Fabulous learning this week!

On the week we marked Remembrance Day, lots of fantastic learning took place across the school.

In Nursery, as part of their Expressive Arts and Design, the Friendly Frogs have been exploring different materials to create an autumn collage. This week, our youngest pupils have been super busy creating some amazing story maps. They read the story “Leaf Man”, then worked together using their fine motor skills to record what happens in the story. They took turns to share their ideas and to remember all the animals Leaf Man saw on his journey. On Wednesday, the children enjoyed making autumn jelly ready for their sensory tray; they also made a big Leaf Man and worked collaboratively deciding what autumn materials to use for each part of Leaf man’s body.

In Reception, on Thursday morning, the children were busy making a story map of ‘The Little Red Hen’- their current text of study. The children carefully cut out the pictures from the story and put them in the correct order. In Maths, Reception have been practising their number recognition to 6 and matching numerals to amounts using dice. The children rolled their dice, counted the dots (if they needed to!) and then marked off the correct number on their sheet- super Maths work! On Tuesday, Reception had a great time in the ring at the original Mitchell’s auction. The children were led through a real auction bidding experience by two generations with a third generation watching on! They bid for Rosie the hen, just as the farmers bid for their animals. The bidding went very fast and Hunter hit the gavel down when they hit ten pounds! The children also saw the Mitchell statue and learnt about Robson Mitchell starting the auctions in Cockermouth on the Sainsbury's site.

In Key Stage 1, In Maths, Year 1 have been looking at non-standard units of measure. To start with they estimated the height of objects. Next, they used cubes to check their estimations before using the vocabulary 'taller' and 'shorter' to compare the different objects. On Friday, the children enjoyed their cricket session as part of their topic of study in PE. They had the opportunity to reinforce some of the skills they had previously learned then used these skills to aim at wickets. In preparation for their Design Technology project, Year 1 completed their final design of their sock puppet. They labelled their design with what objects they would use for each feature of their sock puppet. Year 1 have also enjoyed completing their challenges and this week, all of their Learning Ladybird challenges link to their Science topic ‘Seasonal Changes’.

Meanwhile, in Year 2, the children have been enjoying their quick-fire times table challenges as part of their Maths lessons. Column addition with carried numbers has been a success too this week in Year 2! They children are now looking forward to doing column subtraction and column subtraction with borrowing next week. The children are very proud of the practising they have been doing at home. In PE, Year 2 showcased wonderful gymnastic work by practising travelling, balancing and pivoting to change direction. As well as this, on Wednesday, Year 2 enjoyed another visit to Clip and Climb as part of their PE Curriculum.

In Key Stage 2, as part of their current Art topic of study, Year 3 have begun to create their Stone Age animal collages inspired by Megan Coyle. The children thought carefully about what colours to use from magazines. In Geography, the children have been learning about famous volcanoes. They have learnt about the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and the Equator. The children have been working in pairs this week, to use their map reading skills to locate different countries all over the world which have famous volcanoes. They have then been marking these countries on their own blank map. Great map work Year 3! On Tuesday, as part of their 'Gymnastic' study in PE, the children took ownership of their class warm up. They became the ‘gym instructor’ and had to think of an action for the other children to follow. They then started by recapping the ‘skydiver’ pose from last week and the ‘bridge’ position before progressing on to balancing. The children began by creating their own individual balances. They then worked with a partner to create counter balances. In English, the children have begun to look at our new text, ‘Pebble in my Pocket’, which links perfectly with their Science and Geography topic this half term. The children worked in groups to order the first half of the story. The children all had the opportunity to read aloud in class from the text. Each group was able to order and discuss the first half of the book showing excellent understanding. This week, Year 3 started the week with an Active Maths lesson on 'Time'. The children worked collaboratively to place numbers as though they were on a clock. They focused on subject specific vocabulary such as O’clock, quarter past, half past and quarter to.

In Year 4, they too started the week with an Active Maths session on 'Time'. The children were matching the 12-hour clock digital times to the 24-hour clock digital times; they also talked about am and pm on the 12-hour clock. Meanwhile, in Computing, Year 4 have been exploring websites and developing their understanding of how networked devices make up the internet. Even though Year 4 didn’t make it to Cockermouth School for the coaching session, due to it being cancelled with the bad weather, the children still enjoyed a hockey coaching session with a specialist coach on Thursday. 'Hockey' is the children's current topic of study in PE. As part of PSHE, the children began Friday morning with a children’s guided gratitude meditation session. Afterwards, the children talked in groups about what they are grateful for, then shared their thoughts with the whole class.

All of Year 5 enjoyed a virtual assembly, from Tullie House, about The Anglo- Saxons (their current topic of study in History) this week. In Art, the children enjoyed doing their own surrealist painting on Friday afternoon. They have got some very good results and the children are thoroughly enjoying their current Artistic topic. On Wednesday, we had a fantastic day on our school field for our first X Country Event. Incredibly, 92 children from Years 4, 5 and 6 ran the course and the sun was shining on the finish line for everyone!

In Year 6, a fantastic Active Maths session was held on Thursday with the children racing (literally!) to solve tricky addition and subtraction calculations involving fractions. Wonderful teamwork and perseverance shown by all! As well as this, Year 6 have been working together to consolidate their learning about 3D shape. On Friday afternoon Years 5 and 6 had a visit from Cumbria Police where the children learned all about anti-social behaviour and the consequences of this, as well as E-Safety. Some super questions were asked by our pupils and excellent discussions were generated. This links to our safeguarding curriculum.

We'll see you all tomorrow morning (in your Odd Socks) for the start of Anti-Bullying Week.