Celebrating Diversity

 In year five, we immersed ourselves today in all things Austrian. We started off with the apple strudel experience. We made our own, working together, to create a confectionery masterpiece. They really did go down a treat! Then we looked at the geography of the country and region, before learning some German words - particularly colours. The children were interested to find out why German and English have so many similarities. 

In the afternoon, we learnt how to dance a Viennese Waltz. We had learnt about Austrian composers and classical music earlier in the week, so this linked really well. 

We sensed that we had only scratched the surface of our Alpine neighbours but we all thoroughly enjoyed the day!

Art - People in Motion

 Today we have had lot of fun working on our 'People in Motion' project. The children have been using their printing blocks to make their figures show movement. We are thrilled by how they have worked out and we will be making a display in the school to showcase their work.

Austria Day - Friday

 

Dear Parents/Carers,

Next Friday, we` are holding an International Cultural Day. We are going off timetable and spending the day exploring lots of different aspects of the country that has been chosen for our class/year group. Each class/year group has chosen a different country so that we are covering a whole range of cultural activities across the school.

We would therefore like the children to come in non-school uniform. It would be fantastic if the children could come in wearing some of the colours from the flag for their chosen country. However, we don’t want you to feel any pressure if your child does not own any items of clothing for these colours and would encourage you to send your child in any colours to reflect the vibrancy of cultures we are celebrating across the school.

In Year 5 we have chosen Austria Here is their flag:

We look forward to sharing some photos of what we get up to next Friday with you via our blog and year group page so keep a look out for those. Lastly, thank you for your continued support in allowing us to deliver these important and memorable moments for your child during their time with us at Swan Lane First School.

Mr Batts and Mr Smith

Learning about night and day

 We have been making the most of the Indian Summer by taking our learning outside again. The children have been learning about how night and day are created and how the rotation of Earth results in the sun appearing to move across the sky. We used compass points to align our solar clocks and recorded how the shadow moved and changed length throughout the day.

The children have thoroughly enjoyed our work on space and they have been full of questions about the topic. It is great to see them all 'fired up' by the work they are doing.

Working Together

 Today we have been looking at the rules and roles that are needed for effective collaborative learning. The children attempted a task, both with and without roles, and then generated what they considered to be the most important rules. As always, the class surprised me by their great ideas and sensitivity.