Artistic fun!

This week we started our new unit in English based upon our class story 'No Ballet Shoes in Syria' by Catherine Bruton. We have been exploring the character, Aya, and writing different sentences to describe her. We have focused on using parenthesis and experimenting with subordinate and main clauses. 

in maths, we have moved onto our unit 'fractions, decimals and percentages'. We have been finding out equivalence and using this to help convert them. 

In geography, we explored the factors that might affect birth and death rates. This has helped us understand some reasons why population changes and why some people move countries. 

In art, we have been editing photos to design and album cover. We then researched different vinyl designs and had a go at designing our own. We used pastels, watercolours and colouring pencils to see which worked the best. Look at our fabulous sketchbook pages!

Have a fantastic weekend, Miss Burton.

Hello Everyone,

Great fun was had this week during our science lesson, where we made and tested paper helicopters. We learnt about how adding weight to the helicopters, changed the speed at which they fell, and then recorded our results in a graph.

Reception have been learning all about space. They have been busy using different painting techniques to paint the different planets of the solar system. They have also enjoyed singing songs and taking part in listening activities all about space stories. Our role play area has been filled with children visiting our space station and making and recording observations. 

During English this week, we have used two film clips to help us with our learning. The first, is a clip called 'Baboon on the Moon' and the second, 'Man on the Moon'. We have been using skills such as making predictions, explaining and reasoning, as well as developing our vocabulary to describe feelings. We wrote letters to the man on the moon, using the English skills that we have been developing. 

We are all so pleased with how well the children are improving their reading skills so far in Penhallow. Please keep practicing your reading as often as you can. We are so proud of your progress. Well done everybody.

Have a lovely weekend,

from The Penhallow Team

We've continued working hard, exploring our enquiry question 'How Far Can We Travel?' in DT, designing our toy cars. We thought carefully about the materials we intend on using and look forward to constructing our designs over the next few weeks. In Science, we investigated materials, determining what would be most suitable for a house built for the Three Little Pigs. During Computing this week, we imagined we were temperature sensors on board the International Space Station and recorded temperatures around the school, using spreadsheets. 

In Maths, we have been exploring multiplying and dividing by 3. We have been using arrays and pictorial representations to support our understanding this week. In English, we been writing up of methods section and making improvements to our work, ready for writing our final written copies next week. 

Congratulations to Brody and Alfie for being chosen as Landaviddy's People of the Week. 

We hope you enjoy the weekend and look forward to seeing you next week! 

Mrs Wilkie, Mrs Lister and Miss Colton

This week we have had a very exciting and busy time in class!

We were lucky to welcome a visitor from Royal Cornwall, who taught us all about farm to fork. The children were completely fascinated and did an amazing job retaining lots of the information they were told.

In English, we began to innovate the story Augustus and His Smile. The children enjoyed changing the animal, the location, and what Augustus loses, using their creativity and imagination. We also read two other stories by Catherine Rayner, which the children absolutely loved.

In Maths, we have been using tens and ones to help us with addition and subtraction, building confidence in understanding numbers.

During DT, we tasted a variety of fruits and compared their taste, sharing our opinions thoughtfully. In RE, we learned about Jesus and the lepers, focusing on how Jesus might have felt when only one person returned to say thank you.

In PSHE, we played group games and discussed the importance of challenging ourselves to try something new, learning that taking small steps and keeping on trying helps us succeed.

In PE, we continued to explore and practise different gymnastics moves, and in Music we sang using high and low voices, kept a steady beat, and learned a new song.

Finally, Reception really wowed us with their fantastic plant knowledge this week!

Well done to all the children for their enthusiasm and brilliant learning.

What a lovely week we have had in Chaipel!
Our English write-up of The Midnight Fox ending is in full swing and is full of multi-clause sentences to build suspense and create mood and tension. We will continue next week and will then edit, improve and write our best copy by Friday. 

For Maths this week, we have been immersed in fraction, decimal and percentage equivalents and percentage of amounts. We have made great progress and are ready to attempt some practice SATS papers next week! 

In our Wider Curriculum, we have been investigating stop motion animation in Computing and have begun to put together a short clip which we will build on next week to create a short film using music. In Art, we have been creating more Basquiat-inspired pieces and next week, we will plan and begin to create our neo-expressionism masterpiece. More circuit investigations in Science, experimenting what happens to a series circuit when you add addional components and in RE, we have been comparing various texts against the qualities we believe God to posess. 

For PSHE, we have joined with Talland to create a sponsored event for a local charity as part of our Dreams and Goals unit. We have decided on a Cornwall-based charity called LAST CHANCE HOTEL, for dogs and other small animals who have been mistreated or are terminally ill to care for them and find foster homes for them to find comfort in there last stages of life. I was overwhelemd by the maturity of the children and more information about this will follow.

That's all from me so have a lovely weeked.

Miss Randle

This week we have been exploring the properties of straw!

Some of the older children have found that it was really bendy and not very strong; they weren't sure how the first little pig was able to build a house with it, and they weren't surprised that the wolf was able to blow it down.

Other younger children enjoyed playing with it as a sensory experience; watching as it fell and moved with the air (the big bad wolf blowing!).

TALLAND'S BLOG 30.1.26

Week 4 of this term has provided us with some brutal brain breaks (planks and squats), more wet plays and a whole lot more electricity!

Here's a brief breakdown of our electrifying week:

Maths:
Year 5 have been dividing 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers. They have become familiar with the bus stop method and have learnt about remainders. They have also been investigating different methods to find the perimeter of rectangles.

Year 4 have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. They have also been comparing the area of different shapes.


English:
We have begun planning to write our set of instructions for how to build and use a torch.

Geography:
Talland created their own maps this week (from an Anglo-Saxon time period). On this map, they created symbols for landmarks to be found by using a 4-figure grid reference. 

PSHE:
Year 5 researched possible jobs they would like to have when they are older. They investigated required qualifications and steps to begin their chosen profession and looked at how much money they could earn. 

Year 4 acted out scenarios to help someone build resilience if a hope or dream of theirs did not come to fruition. 

ART:
This week, we looked at how to show proportion in a drawing. Talland used different sized objects to draw, showing size whilst side by side and then used techniques practiced prior to this lesson to help show realism through tone and texture.

SCIENCE:
We continued experimenting with different circuits whilst figuring out what is needed to make the circuit work.

Design and Technology:
Talland made switches for their torches that they we are going to make over the next couple of weeks (thank you for the plastic bottles). It was literally like a light bulb going off in some heads as they realised what happens when the switch is either opened or closed.

CONGRATULATIONS to Reuben for being noticed this week for continuing to show maturity, a fantastic work ethic and just generally being a great member of the class! His smile lights up the room! 

That's all from us in Talland this week. We hope you have a brilliant weekend and can't wait to see everyone next week.

Signing off from Mr. Langley and Mr. Bishop.

Friday 30th January

We have had a great week of learning in class.

In phonics we have continued to explore level 3. This week we have learnt /ai/ and /ee/ . The children have amazed Janet with their reading and writing this week.

In maths Miss Wilson explored the numbers 6, 7 and 8 with the children and then they began to explore 'one more'. We have great mathematicians in class that use wonderful mathematical vocabulary.  

In PE we used BIG parts of our body and small parts of our body to balance. The children were absolutely amazing at this!

In English the children have written key words and captions to match pictures from Snow White and have also explored what an adjective is and used adjectives to describe characters.

The children have also painted their tree snowflakes, discussed what it would be like if the world were frozen and decorated icy pictures, they have collaged polar animals , enjoyed playing with ice and using wonderful vocab to discuss what is happening to the ice as they were holding, and sooooo much more!

We wish you a wonderful weekend

The Foundation Team 

It's been another busy week at Darite with some wonderful learning going on across the school. It is always makes me smile to see what the children have been learning and for them to show me their work. There are a few exciting events happening over the final two weeks of this half term. Next Thursday we are welcoming Jane Griffiths - an author - to school to share her latest book and talk about how she gets her ideas. On the 10th of February, the PTFA are hosting their Valentine's Disco! I know a lot of children have signed up for this but if they haven't put their names down yet and would like to come, please let Mrs Norris know. Finally, a reminder that the 13th of February is an INSET day. School will be closed to pupils on that day. Safeguarding I am the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) for Darite Academy. All staff take safeguarding very seriously in school and will report any worries that they have or that are passed to them to me. Should I be unavailable, both Mrs Lake and Mrs Norris are trained to act as Deputy Designated Safeguard Leads (DDSL). They will be able to listen to you should I be unavailable.

This week at Storytellers, the children have been learning more about space by exploring the Sun, Moon and Earth, and discussing how they differ in size, colour and shape. They also enjoyed looking closely at our wooden planet models, using them to name the planets, compare sizes, and discuss what they noticed.

 To bring their learning to life, the children created their own papier-mache models using balloons, paper and glue. They loved ripping, sticking and layering the paper, carefully covering their shapes to make the Sun, Moon and Earth. We talked about which were bigger and which were smaller, and the children enjoyed comparing them as they worked.

 Once dry, the children had great fun painting their creations - bright yellow for the Sun, blue and green for the Earth, and soft greys and whites for the Moon. They were so proud to see them come to life and loved talking about what they had made.

 This activity supported creativity, fine motor skills, teamwork and early science learning - all while having lots of messy fun! We can't wait to display them in our space area soon!

Snow White writing and drawing shapes!

We've had a brilliant couple of weeks in Year 1 / Year 2. We have been finishing off our learning around traditional tales and finished writing our stories. We adapted the Snow White story to choose our own characters. We then wrote our stories up in neat to be displayed in the library. We have used adjectives, suffixes, capital letters and full stops in our writing. We have also done art work linked to Snow White and drew characters from the story in the magic mirror. 

On Tuesday there was Art club after school. We used colouring pens to decorate snakes and then used our cutting skills to make them move. The children were brilliant at taking their time to create their patterns and we were so happy with the finished result! 

Next week, we are moving onto writing about Mary Anning. We have been researching her in History and we're now going to write our own information texts about Mary Anning. 

We've had a great start to the half term. 

Year 1 / Year 2 Team 

Attention and Communication

Happy New Year.
We hope you had a lovely Christmas and New year. It is great to be back and continue our focus on language and Communication. By focusing on engaging the children in our group sessions, their  attention to the activities can then extend to other activities. In the pictures you will see two activities 'Fun with Food' and 'Attention Autism'.

Fun with Food is an actiivty to help focus the children using their senses. The activity starts with a transition song:

Its time for fun with food
Its time for fun with food 
Look, smell, touch and taste 
its time for fun with food

The song helps transition the children into the activity in a fun way. Once seated the children are able to see the food presented and can choose to smell, touch and play. There is no emphasis on tasting the food, althought they are welcome to try some, as the focus is to increase their attention span. For children that struggle with different foods, this can also be a fun way to experience different food without the pressure to taste any of it. A word mat is also produced with symbols and pictures, here words can be introduced to describe the food. 

Attention Autism is also an activity that focuses on maintaining the childrens attention. It is set up in 4 different stages:

Stage 1 - to help focus their attention on adult led, fun objects that often spin, wind or make a noise.
Stage 2 - to help sustain their attention also on an adult - led activity.
Stage 3 - where the children learn to shift their attention within a small group as they take turns in a game.
Stage 4 - children are given individual tasks  to complete after a group demonstration, encouraging independence and the ability to transition between activities while maintaining engagement. 

Currently we are up to Stage 3 and will soon be introducing Stage 4.

It has been a busy week at Brunel full of learning opportunities for our children. Please enjoy browsing through this week's edition of The Brunel Bulletin.

Exciting ice sculptures!

What a brilliant week it has been in Tregantle Class!

We thoroughly enjoyed a special session with our KS2 Reading Pioneers. The children were completely immersed in the stories and listened with such focus and excitement. The older children did a fantastic job with their storytelling - they were wonderful role models and made the experience really memorable for our EYFS learners.

This week also brought some very exciting science learning as we unveiled our ice sculptures from the freezer. The children were absolutely delighted with the results and fascinated as they watched the ice melt. They carefully observed how the sculptures changed in shape and consistency, sharing their ideas and predictions as the ice transformed.

We have also seen some amazing writing this week. Many children have become true authors, using their growing phonics skills to write books of their very own. We are so impressed with their enthusiasm, creativity, and confidence - very impressive work indeed!

In maths, we have had some marvellous mathematicians exploring numbers to 8. The children worked hard to find more and less, showing great understanding through practical activities and discussions.

What a wonderful week of learning, curiosity, and achievement. We are so proud of everything the children have accomplished - well done, Tregantle Class!