Global Citizenship Week 2019- TASC

Following on from our Environment Week it was Global Citizenship Week in school. We wanted to continue our learning about Wall-e and what was good about our environment. However, we also needed to think about the things that we wanted compared to the things that need.

At first we all knew what we wanted but it was hard to think about what we might really need. We went on a walk around school to look for the different things we needed and wanted. Children commented on these as we walked round. We were starting to understand that although we wanted and liked toys and sweets we did not need them. We took lots of photos of the things we found and when we got back to the classroom sorted them out.

We decided that the things we needed kept us safe and alive. The things that we wanted might keep us happier but we didn’t need them.

To make us think about this a little bit more we returned to our thinking about Wall-e and when all the humans left Planet Earth. We thought about what we would take to a new planet with us if we had to leave Planet Earth.

We used the TASC wheel to work in groups and create something to show what we would take with us. Can you remember what we created?

A rainbow- because we need sun and rain on our new planet and when you get sunshine and rain you get a rainbow!

A garden- because we need plants to survive. They help us breathe good air and make food for us.

A tree- because the tree takes the bad things out the air and puts good air back.

A map-to show our new planet and what we would take with us.

An exercise bike- because we need to do lots of exercise to keep us fit and healthy (We talked about the humans in Wall-e who had got lazy and fat)

You can see all of our learning in the Floor Book.

What have we been learning? 

• The difference between want and need. 
• What keeps us safe in school and at home. 
• What we could take to our new planet. 

How can can you continue the learning at home? 

• Talk about things at home that you need and want. 
• Go for a walk round your house and talk about what keeps you safe. 
• Make something else you would take to a new planet that you might need. 

Zooming Zog and Friends

If you remember our elf gave us a couple of presents before Christmas- a copy of the book Zog by Julia Donaldson and a toy Zog as well. Click on this link to see the full post

We were all very excited when we came back to school after Christmas because we’d seen Zog on the television during the holidays. We began to talk about Zog and what we knew about him. We read the book again and watched the animation. Everyone loved Zog so much we decided to try and learn the story for ourselves. Miss Parker helped us make a story map which helped us remember what came next. We also made sure we remembered to use the repeating text, “Now that you’ve been shown, you can practise on your own”. Can you remember the words and tell your grown up? 

When we were outside some of us had a go at learning to fly like Zog had done. It was a little bit risky but we talked about how to keep ourselves safe and look after our friends.

Some children also helped Zog out by helping him free animals, people and other objects which had got frozen in the ice. We had to try and work out the best way to free the objects in the quickest way. Can you remember how to melt the ice quickly? 

You can see what we said about it in our Floor Book and also see some conversations from the rest of the week.

When we watched the animation of Zog we also talked about how some of the other Julia Donaldson books which we’d been reading had been turned into animations as well. the children loved reading the books and watching the animations.

When we were watching Stick Man we made an important discovery: the animations had been made by humans. Even though we were watching them on the computer a person had to make it first. We wondered whether we could be animators too. We found out that we could.

Miss Parker found a programme which meant we could be animators called 2Animate on Purple Mash. We collected some ideas about what our animations could look like and after trying some as a class we made some of our own looking at the books to check. We had to work together in teams to make sure our animation was a joint effort.

Parents/ carers- your child has now been given their own password to use Purple Mash at home. Can you remember how to make an animation and show your grown ups? 

All week we had been reading more and more Julia Donaldson books. We couldn’t believe how many books she had written. Can you remember some of the other books that Julia Donaldson has written? There is a clue here! Have you read them all? Don’t forget to look in the library if you’ve not read them all. 

We decided that we wanted to find out more about Julia Donaldson. You can see some of our questions in the Floor Book here.

You can also see what we found out and also how we found it out. Some of our questions were answered by reading Julia Donaldson A Biography, some them we asked Google and some of them we answered by asking Siri when some children suggested this as a possible way of finding out information. We did talk about making sure we stay safe when using the internet and Siri or Alexa.

We had such a good time learning about Zog and then animation and then Julia Donaldson. Miss Parker and the teachers loved seeing the children’s ideas flow from one week to the next developing into the next focus. The following week we asked if Julia Donaldson was the only author and started to look at different authors whose books we might like. The children keep returning to Julia Donaldson though- she really is a favourite 🙂

The teachers were all really impressed by the children’s writing in the Floor Book and how their confidence is growing all the time at writing more independently. Well done everyone!

What have we been learning? 

• to retell stories we have heard. 
• to make animations using 2Animate. 
• to investigate what happens to ice. 
• to think about how things get onto the computer and tv screens we watch
• to find out about an author by asking questions. 
• to use books and computers to find out information.

How you can continue the learning at home? 

• Visit the library and find some Julia Donaldson books to read together. 
• Use your Purple Mash password and try to make an animation or picture of your own. Don’t forget to save it and let us know its there. https://www.purplemash.com
• See if you can find out about a different author- Which books have they written?

 

 

Our Christmas Workshop 2018

We were all very excited when we came into school on Friday and remembered it was our Christmas Workshop and our families were able to stay with us to make different Christmas crafts. 

We decided to run it a little differently in FS2 this year. When we work with the children we expect them to think about what they want to make and then have a go at making it themselves. We gave this message to parents and carers along with some ideas of what they might want to have a go at making. 

Everyone then got busy making different crafts in the classroom. The children whose parents and carers were unable to attend joined in too and were able to make their own crafts to take home. 

The children and the parents and carers came up with some amazing creations. 

A HUGE thank you to everyone who was able to stay. We hope you enjoyed it 🙂 

Healthy Living Week 2018

Before October Half Term we all took part in the whole school Healthy Living Week. We learnt about lots of different ways to keep ourselves safe and healthy.

First Mrs Murch came to talk to us about PANTS and our new friend Pantosaurus. It is important that we learn the special PANTS rules so we know how to keep ourselves safe.

There was a special rule to remember for each of the letters in PANTS.We had to remember Privates are private. 

Can you remember what all the rules were?

Grown ups- follow this link to find out more and to find the song Mrs Murch taught us. 

After that we had a doctor come to visit us and tell us all about staying healthy but also what happens if we need to go to the doctors.

We all had such a good time we decided we wanted a Doctors’ Surgery in our classroom and asked the teachers to turn our role play into a Doctors. We have loved pretending to be the doctors and the patients.

 

Another day we had a special PE session with Erol. It was hard work as we tried all the activities and kept our bodies fit and healthy.

Can you remember which your favourite activity was? Which one made you the most out of breath and tired? 

We were very lucky because we were able to borrow some special bikes from Taylor Shaw. They were called Smoothie Bikes because when you pedalled them you made the blender turn. We got to use them a couple of times. First, when we made pumpkin soup with the pumpkins we’d been growing and, second, when we made smoothies with fruit and yoghurt.

Which was your favourite? Can you say why? 

We did some other different food tasting as well to try new and healthy foods.

Some children weren’t to sure to begin with about trying new foods but they surprised themselves when they did try them.

We also had a very different type of PE session than the one with Errol. In this one we did some Yoga and learnt to keep our bodies steady and still. It took a lot of concentration but we got really good at it and wanted to practise for the rest of the day.

We also read a book called UNPLUGGED which taught us about the importance of spending time outside and not always being inside on the computer- even if its our favourite thing to do! We learnt that being safe and healthy online means it is good to be away from the computer.

Grown ups- you can find out more about Digital 5 a Day and how important it is to vary what children do on computers here. 

 

We had a fabulous week 🙂

What have we been learning? 

• To keep our bodies and minds safe and healthy. 
• To find out how special visitors can help teach us about staying healthy. 
• About different healthy foods. 
• About different types of exercise. 
• To keep our bodies private and what to do if we are worried. 
• To stay safe and healthy online and on the computer. 

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• Follow the links for grown ups above and find out more about the things we have been learning. 
• Encourage your children to try new foods. Make it exciting and let them help you prepare them before you try them. 
• Walk to school everyday and talk about why walking is the healthy option (or running, riding a bike or coming on your scooter)

A Gingerbread Man Hunt

There was a strange message when we came into school the other Friday morning. We weren’t sure who it was from so we decided to follow the clue and see if we could find out more. First stop was the school library. When we got there we found another clue. We all had to do good listening and see if we could finish the rhymes to help Miss Parker work out where to go next.

After a few clues we’d worked out that it was the Gingerbread Man that had left us the clue and we had to be really quiet so we didn’t let him know we were coming. By the time we had finished we’d been all round the school, including the MUGA outside and past all of our older brother and sisters classrooms upstairs, and met lots of important people, like Mr Sieczkarek and Miss French. Following the clues meant we’d been upstairs and downstairs, inside and out. When we got back to “the room that is best”, we found the Gingerbread Man had left us a special treat to say well done.

The following week we did lots of learning about the Gingerbread Man. We checked that everyone knew the story and what happened at the beginning, the middle and the end of.  Some children enjoyed retelling the story in their own words. Some children enjoyed trying to write it on a BIG story map like they’d seen Miss Parker do.

What have we been learning? 

• Where places and people are in our new school. This is particularly important for the children who came to us from different settings. 
• The purpose of reading to find out more and help us solve problems. 
• To remember a familiar story and retell it in a variety of ways. 

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• Retell the story of the Gingerbread Man and other stories your child is familiar with. 
• Ask your child to retell stories in pictures and using words. 
• Point out to your child when you are finding something out by reading or reading for pleasure to help them understand why reading it so important. 

Escape from the Volcano

Everyone had been talking about volcanos and playing a game called ‘Escape from the Lava’ for ages so we decided we should learn about volcanoes in class.

Miss Parker found a book which told us a bit more about volcanoes. Can you remember what it taught us?

We also watched a video that lots of us had seen at home. You can watch it again here. Can you tell a grown up how an island grows?

Then we watched some videos of some real volcanoes and found out there were volcanoes erupting right now while we were in school. We thought about how we would feel if there was lava coming towards our homes. Miss Parker told us about when she went to an volcano but thankfully it wasn’t erupting when she was there.

We thought how we would help the people in Hawaii escape after they wrote to us asking for help. We came up with a few suggestions.

There was lots more role play and children wanting to experience what it was like to be near the lava. Outside was a popular place for this and the children loved building bridges and other ways to stay safe. They used our loose parts in all sorts of imaginative ways and even added water to be lava.

 

As the children were so engrossed in making up stories we used this to practise our writing skills. First we had to THINK IT and decide what we wanted to happen in our story. We drew a story map to help us remember it.

Then we had to SAY IT for each sentence so we could remember what to write. Then we had to WRITE IT. We worked hard to sound out the words and think of the letters we needed to write. Here is the beginning and the middle of the story.

When we had written it we had to READ IT to see if we’d done a good job. Can you see the ticks and crosses on our writing? We used the sentence hand to make sure we’d remembered everything putting a tick if we had and a cross if we hadn’t. On Wednesday we forgot our capital letter but on Thursdays we remembered them.

from Sparklebox.co.uk

Do you think you could write the end of the story? You could write it on paper and bring it to school or put it in a comment below or an email.

Our learning about volcanoes went over two weeks because we were all so interested and there was so much to learn and do. We decided we wanted to make a volcano of our own and see if we could make it erupt. It took us all week to make. We started with a bottle and some masking tape.

Then we had to use papier-mâché to build the shape of the volcano. It took a long time because we had to wait for it to dry in between.

 

Everyone enjoyed helping with our volcano which was good because there were still more jobs. Next we had to paint our volcanoes. First we painted the mountain and the grass before we added the lava. We used one of our volcano books to help us think what the volcano should look like.

 

Finally our volcano was ready and it was time to watch it erupt. Miss Parker used bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar to create the lava inside the volcano. Everybody loved it and said it was well worth the wait.

We loved learning about volcanoes.

What have we been learning?

• To find out about volcanoes using videos and books.
• To find out where volcanoes are using first hand experiences and technology.
• To build our own volcano and watch it erupt.
• To role play what we think it would be like near a volcano which is erupting.
• To make up stories about volcanoes.
• To think how to stay safe near volcanoes and send our ideas to Hawaii.

How can you continue the learning?

• Watch the video above and talk about how the volcanoes grow.
• Use Google to find videos of real volcanoes and watch the lava flow (Make sure before doing any Google search with children that you have the appropriate safety measures in place)
• Continue the story above writing it either on paper or typing it.

 

Best Attendance Spring Term 2018

Well done Onyx Class!

You had the best Attendance in the whole of Foundation Stage and Key Stage One for the Spring term. That means you came to school more than any other class between Christmas and Easter!

We hope you enjoyed your special treat of extra ‘park’ time and snacks 🙂

Thanks to all the parents and carers for making sure your children are in school everyday and on time. It makes a massive difference to your child’s learning and gives them the best chance of success.

 

Yum, Yum, Christmas Dinner

It was our Christmas Dinner today. Nearly everybody in the class tried a school dinner which was great to see. We have to try hard to use our knife and fork even when it gets a bit tricky.

We even had some special visitors come and join us for Christmas Dinner. The PCSOs came to catch up with us and enjoy their dinner as well. You might even spot Miss Parker’s mum as well who came to share the occasion with us.

We all agreed that our dinner was delicious and now those of us who celebrate Christmas are really looking forward to Christmas dinner at our homes over Christmas.

What we have been learning? 

• To use a knife and fork.
• To try new foods. 
• To talk to members of our community. 

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• Encourage your child to use their knife and fork when they eat at home. 
• Encourage your child to try a range of foods at home and to eat school dinners each day. 

Balance Bikes

We were very lucky this week when Rob from British Cycling came back to visit us in school. He came in before the half term break to see us and teach us some skills on the balance bikes. The balance bikes are really important for helping us to develop lots of physical skills.

These are the pictures from Rob’s first visit.

We start each session by practising some skills, often holding onto the paper ‘handlebars’. Then we get to try out our new skills on the bike.

Rob said he was really impressed by the progress we are making and he could tell that we’d been practising in between our sessions. We go on the Muga every week to practise our skills.

Rob was so impressed he gave everyone a certificate to say well done 🙂

 We’d love to know if your child has a bike a home. Do they have a balance bike or can they already ride a bike with pedals? Please complete a WOW moment or email us a photo of your child riding their bike.

Please ask for the email address in school if you don’t already have it.

Super Sports Day

Friday was our Sports Day. We had a fabulous time along with Key Stage One down on the MUGA completing a range of different activities. First we found out which team we were in and which grown up we were with. It was good because we got mixed up with lots of kids from all the other classes. Then it was down to the MUGA to start the different activities. We had ten to do in total with a couple of rest stations.

Sports Day was even more exciting this year as our parents/ carers got to come and watch us. There were 75 parents/ carers in total which is fantastic to see. Thanks to all that came. A big thank you also the the Y6 kids who came to help us and Miss Varley who organised everything.

Once we’d done all the activities we went back to the Main Hall to find out who won. All the points every team scored were added up and the winning teams were announced. There were special certificates for the kids in 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Everyone else got a certificate to say well done.

What have we been learning?

• to take part in a team with children from a range of classes.
• to participate in a range of sporting activities.
• about the effects of exercise on our bodies.
• to support others engaged in sporting activities.

How can you continue the learning at home? 

• have a mini-sports day at the park with your friends. 
• talk about the effects of exercise on your body, for example, when walking home or walking up stairs. 
• talk about how to cool down when you get hot during sports activities, such as taking off jumpers when hot and drinking cool water.