Pioneers Class

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.

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.

It was so lovely to be able to use the field to kick off our Athletics for the term. We began with a great warm up being able to use the space and run. We discussed managing sprinting mixed with fast walking to manage pace. Everyone was able to feel their heart beating. We stopped to talk about how we can encourage each other and also discussed finding your own pace. It is not just about overtaking.

We moved on to a circuit of jumping, slalom and hurdles, working together to share space and equipment which is always a challenge.

We finished our session with a relay race. These have become more complex over time and the Pioneers always enjoy the challenge and the competition 

The wind blew and the parachute gave us a nice little upper body workout!

Happy Learning

We picked a beautiful day for our visit to St John’s church and the walk together was a real treat. 

Before our visit we discussed the features of a Christian Church and we knew what we were looking for. From a data handling perspective, Year 1 made a pictogram to help gather and organise their information.

Once we got up to church we walked together spotting the features and discussing their purpose. We then split into smaller groups to look more closely and take time to question.

We located and discussed:pews, the font, the aisle, the altar, the pulpit, the lectern, the bible, the organ and many candles,crosses and statues.

We looked carefully at the content of the stained glass windows focussing particularly on the image behind the altar showing the crucifiction.   At this time of year the cloth on the altar is purple and linked this with the colour on our Worship Table at school and the church liturgical calendar. We noted that there were no flowers in church either.

We finished our session with a parable from the bible, also shown in one of the windows-The Shepherd and the Lost Sheep.

Such a lovely way to spend an afternoon of wonderful learning.

We continued our work in Design and Technology,exploring wheels and axles. During our exploration we began to see how cogs worked together. The addition of some longer pieces of wood allowed the Pioneers to build on a bigger  scale,working together to secure long pieces.

We built a tower from the left over parts of a wardrobe. This formed a platform for our ramp (a carpet inner tube) We ran the trains down the tube and had a discussion about friction.

Some intricate structures have been made this week and we will continue to develop these next week.

The Pioneers planned a trip to our local park and we needed to risk assess the route after looking at it on a map. We noted trip and slip hazards, parked cars and discussed the shape of the road. 

After watching a road safety video in the classroom, we rehearsed what we would do when out on the road.

The weather was not kind to us for our Field Trip but the Pioneers battled on through the sleet and the rain. We discovered the pavement surface indicating where it was safe to cross. 

The Pioneers love to cut and stick and create and in Design and Technology we have been looking at mechanisms and creating our own. Our initial designs were simple but soon became personalised, combined and complex.

The Pioneers are aware of how to keep themselves safe when cutting card and paper and making holes, placing a blob of blu-tac behind.

On World Book Day, Pioneers worked with their families to create pop-up pages and they were simply stunning.

The time had come for the visiting elves to leave and go back to their day job. The Pioneers have enjoyed their daily letters and tasks and had one final job to do. They needed to launch a rocket with moving parts and water power to zoom to the moon. We looked at the sliders and the pivots and discussed mechanisms. We used the pump to push the air into the bottle, half full of water. We discussed liquids and gasses and the materials the rocket was made up of. 

In the classroom we used joining techniques to create our own rockets before heading to the field for launch day. 

The elves have all gone and been replaced by trolls and a few goats.

We listened to In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg and discussed how this made us feel. The story and the music work very well together.

Happy Learning

The Pioneers love to be active and to look for patterns and links and find ways to explain these. We have been exploring patterns in number looking at 5 and a bit and 10 and a bit. We have used a variety of materials to create number lines and representation. We used a big wooden number square and a number splat on the whiteboard. The work was full of new thoughts which require a bit of grappling to articulate once we had spotted links.

The elves are still with us and wanted a material to make a window in their rocket. The Pioneers were asked to test materials to decide which would work best. We explore testing all and everything in the classroom by looking to see if light could pass through or not. We then recorded our results on a table, discussing our findings as we went. The Pioneers now know how to record results on a table and the words transparent and opaque.

The sun shone and there was a little bit of a warm feeling in the air. Pioneers spent most of the day out and about making use of our wonderful school grounds. 

We worked on story telling and story making linked to Peter and the Wolf and our visiting elves. We enjoyed maths in the forest and on the playground. In the afternoon we did some printing on a big scale using tubes and lots of loose parts to experiment and create. 

Such a wonderful day.