Children in Flamingo Class have been learning about how real historians find out about life in the past. We wondered how is it possible to know how Romans cleaned themselves. Or whether it is actually possible to know what a Roman kitchen looked like? Does anyone really understand how and why people celebrated Roman gods?

As part of our Theme Week activities, parents were invited to join us in undertaking a real archaeological dig, so that we might discover how all this is possible. One morning, we all set about finding evidence of a previously undiscovered Roman settlement right here in Provo!
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The children in Years 3-6 have been excited to try their hand at another fantastic sport this half term! We were delighted to offer a course of Rugby ‘taster’ sessions when we received the offer of coaching from the Turks and Caicos Islands Rugby Football Union!

These sessions have focused on the key skills of passing, movement and game-play. Some children, who already participate in the TCIRFU’s clubs, were keen to show off their skills in the sport, while others were excited by the challenge of something new!

We will watch this space and look forward to seeing our students developing a good understanding of another exciting team sport.

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Friday afternoon in the ‘stocks’ at Ports of Call was very busy.  The Year 3 Dolphins had committed many a crime in their Tudor Life. Cutting purses full of money from the rich.. stealing bread from the bakers in the market place..stealing vegetables and herbs from the farmers fields…pick-pocketing a golden watch from the land owner up the lane…stealing a chicken from their neighbour… What a ghastly lot!

“But we were hungry and poor and could not get work” they howled. All their suffering however was rewarded by a delicious ice-cream treat from the nearby parlour – yummy!

A big thank you to all those parents who participated in the ‘stock experience’.  With the Turks and Caicos thought to be discovered by the Europeans during Tudor times, it was a great way to link our topic to our local environment.

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Have you ever fancied yourself as a spy? In order to be a proper spy you will need to know how to read and write secret messages.  In this experiment, Year 5 learned how to create them.

In the process they learned that iodine can check for the presence of starch and Vitamin C. In a bowl we mixed one tablespoon of cornstarch and a tablespoon of water.  Using this mixture, we took a toothpick and wrote a secret message on a piece of paper.   We waited for our message to dry to see the results.   It was barely visible on the paper.   Then we dipped our paper into an iodine mixture to reveal the secret message.  “Happy Birthday” appeared in dark purple.  It was no longer a secret and a nice surprise for the birthday boy in our class. This proved our theory that iodine reacts with the starch creating a dark purple message.  The white paper also turned a lighter purple, due to the small amount of starch it already contains.

In order to make the message disappear again, we would just add lemon juice.  When lemon juice is painted over top of the writing, the Vitamin C in the juice reacts with the iodine to make a new colourless compound and the writing disappears.

Year 5 have completed their first course in how to become a Spy.   Who says Science has to be boring?

Year 2 combined their Drama, Literacy and Design Technology lessons to put together a spectacular show of Punch and Judy. Punch and Judy is a traditional British, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character. It is often associated with traditional English seaside culture

The Children loved watching a Punch and Judy Show, then re-creating the puppets using their own designs. They thought carefully about the characters and the plot, making their own scripts and then acting them out to their friends.  Read on to see some photo of the children at work.

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Once again the Year 6’s showed off their skills as budding lawyers-to be in a team against team debate. The issue was ‘ Is television a good or bad influence on children?’ Both sides presented their arguments with clear and convincing reasons backed up with data where they could. Dressed to the nines in their smartest attire and with myself as official judge and peacekeeper, it really felt as if we were in a courtroom! Two outstanding debaters were: CD, whose strength and conviction in his own argument was impressive, and MG who had clearly researched and prepared for her part in the debate exceptionally well!

The Year Ones have really enjoyed their gymnastics lessons at the Sports Centre. Over the course of the six lessons, they have worked on a variety of skills such as balancing (on 2, 3, and 4 points) and jumping and traveling in different ways. They have also learnt how to start and finish a routine with gymnastic poise. Week by week, as the children have been developing and improving their skills, they have each worked on creating their own routine. During the last session they performed these to the class. [Read more…]

Inspired by lots of newly bought fiction books and our computer system needing updating, a chance to make a change and take ownership of the how the library is organised was seized by KS2 children this week.  Discussion, debate, research and lots of sorting occurred as the children worked together to re-organise all the fiction books from the library shelves into their respective genres, during World Book Day Celebrations last week.

“It felt good to work together to organise the library”…”I like how the different genre stickers will help me find the sort of books I’m interested in”…”I think our new library looks bright and colourful”.

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It seems Flamingo Class are very busy people! They’ve been learning how to tell us all about their packed schedules in Spanish classes and have created this wonderful video to show everyone what a multi-talented bunch they are! This half term they have been learning how to use different verbs to talk about their pastimes.  They have linked this together with the days of the week to give us a run down of all the activities in which they are involved. In our classes, the pupils have also learnt how to change verbs to talk about other people and the things they do in their spare time, as well as using verbs in the infinitive to give their opinions about different activities.  In doing this, they have also managed to acquire a few new adjectives to justify their opinions. Pretty amazing stuff! Take a look at the video to see just how much these excellent Spanish speakers manage to fit into their week! “¡Buen trabajo, Flamingo Class!” (Good work, Flamingo Class!)