After a busy morning finding out about the different types of activities we would be doing at Woodlands and starting our diaries, we finally set off.  When we arrived and found our suitcases and all of our belongings, the next thing was to find our bedrooms and sort our beds out.  Once our sleeping bags and pillows were in place, we set off to find explore the facilities.

The staff gave us a safety talk before we split into our 2 groups and taking us to the zip wire and the assault course.  Once we were all kitted out with harnesses and safety helmets we all waited to complete the zip wire, even Mrs Hall and Miss Hughes took their turn and completed the zip wire.  The group doing the assault course had just as much fun getting muddy and wet on the cargo nets and doing the over and under beams.  They even found some mud with better cleansing properties than the local Spa!   As it was national hug a tree day everyone had to find and hug all the trees as well as give them a name.  Soon it was time to swap over activities and head back to the dorms and get cleaned up and start preparing tea for that evening;

Jerk Quorn Chicken and Caribbean Peas and Rice

All too soon it was bedtime and we eventually fell asleep.

The next day, we were all up bright and early and after a hearty breakfast of toast and cereals we were ready to face the day’s activities.  In the morning we attacked the climbing and abseiling wall.  We were split into groups of six and sent to a wall.  Each climbing wall differed in complexity and the children really had to think about where the next foot or hand hole/grip was that they could use.  Everyone climbed higher than they thought they could and everyone reached their aim with a little encouragement.  Although not everyone completed the abseil, everyone made it to the top of the tower and got their heels over the edge of the platform.

With lots of encouragement from the children Mrs Hall was able to overcome her phobia of heights and abseil down the wall.  Massive thanks for the encouragement guys!

After lunch was the activity that was for most of us the most fun the canoeing.   It was hard work making the canoe go in a straight line or just move, but once we got the hang of it and some of us got used to the water splashing our faces we were ready to race.  After we had a few races the real fun began, a game of fruit salad. We were all give a fruit and when our fruit was called out we had to swap seats with another person.  The last person standing was splashed by everyone in the group.  It was great fun and everyone got a thorough soaking.

Tea for the night was Paella.

We had a scavenger hunt followed by hot chocolate and snacks whilst sat around the camp fire.  It was really cosy.  As the soon began to set and our eyelids began to droop it was time to head indoors.  Before long our heads were on the pillows and we were fast asleep.  The day’s activities had tired us out.

Hopefully you have had great fun learning the main features of our class story Little Red Riding Hood and have been joining in with the actions.

As part of our Talk 4 Write lesson today we had to spot the patterns in our story – Little Red Riding Hood.

With the help of our magic glasses we have been able to ‘box up the text‘.  This means we have been able to identify the key parts of the warning tale and where in our story they area.

A warning tale has the following features:

• The Main Character (MC) is given a warning.
• The MC does something they are warned not to do.
• Something goes wrong as a result of ignoring the warning and the MC is in trouble.
• The MC is character is rescued.
• The MC is is punished or told off for not listening to the warning.

Now, discuss which parts of the story belong in which section?

As part of our topic ‘Flow’ Year 3 visited Beacon Park, Lichfield.  We had a great day with Ruth the Ranger observing, sampling and measuring Leomonsley Brook.  After meeting Ruth, we split into three groups and started our activities.  Those of us with Wellies on were allowed into the brook to help Mrs Hall measure the width and depth of the brook, we had to convert the cm to metres too!  We then had to measure the temperature of the water and the last part was the most fun.  To measure how fast the brook was flowing we played the traditional game of Pooh Sticks with dog biscuits with a modern twist – scoring a goal between Mrs Hall’s two feet while she timed them to see how fast the dog biscuits took to travel down river.  Play was only interrupted once by the opposition when they sent in a rogue player; a black Labrador into the brook to paddle and retrieve a few of the stray dog biscuits.  Mrs Hall was unharmed just a bit wet around the edges.  We also measured how clean the water was, as this would tell us how well the plant would grow.  The more circles we could see at the bottom of the container, the cleaner the water was.

Next, we went pond dipping with Ruth to take samples of the different creatures living in the brook.  We managed to catch and observe; snails, caddis fly larvae, fresh water shrimp, tadpoles and water mites.  We dragged a net in the water and then emptied our nets into a tray, we then used an identification chart to help us identify the things we had caught.  It was great fun and really interested to see what lives below the surface of the water.

Miss Groom and here group looked at the trees along the river bank and identified them from our key.  There were eight different trees alongside the river. Why not ask Year 3 to see if they can name them?  We then observed the layout of the river and made a sketch of it.

A great day was had by all.

Sketching the layout of the brook.

This week Green class have been required to help Starsmooth International create a brand new smoothie.  During the half term Miss Groom replied to an advert for help to research current smoothie flavours on the market, find out children’s favourite fruits and produce a new smoothie variety from this research.

Here’s some of what we got up to during the week.  We had great fun and some us have found that although we don’t  like eating fruit; we  can still get one portion of our 5 a day by drinking one 125ml serving of a no added sugar fruit smoothie.

Here are the smoothies we made which were the most popular choice.

Which one would be your favourite?

After our visit to Tesco, we have spent time designing and creating our own fruits and vegetables from paper mache. Our design brief was to make a new fruit or vegetable that Willy Wonka might be interested in using in his new factory. We had to think about colours, textures, tastes and where in the world it might grow.

Have a look at our final pieces and see what you think.

Today Green Class visited the Gurdwara in Smethwick as part of RE topic .   We heard some interesting facts about the ten Gurus, the history of the religion and the building itself.

Did you know that the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick is the oldest Gurdwara in Europe?

In the Langar Hall we had lunch and were very well fed.  This Hall is very special and is where Sikhs share theirs Kindness and generosity with others in the form of food.  People from all walks of life can come to the Langar Hall for a meal.  The meal is free of charge.  The Guru Nanak Gurdwara provide meals for over 6000 people a day, many of whom are homeless or have very little money.  Other people come to the Langar to share food with friends and family.  We gave a donation of milk, rice and butter during our visit today. 

Over the last couple of weeks we have been conducting a science experiment to test the 5 second rule and if food we drop on the floor is it really safe to eat?  We observed any changes that had happened to the food after one week and again after two weeks. Here are some pictures of the cheese we dropped on the floor can you spot the difference?

We dropped food on the classroom carpet, the playground floor and the girls toilets on the Key Stage 2 corridor.  Can you guess which food had the least bacteria growing on them?  Have a look at the pictures below for some clues.

The chocolate didn’t have any bacteria growing on it.  It didn’t matter if it was the control sample or which floor it had been dropped on.  We will look more about why this is next week!

Come and talk to Y3 to ask why the food dropped on the toilet floor had the least amount of bacteria growing on it.