Author: Scott Grason-Taylor

Let There Be Light

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers talked about the Christian Faith, the Bible and how Christians believe that God created the world in 7 days. We looked at a number of versions of the story – a beautiful book called Let There Be Light, a Children’s Story Bible and a short video clip. We spotted the main features of the story and as we did this Mrs Hogarth and Miss Greaves drew out our story map. This was wonderful to do together as the adults were put on the spot to demonstrate their drawing skills!

In the book it finishes with the line, “God has put love into everything in creation, especially you.” We talked about how special and how unique and loved everyone is and the Pioneers added the people they love to their story map.

We went off to our tables and clipboards to produce our version of the story. God’s duvet had a cross on it and a variety of favourite animals took their place in pictures.

The Pioneers then took their chance to retell the story using our maps. They showed great confidence and strength to retell to the class. The Pioneers are magnificent.

Ahead of our Harvest Festival, we recapped on our knowledge of parts of a Christian Church using vocabulary to describe this-pew, aisle,alter, cross, candle and vicar.

Fossil Fun!

Scott Grason-Taylor

This week Adventurers went on an exciting journey as we investigated the world of fossils while exploring the three main rock types: igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. The children identified each rock type and its unique property, whilst creating their very own fact file based on fossils and their formation. We discovered new key vocabulary such as sediment, fossilisation and palaeontologists. Adventurers class then created their very own fossils using bread to represent the different layers of rock. 

Sustainable Development Goals

Scott Grason-Taylor

What amazing learning and future proofing.  Discoverers have been investigating the Sustainable Development Goals, linking this with their geography fieldwork by investigating plastic pollution.

They have been trying to understand why each of the goals is needed and what impact this will have on the future of our planet.  An important area of discussion was climate change and how small steps made by the children at the school could have a big impact, making a difference for the future.  All the children have made a plastic pledge and they are looking into further areas where they can make changes.  Children have been so inspired by this topic that they have taken their learning beyond the classroom, picking up litter from their local communities.

#bethedifferenceyouwanttoseeintheworld

 

Marvellous Multi-skills

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners enjoyed a fun afternoon at a community sports event this week. We spent our time jumping, throwing, catching and running. Learners are great friends and have amazing team spirit, they cheered and supported each other through every activity.

Elsewhere in the classroom, we have been learning more about Islam. This week in RE we have been finding out about mosques and what happens inside. Learners always have open and meaningful discussions in RE and are fascinated to learn about different religions and their important traditions.

In English, we are looking closely at poetry. We have been enjoying a poem called “What is the sun” by Wes Magee. We have been writing expanded noun-phrases and alliteration in order to use these in our own poetry. Our poems will focus on our amazing earth and the natural wonders within. To inspire our vocabulary, we will visit the forest on Monday and be experience nature first-hand. 

We are busy practising our Harvest song, in order to perform in our Harvest Service in St John’s Church later in the week. It is always a happy celebration and Learners are excited to sing together.

Learners have such enthusiasm about their learning and are always so keen to come into school each day! This is such a joy to see. Learners, you are awesome!

Making Comparisons

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers have maths at the centre of everything they do. They are constantly comparing and counting and looking at what is around them. This week we have used butterflies and buttons, blocks and sticks. We have drawn pictures to represent our thinking and tested out new symbols and vocabulary. There is a lot going on.

The focus is clear and their organisation is wonderful.

 Thank you Pioneers for a wonderful week of Happy Learning!

 

Learners being creative

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners class have enjoyed some brilliant art lessons this week. On Wednesday we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon being artists. We explored painting and making different patterns using watercolours to see how different brushstrokes created different effects. Inspired by our focus artist Wassily Kandinsky, we listened to music while we painted. The classroom was focused and peaceful, as we enjoyed painting. Our sketchbooks are looking amazing and we are looking forward to sharing these with families at Parents Evening next week.

This week in English, Learners have been putting their finishing touches to their non-chronological reports around Global Goals. Learners have been passionate about the goals and have spent a lot of time understanding and clarifying meaning of each goals’ target. This depth of understanding is evident in the amazing pieces of writing produced throughout this writing topic. Well done Learners.

In science, we have been looking closely at the weather and have been filling in our own weekly weather chart. Thursday definitely provided a talking point as the rain was nothing sort of torrential. 

Learners are looking forward to sharing their achievements with families this week during Parents Evening. I certainly have many successes to share with you!

Learners love too learn 🙂

 

All Around Our Site

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers made great use of our magnificent school grounds this week. We took a trip to the forest to look for signs of seasonal change and forage for acorns. There were none! we found a few cups from last year and lots of leaves. We pressed the leaves ready for use later. Apparently trees may be suffering from a drought three years ago or may be tired after a bumper crop last year.  We matched colours with our colour cards too. We did some recording of the litter we found to add to detail to our reports on the Millenium Development Goals.

All of the Pioneers coped well with their outdoor kit and the wellies all went home to the right house!

On return to the classroom we looked at Not Lost, a book about a little rabbit who takes risks. We discussed the risks in our forest and how to stay safe. We also did a spot of painting inspired by David Hockney.

 

Seasonal Change

Scott Grason-Taylor

The weather has turned autumnal outside this week. Learners have enjoyed learning more about the different seasons in science. This week we enjoyed selecting clothes we would wear in summer and comparing these to the clothes we would select to wear in winter. Our choices reflected the change in weather throughout the seasons. We had lots of fun trying on different clothes and were able to transfer our knowledge to draw and label pictures to show our learning.

Elsewhere in the classroom, learners have been working really hard in maths and have been focusing on Place Value. We have been partitioning and flexibly partitioning numbers to 100 this week ad have been able to use our knowledge to answer some problem questions too.

We welcomed our families into L:earners class on Wednesday. They were able to share in our current learning around Global Goals. We were delighted to share what we knew.

In history this week, we identified the changes that could happen over time and recognised that museums, artefacts and people could help us to understand more about how things have changed. We are looking forward to our trip to Whitby Museum inn a few weeks to consolidate our learning.

Learners have enjoyed listening to poems by Brian Moses this week. Our favourite being “Walking with my Iguana’.

Learners enjoy learning and are always so excited to see what we are learning next!

Everybody is Writing

Scott Grason-Taylor

Writing has been happening all over the place this week with Pioneers making signs and filling in tick-sheets with their families during our open morning. We have been out on the field taking inspiration from the trees to build sentences using adjectives. There is great excitement around writing out new letter shapes each day and the progress is wonderful to see. 

The Pioneers are to be congratulated for their superb efforts and outcomes in writing this week.

Happy Learning

Learning About Our Site-In and Out of the Classroom

Scott Grason-Taylor

We have been in and out of the classroom, developing fieldwork skills and looking at our school site. We collected data, deciding if areas were friendly to nature or not. We worked on how to record our findings on a table. 

After reading Six Dinner Sid, we discovered that he had visited many places on our site. We experimented with positional language to describe where Sid had been. We used on, behind and next to. 

We used an online compass to find out about north, south, east and west and drew some amazing field sketches of what we could see when we looked north. There were lots of questions about what to include and we discussed the things that were always there and the things that moved.

We read our story about Sid in Sleights, identifying locations in our village and describing these. Sid visited the bus stop. The bus stop is opposite Botham’s. We spotted road signs and lots of letters on shop signs. We had some great chat about the telephone box and how things had changed over time! 

There are some amazing pieces of work on the walls now-story maps and field sketches and collections of data.

The Pioneers should be very proud of how they have worked this week. Their kindness and perseverance has led to a wonderful week for all.