Class Four

South Lakes Cross Country Trials

 in Class Four / PE by

On the most glorious afternoon this week, 6 of our most experienced runners undertook the challenges of the South Lakes local trials on the wonderful grounds of Sedbergh Prep. School at Casterton and nestled amongst the backdrop of the Barbon Fells. Rather that be daunted by the prospect of running a most challenging course of rough patch hills, railway embankments, mud slides and rocky lengthy hills, our squad were empowered and full of satisfaction at a ‘job well done’ when they eventually crossed the finish line.

It was a superb event attended by over 500 children and our children did so well in approach and determination, we are very proud of them all and delighted to report that some squad members managed to qualify for the area final at Penrith in a few weeks.

Still-life and the work of Paul Cezanne

 in Art / Class Four by

Years 5+6 have been learning all about the work of Paul Cezanne.

Cezanne was a French painter who is often regarded as the father of modern art influencing many other artists including Picasso.  Many of his most recognisable paintings are still-life studies of a group of everyday objects arranged on a table or cloth: they often contained fruit, plates, water jugs, vases and even human skulls!

Cézanne created more than 900 oil paintings and 400 watercolours during his lifetime.

In Class 4, we have been learning how to represent 3D objects onto a piece of paper by completing studies of apples in our sketch books using only three tones – dark, medium, light – with pencil crayons.

After studying and discussing a range of different still-life compositions created by Cezanne, we created our own arrangements and began our own observational studies in pencil.

Finally, we worked on using colour to to show light and dark in our compositions.  Here are our paintings so far; our finished pieces will be on display in school very soon!

Beauty and The Beast

 in Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / English by

Reception children all the way up to Year 6 really have had the most magical theatre experience today! The Dukes Theatre is always so welcoming, their well judged performances are a joy and this year was no exception. The action packed story was a more modern version with funny jokes to entertain the children with details keep the adults smiling too including details of magic and wonder! The children were keen to join in with audience participation including clapping along and letting the actors know if they agreed with their plans! Here is what some of the children had to say…

“The Beast was rather scary and the Dung Song at the start was great!”

“I liked it when the Beast and Bella were planting flowers and their friendship was growing too.”

“I was sitting on an end and so the Beast came really close to me!”

“My favourite bit was the dog as he spoke the word woof and he was called Nigel!”

 

Stayin’ Alive

 in Class Four / SCARF by

Last week in class 4, the Westmorland Fire Brigade came to teach us: how to put an unconscious person in the recovery position; how to properly perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR); and how to use a defibrillator. We also practised calling 999 with a real emergency operator!

Everyone in Class 4 had a go at using the CPR dummies and it looked like everyone had an educational hour. We had had fun too – our instructors were full of jokes and surprises. We never knew what to expect from the emergency situations.

Do you know what to do in an emergency? If you ever find yourself in this terrible situation, the information below might just save a life.

  1. Check the situation is safe for you to act.
  2. Check for a response from the patient.
  3. If there is no response, call 999 and ask for an ambulance.
  4. Check if the patient is breathing. Try and feel their breath with your cheek and watch to see if their chest is rising and falling.
  5. If the patient is breathing, put them into the recovery position.
  6. If the patient is not breathing, start CPR. Do 30 pumps in the center of the chest, followed by two rescue breaths. Repeat until help arrives.

Brilliant Balances

 in Class Four / PE by

As the weather gets colder and rainier, Class 4 have moved into their P.E. unit on gymnastics. We’ve been looking at a range of balances and poses, utilizing different muscle groups to perform them with stability and control. Most recently, we’ve been working on balances with a partner – take a look at some of them below!

Poetry Performances!

 in Class Four / English by

For anti-bullying week, class 4 have been working on some anti-bullying poetry. We have been inspired by spoken-word poets from around the world, listening closely to the ways in which they take their poems and perform them with passion, rhythm and emphasis.

Using the starter of “To this day….”, we generated ideas about how bullying might make a person feel. What would they think about looking back? How would it affect their lives? Using this, we constructed a poem with the ability to swap and change lines around to ensure we included rhythm and impact. We also made sure to finish our poems on a high note, celebrating the wonderful things that make us all special and unique.

Everyone has had an opportunity to perform their poem to an audience, but you might like to request a private performance of your own at home!

 

Anti-Bullying Week

 in Church / Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / SCARF by

In School this week, we have all been talking about ‘One Kind Word’ which has been the theme for Anti-Bullying Week 2021.   The week began with an assembly exploring the kind words that we can use in our daily interactions that can make the biggest difference to someone’s day; their life and their mental wellbeing.

We should all make a stand by challenging any unkind behaviour that we witness and each class has completed activities during the week about how to respond to different situations; how to seek help and how to support others who may need our help.

Our ‘Odd Socks Day’ was embraced by everyone on Monday too……

Boxes of Hope Revisited

 in Church / Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / SCARF by

In assembly today we celebrated the wonderful pupils and families of Levens CE School who have made Boxes of Hope. Our grand total this year is 40! This is an amazing achievement and fantastic testament to the empathy and support that pupils want to offer to others this Christmas time. A huge thank you to all who put a box together this year. Your gifts will really make a difference to a child and family who do not have as much as you.

Caring for our environment

 in Bowfell / Class Four / Whole School by

Children from all across our school have been involved in planting bulbs and winter plants in our outdoor shelter, Bowfell’s outdoor area and around our school.

Our Eco Team are responsible for making sure they are regularly watered and all the children in EYFS are busy sweeping all the autumn leaves away to keep our environment looking tidy.

Order! Order!

 in Class Four / English by

In English, we have been using the topic of “refugees” to guide our writing as we read “The Boy at the Back of the Class”.

See the source image

As this is such an important and current topic, we have been writing a lot of persuasive pieces, encouraging people to change their minds about the issue. Even though this is a tough thing to do, it is an important life skill. It’s particularly tough when you need to argue against what you might actually believe in!

We capped our persuasive unit off with a big debate. We spent some time learning about the houses of parliament, and how debates are held and managed there. This allowed us to create our own mini-house of commons in our classroom, complete with Mace and speakers boxes! If you can believe it, there is even such a thing as a John Bercow soundboard, so Mr Dean took great delight in getting him to shout “order! order!” on demand. Everyone was referred to by their proper title of “the right honorable” and took turns to make their arguments.

Everyone should be very proud of how they conducted themselves throughout the debate. People listened carefully and respectfully to the arguments being made, and put forward some insightful counter-arguments which really helped to change minds. Well done all!