After the whole school assembly today on the importance of bees, the Tawny Owls created fantastic tissue paper ones.  

The children were interested to learn about archaeology today and the story of how Howard Carter (or his water boy) discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun. They then had the task of trying to get a better understanding of this period by looking at pictures from this time. Good discussions took place, showing great observational skills. 

It was excellent being able to link forest school so strongly with our science topic this week. Within the classroom, the Tawny Owls were discussing the similarities between deciduous and evergreen trees. They then took this learning into our amazing environmental area and could identify many different types. When Ranger Rob asked the children what do they both need to survive - I don't think he was expecting the fantastic language that followed. The children explained that they all need water, sun, the correct temperature and carbon dioxide. Evie then went on and explained that ''a chemical reaction then happens and it makes oxygen''. 

This week, children and staff across the school ran their first mile towards their half marathon. It was great to see children supporting and encouraging one another to complete the challenge. 

We were lucky to have an All Stars Cricket coach in with us today. The Tawny Owls and Owlets worked together in teams to field and bat, learning some key skills. 
The coach was very impressed with their behaviour and picked out 3 children; Ethan, John and Evelyn as having fantastic, supportive qualities which are much needed attributes to be a great team player. 

The Tawny Owls completed their elicitation task this afternoon for Science. They went into the environmental area to explore and investigate plants. They were able to talk about what a plant needs to survive and grow. The children were very articulate in explaining how plants help us to survive. 

The composting workshop this afternoon was highly informative and lots of fun! The children learnt about what they should be putting into compost bins and which insects help to turn it into soil. They then learnt a song and acted out being a variety of minibeasts to consolidate the learning.

The Tawny Owls had an amazing day taking part in the Building in Brazil workshop at the Eden Project. They learnt lots about the similarities and differences of buildings within Brazil and the UK and spoke about the conditions experienced by the people who live in Manaus. 
They then got to explore the Rainforest Biome, guided by a map and photo-trail where the children observed, identified and recorded materials used in structures of different buildings. It was great to hear their prior knowledge when answering questions, due to the current Science topic. On returning to their classroom, they used their new knowledge to design and build a Rainforest shelter in small groups.
In the afternoon, they explored the rest of the Eden Project, including the Mediterranean Biome. 
It was a fantastic, fun-filled day where many members of the public commented on their excellent behaviour!

In Science we have been investigating the properties of materials. Today, the children worked in pairs to build a wall using materials that they thought would withstand strong wind. As the children were working, they were using fantastic language for example, 'we will have to make sure it's a fair test when we try to blow it down.'

Forest School was a great success this week for the Tawny Owls. They got to light fires using steel and flint. They listened wonderfully to the instructions and many of the children had a great technique to get a spark. While children weren't doing this activity they were busy creating prints, by crushing flowers and plants using mallets. 
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To celebrate the fact that Spring has begun, all of the children across the school have created a piece of art for the village display. We hope everyone in the community enjoys looking at the artwork! 

During assembly today, the children spoke about Spring and how to care for and nurture living things. All the children had the opportunity to plant a sunflower seed, which they will take home with them and take responsibility for. We can't wait to see the results!

The Tawny Owls enjoyed raising money for Comic Relief today by wearing something red. They watched a video of a boy called Teddy to help them to understand where some of the charity money will go. 

The children had great fun creating clay models of forest animals in the environmental area. We had supers-sized bugs chasing small woodland animals such as, deer for our display. Over the coming weeks, we are going to see how the weather alters our animals.

The Tawny Owls created their very own bookmarks to celebrate World Book Day. All the children coloured whilst listening to a story and then created tassels to decorate it. They are fantastic and we hope that it brings even more enjoyment to their reading.

A massive thank you to FoBS who have kindly funded some real plants for the Snowy Owl classroom. The plants really enhance our learning environment and it's great to bring the outside in! 

Well done to the Key Stage 1 runners who managed 2.5km at running club this week - a great effort by all. 

As part of Children's Mental Health Week, we had a 'Well Being Wednesday'! The sessions focussed on how we can look after our mental health and well-being by taking time out to do something we enjoy!

The children enjoyed this mornings settling-in task, which was to create a play-doh face to express how they were feeling. This is strongly linked to our PSHE topic where we have been looking at keeping ourselves healthy in both body and mind. We have been talking about how our bodies react when we feel different emotions and how we can overcome this.

The Tawny Owls have been looking at the history of London. This week they have learnt about events that nearly destroyed our capital city including, The Gunpowder Plot, The Great Fire of London and The Blitz. During break time today, some of the children took their indoor learning outside and independently put it into their play using this equipment as a bomb shelter whenever a siren sounded! 

The Tawny Owls have returned to school full of enthusiasm and have earnt lots of class beads for their excellent learning behaviours. 
This morning, they explored pitch during music and then copied patterns involving movement and the use of glockenspiels. 

We have been busy making decorations for our classroom to get into the Christmas spirit. First, we took it in turns to hang baubles on the tree. Then we made snowflakes as part of our English lesson - for instructional writing and paperchains during our break this afternoon. All the children are in high spirits and looking forward to the next couple of weeks before we break for the holidays. 

This afternoon, the Tawny Owls had to work in pairs to investigate which material would be best to keep their bear warm and dry in this typical winter weather. Fantastic language was heard throughout the experiment and some pupils came up with great ideas, combining 2 or 3 of the different materials. Exploring the world around us in practical ways is a vital way in which pupils develop and understand.