Well Class 4 have done it again,...!!! They have absolutely amazed me this week with their incredible stories, based on a desert island adventure. There was inspiration taken from different books we have shared, particularly our current book 'Listen to the Moon.' I can tell the class are loving the book (as am I for the second time!) as there were many cries of 'I'm going to get it on my kindle in half term' and 'I'm going to Waterstones to buy it' as we left it at a rather gripping point just before the half term break!
In art this week, they enjoyed drawing the island that features in their story, as this is a feature that Michael Morpurgo likes to include in his books. On Thursday, children enjoyed quality time to share and enjoy each others stories. We will be publishing a Class 4 book with these all in so you can pop in to read and share in the brilliant work after half term.
In Science this week, Year 4 have had fun investigating condensation whilst Year 5s have explored many different types of plants. They enjoyed planting potatoes and investigating some (rather smelly!) seaweed.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and restful half term break. I look forward to more excellent learning after half term as we continue with the same theme but take it in a slightly different direction.
Mrs McMillan
Friday, 27 May 2016
Friday, 20 May 2016
A Week of Wonderful Writing!
It has been a wonderful week of writing in Class 4, starting with guides to give instructions to start a fire or make a shelter, following on from our trip to the woods last week.
Later in the week, we enjoyed making our views and opinions heard in a debate. Linking to where we are in our class text at the moment, we looked at the notice put in the papers during the War about threats to ships by German Submarines. We then debated whether Merry's mum should have taken Merry to travel on the Lusitania to visit her injured Papa, knowing that threat.
We had our opposers...
And our proposers...
And our Speaker who chaired the debate.
When everybody had had their say and made their views known, we had a speaker on each side to sum up the argument.
Finally, it was vote time! I was so impressed with how thoughtfully people considered their final votes, some actually swapping sides after being swayed by the points put forward from the other side.
Throughout our class book, there are journal entries by Dr Crow. We read his journal entry and thought about the details and style of a journal entry. We then chose a character from our story and wrote a journal entry in role as that character. Well, Mrs Allen and myself were blown away with their writing. They set out to make my job very difficult to chose our wonderful writers for this week. But, after a very hard decision well done to our wonderful writers this week: Henry, Elliana, Jessica, Emily Ch, Callum, Jake and Matilda.
Well done class 4 for so much hard work this week, I wonder what will happen to Lucy Lost as we read more of our story next week. Any ideas?!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs McMillan
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| Daniel's Guide to starting a fire |
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| Matilda's Guide to starting a fire |
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| Louis' Guide to making a shelter |
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| Joshua P's Guide to making a shelter |
We had our opposers...
Throughout our class book, there are journal entries by Dr Crow. We read his journal entry and thought about the details and style of a journal entry. We then chose a character from our story and wrote a journal entry in role as that character. Well, Mrs Allen and myself were blown away with their writing. They set out to make my job very difficult to chose our wonderful writers for this week. But, after a very hard decision well done to our wonderful writers this week: Henry, Elliana, Jessica, Emily Ch, Callum, Jake and Matilda.
Well done class 4 for so much hard work this week, I wonder what will happen to Lucy Lost as we read more of our story next week. Any ideas?!
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs McMillan
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Adventures in the Woods
Year 4 and 5 have enjoyed their Bushcraft Survival days in the woods, and it has to be said all the adults that went had a great time too! The photos speak for themselves in terms of the fun had by all whilst learning key survival tips.
Thursday - the turn of Year 5, Mr Wainwright, Mrs Allen and Mrs Ray!
The 'Chin Ups' competition.
A cracking day had by all Year 5, children and adults. Thank you to the adults who made this trip possible: to Mr Wainwright for almost beating Thomas in the 'chin up' competition, Mrs Allen for your winning shelter building skills and Mrs Ray for discovering how brilliant you are at starting a fire from scratch.
Friday - the turn of Year 4 and a great team of adults!
Year 5 came back buzzing so we were all excited to see what was in store for us, and it certainly did not disappoint.
And special thanks go to the great team of adults who helped make Friday's trip possible: Mrs Biggin for being the star marshmallow toaster, Mr Millin for the AMAZING sausages and organising lunchtime proceedings, Mrs Waddington and Mrs Harris for your super (and competitive) shelter building skills, Mrs Cook for being the first group to get your fire alight, Madame Browne for being wonderful all round and enthusing the children with the fun of learning outdoors and of course not forgetting Mrs Dawes for transporting us there and back. Without all of your help the day wouldn't have been possible so thank you all.
I imagine all the children slept well after their day in the outdoors, I know I did! It was though truly wonderful to see them learning whilst being free to explore outside. It was also an excellent opportunity for building team work skills which are useful and important in so many different ways.
Year 5 have already produced some excellent work following up to their adventures including step by step guides to lighting fires and building shelters and some beautiful art work inspired by the bluebells in the woods. We shall be using experiences from this trip to help us throughout the rest of our topic.
Hope you have all enjoyed the weekend, back to normal tomorrow Year 4 and 5 I am afraid!
See you in the morning...
Mrs McMillan
Thursday - the turn of Year 5, Mr Wainwright, Mrs Allen and Mrs Ray!
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| Trekking into the woods |
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| Arriving at camp |
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| Learning how to start a fire |
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| Organising the different twigs - spaghetti, skinny pencils, pinkies and thumbs! |
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| Having a go ourselves! |
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| Toasting some marshmallows |
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| Enjoying the rope swing |
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| Lighting the fire for lunch (including the old toilet seat!) |
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| Enjoying hot dogs for lunch |
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| Learning how to build a shelter |
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| Building our own shelters |
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| Making them homely and comfortable |
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| Off to see the bluebells at the end of the day |
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A cracking day had by all Year 5, children and adults. Thank you to the adults who made this trip possible: to Mr Wainwright for almost beating Thomas in the 'chin up' competition, Mrs Allen for your winning shelter building skills and Mrs Ray for discovering how brilliant you are at starting a fire from scratch.
Friday - the turn of Year 4 and a great team of adults!
Year 5 came back buzzing so we were all excited to see what was in store for us, and it certainly did not disappoint.
 |
| Arriving at camp |
 |
| Starting to explore the woodland |
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| Our turn to learn how to start the fire |
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| Organizing the fire wood |
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| Trying to make a spark |
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| Enjoying the marshmallows toasting on the fire |
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| Having fun on the rope swing |
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| Building our own shelters and making them homely |
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| Sweeping out the yard to make it clean and tidy |
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| Taking shelter |
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| And of course you always need a washing line...! |
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| Lunchtime, yummy hotdogs! |
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| Listening to music through the tree - just incredible! |
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| A fantastic day had by all - thank you James! |
And special thanks go to the great team of adults who helped make Friday's trip possible: Mrs Biggin for being the star marshmallow toaster, Mr Millin for the AMAZING sausages and organising lunchtime proceedings, Mrs Waddington and Mrs Harris for your super (and competitive) shelter building skills, Mrs Cook for being the first group to get your fire alight, Madame Browne for being wonderful all round and enthusing the children with the fun of learning outdoors and of course not forgetting Mrs Dawes for transporting us there and back. Without all of your help the day wouldn't have been possible so thank you all.
I imagine all the children slept well after their day in the outdoors, I know I did! It was though truly wonderful to see them learning whilst being free to explore outside. It was also an excellent opportunity for building team work skills which are useful and important in so many different ways.
Year 5 have already produced some excellent work following up to their adventures including step by step guides to lighting fires and building shelters and some beautiful art work inspired by the bluebells in the woods. We shall be using experiences from this trip to help us throughout the rest of our topic.
Hope you have all enjoyed the weekend, back to normal tomorrow Year 4 and 5 I am afraid!
See you in the morning...
Mrs McMillan
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