Where does our food come from? ~ Class 2

This morning Class 2 set off from school and walked down to the walled garden on the Harewood Estate. It was quite a long way, especially for little legs, but everyone was very excited so we kept up a good pace.

 

 

 

We had time to stop for a playtime near the trees.

 

Mr Nicholson told us how important plants are. We found out that nearly everything we eat comes from plants including bread, chocolate, vanilla and rice. Even the milk we drink relies on plants because even though it come from a cow, the cows need to eat grass which is a type of plant!

 

We looked at vegetables that grow under the ground like this beetroot, where as the name suggests we eat the root of the plant.

 

 

We looked at vegetables that grow above the ground like these sprouts. We found out that some people love to eat sprouts and some people hate them!

 

 

While we were there a lady called Jane was busy harvesting some potatoes.

 

We thought about all the different ways we like to eat potatoes. The most popular suggestions were roasted, mash and chips and crisps!

 

We saw some runner beans that looked delicious and Mr Nicholson opened them up so we could see inside.

 

We saw a special bed that showed how vegetables would have been grown in gardens during the war when food was  rationed.

 

The walled garden would have provided lots of local people with fresh fruit and vegetables during the war years.

 

 

We saw some unusual vegetables, these are different varieties of butternut squach.

 

Mr Nicholson showed us some corn that was purple and he told us that he had some creamy mashed potatoes for his dinner that were blue!

 

 

Our favourite part of the visit was looking at the pumpkin beds.

 

Some of the pumpkins were massive!

 

We had to look quite carefully to see them hidden under all the leaves.

 

We saw these lovely scarecrows that reminded us of the scarecrows we read about in our story this week. Betty O'Barley and Harry O'Hay in the "Scarecrows' Wedding"!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Viking Adventures

Who were the Vikings? They were sailors, raiders, traders, settlers, farmers and craftsmen! Class 3 got a chance to try their hand at nearly all of these activities during a fantastic visit to Murton Park.

Vikings worked hard - and so did we! Collecting firewood, grinding flour, making oil lamps, building fires, guarding the village and even burying treasure.

 After our banquet in the Lord's hall one of our slaves was punished for lack of motivation - rather harshly if you ask me! We also entertained the Lord with jokes of dubious quality and some interesting party tricks.

The class were so interested and behaved incredibly well. The staff at the centre were full of praise for their manners and attitude. They definitely were a credit to the school and their Viking families!

Feel the Force

Can you feel the force? Leeds Force!
Our new basketball coaches are professional players from the Leeds Force team. On Friday we had our first session with Paul and Zac. It was fantastic - we learnt so much in such a short time.

We started off learning how to dribble the ball. Using your fingertips gives you greater control of the ball and makes it harder for your opponent to take possession. Despite the slight height advantage, we still gave it our all!

The coaches were great fun and we are so pleased they will be with us until the end of the half term. The basketball season starts very soon - so who knows we might get to see our coaches in action!

Going around the twist!

Junior Jam has us all going around the twist this week. We were learning all about algorithms. We learnt that algorithms are sets of instructions that are given to computers. Mr. Thompson showed us amazing video clips of people solving rubiks cubes in seconds by following set algorithms. Our times were a little slower - but we're getting there!

 The class then put their algorithm writing skills into action using an app called 'Lite Bot'. The children had to give sets of instructions to the robot to steer him through courses that increased in difficulty. Miss King, due to her issues with left and right, found it particularly tricky!

The children worked in teams to solve the problems which were very challenging.

Apple for the teacher!

The i-pads are here! Today we had our very first lesson using i-pads. Junior Jam will be working in school every Friday to help us make the most of our new technology. This half term we are learning how to use the language of computer programming.

Using an app called 'Tynker' we looked at how you can build up a chain of command. The class also learnt about the language of computers and the use of binary code.

 Everyone had a fantastic time. We all agreed how great it was to have so much fun and be learning at the same time. Over the coming weeks we will build up our programming skills and design our very own game.

Thank you again to all those involved in the fund raising efforts for the i-pads. Without the fantastic efforts of the Harewood school community it wouldn't have been possible.