Science Investigators
This week in science, we were learning all about making a fair test. We learnt that for a test to be fair, we needed to only change one thing and everything else stayed the same.
In science, we have been learning about John Dunlop and how he invented the pneumatic tyre. So, we decided to test which ball was the bounciest. We rolled the ball down the ramp and decided the bounciest ball was the ball that bounce back off the wall the furthest. To our surprise, the sponge ball was the bounciest. Have a look at our science experiment below and our recording of it.
Christmas events
It’s a busy time of year with so many things happening. Here is a reminder of the Christmas events taking place over the next two weeks:
Wednesday 7th December, 2pm: Christingle Service at St James’ Church
Thursday 8th December, 2.15pm: Early Years and KS1 Christmas play
Friday 9th December, 9.30am: Early Years and KS1 Christmas play
Tuesday 13th December: Christmas dinner
Wednesday 14th December: Early Years and KS1 parties (non-uniform)
Thursday 15th December: Ks2 parties (non-uniform)
During our productions, we will be raising money for our new school charity voted for by the Junior Leadership Team. This year we will be supporting Cancer Research UK.
Zoom with the author and illustrator, Bethan Woolvin
This morning, we had a zoom with an author and illustrator Bethan Woolvin. Over the past few weeks, we have been enjoying lots of her stories. She read her story Little Red to us. After, she showed us her studio and shared lots of her artwork. We had the chance to become illustrators too. Bethan showed us how to draw Little Red from her book. Have a look at our amazing artowork below.
Living and Learning – I can talk about my feelings
This week, we have been talking about our mental health.
We looked at some pictures and shared our thoughts and ideas on how the character was feeling.
I think he is angry because he has his hands in a fist and has steam coming off his head.
I think he is surprised because he is bending back and has his mouth open like he is surprised.
I think he is scared because it looks like he is crying.
We used the sentence starters to think about a time we might have felt different ways.
I felt embarrassed when I tripped over outside.
I felt nervous when I first started school.
I felt excited when I could play on my iPad.
Topic
In our Topic learning today, we continued to compare optical art by our feature artist, Bridget Riley. We commented on how there are lots of patterns in her work – the arrangement of colours or shapes in a logical order. We compared Bridget Riley’s artwork using a Carroll diagram. We looked at lots of different features – shapes, colour, patterns, and if the picture appeared to be moving.
Topic and English
In Topic this half term, we are artists!
We are learning and experimenting with structure, inspired by one of our feature artists Bridget Riley. She specialised in optical art. We are creating our own optical art pieces!
The first step was to draw straight lines with a ruler. Some children had drawn many lines, some had not so many, some had thick lines, some had thin… there was certainly lots of experimenting happening! Then, we used the colour black to paint every other line. We talked about this being a pattern, one of our key words.
Linked to our Art topic, in our English lesson we read Katie and The Impressionist. After, we worked in small groups to re-tell and sequence the story. We shared our favourite part of the story with each other.
Christmas is coming!
Our Christmas performance is fast approaching and we are so excited to perform for everyone! This is a reminder that children, if they have them, need to bring their scripts into school each day. Also, any costumes in named bags need to be in school by Thursday 24th November 2022 and letters for tickets to be returned as soon as possible. These were sent out last week in children’s bags.
Thank you! From the Early Years and Key Stage 1 team.
PE – Movement
This half term during PE, we are focusing on movement. Today, we showed movement through different types of weather on an Autumn day. We stretched upwards in the sunshine, shivered in the chilly wind and worked with a partner to grow as a tree, then we spun around slowly, like the leaves falling. Next, we danced quickly around the hall, as the rolling leaves were being carried by the wind. Finally, we put the moves we had learnt together to create a longer dance sequence.
Children In Need
Thank you for all the donations brought in today to help raise money for Children in Need.
Author visit – Alex Willmore
This afternoon, we watched and listened to the author and illustrator Alex Willmore reading his story I did see a mammoth, live on zoom.
Afterwards, we helped Alex draw a mammoth coming up with lots of different ideas. We suggested he could draw the mammoth wearing a Christmas jumper and elf shoes.
Challenge: Have a go at drawing a mammoth at home. Think about what they might be wearing, where they are, is there anyone/anything else around them? Bring your drawings in to share with your friends.