Month: August 2020

Pupils have been playing in boxes – these guys built a castle which they then decided to work in!!

Jack did a hiding game ” Who’s in the Box?” and went round the playground dressed in a box. We all managed to guess who it was!!!

Pupils collected a variety of natural objects during a walk in the woods. They used their finds to create a piece of art back in the playground.

We have been taking part in games which need team work. Co-operation, sharing, good communication and resilience are some of the skills pupils used to play their games well!

Miss Dale

Hi everybody,

I did some archaeology with mummy and Caspian today because my brother found a piece of broken pottery on our walk on Saturday. The pottery is very special and fragile and it has a bumpy decoration on it. It is an old piece. It was found at the little river. It could be from an ancient cup. I drew around it to get its proper size and coloured it in. Also on our walk, we found lots of different plants which get rid of their seeds in different ways. I will tell you all about one of them in tomorrow’s blog as it is part of my nature lesson.

Byee, love from Tanith xx

Hi guys, Caspian is back!

We went for a family walk down to the river side on Saturday near where we live. We wanted to get some fresh air in a quiet area, skim some stones and also measure the splash from various sized stones and rocks which we threw in the water.  Our dog, Idris, did something she doesn’t normally do – she went digging for stones in the river and actually put her head under the water for a few seconds so she could get the rock she had chosen in her mouth. She looked hilarious because she became a ghost-like dog with her blonde fur fringe covering her eyes, that is until she had a big shake!

While we were there, I made a discovery! I found a shard of pottery and Mum suggested I did some research on it for one of today’s lessons.  If the weather hadn’t been so clear, I may not have seen the shard, as is the case with many artefacts, the weather conditions can determine if it goes unnoticed or not. It was lying amongst the river side pebbles.  It is 2.4cm by 2.8cm by 3cm (triangular in shape). The pottery is probably Victorian because of the nature of the glaze – I’m lucky Mum is an archaeologist so could help me find pointers for the age of production. Over the years, the shard has been covered in algae, the edges of the break rounded off through water and weather erosion, and I suspect the colour has faded away. It has decoration, both painted and embossed so it was not just a functional piece and so not the cheapest type of pottery in production at the time. I think the Victorian family came to the river side for a picnic, broke one of the saucers and did not pick up all the shards. Or, it could have been broken somewhere else and travelled downstream then been washed up on the bank. Eighty percent of all archaeological finds are made of pottery so not really of any value usually. This is because pottery has been in abundance for a very long time, and it also survives well throughout the years. I believe my shard is from a saucer due to it’s size and I think I have an obvious edge which makes it much easier to calculate the piece when complete. If I am right and it is Victorian, it is at least 119 years old!!

I also did some Maths and vocabulary work today. We are beginning to work on Mesolithic Scotland this week, starting with The Twelve Apostles and hunter-gathering.

09 12 09 11 05 01 07 01 13 05 03 01 12 12 05 04 18 15 02 12 15 24!

Hi everybody,

I have been learning about weasles today as we have a large number of them in our Holywood hedgerows. Found in woods, farms and large gardens, weasles are active both at night and in the da time. They sleep in burrows that have been abandoned by badgers or rabbits. Weasles live alone and mark their territory with a strong scent. They are busy mammals and need to eat regularly to keep their energy levels up. They cannot survive more than 24 hours without food.

Byee, love Tanith xx

Hi, Caspian is back!

Today I have been researching the… Bermuda Triangle… triangle… triangle (it is a peculiar phenomenon so thought I’d some drama!)

The triangle is a shape of mystery. Some people who travel there, never return.  Many believe that there are sea monsters and alien holiday parks, that basically means they think the missing have been eaten by sea dinosaurs or abducted by aliens. The most famous disappearances are of the USS Cyclops (a USA naval ship), and Flight 19; a time when twenty-seven men lost their lives to the triangle.

Its shape is an isosceles triangle made up of Florida, USA, Puerto Rico and Bermuda. On average, sixty ships and five planes go missing every year. But fifty years ago, the triangle that many in just one day.

There are many theories, such as, a weather phenomenon like a water spout, tornado or hurricane, water bubbles,  a pull down in the earth’s magnetic field, alien abduction, sea monsters, vehicle failure, and many more. Will we ever know?!

This has been the most mysterious thing I have ever researched to date.  I would rather teleport than travel through the Bermuda Triangle.

And to calm your nerves from reading this, I can also tell you, Mum made currant buns for our break.

Bye, see you tomorrow!

 

Hi everyone,

I learned about secret messages today.  Using secret messages is called code. It was used during wars when we needed to get messages to our spies and prisoners of war so they didn’t get hurt by the enemy.  I drew a secret message to mummy. It said I wanted her to make me some smarties cookies! Then I made up my own coded message where I changed the alphabet to numbers.

Later on, Caspian and I created a new superhero game which we played in our garden.

Byeee, love from Tanith xx

 

Hi! Caspian is back!

I have been learning about codes (not computer) and ciphers today. There are many different types of code, Morse and Ceasar are two examples. Code is used to write secret messages, usually in times of war, or in games.

Lord Robert Baden Powell, founder of the Scout movement, frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector and created visual code. He made drawings of nature, such as a butterfly and a leaf, but incorporated plans of enemy buildings. He knew the enemy was looking through his papers so disguised the information in plain view.

A simple code is like A=01, B=02, C=03 and so on.

I created some secret messages using my own code and got Mum to work them out.

Bye for now!

Hi guys! I am back!

Great blog posts Orla. I think mum wants to buy some masks from you for us.

I researched Pluto today. Enjoy my facts!

Pluto was named by an 11 year old girl.

Pluto has not completed an orbit since it was discovered.

Pluto and Neptune swap places for 20 years every 287 years.

Pluto’s full name is 134340 Pluto.

It is the largest dwarf planet (small).

Pluto is smaller than the moon.

Pluto orbits diagonally.

Pluto has only been visited by the Horizon satellite.

With current technology, it would take over 80 years to reach Pluto.

Pluto has 5 moons:- Hydra, Styx, Charon, Kerberos and Nix. These are all characters from Greek mythology. Charon is the ferryman to the underworld. Nix is the goddess of the night. Kerberos (Cerberos) is the three headed guardian of the underworld. Styx is the river which takes you to, you guessed it, the underworld. The hydra is a beast that grows 2 more heads if it loses one.

I also helped Tanith with her jelly fish research and found out a few interesting things myself.

Some jelly fish eat their relatives. Mmmm!!!

Hungry jelly fish join in chains to eat.

Portuguese men of war only float and can not change direction.

Some jelly fish can mate with themselves.

Box jellys are also known as sea wasps.

A species of jelly fish became trapped in a lake due to a volcanic eruption. Because they can mate with themselves, they reproduced their species.

We held the Holywood Water Games in the afternoon followed by chocolate buns that Mum made us.

That’s it for today, so bye!!