Reception Parent Workshop

 

Calling all Reception parents

On Friday 13th October at 2.30pm we would like to invite you to a Read, Write Inc workshop. As your child embarks on their Read, Write Inc journey we would like to provide you with further information on how we teach your child/ren letter sounds, show you what a phonic lesson looks like and provide you with information on how best to support your child/ren at home.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

Across the continents and oceans of the world!

On Monday, the children were visited by Caitlin from The Freshwater Theatre Company, who took them on a magical adventure around the world. We visited the Grand Canyon in North America, Sugarloaf mountain in South America, Victoria Falls in Africa, the Northern Lights in Europe, met the penguins in Antarctica, climbed Mount Everest in Asia and swam in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We travelled across the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Southern and Arctic oceans by boat, plane, hot air balloon and jet ski. The children had a fantastic time and learnt lots about each continent and ocean on the way. This brilliant workshop inspired lots of work this week and we were amazed by how much the children could remember. 

"Asia is my favorite continent because I was born there!" said Visha excitedly. 

Story time with Wilf

On Monday this week, the children in year 1 were visited by an amazing storyteller called Wilf. Wilf spent time in each class performing a story he had written, before making up a story altogether with the children. The story linked to the children's current theme, 'Under the Sea' and some of the them thoroughly enjoyed acting as the main characters. The children came up with some fantastic ideas and Wilf was very impressed with their knowledge about sea animals! The stories the children created with Wilf have inspired some magnificent writing in their Big Write today, as you can see below...

"I want to be a storyteller when I'm older!", exclaimed Angelo.

 

Year 3 - Ancient Egyptian Workshop

Today, Year 3 were given the opportunity to take part in an Egyptian Workshop. They’re currently learning about Ancient Egypt in various subjects, including Topic and Literacy and will soon be writing a biography on Tutankhamun.

The children were transported back in time to Ancient Egypt and asked to put themselves in the shoes of an Egyptian Pharaoh. They were asked to walk and act like a Pharaoh from 4000 years ago.

They also took part in some animated group work where they were given a scene from Ancient Egyptian times and asked to perform it as realistically as possible to the rest of the group. Scenes included the mummification of a body, the various gods the Pharaohs worshiped and the Pharaohs themselves.

At the end of the workshop they met Cleopatra. She came to see how well they had designed and built their own pyramids.

They had an amazing time. 

Well done Year 3!

Year 3 - Stone Age Workshop

Year 3 - Stone Age Workshop.

In Topic this term Year 3 are learning about the Stoneage. To support their learning the children had the opportunity to take part in a stoneage workshop...

The children travelled back in time to the stoneage. They began with a class discussion about what sort of things happened in the stoneage. 

David A from Scotland Class said that the stoneage period dates back 2.5 million years ago. Children acted like cave people walking, making silly faces and making clicking noises.

Children then explored how they lived. What cave people ate and the types of things they got up to. Sophia was selected to show how we might react if a wolf was running towards us. 

Children were then encouraged to role play and grouped to show freeze frames on how cave people would make campfires, cave paintings, picking fruit and the drying animal skin. They also used role play and freeze frames to show cave people hunting fish, birds and animals such as saber tooth tigers, giant sloths and woolly mammoths using tools such as spears, bow and arrows and rocks. Children also made tents from the stoneage, made tools and learnt about Stonehenge where it is believed to be a place of worship.

Did you know that the game draughts dates back to the stoneage?

All the children in year 3 had a great time,

Well done Year 3!

Year 2 Newspaper Sculpture

Who would have thought that a material like newspaper could construct a strong structure like a ship. To the children's amazement Darcy a visiting artist helped year 2 do this.

The children worked together demonstrating reciprocity, independence and great problem solving skills as they rolled and compressed newspapers in special machines invented by Darcy.

Then the sticks they made were fixed together using cable ties to create a sculpture of one of Christopher Columbus's ships. 

The ship will spend its life in our outside environment where the children can enjoy it.

"I didn't realise paper could be so strong" said Lola.

YEAR ONE GO WILD!

The children in year one had some very special visitors on Monday.   Shannon from Wild Science brought her friends Millie the Millipede, Peppa the Guinea Pig, Alfonso the Tree Frog, Merlin the Chinese Water Dragon and Vera the Snake to meet the children.  Our science topic this term is 'Animals including humans' and the visit consolidated the learning that has been happening in class.  Shannon talked about the animal's habitats, what they eat and which classification they belong to.  The children loved meeting the animals and learnt a lot too.
"I know that reptiles have dry scaly skin, lay eggs and have cold blood" said Benjamin.

Reception Friendship Workshop

Today the children in Reception were treated to an exciting morning full of dancing and acting. West End schools came to visit us for our workshop on 'Friendship'. We had an opportunity to talk and share all of the things which make us a good friend, "sharing" said Lexie, "using kind words and feet" said Layla and Stanley summed it up by saying "being someone's friend".

We then delved into our acting skills, learning how to mime. The children got to create movements to symbolise different actions for things they like to do for example running, ballet, eating vegetables and spending time with family were among things said.

Using their new found miming skills, the children were then asked to recall what makes them a good friend and demonstrated this through their own 'friendship picture' using actions.

"I liked the running" said Roman and "I liked doing the ballet" D'arcy was heard saying. The children all had a wonderful morning and we would like to extend our thanks to Glando for visiting us today.