Take a look at Herons’ indoor PE unit with Mr Ward using balancing, movement and bodyweight. After practising and performing different balances by themselves, they have honed their skills to perform with a partner in various positions. You can see the concentration on their faces as they experiment with different poses and positions!
Classes
‘Happy Writer’ Rehearsal
Grebes have written a song called ‘Happy Writer’ and we are rehearsing for Music Assembly and studio recording sessions next Tuesday.Â
Cookery – Venezuelan Chicha (Rice Drink)
As part of our learning about South America, we made the Venezuelan version of chicha, a sweet drink popular all over the continent. We taste-tested it and generally the sweet creaminess of the drink was a hit, but the spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) and especially the thick texture were highly controversial!
‘Happy Writer’ Live Performance / Studio Recording
Grebes performed their song live in assembly. All children have learned the song and many have had a hand in writing it – the chords, the words, the melodies and the solos. Later in the morning Mr Bell set up a studio in our classroom and we began recording each part of the song separately. Updates coming soon!Â
Science – What do plants need to grow successfully?
This half-term children are getting green-fingered, growing plants from seed to investigate the effects of changing factors like amount of water, sunlight, space or type of soil. Many children’s hypotheses have proven correct, but no one predicted that Mirren’s radish plant in our stationery cupboard, with no sunlight at all, would grow better than her other plant on the windowsill! Time for a secondary investigation…
Strangers Hall Trip
On June 14th Grebes teamed up with Gatekeepers class from Neatishead to visit Strangers Hall in Norwich to learn all about the ‘Strangers’, people from the Low Countries who were invited here as refugees in 1565. They were Protestants and persecuted for their faith by Catholic authorities. In RE, Grebes have been exploring the Big Question: Is religion a force for peace, conflict or both? We got to meet Jakob, a Stranger in full 16th century garb, who told us of the danger he faced as a Protestant. We learned about how he rebuilt his life in Norwich and, along with the other Strangers, galvanised trade (and fashion!) in our fine city!
Empathy Day 2023 – ‘You See?’ by Matt Goodfellow
In Grebes, Children read the poem ‘You See?’ by Matt Goodfellow, all about how kind words stick to us ‘like pollen to the knee of a bee’. Children drew legs on their bees and buzzed around the classroom searching for kind words that might stick to them!
Farewell, Mrs Gay! Grebes’ ‘Weaving’ Card
Since the Strangers’ Hall trip, Grebes have developed an obsession for weaving! It was only fitting, when they heard that Mrs Gay – school governor and friend to our school for well over a decade – was weaving us, to get out the looms once more. Here is the card the children made.
Science – Investigating Melting Points
Grebes have loved investigating melting points this week, heating various substances and recording the temperature at which each began to melt. Cheese, butter, dark/white/milk chocolate, gummy bears – we melted it all. Children were able to reflect on the results of the investigation and why the first attempt was not a scientifically rigorous fair test – for example, some groups had the heat source further away from the substances being melted, and some had the thermometer in different positions. They have worked together to plan a repeat experiment with variables under strict control.
Bitterns as Readers
Our year 2 children loved preforming their poetry to their peers in year 1, who listened very carefully and gave great support and feedback. We were focusing on projecting our voices when reading to an audience as well as the importance of timing, rhythm and pauses.
In Bitterns we love reading! In class we enjoy daily reading sessions and weekly trips to the school library. We also love reading class books and have enjoyed titles such as James and the Giant Peach, The Lighthouse Keepers Lunch and Tell me a Dragon amongst many others. The children love discussing books with each other and will often recommend titles to their friends. We were fortunate enough to capture this clip of a few of our Year 2 children during a recent reading session. We were proud of their discussions around how to read the text and their understand of elements of grammar and expression.Â
