Baa, moo what will we do? What farmyard fun Robins and Wrens have had this week. On Monday we explored our local area further by using our 3D shape knowledge to build our very own Barnard Castle in the construction area and drawing our favourite landmarks of our town in Focus Art. The Bowes Museum and Costa are two keen favourites! On Tuesday Mrs Lewandowski helped us to sequence a dance to Old Macdonald had a farm and we made farm shaped biscuits. Wednesday was our class visit to Hall Hill farm. We had so much fun, the staff and parent helpers included. We enjoyed feeding the animals, holding the chicks, rabbits and guinea pigs and learning about animals and their babies. Mrs T loved the alpacas the best and even got a big sloppy kiss! Matilda and Tilly even found animals named after them. Tilly the pig was very lazy and we thought Matilda the goat looked just like her! Next week we will be going bird spotting and will have a visit from a real baby. I wonder if a baby can do the same things as a Robin and a Wren?
This week has been amazing! On Monday we had our Mother’s day afternoon and we had a wonderful time making jars and cards for our loved ones. Tuesday we made tea in our mud kitchen and explored the different colours and smells, we were fascinated by this! On Wednesday we used what we have learnt about fractions to plan and make pizza for the teachers and staff. We knew how to make half and quarter. The teachers loved the pizza! As part of our science we learned about herbivores and we were lucky enough to meet some baby pigmies goats. In RE we have been learning all about changes, we looked at the seasons and then we talked about how we have changed too.
The Swifts had a very busy week creating fractions as part of a whole amount. We began practically this week looking at what makes a whole and how whole amounts can look different and be presented differently. Using the fraction cards and wall, the children had a go creating their whole amounts and breaking their whole into equal parts. They then wrote the fraction for part of their whole. We even had some children recognising already that 1/10 is the same as 0.1. I was very impressed with the decimal links from measurements in year 4!
Last week, the children used their opportunity of the weather to create a volcano in the snow which linked brilliantly to features of a volcano in geography! Using their knowledge of stratovolcanoes, the children worked as a team to create a realistic volcano and even discussed the accuracy of their creations by including some very complex vocabulary linked to their geography learning. It’s safe to say we had a fab time in the snow and learnt a lot about volcano features. Super team effort Swifts!
To end our Religious Education unit, we were invited to Mass in Church to observe Father Thomas consecrating the bread and wine. We all felt we had a much better understanding of why Catholics share in the Eucharist and could even join in with some of the responses. While we were there, we prayed the Stations of the Cross with the parishioners of our community.
As we continue to journey through Lent, we enjoyed another walk to raise money for Toilet Twinning. Our fundraising is proving very successful. This week’s walk was in Deepdale woods and we were treated to a covering of snow.
In class, we have studied the art work of Peter Thorpe, an abstract artist, and used oil pastels to create our own abstract space pictures. We have also tested and evaluated our Moon Buggies. This project has been so much fun and we loved racing them across ‘the surface of the moon’.