1BN have had a great first week of their Arts Fortnight. We kick started our Arts Fortnight with a walk to the local woods to look for signs of Spring and to find human and physical features (linking to our Science and Geography.)

Back in the Art Studio the children have been doing some observational drawings of Tulips, looking really carefully at the detail of the flowers including the long stems, long, droopy leaves and the curved petals. The children also made pictures of our woodland walk. First they created the background by sponging green and blue paint then used pastels and pencil crayons to add the details of the trees, rocks and stream.

This week in Maths the children have been learning how to double numbers. They have picked this up really quickly and some children can double some really big numbers. When lining up for lunch Ezzy told me, ‘I can double 34, it’s 68.’ Wow Ezzy, what great doubling! The child love lots of different counting songs on the Jack Hartmann Youtube channel, counting up to 100, in 2’s, 5’s or 10’s and have enjoyed learning one of his doubles songs this week. Take a look and give it a go at home!

It was lovely to get back to school this week, and make the most of a rare dry, more Spring like day, by getting outside and planting some potatoes. Mrs Whittaker took the children over to the garden area and using trowels the children dug holes into the soil. They then planted and watered their potatoes. We will keep you updated on their progress and we are really looking forward to cooking and eating them.

This week we burnt the houses that we had made during our DT lessons this half term. The children had put such a lot of work into making their houses so felt quite excited but also a little sad that we were setting them on fire. We talked about empathy and thought about how people must have felt during The Great Fire of London if their house burnt down.

Mystery Reader

1BN welcomed another Mystery Reader this afternoon and it was a wonderful way to round off our half term before the holidays. Alisha’s Mum came into class to read a story called ‘The Most Powerful Night’ which was a story about ‘Laylat Al-Qadr’ and Ramadan. It was a lovely surprise for us all but especially for Alisha. If you would like to be a Mystery Reader, or any of your children’s relatives such as Grandma’s or Granddad’s would, then please email school to arrange a day and time that is convenient.

Thursday 21st March was World Poetry Day and the children in 1BN learnt the poem Handy Work by one of our favourite authors Julia Donaldson. The children found the different rhyming pairs in the poem such as cat and hat, floor and door and hair and bear. Please enjoy the video of 1BN performing their poem for World Poetry Day!

On Monday we visited the local Mosque – The Lingfield Centre. The children were very excited. Some children had lots of experience of this Mosque and some children had never been before. The volunteers at the Mosque were very engaging, asking lots of questions and telling us lots of new information about what they do there. Uhbuid was very informative! He showed us around and we even got to design our own prayer mat. We took our shoes off when we went in and spent lots of time in the prayer hall. All the children were very respectful and had lots to talk about on the walk back to school.

The children had a great day on Thursday as they dressed up and celebrated World Book Day! We had so many fantastic entries for the wooden spoon character competition and we enjoyed having a look at the entries from all the different year groups in the library today. Thank you for all your efforts with these as well as all the amazing dalmatian costumes, everyone looked fantastic!

As part of our Science we have been walking around the school grounds this week, looking for the first signs of Spring. The children found daffodils and some buds on the trees then used ipads to take some photos of the things they saw.

London’s Burning

Dick Whittington

In Talk 4 Writing this week, 1BN have learnt the story of Dick Whittington. We have used a story map and actions to help us remember and retell the story.

This afternoon 1BN have enjoyed making scones in our DT lesson. The children mixed flour, sugar and baking powder then rubbed in butter using their finger tips to make a crumb like texture. We mixed yoghurt and milk to add to the dry ingredients then kneaded the dough to get it to the right consistency. After rolling the dough out we used a cutter and put the scones onto a greased baking tray. After they had baked in the oven we enjoyed them with our choice of butter or jam. There were plenty left so we are looking forward to enjoying them again on Monday for our snack!

On Thursday, Mrs Whitaker and Miss Archibald braved the cold and snow to take groups of children out to the fire pit. The children enjoyed toasting marshmallows and eating biscuits around the fire and keeping their hands warm on such a chilly day. Next time it will hopefully be dry enough for us to spend longer around the fire and sing some songs.

DT Alphabet Books

This week we have finished our DT project, making our own alphabet books. Mrs Hirst was our resident expert as she makes her own books at home as a hobby. She did a great job helping the children to sew their books together and the children have spent a long time on their front covers and also writing and illustrating their books. They are very proud authors!