Forest Schools - Class LH

On a beautiful, crisp, sunny day Class LH headed off for our 'penultimate' (word of the week) visit to Robin Wood, we had three main activities:-

1) 1) We learnt about the different parts of leaves this week. We identified the tip, margin, petriole, mid-rib, veins and blade.  We did a leaf rubbing and then labelled our leaf to identify these different parts.

2)    We played Kim’s game (memory game) identifying the missing leaf from the tray - dog wood, willow,  copper birch, field maple, rowan, Silver birch and hazel.  After this we then went on a mini scavenger hunt to find one item each and then played the game again but using our own items.                                    

 3)   The third activity was to prepare yummy pizza wraps with Mrs Waddell and Mrs Morgan using cheese and tomato sauce ready to cook on the fire.  Mrs Waddell talked to the children about the safety rules around the fire before we lit it. We then had our wraps and Mrs Crittenden put the fire out safely using a little bit of water at a time.

We then ‘got busy’ on the craft table, making the tube water run, in the hammocks, digging in the pit and just sitting, enjoying watching and listening to the fire as it burnt.  

Art Club

Over the last few weeks, Year 6 have been enjoying Art Club with Miss Turner and Mrs Sears. They have been creating money boxes in the style of a chosen artist. First, the children researched artists and chose a style they would like to work in. After some preliminary studies, they began work layering up their designs using collage, acrylic paint and pen. We look forward to showing you their finished results.

Christmas Tree

Some children from Year 6 helped decorate our Christmas Tree in the reception area by the office today.

'Children in Need' Toy Sale

School Council and Eco Council helped organise all the donations of toys which the children brought in last Friday on 'Children in Need' day.  They were sorted onto different tables - soft toys, cars/ vehicles, jigsaws, boxed games, construction, dressing up and miscellaneous. There was a real buzz in the hall.   

Many children and their families made their way around the tables. All donations were passed to staff who kindly came to help and support at the sale. 

Thank you to all parents and children for supporting the sale; to School Council and Eco Council for helping set up; to staff who were able to help set up, man the sale and help tidy up afterwards. 

Children in Need have benefitted hugely from this team effort. We made a phenomenal £483.42 

We are hoping we can organise another 'flash' sale with the items that were left .... watch this space .... news will follow about this. 

Novelist in school with Year 6

Novelist Robert Radcliffe is working with Year 6 pupils on a Reading Aloud project this term. “Reading aloud is obviously very different from reading to ourselves,” says Mr Radcliffe. “So in this project we are working on clarity, fluency and expression in our reading. We start each session with a breathing exercise, and conduct some of it standing up. As well as improving our reading and speaking skills, it is good for our self confidence – and our posture!”

Class VW this week…

This week, Miss. Whipps has been impressed by the children who have all worked really hard. In English/ Topic, the children have been learning about the outbreak of WW2 and investigated the moment in detail. We listened to the address give by Neville Chamberlain and tried to imagine how people would have felt at that time. We identified the features of a newspaper report and constructed our own versions, editing as appropriate. The children included snippets from the address in their reports. As mathematicians, the children have been getting to grips with multiplying and dividing fractions, using visual representations to reinforce learning. This afternoon, the children enjoyed PE on the field with the other year 6 class and SBJA, where they played either football or tag rugby.

It was lovely seeing all the children in their own clothes today and we discussed various projects that Children In Need supports locally. Additionally, we looked at some of the stories of individuals who have been supported by the funding that Children In Need provides. We were overwhelmed by the positivity of the children we saw and could really see the benefit of this critical fundraising event.  We then thought about our ‘Toy Sale’ next week and considered how this was part of ‘doing our bit’ to help local children and families.

A Week in the Life of MS

 
Having started with the help of our adults during our share session, we completed our Fallen Fields collages and evaluated our work; thinking about how we mirrored the style of our chosen artist Giles Davies and what ways we could improve our final compositions. 

Here are our final pieces, along with some from Class MB, proudly displayed in the corridor outside of our classroom. 

As sportspeople, we were determined not to let the wet weather get in the way of our fitness regime. On Thursday, we turned our classroom into a yoga studio and developed our flexibility and agility whilst also allowing some time for mindfulness when faced with a gloomy, grey day. 

On Friday, as part of our Children in Need day, we thought about how fortunate we are to be in a school with so many resources to help us become more athletic and keep us fit. We decided to use our school PE resources to create imaginative and active games which would benefit children with a range of skills and abilities. Lots made obstacle courses with different elements whilst others created games designed to improve throwing accuracy and coordination. 

As writers, we have been exploring the story of The Lion and The Unicorn by Shirley Hughes ahead of writing our own version. As part of this we created an emotional line graph which plotted and showed the variety of emotions felt by the main character Lenny Levi, an evacuee sent out of London. We had to challenge ourselves to use a wide range of words for the different emotions and used a thesaurus to help us avoid repeating the same words. 

 

Children in Need - Class KVRH

The Year 3 children in Class KVRH have been busy making spotty Pudsey Ears today!

Class JF - Children in Need

 Today we found out all about Children in Need and what the charity does to support others. We looked at challenges that people take on throughout the year, like Scott Mills who has raised over £1 million by spending  24 hours on a treadmill. We also read the stories of some children who have been supported by Children in Need and agreed that although some stories were sad - it is great that they are able to participate in normal activities with children their age. 

To celebrate, we wrote some acrostic poems and made our very own Pudsey ears. Did you know Pudsey Bear has been around since 1985? 

Class SBJA Share Session

Parents of children in Class SBJA came in for a Share Session this week.
They took part in a Maths Challenge afternoon with problems from China, India, Egypt, Africa and Europe.
There were 3 problems based on Maths from each area: a logic, a shape and a number problem.
The problems varied in difficulty and children and adults moved around the hall selecting which order and challenges they wished to try.

A muddy morning at Forest Schools for Class LH

We have had so much rain this week but we had great fun splodging around in the mud throughout the wood – even the Robin made a brief visit to see what we were all doing. 😊

We continued to learn about different types of leaves this week looking at lobed, serrated and smooth leaves.  We went around Robin Wood identifying the different types of leaves from the range of trees in the wood – dog wood, willow, copper birch had smooth leaves; wild cherry, rowan, Silver birch and hazel had serrated leaves; oak and field maple had lobed leaves.   

After we found these different types of leaves, we then got busy doing a variety of crafts and enjoying the digging pit which was very, very muddy and wet but great fun!  

Mrs Waddell taught us how to tie a special knot (a round and two half hitches) to the trees using the rope to help make our dens better - some amazing dens. We continued to have great fun with the tubes and pipes creating more ramps using water all the way down to the digging area. The free choice of crafts resulted in some lovely items being made  - many linked to Pudsey Bear.  How many different Pudsey bears can you spot in the craft picture that were made in Forest Schools? 

After we finished our hot chocolate, snack and biscuit, we all contributed to a piece of natural art.  As it is ‘Children in need’, we made a big Pudsey bear using yellow leaves, sticks and conkers.