Year 2 NSPCC visit - Speak Out. Stay Safe.
In Year 2, we had a visit from the NSPCC. We learned more about safe adults (both in school and out of school), what we can do if we are upset or worried and how to contact Childline.
Year 1 English: Innovating Settings
Year 1 started to innovate settings based on We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. We changed the original settings to either a candy land, rainforest, hill, volcano, beach or swamp. They then had to think of adjectives to describe their setting for their own story. Next, we will need to think of sounds each setting would make, for example “sticky crunch” for the candy land. It was lovely to hear Year 1’s imaginative ideas and seeing them so excited about creating their settings.
Foodie Friends Club: Making Chocolate Brownies
This afternoon, in our Foodies Club, the children took on the challenge of baking chocolate brownies, becoming little mathematicians as they weighed out sugar, flour, butter and rich cocoa powder. The highlight of the afternoon was cracking the egg and licking the chocolate from the spoon and bowl. Some of the children were initially terrified because they had never cracked an egg before, fearing the mess or a broken shell. However, by supporting one another, every child conquered their fear, successfully whisking the eggs into the mixture. The children could not wait to take their brownies home, serving their treats with a scoop of ice cream or whipping cream.
Year 3- English-Arctic Bear Shape Poetry
Year 3 have finished writing their shape poems based on the Arctic bear. To make their writing creative and imaginative, the children applied their knowledge of word families, similes, and metaphors alongside descriptive language and expanded noun phrases. After completing their poems, the children used their "purple pens" to edit and improve their work. These final pieces demonstrate a combination of creative design and technical writing skills.
Friday Celebration Worship
We enjoyed a lovely Celebration Worship this week and it was amazing to hear about all the great things the children have achieved both in and out of school. Across school, we have started creating our Kindness Kites in classrooms as part of the 100 year celebration of Blackburn Diocese, encouraging children to recognise and celebrate acts of kindness. We have also launched several exciting clubs, including Let’s Go Sing, Foodie Friends Club, Doodle and Dance Club, and Cross Country Club. These have already been met with great enthusiasm. Mrs Wilkinson also set the children a challenge as part of the National year of reading to read at home in their favourite places and it has been wonderful to see children already sending in photographs of themselves enjoying their reading at home. Our Values Awards were presented to children who consistently demonstrate our school values. Lily received the award in Reception, Luna in Year 1, Millie in Year 2, Roman in Year 3, Ella-Grace in Year 4, Lilly in Year 5 and Charlie in Year 6. The Pen Licence Award was presented to Arabelle in Year 4 for her excellent work and attitude to learning. This week’s team results saw River Darwen take first place, followed by Whitehall Park in second place, India Mill in third place and Darwen Tower in fourth place. Well done to all teams for showing our values throughout the week. We celebrated a wide range of sporting achievements during worship. Callie was recognised for her excellent work on the vault in gymnastics. Max was congratulated for swimming five metres. Beau completed Stage 4 in swimming and also won a football trophy for showing good turns and listening skills. Ida and Layla both won rosettes in horse riding for their mounting and dismounting skills. Hollie completed Stage 3 in swimming, while Charlie completed Stage 6 and Carmen completed Stage 7. Phoebe was awarded a rosette for taking part in a dance competition. Maggie and Hendrix both won medals for gymnastics after completing Stage 2 and Hendrix also received Star of the Week for his super listening and effort. Olivia earned a badge at Rainbows for making a present for her leader. Peyton won medals for completing Stage 4 in gymnastics. Cassius was awarded a football trophy for good listening and scoring four goals. Eleanor received a certificate for water skills and earned her sleepover badge. Scarlett was awarded a trophy for being Netball Player of the Match. Living Streets walk to school badges for December were awarded and the winning class was Reception. Well done to everyone who took part. We also celebrated birthdays this week and would like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs Gardner and Neve. Well done to Year 2 and Year 3 for their amazing attendance this week. Please remember the upcoming NSPCC Workshop, the return of Harold the Giraffe, and Reception Stay and Play on Wednesday morning. We ended our Celebration Worship with thoughtful prayers led by Charlie G, Max and Lottie and then all of our award winners got to sing My Lighthouse at the front of the hall.
Year 4 Geography - Rainforest Layers
In our Geography lesson we have been looking at the layers of a rainforest. The children identified the four layers as the forest floor, the understory, the canopy and emergent layer at the very top. Using their enquiry skills they researched the climate, plant and animal life and height of the trees at each layer.
Art - Inspired by the Rainforest
As part of our new Art unit we have been looking at the rainforest and in this lesson we strayed to look at the beginning of a design process which will lead up to creating a piece of Batik artwork. We collected images, shapes and colours to match a theme and complete our very own mood boards.
Whole School Worship led by Rev Matt
Today our Celebration Worship was led Rev Matt and it focused on trusting God. We started with a challenge which was “. How green you are”. we started by singing it as a song. We sang it both loudly and quietly. As part of our challenge we hid Bishop Flippers and a child had to find him. If the person got close to the hiding place Rev Matt asked the children to sing loudly and if they moved away from the hiding place the children were asked to sing quietly.. Jenson hid Bishop Flippers and Mrs Wilkinson had the tough job of trying to find him but she succeeded with the help of our singers. Our Bible story followed which was the story of The Boy in the Temple which involves Jesus going missing in the temple but this reminds us that we can lean on God just as Jesus did when things become scary. It was scary for Mary and Jesus.”Whoever goes to the Lord for safety….can say to him, “You are my defender and protector. You are my God in you I trust.” We finished by reflecting on what makes us scared and how we can help others when they are scared too.
Maths - Informal Methods of Multiplication in Year 4
In our maths session today we looked at informal methods of multiplication. The children completed lots of practical work using their whiteboards and multiplication grids. Using the part while model, the children were able to break each calculation down and partition it into three sections. They all worked so hard in this and we will now move on to more formal methods in the next session.
Year 1 Science: Describing Materials
Year 1 have started their new topic all about materials. We looked at four common materials: plastic, wood, metal and fabric. The children knew lots of objects that are made from these materials. We took turns to feel these objects and then described them using words such as hard, soft, bendy, rough and smooth.
Cross Country Club
Cross country club focused on hill sprints this week and we completed these in Whitehall park. We hope that these boost our fitness by building explosive power, strength and endurance in order to help us keep up a good pace when the race season starts.
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Year 2 Art - Exploring texture through rubbings
In Art, Year 2 have been exploring the marks made on paper when making rubbings of objects with various textures.