Year R - The Snow Bears
Year R have had a brilliant week learning about the book ‘Snow Bears’. Just like the Snow Bears, we had a wintery adventure outside and then came back and enjoyed making toast and drinking hot chocolate to warm ourselves up! While we were out, we looked carefully at how our environment changes during winter time and noticed that the ground was covered in frost, most of the trees didn’t have any leaves left on them and that it was so cold that when we breathed out we could see our own breath!
Year 1/2 - Colour Wheels
Year 1/2 have been reading ‘Winter’s Child’ and in art, we have been learning all about the colour wheel; we have learnt what the primary colours are and which ones mix together to make the secondary colours. We have experimented with how many shades of blue we can get- by adding white, to make different tints and black, to make different tones. We have looked at which colours are the cool/cold ones and which colours are the warm ones. This research will help us to produce the art work we need to create our own illustrations in our books.
Year 3/4 - Investigating Forces
Year 3/4 were ‘sent a letter’ by ‘Ms Clara Pullman’, the director of ‘Play & Learn Toys’ to help them research some new toy designs and ideas they are considering. The toys are all mechanical and the ‘company’ has asked the children to investigate the effects of forces on different types of movement. After lots of investigation, the children concluded that almost all movement can be categorised as either push or pulls.
To find this out, the children spent a lovely afternoon investigating different types of toys and discovering the range of pushes and pulls that are used to make the game work – we were quite surprised at just how many different types of force need to be used when playing.
Twirling hoops, connecting magnets, bowling pins, squishing playdough, marble run & construction toys all helped us in the investigation. We also considered the impact of weight or mass on pull-along toys. In future sessions, we will plan/design our own toys making sure we think about the materials and weight that may affect the way forces help the game be played.
Year 5/6 - Diving into Marine Biomes
This week we have been diving into the Marine Biome. After creating lovely, bright Biome maps, in small groups, the children independently researched the Marine Biome and created their own informative poster about all three layers (most concentrating on the Twilight zone). They looked in depth at the interesting, and sometimes creepy, life that dwells within them. They also created a comparison chart, showing the similarities and differences between a Desert and Tundra Biome. Continuing with our Wolf Brother book, we have been comparing the similarities between the initial main characters: their backstories and their personalities as well as deciphering some of the more complicated language used in the book. Using previously taught skills, the children were picking out the key points in order to summarise the story so far. Finally, In Science, we have learnt how to separate mixtures that contain similar substances, using rice, sand and chickpeas – without using our hands.
