Week Beginning 27th November 2023

We had a great start to our week, as we had a visit from the characters who feature in our PSHE scheme. Gerald, Kiki and Derek helped us understand why it's 'Great To Be Me' as we went on an adventure to Diversity Land a theme park where difficult decisions needed to be made. The children also took a quick trip to a planet called Conformity, where we learnt the importance of being individuals and the significance of us all having our own talents and should celebrate difference. 

We have finished writing explanation texts based on Wallace and Gromit contraptions and have now moved onto another book to inspire us to write, called The Secrets of Stonehenge. We will become experts in the how's and why's of this incredible ancient monument and be writing more explanations to educate others about the secrets it holds. We read this book together then attempted to make a version of this famous landmark out of biscuits! It was a very tricky task and tested their resilience skills to the max!! I have set up the biscuits and some plastic cubes in our continuous provision area to see if the children can work out which are the best materials to use to make a giant version, biscuits or plastic cubes. The jury is out at the moment!!

Our art took a similar theme this week too as we have created another piece of art work using the Northern Lights at Stonehenge as our muse. The children produced a mixed media piece using a water colour wash for the background, poster paints to add stars, pastels to create the light effects and digital image for the monument. They look fantastic, check out the gallery.

The children carried out their first real scientific investigation this week (unfortunately, our last topic didn't offer this opportunity) They tested a range of rocks to see if they were permeable or impermeable by placing them into a beaker of water. They made predictions, thought about what the variables were, decided which variables to change or keep the same to make it fair, then observed the rocks to see if bubbles rose from any of them. If they saw bubbles, it was a permeable rock and visa versa. Oak Class love a practical activity so got stuck into this with plenty of enthusiasm. They observed very carefully and recorded their results, following this they made some scientific conclusions to add to their knowledge of the properties of rocks.  

 =