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Play in Pioneers

Scott Grason-Taylor

Watching play developed is amazing. The Pioneers work together to create amazing stories, structures and adventures. Over the year these have become so much more complex and the language used is specific and extensive.
The Pioneers share small spaces and lots of resources to create multi storey buildings and airport runways with moving tracks. They select from a range of loose parts,create fantastic uses for them while sharing this adventure with others. That sharing can be tricky at times and needs careful negotiation.
This week has been quite amazing and full of pretending and fun.
Go Pioneers!
I overheard all of these lines while observing the play.
Are we going on an adventure ?
This is the run way.
A gate needs to open to let us in.
You are alright to go
I landed on the runway
I’m not playing quite yet.

So much learning. Go Pioneers!

Delightful Dinosaur Drama

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners kicked off this week with a drama session with Louise from The Red House Theatre. We were keen to share just how much we had learned in the classroom with Louise, who channelled our facts into drama. In teams , we became a T-Rex, a brachiosaurus, a triceratops and a pterodactyl. We sung about digging for fossils and we enjoyed every minute!

Back in the classroom, we have been learning about Mary Anning in history. We were amazed at her story and could not believe she had initially been left out of the history books because she was a woman and were glad the unfairness of the era was not present today. One of our very own Learners has created his very own museum at home and we were delighted that this week he gave us all a presentation on his amazing findings, bringing in some of his artefacts too. This was learning at it’s best and such an amazing morning. He hopes to be an archaeologist when he grows up and Learners agreed that he will make an amazing one!

In Geography this term we are finding out ‘What it is like to live in Shanghai’. Over the last few weeks we have been drawing maps of Sleights and identifying human and physical features to help make some comparisons. This week, we have been looking at where Shanghai is in the world using Google Maps. Using pictures, we have identified human and physical features of some area of Shanghai and were fascinated by the many tall buildings.

In dance we are continuing to practise dance moves and routines and are looking forward to a final performance in a few weeks.

Weather permitting, it will be Sports Day on Thursday afternoon – see newsletter for more details. Please make sure your Learner has their PE in school and earring are removed before they come in.

 

Making Nests

Scott Grason-Taylor

We continue to learn about the natural world, finding out about animals that hatch from an egg. We first found out about the features of birds and then explored the other animals making a huge list to discuss. The Pioneers were quick to spot that the nest and its spot were good for protection and to keep the precious eggs safe. we found out that nests are built in some odd spots, behind waterfalls and deep in the sand and high in trees. 

From reading, we found out some of the items birds use to make their nests. we wrote our own list and and then went foraging. We sat outside in the sunshine and made our own nests to cradle our eggs. Back in the classroom we made a label to say what would be hatching from each egg. This included snakes and owls and a brontosaurus and a couple of unicorns!

Learning outdoors.

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners have had a great week and have settled nicely back into the classroom after the half-term break.

This week, Learners have enjoyed taking their learning outdoors.

We enjoyed a PE session with Hawkes coaches in the fresh air. Our new PE focus this half-term is tennis. This week, we enjoyed bowling, fielding and trying to knock down the stumps. We really enjoyed the session and cant wait to build on our skills in the coming weeks.

The showers have been scattered this week and we managed (just) to take some of our maths sessions outside. In teams, we counted 20 objects and investigated  how many different ways we could find to share objects into equal groups. we worked collaboratively and, between the group, found lots of different wayswe could share them, taking great care to check our groups were equal. Everyone enjoyed the activity and worked hard back in the classroomto build on this learning.

In PHSCE, Learners have enjoyed identifying  different feelings and emotions and drew pictures to reflect these feelings. 

In English we have been busy sharing stores and writing book reviews. Some Learners have delighted in bringing in their own stories from home for us to share together. We noticed that lots of our favourites were written by Julia Donaldson. Together, we decided to take action and plan our very own Julia Donaldson Day. We impulsively wrote letters to Mr Grason-Taylor asking for the go-ahead to do this. He promptly replied with a ‘yes’ (which resulted in a cheer all round). Learners are now going to seek the advice of our Sleights School Reading Leaders to help us plan this day. Watch this space for further updates on this!

Learners are always so enthusiastic about their learning and love to be able to take action on their own interests and ideas!

 

 

Snail Trails

Scott Grason-Taylor

After reading the beautiful book,”Snail Trails”, the Pioneers were inspired to get up close and observe so wonderful snails. First we looked at them in the classroom and discussed the word “habitat”. We went outside and gathered the things we needed to construct a habitat. One Pioneer questioned whether nettles were a good addition and hypothesised that perhaps a snail has different skin to a human and the nettle would not prickle them.

We made habitat squared and observed the movements and preferences of our snails.  We left the snails and returned to find them under rocks and leaves. The Pioneers knew that they may be hiding from predators, perhaps The Big Bad Wolf. There is a starling living in the drain pipe and a crow who visits regularly so we talked about these being a real threat.

We then took our snails to the forest to release them into the wild. All of the Pioneers chose a suitable release spotted based on their observations of snail activity. 

Back in the classroom, we did some observational drawing and some absolutely wonderful writing.

And we rolled in the very long grass and collected dandelions and their seeds.

 

 

Worms and Bees

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers have spent the week learning more about the creatures who use our forest as their habitat The worms are vital to our soil and the bees are vital for pollination of future crops.

The Pioneers set some scientific questions and through observation they found the answers.

“Which end is the head end?”  The Pioneers quickly worked this out by watching direction of travel.

From further reading,they found out that worms cannot swim or live in water as they breath through their skin. They also learned how to tell the difference between an adult and a younger worm.

We measured our worms and labelled their features.

We had the delight of a visit from a real life bee keeper. She was able to build up our bank of knowledge on bees adding information about how bees communicate with each other. We got to model the process of pollination with big flowers and sticky bee legs.

To finish the session, we sang our wonderful bee song together.

So much learning!

Team Work

Scott Grason-Taylor

The Pioneers worked together through a number of challenges, in the classroom and outside on the playground. To complete the challenges they had to work as a team and this can be pretty tricky.

They were given a selection of wooden pieces and told that they would be able to make a circle. They began by making their own piles and quickly realised that they couldn’t make a circle on their own. With a bit of help they managed to sort the pieces and some curves began to form. Eventually they got into a pattern and completed a circle. Without any support they were then able to do it again which was pretty impressive. 

On the playground we played relay games requiring concentration and communication. 

We finished with a complex team task of moving a ball using only the drainpipes and no hands allowed. They quickly got the hang of this and were able to move once the ball had passed their piece of pipe to extend the distance of transportation.

Everyone was very happy with themselves!

 

A fabulously fit week.

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners have had a fabulously fit and energetic week.

We began the week with a golf session in school with representatives from Whitby Golf Club.

We used putters and balls to take part in different games and activities. Learners really enjoyed the session and showed great promise – information of how to become a young member of Whitby Golf Club will be coming home with your Learner.

In history this week, we have been learning all about fossils. We found out that fossils were made from the remains of animal bones and plants. We were delighted to find our that Whitby is often referred to as ‘The Jurassic Coast’ because of the many fossils found here. Lots of Learners brought in fossils from home for us to investigate. Next half-term we will be taking a trip to Scarborough to find out more about the Jurassic coast – we are very excited!

We finished the week with Quad Kids –  a local sporting event. We ran, we threw, we jumped and kicked and had the BEST time. Our wonderful attitude and team-spirit was second to none! What a fabulous way to end a fabulous half-term of wonderful learning! 

A reminder that our swimming sessions at Whitby Pool have come to an end for this academic year.

Enjoy the half-term break and hopefully the sun will shine!

 

 

A letter from Buckingham Palace.

Scott Grason-Taylor

Learners have received some VERY exciting news this week!

Back in September, the whole school started the year learning about a book called “It’s Up To Us – A children’s Terra Carta’ by Christopher Lloyd foreword by King Charles. Learners watched a video of King Charles talking about the book and appealing for the help of future generations.

Learners set about writing our own road map for sustainability, thinking of ways we could hep to change the future of our planet. together, we decided we should send our ideas directly to the King.

On Monday this week,  were totally amazed when Mr Grason-Taylor brought into class an unopened letter showing the royal stamp. We were so excited to read a reply from the King, who thanked us for our letter and thoughtful ideas. 

Wow Learners Class, you are truly awesome and this just goes to show that we can ALL make a change!

What a week!!!

 

 

 

Here comes the sun!

Scott Grason-Taylor

We have all been happy to see the appearance of the sunshine this week. This has certainly been helping the plants grow outside our classroom.

We picked a wonderful day for forest school this week. The sun was shining, which was perfect for our activity. Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy (our focus artist this term), we were able to create some amazing art pieces using the natural materials in the forest. Learners were calm, focused and creative in the forest, the teamwork was wonderful and we all decided we would like to do this activity again.

In RE we have been learning about The Creation as told in the Bible. This week we have thought particularly about the seventh day when God rested. We discussed the importance of this and reflected why it was also important for humans to rest amid their busy lives. Discussions were open and heartfelt as always.

In Geography we have been busy drawing our own sketch maps of Sleights, these were really very impressive. We added some human features and some physical features, we included a key and using google maps, thought very hard about the location of the familiar places around Sleights.

In PE we have been improving our tennis skills and were delighted to be able to use the nets this week and put our learning into place. 

We have shared lots of stories in class this week as always and have continued to share lots of information books that Learners have brought in from home around animals and our planet. Its wonderful that Learners are so keen to share their learning at home.

Learners love to learn! 🙂