Levens School

Amazing Authors- Anthony Browne

 in Class Three / English by

Class Three have loved looking at the books of Anthony Browne. We started the topic looking at the book ‘Gorilla’. The children thought about how the characters were feeling using inference.  They moved onto to researching facts about gorillas and produced some amazing non-fiction reports, organising the facts under sub-headings. We then moved onto ‘The Tunnel’. The children made predictions about what would be at the end of the tunnel. We also considered the actions of the characters and carried out a conscience alley. The children gave the character advice and guidance. We followed this with the children producing decision wheels, these gave advantages and disadvantages of suggested next steps for the character Rose. The children then focused on diary writing and wrote an entry for Jack and Rose. We finally looked at ‘Voices in the Park’. The children loved the idea of writing about the same event from different views. To finish this topic, we wrote our own versions of the story  and called them ‘Voices in the playground’. We can’t wait for you to read them!

Class 4 Bridges

 in Class Four / Design and Technology by

For our D&T project this term, Class 4 are building bridges. We’ve been exploring different ways to stiffen and reinforce cardboard. A simple flat “beam” of paper can’t support much weight on its own, but add a curved “arch” underneath and suddenly things are much stronger! We’ve also been exploring corrugation and lamination techniques to further reinforce the structures we have been building. Check out some of our prototypes below!

Barrow Raiders School of the Week

 in Whole School by

How delighted were we to once again be invited to the Barrow Raiders’ School of the Week recently.

Eighty nine of us enjoyed the hospitality of the Raiders, for their game at Barrow against Superleague side, Wigan Warriors. We turned up with banners and very loud voices to cheer our team to victory and were delighted with both the win and our opportunity to accompany the team as mascots onto the field in from of 2,500 spectators.

It was a wonderful, memorable event and we hope to be invited again in the Summer as the season progresses.

Edinburgh Highlights

 in Class Four / Whole School by

This week, Class 4 enjoyed three amazing days in the incredible city of Edinburgh.

Our trip began bright and early on Monday morning with a meet up at Oxenholme Station for our train journey North.  On arrival, we dropped our bags at the hostel, then set off up Calton Hill for views of the city and the surrounding hills on such a clear, bright day.  In the afternoon, we enjoyed a tour around the Scottish Parliament – an incredible modern building located opposite the historic palace of Holyrood.

Tuesday started with a good breakfast and a walk up the Royal Mile to the Castle and then to Camera Obscura – a fascinating museum and definitely a popular highlight of the entire trip with all our pupils.  We then headed out of town on a local bus to Edinburgh Zoo where we saw koalas, penguins, pandas, sun bears and much much more!

Our final day involved exploring the exhibits at the National Museum of Scotland which included stepping back in time to Ancient Egypt and lots of interactive scientific displays too!

We all enjoyed such a wonderful time and, as always, the children were incredible ambassadors for our school!

Take a look at some of the highlights here:

Wheelchair Basketball

 in PE / SCARF / Whole School by

We were incredibly lucky last week to welcome wheelchair basketball world champion Nat Pattinson to Levens! Nat came and delivered a whole school assembly and the staff and children had a wonderful time learning how to play wheelchair basketball – a sport which develops collaborative team work, perseverance and resilience.  Nat is passionate about raising awareness of disability in sport and answered lots of questions from the children, telling them about how he manages everyday tasks in his daily life and what it was like competing in the world championships. A wonderful day was had by all!

Multi-Faith Week

 in RE / Whole School by

We are currently enjoying learning more about some of the many faiths followed by people across our community and the wider world.  At our School, we spend a lot of time learning about Christianity, but this week we have immersed ourselves  in the faiths of Judaism, Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism through the theme of prayer.

Each day, we have started with a whole school assembly led by each of our four classteachers. This morning, Mr Dean led the whole school in Buddhist meditation!  Each class has then enjoyed a session in the their classroom with each of our four teachers learning about every faith in greater detail through a variety of ways including role play, artefacts, photographs, art and film.

Kendal Mountain Rescue visit Class One

 in Class One / SCARF by

 

Nursery and Reception were lucky enough to receive a visit on Monday from Tony who is part of the team at Kendal Mountain Rescue. They found out all about the types of work Mountain Rescue do and when they might be called to help someone out. They explored lots of Tony’s kit and equipment, finding out about the importance of each item. The highlight of the visit was a trip outdoors to have a seat in one of the vehicles. Thank you Tony for a super afternoon!

South Lakes District Cross Country Trials

 in Class Four / Class Three / PE / Sport / Whole School by

What a terrific and successful afternoon was had at the district trails this week and what a muddy delight to be there!

It was ‘touch and go’ for this event to even take place on Wednesday, following torrential rain for several days in the lead up. The ‘go ahead’ was finally given on the morning and our team of 9, excited and full of confidence travelled to the challenging and muddy course at Casterton to compete.

What effort, what support, and what an achievement by everyone, who excelled to run their best, in races against at least 80 of the best district runners.

I am delighted to report that everyone finished in the top 50%, and that 6 pupils qualified for the Cumbria finals on Tuesday 17th January.

We are so very proud!

The fun that is Running Club continues each Friday until the end of March when all runners will compete at the season finale at Elleray, what a team they all are!

Painting in Class 2

 in Art / Class Two / Music by

Class 2 have enjoyed developing their mark making skills using the media paint. They have learned about primary and secondary colours by producing a colour wheel and explored other artistic concepts such as  shape and line. They have looked at work by the artist Wassily Kandinsky, and like the Russian painter, they have used music as a stimulus for their own artistic creations. Check out their exploration of colour, shape and pattern as well as how different genres of music have influenced the marks they made on the page.

 

Cave Painting in Class 3

 in Art / Class Three / History / Whole School by

Class 3 have been finding out what it would have been like to be one of the world’s first artists, painting on the walls of caves with natural materials and only their hands to create images.

Inspired by the work of our ancient ancestors, we travelled back in time to our cave – the school hall – where we worked collaboratively to create images of hands, animals and people.

It was very different to our usual experiences in art lessons.  The large pieces of paper had been crinkled and squashed to replicate the uneven surface of a cave wall; they had been positioned vertically so that we could feel what it would have been like to try to paint on walls; and the hall was dimly lit to imitate the dim light in a cave.

Unlike our ancient predecessors, we were able to use graphite sticks, acrylic paints and pastels.