Year six have been learning about the Mayan civilisation this term. We found out where the Mayans lived and how their civilisation was discovered. We enjoyed finding out how they used masks in their culture. We designed our masks after looking at different types. We then made our masks out of clay, which we air dried and then painted.
At the beginning of this term, something very exciting happened…. we found a dragon’s egg in our outdoor play area! We were worried that a dragon may have dropped it when flying past the school, so we decided to take care of it. Luckily, we had been learning all about which materials help to keep things warm, so we made a nest for the egg out of twigs and wrapped it in tin foil to incubate it. A couple of weeks later, the egg hatched! It hatched at around the same time as the chicks we have in school. We learned all about how to look after these baby animals, and how gentle we need to be with them. We now take the baby dragon for walks every day so that it can get lots of exercise, and wrap him up to keep him warm when he sleeps. We wonder how big he will grow!
This term, year 3 have been learning about Ancient Egypt. We were lucky enough to go on a school trip to Layer Marney in Colchester where we all took part in four different activities in order to learn more about the Egyptians. The first activity involved looking at different artefacts from this period of history. One of the oldest artefacts was 4000 years old! We looked at the fans they would have used, some of the jewellery and discussed how it was made from lapis lazuli and we talked about the significance of crocodiles in Egypt. The second activity gave us all a chance to make our own Rosetta Stone wheels as we looked at Egyptian hieroglyphics. We used the wheel to solve some Egyptian code as well as having a go at writing our names. After that, we discussed Egyptian housing and what the Egyptians would have eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner. We were even given the opportunity to try some of the foods they would have enjoyed, such as radishes, spring onions and flat breads. Our final activity of the day was all about the importance of masks. We learned that a person’s body was preserved during the process of mummification. This meant that the soul would have somewhere to return to after death. A death mask was created so that the soul would recognise its body, and return to it safely. Death masks were also believed to help to guard a dead person from evil spirits in the afterlife. The death masks we looked at and had a go at making were the Pharoah, Anubis, Ammit and Bastet. Once our death masks were made, we were then able to partake in our own funeral procession.
It was an amazing day out and we all learned lots about Ancient Egypt!
This term our topic has been ‘Out of the World’, which has involved looking at space and fairgrounds. Our science lessons have involved exploring the solar system and the class texts in English have also linked to this. In addition to this, we have looked at fairgrounds. We have planned, designed and built our own fairground rides and have really enjoyed doing this. This term we have also had brass lessons; this involved playing the trombone, trumpet and cornet. As classes we also performed a hip-hop dance with Leon and have also been on a road safety walk.
Nursery children enjoyed making ‘rainbow slime’. They worked in pairs to make yellow, pink, green, blue and purple slime. The children noticed the changes in the mixture as they added different ingredients to it. They mixed the slime until it was malleable and no longer sticking to their fingers. The children had a go at stretching the slime as far as they could across the table. They used words such as ‘slimy’, ‘slippery’ and ‘cold’ when asked how the slime felt.
Year 2 visited Braintree Museum to take part in a Victorian day. We dressed up in Victorian costumes. Many boys were 'chimney sweeps' and many girls were Victorian maids. During the visit, we became detectives and explored Victorian artefacts. We also took part in a scary Victorian lesson. In the lesson we chanted times tables, practised our handwriting on slate boards and the teacher was very, very strict.
The teacher told us all about Victorian punishments like the back straightener, the cane and dunces hat.
We all got the chance to look around the Museum and play Victorian games in the afternoon.
Year 1 took part in an exciting 3D art project where we created a castle and knights themed wall display. Many parents came in to help us. First, we made pebbles or flat plates with newspaper, then we covered our shapes with newsprint and finally we used coloured tissue & metallic papers to add to colour to our artwork. Art Solutions then put all our artwork together on an amazing display in the lower school hall. We are very proud of our work.
The whole school came together on Friday to commemorate 100 years since the end of the first world war. We all gathered in the KS1 playground with some special guests from the British Legion and Father Tim. Year three and the dance club showed us some dances they had been working on. Year four sang a melody of war time songs. Some children read out some poems and Oaks class sang a song one of the children had written for their homework. The bugler sounded the last post and we stood for two minutes silence. The children from each class then placed a reef on the stage underneath the thank you sign (which had been decorated with poppies the children had made in their classes). The children behaved impeccably and it was a very moving service.
This term our topic has been the Vikings.
We have studied their way of life and looked at the human and physical geography of the Scandinavian countries they came from.
Year 5 have also been drawing Viking faces and artefacts, which we created as a model and clay face.
We had a Viking celebration to our parents, showing our work and the Viking bread we made.
The music celebration to our parents showed off our progress in performing a brass instrument.
Farm day - Gemma's Farm visited us in the summer term; there were a number of different farmyard animals to see and there was even a pink chicken! We were able to hold and groom some of them animals and although it was very hot, it was lots of fun.
A Royal Picnic - Year 1 celebrated the Royal wedding in style.
We all sat together on the field in a great big circle and had a picnic together. We had sausage rolls, salad, crisps and a cake. It was lots of fun; we really enjoyed our celebrations!
Tennis Festival - We took part in a Year 1 tennis festival. We were able to practise a number of different skills. These included: accuracy, balance, speed, agility and hand-eye co-ordination. It was lots of fun and we learnt many new games, led by our super Year 5 helpers!
Oaks class have made a video to show all the work they have completed in the summer term.
The Scrapstore Playpod was officially opened yesterday (Tuesday 3rd July). Here are some children playing with the Playpod contents.
Healthy Eating Week 2018
From Monday the 11th of June to Friday the 15th of June it was Healthy Eating week.
As the chosen ambassadors, we were set to create a PowerPoint. We made it on our own, only referring for help if we really needed it.
The group presented it for an assembly on the 11th (Monday); on Wednesday (13th of June) we had some ideas of fruit and vegetables we wanted the school to try, this included: mango, kiwi, apricots, radishes, papaya and sugar snap peas.
Ms Clements brought in the fruit and veg; Mia brought in some low fat humus and yogurt.
The children really enjoyed tasting the new foods and hopefully this will inspire them to eat more healthily at home and out of school.
Year 6 had a brilliant day at the food and farming day at Writtle College, Chelmsford yesterday (6th June). They were able to taste different foods including venison and sweet peppers; find out where some of their food comes from; taste some edible flowers and herbs; interact with different animals including alpacas and discover which machines the farmers now use to help them with harvesting their crops.
On Monday 4th June 2018 the staff at John Bunyan had some training - can you guess what in?
This week has been a very busy week of football starting off against St Francis on Monday where the team won 6-2. On Wednesday we took two teams to Lyons Hall ,one game being a league game where we lost 5-1 and the other game being a friendly which we won 6-0.
Finally on Thursday 10 girls from year 5/6 went to a football tournament at Lyons Hall, drawing two and losing two games.
Well done to all the children who participated in the matches showing great resilience and determination!
Pines, and three lovely Maples, experienced a lovely trip to the Discovery Centre on Monday 21st May 2018. We completed great activities which included - environmental art, using the natural environment. The children were able to explore different ways to use the world around us to make pictures, create homes and match colours. We had a fantastic time and the weather was lovely too.
Year four had a great time when the chocolatier came to visit them.
Sports Relief and World Book Day
Year 2 all looked fantastic in their costumes for world book day and sports relief! There was a great effort made by everyone. Throughout the day the classes moved around three exciting activities related to books:
· The Journey: Everyone wrote their own magical story ending for the book.
· ‘A bag full of worries’. The children made their own ‘worry bags’ and discussed how to make our worries smaller.
· ‘Good Friends’ –it was discussed what made a good friend and helped us to keep friendships.
Year 2's Victorian Trip to Braintree Museum
All of year 2 had a brilliant time at Braintree Victorian Museum. We all got dressed up as Victorians and, looked amazing in our costumes, we headed off to town to find the museum. When we arrived, we were told that we'd have 3 special activities to enjoy. Our first activity was experiencing a real Victorian with a very strict Victorian teacher. Every time we spoke to her we had to stand up and say Ma'am at the end. We had to do lessons just like the Victorian children would have had to do which was really fun. We agreed that we much prefer school now though. Our next activity was finding out about different Victorian artefacts. It was really exciting because the artefacts were real and came from over 100 years ago! We got to touch them and try to work out what they were and what they were used for. The lady told us about some of them. The strangest one was a Victorian mouse trap. We even played a Victorian game that the children would have played. After that we had lunch altogether, our packed lunches were delicious! For our final activity we got to go into the museum rooms, with the glass cabinets containing more artefacts and facts about how they would have been used. We dug in some sand to find some more artefacts and we got to find out what Victorian Braintree was like. We all had a brilliant time and were a credit to our school. Our teachers were very proud of us.
Year 2 Meet the Chicks.
Over the last week we have been watching the chicks tap, tap, tap using their shell tooth to escape their egg shell. Once the chicks were out, they stayed in the incubator until they were dry and fluffy. We were very lucky and got to meet our school chicks. We had to make sure we were really quiet so we didn't scare them and if we wanted to, we got to hold one. They were so cute and we were very careful with them. What an Easter feeling! ??
Spring Chicks
We had some special visitors! We got to hold our chicks! We had to be very quiet so we didn't scare them, then we took it in turns to hold them. They were really fluffy and cute! It has been very exciting watching them hatch from their eggs, and they have already grown so much. It is really interesting to see their feathers changing.
Special Symbols
In Religious Education this half term we have been looking at symbols from different religions and what they mean. We started by looking at what animals we resemble and whether that represents the ‘outer me’ or the ‘inner me’. There was lots of great ideas like; an elephant because they are strong and an owl because owls are wise. After that we discussed what a symbol is and what special things might be found in a Christian home. One of the symbols was a cross. We have also been learning about Buddhism and discussed what Buddhists ‘see’ in the Buddha image and why is it so special to them. We discovered that the symbols that are special for Buddhists is the wheel of life and a beautiful white flower. We all made this beautiful flower. We have had lots of fun looking at all these different symbols!
Medieval Man
We were visited by Peter the peddler, a medieval man who bought with him a variety of ancient objects for us to explore. We looked at ancient dress, weapons and everyday objects that we might find in a castle. It was very exciting being able to dress up as peasants, knights, princesses, kings and queens. We practised pulling wool to make thread, playing medieval instruments, writing with a quill and ink and playing with games and toys that children in Castles would have played with. We even got to make our very own medieval silver penny to take home as a reminder of our time with Peter the peddler.
