On Wednesday 1st February, children from the Barn Owls and Snowy Owls visited Paignton Zoo. The admission was free to celebrate the zoo’s 100th year. The children focused on ecosystems which enhanced their learning in class. 

The KS1 children from Lydford Primary joined the Tawny Owls today for a science morning. It started in school by looking at how humans have learnt about space. We spoke about many things such as sending animals into space and the moon landing in 1969, before designing and making our very own rockets!
We then walked up to the hall and had a planetarium experience. The children learnt many facts such as how to find the North Pole star, the phases of the moon and that 100 Earths could fit across the diameter of the sun. 

The children have been learning the game of netball in PE with Mr Pugh. Over the half term they have been learning new skills and building up to play a match against each other.

The Tawny Owls had 4 very different visitors in class today! Every child enjoyed the interesting, engaging and informative talk from Marie from Animals 2 U Southwest. They learnt about the different classifications of animals, their features, what they eat and where they live. This will be a great reference point for the children when we learn about habitats in the summer term. 

​Owlets learning this week has been based around Chinese New Year.
They built The Great Wall of China, created Dragon dances, made Chinese lanterns and wrote numbers in Chinese. They have also learnt to say hello in Chinese - "Ni Hao".

Year 5s have been working on multiplication in Maths this week. To help with calculations, pupils have used base ten apparatus with confidence.

Barn Owls have been learning and acting the text of "How the Whale Became" by local legend, Ted Hughes. We will be looking at sentence structures and the use of subordination and adverbials to convey events and ideas.

Progressing skills have been evident in Barn Owls class during PE lessons with Mr Pugh this week. Children have particularly worked on shooting skills, culminating in some fast-paced small-sided games.

The Snowy Owls freeze framed key scenes from the Theseus and the Minotaur Myth. 

The Snowy Owls constructed food chains and food webs by using information about the diets of different organisms. The children were able to label the producers and consumers. The children enjoyed writing on the tables to add arrows to show the energy transfer! 

The children have been busy creating stop motion animation videos in the KS1 film club. Here is one of the films that was made this week - enjoy watching! 

As part of our entertainment through time topic, the Tawny Owls have been learning about how large public events have entertained and united people over the years. 
We looked at a variety of festivals and parades such as the Queen's Jubilee, as well as the current Chinese New Year celebrations. 
The children completed a variety of activities based on the Chinese New Year which then ended with a parade through the classroom, which the children thoroughly enjoyed!

​The children used hammers to complete bird boxes by fixing the wood together with nails. They worked in teams to decorate the bird boxes in the theme of plants and animals. The finished bird boxes looked fantastic and reflected how well the groups had worked as a team. 

Barn Owls have been finding out about variables in programming and how they are used in games. 

On a very icy morning, the Open the Book team welcomed us to the Chapel for a story from Jesus' young life. Bentley put in an admirable performance as the 12 year-old who was lost by his parents and found in the Temple. As usual, all the performers made the story both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Barn Owls enjoyed a varied and enlightening workshop with some experts in Mental Health. We carried out a range activities and discussions, as well as games, which helped us to find ways to look after our mental health. Several children even had the chance to be wrapped in loo roll in a teamwork game!

The children got wrapped up and enjoyed being out in the snowy weather this week for forest school. They made clay animals and sat around the fire eating s'mores. The Tawny Owls always love their time with Ranger Rob!

As part of the Snowy Owl's learning on ecosystems, they have researched producers which are found in ponds. Producers are organisms that use the energy from the sun to make their own food. The class created their own fact files about water lilies, blue iris, pond plants and reeds.  

In PSHE, the Snowy Owls worked in small teams to explore a number of scenarios which involved a risk. The children were able to identify the risk in each scenario and and how to manage it. Children were also able to share their own experiences of being in a situation which involved a risk. As a class the children suggested how people can manage a risk and how they can get help. 

In film club, we are looking at stop motion animation. This is a technique used in filmmaking where you move and manipulate objects in small increments (taking pictures as you go) to bring them to life. So far, the children have enjoyed watching a variety of short films and worked in groups to create the frames for a caterpillar eating a leaf. Now the children are beginning to understand this technique, they are going to create their very own short film over the coming weeks.

The pupils enjoyed a demonstration on why it is important to be specific when making a set of instructions. Mrs Lammas became a robot and the children had to help her make a jam sandwich. On the children's first attempt, Mrs Lammas ended up with jam all over the place - even on her face (which the children thought was incredibly funny)! On the second go, the children worked together to create a good set of instructions with precise wording to make a great sandwich. This activity leads on to computer programming, making a set of instructions (algorithms) for a robot to perform. 

​Children enjoyed the first board game after school session this week. It was great to see children from across classes engaging in games together. All children followed the rules and respected each others games. It was great fun!

The Tawny Owls began their ball skills work today with a game of Junkyard Clear Up. The class were split into 2 teams with bean bags scattered across the playground. When the whistle went, each team had to tidy up their side of the playground by throwing the bean bags to the other side. The team with the least amount of 'junk' on their side at the end of the game were the winners. The children then went on to work in pairs to practice their throwing and catching skills. It was great to see fantastic teamwork throughout!