The Dragons’ Class

We are Textile Designers this term. This week, the children have been finding out about the range of textiles we find in our homes and in school and thinking about the most suitable materials for making our clothes. Where does cotton come from? How and where is silk produced, and why is it so expensive? The children will be developing their sewing skills in Design and Technology lessons over the next few weeks, making stuffed animals from their own designs for a class mobile. 

This beautiful ladybird has been sewn by Erin:

Poetry has been this week’s focus in English.  The children have been reading a wide range of poems aloud in class and exploring the use of simile, metaphor and alliteration in their own poetry.  Luca’s stunning Tanka poem celebrates one of his favourite birds:

A booming bittern,

Hidden amongst the reed bed

With a watchful eye…

Skating on the frozen ice

When water freezes over.

Using courgettes and herbs harvested from the school garden, some of our year 3 children enjoyed making cheesy courgette muffins.  

Wizards class

This term our topic is 'We are Textile Designers' and the children have started the topic with learning how to do embroidery: they have drawn a design and are using a variety of stitching to create their image. They have also been researching different ways that textiles are produced including batik, tie dyeing and weaving. 

At the beginning of the week, the Wizards had a great game of cricket at the Centenary Field, making the most of the sunshine.  On Thursday, all the Wizards enjoyed using the new table tennis table and playing some doubles matches. 

This week in the kitchen, a group of year 5s made two different types of cupcakes and then all of the Wizards compared them: they made judgements on which they thought were the best in both taste and appearance.  

Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to all the children who came along and sang so beautifully at the Chadlington Beer Festival. They did an amazing job. I would also like to say a huge thank you to those year 6s who have supported the school (and me) during the many singing events whilst they have been at Chadlington Primary School. I will miss you all next year! 

The Shire

This term, the children in the Shire are “Textile Designers”. We will be having a go at sewing different stitches and joining materials. It will be a challenge, but we will have fun and gain some really useful new skills.

As part of this term's topics, the Pixies will be exploring different traditional tales. This week our focus was Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This classic story sparked lots of thoughtful discussion about Goldilocks’ character and the choices she made, as well as how the bears might have felt during the story.

We compared the storybook bears with real-life bears, noticing both similarities and differences. The children particularly enjoyed sequencing the events of the story and retelling it in their own words, which helped strengthen their storytelling and comprehension skills. The highlight of the week was the children's fantastic writing of sorry cards to the Bears from Goldilocks. We were so impressed by their thoughtful words and brilliant use of phonics to write independently. In maths, we focused on size comparisons and explored patterns, linking our learning back to the bears' bowls, chairs, and beds. We’re excited to continue our textile journey next week as we begin designing and making blankets for the Three Bears!

Elves and Griffins have been working hard exploring fractions in Maths. It’s given the children an opportunity to see the link between multiplication (times tables) and division (equal sharing/grouping). We have also looked at our school value of “Imagine”. We discussed the idea that God gave us all imaginations, so what did that mean for us? Lots of ideas were generated: Ada suggested that imagination helps you think about the future and Niamh commented that imagination is something you can do on your own.

The whole Shire enjoyed our filming experience on Tuesday, and we continue to be in awe of their resilience and enthusiasm, not to mention their amazing acting abilities.

The week ended with porridge tasting and a performance of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, written and directed by the Griffins and performed by the Pixies together with a puppet show for the Elves.

Tasting the 3 bears porridge. Mummy bear's was the favourite!