The Chronicle

Reception children have been busy this week, learning to recognise and then blend and segment with our new letters: h, b, f and l. We are super proud of the progress everyone is making as we zip through these initial sounds, and we must thank you for the support you are giving them at home. In Maths, we focused on measuring, initially comparing sizes of objects, then we moved onto mass and capacity – even turning ourselves into human scales! We worked in a very practical way, from building towers to comparing the heights, to meeting Mrs O’Carroll-Bailey’s favourite teddies and giving them a picnic as we compared large and small, big and little, whilst making sure each teddy had the right plate and food! 

Junior 6 children have been studying fabulous fungi this week and finding out how these amazing organisms differ from flowering plants. They have learnt about where fungi grow, how big they can get and how they can be useful (making bread and decomposing dead things), and not just disgusting (athletes foot and mouldy fruit). The children have made some predictions about what they believe to be the best environment for fungi to grow and are now testing their theories through experimental investigation… they have tried to recreate an ideal mould-growing environment for bread and are now awaiting the results as our bread slices cultivate in the classroom! Beware Junior 6 classrooms… only fun-gi’s are allowed!

Junior 5 have continued to have fun with their Flanimals topic this week, working hard to complete instructional texts. They used imperative verbs to tell people how to catch their Flanimal and carefully selected adverbs to help describe how to feed them. We’ve loved hearing their ideas and are so pleased to see how motivated they are to discover and use new, sophisticated vocabulary. One week to go until a well-deserved break – keep up the great work, Junior 5!

This week, to tie in with our Science topic, 'Sound', Junior 4 made a fabulous range of musical instruments. They explored and grouped instruments in their Science lessons, whilst carefully observing which parts vibrate to create sound. They were then asked to plan and make a musical instrument out of junk materials. We were all wowed by the effort and expertise of our young designers, who shared and played their instruments to their peers. Well done, Junior 4!

Junior 3 have been imagining that they are very hungry Paleonithic and Mesolithic Stone Age children, and have to go hunting and gathering for food! In groups, the children used authentic baskets to ‘gather’ fruit, berries, nuts and seeds, whilst ‘hunting’ for animals to provide protein to their diet. We had to be very careful as there were some poisonous berries and mushrooms that we had to avoid! We learnt which foods would have been available in different seasons, and soon found out that winter would have been a very tough time for hunter gatherers in the Stone Age, leading to farming becoming more prevalent in the Neolithic Stone Age.

In Junior 2, the excitement had grown to fever pitch as we prepared ourselves to visit Warwick Castle. The day was electrifying as we wandered through stately rooms and immersed ourselves in the history of this beautiful environment. The children were very keen to share learning ideas thorough real-life experiences - we even had a chance to visit the Princes Tower. We had a lovely lunch altogether chatting about our day and fostering a sense of camaraderie. After lunch we were able to explore the gardens and marvel at the breathtaking grounds. The day complimented our current topic in History where we are learning about castles.

Giant listening ears were made and worn this week in Science to help us be more aware of the sounds that are around our school during the day. In Geography we took a trip up to Coventry Road and carried out a survey of the different types of vehicles that pass by our school while we are all busy working. To help celebrate Black History Month, we looked at the artist Alma Thomas in our Art lessons and have begun to create some wonderfully bright and colourful paintings inspired by her work. In History we compared household items that were used in the Victorian times with the modern versions that are used nowadays. We all decided it is much easier to do your washing now, than in the past! Finally, we finished looking at the story of The Little Red Hen by writing out the story in our own words using our story map to help.

This week in Nursery the children have been learning about farming. They have been busy digging the soil in the raised bed, before planting the bulbs ready for spring. They have also enjoyed digging for carrots and potatoes in the classroom.

The children have been using the wind fallen apples from Mrs Whitehurst’s Orchard to practise their counting: taking turns to read the quantity shown on a spinner and to compare numbers in the ‘great apple tower challenge’. The children have also been getting messy exploring colour mixing in the shaving foam, and printing with leaves.

The Dormice had great fun stomping through the woods on their wellie walk!