Blog archive
Wow! This half term, Marley group have been super busy in and out of school!
First of all we would like to welcome Mrs McDonald to the Marley family.
In school we have been busy little elves, making punch and Christmas cards for the Christmas fair; we handmade the Christmas cards painting with our fingers. Billy had a ball painting his whole hand green, although we think Miss Sands had more fun adding the legs and little hats to the elves.
Mica has done a fantastic job making up three lots of fruit punch, which taste delicious… if we do say so ourselves!!
Van Zant, have been reading the book 'Stone Cold' by Robert Swindells. This has been a fantastic book and one which the pupils have really engaged in. We have looked at the way characters are portrayed, in particular, Shelter and Link, two of the main characters.
We have had a focus on grammar and looked at the use of paragraphs.
Pupils have been writing in an emotive and non-emotive style and have looked at how language can have an effect on the reader.
Phew! - it's been a very busy half term here in Strummer!
We've loved doing our Pirates topic - we've worked together to make a pirate frieze for the classroom wall; we’ve made pirate ships by making and adapting a frame and using real tools like glue guns and a craft knife; we've made hats, learned how to talk like a pirate, and made a little film as part of our Arts Award.
As well as that, we've studied Treasure Island and learned about Robert Louis Stevenson - a very interesting man.
This term Presley group have been developing our culinary skills- we have made several delicious meals, and for parents and carers of the group who have the chance to sample some of our fayre ,I'm sure you'll agree that we have some promising future chefs in our group. We have also had the chance to visit Medlock Centre and complete work on Healthy living and Eating as part of our PE sessions.
Josh has been using his Art work to improve self-esteem. He has made sculptures and models- we all agree they are amazing.
This term Jackson class have been learning all about Pirates. They have learnt all sorts of new facts about Pirates and have even had a go at talking like one!
We made a Pirate Ship which we have named ‘The Friendship’. The ship is now going to be used for children to play social games in and they can only enter the ship with a friend. The children have responded to this very well and have enjoyed playing lots of different games with their friends in class.
What a busy half term we have had!
In November we welcomed Mea to Lennon class.
In Topic we have been learning all about Pirates and The Golden Age of Piracy. We know all the jobs on board ship, and how the crew lived. We have been creative making Pirate Patches, Treasure Chests and Pirate Telescopes.
In Literacy Dylan and Josh have been writing Pirate stories.
For our Arts/ Drama Discovery Award we have been working with Olivia on the Christmas Monster and some children are to visit the Contact Theatre for a live performance of ‘The Siege of Christmas’.
This term the Bowie class has been researching the plight of the refugees housed at Calais, France. We have been using PC software to turn images of children in the Calais Jungle into pieces of art, as well as recreating these images with the pupils in our class and have been discussing how we spend Christmas compared to others. This has also linked to our Literacy project this term based on the book ‘Refugee Boy’ by Benjamin Zephaniah.
This term the Bowie class has been reading “Danny the Champion of the World” by Roald Dahl.
Following events in the book, our pupils were challenged with making their own kites.
This involved designing and building our own kites using appropriate materials, and learning new techniques to construct working 3D models.
The Van Zant class attended an exhibition at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. The title of the exhibition was ‘Birth’. The idea of the exhibition was to provoke debate on a global scale and question one of the key issues of our time: the vast inequality in healthcare across the world.
The whole exhibition covered childbirth from seven different countries: China, India, Syria, Kenya, UK, USA and Brazil. How could childbirth be so different in each of these countries?
Welcome to Lennon Class
It was so nice to see all the boys back after the long Summer break. Mrs Newton, Miss Walker and Miss Bebbington are in Lennon class with Dylan, Theo, Thane, Teejay, Josh, and we also welcome Kian who joined us in September.
This half term, in Topic we have been developing our map skills and learning about directional language to guide each other around the school grounds. We made our own maps and studied a 3D model of school. We also directed each other to landmarks around the outside of school.
This year we have welcomed Daniel, Connor, Kyle and Luke in to our school and class. We have enjoyed getting to know each other and creating portraits of each other.
We have created a continuous provision in the classroom to support children’s learning using more hands on practical activities. All children have enjoyed these activities - take a look at our pictures!
This term, Marley have been settling back into school life. Our class name has been based on Bob Marley, who we will study as part of our inspirational people topic. During topic this term, we have spent some time completing work on Roald Dahl and celebrated the work he has created. We have also spent some time creating a project on Homelessness in recognition of World Homeless Day. The class worked really hard on this and produced some lovely pieces of work.
We've had a very busy half term in Strummer group...
Our topic, which was History based, was all about the 1970's (yes, adults, that's History now !).
We have learned all about life in the 1970's including who was the Prime Minister, what children played with, and what were popular meals.
Our groups this year are named after 20th century popular musicians. Our group’s name is Joe Strummer, the main songwriter from The Clash, so we have also looked at punk fashions and listened to the music of The Clash - J and W even learned how to pogo!
We have been really busy again - but this time - in the outdoors!
We have been out hiking - to Castleshaw and to Mount Famine.
This term Warhol have been having some social time together and making the most of the sunshine. We took a walk together to the ice cream shop up the road from school (remembering to cross the roads safely!) We have also been outside in the MUGA area and on the bike track, playing football and using school bikes.
As a sports reward trip with Active Tameside, they took us all to ‘Go Karting’ in Bredbury. The children really enjoyed the experience, learnt new skills and had lots of fun.
Emin and Banksy groups have been busy hiding themselves in different locations around Tameside, over the last term. This has formed part of our topic ‘Wheres Wally?’
We decided to do a spin on this and call ourselves ‘Where’s Emin/Banksy?’. We have included a picture to show how difficult we made it. We are hoping to make a book out of this and sell it as part of a competition to raise money for ‘Reuben’s Retreat’ which will be announced at our Summer Fair.
Watch this space!!!!
This term we have been concentrating on comparing texts across two books.
We are comparing our book from last term which was ‘Skellig’ by David Almond to our book this term which is ‘Stig of the Dump’ by Clive King. Pupils have enjoyed reading ‘Stig of the Dump’ and finding out all about the Stone Age. They have made many comparisons with the two main characters from each of the books and found lots of similarities.
This term the Mondrian group have been following Wally around Europe. The countries we have studied are: France, Italy, Germany and Spain. The children have enjoyed finding out about the food from the different countries and have made French Toast, Pizza and German fries.
So far this term, DaVinci class have been spending a lot of time looking at their future in education. For many of our pupils, White Bridge College is the next step on their educational path.
Pupils were invited on a bespoke tour around White Bridge and were greeted with a warm welcome. Our pupils were able to meet some of the staff, explore on-site facilities and look at the curriculum and other opportunities that may become available for them come September.
Bonjour!!
Where in the world is Wally? In Stella class we have been learning about Europe and in particular France. The class have been researching facts about France and we have also been learning a few French phrases.
Warhol group have been busy during this term. We have been very happy to have a new teacher called Mrs Frankish joining our team.
In Topic we have been learning about healthy eating and healthy life styles. We made our own recipe for our own individual smoothies. We took a trip to Tesco in Stockport to buy the fruit. Before we left school, we collected the correct amount of money we would need for the correct amount of ingredients we would need for our smoothies.
Hello again everybody!
Well, it's been another busy term here in The JP's ...
We said 'Goodbye' to Miss Rebecca Woodhead and wished her well in her new job and in her place we have welcomed Ms Sarah Butler.
Before half term we learned all about hearts ...
We studied 'Pig Heart Boy' by Malorie Blackman. It's an awesome (says Trevor) and thought provoking novel about a boy called Cameron, who becomes the first person to have 'xenotransplantation' ..just ask any of our group for an explanation!!!! We really recommend this book.
Emin have been reading the book ‘Skellig’ this term. We have been watching the film as well as reading the book and both of them have been really exciting!.
Pupils have been asked to predict the ending, so we must wait to see who is right!
We have been looking at the biodiversity of the school grounds.
We carried out an investigation to see how diverse our school is.
First we threw two hoops down in different places at random on the grass to select our research areas. Then we looked closely inside each hoop and counted all the different plants. We found only four different types of plant and this was the same in both areas.
From this we discovered that our school has a LOW BIODIVERSITY.
Spring is in the air and Stella class have been learning all about what plants need to grow for our new topic. They have spent time in the garden planting seeds and painting some beautiful daffodil pictures for our new class display.
We learnt all about the Easter Story and we made some cards and had a fantastic Easter Egg Hunt.
For PSHE lessons, as well as our regular ‘Talkabout’ lessons, we have been learning about what makes a good friend. Some children have earned special Friendship Awards and were presented with special certificates in Assembly.
It's been a very busy term. I am very proud of my group and what they have achieved. We have been doing work about the Holocaust, building on what they have done over the past two years.
This year we decided to do something different and this resulted in a large scale hollow candle with buttons attached to it. We decided to create a remembrance sculpture, and the project extended to give all the special schools in Tameside a chance to contribute to it.
Warhol group have been busy during the first autumn term. We have been learning about a famous artist called Andy Warhol. We are continuing to work really hard in Art. We will all complete a ‘Discover Arts Award’ as part of our topic work based on Andy Warhol.
In Literacy we are studying ‘The Jungle Book’ as part of our classic non-fiction theme. In Numeracy we are learning about place value with six digit numbers and using these six digit numbers in mental and written addition.
In Emin we have been reading ‘Oranges in No Man's Land’ by Elizabeth Laird. The class have enjoyed this book as we made some links with the situation in Syria. We have followed on the news what has been happening with the people fleeing the crisis in Syria.
As many of you may know Picasso class have a serious love for food, so we decided to host an afternoon tea party for some of our lovely members of staff. We went all out and created some teapot invitations and patiently waited for the RSVPs to come back. When we had our numbers confirmed, we were able to begin the planning of the event!
We decided to be very posh and make our own cake stands, so off to the charity shop we went to source plates and glasses... and of course glue!!
Phew! Nearly Christmas!!
It seems a long time since The Jackson Pollock group became Year 7's in September.
This half term, we have been really busy ... as usual.
We have learned all about the life of King James1 - did you know he knighted the lovely meat he ate at Hoghton Tower in 1617 (the Tudor house we visited) - and that's why we call it SIRloin???
Martin and Mrs.Southall cooked us some and we tasted it, both medium rare and well done!!
