The Courier

We had a lot of fun in outdoor learning this week. The class were set a task of forming their name using natural pieces they found outside. All sorts of lovely things were used with lots of creativity. Different textures and colours were explored and arranged to form some beautiful natural ‘writing.’

'Run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man!’

All sorts of gingerbread man figures were created this week in our expressive art and design work. The children were very creative with plasticine, cardboard, paper, sand – even real gingerbread was prepared and baked!

Some were given names - Graham sticks in my mind. I don’t think any of ours managed to run away though but I’m certain the baked examples weren’t around for long!

Amber and Isabella sent in some lovely photos from learning the song 'Let's make a cake for Grandma' as part of their 'Little Red Riding Hood' series.

As rainbows are currently symbols of thanks and hope, I shared the story of ‘Elmer and the Rainbow’ with the children.

My creative challenge was to make a rainbow butterfly that could be displayed at home. The children were encouraged to use bright bold colours and shown how the two sides of a butterfly can be created by only painting one!

Some beautiful butterflies have been shared.

In RE we have been learning about the four Patron Saints – who they were, their stories, which country they represent and their representation in churches today.

The children looked in close detail at the Patron Saint that represents the house that they are in at Crescent School so that they understand more about our school house system and feel a stronger loyalty to their house. Some fantastic representations of learning have been created.

We saw puppet shows, lego re-enactments, cake and biscuit baking, flag making (Sophia’s flag made out of blue over-shoe covers was particularly creative), models out of card and paint, hama beads, digital art, wonderful drawings.  A fantastic display.

As part of geography, learning about the UK, Class 1E have brought their learning to life and created some wonderful, creative projects about our capital city, London.

We have had models, news reports, a transport museum, power points, fantastic drawings, a 3D map, presentations and lots of photos of the children themselves at the famous landmarks.

Such a high standard of work and clearly lots of learning has taken place as well as lots of fun.

Well done Class 1E.

Class 1E and 2W children have been designing and making instruments in art and design. Here are just a few of the wonderful wind, string and percussion ideas from Shaylan, Zac, Maxi and Fred in Class 1E and Ollie, Roisin, Shiv and Shayla in Class 2W.

I had a lovely piece of writing from Timi telling me how much he enjoyed this week's song 'Fe-Fi-Fo Fum' from Jack and the Beanstalk:

'The music made my day. It made us record it on our iPad. It made me think of giants stomping everywhere. I really like this Jack and the beanstalk series Mrs Barnes.'

Thank you Timi.

Erin and Esme enjoyed their Music activites this week which involved labelling percussion instruments and naming musical symbols.

Class 3S have been reading and analysing animal poems this week. By the end we have all created our very own Animal Anthology book which we can enjoy and share with our families.

Both Class 3S and 4M took to their gardens in their art lesson this week to find some natural treasures to create a piece of nature art.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy from Abigail, Eva, Rory, Rosina, Stephanie (Class 4M) and Annalise, Grace C, Tegan, Yash and Zahra (Class 3S).

As part of our new topic, 'Nonsense Poetry', Class 4M have been studying and enjoying limericks this week. They have looked at examples, analysed the structure and rhythm and thought about the rhyming patterns within them. Inspired by Edward Lear, who made them famous, they have created some of their own and here are some examples.

Below are some particularly descriptive pieces of writing from Class 4M about the song and the music they studied this week. The song was about Thor, God of Thunder, and the music was the opening of Janacek's Sinfonietta.

• It is very slow at the start and it has bursts of different instruments here and there. Then the tone starts going up and down and so are the notes. At one bit the trumpets made a really high bit which got the piece a bit more interesting. Then it switches between two notes going up and down to add more momentum. Then it has a big crash of instruments and then it stops suddenly. Then it goes back in quite a weird tone. Later on in the video the orchestra plays in quite a mysterious tune which adds more suspense. Then even later on, the flutes and piccolos start playing in a nice but frantic tune. Then some more instruments play a bit more of a frantic tune. Then it is the ending. The ending builds up and then fades away and then has one more big crash then silence. - Caspar 

• I have just watched the BBC episode of the saga songs and this is how I think of it I thought it was very demanding and powerful I loved it because it was very dramatic and I loved the story about were he lost to an old lady and a cat it is so funny and I think the BBC really put a lot of effort into making the song very meaningful and enjoyable - Charlotte 

• The music at first was quiet and then it gradually got louder. Then there were drums 🥁 in the background, and there was a fanfare. Then there were other trumpets 🎺 joining in with the fanfare, and then it got even louder and scary & dramatic. There is lots of Brass. At the end it got quieter and quieter until you couldn’t hear it👂🏻. It made me feel like I was at a Royal event; something grand was going to happen and it made me feel like I wanted to just jump up and salute.🤴🏻🤴🏻🤴🏻. I enjoyed the music. - Faris

• The music made me feel quite intimidated because it was very loud and grand. It featured brass instruments the most and the drums. It was quite a slow piece of music that sounded like a fanfare. I liked it because it sounded like an important person arriving somewhere. - Grace S

• The music featured brass instruments like trumpets and french horns. There were also drums The music was a bit slow at the beginning but got faster. The music was quiet at the beginning then it got louder when more instruments started playing. The music made me feel grand and happy. The fanfare is used to make a grand entrance. - Katherine

• This music makes my blood freeze at parts. Sometimes, at parts, it makes me want to clap my hands and shout at the top of my voice; THUNDER BANG AND CRASH!!!!! It would sometimes send a shiver down my spine if I look at the picture on the screen. Some bits were nice though, like the part when the pictures go a little bit softer, and I don't have to go ;crash crash crash boom. So that is a bit of my opinion, but now I am going to tell you WHY. So this is it, I think this is because the music makes really loud noises, which go down not very well. So I think that the music goes either loud; [e.g.crash bang boozle woozle] or either a BIT quiet. - Liana

Lovely to read thank you all.

Class 4M are studying an environmental topic this term, 'Improving our Environment'.

This week they needed to explain their reasoning for their thoughts on the question, 'Which method do you think is better for the disposal on non-recyclable waste, incineration or landfill?' The class really were split on opinion after they had heard the facts like incineration saves space, but produces damaging fumes and landfill can be made into green spaces, but produces toxic liquids into the soil.

I was very pleased with how they embraced this current issue so articulately. Some, like Grace and Sophie chose to voice their ideas as a speech which is and excellent skill to practice.

We brought our fiction topic on David Walliams to a close last week and the children wrote their own stories inspired by the themes in Mr Stink. They were wonderful to read and a few of them are shared here.

Class 5F were given an open-ended task this week in art to conclude their nature topic. As long as it included something from nature they could do anything they liked. Interestingly both Amy and George chose to draw their dogs while Asha chose to draw a super bridge over a river.

Phoebe in Class 6Y has certainly been working very hard on her DT bridges project. Not only has she been doing the set work of researching different types of bridges and designing her own, she has also been out in the garden trying out ideas before she moves onto making one for herself.