Jeans for Genes day 2015!

This week the Rabbits have been reading "Where the wild things are."  They have created a beautiful display and have even made their own islands!



















The Dragonflies have been getting to know Harry and his Dinosaurs.  They have read about Harry's adventure to school and thought of their own questions to ask Harry and thought how he would answer them.












The Otters have been looking at "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and have been continuing their journey deep underground in their cooking.  Their recipe used vegetables that are all harvested underground.  Can you think of a vegetable that they could have used?

Today is national "Jeans for genes" day!  Lots of the children are wearing jeans to show their support.  Click the link below for more information.

www.jeansforgenesday.org

Back to school!

This week has seen an exciting start for all the children.  They have come back from the holidays and are all  working very hard.

In the Rabbits class they have had some new arrivals!  The children have been getting to know each other and their way around the school. 

In the Dragonflies, the children have made a start to their new topic “Marvellous me!”  They have been using mind maps to establish what they already know about their bodies, both inside and outside. 

The Otters have also made a start on their new topic “Going deep underground.”  The children have been digging and analysing what they have found.

Into space, magnets and life cycles

Rabbits have gone into Space!  The children have been exploring the Solar System and matching planets by appearance.  They have also been creating props for the Rabbits space adventure.  The children have made earth biscuits, the skills used were rolling, shaping and cutting the dough.

The Dragonflies have been looking at forces, specifically magnets!  They have found that magnets attract and also repel each other.  They have also been using the magnets to test if a material is magnetic or not.  The Dragonflies are using their Literacy skills to explain the life cycle of a Dragonfly and in Numeracy they have been identifying 3D shapes in their environment.

Through their topic of Changes, the Otters have been learning about the life cycles of Frogs and Chickens.  At the end of this term, 3 of the Otters will be make very big changes by moving to their new schools.  In anticipation of this they are all making personal passports so that they can share information about themselves with other people.   In cooking they are continuing to make “super summer salads!”  

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside!

Last week the Rabbits have been going under the Sea!  They have labelled under water creatures and made seafood salad, the children were able to put their cutting and shredding skills to good use!

Last week the Dragonflies were focusing on explanation texts.  In ICT they created a flowchart and carefully sequenced events and selected their own images to bring their flowchart to life.  The children made sandwiches in their cook lesson, the children have been working on their spreading and mixing skills. 

Following our trip to Hunstanton, last week Otters have designed and produced publicity posters in Literacy.  In Numeracy the children have been learning about volume and capacity, litres of water were used in these lessons.  In art the children created "Seascapes" using different paints and techniques.  

Key Stage 2 sports day 2015

The Rabbits have started their “Under the Sea” topic.   They have been exploring underwater animals and in Literacy they have started reading “The Snail and the Whale” by Julia Donaldson.

The Dragonflies have started their “Exploring Africa” topic.  In Science the children have been learning about forces and how things move, the Dragonflies enjoyed looking at activities that need you to push, pull or even both!  They have also made strawberry turnovers in cooking as they have been learning about 2D shapes in Numeracy.

It has been an action packed week for the Otters!  It was key stage 2 sports day, the Otters had an excellent morning taking part in a variety of different sporting activities, such as the hurdles, javelin and the long jump!  On Thursday, they joined year 5 to visit Hunstanton to look at the coastal erosion and to compare the coastal town to Oadby.  The children had a fantastic day and the weather was superb!

International week 2015

Brookside has started the Summer term with a bang!  This week was International week, each class looked at a different country and on Friday we had a special assembly where the children shared what they had learnt.  As part of the celebrations, Mrs Patel visited every class to give them a special French lesson.  It was a fantastic week and the children certainly enjoyed
themselves.

The Rabbits have been learning about Nepal, they have made a flag and also looked at the landscape of the country.  The Rabbits joined foundation as part of the sharing assembly and put on a great show!

The Dragonflies have been learning about Gambia.  The week started with them learning a dance using an African drum.  Brookside is fortunate enough to be twinned with a Gambian school so using a recipe sent from the children from that school, we made Mango jam!  The dragonflies made African masks and joined year 3 as part of the sharing assembly to show these masks as well as taking part in performing a song “Kye kye kule.”  The Dragonflies did an excellent job and really enjoyed taking part in the assembly.

The Otters have been looking at Italy.  They have looked closely at the Italian painter Leonardo De Vinci and his famous painting of the Mona Lisa.  The Otters made their own Mona Lisa painting.  They also looked at the unique city of Venice and designed their own bridge.  They presented their bridges and painting in the sharing assembly with year 5.

Beautiful butterflies and marvelous music!

The Rabbits have enjoyed their final week at looking at things grow by exploring the life cycle of the Butterfly!  They have made beautiful mobiles showing the amazing transformation from a caterpillar to glorious Butterflies!  But that’s not all, the children have been imagining what a Butterfly is feeling and thinking whilst going through this process.  

What an exciting week!

Speaking of Caterpillars…The Dragonflies and Otters spent the day together to complete activities based on the fantastic book “The very hungry caterpillar.”  The children loved the beautiful artwork and this inspired them to get creative!  They made collages, finger painting, Butterfly symmetry and salt dough characters.  As ever, the children worked brilliantly as a team and a lovely day was had by all! 

On Thursday we were fortunate enough to have musical visitors!  The Orchestra from Manor came to Brookside and played a range of different songs, some familiar and some a little bit older.  The children certainly enjoyed the performance as they are now feeling very musical!

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated items for the June fair, your support is greatly appreciated.