True Selfies

23rd January 2015V Holloway

Some of the Key Stage 2 children had the privilege of going to the Anti Bullying conference in London last week. They came back and shared all the amazing activities they had done to raise awareness of preventing bullying.

One of the activities was to create a true selfie. On a piece of paper each child writes down everything that they know about themselves and are true statements. This means the children are then listening to themselves and ignoring anything negative that others say about them! We took on this challenge and created our own true selfies, on them we wrote things like:

– what they like
– what they don’t like
– what they are scared of
– personality traits e.g. kind, honest, good listener
– things that they are a part of e.g. restorative practice leaders

Here are some photos of our selfies!

FullSizeRender FullSizeRender (1) FullSizeRender (2)

An Individual Achievement

22nd January 2015V Holloway

5C celebrated this morning as the first person in our class was awarded their individual pin! Congratulations to Emily who proudly received her pin today.  In circle this morning we all said how Emily had been an individual to earn her pin, these included reasons such as ‘she has opened her heart to help people grow in their learning’, ‘Emily achieves learning zone 4 and 5 all the time’. We are all very proud of you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next week we are looking forward to awarding out second individual pin!

Children as Experts

13th January 2015V Holloway

Today in our grammar lesson, 5c tried a new learning strategy…children as experts. Our focus was on using commas correctly in our writing. For those who were already confident users of commas they got the opportunity to consolidate their knowledge as they became the ‘expert’ and provided support and guidance for small groups. This worked really well as many of the children commented that it was different from being taught by a teacher and they enjoyed being in peer groups without the pressure of an adult! Because of the positive reviews we will definitely use this strategy again in the future.

A Magical Ignite

13th January 2015V Holloway

Last Thursday, Year 5 went on a magical adventure as they went behind the scenes of the Harry Potter films. As soon as we stepped into the Great Hall we were transported to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We saw the costumes worn by Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) as well as costumes of many other characters.

The props were also on show for us to see, this included the Triwizard Cup, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Potions Classroom. We also had a sneaky peek at how they filmed the flying scenes and even got the opportunity to ride a broomstick ourselves!

Butterbeer was a must have on the day, with many year 5’s gulping it down, only to realise it was extremely sweet! We learnt a lot about how they filmed the mythical creatures and how they filmed Hagrid…but we wouldn’t want to give all the secrets away! Walking down Diagon Alley was very exciting, we got see the shops used in the films including Olivanders and Gringotts Bank!

Finally, the highlight of the tour, seeing Hogwarts Castle. Due to the time of year we were very lucky to see it covered in snow. We were all amazed by the detail and scale of the model, it was certainly a very magical moment!

Year 5 behaved beautifully, despite being so excitable, and were proud role models for Brooklands Farm. The year 5 teachers would like to say a massive thank you to all the parents/carers that came on the trip with us, we hope you enjoyed it as much as the children did. We are now looking forward to creating magic with our Harry Potter project!

Year 5 Biologists

6th January 2015V Holloway

Yesterday, year 5 became biologists as they spent the day investigating plants and lifecycles. They learnt about the different parts of a flower and the role of each part in its reproduction cycle. Also, they learnt about the lifecycle of a bird, amphibian or insect and compared it to their existing knowledge, the lifecycle of a mammal. Well done for taking such big steps on your learning journey!

A Sneaky Preview

12th December 2014V Holloway

Year 5 are very busy rehearsing and filming their Horrible Histories Plague episodes! Not only have they been developing their knowledge and understanding of the Plague, they have also been growing in their group work skills. Year 5 have had ownership over this project, in their groups they have decided on their timetable and are responsible for managing their own time. They are definitely becoming individuals!

Here are some sneaky previews of their episodes:

Year 5 Dance

12th December 2014V Holloway

Half of year 5 had good fun in their P.E lesson today! They learnt the beginning of a routine altogether but then in small groups had the freedom to choreograph the rest of the dance! They worked incredibly hard, the results were amazing for such a short space of time. We saw a variety of dance moves from street dance to some gymnastics. It was a fantastic way for them to show off their individual skills and style!

Here are some photos: