Growing beans - look what's sprouted!

Remember how we looked at some different types of beans a few weeks ago? When we looked at them last week, they had sprouted little shoots so we decided to plant one! Our other bean plant also just keeps on growing! We measured it with different objects, like cubes, paper clips and dice. It'll be time to re-pot it soon! Will it reach the clouds like the one in Jack and the Beanstalk?!

Your vote counts!

On the 23rd of June a special guest came into our school, her name was Gillian Bell. She is part of the Parliamentary Education Service and was able to explain lots about how parliament is run. We ordered key events in history and learnt about the struggle to have the vote that many have endured over time. We also debated as to whether the voting age should be lowered to 16 - with many surprising responses and views! We decided to devise a school charter about the rights that we believe people should have today following our workshop.

Fantastic Sports Day!

Sports day 2015 was spectacular because of our super competitive house system! The inaugural Sherburn cup was won by Slytherin,although the competition had been extremely close throughout the day. Many thanks to the y6 and y5 helpers , points scorers , staff & the large number of very vocal parents / carers who attended the event. Last but by no means least ,thanks go to Mr. Noble for organising this amazing event alongside Miss Sykes. We're so pleased that it has been welcomed so positively by all concerned.The parents 'tug of war will definitely live long in the memory of all who witnessed it! Roll on next year.

 

African Arts Week!

For arts week this year, Year 5 looked at African art.  

We decided not to do an African painting or sculpture, but to learn about African dance and singing. We learnt two children's songs which were famous songs from Ghana.

Then we put our dancing skills to the test and created an African tribe dance. First we watched a few videos to get some ideas. Our dance was fantastic and we had great fun practicing it and performing it to the rest of the school, who thoroughly enjoyed watching us! 

We also created some African cuffs and head bands to wear for our performance, using African beading as our inspiration.

KS2 Spelling Bee!

This week some children from Key Stage 2 attended a Spelling Bee competition at Bill Quay Primary School.

Unfortunately we didn't win, but we worked hard together as a team to complete the challenges we were set and managed to come second! Well done to Bill Quay who won the Spelling Bee, and to Wardly and Lingey House who came 3rd and 4th.

We had a fantastic afternoon and would like to thank Bill Quay Primary School for inviting us and being so welcoming (and for the delicious Bee cakes)!

Father's Day

We spent our afternoon making Father's Day cards for all of you special Year 2 parents! We hope you like them and that you all have a lovely Father's Day weekend!

Key Stage 1 Parent Workshop

We loved our Parent Workshop last week! Year 1 and 2 made medals to present to George Stephenson, winner of the Rain Hill Trials! Miss Howe and Mrs Richardson were so impressed by our final creations! Thank-you so much to all of the parents and carers involved in our special afternoon!

Here's a closer look at some of our medals!

In year 2, we know that we are all winners!

Year 2 White Mere's Got Talent Auditions

We have loved auditioning for White Mere's Got Talent! Year 2 were very confident when performing to their peers and really got their audience involved, they had everyone up on their feet, dancing, singing, and joining in! Even Miss Howe! Well done to all of the children who took part! We can't wait to see the finals next week!

Year 2- Arts Week

Last week was our whole school 'Arts Week'. In year 2, we spent our afternoons learning about India and their cultural celebration 'Dawali' (or 'The Festival of Lights'). We created lots of fantastic art work inspired by India, including paper lanterns, Rangoli patterns, Henna hand designs, and tea-light holders! We enjoyed being crafty! Here are some of our beautiful creations!

 

Discussion Texts

In literacy we have been focusing on non-fiction writing. We have been thinking carefully about the issue of 'School Uniforms- good or bad?' we considered both sides of the argument and even debated the issues! We then wrote our discussion texts, making sure we included all of the main features including subtitles and bullet points! In the conclusion, we shared our own opinions! I was pleased to find that most Year 2s, having weighed up the advantages and disadvantages, believe that school uniform is a good idea!

Here is Chloe's fantastic final write up!

Year 2 Problem Solving

We have been loving using the laptops in our class this year, especially for Mathletics! Last week we used the computers to help us with our problem solving skills, something we have been focusing on in Maths! We used our calculation skills to think of all the different possibilities we could use to make £1 using only silver coins, to buy 'The doggy in the window'! We are becoming much more confident in our computing skills!

Magna Carta Assembly

KS2 learnt all about the Magna Carta 800 anniversary this week in a national assembly organised by Discovery Education and led by Dan Snow and Diane Louise Jordan. They heard about how our rights date back from this time and the impact it had on the development of democracy throughout the world. Pupils were able to discuss the freedoms we have today and the fact that these don't exist everywhere world wide.

Maths Parent Workshop

There was an excellent turnout by parents for our recent Maths workshop run by Family Learning. A whole range of strategies to encourage quick recall of mental maths facts were explored along with ways in which to engage pupils further in the subject  through the use of games both within school and at home.

Fun at Kingswood!

Y6 thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Kingswood this week. Activities they undertook ranged from the 3 G swing, 'Leap of faith' and quad biking. It was certainly worth getting up so early and setting off at 8.15 in the morning! Pupils & staff arrived back very tired after such an action packed day.