We have been busy learning about 1/2 in maths and decided the best way to find out about a whole one and making two equal parts was to make some delicious marmalade sandwiches … just like Paddington Bear! Who knew maths could be delicious?!
These children blew me away today! Not only did they read their new text beautifully but they managed to read all their words including the tricky words to play our game!
Keep it up – Mrs Parsons xx
We had a great time today sharing our brilliant Easter egg designs. We even got to judge class 6’s eggs and pick a winner!
Well done to all of the children (and grown ups!) who joined in âď¸
We have started thinking about our new expedition as part of our hook week. We solved the clues to find out that our ‘person’ we are going to be learning about first is … Paddington Bear! We read a great story called Paddington’s Easter Egg Hunt. We then spent time this afternoon sketching Paddington and using watercolour paints to complete our art work! We can’t wait to share our finished pieces!
Class Five are channeling their inner rock star and pop star this morning!
We spent time celebrating World Maths Day in our key stage one community meeting this morning. We thought about when we use maths outside of school, why it is important and we even talked about some famous mathematicians!
We finished our community meeting with some maths puzzles. I was very impressed how people were grappling to solve the problems!
Super work Key Stage One
Mrs Parsons xx
Crew Staves have been busy experimenting with flowers and food colouring this week – they are looking pretty happy with their results!
This week Nursery have been Scientists whilst investigating how humans grow and change, driven by our key text âWhen I Was a Babyâ by Deborah Niland. We have been introduced to our new science characters, who will help us to navigate investigations. We have focused on âPredicting Pipâ, helping the children to understand how to make predictions or reasonable guesses about what may happen before experimenting.
To activate our learning and hook the children into the week we played a game of âGuess the Baby?â Looking at photos of the children as babies and guessing which baby was each child. We then sorted activities or tasks that babies Can or Canât do, explaining why – thinking about how undeveloped new babies are.
Our first practical experiment this week was âGrowing Gummy Bearsâ. This linked to what humans need to grow. We investigated which of four different liquids; salt water, sugar water, white vinegar or plain water were the best conditions to grow the bear. The children made predictions of what they thought may happen to the bears as we dropped them into the ramekins.
We then observed how the bears changed and grew in the different solutions over 24 hours. The results revealed that the bear in the salt water turned white from absorbing the salt particles and stayed very small, the bear in the vinegar began to melt and fall to pieces (one of the children explained this process as âdissolvedâ), the bear in the sugar water grew bigger but was very sticky and slimy because of all of the sugar in the water. Finally the bear in the regular water grew the most and was perfectly in one piece, showing that clean water was essential to growing.
Our second experiment linked to what we need to help us grow. The children had previously looked at what we needed to grow during our Tranquil Tuesday Crew, using picture prompts to help scaffold their understanding.
Then today Nursery observed how humans need oxygen to breathe, grow and survive. The children made predictions about the experiment from a diagram shown during our Wise Wednesday Crew. They thought about what would happen to the candle if a jar was placed over the top? Some of our answers included; âThe glass will breakâ, âIt will burnâ, âIt will go off fireâ, âIt will make a big lightâ and âIt will run out of breathâ.
They then observed as I modelled the experiment, fixing a candle into play dough, placing three sets of coins around a bowl and filling the base of the bowl with coloured water. Then I lit the candle and placed a jar over the top of the flame, resting on the coins. The children observed as the oxygen was used up in the jar and the flame was suffocated, causing the water to rise up the glass – taking the place of the oxygen. They watched in awe as the flame went out and listened carefully to the sound of the vacuum made by the water. One of the children likened the experiment to âWhen to go to bed and pull the covers over your head, if you stay like that, you could suffocate because thereâs no air.â
We have had lots of fun and excitement in Nursery this week experimenting and are looking forward to the rest of the week. Great learning Nursery!
This week Nursery have been Artists as they have continued to explore case study two of our expedition; âHow do plants grow and change?â The stimulus has been the life cycle of a sunflower. We have been looking at artists who paint flowers, in particular Vincent Van Goghâs famous sunflower paintings. However Nursery have compared these during a gallery walk to the works of Georgia OâKeefe (Green and White Lilly close up) , Claude Monet (Water lilies) and Maria Van Oosterwijck (Wilting flowers with black background). As the children began the week by looking at the colours used in paintings, for the purpose of light and dark and how this made them feel?
We practised painting using light and dark shades and talked about what kind of colours make us think of different feelings. The children likened the lighter colours to âsunshineâ, âthe skyâ and happy events. Whilst they thought of darker colours as âdirtâ, âshadowsâ or ânight-timeâ. When they looked closely at the wilting flowers they realised that the flowers in the painting were dying and that the artist had captured them as they had started to âWiltâ, âdroopâ and âflopâ. This made the children feel sad that the flowers had passed their best and they then associated the darker colours with sadness.
The children were challenged to think about; âIf the artist was listening to music whilst they were painting – do you think it would make a difference to how they painted? Would it cheer them up or make them feel sad? Make them angry or excited? The only way to find out was to test the idea. Nursery closed their eyes and carefully listened to four specifically chosen music tracks to see if they could hear a difference in the tunes and move in a way that responded to the music? The tracks were; âHappyâ by Pharrell Williams, âProud Maryâ (a slowed version) by Tina Turner, âFire Starterâ by Prodigy and âAxel Fâ by Crazy Frog.
They then captured there response to the music in drawingâŚ..
Finally Nursery have used all of their new knowledge and experience to paint their own Van Gogh Sunflowers from a choice of two designs, using either a palette of either angry or sad colours whilst listening to their choice of âFire Starterâ or âProud Maryâ. The efforts made by the children for these paintings and the results have been outstandingly beautiful and such a relevant and purposeful experience. They have had lots of fun and have been exposed and challenged into thinking further about their feelings and responses to music and art.
Over the past few weeks Nursery have been working hard as âArtistsâ to create a petal each or as a duo, in preparation to be used as part of their final product for this expedition. Through our stories âLittle Sunflowerâ by Igloo Books and âSam Plants a Sunflowerâ by Kate Petty the children gained inspiration for their artwork as they learnt how a sunflower grows and blooms. They have been investigating and exploring techniques using both paint and collage. The children have grappled with the effects that they could create using ready mixed paint and different brush strokes or manipulations of their paint brush. Some children chose either medium of paint or collage, whilst others chose to create with both. Here are some wonderful examples;
Upon completion of this beautiful artwork, the children worked collaboratively to first build their own sunflower for each nursery group, and then as a collective of Nursery as a whole merging both groups petals (later to be revealed on their final product at our celebrations of learning). Just look at the childrenâs beautiful work!
