As the nativity and pantomime practices take over and with pva glue and glitter flying all over the school for Christmas crafts each class found time to add a bit of Christmas cheer to the hall.
This year as our focus in school is on raising the profile of reading we have each decided to focus on a Christmas book.
P1/2: The Jolly Christmas Postman
A1: The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit
P2/3: The Snowman
A2: The Polar Express
P4/5: Father Christmas
P6/7: How the Grinch stole Christmas
This week P4/5, P6,7 and A2 have been visited by: 2 fantastic story tellers called Ruth Kirkpatrick and Gerry Durkin and one author called David Goucher. All the children were thrilled by the visits and could not contain their excitement over being given a signed copy of David Gouchers book by Miss Clarkson.
Our Bake Sale was a huge hit! Thank you to the Nurture group, A1 and A2 for all the lovely baking!
Just have a look at all of the fabulous entries to the Design a Pudsey Competition! Talk about creativity! Well done to everyone who entered!
It was incredibly hard to choose the winners but 4 winners had to be voted on. The winners were …
Thank you to Mrs Hamilton for making up the wonderful raffle prizes! The 2 lucky winners of the raffle were …
Blackburn Primary School and Hopefield Nursery Class raised an impressive £290.90 for Children in Need this year so well done and thank you for all of the support and participation this year!
We were lucky enough to have a visit from the Generation Science team who came in to teach us all about sound. They helped us understand about sound waves and the movement of air. This was a really fun practical session and the children really enjoyed taking part.
It’s been an interesting few days for ASD1. At the Assembly on Friday 6th January we were given a mystery box and told we were not allowed to open it. Miss Carson had to carry it with her at break and lunchtime and we had to LOOK, THINK and WONDER about the box.
We were able to see that the box was tall and narrow, it didn’t weigh much and something moved inside when we held it. We thought it might be a soft toy or sand or a few other things. We wrote down everything we thought about what was inside.
Finally, the moment arrived and we opened our box today (Wednesday 11th January) to find a very funny umbrella. It is made of wood and paper. We will be doing some activities about our umbrella over the next few days but the first things we wanted to do was dress up as the person who owns it.
Who do you think we are?
Firstly all the staff would like to say a massive thank you to all the parents and carers that managed to make it along to support their children. I’m sure you will agree that great fun was had by all and you were as relieved as us with the weather staying dry for the whole event.
Pupils from ASD2 and P2/3/4 had a visit from representatives of the Gala Day Committee as part of their topic on celebrations. The ladies answered questions that pupils from both classes had prepared and brought some historic items to show pupils – the cloak, crown and sceptre from the first Gala Queen (dating from 1953) and a more modern, sparkly crown. Some pupils got the chance to try on these items. We learned a lot about the history of the Gala and some interesting facts about it now.
Blackburn Primary School are getting involved in all the events surrounding Blackburn Children’s Gala Day. On Friday 20th May auditions were held in school to find acts to represent our school at the Blackburn Schools Got Talent Night. After seeing singing, comedy, gymnastics, mime and dancing there were tough decisions for the judges but three acts were chosen to go forward to represent the school at the final on 3rd June – one singer form P1, a dancer from ASD2 and a dancer/singer from P7. All three pupils gave it their all on the night of the big final, big voices, great dance moves and jazz hands and did the school proud.
We have teams representing the school in the schools’ relay race and in the quiz on Tuesday 7th June. Staff and all pupils will be able to take in the parade following the crowning of the Gala Queen on Saturday 11th June. We have chosen “Flower Power” (60s /70s) theme to represent the idea of through the ages and pupils in the Nursery will be making headbands to wear. Any pupils wishing to walk with the school should meet Miss Clarkson and school/nursery staff at the Community Centre at 11 a.m., dressed up and raring to go.
On Thursday 28th April, six pupils from our ASD resource classes and five staff members made their way by car and packed minibus up into the hills behind Kirknewton to stay the night at Hilly Cow Wigwams and complete a day of outdoor learning.
We left the minibus behind and headed off on foot, led by Forestry Commission Ranger Jim, across fields filled with sheep and lambs to Selm Muir Wood.
Jim showed us a variety of tree and plants, including how useful a willow tree is, and taught us how to tell the difference between pine and spruce needles. We also gathered some twigs and birch bark (which is good kindling) to make a campfire and when it was burning we boiled water for hot drinks and toasted marshmallows. We also had to take shelter under a big tarpaulin as it started to snow and some of the group were feeling the cold, so the hot drinks were very welcome!
When we got back up to Hilly Cow wigwams we had time to unpack our stuff into the wigwams before making some glass coasters in the big barn with Nancy. After that we had some free time in the playpark before pizza and oven chips for dinner – yum!
There was more free time for games and stories before bedtime and soon we were all snuggled up in our cosy wigwams.
We woke up to a different view of the world because it had snowed heavily overnight! This didn’t stop Miss Carson and two pupils from getting dressed and heading out to build a snowman before breakfast!
After we had packed up, we had a quick tour of the farm to meet some of the animals. We especially liked the new lambs and calf. We headed back to Kirknewton to Potter Around, where we all decorated our own mug before heading back to school.
We had a great time and it was a great adventure!
On Thursday 21st April P2/3/4 and ASD2 held their Sharing the Learning event in school. Pupils from P2/3/4 presented about the learning that had taken place and one of the pupils from ASD2 invited everyone to come to the Pyramid Cafe.
In room 7 ASD2 pupils had set up a cafe, taking on various roles, from sous chef (who helped to plate up all the goodies), to cashier, to waiters and kitchen porters. Pupils and staff had worked hard to research and make the kind of foods that were served in Egypt. We made 3 different types of falafel (a vegetarian snack), served hummus with pitta bread and made Tiger Nut Sweets using dates, nuts and honey.
The recipe for Tiger Nut Sweets is the oldest one that is known and made today. It was found, written on hieroglyphs on a piece of clay many years ago.
Pupils, staff and parents certainly looked as if they enjoyed the experience.
Pupils from ASD2 have been investigating 2D shape and 3D objects. As well as work on the whiteboard, from our text books and work sheets we have been sorting and creating shapes.
Some pupils used straws to create 2D shapes and then label them. Others made their 2D shapes into 3D objects – in this case all pyramids. these link to our IDL topic – can you guess what that is?
We’ll be having a sharing the learning event all about Ancient Egypt with the pupils from P2/3/4 early in term 4.
