Pioneers Class

After lots of discussion about where Bethlehem was and how you would travel there and what it would be liked, The Pioneers went on the bus to Bethlehem and it was quite remarkable. We discussed that it was all pretend. We were met by two Roman centurions and greeted warmly on Skinner Street. We entered Bethlehem and the Pioneers questioned the lack of sand. We were taken to the market square where we observed greetings and were signposted to the various locations. There were sounds and sights and smells to keep us all curious.
We got to find out about candle making, woodwork and the food that would have been eaten at the time of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem-no oranges apparently! We found out that Bethlehem means House of Bread. We looked at old woodwork tools for smoothing and drilling. Everyone got to dress up if they wanted and listened to the Christmas Story.
Juice and a biscuit was served in the Inn.
We had an impromptu singsong which was a bit of a mashup of our nativity songs. It was done with great energy!
The Pioneers were asked many searching questions and gave brilliant answers.
And we made it back for lunch but were a little late. The afternoon was quite quiet.

Our book this week is The Jolly Christmas Postman and everyone loves it. We have read it together and got to grips with the plot by using a storymap. Everyone is able to add some words to read and write and this is so wonderful. We used the story to make some beautiful imaginary maps and these are supporting our narrative writing. 

We took the chance to do a bit of role play using a technique called Whoosh! We built up each page with the Pioneers taking the roles. Sometimes you were a house and sometimes you were the Postman. Two Pioneers became the stile and we had to discuss what this new word was referring to. They had all heard of a hairstyle but did not recognise the word stile. This fitted in very well with our phonics. It is so fantastic to make these links and see phonics and vocabulary acquisition in action.

The maps and the writing are wonderful and we had a lot of fun being a wall of ice and the elves in Santa’s Workshop.

The Pioneers love their dance session and each week things become more complex. They begin with a warm up and then extend and develop the routine. This involves a lot of skill and focus to listen and follow multi part instructions. This week saw the addition of ribbons on sticks and leadership exercises to end the session.

The energy is palpable.

Henry Freeman, the famous Whitby Lifeboat man made an appearance in Pioneers. This visit allowed them to consider which questions to ask to find out about the past. They quizzed him on the Great Storm of 1861 and his now famous cork lifejacket. The information they gained will add to their biography. They were a bit confused by that fact that Mr Freeman seemed to have the same necklace as Mrs Hann.

Later in the week, while exploring changes in shopping in Whitby, Mrs Elizabeth Botham dropped in! The Pioneers scrutinized old photographs of Skinner Street to see where her shop is. They were fascinated to see the location then and now. Some of the children noted the different modes of transport and street furniture, having seen the dismounting steps in town. They questioned Mrs Botham about her family and noted that she had a dog. Mrs Botham lived at the same time as Mr Henry Freeman but she could not confirm if he was a Botham’s customer or not!

The Pioneers were very interested in the work of Kandinsky the abstract artist and on his approach to creating the images. We have had the most wonderful week full of energy and intense focus exploring line and colour and shape. We did this on a large scale on the playground and on a smaller scale back in the classroom, at the table and then moving onto the floor. We played Wagner on the Boom Box and experimented with painting to a variety of other pieces familiar to us – Firebird by Stravinsky and Greig’s Hall of the Mountain King.

An artist’s work is never done and the Pioneers are keen to continue their work. They are unstoppable. One Pioneer was heard to say, “Well this is actually art,” as they left the classroom with their larger pieces to take home to parents. 

The process and the art produced were inspirational.

We had a visit from Owen our marvelous Cricket Coach. The sun shone and everyone was very happy to throw and catch and play as a team.

After a quick and happy warm up we played a game with rules and we managed to follow the rules without the need for a video referee!

The Pioneers all got to bat, hitting the big ball from a big tee.

A thoroughly wonderful session of precision teaching and great learning.

The Pioneers took a daytrip to Whitby. For many it was their first school trip and their first trip on a coach and what a trip it was. There is so much to learn and so much to do. The Pioneers carried their own lunches and water bottles and looked after all their own kit. This is quite an achievement considering the many locations we visited.

Walking around Whitby is fill of risks and we assessed them before, during and after our trip, The  Pioneers did a great job negotiating the narrow pavements and the pedestrians.

We talked about fishing and boat building before crossing the bridge for story and a snack in the Little Fox Bookshop which was fantastic. 

Whitby Catch answered all our questions about what was for sale on the fish counter.

We spotted the new lifeboat in the water before visiting the old lifeboat in the museum.

Lunch was eaten in the Fisherman’s Mission which added to our learning.

We walked up the hill to the wonderful Whitby Museum where the awe and wonder was palpable. There was so much to see and we were made very welcome.

This was a very wonderful day out – Eight very happy kilometres together!

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.

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!