School Blog

Salty Science

 in Class Four / Science by

Before the break, Scafell began an experiment to see if they could grow Salt crystals in the classroom. We explored substances which dissolve, and then asked the question “how can we get it back?”

Dissolving salt into water, we then watched and waited as, over time, the water slowly evaporated. As it did so, the salt we dissolved in was left behind!

We did have some unexpected results as the salt crystals formed on the outside of the glass instead of the string as we’d expected, but we certainly got a lot of crystals forming!

“Every child is an artist” Picasso, Reception style!

 in Art / Class One by

Picasso’s famous quote “Every child is an artist”, absolutely rings true in Class One! Reception have just completed their unit of work on self-portraits, drawing inspiration from Pablo Picasso and his cubism style of work. They began their learning by drawing a portrait of themselves from a photograph, before studying the work of Picasso and looking closely at some of his famous cubism portraits. They had a go at using facial features arranged differently on the page and then considering different angles and perspectives of themselves to create their masterpieces. I wonder if you can guess who is who?

Harvest Service

 in Church by

Yesterday morning we enjoyed giving thanks for God’s creation and this year’s ‘harvest’ at our special service held in School.  The extreme rain and wind on Friday morning made it impossible for us to walk safely to church.

Our service included contributions from children across school who had each prepared poems, art work and prayers; or shared some of their learning about Harvest.  Our years 5+6 pupils shared their research on how food is distributed unfairly across the world.  Although there is enough food in the world to feed everyone and no one should be without food; there is hunger simply because food is not distributed equally, so millions of people have too much, whilst others never have enough.  This message has encouraged us to think more carefully about how we waste food in our own homes.

We are very grateful to all our families and the wider community for their food gifts.  These will be distributed to our local foodbanks in the next few days to support families in our locality who are struggling to feed their families.

Harvest Art

 in Art / Class Two / RE by

In Class 2, we been continuing to develop our drawing skills. We have learnt that to be able to draw, we need to observe closely. This week we used magnifying glasses to observe produce of the land. This combined our RE learning about Harvest of the land and sea, with learning about observational drawing of natural materials in art.

The Human Network

 in Class Four / Computing by

In their computing lessons, class 4 have been studying how computers can link together. We use computers in this way more and more in our interconnected world as the internet forms a larger part of our daily lives. Here’s what we’ve learned so far:

Computers on the internet all have their own IP address. This stands for internet protocol which is a set of rules for how computers should communicate. Computers work best with numbers, so this looks like a long string of numbers. For example, the IP address of the computer which stores our school website is 5.61.120.34. That’s kind of difficult for humans to remember though, so we also give websites names in words which get translated to an IP address later.

 

Once you know which computer in the network you want to talk to, the message you want to send is given an “envelope” with the information needed to get it to the destination. This is called a header. Messages on the internet are usually broken up into lots of very small pieces (called packets), so it’s important to make a note of what order they should go in and how many are being sent!

Finally your message is ready to send. All of the packets of information are sent, one by one, towards their destination. This usually starts over WiFi, through a router or server and along telephone lines. Messages often make several stops along the way to their destination, being sent on by other computers in the network. In class we acted out a very simplified version, with each child standing in for a computer. It took a while for us to remember that computers cannot move, and so must send their messages by passing them through the network!

Nursery make some noise!

 in Class One / English by

Nursery have had a wonderful week exploring sounds. They used instruments and everyday objects and explored how different sounds can be made. They had a go at making quiet and loud sounds using beaters made from different materials.

Challenge Climb!

 in PE / Sport / Whole School by

Class 3 have enjoyed the most amazing experience at Kendal Climbing Wall today, despite mixed feelings of nerves and excitement this morning!  Bouldering, Clip and Climb, Crazy Climb and SkyDive tested our resilience and determination to new limits but everyone overcame all fears and exceeded their own expectations.

For some, it was an introduction to a new sport whilst for others an opportunity to develop skills further with the support of our three amazing instructors: Ben, Jamie and Greg.

As well as climbing, we learnt how to trust one another; we developed our communication skills; and we encouraged everyone to do their best whilst celebrating our achievement.

Writing Instructions in Years 3 + 4

 in Class Three / English / Whole School by

Have you ever tried to follow the instructions for making a Lego model and faced all kinds of difficulties?

This week, Class 3 have been learning all about how to write clear, detailed and precise instructions so that the reader is able to follow the instructions and have a very successful outcome.  We have been talking though each stage of the process of making a jam sandwich so that the reader doesn’t make any mistakes like: butter both sides of the bread, or put a dollop of jam in the centre of each slice and not spread across the whole surface of the slice.

We have also talked about the key features of good instructions which has included using imperative verbs, adverbs and time or adverbial openers.  The instructions also need to be in chronological order.  Year 4 have extended their work to include modal verbs.  If you have any trouble understanding any of these terms – ask anyone in Class 3!

Here we are making our sandwiches – this is called ‘Talk for Writing’! it is where we rehearse our ideas with our talking partners so that we are ready to put our ideas onto paper.  Look out for our amazing written instructions coming very soon…..!

Super Sailing!

 in Whole School by

We did say Class 4 had a busy week last week, and the cherry on top was our fabulous sailing day on Lake Windermere! Pairs of students worked together to captain their boats across the lake, as well as completing some tricky challenges. Despite s rather feeble wind, everyone showed great skill and all stayed in their boats! At least, until we said they could jump in!

Massive thanks to the staff at Royal Windermere Yacht Club for a super day on the lake – your support and expertise was greatly appreciated!!