Here are some of the finished sculptures from Gingko class. Can you guess the Olympic sports that they represent?
(Report by Mrs Milne)
July 26, 2011
Thursday 26th July 2011 – Family Learning in the Lower School
I couldn’t let the term end without saying thank you to the Lower School children and their families for such an outstanding effort with their family learning homework this year. The idea of family learning is for families to enjoy projects together that focus on different ‘intelligences’ (nature clever, picture clever, people clever, word clever, logic clever and self clever). Most of the children in Year 3 and 4 can be very proud of their efforts and several really took a great deal of pride in the presentation of their homework every week.
Our final family learning project lasted all half term and involved creating a miniature garden (to fit in with our topic ‘Through the Window). The standard of the gardens exceeded all our expectations and created a real stir at our recent open evenings. Here are a few photographs. Again, well done and thank you to all involved – an OUTSTANDING effort!
(Report by Mrs Milne)
Tuesday 27th July 2011 – Gingko Literacy Set become Film Producers!
In Literacy for the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about persuasive writing. The final outcome for this unit of work was to produce a voiceover for a trailer for the film ‘Robots’. The children worked hard to include the following features in their voiceovers with the aim to persuade listeners to go to the cinema to watch the film:
- Clear, dramatic voice, with appropriate expression
- Boasts/use of exaggeration
- Emotive language
- Rhetorical questions
- Play on words/humour
- Mentions of key ‘hooks’ in the plot/characters
The children worked really hard and really made me proud. Listen to these few examples – I think they are very convincing!
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(Report by Mrs Milne)
Tuesday 26th July 2011 – Lower School Art
In the Lower School, we have been busy learning about drawing and making figures in Art. Firstly, we learnt how to use sausages and eggs to get the body proportions right then we created ‘moving pictures’ in chalk (see the Art Gallery for more pictures).
This week, we have been building on this knowledge and have created sculptures in the style of Henry Moore using scrunching and rolling techniques with newspaper…
… coating with Modroc (special bandages used for broken bones!) to make the sculptures rock-hard…
… and finally painting the models in metallic colours so that they look authentic.
During this sculpture project, the children worked in pairs from a photograph of themselves in a sporting pose to celebrate the forthcoming Olympics. Photos of the finished sculptures and the original chalk action drawings will be on show in an Art exhibition in St Peter’s church next term (more details to follow).
(Report by Mrs Milne)
July 14, 2011
Thursday 14th July 2011 – Lower School Maths
TheLowerSchoolhave been enjoying doing lots of investigations in Maths in the last couple of weeks. As teachers, we have all been very proud of the children’s ability to use and apply what they know about number and shape in a creative way. Here are some photos from Mrs Milne’s maths set:
Pics 1 – 3 - A shape investigation requiring a systematic approach and good team work.
Pics 4 – 9 - Shape work in the school grounds and locality: finding estimating and measuring angles and recognising symmetry.
Thanks to Miss Salentino, who returned to BWJS to conduct these outdoor maths lessons as part of her Final Year Project towards her QTS. The children (and adults) had great fun making use of the outdoors.
(Report by Mrs Milne)
Thursday 14th July 2011 – Lower School Fun Sports
The Lower School enjoyed their fun sports morning today, taking part in a range of activities around the field and competing for points for their team. They were ably assisted by Year 6, and by a team of students from Swanmore College.
Results:
4th place – Leopards
3rd place – Tigers
2nd place – Pumas
1st place – Lions
Results for the whole school will be announced tomorrow!
July 4, 2011
Monday 3rd July 2011 – Maple Class attend Winchester’s Personal Best Event
Today was a special day for members of Maple Class. Whilst the rest of the Lower School were having lessons as usual, this class had a special day trip to Winchester for the finale of the Personal Best scheme celebrating the forthcoming Olympic Games in 2012.
The event was held at Winchester Stadium and much to the excitement of the children, we travelled there by double-decker bus. This was the first time that many of the children had been upstairs on a double-decker and I’m sure the experience will be cited by many as their highlight! It was particularly interesting travelling down some of the smaller tree-lined roads to pick up the children from Curdridge and there were screams of delight as the branches scraped and rattled against the windows. It was still only 8:15am!
Upon arrival at the stadium, we were all in awe of the professional running track and large sports grounds. It soon became clear just how much organisation had gone into this event as we passed all the equipment set up for the activities, plus the Hydration Station and festival-like portaloos! In all, approximately 1000 children from schools in and around Winchester and the Meon Valley showed up to see if they could beat their PERSONAL BEST in a range of challenging sports activities.
The day started with all 1000 children (and their accompanying adults!) joining in with a warm up led by a lady on a high platform. Once everybody’s muscles were warm, each school team started off on their circuit of challenges. Activities ranged from circuits style ‘how many in a minute?’ type activities such as the Speed Bounce and Hop and Run to ‘how far?’ activities such as the Standing Long Jump and the Chest Throw. There were also activities testing the children’s accuracy (e.g. throwing into hoops). At the end of the day, children met Steph Twell, 1500m Bronze Medallist in the Commonwealth Games in 2011. She gave the children an inspirational talk about her commitment to running and her hopes for the Olympics. The children wrote on an Inspiration Wall about their feelings about sport, and even got to hold the Winchester District Olympic torch!
What a fun-packed day. All the children returned to school at about 4:15 absolutely exhausted but happy. Many children bettered their time/distance/score in activities today and should feel very proud of themselves. What a shame Miss Pearmain wasn’t there to see her class shine – she did send a text saying she was cheering them on! Thanks to Mr Broadway from Swanmore College of Technology who organised attendance for our Pyramid and to Mrs Harris who joined in with abandon!
(Report by Mrs Milne)
June 29, 2011
Wednesday 29th June 2011 – The Sun Comes Out For Outdoor Maths Club
This morning, for the first time since this club was established, the sun actually graced us with its presence for Outdoor Maths! Although sadly we were a few members down, Millie, Sammy and Amy learnt lots through taking on today’s challenge which involved estimating and counting.
Here is a scan of some of their work:
In previous weeks, we have used trundle wheels to measure the perimeter of the school, have estimated and timed ourselves running and have sketched patterns found on fencing and walls.
I still have plenty of space at this club, so if you fancy joining us, just turn up. It happens at 8am every Monday morning – meet in Gingko classroom.
Report by Mrs Milne
Wednesday 29th June 2011 – Gingko Go Pond Dipping
On Monday afternoon, Gingko class had a special treat for a sunny afternoon – we went pond dipping! Every day, we can see the pond from our classroom window and we have seen how it changes with the seasons. However, since we are currently learning about HABITATS during our Science lessons, we decided it was about time we explored this special habitat up close.
In small groups, the children took it in turns to collect observational and measured data (such as the size and depth of the pond and the water and air temperature), and to explore the surrounding grasses for plants and minibeasts. However, the favourite activity was definitely the pond dipping where strange water creatures and plants were collected, studied and identified. There was a lot of pond weed and algae to peer through but we caught lots of newt tadpoles, a water beetle, a pond snail and some kind of water spider too! Hovering over the pond, dragonflies and butterflies were spotted and skating across its surface were some very agile water boatmen!
In future lessons we will be thinking further about why these animals might like the pond as their home, and will be considering how their bodies are suited to their habitat.
(Report by Mrs Milne)
