Mr Wonka’s Challenge
Last week, we received a letter – or challenge should we say – from Mr Wonka himself. It turns out he is trying to make a chocolate bar that wouldn’t melt in children’s pockets. He thought the best people to test this would be children themselves.
So we set about: collecting different samples of chocolate; heating them up; observing when how long and at what temperature they melted; and then recorded our results.
During this investigation, we focused on making sure we were carrying out a fair test. We used the same amount of chocolate, the same cups etc and only changed the type of chocolate.
Living and Learning: Staying Safe
Recently, we had a theme week all about staying safe. We thought about all the times and places that we needed to stay safe. We first considered the classroom and how we could make it a safe place. We had brilliant suggestions about keeping the room tidy as well as how we can make people who are feeling upset feel safe.
We also had workshops from the Police about stranger danger and how to recognise adults who can help us. Our road safety workshop was especially interesting. We learn all about the need for wearing a seatbelt and the consequences of what can happen in you don’t.
Leeds Playhouse Workshop
This afternoon, we had an exciting visit from Leeds Playhouse. The workshop was based on our class novel – Katie and the Dinosaurs. Using our creative minds we put ourselves into the shoes of our story characters. We walked through a magical door to the land of the dinosaurs.
Survival skills were essential in preparation for our journey with the dinosaurs.
Our senses helped us to become immersed in the magnificent jungle where the dinosaurs roamed.
This was a brilliant experience that will help us to add more excitement to our writing.
Class Novel
In years 5 and 6, we are thoroughly enjoying our class novel: The forest of doom.
We have battled and escaped many creatures in the forest and we have written non-chronological reports about our own Fighting Fantasy creatures.
In order to battle, we had to roll two dice to create a stamina, skill and luck score. Fortunately, our stamina score was high and it has helped us throughout our adventures.
In PE, we have been working on our own stamina! We hope to see our stamina improve over the next half term by practising the same skills each week.
In Art, we have developed our drawing skills to create our own creature, which we are going to build into a sculpture using Modroc.
We’ve looked at well-known sculptures and shown our own appreciation of art by researching, discussing and writing about them.
Staying Safe: Wetherby Fire Station
It was 2 pm on a regular Friday afternoon in Foundation, when what should we see slowly making its way past the school fence on Hallfield Lane but a big, red, shiny…. “Fire engine!” (shouted the children)
We were so excited to explore it! The children were able to climb into the cab and look at the special protective clothing, the camera that can see through smoke, the breathing equipment and more.
Around the back of the engine, the children were fascinated by the large hoses, axes and other tools that help the firefighters do their job.
When we got back into the classroom, we were super impressed with all of the facts that Foundation could remember.
Ask your child if they can tell you about one piece of equipment they saw on the fire engine.
The children described the experience today as “Amazing” and “Awesome”.
Living and Learning: I can make safe choices.
Safety week
We have had lots of exciting visitors this week. Our focus was how to make safe choices and look after ourselves.
We learnt about staying safe around strangers as well as safety at home and in school. Road Safety was also covered by a workshop that explained how we should behave on the road.
The NSPCC brought buddy in to see us and we found out about or right to speak out. We also learnt the Childline number song.
Dogs Trust came into our class with Peg. We found out about dogs and how to read their behaviours.
D-side taught us all about our own bodies and what we need to do in order to look after them. We talked about a healthy diet as well as how sleep can affect our leaning.
This has been a very informative week and we will continue to think out making safe choices.
Staying Safe: PCSOs visit and D:Side Workshop
PCSO visit
Yesterday, Foundation were visited by two local PCSOs who spoke to them about the dangers of strangers and how to respond should a stranger approach them. They also spoke to the children about what they should do if they became lost. Ask your child the important facts that they can remember from the visit.
After the talk, the children were excited to try on mini police uniforms!
D:Side
Today, the children had another important workshop led by D:Side. The workshop covered staying safe around medicines (and who is safe to give them) understanding our emotions ; how we respond to our feelings and hygiene practises. They also spoke about the importance or getting a good night’s sleep, to keep our bodies fit and healthy.
Staying Safe: Dog’s Trust
This afternoon, a visit from the Dog’s Trust meant that we learned loads about how to stay safe around dogs.
We talked about what we should do if there was a dog we wanted to stroke. It’s important to always ask the owner permission to stroke their dog and to stroke the dog gently – we practised this with Peg the dog. Thankfully, Peg was only a cuddly toy – Mrs Valentine is super scared of dogs!
In addition, we were told what to do if a dog came up to us who was over-excited. We had to stand with our arms across our chest, looking up to the sky – this makes us really boring and the over excited dog will soon get bored of us!
Be sure to ask your child about how we can stay safe around dogs!
Lilly, Tia and Ralph showed superb listening skills during our talk with The Dog’s Trust – nice one!
Staying Safe: Road Safety
This morning, the road safety team from Leeds City Council came to visit us to tell us all about crossing roads safely and how important it is to always wear a seat belt.
It was great to see that so many of the children already knew lots of ways to stay safe on the roads – nice one, Foundation and Y1 & 2!
