Our fabulous friends at Capital One came to help with the renovations of our outdoor learning area in Early Years today. They have removed an old pergola and decking, fixed planters, cut back hedging, painted and restored the mud kitchen – a busy day’s work in the freezing cold! We send our thanks from all of us for all their hard work.
What excitement today – “it’s snowing!”
The children found a stick to make marks in the snow. They tried to catch it in their hands. Finally we brought some snow inside and built a snowman. I wonder if it will be there in the morning?
The children have been looking at the artist Arcimboldo and have created our own pictures in his style. We loved it!
Year 4 had a wonderful time discovering Viking artefacts. We were able to handle each item, guess what it was used for, look at the materials it was made from and imagine it being used by real Vikings!! There were lots of amazing things to look at and we felt so lucky!
Stanley Sparkles has had a very busy day in EYC today. He went to play outside without his lead and had a walk about. Then he watched the children bouncing on the space hoppers.
Stanley listened to the children singing their hearts out to the ‘Zoom, zoom, zoom’ song.
After lunch he watched the children in the maths session putting the parts of their faces together to make them whole again. It was like putting a zig saw back whole again.
This week Class 5 have been learning about the Civil Rights movement in USA. We used drama to try to understand how Rosa Parks might have felt on that day in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus.
Class 3 enjoyed a fantastic day at Think Tank Science Museum in Birmingham. We loved looking around the exhibits to support our learning at school and we took part in a coding workshop.
The delicious smell from Class 1 is wafting across school, making everyone feel hungry! We have been making bread as part of our project and we now understand how our bread rolls get into our shops. The wheat grains have a long journey to travel! We are going to be using what we have learned as a hook into amazing writing
What’s inside a tree?
Class 3 had a lovely walk to Wollaton park and explored inside a tree. We were amazed to find it still alive and growing. To celebrate we made grass trumpets.
To help answer our focus question, ‘What was it like to be a prisoner?’ Year 6 were challenged with designing, building and evaluating a fit for purpose raft to escape from Alcatraz. Working in small groups, children began the day by designing their raft. Prison wardens insisted on several specifications that the children had to try and incorporate into their designs. They also had to adhere to a strict budget of $100 to buy all their materials from the wardens. Having discussed which materials to purchase from the shop, the children began to construct their designs. Following initial testing, pupils adapted and improved their rafts. At the end of the day we discovered which raft could withstand the weight of 1kg and could stay afloat during rough seas!
Year 4 had such an amazing day at Perlethorpe becoming Viking children and taking part in a whole host of exciting activities: den building, shield games, making jewellery, looking at artefacts and more. We learned so much about Viking life and Magnus the Viking made our day even more special and memorable. We realised how terrifying the Vikings really were and everything they were prepared to do to be successful. We have also come away with lots of new facts and stories to tell.
EYC have been using their cutting and paper skills to make shape aliens. What fabulous language they used when talking about the properties of shapes – “It’s a circle because it is round and it’s got no corners.”
EYC went to the moon today! They had so much fun re-enacting the story of Whatever Next with their props. What a memorable experience!
Year 3 inventors continued their robot designs, “upgrading” them after evaluation. The classroom is going to be filled with automatons!
Year 3 had a lovely time den building in their Forest School session this week. We were given a tarp and some rope and had to design and build them all ourselves.
We came up with lots of different designs using various things we found in the playground.
We successfully built dens that would house 5 people and none of us got wet!
Year 1 have been weaving baskets today, in response to the book Handa’s Surprise. The children wove the baskets in silence, they were so absorbed in learning this skill!
For their new essential question, “What is the state of America?”, Class 5 have been experiencing Native American culture this week. We have sewn a quilt, looked at genuine Native American artefacts (thank you to Nottingham City Museum and Galleries!), and listened to folk tales around a fire.
Oh wow, Year 2 love-love-loved the visit from the fire brigade. They discovered the equipment in a fire engine, practised with the water hoses and tried on clothing. They compared these with equipment used in 1666 at the Great Fire of London. Many thanks to Nottinghamshire Fire Brigade for their fab input!
Class 3 visited Nottingham Contemporary to see the Bauhaus exhibition today. We then had a ‘Metal Party’ and transformed ourselves into robots with special powers!
Class 1 were getting messy today! We made papier mache fruits, collaged animals from the Handa’s surprise story and painted tangerines for our tree. It was great fun!