B - 4th Ordinary

Christ our Teacher

We looked ahead in worship to the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) and the theme of teachers. As Jesus begins his public ministry, preaching to a crowd in the local synagogue, the people are amazed by his words and actions - he speaks with authority.

As adults in school, we strive to embody the spirit of Christ in our own teaching. In the same way, we should hope to foster within the children a confident sense of their ability to teach and support others, using their gifts to improve the lives of those around them. Celebrating our "little teachers" is a very special way to create a school culture rich in Gospel values.

We were lucky enough to see many excellent examples of the children's call to teach in their work and curriculum this week...

Knowing Numbers

In Maths this term, Year 1 have been exploring numbers to 100. We started by looking at multiples of ten, and realised that we recognised the digits but that they were in a different place in the number. This led to the conclusion that multiples of ten always have zero ones. From this, we have started looking at all 2-digit numbers. Using our knowledge of tens, we bundled lollipop sticks into groups of ten to help us to count numbers in tens and ones. All two digit numbers have tens and maybe some extra ones.

We then looked at dienes and discussed what the similarities and differences were between the lollipop sticks that we had just been using, and the dienes. The children quickly spotted that we still have tens and ones. We have been practising representing numbers to 100 using dienes and the children's confidence with this has improved significantly! Now that we have a sound knowledge of what numbers are made up of, we can begin to compare which numbers are greater and which are smaller.

Chess Masters

There was a sea of serious faces in the Library this Wednesday lunchtime - Chess Club. Children from Year 5 played with great skill and generosity as they taught each other the moves and strategies of this enduringly popular game. Reggie had very kindly invested in some beautiful new boards for the whole school to enjoy using - thanks Reggie!

Who's been eating my porridge?

This week it has been all about stories in Ladybird Class. We have been learning the story, Goldilocks and Three Bears. Learning about size; big, small and medium, and trying some delicious porridge! Mrs Martin cooked the porridge in the kitchen and went for a walk while it cooled down, when she returned it was all gone and someone thinks they spotted Goldilocks leaving...

Genius Science

On Wednesday, Year 3 enjoyed a lively and fascinating presentation from Lucy at Genie Lab to enhance our Science curriculum. As soon as we entered the hall, children were amazed at the equipment and resources laid out in front of them. Lucy carried out many experiments involving solids, liquids and gases and simply explained the science behind it. There were chemical reactions, bangs explosions and even some bubbles! As we left the hall, the children were discussing what they had seen. Here are some of their comments:

I liked it when she put alkaline in the liquid and it changed the colour of the liquid; then she reversed it back to clear liquid. 3S

We saw liquid mixed up in a big water cooler bottle - when Lucy lit the gas it exploded and made a really loud pop! 3R

I cannot choose my favourite part but I really liked how the marshmallow grew in the container when Lucy took the air away. 3N

Food for thought...

This week in RE the children have produced amazing pieces of art inspired by The Feeding of the 5000. During Godly play the children were encouraged to share their 'I wonder...' questions. We were amazed by how they made links to other Bible stories as well as linking to the Gospel theme this week: Teachers. We spoke about why we think this miracle is recorded in all four Gospels. During reflection, the children said that they learned that Jesus is always there to listen to us and they could also explain why he is such a great teacher. We also discussed the importance of sharing.

A sound investigation

In Science this week, Year 4 have been learning about pitch in our topic on sound. Many children were able to link the terminology to the Music lessons which provided lots of opportunities for retrieval of facts we have learnt from studying the dimensions of music. We found out that the pitch of a sound depends on the frequency of the sound waves and that slower sound waves produce low sounds and faster sound waves produce high sounds. Using this knowledge, the children were challenged to create a water xylophone using glass bottles with the aim of playing a simple nursery rhyme. They had great fun experimenting with the water levels in order to create exactly the right notes. During the final performance, the class tried to identify the tunes they had played. Next week, we will move on to studying volume.

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Reception to the rescue!

This week Reception have been firefighters! We are continuing to learn about how people help us in our local community. This week we focused on fire fighters, we learned all about how they use a hose and drive a large fire engine.

Take a look at our videos demonstrating all the things we have learned! Do you think you have what it takes to be a firefighter?

London Calling

This week, Year 6 went on the most wonderful trip to London. After a short walk along the Southbank and a bite of lunch, we arrived at Shakespeare's Globe ready for a tour and a workshop delving into the tormented mind of Macbeth. We learnt about the history of the Globe and what it would have been like to watch a play back in Shakespeare's day. Some classes were even able to stand on the stage to get a sense of what it might be like to act in an open air theatre! Following our tour, the children acted out a famous scene between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, paying particular interest to their tone of voice (mostly a whisper due to the treacherous content of the conversation), intonation and body language. We will be using this piece of Shakespeare's text in our English, planning an argument for or against the demise of King Duncan! We ended the day with a rather windy stroll across Millennium bridge to get back to the coaches, the children were delighted with the sights and continued their enthusiastic sightseeing as we drove out of London.

Letter Writing

In Year 5, the children have been studying the Louis Sachar book "Holes". The story starts with Stanley, who has been wrongly convicted of stealing trainers, and follows his story during his time at Camp Green Lake. This week the focus has been on letter writing and how the audience of the letter affects the style - formal or informal. Here are some wonderful examples of our formal persuasive letters pleading to the Judge to reconsider the sentence and an informal letter reassuring family, who are far away, that he is happy, safe and enjoying his time (so they do not worry about him!)

Lessons from 6C

Our thanks to St Catherine's Class for a fantastic worship this morning. Reflecting on this week's Gospel, as Jesus amazes the crowd with his teaching, they explained that we all have the capacity and opportunity to improve the world through the lessons we can teach others.

Our Little Teachers

Congratulations to this wonderful collection of young people, all of whom have impressed the community this week with their teaching skills. Thank you for your time and patience in sharing your gifts with the world!

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