Month: January 2025

How things work!

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners have been looking closely at how things work this week. In DT our focus is mechanisms. This week we have learned about input motion and output motion and have identified the everyday objects that would need this movement. We delighted in creating our own moving pictures with a slider mechanism. 

In Maths we are learning about money and this week we have been counting in pound and pence and have successfully been able to choose a given amount, using different coins.

In English, we are loving the inspiring music of Peter and the Wolf. This wonderful music is guiding our poetry writing over the next few weeks. This week we have been introduced to each character and instrument and have been collecting adjectives that we will use in our poetry. 

Reading is always high on our enjoyment list in Learners class, we have visited the library and have enjoyed listening to many new poems this week. Learners love to enjoy library books at home with their families, alongside their own school reading book. 

Swimming sessions are showing incredible progress. We will be finishing our block of session this half-term, but the confidence and progress made is astonishing! We are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to learn cricket skills each week. This week we enjoyed bowling and learning the correct way to stand and throw!

Learners have also enjoyed writing letters to the Linda Community School in Zambia this week and are excited that these letters will be delivered soon by Jo and John for the Zambezi Sunrise Trust. We are looking forward to Jo and John’s visit to Sleights next week, when we will zoom call with Livingston in Zambia. 

Check in with us next week to see what we have been learning about!

Learners love to learn!

Bowling, Batting and Fielding

Scott Grason-Taylor

Pioneers love their cricket sessions and learn so much during the sessions. Listening and focus are a priority. Teamwork is required. The Pioneers know the routine and each week we build new skills to perfect technique. Our expert coach Owen guides us through a series of games to highlight the required body position and thinking. 

We played “What’s the Time Mr Wolf”, “Craters and Volcanoes” and “Hit the Alien”. Hit the Alien allowed us to focus on bowling, hitting the alien to knock it out. Within our session we managed to get rid of them all.

The Elves are Making Requests

Scott Grason-Taylor

The elves are arriving daily and bringing written requests for all sorts of things. The letters include tricky words and the new digraphs taught this week. It is funny how they know just what we are learning about. They must have known that we are looking at materials in science and about joining techniques in DT as lots of their requests were related to using different materials and using a variety of methods to secure these!

We have made little bags to contain boots and crowns and painted pictures to annotate. The Pioneers have built thrones and used the elves to help when finding one more in maths. The Pioneers are writing lists of elf names and elf items and this is so wonderful.

So much collaboration and consideration is happening. There is a lot to get to grips with when sharing resources and space and elves.

So much progress this week! Go Pioneers

Beginning Printing

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers made a start on investigating printing, making marks with all kinds of loose parts. They chose colours and shapes and arrangement. Some created pictures. Others explored pattern and repetition. Some were creative with their application of colour and the materials used, applying paint to a paper towel and developing this. 

We looked at the work of Andy Warhol involving layers of colour and noted the need to let each layer dry. By the end of the session everyone had a better understanding of how much paint was too much paint. This is often difficult to gauge.

The elves, who arrived after Christmas also made a few demands, asking for printing in red and black and green. It is a good job that we have just learned the ee digraph so we were able to read their letter!

Big Box Build Bonanza!

Scott Grason-Taylor

Happy new year and welcome back to a new term in Learners Class.

We kicked off the new term in a fantastic way.

On Wednesday, families filled Learners class (and so did boxes). We used the book ‘It’s Not a Box’ by Antoinette Portis to inspire us and used our imagination to create something wonderful using many sized boxes and some handy resources. We had the BEST time, we worked together and our creations were sensational! We will be using these creations to inspire our instruction writing in English lessons over the next weeks.

This week we have delighted in creating our final art piece inspired by the painter Wassily Kandinsky. Last term we learnt many new painting skills, such as using different paints, colour mixing, creating texture and making tints. Armed with theses skills, we created our own piece using the Kandinsky style of shape, lines and colour and of course listening to music to guide our artistic persuasion. Our final pieces were wondrous and each Learner was SO proud of their piece. Learners are passionate about art and are extremely excited to immerse themselves in this term’s art topic of printing. Kepp an eye on the website to see how Learners get on!

In PE, we enjoyed a cricket session with Owen Batchelor this week (who has recently been voted Coach of the Year). Learners put 100 percent into everything they do and PE is no exception. Learners were fantastic batters this week and also great team players!

Swimming sessions start again this week for Learners, please male sure a costume and towel are brought on Tuesdays and earrings removed! Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Keep checking Learners website each week, to find out all about their achievements!

Learners love to learn!