Yesterday the whole of EYFS had the most amazing expert visitors come into school to share and show us what a rock pool is and what species of creatures can be found inside them. The children were thrilled to get up close and personal with Shore Crabs, Spider Crabs, Hermit Crabs, Purple Sunshine Starfish, Regular Starfish, Sea anemones, Sea Urchin’s, Mussels and Barnacles. They learnt many interest facts about the creatures from Mike and James from Aqua Explorers provided by Aqualease.
The children were very receptive to the creatures and many pushed themselves out of their comfort zone to explore and experience the creatures either by touching them or holding them. Nursery asked some interesting questions to the visitors and also shared their existing knowledge that they have learnt so far with the expert visitors.
It was an amazing learning experience to really engage and enthral our children, as most will have never experienced these creatures in real life before and it has helped the children to have a better knowledge, understanding and compassion for the creatures we are learning about in our current expedition “What happens where the sea meets the shore?” Such beautiful work!
Today Nursery took part in a sea habitat gallery walk as they explore all of the different environments that sea creatures can be found in, live in and thrive amongst.
The children learned about the most familiar places such as the sea and an aquarium, whilst also discovering what a sea sanctuary hospital and a rock pool are. We watched and exciting video about what a rock pool might house, in preparation for an awesome, surprise experience later this week! Finally Nursery listened to the story “Billy’s Bucket” by Kes Gray, which tells of a little boy who would like a bucket for his birthday. However inside the bucket is another world – a rock pool world! We spoke about what we would like to see inside our buckets, if we had one like Billy’s. Some of the suggestions were; “shark”, “whale”, “a mermaid”, “Two little dogs”, “a unicorn”, “a stingray”, “a starfish”, “an octopus”, “a crab” and much more! What great imaginations, just like Billy’s!
Last week Nursery began the week by being literally immersed in plastic pollution. They came into Nursery to litter scattered all over their beautiful environment, (inspired by our primary text “Harry Saves the Ocean” by NGK) which they had helped to decorate during the hook week of our latest expedition “ What happens where the sea meets the shore?”
The children sat for register and Crew amongst the rubbish, as planned for them to understand how the sea creatures must feel in our oceans. A few of the children commented during their crew session (whilst being asked about their feelings) about; “Feeling sad because of all of the trash”, “It’s like a bomb’s hit!”, “All of this plastic makes me feel sad” and “I feel angry, because of all of this rubbish- Who’s made this mess?”
We talked about how we could help to make this better and the children suggested “Put it in the bin” and “Recycle it”. So we did… the children helped to recycle the pretend rubbish into various recycling boxes.
Later in the week the children explored freeing see creatures that had been caught in plastic and trapped in ice. The elation the children felt after they had freed the creatures was a joy to see, as they were so empowered to help. They enjoyed the activity immensely.
Nursery ended the week on a high by pretending to be sea creatures during a physical activity session with Coach Ellie who kindly came to visit us. The children had to move in a variety of ways like sea creatures and work collaboratively in teams to win games and collect “food” for their group. They all had lots of fun and there was lots of laughter.
Beautiful work! Well Done Nursery – We certainly understand what the problem is in our oceans.
We began our art case study this afternoon by looking at Doncaster landmarks and beginning to create pieces to represent them. We began with the Yorkshire Y. We though about tints and tones and practised our colour mixing skills to help us with our final pieces whilst some of us got drafting!
I was blown away with the perseverance and resilience shown to create the perfect shape. We thought about critique and redrafting and we were really proud of our creations.
Keep it up Class 5 – you’re creating beautiful work!
We have been very creative this week and made some beautiful pictures of Islamic tiles using constructive colours. We also enjoyed learning about stained glass windows.
This week class one have been reading ‘Harry Saves the Ocean!’ It taught us all about plastic pollution and how Harry and his friends work together to help clean the ocean.
In crew, we looked at pictures from the story and identified all the items that didn’t belong in the sea.
We have been sorting plastic into useful plastic and single use plastic…
We went on a gallery walk around the classroom and looked at images from the sea. The children had to decide if the images made them feel happy or sad.
Well done for working so hard class 1! The children have shown a real care and concern about the plastic pollution problem, which has been really heart warming. We understand that working together is key to making a change. As it says in our core text (Harry Saves The Ocean!)… ‘It’s a big job for one but if we all lend a hand, We’ll soon make a difference to the sea and the sand’.
A few months ago, Jake in Year 6 approached the school and his Crew with wanting to raise awareness around Motor Neurone Disease. Being a big fan of Leeds Rhinos, he has been inspired by Rob Burrows’ bravery and the superb effort of his ex-team mate, Kevin Sinfield.
Last week, Jake and his Mum organised a coffee morning fundraiser – including a bake sale, raffle and more! With the help of the Green Top Community, they have raised over £2600.
You can donate here: xptrust.info/MND – please leave a note to say ‘care of Jake at Green Top School’!
We would also like to give a massive shout out to Elsie from Class 6 and her family, who raised an outstanding £275 to buy raffle tickets. This is a cause very close to their hearts as they sadly lost Elsie’s Grandad to the disease in 2011. You can read more about it here.
Once again the generosity of the Green Top community has blown us away. We are Crew!
Full Steam ahead at Gresley Exhibition launch
A remarkable new exhibition about Sir NIgel Gresley has opened at the Danum Gallery in Doncaster – and our XP Schools Trust is playing its part! Our Rail City book, which is on sale in the gift shop at the gallery, was one of the catalysts for the invitation to contribute to this important collection of work – and the inspiration for the brochure which has been delivered by our Comms Crew. Our students’ study of our city’s rail story has given them a real overview of how important the work of Sir Nigel Gresley, who created Flying Scotsman and Mallard at the Plant, is in the history of steam and speed.
Letters and personal objects such as his hat and portrait are part of the exhibition, which has been curated with the collaboration of the Gresley Society, the Doncaster Grammar School Railways Archive and Doncaster City Council. Students from XPD are creating an audio experience for exhibition visitors and our Primary School Pupils are being invited to create rail related illustrations for colouring books that will be part of the gallery’s summer holiday resources for children across Doncaster.
Seb, who joined us at the launch said: “Going to the private viewing of the exhibition was great. It is important that young people carry on the legacy of our ancestors!”
Mel Cocliff added: “It was a privilege to be invited to the launch of the Sir Nigel Gresley exhibition at the Danum Gallery. To watch students from XP interact with people involved, including our Civic Mayor, was truly heartwarming. It’s vital that young people in our communities continue to appreciate the rail heritage of Doncaster, and pass on that baton as they grow up, too!”
The exhibition runs until September.
EYFS @ Green Top build their sandpit!
Following the playhouse being removed from the Reception outdoor area, it was in need of a revamp so the children decided to create a sandpit in this space! What a perfect opportunity to work collaboratively to create a purposeful learning space for their Summer term expedition ‘What happens where the sea meets the shore?’ The children designed the space and made a list of resources and jobs – beautiful work!
Beautiful Curation @ Carcroft
Beautiful displays were installed this week at Carcroft School – a culmination of last term’s Expedition ‘There is no Planet B’.
This morning some children in reception wanted to make a fairy garden. They drew some beautiful pictures for the fairies and wrote their own signs. Let’s hope the fairies visit soon…
