Our blogs
Wear green for Mental Health Awareness!
Date: 17th May 2024 @ 1:53pm
This week in school it was Mental Health Awareness Week. We discussed what mental health was and how we can keep our feelings and emotions in check by doing lots of different things. In class we discussed what we would do to feel good - keep active, do yoga, learn a new skill, spend time with our friends and family, eat something nice and do some colouring or crafts. On Friday we came to school wearing something green to finish off the week and voted for an activity that we wanted to do in the morning. Our class voted for a craft activity where we made some plants using paper, straws and masking tape.
Date: 17th May 2024 @ 1:47pm
In science this week we have been learning about the different parts of a tree. We used some non-fiction text to support our learning and went outside into the playground to look at some of the trees. We used our observational skills to sketch some trees and label the different parts of the tree using the correct vocabulary - roots, trunk, bark, branches, leaves and crown.
Next time you are walking outside or going to the park, why not have a look at some of the different trees and see if you can recognise the parts...
Date: 17th May 2024 @ 8:02am
What a week filled with transformation. Our caterpillars are in the midst of their transformation and have become chrysalises! Hopefully next week, there will be an even greater transformation...check in next week. Have a look at the pictures to see the changes so far.
Sunflower update and garden fun!
Date: 16th May 2024 @ 6:26pm
The children have worked hard caring for their sunflower and have enjoyed watching the stem and the shoot appear. They have also had a wonderful time exploring the garden with Stuart the gardener planting peas and smelling the herbs!
Date: 12th May 2024 @ 5:38pm
In science last week we were learning about the different parts of a plant and what their function was. We read some information about each part and then took our learning outside. We found some natural materials on the adventure playground. We used these materials to create some plant artwork with a partner. We told our partners the different parts of a plant. It was lots of fun!
Learning about the Lifecycle of a Sunflower!
Date: 12th May 2024 @ 5:34pm
In English reading and writing we have started our non-fiction unit. We started by learning about the lifecycle of a sunflower and learning new vocabulary linked to the different stages. We put together some actions to go alongside the words and pictures for each word - seed, seedling, shoot, budding, fully grown plant and withering plant. We performed the lifestyle using the words and actions with a partner. Next week we will start learning facts about each stage in our reading sessions and begin to write our factfile.
Date: 12th May 2024 @ 9:27am
This week we have been very busy in year 1!
In Maths, we have been learning about halving and doubling numbers up to 20! We have learned that doubling means adding the same number to find what they are equal to and that halving means sharing between two. We have enjoyed using the Numicon and the ten frames to explore doubling and halving. We have also completed challenges were we have to spot the mistakes where we have found quantities have not been shared or doubled equally. We have also discovered that we can count the equal amounts of doubles by counting in 2s!
Goodbye Painted Lady Butterflies!
Date: 10th May 2024 @ 2:54pm
Over the last 3 weeks in Reception, we have been carefully watching our tiny black caterpillars get bigger and bigger! Last week they each made a cocoon. They hung at the top of their pot and we could see them wiggling. This week, each cocoon opened up and beautiful painted lady butterflies flew out!
They each had 2 wings that were white, orange and black. They had long antennae on their head and six legs on their bodies. They were very quiet friends to have in our classroom! They liked to fly around in their new home. We fed the butterflies sugary water called nectar.
Why don't you have a look when you are outside this weekend and see if you can spot any of our butterflies having an adventure near you?
Date: 10th May 2024 @ 11:32am
As part of our Friday challenges, the children went on a minibeast hunt in our school garden. The children used a photo checklist to encourage them to record the minibeasts they found during the minibeast hunt. The children did a great job at finding the different minibeasts, including a woodlouse, worm, snail, ladybirds and more! They also found a beattle which was not on our checklist - well spotted Nursery!
Date: 8th May 2024 @ 4:47pm
We spent the day exploring how Castleton is different from Clayton. We conducted a traffic survey and completed a field sketch of Castleton! Have a look at the attached pictures.
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 2:37pm
Year 3 have had another busy week!
We have begun to plan our disaster stories, using inspiration from 'Escape from Pompeii.' Children were able to use their imagination to create their own characters, settings and disasters - we can't wait to finally begin writing it next week!
In maths, we have continued to learn about fractions. This week, we have focused on non-unit fractions of amount. We made connections to our previous learning on unit fractions, and were able to use both concrete and pictorial representations to support us.
One of our favourite lessons of the week, was history. This time, we explored how the Roman's built their empire. We used role play to re-enact the Romans taking over other countries, so that they were strong enough to invade Britain - we then researched all the benefits Britain had to offer for the Romans. Learning all about the Romans has been a highlight of our Connected Curriculum topics so far, and we are all very excited to learn even more.
Date: 6th May 2024 @ 10:51am
In science this week we have been learning about the different types of flowers including wild flowers and garden flowers. We went out into our school garden to search and collect wild flowers and we also looked closely at some garden flowers. We were able to name the flowers using identification charts, discuss the difference between wild and garden plants and share the different places wild and garden plants will grow. We really enjoyed looking closely at the flowers especially as the sun was shining for us!
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Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 4:44pm
Nursery had so much fun in their P.E lesson with Zahra from City in the Community. They listened so well and followed Zahara's instructions. They loved pretending to be 'cheeky birds' in the farm game. Well done Nursery!
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 3:34pm
This week in Reception, we have been reading and writing our very own poems!
A poem has rhyming words! Why not have a practise at home of making up some rhyming words of your own?
Try together to carry on the rhyming strings, it doesn't matter if some of your words dont make sense:
Cat, bat, dat...
Jug, mug, hug....
Junk, dunk, bunk...
It is very fun to make rhymes, especially the silly ones!
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 3:33pm
We have been busy in computing tinkering with stop motion animation. We are going to be planning our own short film to make in the next few weeks so we had a go at making a simple one first with objects from around the classroom. The class worked beautifully well together, making sure that each photo was taken after just a small change.
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 1:00pm
This week in Science we went on a vertebrate hunt in school in order to create a classification key. We found lots of millipedes, centipedes and worms. We were also lucky enough to see the premier league trophy! Have a look at the attached pictures.
Date: 3rd May 2024 @ 7:26am
As part of our science learning this half term, which is about living things and their habitats, we have had some Caterpillars arrive in each year 4 class. Watch closely over the next couple of weeks to see their glorious transformation!
Date: 2nd May 2024 @ 3:50pm
Reception have finished our unit on minibeasts so we took our CC time to start learning about our new focus topic: gardening! We learned about the stages of plant growth and what a plant needs to grow to be healthy. To top it all off, we planted some cress seeds to grow ourselves! The planters will be placed in the sun and watered twice a week. Hopefully we have some cress soon!
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 8:28pm
Today Mrs Ganner's Class explored the garden and worked with our resident gardener, Stuart. He knows lots of things about gardening and he's going to teach us lots of interesting things.
We were amazed by how many flowers had bloomed in our school garden since the last time we visited. There were so many different shapes and sizes and colours to look at.
Stuart showed us how to sow a line of peas. We're going to come back in two weeks to see how much they have grown. Before the end of term we'll be eating our own peas!
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 8:16pm
This morning, one of our Friday Challenges was to look at and then talk about the progress our sunflowers have made. We planted them nearly two weeks ago and we are beginning to see some progress. We counted only four seedlings but we think the others are growing roots. We can't see the roots because they are under the soil. The seed coat opens up and the roots grow down then the shoot grows up.
Here are a few photos of our challenge:
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 3:07pm
We launched our CC topic this week; Why is weather so wonderful?
We shared what we have learnt about the weather so far and posed questions about what we would like to learn during our topic. We looked in the rainbow bag and found items related to the weather. We discussed and shared what they are used for and what type of weather they relate to.
Date: 26th Apr 2024 @ 7:26am
For our Art this week, we analysed pictures of Castleton and identified features of the landscape and how it is different
from Clayton. We then developed our skills in cutting and attaching in order to create balanced freestanding sculptures.
We developed awareness of composition within a 3D context and thought about pattern to create our Castleton Composition. Have a look at the attached pictures of our fantastic models :)
Date: 25th Apr 2024 @ 8:31pm
To finish the end of an amazing unit learning about planting, we created flowers using our own choice of media. we snipped, tore, coloured, glued and we are very proud of what we made.
Just look at how stunning our sunflowers are 🤩
😃 A fun filled return to school 🏫
Date: 25th Apr 2024 @ 8:28pm
Our return to school has involved lots of exciting learning experiences. We've been planting, looking after the babies, visiting our new florists, having a BBQ grill and picnic, making flower gardens and creating patterns. Playing outside in is such a lot fun. We love to play together and we don't mind it when it rains (we know the plants need a drink) but we love playing in the sunshine the most ☀️
4AK Art- Helen Musselwhite’s paper cutting.
Date: 23rd Apr 2024 @ 1:31pm
For our Art this week, we analysed pictures of Castleton and identified features of the landscape and how it is different
from Clayton. We then developed our skills in cutting and attaching in order to create balanced freestanding sculptures.
we developed awareness of composition within a 3D context and thought about pattern to create our Castleton Composition. Have a look at the attached pictures of our fantastic models.
