Busy Bear’s adventures
Every week a Class 1 pupil takes home Busy Bear, look at some of the adventures Busy Bear has been on.
Week ending 30.06.17
One of our parents kindly came into school to teach us about mediation, as we have been learning about Buddhism. We all had a go listening to the sound of the meditation bowl as it was hit. The sound lasted such a long time! We practised sitting in a comfortable position with our hands and fingers in meditation mudras, or positions. Then we chanted a word to keep our minds focused.
Week ending 23.06.17
Relating to our seaside topic this term, look at the bathing machine our reception children have made. We learnt that people used these in the past so that no one saw them in their swimming costumes when they wanted a swim. They were pulled down to the water and the person could hop out, have a swim and then get back in again to get changed.
Also, in Art and Klart, we made fish bowls. Some of them are decorated with seaweed, castles and there is some fish food too in this one!
Week ending 16.06.17
This week we have made Fathers’ Day cards. We wrote a message in French for our dads! This one says “You’re the best dad!” Also, we have finished our Fathers’ Day gifts. Appropriately for Hamsterley, ours are to do with sheep!
Week ending 26.05.17
Here are some of the insects Y2 have made this week, in the style of Elizabeth Berrien, “The Wirelady”.
This week we had a visit from the Junior cadets who are based in Wolsingham. They told us what it was like to be in the army.
We had a new addition to our class this week too – one of our butterflies has emerged from its chrysalis and it stayed with us quite a while, landing on our hands so we could feel how “heavy” it was and look at it really closely.
Week ending 19.05.17
This week Reception and Year 1 continued learning about minibeasts and here is some of our Artwork that we have done on the computer and prints and our caterpillar models.
Year 2 have been learning about the “wirelady” Elizabeth Berrien and have produced sculptures with wire of minibeasts. Here are some of the Y2s working with wire. Hopefully, next week our sculptures will be completed!
Week ending 12.05.17
This week Class 1 have been learning about Grace Darling. This lovely picture done by a Year One boy on the “Paint” program shows Grace rescuing the sailors in the storm.
Week ending 05.05.17
Class 1 have been learning about micro habitats. We looked for minibeasts in different places. We looked closely at them and tried to identify what they were. Then we drew and labelled them. Y2 carried out an experiment to find which habitats some minibeasts preferred.
Week ending 07.04.17
As it is the last week before Easter, this week we have been doing lots of Easter activities. Year 1s and 2s made an Easter egg hunt for the Reception children. They hid eggs around the playground and wrote clues for them to read to find them. We learnt the words for various Easter items in French and did Easter crafts.
Week ending 31.03.17
We have been painting in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe who painted large flowers with bright colours.
Week ending 24.03.17
This week in French we made Mothers’ Day cards. We wrote Bonne Fete des Meres which means Happy Mothers’ Day.
Week ending 17.03.17
In class 1 this week we have been looking for signs of Spring around our school grounds. We found so many different signs of new life, including frogspawn in our pond and so many frogs! Then we went back into the classroom and painted some of the things we had seen. Here are some of the lovely watercolours done by Year 1 and a beautiful drawing of our pond by Ewan in Reception.
Week ending 10.03.17
This week class one have been busy in the garden. We have planted lots of different seeds including strawberries, peas, beans and some flowers: nasturtiums. Year 2 are doing experiments with seeds to see if they will grow well without some of the things they think they definitely need: soil, water or sunlight. We will observe our seeds over the next few days to see what happens.
Class 1 have been learning time this week. They have learnt; O clock, half past, quarter to and quarter past. Year two have been learning time using multiples of 5 and solving time problems.
Reception enjoyed matching times to pictures and sequencing their day.
Week ending 03.03.17
We had fun in French preparing pancakes for Mardi Gras. We learnt the names of several fillings in French and then got to sample them! They were delicious! We practised our maths by deciding how many pieces each pancake had to be cut up into so that everyone could sample each filling. Then we made a graph of the classes favourites.
Week ending 10.2.17
This week we completed our hot air balloons. We made them from papier maché on real balloons. When the papier mache was dry we painted them with our own designs – it was really funny to hear the real balloon deflate and crinkle inside the dry shells as they were cut! We used a needle and thread to hang our baskets on but it was really tricky to tie the threads and we did need a bit of help with that!
Week ending 03.2.17
This week we have been learning the alphabet and sounds during Literacy.
We have been learning digraphs (2 letters 1 sound such as ie) and trigraphs (3 letters 1 sound such as igh). We have been reading words with tricky and silent sounds, such as kn in know. Look out for these sounds in their homework this week.
We have also ordered the alphabet saying each sound as we order. We then made rhymes with words to make a song.
We had visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia and China to help us find out about how these countries celebrate Chinese New Year. Our visitors taught class 2 how to make a pretty decoration that is the symbol for “Spring” and class one, a lucky red envelope that is usually filled with money for the New Year!
We also had an afternoon making and tasting dim sum, a traditional Chinese dish. Some of us found it too spicy but it was a great hit with others!
Class 2 decorated a plate with a rooster motif and other designs often found on very expensive Chinese porcelain whilst class 1 cut out and made 3D card roosters for this year of the Rooster.
Week ending 27.1.17
This week in science we have been testing materials to see which ones are the most absorbent. We had to make sure we kept the test fair, so we did lots of measuring; we had to try to keep the different materials the same size and the amount of water in our trays the same for each experiment.
Reception have learnt new sounds this week. They have been blending cvc sounds to make words. They have been writing the sounds using the correct letter formation.
They have read the words to each other and then used the words to say a sentence.
Reception have been looking at matching phase 2 sentences to pictures. They had great fun and challenged each other to find the matching picture.
Week ending 20.1.17
Class 1 this term have been learning about materials. This week we found things around the classroom and discussed what they had been made from and why those materials had been chosen. We also labelled Mrs Stephens’ car and decided why car parts were made from the materials they are.
Class 1 have had a busy 2 weeks learning about ‘greater and less than’ numbers. Using the symbols of < > and =.
They have been looking at numbers to 100, finding 1 more, 1 less, 10 more and 10 less.
They have recognised patterns with the numbers and could easily identify missing numbers on a 100 number square.
The children had great fun using the whiteboard aprons to order numbers, smallest to largest. They even included the greater and less than symbols. They have been working well using positional language to arrange the children to show these number positions.
Week ending 18.11.16
This week was Anti-bullying week, so we had fun activities running throughout the week linked to being kind and respectful of others and learning what to do if we thought we saw others bullying someone or ourselves. We made a friendship wreath and bunting to show everyone we know how to be kind to others.
Week ending 11.11.16
Today 9/11/16 Class 1 were finding out why we wear poppies. They understood that November is a special time of year to wear poppies and were able to say why we have Remembrance Day. They had lots of activities and year 2 were able to use our new carpet area when they were brainstorming for suitable words for their acrostic poems. They then wrote their own acrostic poem.
Year 1 wrote their ideas as an acrostic poem and were able to use their phonic sounds to help them.
People were fighting in the war
One soldier was dead
Poppies are for remembering for when the soldiers are dead
Poppies are red and black
You are not my friend if you fight
Reception children were able to use a paint program to draw their own poppy picture. They also made poppies.
Week ending 04.11.16
In Science we made magic potions and used all our senses to describe them. Some of the potions tasted disgusting but we could hear the fire crackles as they touched the liquid and we could feel them exploding on our tongues!
Class 1 made skeletons from pasta when we learnt the names of things we see at Halloween in French.
Week ending 21.10.16
We made bird boxes for the robins, blue tits and sparrows to shelter in over the Winter. We learnt that they need different sized holes in the boxes because they are different sized birds and they do not want to attract predators! We enjoyed using real tools but found that screwing the screws in needed all our strength!
In ICT this week we learnt how to program Bee-Bots to get them to different places on the mat. We used directional language such as left, right, up, down and the Y2s talked about the points of the compass.
Literacy activities
Class 1 have been matching sentences to pictures, they have been blending the words to make sentences. They have worked together to match the picture to the sentence, noticing the rules of sentences including capital letters and full stops.
Reception/ Year 1 have been using their sound knowledge to make words. They have been sound talking then writing the letters to match the sounds.
Some of the children have been finding the second part of the sentence to make a sentence make sense. There was some unusual sentences matched at first. The children have been reading the sentences to their partner.
Maths activities. Year 1
The children have been estimating, guessing sensible amounts, and then checking by counting the actual amount of objects.
If the amount of objects was 10 and more were added the children realised that the number would be greater than 10. If they had counted 20 and then objects were removed, they understood it would be less than 20.
Week ending 14.10.16
Class 1 enjoyed their trip to Hamsterley Forest today (13.10.16). We collected leaves to identify deciduous and evergreen trees, measured the width of some of the trees in “children”. The weather wasn’t great but this added to the fun – splashing in the muddy puddles and then later we had fun on the climbing equipment in the forest.
Week ending 07.10.16
Reception and Year 1 made scarecrows this week as we had been talking about keeping the birds off our harvest food growing in the fields!
P.E.
In providing a high-quality physical education curriculum we inspire all children to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. We provide opportunities for children to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.
Hockey in class 1 – Luke showed a keen interest and listened carefully to extend his agility, balance and coordination, individually and with others
Week ending 30.09.16
Science Lesson
Class 1 have been observing tree bark and leaves closely, year 2 were using magnifying glasses, and comparing and contrasting leaves; describing how they were able to identify and group them. Year one were looking at leaves and sorting them to show if they were from deciduous or evergreen trees. Reception children were looking closely at tree bark, taking rubbings which they cut up to make a collage of the word tree. There was lots of discussion about trees they had seen in the school field, at home in their gardens and also in Hamsterley Forest.
Recorder Lessons
The children in class 1 enjoy their recorder ‘First access’ music tuition from Mr Jakob (Durham Music Service).
Autumn Walk
Class 1 went looking for signs of Autumn. Here are some of the interesting things they found around the school grounds.
Healthy Eating
Class 1 enjoyed learning about healthy foods. They brought in healthy foods and prepared a smoothie.
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- Preparing the food
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- Using the blender
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- The best bit
Geography
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- Class 1 were explorers for the afternoon, they had to build a country that they wanted to explore
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- Exploring their discovered country
Music
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- Class 1 wrote a story
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- They had to then use instruments to add sound and music
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- Pupils played their story to the class
Outdoor counting activity
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- Reception enjoying a sunny day whilst carrying out a counting activity
Class 1 have been experimenting with clay to make models
Class 1 and Class 2 took part in a food tasting activity, pupils brought in food from Brazil and learnt about their lifestyle, this a a fabulous model of the Rain Forest.
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- Food tasting activity
Easter actvities
Today we carefully drew faces onto eggshells. Then we sprinkled cress seeds onto damp cotton wool inside the eggshells so that they would grow to be “Cressheads”! We decorated our Easter hats with stickers, drawings, feathers and bows.
Science
This week class 1 looked inside a bulb. We saw the young shoots starting to grow. Then we used the bulb to make prints. We could see the layers inside in the prints but then we saw that some of the prints reminded us of animal shapes. One looked like a dinosaur, another a butterfly. One even reminded us of a dolphin!
DT Lesson
In DT Class 1 have been making pictures that move with sliding and wheel mechanisms.
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- This one shows a dog chasing a cat
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- This one turns around and shows the life cycle of a sunflower
People who help us
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- The builder is building a house
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- The policeman is checking the year 2 children are working sensibly
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- The vet is looking at the poorly turtle, his heart is beating
Class 1 Maths
Year 1 have been shopping to help them to recognise and know the value of different denominations of coins and notes.
Year 2 have been shopping to help them to recognise and use symbols for pounds £ and pence p and to combine amounts to make a particular value. They were finding different combinations of coins that equal the same amounts of money and solving simple problems in a practical context involving addition and subtraction of money of the same unit, including giving change.
Matching activity
Testing Materials
Today we tested materials to see which ones might be strong enough to make play clothes from. We had to make sure our experiment was fair. We then used different materials to see who could build the strongest bridge.
Letters and cards from France
Class 1 enjoyed receiving letters and cards from France and finding out about the tradition of hiding a bean in a cake to decide who would be King for the day, done at Epiphany.
Class 1 have been learning about toys
Freya’s dad brought some old toys into school from 1970’s and 1980’s for Class 1 to look at, the children asked lots of questions about his toys and enjoyed playing with them.
Planting seeds
Class 1 have planted sunflower seeds and lettuce seeds and will be taking responsibility to look after and water them until they have grown.
Measuring Activities
Class 1 have been learning how to measure using different techniques.
Chinese New Year
Class 1 took part in various acitivites to celebrate Chinese New Year – activities included food preparation and food tasting.
Testing materials
Class 1 tested different materials to see which one would be suitable to make an umbrella to keep one of the teddies dry. We found out that plastic would be best but in an emergency, you could use a newspaper but not for very long!
Story Book Characters
Reception children have been looking at characters in stories. They talked about the characters then chose a character to draw and describe.
A Visit from our Governor Mrs Swindale
Our topic this term is toys in the past. Mrs Swindale came in to talk to us about the toys she played with when she was young. Although we play with the same sort of toys nowadays, her toys were mode with different materials. We listened to the stories she had to tell about some of her favourites – it was really interesting and we learnt lots about life in the past.
Bear Diaries
Class 1 all took a teddy bear away for the half term holidays. It was exciting to read all the wonderful diaries of the adventures they had with their bears.
Class 1 go Rockpooling!
On 18th June, class 1 visited the rockpools near St. Mary’s Lighthouse at Whitley Bay to look for creatures living in the rockpools. It was very exciting when one of us caught two fish, one after the other! We also captured a hermit crab, a few small crabs and a shrimp. We even saw a sea anenome waving its tentacles! Of course we were careful to return the creatures to the rockpools when we had had a good look at them.
Class 1 Visit to Beamish Museum
We had a beautiful day for our visit to Beamish on 11th June. We had a look around the farm and a ride on the tram before we explored the old town. So many things have changed over the years! We realised how lucky we were after we had experienced life as a child in a pit cottage a hundred years ago. We had to do the washing and the ironing, clean shoes and pots and pans, sweep the floors, dust and make the beds and even empty our parents’ guzunders! We had a lovely treat waiting when we had finished that brought us right back to the 21st Century – a massive ice cream!
Easter Gardens
Class one made gardens based on the Easter story. We shaped the soil so that there was a hill for the three crosses. We sowed grass seed and planted a flower. We watered the seeds and plant regularly and soon the grass seed sprouted. We added a cave that we shaped from clay and carefully placed a large stone at the entrance. Finally, we sprinkled tiny stones to make a path to the cave.
The Lindisfarne Gospels
We were lucky enough to see a life size copy of the Lindisfarne Gospels at school. We learnt about the beautifully painted letters and designs and decided to create our own illuminated letters at the beginning of our names.
Visit to Bede’s World
On 25th September, we visited Bede’s World in Jarrow. Class 1 found out about the animals that people used to keep in Anglo Saxon times, the houses Anglo Saxons lived in and the jobs they had to do.
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- We had a go at grinding corn to make flour
Jewish Reform Synagogue – Newcastle
We enjoyed learning about the customs and traditions in the Jewish synagogue today. Before we entered the synagogue, we had to cover our heads with a Kippah, a small hat. We also saw the huge Torah scroll which was over 200 years old.
Visit to Souter Lighthouse
We climbed the Lighthouse at Souter and explored the seashore on Wednesday 26th June. We learnt about life in the past living in the lighthouse and found some interesting creatures in the rockpools.
Mothers’ Day
Today we made French Mothers’ Day cards!
Activity Day at St John’s Chapel
We were invited to take part in an activities day at St. John’s Chapel school along with Frosterley school. We all participated in team events such as egg and spoon, penalty shoot out, throwing and crossing the swamp games and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
