Coronation Celebration
On Friday, we celebrated the coronation by coming to school in red, white and blue. At lunchtime, we had an indoor picnic and afterwards we had an assembly all about our new King. In class, we then created a college of King Charles III using images that represented London.
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
Over the past two weeks, in Living and Learning lessons, the children have been looking at the importance of hygiene (especially handwashing) and the importance of sleep.
We defined hygiene and talked about several different ways we could make sure our hygiene was good. A few responses were: showering, brushing teeth and washing hands. Afterwards, we focussed on why we need to keep our hands clean (to prevent the spread of germs) and how to keep them clean. We also found out some very interesting facts about germs: did you know that if one million micro-organisms were packed right next to each other they would only cover a pin head in size? Did you know there are more microbes (good and bad) on one person’s hand than people on the planet!
Furthermore, we discussed how sleep has a variety of benefits. These being an improvement in memory; decision making; concentration and mood; immune system; and growth and repair. We learnt that a child aged 10 should be getting about 10 hours of sleep every night!
Help at home: Learn the handwashing soap and sanitiser song and put those actions into practice!
Or try some of our top tips to get a better night’s sleep:
- breathing exercises to slow down your heart rate;
- writing down worries in a diary;
- thinking of good things that have happened that day;
- talking to someone you can trust.
Latin: Acting and Adverbs
In Latin, we read, translated and acted out a comic strip (see below) about life before the Romans conquered Britain. We also discussed adverbs in both English and Latin. Take a look at our great work:
Help at home: Identify the adverbs in the story, what three letters do they end in?
Science: We are biologists.
This half term, we are biologists. Biology is the study of living things.
In this week’s lesson, we dissected a flower called Alstroemeria. We labelled the different parts and discussed which of them make up the male and female reproductive systems. Have a look at our work:
Help at home: Label the different parts of the flower. Describe the process of pollination or plant fertilisation.
Science: A sticky experiment!
In Science this week, the children planned and created their own glue. The children decided on their variables and then completed the experiment.
This type of scientific enquiry was comparative and fair testing.
We then put our glues to the test! The children added pegs to their pieces of paper which were stuck together using their glue. The glue that held the most pegs was the stickiest. In conclusion, we found out that flour and sugar were the stickiest substances.
Afterwards, the children went on to reflect on their experiment and decided what they would do differently next time. Some responses were: adding more glue between the pieces of paper; changing the amount of substance so it made the glue thicker and trying to add the pegs when the glue was still drying.
Smart Money Award 2023
Today, we welcomed Nicola and Linda from HSBC to our whole school assembly to present us with our Smart Money Award 2023.
This is awarded for financial education lessons which took place in school for all classes last summer as part of our Living and Learning curriculum.
Nicola combined this visit with some more financial education for the children.
Living and Learning: I can give and receive compliments.
In Living and Learning, the children discussed and defined ‘a compliment’ as “giving someone praise in a respectful way”. We then went on to give ourselves a compliment, others a compliment and also talked about how it makes us feel when we are given a compliment. Some of our emotions included: being happy; feeling embarrassed; being proud; feeling appreciated and validated.
Here are some of the things the children complimented themselves on:
Food Technology – Bruschetta!
This morning, Year 4 have been cooking and making Bruschetta. We were so impressed with their knowledge and skills at each stage of the recipe.
The main skill we were practising was chopping with a knife. The two different techniques that we used were the bridge and the claw. We used the bridge to safely and securely cut the tomatoes into big chunks. We used the claw to dice the tomatoes and basil up into smaller pieces.
We then used a garlic crusher to squeeze the garlic into our tomato and basil mixture. It’s safe to say the room smelt very strong!
The final challenge was to spoon the mixture onto the sliced and toasted baguette without making a mess and then to dig in… some of them gave it a 10/10!
A big well done to everyone for being sensible and engaged with the learning!
School and snow day all in one
After a very hard decision this morning, we managed to open school and the majority of staff made it too – thank you to them for their efforts in quite severe conditions.
It may have been a shorter day and different in many ways but we’re really glad we made the decision to open. These photos show one of the reasons why – a school day combined with a snow day.
10 March 2023
This week’s Talk Time poses a moral dilemma and links to internet safety.
Is using the internet is bad for your health?
You could start by listing reasons why you would use the internet (playing games, social media, watching videos). Are your reasons the same as other members of your family?
We suggest approaching this Talk Time with an open mind. You may already have strong views on this but it’s important to consider both sides of an argument before reaching your conclusions.
Check out these R2s to help you with your discussions at home:
- What are the health benefits of using the internet?
- Remember that mental health is crucial to being a healthy person.
- How could using the internet negatively impact on your health?
- How could this impact on your physical health?
- Is using the internet always an enjoyable experience?
- Decide which argument is the
- This might be the side with the most points to back it up.
- You might consider some points to be more important than others.
- You may not agree with people you speak to – that’s okay!
After the discussion with friends and family, what conclusion do you reach? Do others around you agree?