The ' RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2016'

We welcome Mrs. Warran to our class! This week she helped us get creative, by designing our ‘wedding bird collages’, after reading the story of ‘The wedding birds'.

Birdwatching this week was a bit tricky with the wind, but we did see some birds in the school grounds. We decided that we would send our bird count from the previous week to the RSPB.

Our results:

2 Black birds

5 Blue tits

2 Collared doves

4 Magpies

3 Wood pigeons

1 Robin

2 Great tits

2 Pheasant

2 Carrion crows

Referring back to our original mind map about birds we tried to answer one of our questions: ‘Do all birds live in a tree?’ After discussing this question, we then pondered on whether all birds have wings, as without them they would not be able to fly up to get to a tree. This, then led us onto consider whether all birds can fly and whether they all build nests. We were particularly interested in penguins. When we asked Google if penguins build a nest, Google answered: ‘No!’ However, Mrs. George didn’t think this was quite right. So, we decided to consult a nature expert, Sir David Attenborough. We found out that some penguins do build nests. The Adelie penguins, who live in Antarctica, build their nests out of pebbles.

We are looking forward to the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ this weekend. Don’t forget to submit your results to the RSPB.

The Big School's Birdwatch 2016

We have been very busy preparing for this year’s ‘Big School’s Birdwatch’. We have been making more bird seed cakes which we have hung in the school grounds. Using our skills of observation we have recorded the number and species of birds we have seen so far.

We have also built two bird hides to aid our observation of the birds. We have already seen quite few different species of bird, even two male pheasants strutting across our school field!

We have created beautiful drawings and paintings of the birds we have seen.

For our class assembly we created our own mini documentary on birds and gave instructions to the whole school on how to prepare for successful bird watching. This was well received and has enthused lots of children to join in at school and at home, in the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’,which takes place this coming weekend (Saturday 30^th January-Sunday 31^st January).

We are making great strides with our spoken Spanish. This week’s colour was ‘blanco’, which was explored on the colour table with numerous objects brought in from home of the same colour.

Mrs. Wood has been encouraging us to work together to draw maps of Manchester, to support our geographical work.

On Friday, to our amazement and surprise Mrs. McFarlane brought in her new puppy ‘Vinnie’ to visit our class. I am sure you will agree by looking at the photographs, he is gorgeous! To help our mathematical understanding of measure, we will be tracking ‘Vinnie’s’ rate of growth over the next few months.

On Monday Mrs. Warran (the student teacher), will be joining us. She is really looking forward to teaching us.

Hola!

Pedro the parrot and Mrs. Wharton have been teaching us how to speak Spanish. They are impressed with what we already know as you can see from our prior learning mind map. Pedro has been telling us all about Spain. Pedro likes our classroom so much he doesn’t want to go outside at the moment, because of the cold weather. So, we have decided to make him a nest inside. He is delighted by this idea.

Following on from what Jack said about birds getting their food from the bird feeders in gardens, we decided we would have a go at making some bird cakes, which we could hang up in our school grounds, to feed the birds during the winter months. We followed some instructions and worked collaboratively, taking turns using equipment and mixing in the equipment. We are planning to make more next week.

In the outdoor classroom we have been exploring gradient and slope using a large metal ball and a bamboo chute. This has connected with our work around the story of ‘Little Lumpty’. We tried to work out how to get ‘Little Lumpty’ (metal ball) down from a high wall. We had access to a variety of outdoor equipment including the bamboo chutes. An added challenge was given too. We were asked to work out how to transport ‘Little Lumpty’ slowly!

Some of us designed a slide which had a crate at the bottom to catch ‘Little Lumpty’ to stop him from rolling away.

Isla and Oscar discovered that if you straighten the bamboo chute and keep it flat ‘Little Lumpty’ would move very slowly.

We have extended our skills with handling tools to aid our construction of structures. We have hammered nails into batons of balsa wood with precision and created pictures in the tap and shape.

William brought in his dad’s spirit level and we have used it when building our walls. We have found it tricky building walls with the little trowel and mortar.

We have been practising our measuring skills in class.

We have been ordering letters of the alphabet and generating simple words using the lego phonics during guided reading time.

Inspired by our work on ‘birds’ we have been producing some wonderful paintings.

In P.E. we have been involved and concentrating as we climb, balance and jump.

We are looking forward to next week. It may snow!