Whole School

Reception visit Lakeside!

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

Reception had a wonderful time at Lakeside on Wednesday. On arrival they hunted for natural materials and sticks to make their own potions with the magical ingredient that was lake water! They thought about what special powers their potions might have…

They then built shelters and homes for a variety of woodland creatures, thinking carefully about what each might need to have in their home.

Soon it was time to harness up for a climbing challenge, seeing some children making it right to the top in the trees, everyone had such a good go! A splashing afternoon was had by all playing duckies in the lake, collecting ducks and balls in teams whilst having to manoeuvre their boats using only hands to push the water away. Everyone was very happy and soggy at the end of a fun-filled day!

Sculpture and the Human Form

 in Art / Scafell / Whole School by

Scafell have been working on observing and drawing the human form, one of the most challenging subjects to represent on paper.

We began by completing quick 15minute sketches of each other – keeping still in a carefully constructed pose was almost as difficult as the drawing!

We then moved on to exploring the human figure in 3D using play dough and aluminium foil. We could manipulate our figures into lots of different poses.  We used these to create very quick gesture poses.   We are now working on our wire  sculptures and hope to be able to share these very soon!

Persuasive Writing in Years 5+6

 in English / Scafell / Whole School by

Pupils in Scafell have been undertaking a unit of work on persuasive writing which is linked to our current science topic on health and the human body.

We began with an apprentice-like challenge where we had to create a new toothpaste, develop the name of the product and the branding.  This involved some research on current toothpaste brands and their marketing techniques.

Once ideas about new products had been developed, we enjoyed some market research tasks to find out how our peers viewed our designs.  We then set about developing a poster campaign and radio advertisements to market our exciting, new products.

Our final piece of writing in this unit of work, is a more formal online magazine article informing young people about the detrimental impact of smoking on the human body and persuading the reader that it is never a good idea to smoke.

Which advert catches your eye?   Which toothpaste would you buy?

Green fingers in Scafell

 in Scafell / Science / Whole School by

Scafell enjoyed planting our seedlings in our new outdoor classroom this week!! We are looking forward to seeing them flower over the next few weeks.

Year One explore algorithms

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

This week Year One began their computing topic about algorithms. They had to think logically about how to give a robot the correct instructions to brush its teeth. The next challenge was to work together to build Lego models, capturing picture instructions at each stage for another group to follow.

Bowfell’s sensory space

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

Nursery and Reception children have enjoyed exploring Bowfell’s new sensory space on our mezzanine level in the classroom. The dark den cave was a huge hit as well as the fascinating bubble lights and goo tubes!

Around Europe with Scafell Class

 in Geography / Scafell / Whole School by

Flights to another country may be all but a distant memory right now, but Scafell are getting stuck into their new geography topic on Europe with great gusto. For our first homework, we’ve been collecting photographs and mementos from around Europe. We’ve now placed all of these on a world map so that we can see where the different countries are in relation to each other. Take a look at our map below – from Scotland to Slovenia, London to Lanzarote, you can see great examples of both physical and human geographical features.

Thanks to everyone who bought in something for the display. Most original items have been photocopied to keep them safe, so they will be returned soon!

Bridge Building Challenge!

 in Scafell / Whole School by

We’ve rounded the end of term off in style this time – Scafell have been designing and building bridges!

From studying famous bridges around the world, we found out the types of tricks engineers use to make their constructions strong, light and as cheap as possible. We looked at lots of different engineering methods to join and construct the sections of our bridge, thinking carefully about the parts that were in tension and compression. We found out about the strongest types of shape, and how to reinforce sections of cardboard so that they are strong in lots of different directions.. We made our own cardboard ply for the decks of our bridges, used triangle beams to support them and used plates, tabs and flanges to allow us to screw the bridges together.

 

Have a look at the media gallery below to check out our creations – some were super strong and able to hold over 5 kilograms, others had a massive span of over a meter! Well done to everyone who took part, especially those who tried, failed and tried again until their design was just right!

 

 

 

Year One Easter Egg balloons

 in Bowfell / RE / Whole School by

Year One have been learning about the significance of Easter for Christians this term and finding out about some of the ways they mark the celebration. They have found out about why signs of Spring signify that Easter is on its way and made the connection between new life and the happier part of the Easter story when Jesus comes back to life. They also found out about the importance of the colour purple at Easter time and have made their own Easter egg balloons which they decorated with pictures related to Easter.

Baking in Year 1

 in Bowfell / Whole School by

Year 1 enjoyed some practical learning on Friday morning baking Abbey Biscuits.

This was a great opportunity to put many different skills into practice and share a wide range of knowledge that included some incredible maths facts!! We collaborated in two teams to create these delicious tasty treats.