Saturday 29 June 2013

Pesky seagulls and sandwich fillers

Mrs Grinling, from The Lighthouse Keeper's Lunch, wanted a way to baffle the scavenging seagulls. She came up with a truly superb plan; she made mustard sandwiches. Have you ever tried one of those, no, well the children in KS1 have or will do soon.
 
 
Tasting the mustard
As part of our literacy lessons, this half term, we are helping Mrs Grinling out. We have heard that the seagulls are getting bored of their food and that they say the fishermen never have tasty sandwiches. Fred, Bert and Tom know what an amazing cook Mrs Grinling is and they are thinking about stealing Mr Grinling's lunch again. Oh dear.
 
 
The mystery filling - Marmite. This is the face the seagulls would pull.
To help Mrs Grinling out, we performed a taste test and have written her some letters proposing a tasty sandwich which can be hidden at the bottom of the basket and a yucky one or the top, to trick the seagulls.
 
Ready to try fish paste
 
Salmon fish paste was very popular
Here are some of our ideas:-

"You could try mustard again because it is bright yellow, thick and eye-wateringly strong and the seagull would not be able to see."

"Dear Mrs Grinling, I think you should use Marmite, it is gloopy, sticky, brown and savoury in taste. Mr Grinling would love it and it might make the seagulls go bluerghhh."
 
"Fish paste is smooth, tasty, pink and fishy - I think the seagulls would love this and so please do not use it."
 
"Thick, sticky, sweet, fruity jam that makes my mouth tingle. Mr Grinling would find this sandwich full of flavour and yummy."
 
"I would make Lemon curd sandwiches, they are sour, yellow, sticky and I really like them. I think Mr Grinling would too, but it would make the seagulls squawk!"
 
The children came up with some interesting ideas and enjoyed their tasting, although a lot of water was also drunk! I wonder if Mrs Grinling will use any of their ideas.
 
 

WIBWAC - Ware in bloom

 
 
 
Thank you for the many donations of bedding plants.
 
As you can see the children have now decorated the wheelbarrows and planted them and we are fully in bloom. We just need to remember to water them.

1. Fill with soil

2. Add plants

3. Admire your work!

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Dance

Hargreaves and Lewis had a busy day today. As well as going to school, they also attended a dress rehearsal at Chauncy. Tomorrow they are performing in the dance festival. Last year was a great success and good fun for the children, we hope this year will be the same.

Here are two sneak previews....

Hargreaves perform Peter Pan and his Shadow


Lewis are revolting children (from Matilda)!
 
Thank you to the family and friends who have supported their children in this - see you tomorrow.

Friday 14 June 2013

Mr Thorne does Phonics and KS1

The children in Years 1 and 2 are quite familiar with phonics and these lessons encompass a variety of teaching methods and resources.
 
One of the favourite characters, for many of the children, is Geraldine the giraffe. They enjoy joining in with the phonics she learns with Mr Thorne.
 
Some even ask to watch the videos as a reward for good work or behaviour.
 
Recently Mr Thorne sent Mrs Matthews the codes for a couple of his ipad apps and Hargreaves class have tried them out. The two they have used are out Spell Book and Matching pairs and the comments were....Fun, fantastic, incredible, awesome, cool, superb, exciting, super duppery duper, stupendous, amazing. They said they enjoyed playing them because they helped with their spelling and they liked to win items for the museum. The apps have proved very popular and they children keep asking to play them....it is a great way to get the classroom tidy, they have never cleared up so fast in their haste to use the apps.
 
A screen shot form the pairs game
As a thank you to Mr Thorne for this gift the children wanted to write a blog post and to interview Mr Thorne; he kindly agreed and so here is their interview...
 
1. How do you think of the ideas for your games?
I think of what games I think I would like to play and design them for children. I also think of what I would find useful as a teacher to help me help the children.
 
2. Which one do you like best?
My favourite app is Spellbook 2.
 
3. Does Geraldine still live in London with you?
She is sleeping on top of the TV in my living room!
 
4. What does she like to eat?
She eats leaves allllll the time!
 
5. Is she real?
Of course. She is ever so naughty.
 
6. How long have you been a teacher?
I have been a teacher for 7 years.
 
7. Which year do you teach?
I currently teach Year 2.
 
8. Why do you like phonics so much?
I like phonics because it is the first important step in learning to read. Reading helps you to learn.
 
9. Is Geraldine really naughty or is she just acting?
She is always always naughty.
 
10. How old is Geraldine?
She is 4 years old.
 
11. What is your favourite colour?
My favourite colour is purple (and blue).
 
12. Why do you like hats?
There are so many different kinds of hat and sometimes I'm a bit lazy and do not want to brush my hair - a hat can hide all that 😊
 
 
A screen shot from Spell book
 
13. How many times do you do phonics each week?
I teach phonics once a week now!
 
14. How many games have you made up and are you going to make up more?
I've made 3 phonics games and I hope to make a times tables app soon.
 
15. What is your favourite phoneme?
I like zh - in words like usual, garage, television.
 
16. Did you learn phonics when you were little?
I did not learn phonics. I had a tin of words to practise called Sight Words. All the tricky words were in it too!
 
17. Do you have lots of fun in your classroom?
I hope my classroom is fun. I certainly like to have a fun atmosphere in class.
 
18. Why did you make up spell book?
I wanted to make spelling fun for children.
 
19. Who films Geraldine, is it you?
I am the cameraman yes!
 
20. Why did you choose a giraffe?
My best friend was getting married and for her hen night (when all her friends have a party) she was given a present of a giraffe puppet and then she came to life! So she is now my pet.
 
 
Thank you Mr Thorne, for your gift, from Hargreaves class and even though he gifted us the apps he did not ask us to write this post and the class do genuinely enjoy the games.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Potatoes

This was the small crop of potatoes that came from the six that the Year 1 children planted. Sadly we did not do as well as last year. Oh well, we will try again next year.

Our harvest