Reception’s got visitors…
Meet the newest members of Reception! This week, we’ve been getting to know our new class pets. The children have enjoyed observing, holding and investigating these intriguing creatures – stick insects!
Talk to your child about stick insects and other minibeasts.
Sacred Scarabs
Studying Ancient Egypt is proving to be a very fascinating and exciting topic. Today, we looked closely at Scarab beetles and why they were sacred to the Egyptians.
The ancient Egyptians used symbols in their art and religion. One symbol was that of the common scarab bug, a beetle found all over ancient Egypt. The scarab bug symbolized the restoration of life.
The scarab was a popular design for good luck charms, for seals used to stamp documents, and for jewellery made from clay or precious gems.
The rich colors used in the scarab design had meaning.
Red signified the god, Ra. Touches of yellow were used to symbolize the sun and the desert. Blue symbolized the Nile and green was the symbol for growth.
Why do scarab beetles push around balls of dung?
When a scarab beetle decides to be a parent, they lay their eggs inside some animal dung. The beetle then moulds the dung into a neat little ball. The ball that contains their eggs can be easily rolled around. That way they can take their unhatched babies with them wherever they go. It’s actually pretty clever.
Why did scarab beetles become sacred?
When the eggs hatch, tiny babies run out of the ball. To anyone watching, it looks like the babies magically appear out of nowhere. Because of this, the scarab beetle was believed to have magic powers. The beetle symbolized creation, life, and even rebirth. It was associated with the creation god Atum.
After the children had learnt about these precious creatures, work began on making their own. Take a look at the beetles so far. They will be painted and decorated next week.
Yeadon Tarn
On Monday, Year 5 went to Yeadon Tarn for would later be described as ‘The best trip ever!’
Inspired by our class novel (Kensuke’s Kingdom) we all had a go at sailing. In the novel, by Michael Morpurgo, the main character and his family set off on a round the world sailing trip. However, one night, the family hit some rough seas and Micheal ends up on a desert island with just dog for company.
When we weren’t learning all about how to catch the wind in our sails on the open water, we were either making an iMovie trailer for our remake of Kensuke’s Kingdom we were writing some water inspired poetry.
All the children and adults had a fantastic day and we’ll continue to reflect on our new experience as we read through our novel.
Here’s some action shots from the day…
Building 3D shapes
We’ve been learning all about shapes in Year 3, and this week we’ve explored 3D shapes.
Our challenge was to make as many 3D shapes as possible using only spaghetti and marshmallows!
Ask your child to remember and spot some of our shapes using the pictures below:
These shapes look familiar…
… Where have I seen those before?
Y6 Residential
Having finally sieved through the many photos we took while on residential, it is finally time to share them with you!
Every single child was a credit to our school both when responding to RobinWood staff and when working with children from our federation schools, Scholes and St James. We had a great time and here are a few snippets and thoughts from the children.
Pippa: Climbing was really fun and the challenge at the end was exciting.
Elias: It was very funny when we were blindfolded because you didn’t know where to grab and you looked cringy.
Phoenix: Archery was really fun and we got to learn how to use a real bow and arrow.
Neive: The evening activities were very fun and helped us build our teamwork.
Harry: It was fun canoeing and taught us what to do if we went canoeing again.
Nishaan: The trapeze was really fun because it was like being in a circus and you could jump to the wire.
Zack: You had to put a lot of effort into completing the quests and some of the puzzles were extremely hard.
Edward: Night line was really cool because you had to use your senses to navigate around.
Aleena: It hilarious because the squirrels weed on you and tickled you.
Oliver: The canoeing football was really fun because it was funny when Elias dropped his oar in the water.
Stan: It was really funny raft building because when they put the raft on the water, ours was sinking slowly. When everyone got on, they all fell off!
Owen: The dancing challenge was fun and it was a good experience.
Brandon: It was extremely fun because it felt like you were jumping off a really high cliff.
Hibba: Caving was really fun because all the challenges we had to complete were confusing but exciting.
Pippa: The cup challenge was really fun because we got to 12 cups high and we banked it – it was frustrating when they knocked it over though.
Neive: I think piranha pool was fun because I like solving riddles and getting wet.
Aleena: It was very nerve wracking but exciting on the giant swing because when you chopped the banana, it was sudden but then it was fun.
Zack: I think crate challenge was good because it was cool to build a crate tower and not hurt yourself when it fell down.
Tomb Explorers
Today, the classroom was transformed into a classtomb.
Children needed to navigate the dark, twisted maze using arrows to find artefacts, read clues, discover treasure and escape to tell the tale.
Who were the Ancient Egyptians?
What do these artefacts tell us about how they lived?
These pictures, taken by the explorers themselves, will help us to build a picture of their lives.
Phonics
Thanks for attending our phonics mornings last week. We hope you found it useful.
Here is a list of the ‘tricky words’ your child should be able to read and begin to use in their writing.
the, I, to, no, go, into, he, she, me, we, be, my, you, are, all, said, was, they, her, have, like, so,do,some, come, were, there, little, one, when, out, what.
We hope you saw how confident and capable the children have become. Please help them to continue their writing journey by encouraging them to write at home and praise their efforts.
Train like a ninja
Change4Life and Star Wars have joined forces to help get more children active with an exciting new Train Like A Jedi programme. The video, featuring double Olympic gold taekwondo champion, Jade Jones, will demonstrate a series of 12 moves that will help children master the ways of the Jedi.
This resource is a great way for children to get active and to contribute to the recommended daily 60 minutes of physical activity (30 minutes during the school day). We can’t wait to try out this video as one of our daily brain breaks.
Why not have a go at home to try and master some of the Jedi moves?
Tennis for free
A community sports charity is offering free tennis coaching every Saturday at Cross Flats Park. These are fun sessions for all abilities.
Cycling events
Recently, some of our Key Stage 2 children enjoyed taking part in the Brownlee triathlon at John Smeaton Leisure Centre. It is always one of the most popular events on our competition calendar.
This weekend, it is the real thing and the World Triathlon Series returns to Leeds. Starting locally at Roundhay Park, this is a perfect chance to see the athletes as they head to the city centre.
There is also a Let’s Ride pop up ride at the Brownlee Centre on Sunday.
Whether you want to ride for fun or fitness, the free monthly pop-up events gives you the chance to ride a traffic-free cycle circuit as many times as you want, at a pace that suits you.
The event is open to all ages and abilities and the circuit is easy to ride, with volunteers on hand throughout, ensuring peace of mind and safety for all cyclists.