This week some of the Year 4 children started to build a bug hotel. We are hoping to provide a suitable habitat to encourage lots of different insects in to the Forest School area. We are using some pallets and we are going to fill the gaps with rotting wood, branches, bricks and anything else we can find that the insects might like! We needed to something to stack the pallets on so we used the bow saw to cut a tree trunk to make blocks.
It has been lovely to see the Forest School area being used well at lunchtimes, even if it has been a bit muddy!
These children were very proud of the den they made using the large branches. It even had a door bell!
This half term Year 4 have been learning about electricity. We carefully planned an investigation to find out which materials were conductors and insulator of electricity. We choose the materials we wanted to test and discuss how we were going to make it a fair test.
During the investigation, we created a simple circuit and tested each material within the circuit. We discovered if the bulb lit up then the material was allowing electricity to pass through it, so it must be a conductor of electricity. When the bulb did not light up we learnt that the material must be an insulator because it did not let the electricity pass through it therefore, making the circuit incomplete.
Take a look at some of the different materials we choose to investigate!
Yesterday in Year 4 we started our lesson by sharing and looking at the ‘Jigsaw Charter’ to reinforce and help them understand how we work together.
We played a bingo game – ‘Meet & Greet’. This game helps the children become more aware of all the similarities and differences they have with their class friends.
Next we all took part in the ‘Calm Me’ activity to help the children’s minds calm down so that they were ready to learn.
During the main part of the lesson we completed an activity called ‘Open my mind’. This encourages the children to understand what it feels like to be included and excluded from a team/group and reinforces the need for everyone to be included and feel part of the class team.
Yesterday in Year 3 we begin our lesson by looking at the ‘Jigsaw Charter’ and to reinforce how we work together.
Next we played ‘Switch’. The aim of this game is to gain awareness of the similarities and differences between each other.
After this we all took part in a ‘Calm Me’ activity the aim of which is to help the children’s minds calm down so that they are ready to learn.
For the main part of the lesson we placed a treasure box in the middle of the circle and I asked the children to write down their achievements on a gold coin (in secret) and then place it in the box. The group then had to guess who each achievement belonged to.
In yesterdays session we started off by sharing the ‘jigsaw charter’ with the children to reinforce how we work together.
We then played a ‘Blast Off’ game with the whole class. The game encouraged the class to work as a group and listen to each other. The better they worked as a team the more enjoyable the game became.
After the game was completed we worked through a ‘Calm Me’ activity. This helped the children to calm down so that they were ready to learn.
Next the children spent time looking at a PowerPoint that had pictures of British scenes. They then had to tell each other what thoughts came into their minds after looking at the picture.
We have started a new scheme throughout the school which is called Jigsaw and will be following a new structure for PHSE lessons.
This week with year 3,4,5 and 6 I put up a PowerPoint example of a learning charter and explained about our rights and responsibilities which create a learning environment, in which everyone can learn well. I explained when people take their responsibilities seriously, they can gain rewards. When they do not, there are consequences.
Children in groups created their own learning charter.
With Year 1 and 2 we did the ‘Calm Me’ time which develops mindfulness using breathing techniques, awareness exercises and visualisation. We then did circle time and introduced a new Jigsaw ‘Friend’ and mentioned that he/she will be part of their class and they will have to look after it.
We discussed the reason as to why the ‘Friend’ could be nervous and the children gave their own explanations.
This week Y3 caught the train into the city centre to visit Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery as part of our new topic ‘Gods and Mortals’. This topic based around the Ancient Greeks.
At the museum we first got to explore the Ancient Greek gallery, where we had to find different the Greek equivalents of everyday objects, e.g. a perfume bottle and mirror. Y3 also found out more about each of the different gods and designed an offering for them.
Next Sarah, the museum teacher took us to do some Greek themed art. First we explored the red figure technique by painting an owl design, as a gift for Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Both techniques were used by the Ancient Greeks. Afterwards We got to design an amphora pot with a geometric design. Our designs were then scratched onto a final piece to imitate the black figure technique.
A big thank you to Kaeb’s mum and also Shaimaa’s mum for accompanying us.
This afternooon, Year 1 performed an assembly based on Noah’s Ark to the whole school and to their parents. The children performed fantastically and Mrs Nizamis and Miss Tsang are extremely proud! They spoke loudly and clearly, and sang beautifully.
This week, we have read the story ‘Goldilocks and The Three Bears’. The children have really enjoyed reading this story and we have made up our own actions and created a story map using Talk 4 writing. We have also used the story to help us with our maths learning. We have been sorting the bears, bowls, spoons into size order from largest to smallest.
On Thursday 18th January, Year 4 visited Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to find out about the Anglo Saxons.
We started the day exploring the many levels of the museum. After lunch, we visited the Staffordshire Hoard, which is the largest hoard of gold ever found in Litchfield and it belonged to the Anglo Saxons.
During our workshop, we took part in many activities to understand how archaeologists dug up the artefacts and also how the conservation team at the museum recreated some of the pieces of jewellery to be displayed in the museum for everyone to enjoy.
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