Hurray – a reply from Tromso!

On Thursday, Learners got a huge surprise when the postman delivered a parcel addressed to Learners Class. Upon opening the package, Learners were delighted to receive a reply from Tromso, Norway.

Last term Learners were SO proud of their persuasive writing about why Tromso was a fantastic place to live and visit, that they sent a copy of their work to the Tourist Information Centre there.

Learners were bursting with excitement to receive a letter of thanks, a beautifully illustrated book all about Tromso and some postcards and maps in response to their work. Learners are always excited about their learning, but their excitement and confidence was soaring on Thursday. 

Learners Class are awesome!

Keep an eye on our class page to find out more about our amazing learning!

Making Music

The Pioneers have shown perseverance and tenacity in their approach to music this week. It is very tricky not to bang on your woodblock  or play your new  chime bar while waiting for your conductor. The Pioneers want to explore and find out and it is very tempting to take your chime bar apart to explore the features! This is all part of the learning. We started our explorations with clapping and tapping before using the untuned percussion and then adding in the chime bars. The focus built up over our sessions and there was wonderful collaboration.

We opened the windows to allow the parents to hear our wonderful sound at pick-up time!

Learners are learning outdoors.

Learners have enjoyed some wonderful outdoor learning this week. 

On Wednesday, we enjoyed a morning in the forest. Our focus was art and to use small pieces of natural materials to create collage. we gathered sticks, stones, grasses, leaves and feathers to create collages of trees and flowers. We also linked our collages to the myth of Blodeuwedd and created collages to represent characters from the story. There were some very impressive owls among the creations. Learners worked wonderfully together and were respectful of each other’s ideas, displaying great teamwork! 

Back in the classroom, in science Learners have been learning about ‘matter’. We could identify that matter was all around us and could name the three states of matter, solid, liquid and gas. We could explain how temperature could impact changes between each of the three states.

In maths, we have begun learning about fractions and have been finding out more about wholes and parts of objects around the classroom.

We finished the week enjoying more wonderful outdoor learning, with some musical improvisation on the school field.  We took a selection of musical instruments outside in the sunshine. We discussed the meaning of the word ‘improvising’ and were keen to give it a try. Along with a conductor, we created some improvised pieces of music together. We tried different instruments and were able to create many alternative sounds using rhythm and melody. We enjoyed being able to use our own creativity to improvise with music.

Learning outdoors is such a wonderful way to learn.

Check out our class page next week, to see what we have been learning.

Learners Class

Maths Happens Everywhere

Maths happens all over the place in Pioneers and always involves stuff-things to subitise, count, compare, move around and measure. It is a noisy process with lots of chat and articulation of thinking. There’s lots of comparing and repeating how you did it and if there might be an answer. What appears initially straightforward is actually really complex and we need time to think and do.

Some incredible discoveries were noted when using a ruler then moving to looking at a powerpoint on how to measure with a ruler. The Pioneers were not satisfied that the graphics were accurate and were frustrated, understanding that small differences can make a huge difference.

During the week, Pioneers were observed using stuff to make connections and talk about odd and even numbers and their links to doubles. 

Congratulations on a wonderful week of learning.

Anyone for tennis?

Learners have had a busy week. In maths, we have been finding out the difference between volume and capacity and measuring the volume of different containers. We and have been able to carefully read the scales using millilitres and litres, estimating the volume on a scale between two markers on a measuring container. While measuring, we have used language such as ‘full’, ‘half-full’ and ’empty’ and have been able to identify which container was holding the greatest or smallest volume.

In PHSCE this week, Learners were able to discuss and record positive things about themselves and celebrate the achievements in their lives. It was lovely to hear our friends talk about the things they admired about us too. There were smiles all round as we listened to how we impacted our friends positively too. It was such an uplifting discussion. 

Learners finished the week with a fun PE session on the field. Our focus this half-term is tennis. We used racquets and balls to practise our ball skills, concentrating on controlling the ball by holding our racquets close to our bodies. Once we had mastered keeping control, we began to bounce the ball on our racquets while moving around. There was lots of focus and we could how we had improved by the end of the session. Learners are excited to learn more tennis skills and are looking forward to getting the nets out in the coming weeks.

Keep an eye on our class page, to see what we are learning each week.

Learners Class

Preparing for Map Making

In geography, fieldwork is obviously a priority and when making maps we have to do the research. To begin with we looked at how we would represent our environment on a map. We identified items on a prepared map before drawing a map of our own, very familiar classroom. Next we went on a information gathering tour of our site. Managing a clipboard and a pencil is a skill in its self and we all did very well on that.

We are familiar with how to make a pictogram from our work last term so we repeated this to gather information to make a map of our site. We stopped to record a various places around the school, checking that we were not making double recordings when classrooms were seen from different locations.