Please click on the button below to see the full term topic and documents about Pirates. Shiver me timbers!
Week 5 and 6
It has been a really busy couple of weeks for Ferrari Class, particularly for the Year 2 children with the preparation and taking of the Key Stage 1 SAT’s. Mrs Connell and I have been so impressed with all the children in Ferrari as they have adapted to the new timetable for the week. They have shown resilience and have worked hard to be the best they can be. Well done Ferrari Class!
When I asked the Year 2 children how they felt about taking the SAT’s, many said they LOVED IT! They enjoyed the quiet classroom and showing what they had learnt. Now the SAT’s are over they have enjoyed a well-earned treat! Whilst the Year 2’s have been taking their SAT’s, the Year 1 children have been working hard with Mrs Connell. They have been reading and writing poems, completing maths challenges as well as guided reading.
The fantastic Y2 children after completing their KS1 SATs.
As part of our topic, Land Ahoy! we have started learning about the heroine Grace Darling.
Grace Darling is remembered for the rescue she undertook with her father in the Farne Islands in 1838. The SS Forfarshire had broken up on rocks within sight of the lighthouse at Longstone, which was home to Grace and her parents.
Grace was determined to undertake a rescue immediately but was persuaded by her father to wait until morning and better light. Grace and her father then set out through the stormy sea and collected some of the survivors. They rowed back to Longstone Lighthouse where Grace and her mother looked after the survivors while her father returned to the shipwreck to collect the last of the survivors.
Grace soon found herself celebrated in print… even Queen Victoria wrote to her with a reward.
They started by looking at famous paintings from the Royal Greenwich Maritime Museum of the event and using their historical detective skills, tried to piece together what had happened. They then listened to the story of the event and looked on a map where this had happened.
Ferrari have also been thinking and acting like artists. They have learnt about Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, part of the series of paintings Thirty-Six views of Mount Fuji. Using chalk pastels, they have created their own great wave. They have selected colours and mixed the chalks with their fingers to get the desired colours. They have also made some origami collages of curling waves.
In English, they have continued with their poetry unit from ‘A First Book of the Sea’ by Nicola Davies. They have been thinking and acting like poets, writing poems with rhyming couplets, alliteration, repetition and similes! Here you can read some of these fantastic poems. One type of poem that all really enjoyed were sea shanties. The children made up dances and actions of their own!
In PE we have started with our preparations for Olympic Sports Day where we have been learning new athletic skills. On Friday 17th May, we had a visit from the Royal Artillery Rugby Team who provided the children with a wonderful opportunity to experience a Tag Rugby session. The children were split into two groups (KS1/Reception and KS2) where they learnt and practiced rugby skills and games targeted at their specific age groups. After a well-deserved drink, the children enjoyed an assembly focusing on teamwork led by Lt Colonel Steph Harris and supported by the rest of the squad.
We are so proud of you Ferrari!
Week 3 and 4
Land ahoy! Captain Cook has set sail in search of the lost continent of Australia!
Ferrari Class have been thinking and acting like historians and have been learning about the great British explorer Captain James Cook RN. They have made maps of his journey, explored his ship ‘The Endeavour’ and learnt what life on board for the sailors.
Captain James Cook was a famous seafarer, navigator and cartographer who was born on November 7th, 1728 in Marton, England. Through his life he became renowned for his pioneering voyages to unknown parts of the world, Captain Cook was the first person to accurately map the Pacific Ocean. In 1770, on his ship the HMB Endeavour, Cook charted New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. This area has since been credited as one of the world’s most dangerous areas to navigate.
The children used their knowledge of his life to complete chronology activities as well as making booklets about The Endeavour. The children were intrigued to learn about how Captain Cook died so we examined images of artwork from the Royal Greenwich maritime museum depicting his death to understand what had happened.
On Thursday, we had a special guest, Commander Blythe from the Royal Navy (Sophie’s Dad) who explained what it was like in the Navy today and compared that to being in the Navy in the time of Captain Cook. Everyone agreed that it was so much better to be in the navy today so it looks like we will have some new recruits!
In other areas of the curriculum, the children have been working hard on their maths skills. Year 1 children have nearly completed their unit on Multiplication and Division and the Year 2 children have successfully completed their unit on Fractions and have started on their new unit on Time. In English, the children completed their wonderful stories WANTED: The Perfect Pet and have started on a new text ‘A First Book of the Sea’ by Nicola Davies and illustrated by Emily Sutton.
A beautifully produced anthology of poems about the sea, where children can swim alongside dolphins and flying fish, pore over rockpools and sail from pole to pole and back, learning about everything from phosphorescence and plankton to manta rays and puffins. Emily Sutton’s exquisite watercolours capture the breathless excitement of a child’s first glimpse of the sea, the majesty of ancient trading ships and the sheer, staggering wonder of the humpback whale.
We have been celebrating the Month of the Military Child in April. So, in our Friday Celebration Assembly we shared our poem and beautiful dandelion artwork.
Ferrari Class received a letter from Captain Cook, asking them to make Treasure Chests to carry their discoveries from the new lands. The children enjoyed making the chests and adding their special items inside! As part of their continuous provision, the children have enjoyed making map puzzles, and playing with the small world pirate ship.
What a busy two weeks of learning!
Week 1 and 2
After a two week break, it has been wonderful to welcome the children back and hear about their holidays. On Monday afternoons from 14:20 – 14:35 Ferrari have ‘show and tell’ but this week the children had so much to share it took us a whole week to share all the news! Mrs Connell and I have been so impressed with the way that the children have returned; happy and ready to learn. We introduced the children to our new learning behaviour for this half of term, The Reflective Squirrel. As the children have been set new individual learning targets, it is great to see how they have been working hard to achieve these goals.
Here are some of our highlights.
In English we have started a new learning text, ‘WANTED: The Perfect Pet’ by Fiona Roberton.
Henry wants a dog more than anything in the world. More than a cowboy costume, even more than an all-expenses-paid trip to the moon. So, he puts an ad in the newspaper to find the perfect pet. Far away, a lonely duck who desperately wants a friend reads the ad. He has the clever idea to disguise himself as a dog and apply for the job of Henry’s best friend. But his cover is quickly blown when he isn’t very good at catching balls and his floppy ears and tail fall off. Henry is disappointed for a moment, until he thinks of all the amazing things this duck CAN do, and realizes he’s found the perfect pet after all.
The children have really enjoyed the text as it linked with our science topic last term on animals and pets. The story is full of humour and great illustrations which have really appealed to everyone! In the first week we listened and learnt about the text, including the vocabulary, story structure and layout. The children practiced writing descriptions of characters and settings as well as learning how to use commas in lists for the Year 2 children. The children also learnt how to create a story map of this story. Week 2 has been focusing on the task of writing their own version of the story. This book is written in chapters so we have been thinking and learning how to be authors and writing chapters too!
We have launched our new topic for this half of term ‘Land Ahoy’
Yo ho, yo ho, it’s a sailor’s life for me. Get your sea legs on, it’s time to sail the salty seas. Navigate, investigate and explore the world, just like Captain Cook. Make a boat, sink a ship, fly a pirate flag. Speak like a pirate, write like a poet, then weigh and measure a pirate’s booty. How do rescues happen at sea? Find out about brave volunteers and young Miss Darling, rowing her boat across stormy seas. Sing a sea shanty whilst cleaning the poop deck, then search the school grounds for Captain Longbeard’s hidden treasure. There’s land ahead. Let’s get this ship to port!
The children started by thinking and acting like geographers and looked at the seas and oceans of the world and around the UK. They have created their own Treasure Island maps with X marks the spot! They have used symbols and created a key for their maps. We have started to learn about Captain Cook and why he was a significant person in our history. The children had to think and act like historians when they were given two portraits of Captain Cook and make observations about what they could see in the paintings and what this told us about why he was significant. We are finding out information about his early life in the UK and plotting this on a map. Did you know he came from Yorkshire and as a young man, learnt to sail coal ships from Whitby to London? We are now listening and learning about how this famous Royal Navy Captain discovered Australia.
The children in Ferrari are very creative and as part of the launch activities, made their own ‘Ship in the bottle’ collage. The collages were fantastic and all the children enjoyed sharing their artwork in our celebration assembly.
In our outside area the children have enjoyed role playing pirates! They have made ship cabins and sailed the oceans!
Finally, in maths the children have continued to rise to the early morning maths challenges with everyone learning the days of the weeks, Year 1’s have been practicing their number bonds to 10 and the Year 2’s, fractions of amounts including problem solving. In our White Rose Maths sessions, Year 1 children have successfully completed the Mass and Capacity unit and really enjoyed the practical elements of this topic. The Year 2 children have started their Fractions unit, where they have focused on a half, quarter, third and a whole. They have used their problem-solving skills to work out problems connected to this area of maths.
It has been a great start to the term. Well done Ferrari!