Christmas greetings from KS1

Hand print tree decorations made by Year 1

Potter, Butterworth and Hargreaves all had a very busy term learning a lot about the Great Fire of London and Dinosaurs, as well as spending time finding out  more about Christmas and the Nativity story.

 

Colour mixing Christmas trees

Mrs Matthews, Miss Ball, Miss Stickley and all the classroom assistants would like to say a big thank you for all your support this past term, the items you have sent in to enhance our topics and for the very generous gifts you gave to us at Christmas. We hope you all had a restful Christmas and enjoyed time as a family.

 

In R.E we found out about the Angel speaking to Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds.

Don't forget to look in your child's book bag for any Christmas projects they may have brought home. They should also have a reading book, spellings and Bug Club is also available should you wish it.

 

 

We look forward to welcome everyone back to school on Tuesday 8th January 2013 when we will start learning about books and stories, especially Traditional Tales. Happy New Year!

Our busy last week at school started with a Christmas toddler service in the Church on Monday.  We all helped to tell the Christmas story...

 Well done to all the children in the Foundation stage, what a great performance of 'Whoops A Daisy Angel'

By Wednesday we were ready for our Christmas party!!

                                         Entertainment from Barbara and Alan Astra!

                                                       And even a visit from Santa!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christingle

The school choir were invited to join their church family this morning and take part in the Christingle service. Despite the fact only one third of them were able to attend due to illness or family commitments, they, as usual, sang beautifully and many of the regular congregation said how moved they were  by the performances.

 

As well as singing, the children took a full part in the service and were each given the components of a Christingle to make and to take home to share with their family. They also got to join in with the prayers and guess what the items in the stocking represented. They also gave some great answers in response to the questions asked during the talk.

 

Mrs Vaughan and Mrs Matthews had an anxious few minutes when the Christingles were all alight, but as usual the children conducted themselves in a responsible fashion and we all survived - phew!

 

Well done to all who came and represented their school, we were proud of you and hope you all have a restful, exciting and fun filled Christmas. You deserve it.

KS1 Christmas party

Ready to party

Hargreaves, Butterworth and Potter have had a fun filled day.  The first excitement was having a non-uniform day and being allowed to wear party clothes to school.

 

This was followed by a morning of Christmas activities. Snowflakes, glitter, maths problems, elf games, mazes, cake and biscuit decorating and even watching part of a film all took place, along with much colouring, cutting and sticking.

Cake, biscuit and some fruit

The fact it rained relentlessly, all day, did not dampen the party spirit and so as soon as lunchtime was over the children, and staff, congregated in the hall for a very noisy session of games. Santa says, musical statues, corners, hot potato and lots of dancing took place and the Christmas music was enjoyed by all (thank you Mrs Deadman).

 

Back in the classroom the children enjoyed their snack of biscuit and cake, washed down with juice and then all 3 classes had a surprise. Mrs Short informed us that a jolly fellow in a red suit and black boots had dropped off a package for each class. Sadly he could not stay, due to this being his busiest time of year, and he was sorry if the letters had got a little bit wet.....

The package dropped off for Hargreaves

The children were delighted to receive replies to the letters that we sent at the beginning of the week to Father Christmas; his elves had taken the time to read each and every one out to him and had replied on his behalf.

Jesus' Christmas Party

 

 

The children and staff of KS1 recently enjoyed retelling the Christmas story, in an entertaining fashion. This was done by an adaptation of the book by Nicholas Allan.

 

On Monday the rest of the school enjoyed watching the production and on Tuesday the matinee and evening performances were attended by friends and family. Both shows were packed to the seams.

 

Our Inn keeper and his wife did a sterling job trying to accommodate all the additional guests, the scooting camels made the audience smile, the eastern dances brought an extra dimension to the story and all the other characters added greatly to the atmosphere.

 

 

 

The Year 1 children proved to be a delightful choir, bedecked as party guests and doubling up as a starry night.

 

One parent commented it was one of the best productions she had seen; however the wow factor was the finale in the evening, when the lights were turned off and Away in a Manger performed by the light of the Christmas tree and Glow Sticks! Merry Christmas one and all.

Christmas lunch 12.12.12

This week the whole school enjoyed a festive Christmas lunch! All the teachers and LSA's helped serve the children...                                         
                                                                                                         

  AH - 'I ate it all up!'

                                                                                AA - ' The giant gingerbread man was the best!'

 FS - 'I liked it!'
    

 LS - 'It was very yummy!

'

Dinosaur Eggs

As part of their topic on Dinosaurs the year 1 children from Butterworth and Hargreaves had a chance to look at some eggs and predict what would hatch.

The staff told the children that they had found the eggs outside and brought them in. This was followed by instructions never to do this without asking an adult first.

The children looked at the eggs and tried to predict what would hatch. Their views ranged from chicks to sharks!

They were then given three clues to help them. The creature inside the eggs had a) sharp teeth b) a long tail c) sharp claws.

This meant many people had to change their prediction, and these were now narrowed down to crocodile, shark, snake or dinosaur.

Every morning the children rushed to the basket to see what was happening and watched in delight as day by day the eggs began to crack. Soon glimpses of colour could be seen and the excitement grew.

Finally all was revealed....they were dinosaur eggs! Despite the great excitement, the children quite rightly pointed out, that not only were dinosaurs extinct, but these were plastic! Mrs Matthews then confessed to making the eggs and was relieved that this did not diminish the enthusiasm for the eggs. In fact, it led to a conversation on how to make them and another one about never touching eggs in the wild.

The children who had correctly predicted that the eggs would contain dinosaurs, were delighted to be right.  The children enjoyed this activity and were very excited when we visited the nhm and saw the eggs on display there and when we held a piece of real dinosaur egg shell.

The children in Carle and McKee Class have been learning about Advent.  Each class made their own Advent wreath.

                                                              Fun in the snow!!

Choir carol concert

Last night, on a cold and still slightly snowy night, I was privileged to be able to attend the carol concert that was held in Christ church. The choir was made up of 8 local schools, Thundridge, Hertingfordbury, Stapleford, Widford, Little Munden, St.John the Baptist, Tower and of course Christ Church.

 

This truly talented collection of choirs joined forces to open and close the service with Baby in a Manger and New Born Baby and also treated us to two different versions of Away in a Manger.

 

We were fortunate to be the first school to sing and after our rendition of The Gift, it was obvious the bar had been set very high. Well done to Mrs Vaughan and each and every member of the choir, it was a delightful rendition and every note was spot on. Just beautiful.

 

This was quickly followed by readings and the choirs of each of the other seven schools, who between them covered a broad spectrum of music. I was extremely proud to be sat with our choir, but do have to be honest and say that the largest round of applause went to Tower for their inspired contribution "Glory Rap".

It was certainly a popular event and I am sure those of you who were there will be in agreement due to the fact so many had to stand. Hopefully this did not take away from your enjoyment and this has started the Christmas season off in a truly festive way.

Giant Henry VIII

On Wednesday 28th November as part of our Tudor Day the children in Shakespeare, Tolkien and Horowitz classes created giant portraits of Henry VIII.

Within each class, each child was given a section of Henry VIII taken from a famous portrait of the King by Hans Holbein.  The children then had to recreate this section using a range of available media.  This included fabric, tissue paper, pastels, paints, paper and lots more. Once completed the sections were put back together to create the giant portrait of Henry VIII.  The results are amazing.  Please pop into our classrooms to see the finish portraits.

"I really enjoyed making the giant Henry VIII portrait, so much so that I wanted to make another one!" JD, Year 6.

"The massive Henry VIII was really fun to make and it looks amazing.  Everyone was so creative in their own way.  Some people included lots of detail in their section, whereas others kept theirs simple.  Together it looks great and the whole class loves it." KN, Year 6

Gingered Bread

On Wednesday 28th November, as part of our Tudor Day, the children in Shakespeare, Tolkien and Horowitz classes made a traditional Tudor dessert; Gingered bread.

In small groups the children followed the instructions in the recipe to make their gingered bread.  This involved crumbling bread, mixing in honey, butter, ginger and ground pepper and then pressing the mixture into trays.  After a few hours in the fridge the children were able to try their gingered bread.  The tasting had mixed results!

"The gingered bread was fun to make but tasted unusual!" AT, Year 6

"The gingered bread was fun to make, but it was disgusting when we tasted it!" JP, Year 6.