Year 1 PE- Street Dance
Year 1 enjoyed this second session of street dance this afternoon. They started with a warm up where they had to create a movement for a given animal such as stretching tall like a giraffe, pulling themselves across the floor like a snake and jumping like a monkey. Then Year 1 recapped some of the dance movements that they learnt last lesson such as ‘The Smurf’ and ‘The ATL (kick, kick, jump)’ before learning a new movement called ‘The Bart Simpson.’ Finally, they practised these movements as part of a routine before performing it in groups.
Rocksteady Rock Bands
Our new Rocksteady bands started their lessons again and it was wonderful to see how much their confidence has grown since starting with Rocksteady! It was also great to see a few new rock band members after being inspired by the other rock stars at their rock concert in December. There are still places available if you would like your child to be part of a rock band. https://www.rocksteadymusicschool.com/parents/
Whole School Worship - Who Is My Neighbour?
In our collective worship, we were considering the question, “Who is my neighbour?” We discussed what it means to love your neighbour as yourself (as mentioned in parts of the Bible such as Leviticus and the Gospel according to Mark) and that there are times when it can be incredibly difficult. In hearing about the life of Martin Luther King Jr, as today is Martin Luther King Jr Day, we discovered that, even when it feels impossible to love our neighbour, when we are mistreated, ignored or disrespected as he and other black people have been, we must try harder to follow God’s greatest commandment, just like Martin did. Our children considered this and spent some time reflecting on the Christian Values that Martin demonstrated and the ways that they would like to make the world a better place and make a difference. Some of the children’s examples included: protecting nature, making peace when we have disagreements, putting a stop to pollution and eradicating poverty. We finished with prayers thanking God for Martin Luther King Jr and all that he did to the make the world a better place and asked Him to give us the courage to stand up for what is right. Rev Ben finished with a special blessing and we sang 'I can make a difference'.
Online Safety: Tik Tok
With 22% of its billion-strong userbase being between the ages of 13 and 17, the popularity of TikTok among the younger generation is indisputable. Providing entertainment in the form of a stream of short-form video content while allowing its users to post videos of their own the app has skyrocketed to prominence over the last few years, becoming a fixture in young people’s digital lives. Of course, with a platform as popular and gargantuan as TikTok, it can be intimidating trying to figure out how best to safeguard children and young people using the app. That’s why Wake Up Wednesday have released this brand-new guide to TikTok, detailing the main online safety concerns and suggesting strategies to reduce these risks for the app’s younger users.
Year 4 Art - Fabric of Nature
Our art this week is inspired by the rainforest. We were looking at the starting points in a design process with a focus on rainforest plants, flowers and animals. We selected images that interested us and then drew our own versions on a 15 x 15cm square. Next we used various media including pastels, chalk, pencil crayon and felt to enhance our designs. The end result was amazing and the children were all super proud of their efforts.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: Curiosity Questions
In Year 4, we are preparing for our first online meeting with our linking class by thinking of curiosity questions. Before we can write good questions for our linking class, we needed to explore curiosity questions with each other. We played human bingo, in which we had to work in pairs to find one person to match each statement on our grid. We asked questions such as, “Are you left-handed?” and “Do you like pizza and chips?”, to get to know a bit more about each other. Then in our next session we will be considering questions for our friends at St Matthew’s.
Year 4 - RE: What is most important in prayer?
Although we pray at least twice a day in class, sometimes it’s worth taking the time to look at why we pray, and our current Year 4 RE unit is giving us the opportunity to explore this. This week, each group was given 18 statements about prayer and the task was initially for the children to remove 5 statements that they considered unimportant to the act of praying. They then had to choose another 5 statements to remove. The final step was for them to read their 8 remaining statements and pick out the 5 statements they considered to be most important. Each group then had to present their final 5, stating why they felt these were the most important aspects of prayer. Most groups agreed that it is important to speak to God through prayer and ask Him for forgiveness.
Year 3- Class Worship- Pour your heart out with prayers
In our class worship today, we watched a Worship Together across the Diocese video with a story about Hannah from the Bible. This story teaches us that we can pour out our hearts to God in prayer, and he always listens. Some children prayed to be kind and helpful to others, to make good choices, to have the courage to try new things and for there to be peace in the world Bishop Philip also spoke about how prayer gives us hope.
Year 4 - PE: Acro
The Year 4 children are so lucky to be receiving specialist dance coaching again this half term. This time they will be learning Acro skills. Their first session saw them demonstrate their abilities to perform forward roles, handstands and cartwheels. The coaches taught the children about correct hand placement and body positioning for optimal results. Every pupil had already improved in at least one area by the end of the session.
Reception- Painting the snow with water colours
Whilst the children were junk modelling using water coloured paints, they came up with an idea of painting the snow with the water colours. We decided to get stuck into some child initiated play. The children had so much fun decorating the snow and becoming artists, mixing colours to make new ones and making pictures and patterns on a different texture.
Life Education Workshops
On either Tuesday 21st or Wednesday 22nd each class will have a special Life Education workshop led by Karen and Harold the Giraffe from Coram Scarf. The children have really enjoyed the workshops over the last couple of years and they supplement our PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Economic Education) curriculum. Harold the Giraffe scratch bookmarks will also be on sale for £1.00 for 2 bookmarks, 2 ribbons and a wooden stylus. The sessions will cover the following: Reception: All about me Year 1: My wonderful body Year 2: Feelings Year 3: Meet the brain Year 4: Great to be me Year 5: Friends Year 6: Decisions There will be an information session for parents on the Wednesday morning from 8.45-0.00am in the library area, should you have any questions or would like to know more about the sessions.
Reception: The Role of the Vicar
Reception class welcomed Rev Ben into class to talk about how a vicar is special to the Church. Rev Ben shared a video with the children showing how Jesus’ disciples were ordinary people just like him. He brought a bible, a chalice and the oil used to baptise people to show how vicars help people to learn from the Bible and how they welcome people into the church family. Rev Ben brought in his stole that he wears in Church. The children all had a turn at trying it on if they wanted to. Thank you so much Rev Ben, we loved your visit!