The children had a STEM activity this afternoon after discussing how birds fly.
First they had some simple instructions to follow . It was lovely to see the children helping each other with the tricky bits.
once they had made them they went outside to try them out.
Today the children enjoyed listening to the story of ‘The Elves and The Shoe Maker’. Last week in library time we read ‘Don’t Chew the Royal Shoe’, which was really funny.
So after some discussion about different kinds of footwear the children had a go at making their own using various materials.
The children worked in pairs and had to help each other complete the task of having a pair of shoes each. They did really well and we spoke about co-operation and helping each other.
They were so chuffed to wear them when they were finished and we now have a bit of a shoe shop developing in the classroom.
Opportunities for using loose part to create dens. Great for developing problem solving and teamwork skills.
Collecting the melting snow from icicles dripping from the roof. Great science and STEM opportunities outdoors.
Some of the melting ice was collected in a different way!
Deciding which containers are best for different purposes. Evie’s snowman needed three different sized containers.
Opportunities to develop creativity, confidence and take risks- so many skills being developed.
Collaboration, choice and commitment in play develops so many social skills and friendships. It can also be exhausting!
Testing to see which snowball goes fastest- big or small? Does lifting the guttering higher or lower? So many opportunities for conversation, developing vocabulary and communication skills outdoors.
Checking out footprints and the different patterns boots make in the snow.
The children started by selecting suitable boxes/junk to make their model dinosaur. They worked in pairs so there was a lot of discussion and collaboration to find the parts and join them together.
We spoke about how to make their model strong by creating different types of joins in using PVA and sellotape.
The next stage was seriously messy. They used papier mache to cover the dinosaur, focusing on the joins and making sure the newspaper strips went from one part of the model onto an adjoining part.
Once the models had two coats of papier mache it was time to choose colours for their dinosaur.
Once the paint was dry the children thought about the detail they wanted to add- eyes, teeth, claws etc.
The primary 2’s have been working on adjectives in their literacy work so this was a great opportunity to apply that learning to describing their dinosaur.
The writing was read out in class for the others to guess which model the description matched.
Their is now a little Dinosaur Exhibition set up in the school for the other classes and staff to visit to see the models and the writing.
The primary 2’s went outdoors to search for tiling patterns around the school. The found lots of great examples.
Back in the classroom they spent time investigating with flat shapes to see which ones tiled and which ones didn’t.
They had a go at creating their own tiling designs usisng the 2D shapes they have been learning about,
