Fire safety

This week in Inkpen, Carle and Mckee Class we have been learning about fire safety.

We lit the Diva lamps we made for Diwali and talked about how to stay safe.

We set up a fire station in our outdoor area and we've enjoyed dressing up.  
We made fire engines and information cards about fire fighters.

Our fire station

Making fire engines

                            On Friday 30th November some Fire fighters came to visit us! 
                    They talked to us about fire safety.  They showed us a smoke alarm and we                               practiced what to do if we heard it ringing!

                                          Then Mrs. Anstead tried on the fire fighters uniform! 

NHM trip

Last Tuesday Hargreaves, Butterworth and Potter went to visit the Natural History Museum in London. All three classes have enjoyed their learning about Dinosaurs and were looking forward to a chance to see the "real thing".  

Everyone had their own particular item that they wished to see. Miss Vidler was looking forward to the volcano section, Archie hoped to see a Parasaurolophus,  Amy wanted to see a T-rex and Mrs Matthews was particularly looking forward to seeing Dippy the diplodocus again, she remembers frequent trips to see him when she was in primary school. 

 

Dinosaur Gallery

After an exciting coach trip which was full of children talking about what they might see, we arrived and enjoyed the privilege of being able to by pass the queue and go straight into the museum.

 

Tooth

Thigh bone

The groups then split and made their own way around the galleries, all keen to make it to the Dinosaur section. It was here that we encountered the moving T-Rex and saw the nest of eggs. We also saw a map of Pangea which was recognised by many of the children!

 

Investigation

Amongst the other galleries visited by the various groups were the mammals, the earth, the cocoon and the fossils. After visiting the dinosaurs, one group were pleased to bump into a curator and she showed them two skulls. One was from a panda and the other from a Sabre toothed tiger, which is now know as a sabre toothed cat.

 

Skull

 

We ae our lunch in the special dining room and then travelled home. Most of the children thought it was very late because it was dark outside.

 

T-Rex

The children thought it was a good trip and many want to go again. There was so much to see and learn whilst we were there. On the coach back we passsed lots of Christmas lights and decoration, which caused much excitement.

 

I loved the T-Rex, he was noisy but funny - A, We ate in a big room just for schools - E, The dinosaur eggs were just like the ones in our classroom - G

 

We also made an online scrapbook whilst in the museum and if you vivit their website and enter the number 1080 0428 6056 2653 or 1080 0548 6158 2603 you will be able to see what two groups created.

Visitor to Years 3 and 4

 

As part of our Africa topic we had a visitor who came to talk to us about her experiences in Africa when she went on a trip to Zambia. Mrs Pearce, who is Hope’s Grandmother, had produced a fantastic PowerPoint of her photos so that we could share her events.

We loved looking at photographs of a massive river called the Zambezi, which flows into Victoria Falls which is the biggest waterfall in the world.  We also had fun trying to guess what some of the pictures were of. 

Everything looks so different to what we are used to.At the end we sang a traditional African song.  Thank you very much for this valuable insight into the African culture, Mrs Pearce.

Lewis Class reading buddies

Lewis Class have reading buddies in Nursery so they can begin learn to read and enjoy stories. We enjoy reading with Nursery because we know it is an important responsibility.

When we read them their chosen book, we ask them questions to check they are listening carefully and that they understand the story. We hope that they enjoy it too. We want them to be happy at Christ Church School and to develop a love of reading like we do.

By Sophie and Ishara

Fruit workshop

Pupils and staff alike enjoyed the fruit workshop that took place in school today. Everyone was able to taste a selection of fruits that they had either never seen or had not tried before.

The colours on display were stunning and the taste varied for ""Wow" to "Yuck" - the later being the cranberry!

 

The staff, on hand, were able to tell us what the fruits were and encouraged the children to taste the items and then talk about what they liked and did not like. There were also some well loved favourites such as oranges, apples and bananas to taste.



Trying some passion fruit

Enjoying the familiar taste of orange

Diwali

Last week Reception learned about Diwali.  Diwali is celebrated at the end of October or the beginning of November. It marks the beginning of the new year in the Hindu calendar and is celebrated by people of Hindu, Sikh and Jain faiths. At Diwali, beautiful Rangoli patterns decorate floors outside homes and temples such as the Hindu Mandir and Sikh Gurdwara.

We started the week by looking at a book called A Row of Lights which introduces the festival of Diwali and tells the story of Rama and Sita.

Look at the pictures and ask your child if they can retell the story of Diwali to you.

Rama and Sita were banished to a forest for fourteen years. Rama’s brother Lakshmana went with them. Rama and Lakshmana went hunting and Ravana the demon, which is usually shown as a ten headed figure, transforms himself and appears to Sita as a holy man. Ravana captures Sita and takes her away in a flying chariot. Hanuman the monkey general helps Rama find Sita, and they defeat Ravana and rescue Sita, on their return home people lined the streets holding Divas in their honour, hence a row of lights.

As part of our Diwali topic the children made Rangoli patterns on biscuits during cooking using hundreds and thousands and chocolate beans.

They also used seeds and lentils and the computer during child initiated play to decorate symmetrical Rangoli patterns.

The children also made peacocks, small divas out of clay, wrote Diwali Cards and decorated paper hands with Mehndi patterns.

Football Tournament at Chauncy

Tournament winners

On Friday, not only did the girls compete in a Netball tournament at Chauncy but the boys took part in the Football one and also came out Tournament winners. Well done boys.

 

Netball and Football medals and certificates

Mrs Adams, who was watching the matches said " So proud of them. Excellent defending, great attacking play and superb goal-keeping. Great team spirit - every boy showed an amazing attitude!"

 

Medal

 Results

 

Hertford Heath 1-0 win

 

Hertingfordbury 0-0 draw

 

Thundridge 0-0 draw

 

Puller 4-0 win

 

St. Catherine's 1-0 win

 

 

 

Their coach, who was unable to be at the event, due to being at work, later said "Just found out my boys won their Schools Football Tourney, and didn't concede a single goal. I'm chuffed to bits.". Mrs Vaughan was so proud of both teams she called a special assembly to celebrate their achievement and commend them for showing the values of teamwork and determination. Many thanks to Chauncy for holding the events and everyone who has helped with both teams.

 

Team celebration

 

Netball Tournament at Chauncy

Tournament Winners

On Friday the 16th November the A team took part in a netball tournament at Chauncy school. The first game the girls played was against Thundridge school. They took first centre but we fought back and Kasey, our goal shooter scored the first goal. We then took centre, which led to Kasey scoring another goal! At the end of the first half Christ Church were ahead 5-0. Thundridge were getting tougher and tougher, but so were we. Annabelle, our goal attack then scored four goals and we won 9-0. We enjoyed this game.

 

Certificate

Our second game was against Puller who took first centre. The first half of the game was very tough but we were 4-0 up. We then scored five more goals and so won 9-0 again.

 

Our next game was against Hertingfordbury; it was one of our hardest matches. They had tough and close marking and so it was a tight game. However by the first half we were leading 3-0. During the second half great defending by Emily, Saffy and Holly, along with the wonderful cheering from Mrs Phipps led us to a final score of 4-0!

 

Football and Netball cups

The fourth game was against Hertford Heath, who were, apparently, the team to beat. We took centre and this led to a goal by Annablle and then 3 more form our GA and GS. At the end of the first half we were 4-1 up. Hertford Heath were fighting back and we had to be really strong. We ended up winning 5-3.

 

The final games was against St. Catherine's. Lottie took the first centre and Kasey shot a goal.We scored 7 goals in the first half, taking the score to 8-0 and then in the second half scored 4 more. We ended the game 12-0.

 

We feel we all played brilliantly and came an amazing first - well done to the A-Team! (The girls wrote this report straight afterwards.)

 

The team

 

Ware in Bloom 2012

 

 

Last night I was very pleased to be invited to collect a certificate on behalf of the children who were in the reception classes last year. You may remember that we, once again, decorated and planted our wheelbarrows. This year we went for an animal theme.

 

The judges were very impressed and acknowledged that it must take a lot of dedication from the children to produce such great results bearing in mind their ages; they were particular pleased with the fact our entry related to the learning the children were doing and the fact they had produced artwork and story lines to go with the planting.

 

Some of our entry

 

They have promised me new wheelbarrows for 2013 and I will try to remember to take photos when they are at their best this year, rather than at the end of several weeks of being battered by heavy rain, as I did last year.

 

Look out Year 1 parents, I will again be asking for donations of compost and plants to aid us in this venture or recommendations of local gardeners who might be willing to donate excess stock! Thank you in advance.

 

Mrs Matthews

October - November in Carle Class

 Autumn printing on our Harvest thank you cards.

                                                                Pumpkin number hunt!

 Using the classroom computer

Being creative outside...

 

                                  and in! Splatter painting for our fireworks display - VERY messy!

 The children were inspired by this pirate ship to make treasure maps.

Our writing area

                          PE- We've had a great time exploring the large apparatus in the hall.