Pancake Fun in Class One

This week Class One were learning about Shrove Tuesday. They found out why some Christians celebrate by making pancakes and they even made some of their own.

The best part was eating them!

They even had pancake races and practised flipping their pancakes as they ran.

This was very tricky but great fun.

Tangram Style!

This week Class 2 have been investigating Tangrams. A Tangram is an ancient Chinese puzzle invented around 4000 years ago. First we cut a square into 2 triangles and then cut each triangle along a diagonal line to make 4 triangles.

We then investigated how many different ways we could put the triangles together again. The rules were that the pieces must always touch along a side and that all the pieces must be used each time.

It was quite difficult to make sure that the shape was different every time. We had to rotate the shape sometimes to recognise that the shape was the same.

We then used a 7 piece Tangram puzzle to make some pictures of our own. Harriet made this goose.

Martha made this rocket. We also played a Tangram game on the VLE which was very tricky. We had to move the Tangram shapes and rotate them to fit into a picture shape. Why not have a go yourself ? It's good exercise for your brain!

Ice Cube 2013

Friday 8th February saw Class 4 at the Ice Cube in Millennium Square. There were a few nerves on show as they made their way onto the ice for the training at the start of the session.

But the training went well.....

 .....and soon we were ready to go! It wasn't all plain sailing. 

Not only did they have to get use to the skating but also, as someone pointed out..... 

 ........"It is very slippy!"

But the smiles never left their faces and in the end everyone was getting the hang of it.

 The verdict at the end of the session was that a great time had been had by all!

Animal Magic -Year 1

In maths this week Year 1 children have been investigating the addition of doubles and another number to make a fixed total. We used a quantity of cubes and made the bodies and legs of animals using a given number of cubes.

We attached a head and a tail to each body to make our animals come to life and used a simple table to record our results.

The challenge was to see how many different animals we could make and to look for a pattern in the results. The rule was that both the legs must be the same length. We tried to work systematically and used double facts to calculate the totals.

We tried to make predictions based on our findings and we explained our patterns to the class. We found that the number of cubes for the boby was always odd. We had to concentrate very hard and remain focused. We displayed our animals for everyone to admire.

Hey Jude! Class 2 Hearing Dog Visit

Class 2 were very fortunate this morning the receive a visit from Brian and Valarie Russell and their trainee hearing dog Jude. Jude is a Cocker Spanial  puppy who is 5 months old.

Hearing Dogs for the Deaf is a national charity and world leader in training hearing dogs to alert deaf people to everyday household sounds and danger signals in the home, work place and in public buildings. The charity celebrated its 30th Year in 2012.

Puppies are placed with a puppy socialiser between the age of 8 and 12 weeks old, and stay with them for a period of between 12 and 14 months. Jude is very inquisitive and full of beans! He is learning good manners and enjoying meeting new people and having new experiences.

After about a year Brian and Valarie must let Jude continue with his training with another trainer. They told us it was a bit like sending your child off the university to continue with their education. We all had the opportunity to ask lots of questions and of course to make friends with Jude. He was loving being the centre of attention. Rey brought some dog biscuits from home to give Jude as a treat. Good thinking Rey!

Brian and Valarie gave us some hearing dog stickers and some leaflets and information about the charity. We were able to give them a donation that class 2 had collected as a way of saying "thank you" which they really appreciated.

S'no Bother for Mr Madeley

On Tuesday afternoon Mr Madeley couldn't resist the smooth and featureless expanse of lovely snow outside the front of the school any longer. He enlisted the help of Class One, who excitedly joined him in his quest.

Everyone helped.

Finally, Bob, the snowman was created.

He now welcomes all our school visitors. Fantastic work!