Elm

This week, we have been comparing hospitals of today with hospitals from the past. We learnt how hospitals now have machines, a variety of equipment and instruments, numerous medicines and comfortable beds. We compared this to conditions from Scutari Hospital, when Florence Nightingale first arrived, and other hospitals in the past.

In Elm, we have had a very exciting and interesting week learning about the history of cars. We had a super time at Beaulieu Motor Museum and wrote recounts about the trip. Then, we have been looking at cars from the past and present and comparing them. We also ordered cars onto a timeline to show when they were manufactured. 

Five is the Magic Number

The children have settled into Elm Class beautifully this week; Miss D'Arcy is very proud of all the children.

We started our new topic, Five is the Magic Number, where we have read, sequenced and then written the story, The Enormous Turnip.  

Pirate Day 

This week we all came dressed as pirates. We really enjoyed learning about the Golden Age of Piracy and joining in with pirate activities with Charlotte in the hall. We also made treasure maps, hunted for treasure, sang sea shanties and made paper boats. The next day, we wrote recounts about our day.

Captain James Cook

This week Elm Class have been learning about the famous explorer Captain James Cook. We started by writing some questions that we would like to find out about him and then began researching to try to answer them. We have learnt that he worked for the Royal Navy and became a captain of a ship called HMS Endeavour at aged 18. He was then sent on a secret mission to find and claim Australia as a British territory. He also nearly reached Antarctica but had to turn back because it was too cold. Captain James Cook had a very interesting life and we enjoyed ordered the key events on a timeline. We cant wait to find out more about him!

Pet Morning

We had a fantastic morning meeting some lovely pets of the children in KS1. The pets visited all the classes and the children were able to ask questions to learn more about them. We got to meet: a tortoise, a rabbit, a guinea pig, a chameleon and a canary. Thank you to all the grown ups and children who brought their pets to see us!

Once upon a time...

This week in Key stage one we had a mysterious visitor who crept into our assembly and without a sound left a basket. After looking inside we discovered some items that gave us clues to who this cloaked lady might be. Can you guess which story this character might be from? Hazel Wood children made great detectives and worked out the story very quickly.

In Elm this week, we have been working very hard in Maths! Year 2 have been comparing numbers using greater than and less than symbols (> and <) and also learning a rhyme for rounding numbers to the nearest multiple of 10. Year 1 have been partitioning numbers to see how many tens and ones there are in 2-digit numbers. 

In Elm, the children have been creating firework inspired music with Mrs Whitfield. The children listened to Stravinsky’s piece of music called ‘Fireworks’ and thought about the instruments he used and listened to the dynamics in the piece of music. They then watched a video of fireworks; Year 1 children thought about if they were loud or quiet and the Year 2 children thought about if they went from quieter to louder or vice versa. They then explored the instruments and thought about which sounds would be appropriate for each firework. They  picked a graphic notation to represent each firework and finally worked in two groups to compose their piece of music. The Year 1 children were focussing on loud or quiet and the Year 2 children on making the dynamics change from quieter to louder. 

In Elm this week, we have been learning about the weather, climate and seasons. We have recorded the weather each day this week including the temperature and daylight hours. In Science, we learnt how and why deciduous trees lose their leaves and why the leaves change colour.

In Elm this week, we had lots of fun creating our own 'scratch' firework pictures! First, we had to design a vibrant, striped background using wax crayons. Then, we painted black paint (with a drop of washing up liquid!) over the crayons and waited for this to dry. Finally, we made marks by scratching to create fireworks, showing the vibrant colours underneath. We were all excited to see our fireworks 'appear'!

In Elm this week, we've had a fantastic start to our new topic, 'Remember, Remember', where we have begun learning about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot from 1605. We 'met' Guy Fawkes on Tuesday, created timelines or the key events, pretended to be Guy Fawkes by doing freeze frames of the events and also learnt facts for our Class Book with Miss Williams during Guided Reading. We will all be looking out for fireworks this weekend! 

The Ugly Duckling

In Elm Class, we have been learning the story, The Ugly Duckling. This week, we thought about adjectives we could use to describe him, such as 'soft', 'fluffy', upset', 'lonely'. Then, we created a 'character on the wall' of the Ugly Duckling, listing some of the words we had thought of. The Year 2's also learnt about using commas in a list when writing a series of adjectives and finding synonyms in a thesaurus to make our writing more exciting. Well done for super ideas and writing, Elm Class!

Elm class has been busy finding differences and similarities between these houses. We noticed that there were differences in colour, number of windows and the position of the chimney. We even played a game with our partner where we had to guess the odd one out.

In Elm Class this week, we had our first tennis session with Coach Oliver Barnes from Totton and Eling Tennis Club. We thoroughly enjoyed this and he taught us ways to develop our sending and receiving skills. We developed our team work skills, too, by working collaboratively with a partner. We have two more sessions with Coach Barnes before Easter.

This week in Elm Class, we have been generating adjectives to describe the textures of materials which  represent polar animals e.g sequin material for an Arctic cod, silicone mat for a seal. In Art, we then thought about how we could represent the texture of different polar animal's fur, scales and feathers using pencils. This is in preparation for us to make our own polar animal out of clay.

In Elm Class, we have started learning to play the ukulele in our music lessons. We have learnt how to handle the instrument and have begun to play it as a group. We have also learnt the parts of the instrument and what they do.