The Chronicle

This week in Junior 6, we have begun to look at the story of Romeo and Juliet. We began by researching the author and playwright, William Shakespeare, his life, family and plays. We learnt some interesting facts about him – he was born and died on the same day and in his will he left his second best bed to his wife, Anne Hathaway! We then looked at the prologue to Romeo and Juliet and thought about the rivalry and hatred between the Montagues and the Capulets. We wrote introductions about the two families trying to show their despise of each other and the fact that although they thought they were very different, they were in fact very similar. Next week, we are going to have fun using Shakespearean insults – we wonder whose will be the worst?!

In preparation for Science Week, Junior 5 explored the effects of air resistance. Air resistance is a type of friction that occurs between air and another object. It is the opposing force that the object experiences as it passes through the air. Air resistance and gravity are the two fixed forces of nature which move on any object lifted from the earth and move through the air. To investigate this, we noted the resistance we could feel when running with a piece of paper stretched out in front of us. As curious learners we investigated the effects of dropped cupcake cases and we folded and cut the cases to measure these differences.

This week, Junior 4 have enjoyed learning about the ancient story of Beowulf and they have completed some excellent descriptive writing. After being introduced to the story and learning about its importance in the history of literature, the children then started to write about the fearsome beast, the Grendel. Using ambitious vocabulary and varied sentence openers, they each wrote wonderful character descriptions, using words like sinister and barbaric. We were all so impressed with their creative writing; some children even earned a creativity Junior Da Vinci for the quality of their writing. Everyone continues to work so hard and they should all be very proud of what they continue to achieve. They are superstars!

This week the super scientists of Junior 3 have been investigating the properties of different rocks in more detail. We conducted our own investigation into which rocks were permeable and which were impermeable. Not only did we discover what these tricky new words meant, but we also explored ideas about why it might be useful to know which rocks were permeable or impermeable, before deciding how to use these amazing natural resources. There was also much delight at getting to use a pipette for the first time... and only a few spills!

Junior 3 have also been getting to grips with ‘Measuring’ this week in Maths. They have learned how to convert millimetres, centimetres and metres which took a lot of mental strength, with children using rulers and metre-sticks to aid their learning.

Year 2 have had a very egg-citing week! The start of the week saw us creating some egg-cellent cycle helmets for eggs. We were thinking about what would make an effective helmet. We had great fun testing out our designs - we definitely have some budding designers and scientists among us! In English, we have been writing our very own diaries about the Great Fire of London, just like Samuel Pepys did. We made sure that we described what we would hear, feel, see and smell if we had actually been there. We finished our shape topic in Maths and are ready to immerse ourselves in fractions for the rest of this half term. Year 2 are busy creating masterpieces in art for the art exhibition in May and we know that you will love our paintings. In addition, we managed to squeeze in a skipathon to help raise money for Mary's Meals. Another fun, productive week in Year 2. 

Junior 1 learnt how to hold and use a ruler to measure in cm and draw lines with this week in Maths. They then went on to solve measuring problems and develop their problem-solving skills. In Geography we had a taste of Scotland and tried some Irn Bru and shortbread. The shortbread was popular but the Irn Bru had a mixed response! After thinking back to our trip to the Transport Museum, we looked at bicycles in more detail in History comparing old with new, drawing examples and explaining how they have changed over the years. In English we have begun to look at Where the Wild Things Are and, after sequencing the story, we each cleverly made a wonderful story map to help us remember the story in the right order.

This week. Reception have been learning about the life cycle of a butterfly. They have been doing some close observational drawings of the caterpillars that arrived in class, and have been applying their measuring skills that they have been learning in Maths. They have sequenced and written the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Literacy. Reception have also produced some beautiful butterflies in Art, and even managed to use different pasta to represent each stage of the butterfly life cycle.