Refugee Week: Year 3 Bubble Collection
As part of Refugee Week, Year 3 asked everyone to collect bubbles to support DARE. The bubble donations were picked up yesterday by the Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE). Year 3 is so proud of the fantastic response, and these items will now go directly to bringing joy and smiles to the children and families supported by DARE.
English-Year 3 Celebrate Refugee Week at the Global Tea Party!
As part of their learning this week, Year 3 have been exploring what it means to be a refugee or an asylum seeker. The children learned about some of the real challenges these individuals face, including the fact that asylum seekers are often given just under £37.00 to live on for an entire week. Discovering this really brought home the importance of our community efforts, helping the children see firsthand how much of a difference the bubble donations will make for families budgeting on so little. The children were also invited to a wonderful global tea party, where they experienced diverse cultures by tasting food from Greece, Palestine, Africa, Kurdistan, Sri Lanka and Italy. Year 3 were absolute superstars at the event, they represented the school exceptionally and truly sang their hearts out! As a special treat, the event organisers handed each child a small bag of sweets. Year 3, now fully appreciate how far our community's generosity will go in bringing joy to the children and families supported by the Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE). We are incredibly proud of their maturity and enthusiasm today!
Year 4 - Visit to St Matthew’s
This week was the Year 4 class’s long anticipated trip to meet their link class. After a short minibus ride into Blackburn, we arrived at St Matthew’s CE Primary School to the most wonderful welcome from Doves class. We had a short getting-to-know-you session and then split up into our mixed groups. We had great fun creating handshakes, decorating friendship poems and having a picnic lunch together. We can’t wait to welcome St Matthew’s to our school next week.
Year 4 - Mosque Visit
Whilst we were visiting St Matthew’s, we had the opportunity to enhance our RE unit on places of worship by visiting the mosque next door. We had a tour of the main hall and the washroom and learned about some religious artefacts and practices that are customary to Islam. It was great for the children to see these features in real life so that they could make comparisons with the other places of worship we’ve studied this term. The imam arranged a special surprise as well, allowing all the children to choose a drink, some crisps and a chocolate bar, followed by treating them all to an ice cream from the ice cream van. All in all, I think they had a fantastic day.
Year 4 - The GULP Project - Effects of Sugar
In this week’s GULP session, the Year 4 children were learning about the effect that sugary drinks can have on our teeth. They learned how to make healthy choices when deciding how to hydrate themselves and they started an experiment to see which drinks have the worst effect on our teeth. We will find out the results next week. The second part of the session involved physical activity. The children played invasion team games and discussed tactics, giving them the opportunity to adjust their strategies in order to score the maximum points.
Year 6 - Darwen Literature Festival
Today, the children visited Darwen Library as part of the Darwen Literature Festival. During their visit, they had the exciting opportunity to meet author Ben Davis, who shared some of his stories and spoke about his experiences as a writer. The children thoroughly enjoyed listening to his engaging tales, learning about the creative writing process and asking thoughtful questions. It was a fantastic experience that inspired a love of reading and storytelling among the children.
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Reception: Muddy Monday
The Reception class had a brilliant time during their recent "Muddy Monday" adventure at Whitehall Park! The children leaped enthusiastically into nature, exploring various hidden corners of the park with endless curiosity. Foraging became a massive hit as the little explorers searched for natural treasures, which quickly sparked their imaginations and led to some fantastic outdoor roleplaying games. Energy levels reached an all-time high as the children giggled their way down the grassy hills, rolling over and over, before challenging themselves to climb the park's sturdy trees. It was a wonderful morning proving once again that some of the best learning happens right out in the great outdoors.
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Reception - RE - Ways to talk to God
In today’s lesson we talked about prayers being a way we send messages and talk to God. The children then came up with their own ways we could send messages to him including, writing letters, phoning him, sending messages in a kiss, sending messages in bubbles and by helicopter. We then went onto the yard to send some messages by bubble prayers.
Year 1 DT: Trying Different Bases
Year 1 worked in groups of three to make three different types of bases that we might use for our windmill design. We compared them on their strength, stability and easiness to make. The first design was creating triangle lolly sticks and sticking them up into a pyramid. The second design was using paper plates and cups. The third design was using balls of newspaper and creating a pyramid with them. Year 1 had to create each design in 7 minutes so it was a fair comparison. We decided that the best design was the cups and plates base as it was strong, sturdy and easy to make, with every group being able to make the base in 7 minutes.
Year 1: Darwen Literature Festival
Year 1 were lucky to visit Darwen Library Theatre this morning. The author, Dommy B, told us lots of the poems from his book ‘The Dinosaurs are Back!’ The children loved joining in with the rhymes and sound effects. Some children were even invited onto the stage to say tongue twisters and dance. We couldn’t wait to read the rest of the story when we got back to school.
Year 3 Trip to the Darwen Children’s Literature Festival
Today, Year 3 walked to Darwen Library to celebrate the Children's Literature Festival with author and poet Dommy B! The children were completely wowed by his high-energy poetry performance of The Dinosaurs Are Back. He had the entire class up on their feet, joining in and dancing along with him. We were also given a copy of his book to keep in our classroom. It was a brilliant day.
Year 3 Science: Controlled Plant Investigation
In Science this week, Year 3 have turned into real botanists as they begin an exciting new investigation into plant growth. To learn all about what plants need to survive and thrive, the children are setting up a controlled experiment. We’ve planted a class seed together, as well as individual seeds for every child. We will be changing different conditions to see exactly what helps our plants grow big and strong.