Robins and Chaffinches launched their new topic about Harvest and growing with a Scarecrow-making day.  Children were presented with a problem set for them by a real life Farmer.  Farmer Andrew sent a video asking the children to help him to protect his crops.  Eight teams of children worked well together to produce a variety of scarecrows.  Some friendly, some not, some tall and some small.  Lots of fun was had. At times, however, it was a challenge to actually see the hall floor!

On completion of the task, the children then voted for their favourite scarecrow.  Farmer Andrew is also hoping to visit to pass his judgement too!

What an amazing day Robins and Chaffinches had as they opened their Wildlife Park to parents! When the gates opened, parents were greeted by a welcoming party and were given a map of the park, so they could explore it at their leisure. They wandered round various different habitats and found expert presenters, who gave informative talks about their animal and answered any questions the visitors had. They could visit the desert to find out about various snakes and meerkats.

The woodland experts talked all about foxes and owls.

In the polar regions, visitors were told all about penguins and polar bears.

In the savannah habitat, our giraffe and elephant experts were busy all afternoon.

Finally, in the aquarium, our fish and shark experts had lots of interesting facts to share.

Visitors to the park were entertained by two “flash-mob” dances of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “The Monkey Dance”, which the audience thoroughly enjoyed.

A gift shop sold merchandise that the children had made and the café provided much appreciated refreshments on such a hot day.

All the visitors were impressed by the children’s work but also their amazing research and expertise.

As part of our topic about Zoos, we visited the Yorkshire Wildlife Park to find out about the animals, their habitats and how a good zoo cares for its animals.  Polar bears, lions, leopards, meerkats and wallabies with their joeys were just a few of the many animals that we saw.

We also were lucky enough to meet some of the animals close up in the discovery classrooms. We handled a gecko, an African land snail and a hissing cockroach. We found out so many interesting facts and information and, despite a gloomy weather forecast, we were very lucky to have a fine day.

We had so much fun that we were exhausted on the way home.

A very special assembly took place last week. The assembly was held outside which was quite unique.  Children were asked to guess what Mr Bean, Harry Hill and Sir Chris Hoy all had in common?  The answer…they studied science at university.  The children also learnt how studying science can lead to lots of exciting careers and can take you all around the world.

Finally, the assembly also introduced a new club, Whizz, Pop, Bang – a science club for children in Year 1 and 2, run by KS2 children. The assembly may have been messy but it was certainly memorable with a super response by both KS1 and KS2 children.  Watch this space for more news about Whizz, Pop, Bang!

Fully prepared with waterproof coats and picnics, we set off for our day out. First of all, we walked through the woods looking for signs of spring.  Mr Parry gave us some clues and explained how trees and plants change during the different seasons.  We saw squirrels and lots of different birds too.

We were also learning about different types of houses in Anston.  We walked to the Green and the Wells, where we heard about how Anston has changed over the years and how it is continuing to grow now.

The next part of our journey took us to Anston Brook, where we had some fun playing pooh sticks on the bridge.  Finally, it was time to have a rest and eat our lunch, but not before we had played some games and enjoyed the facilities at Anston Parish Park.

After lunch, we set off on our final mission to visit South Anston Methodist Church.  We learnt about how they are preparing for Easter.  The highlight however, had to be entertaining some local residents at their weekly Friendship Group.  We sang songs, told rhymes and played ‘Hot Cross Buns‘ on the handbells.  We saw lots of happy faces and they definitely seemed to enjoy receiving the bookmarks that we had made for them.  We arrived back at school tired but having learnt so much. It was an amazing day!