Meet a Creature
This half term had an exciting start as our first lesson of the day involved meeting some exciting creatures. We learn all about how these creatures have evolved into what they are today as well as some interesting facts about them.
We held quite a few lizards, all of which are reptiles and have cold blood so generally live in warm environments.
Snakes and tortoises are reptiles too but snakes have evolved to have no legs – and make an excellent scarf.
Spiders have eight eyes as well as eight legs and some of us were perfectly happy holding this one – it actually tickled a little bit.
A number of us weren’t too keen on some of the creatures – lots of children who appear very confident in the playground and classroom were not so happy when confronted with a giant millipede!
Even the staff had a go. We had to wrestle the snake off Mrs Small as she liked the look of it as a scarf… but she wasn’t so keen on the tarantula.
Who knew a giant millipede could make you so happy!
Football Coaching
In PE this half term, Year 6 are taking control of coaching each other in football. We have 6 five-a-side teams who are in charge of improving each other in preparations for the games we play.
I shall say no more as the teams’ press officers have prepared a short summary of what went on in today’s lesson.
Written by Grace: Firstly, the physio -Nishaan- gave us some stretches to do to warm up our muscles ready for the lesson. Nishaan gave us four stretches then he told us to jog around the playground to get our heart pumped. Then, our coach, Abdullah, did a drill with Nishaan and Stanley while Grace and Pavan practised some dribbling skills using cones as defenders. When we became more confident with dribbling, we included it in a little match against another team. We were not allowed to tackle because we hadn’t practised that yet but it was still fun. We played that for about 10 minutes but then tidied away and discussed our lesson before going back into class.
Written by Edward: In my group we had Edward, Aleena, Matthew, Hibba and Megan. The first part was OK when we practised skills but we took the football game way too seriously. Hibba and I were the people who thought we were
not as confident in football. I enjoyed the game but people were taking it too
seriously and were tackling when you were not supposed to. I would rate this
football lesson 7.4/10.
Written by Isobel: In PE, we have started to play football until the end of term. We have all been given roles: coach, manager, kit manager, physio or press manager. In my group, Harry, Nico, Pohnum, Umiamah and I, we focused on dribbling. We did a set of drills that helped our dribbling skills and at the end played a small game with extra rules to help our dribbling skills.
Written by Pippa: Today, Year 6 did football for PE. There were five people in a group and each had their own role: coach (Noah T.), manager (Archie V.), kit/equipment manager (Pheonix L.), physio (Zach I.) and press officer (Me, Pippa G.). The press officer is who wrote the post, the coach trained everyone, the manager took charge, the physio fired up and cooled down everyone on the group and the kit manager got and put away the equipment. First, the physio took charge to get everyone ready. Then, the coach trained the group to warm them up. Next, everyone had a match against another group. Finally, the press officers wrote about it.
Written by Saleem: Today, Year 6 were asked to form a group of 5 and had each been given a role to play: coach (Oliver), manager (Brandon), kit/equipment manager (Iqra), physio (Owen) and the press officer (Saleem) . Children were asked to create a drill practising their dribbling skills as a group. At the end, the children played a match. Our group played very well due to some weather issues and played very well with each other. Today we had a great time and will hopefully continue this.
Written by Neive: Today we did football coaching: Enya was the physio, Neive was the press officer, Daanyaal was the kit manager, Elias was the manager and Matteo was the coach. Firstly, Enya did warm ups. We did ten star jumps, a game of tig and some stretches. After that, Matteo did our drill. Before he started, Daanyaal went and got some equipment for it. The drill involved us dribbling from cone to cone but there was a defender in our way. Next, we did a match against another team. We had to dribble to a line then stop it exactly on the line. We played for about ten minutes. Penultimately, we tidied away. Finally, we discussed the pros and cons of our session – Elias led it.⚽
Living and Learning – Vampire cough and sneeze
Well done to Saahir who we spotted using this technique this morning without prompting.
Getting close to the creatures
Today, we met a variety of unusual creatures in our Meet a Creature workshop. These included a tortoise, a snake, a tarantula, bearded-dragons, a gecko and a chinchilla. Some children, and adults, were brave enough to hold or just touch the creatures. We learnt lots of facts about the animal’s habitat and how they adapt to their environment.
Did you know that bearded dragons can drink through their skin?
Amazing animals!
Today, we were fortunate to be joined by ‘Meet a Creature‘. During this hands-on workshop, we learnt all about evolution and inheritance (part of the science National Curriculum for Year 5) whilst handling some interesting, rare animals.
We all had the opportunity (which some of us declined) to hold each animal and learnt lots of facts about how it has evolved over time – we learnt other fun facts, too!
Here’s a few images of us holding some of the animals:
(Warning: look away now if you’re scared of snakes, tarantulas, bearded-dragons, geckos, chinchillas or children!)
Meet a creature
This afternoon, Year 4 came face to face with some fascinating creatures. We held and learnt about a range of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and mini-beasts. This was a real hands-on experience and every child was shown how to handle the animals with care and respect.
Meeting dragons!
This morning we met a variety of reptiles.
Did you know that a crested gecko could lick its own eyeballs?
Can your child name their favourite creature?
Welcome back
Welcome back to what is set to be a very busy half term indeed!
With links to our current topic and history, the Year 3/4 production of Darwin Rocks, is set to be a must see!
With booming beats, groove-filled guitar anthems and a dubious dress-sense, a theatre company from the distant future pays tribute to history’s most famous advocate of evolution in an adventure of discovery.
This story is about the work of Charles Darwin.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who changed the way humans viewed themselves and the world around them through his amazing ideas on evolution and natural selection.
Auditions to begin next week.
Darwin Rocks coming to a school near you soon!
In our writing lessons. we’ll be looking closely at traditional stories with a big focus on the type of language used. These all-time classics will also form the basis of some reading sessions. Year 4 will be acting out and retelling some of these great tales.
The children will investigate the styles and voices of traditional story language and identify typical story themes, such as good over evil.
As we have an upcoming competition, for PE, we’ll be mainly working on our skipping skills. Some of these are quite technical and will take time to learn. It was great to see lots of the children investing in a skipping rope at school.
Topic ‘Life Forces’
On Monday, the whole school have an onsite workshop.
Meet a Creature, an exciting animal-handling workshop, is coming into school.
The Year 4 workshop will be focused around predators and prey.
Pupils learn the terms predator, prey and producer and make links between plants and animals in the form of food chains. Children will discuss the different diets of animals and learn how herbivores eat the plants and then they are eaten by carnivores, so the food (energy) is passed along the ‘chain’.
Photos to follow!
As always, please feel free to pop in if you have any queries. We’re always happy to help.
Living and Learning this half term
- I cover my mouth (when I yawn, cough, sneeze). Get your child to demonstrate the ‘vampire’ method to family members at home.
- I can say something good about myself. It’s important that your child can confidently talk about themselves in a positive way.
- I pay compliments in a sensible way. Try paying compliments each day to each other!
- I receive compliments in a sensible way. Some children struggle to hear positive words about themselves, but this is important for self-esteem. Try paying (and listening) to praise and compliments.
- I know the difference between being proud and showing off. We encourage compliments to be paid – but encourage your children to know the balance between being having self-esteem and showing off.
- I recognise my talents. Talk to your child about talents, whether academic, physical, social or emotional.
Change4Life healthier snacking
Have you see the recent Change4Life campaign encouraging children to have no more than two packaged snacks per day to reduce their sugar intake? Remember fruit and veg are always the best snack and count towards your child’s 5 A Day.
The campaign is launched as Public Health England reveals half the sugar children consume comes from unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks. Children in England are eating nearly three times the recommended amount of sugar. Too much sugar can lead to harmful fat building up inside and serious health problems, and also painful tooth decay.
Recently children brought home the Family Snack Challenge. Can your family complete the 7-day healthier snack challenge? Change4Life provides lots of hints and tips for healthier snacking.
