Mary Anning Reports

Sports Week- The Great Outdoors

What a fun filled, action packed, sporty curriculum week we have had! The children have loved getting active, getting outdoors and taking part in a huge variety of different sports and activities.

Forest Schools

Bench ball

Chocolate fossils!

Year 1s discover what lurks beneath the water at Blue Planet Aquarium...

Money, money, money!

Classifying animals into different groups.

Animal Stick Puppets!

Year 1s re-enact The Three Billy Goats Gruff!

Comparing numbers within 100.

Year 1s start to learn about Mary Anning.

Ready for the Oscars!

Cross Country comes to Ludworth!

An opportunity for a tennis masterclass!

Active Maths

Year One Halves Party!

Learning about our bodies!

Something’s Fishy at Ludworth!

The children have had lots of fun learning about their class artist and producing lots of different types of art work using a number of different techniques and media.  In our English this week, we have been writing sealife poetry.  We generated adjectives to describe the sea creatures then used video and drama to think of verbs to describe how the sea creatures moved through the water.  The children then used these ideas to write their own poetry.  We then filmed the children reading their poems to share during our art exhibition.  

Pudding Lane burns down...(again!)

As many of you will be aware, in our topic lessons this half term, we have been learning about The Great Fire of London.  This week we learnt about fire fighters from the past and compared and contrasted the techniques used in 1666 with modern day fire fighting.  Over the last couple of weeks, the children have learnt about how Tudor houses were made and the materials used to build them, such as straw, wood, tar and wattle and daub.  They have designed and made their own Tudor houses in DT and this week, we recreated The Great Fire of London by lining up the Tudor Houses (for those that wanted to!) and starting a fire in Thomas Farriner’s bakery.  We watched how quickly the fire spread from house to house, we talked about what we could see, hear, feel and smell as the fire took hold and we used this opportunity to talk to the children about fire safety as well.  

Joseph

On Friday, KS1 were treated to a truly magical performance of Joseph by Year 3/4s!  Year 1s were amazed and in awe of the acting, singing and accomplishments of their fellow students and came back to class humming the tunes and enthusiastically exchanging views on their favourite characters and parts of the musical.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and believe Year 3/4 parents and carers are in for a treat when they perform for them next week! 

Something’s Fishy at Ludworth...

This week the children have used oil pastels and watercolours to create their very own masterpieces! 

More will be revealed about this during Art Week in the Summer term...

Phonics made fun!

Today we practised the split vowel diagraph o_e by playing catch the cube. The children threw a cube around a circle, and when someone caught the cube, they had to sound out and blend together an o_e word, such as bone, throne, tone, stone etc.  The children then paired up to play 4 in a row, before writing o_e words down in the phonics books and adding sound buttons. 

Year Ones Continue their Outdoor Learning

Botswana Class Assembly

Botswana Class transported us back to the year 1666 and shared all the information they had learnt about The Great Fire of London. They packed singing, dancing and many lines into their assembly ensuring all the audience were hanging on every word. The singing, dancing, acting and costumes were all fantastic. The confidence and creativity shown by all the children made everyone very proud, well done Botswana! After the assembly parents and Grandparents were invited back to the classroom to make a ‘Tudor houses’ with their children.

Celebrating Downs Syndrome Awareness Day

On Thursday, Tanzania Class showed their support for Downs Syndrome Awareness Day by wearing lots of colourful socks!  We learnt more about Downs Syndrome from an inspiring and informative assembly given by one of our Year 5 pupils and the effects one extra chromosome can have on children and their families.  

Cracking Coding Creations!

On Tuesday we took part in a fantastic Lego Robotics workshop when we learnt how to engineer a robot and control it using a range of algorithms.

Magnificent Maths

Writing instructions

We have been looking at instructions this week in our English lessons. We have looked at the features of instructions. We now know instructions need a title, a list of equipment, numbered steps and imperative verbs. We followed instructions to make our jam/cheese sandwiches and then we wrote our own instructions on ‘How to make a sandwich’. We really enjoyed making and eating our sandwiches!

Comic Relief 2019

Journey

This week, we have immersed ourselves in the picture book, Journey, by Aaron Becker and focussed on creating a toolkit to help us write terrific thought bubbles.  We used several techniques such as ‘read the picture’ and ‘thought tracking’ to interpret and understand what happens in the story and build up a bank of wonderful adjectives to help us describe the magical world the little girl encounters.  The children worked in pairs to create thought bubbles for a number of images in the book before writing their own on Friday.

World Book Day 2019

Tanzania Class was taken over by a myriad of famous characters today! Much fun was had by all and some children have even been planning their outfits for next year already!

Outdoor Learning

For a second week both Botswana and Tanzania Class explored the great outdoors.  The children worked with their talk partner and used twig identification guides to help them identify the trees in our fabulous grounds. 

Year 1 Phonics Evening

Please see the powerpoint below for details of the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check that will be taking this year, week beginning 10th June.

The Adventures of the Naughty Bus

Last week in our English lessons we took our Naughty Bus on a naughty adventure around our school. The children planned what the Naughty Bus could do and they set the Bus up in a variety of naughty situations. The Naughty Bus got up to lots of mischief and the children were very creative with their ideas. They photographed the naughty situations and then used the photos as a stimulus to write their very own Naughty Bus stories. The children really enjoyed writing their stories and produced some fantastic writing. It was lovely to see so many children motivated to write. Well done Year One!

Empty Chair

This week, we used a drama technique called ‘Empty Chair’ to express our views about the character Naughty Bus. First we refreshed our memory about the characters and the events that unfold in the story.  The teacher placed a chair in front of the class and explained to the children that if the Naughty Bus was sitting in the chair, what would they like to say to him, for example, after he left all the toys standing at the bus stop? or if they were the little boy in the story what would they say to him, after he drove through his breakfast and broke his mother’s teacup? Children practised in talk partners first, expressing, at time, quite strong opinions about the choices the bus had made! The children were able to magpie ideas from each other as they formed their opinion on the actions of the Naughty Bus.  

After the children had had time to practise, some stepped forward and addressed the empty chair at the front of the class, which we filmed. 

Conscience Alley

Today in class we explored the thoughts of the Naughty Bus and considered the thoughts and feelings of other characters in the story too.  Each class was split into two groups, one side defending the actions of the Naughty Bus, the other criticising him for his decisions! It made for some very interesting drama! Everyone took part and rehearsed what they would say to the Naughty as he travelled down ‘conscience alley’.  Will the Naughty Bus have second thoughts about his actions or will he be persuaded to continue with his playful antics?! 

Role on the Wall

This week, we continued to explore the text ‘Naughty Bus’ by Jan and Jerry Oke and used a DEAL (Drama, Engagement Active Learning) technique called ‘Role on the Wall’ to examine the main character.  In groups, the children first drew a silhouette of a bus on large paper. Then, they wrote down facts they knew about the bus e.g. what he looks like and what he has done in the story and the children wrote these on the outside of the bus.  Then they considered the character of the bus and his thoughts and feelings and wrote these on the inside of the bus silhouette.  We talked about whether his character and actions changed during the story and shared our ideas.  The children worked really well in their teams and each child contributed lots of ideas and different perspectives on the actions of the bus and how he felt at different points in the story.

Naughty Bus

We introduced our new text today, The Naughty Bus by Jan and Jerry Oke.  We read and discussed the story, focussing on all the interesting features used by the authors to bring the story to life!  We then  carried out a ‘Read the picture’ activity, in which the children discussed what they could see, hear and smell when looking at a selection of photographs taken from the text.

Chinese New Year

Gymnastics Skills

This week during indoor P.E. we have been focusing on our gymnastics skills.  The children have concentrated on moving at different levels with control and balance.  We travelled to a magic zoo, where we turned into every animal we came across. The children really got into character and stomped around as elephants, slithered along the ground as snakes in the long, green grass, stretched up tall as Giraffes, eating the leaves from Acacia trees, moved sideways and backwards as crabs on the soft, hot sand and moving swiftly through the treetops as monkeys!  The children then worked with a partner, with the child at the front deciding on an animal, and the child behind mimicking their movements seamlessly.  The children performed in groups and everyone provided feedback in the form of 2 stars and a wish.  

Maths and Computing Week

The theme of this week was ‘Game On’.  We explored ‘computer science without computers’ to improve our understanding of programming.  Over a couple of lessons, the children took on the roles of developer, tester and ‘bot’ and worked as a team to navigate the bot to various points on a grid, using only the commands forward, right and left.  When a tester found an error in the program, they worked with the the developer to ‘de-bug’ the algorithm to ensure the bot reached the correct destination.  Once the children mastered these ‘unplugged’ activities, they put their skills to the test on a number of iPad apps, including Beebot, Coding Safari and A.L.E.X. We also learnt more about staying safe online and the importance of asking an adult for advice if we are unsure about anything online or if people ask us for personal information.

Circle Time: Soaking up the learning.

Today during Circle Time we focused on learning more about Growth Mindsets.  The children were shown two brains, (or sponges!) one which represented a fixed and one a growth mindset.  Over the course of the lesson, the children helped to grow one of the brains by adding different ingredients! In pairs, the children had to decide which characteristics represented which type of brain, for example, doesn’t mind making a mistake, enjoys a challenge, does not listen, tries another method if the first one does not work and likes to be right all the time.  Once they had successfully sorted them into two groups, the children poured the contents of the cup onto the correct brain.  By the end of the session, the children identified that the fixed mindset brain was dry and had not absorbed any water.  The growth mindset brain, however, had soaked up lots of water and had become very heavy with the water because it had soaked up lots of good ingredients.  The children understood that by adopting these good learning behaviours, at home and at school, they would help grow their brain!

Andy’s Enchanted Forest Adventure

Well done to everyone in Tanzania Class for giving a first-class performance today!

One young audience member said ‘Mummy, it’s better than the pantomime!’ Praise indeed! 

Andy and his assistant, Jen took us on a prehistoric adventure in search of Bog Baby dung! Along the way he experienced problems with his time-travelling clock, which landed him in Tanzania! There we witnessed a safari adventure in action and learnt some interesting facts about the animals of Tanzania!  Luckily, Andy was ably assisted by some friends, who helped him navigate his way back to the UK and the wilds of Scotland, where they assured him, he would find the mysterious Bog Baby.  Deep in the forest, he came across some creatures regaling facts about foxes (using ‘Talk for Writing’ style actions).  Andy continued his search in the undergrowth and at last was rewarded for his efforts as he discovered the reclusive and mischievous Bog Baby.  There Andy watched in fascination as the Bog Babies crept around, evading and avoiding contact with the outside world.  As they scurried away, in fear of being discovered, Andy was able to recover their dried up poo, to replace the dung that had been ruined back at the museum.  Mrs Pickles would never know the difference!

Festive Fun in Year 1!

Much merriment has been had over the last few days, as the children have been busy making Christmas cards and crafts, enjoyed a first-rate Christmas Dinner, provided by Helen and her fabulous team in the kitchen, and today the children danced their socks off to party songs! We played the popular game ‘Duck, Duck, Goose’ or ‘Santa, Santa, Rudolph’ as it was today, as well as firm favourites such as Musical Bumps! The children also all gave a warm Ludworth welcome to a very special visitor...

Woodland Pictures

Over the last few weeks, Year One children have been working hard to create a ‘moving parts’ woodland-inspired picture. 

First the children designed their picture by sketching their scene and labelling it to denote which elements would contain a moving part.  Children then created their background and coloured them in using wax crayons.  Next, they made the first ‘moving part’ and attached them to their pictures using split pins.  The children displayed their creative side and made moving suns, clouds, foxes, bees and butterflies, to name just a few!  The children will complete their designs over the coming week, adding sliding animals using art straws and adding insects and animals which will be hiding behind a flap! 

Anti-Bullying Week

12-16th November was Anti-Bullying week and children across the school were engaged in a number of activities and discussions around this theme, including an assembly led by our local P.C.S.O.  In Tanzania Class we used our Circle Time session to explore respect.  We discussed what respect means and agreed a definition: how you feel about someone or something and how you treat them or an object.  

We went through a number of scenarios, including talking when a friend or adult is talking, leaving a friend out of a game and telling an adult when you see unkind behaviour in the playground.  

The children worked with talk partners to agree whether the scenario was an example of respect or not and we sorted them into two groups. We ended our session by sharing ways we will show respect in and around school:

I am going to show respect by...

”listening and not interrupting people”

”being kind”

”help people who are hurt”

”sharing”

”if someone is being mean, I will tell the teacher”

”helping someone who trips up”

”help people to find their things”

”listening to the teacher”

Movement Skills

This term our outdoor P.E. lessons are focusing on developing a range of movement skills such as moving confidently in an open space, moving at different speeds, moving along different patterns and changing direction quickly.  This week we have been practising to twist and turn in game situations and using these skills to work as a team.  The children showed great listening throughout this lesson and fantastic team working skills to complete a number of activities.  We discussed what parts of the body help us twist and turn and also how that can help us in a game.

Bog Baby 

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at the story of ‘Bog Baby’ by Jeanne Willis and Gwen Millward. Whilst we were reading the story Mrs Hammond interrupted us as she had seen something small and blue run past the window towards the woods. Of course, we had to go and investigate! Whilst in the woods we found a nest that we thought Bog Baby slept in. We found lots of feathers that Bog Baby may have used to make his bed nice and soft. We also found some Crab Apples that Bog Baby must have been eating. We eventually found Bog Baby hiding at the bottom of a tree and we decided to bring him to our classroom.

On Friday our Bog Baby went missing and we were desperate to find him. We decided the best thing to do was to write missing posters. We put them up all around school to see if anyone had seen him. 

We then designed our very own Bog Babies using a variety of different materials of varying colours and textures. We used these pictures to generate adjectives to write descriptions of our Bog Babies. 

Active Maths 

This week, Tanzania Class took part in active maths to exercise their brains! 

The children worked out number sentences in order to compare them, deciding if one number sentence was less than, equal to or greater than another.  The children literally voted with their feet and moved to the line they thought was the correct answer!  

Tanzania Class take to the hot seat!

The children have spent the last few weeks learning about the history of Etherow Country Park and how it was once the site of a cotton mill and water wheel, owned and developed by the Andrew family.  We watched videos, looked at old photographs and read information about what life was like and in history today, the children used ‘hot seating’ to explore what life was like for a child working in a nineteenth century cotton mill.  They really got into character and the children came up with some super questions, asking the cotton workers what they typically ate for breakfast, how long their working day was and what conditions were like.  At the end of the session everyone agreed that life was very tough for children back then and said that they would be very sad and terrified of working in such conditions.

Harvest Celebration.

Thank you to everyone that was able to join us for our Harvest Celebration today!  We are so proud of all the children for putting on such a wonderful show!  They were very excited to be performing their songs, poems and share with you what they have been learning about harvest time.  

Thank you once again for your harvest donations.  All donations will be given to the charity Wellspring, who support homeless people in Stockport.

Ordering numbers from greatest to smallest.

The children have been getting active in maths to support their learning about ordering objects and numbers.

They worked in small groups to order objects such as cotton reels, dominoes, tennis balls and numbers from smallest to greatest and greatest to smallest.  They were able to explain their thinking and compare different sets of objects using the correct mathematical language!

Investigating what plants need to grow.

Year One classes have been researching the five things that plants need to grow and found that they require water, light, space, soil and air to thrive.  Today the class discussed how to plant a bean and each child planted their own.  Over the coming weeks, we will be keeping a bean diary to observe and record how our seeds change. We have also planted a seed which will receive light but no water and another that will receive water but no light, to compare how they differ from the seeds that will receive both light and water.

Ludworth Does Science Week!

Active Maths

The children got active in maths this week and voted with their feet!

We compared groups of objects using the language of ‘greater than’ or ‘more than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’ and the children placed themselves on an opinion line depending on which answer they thought was correct!

There was much debate (and movement along the line) but everyone was able to explain their thinking.

Plants and Trees

During science this week, we have explored the school grounds during a nature walk.  The children worked in pairs to collect interesting objects such as different leaves, berries, pine cones and tree bark.  On returning to the classroom, children used a tree leaf guide to identify and record the leaves and berries they had found.

The Mighty Zulu Nation entertain Key Stage One!

We were enthralled and entertained by the Zulu dancers who visited our school this week!

The dancers worked with the children and by the end of the workshop everyone performed a traditional Zulu song.

At the end of the school day, the whole school performed a series of dances and songs with the theatre company

which was truly magical! 

 Getting to know one another

During our first week back, we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the children and sharing and discussing the precious objects they put inside their paper bags!