On Monday, Mrs Goldsmith and I travelled to Sterts theatre with 9 of out students to enjoy Grandma on the Moon written by Belinda Lazenby. “Grandma on the Moon!” is a beautiful, high quality piece of theatre exploring death and bereavement from a child’s perspective. It used movement, music and drama to show the importance of memories, keeping those we have loved alive within our hearts and minds, even though they are no longer with us. This play shows it is ok to have fun, even though someone you love has died. We really enjoyed the performance and being back at Sterts theatre!

All-sorts of science

Our science focus this half term is on how we can 'classify' living things.  We are learning about the system which Carl Linnaeus devised to classify living things according to their different characteristics.

To get used to the idea of classification, we thought of all the different places we may see classification in real-life (eg: the fruit and vegetables in a supermarket, the stationery in our classroom trays) and thought about how we might go about sorting large groups of items into different categories.

We looked at sorting diagrams (classification keys) and thought about the type of questions we could use to help us sort different items into their own individual categories.  Then came the fun part.  Working together, we needed to create a classification diagram which would separate all of the different liquorice all-sorts into categories based on their characteristics.

We had all-sorts of fun - and every group successfully classified their sweets!

The children have had an action packed week so far, they really enjoyed searching for Goldilocks and writing 'WANTED' posters. There was even more excitement when the children arrived on Wednesday to find the three bears sat at the classroom table but Baby Bear's porridge was missing!!!

In History, they have been finding out about the Wright Brothers and they watched their first flight, they couldn't believe it was in black and white!

In Science, they wore blindfolds to experience what it is like to walk without sight.

In Maths, they have continued to work on Place Value and have been thinking about whether there are fewer or more.

Reception have been enjoying the sunshine, they've been practicing number formation, painting and threading!

The class are off to a fantastic start with their PE this term! We are lucky to be supported by a professional under 12s hockey coach who is working in the school and the class are already displaying a range of key skills in their sessions. Keep up the good work Class 5 6 MG!

It has been a great start back to the new academic year. The children are settling back into their classes and routines. In assembly we have been focusing on the positive learning behaviours we want to harness as we work together on the next stages of our learning journey together. We talked about the power of words and how our words have the potential to add so much to our positive experiences together and how we feel about ourselves.

We spoke together about the nicest things people have said to us and these words made us feel. In the words of Dr Wayne W. Dyer “If you have the choice between being right and being kind, choose being kind.”

We look forward to exploring these ideas together over the half term.

African countries in the Atlas

To start our learning adventure about the Kingdom of Benin we first discussed what we knew about Africa.  We were able to ask Anenyasha about his ideas about Africa and he explained that Africa has many different countries and regions which have very different cultures and religions.

We used the Atlases to learn about the different countries which make up the continent of Africa.  We discovered that there are 54 countries - the most in any continent.  We used the Atlases to help us locate different countries on the continent of Africa and went on to discuss how we can use an 8 point compass to begin to be more accurate in our discussions about where different countries are in relation to each other.

We really enjoyed using the atlases and are looking forward to finding out lots more about the Kingdom of Benin.

Hockey Skills

Despite the wet weather this week, we were able to introduce the children to hockey.  None of us had played hockey outside of school so our first session was about how to hold the hockey stick correctly and then a range of different drills to help us feel more comfortable running and dribbling with a hockey stick.

In the beginning we felt awkward and our dribbling skills were very slow and deliberate but after a few practice runs we were much more confident and dribbling with speed and accuracy.

We are very keen to get onto passing, pushing and hitting the ball in the weeks to come.

Welcome Back Year 3/4 A - What a fantastic start!

We've been busy familarising ourselves with class routines and topics for this Half Term. We've also had chance to practise our handwriting and talk about the importance of learning  Multiplication Tables, using rhymes to help us remember key facts.
"I ate and ate 'til I was sick on the floor, 8 x 8 = 64". I wonder if you can create your own?

Below are your KIRFS and this term's Mind Map.

A wonderful morning at Siblyback with year 6 and a calm morning back at school leads us nicely into the summer break. Take very good care and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Wednesday 4th September. 

Year 6 - we are looking forward to our Siblyback farewell on Tuesday 23rd July - we will miss you all and wish you the very best as you move forward. You are well prepared for these next steps and we are so pleased that we have been part of your journey. Remember this is not an ending...it is just the part of your story where you turn the page.

Thank you to Matt and well done to all of our guitar super stars this morning!

Scrumptious Science:

We've put our scientific enquiry questions to the test this week; creating solar ovens to cook s'mores. The sun was on our side and we were able to prove that the darker the box colour, the quicker the s'mores cooked. We ensured fair testing and discussed how we'd observe and record our findings/results. They tasted great too!

Geography,

Coastal erosion and sea defenses are very close to home living in Cornwall. We have thought carefully about how this is caused, discussing erosion and deposition features and also the benefits of sea-defenses.
We also put on various 'hats' when thinking about differing views in the light of tourism and how developments in natural beauty spots can come with a mixed view. As you may of guessed, we voted 'NO' to building a hotel on a beach!

Fun filled learning. 

We had a lot of fun last week. 

We are all really enjoying the new jelly numbers we have. Some super star learners took them out and drew around them, they then identified and represented that number.  

Our topic this term is school readiness and in preparation for this the children asked if they could colour pictures for their new teachers. They really enjoyed this all a while looking at pen grip and colours. The children were also discussing what they are looking forward to and what they want to learn. We of course were on hand to answer the many questions they had.  They then passed their pictures to their new teacher and they LOVED them. 
We also went down on Friday to have a play in our new outdoor area. 

Sports day - 

Wow, we all  had a lot of fun! 
'I enjoyed the parachute when all the parents waved it above us, it was so much fun!'
"I run really fast and ran to the end"
"I liked the ice poles we got"
"I liked the football game, I shoot and score!"

Phonics-  The sounds we explored were v and y. The children enjoyed this and a few thought of words beginning with that sound! van, vet, violin, yak, you, yell.  

Come back next week to see what we have been up to. :)