On Wednesday the children in EYFS had their own day learning about an animal you would find in Chester Zoo’s minibeast house.

We started the day reading the story about Norman and his Silly Shell. We then met our animal visitor for the day…”Turbo The Giant African Land Snail” . The children learnt about what he looks like, what he likes to eat and why he has a shell.

The children then designed snail shells for Turbo linked to the story and enjoyed continuous provision activities linked to snails.

On Wednesday 29th October Year 6 were given the amazing opportunity to visit Chester Zoo. The children were very excited to see all of the animals and in particular kept an eye out for those which are native to North and South America, as this will become part of our topic work.

Continuing from the Science day on Wednesday, the children looked at the construction of a heart, using bottles, focusing on how it works and how the muscle can pump blood around the body. The children then built a heart in their science books looking at the valves, arteries and veins.

On Wednesday Year 1 explored the 5 senses. We started the day with a listening walk around the school grounds. The children heard lots of different sounds.

We then explored the senses taste, touch, sight and smell.

Today Year 6 were exploring the circulatory system. Understanding the function of the heart, arteries, veins and what makes up the blood in our bodies were the focus of the day.
The children drew an outline of the body on the floor which were then labelled with the correct organs, arteries and veins.

The children also had the opportunity to create their own “blood” using cereals, rice, beans and water. Each of these parts representing the different components which make up the blood in our bodies.

We explored the designs of William Morris and visited our school forest for inspiration. We sketched leaves, pine cones and various berries and then copied their shapes onto a polystyrene printing tile. Once our tiles were complete we created repeat prints

The children have been very busy designing and making Robots using their junk modelling skills. The children shared the story of Harry and the robots and then had lots of fun creating Robots.

Continuing on from our work on World War II Anderson Shelters, the children measured the exact size that a shelter would be. Understanding what it would be like to stay inside a shelter, eat, sleep and live inside for a long period. After the construction of the schools air raid shelter, inside the class, the children were given a chance to feel what the conditions would be like during the war.

On Wednesday Year 1 had a DT day learning all about moving pictures. We started our day by looking at books that moved.

We then looked at different mechanisms and created a sliding picture of the gingerbread man. The children had to work on their cutting, sticking and joining skills to create the picture.

We then looked at how to create a lever to make a moving picture from the story Jack and the beanstalk. We used split-pins to create the pivot and joined the lever to the beanstalk.

Year 6 have started learning about World War II. During our Design and Technology day the children were learning about air raid shelters. Who invented them, where and when they were used?

The class were challenged to create a structure using only 5 sheets of A4 paper and half a metre of sellotape to support a large, heavy book.

The children were then taught about different joints that can be used in the construction of building different structures. Using cardboard they were then challenged to create different joins.

This week we have welcomed back the children to Foundation Stage after our summer holiday break and new children have joined us. We have been busy exploring our new learning environment.