.
Year 2 wrote “spells for internet kindness”. They learnt that whenever we play online games, we need to be prepared to show respect even if other people make wrong choices.
Year 3 wrote “gaming guides”. Some advice about what you can do online is the same as what you can offline – for example, don’t give out personal information like your address to someone you’ve never spoken to before or met.
Year 4 played “roll a story”, where they acted out given scenarios – such as your friends have fallen out during an online game – and then found ways to resolve the problem.
Year 5 discussed good and bad decisions in online behaviour, including how hard it can be to make the right choices.
Year 6 also considered the different scenarios in “roll a story” and made posters informing people how to resolve situations, based on these predicaments.
All the activities provided the children with opportunities to discuss the issues, focusing on solutions and remembering that online games are a source of fun and communication for nearly everyone.
Year 4Year 2
Year 2 wrote some spells for a kinder internet.
We all stirred up the spells in our cauldrons and recorded them. Here are some of our spells. Can you think of any other ingredients we should add?
Year 2 spells for a kinder internetYear 6 presenting at the end of the day.Year 4 presenting at the end of the day.
