Category: General News

Did you know that barn owls have asymmetric ears to help them to hear their prey or that they can open and close their ears using a pink flap of skin or that a group of owls is called a parliament? Well, our class do! We have been finding out fascinating facts about barn owls in class, reading the story The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark and learning to retell a report about barn owls.
To extend learning we were very lucky, yesterday, to have a visit from Mrs Barn Owl and her keeper Ian, from Wild Owl. It was a fantastic experience for us all, especially when Mrs Barn Owl flew across the room. Many of us were sure that we could feel her wings touching us as she flew over our heads!
We all sat really well listening to Ian, answering his questions and asking some of our own. Hugo was brave enough to take the talon test to check whether Mrs Barn Owl’s talons were really as sharp as we thought and he said that they felt spiky.  Ian demonstrated how owls have silent flight by flapping a pigeon’s feather, which was very noisy and then an owl’s feather which flapped silently.

The most important lesson that we learnt is that barn owls are not pets but belong in the wild and it is up to us all to ensure that they continue to thrive in UK.  To help owls to survive we can put up owl boxes for them to nest in and leave grass to grow long to provide a habitat for the owl’s favourite dinner;  the field vole.

 

January 31st was Chinese New Year and to celebrate the Year of the Horse we made paper lanterns and decorated the classroom with streamers. We were very lucky to have a visit from Mr Xu who explained some of the customs that people perform as part of the celebrations, such as throwing fire crackers to ward off evil spirits and eating dumplings. He then told us the story of the Great Race – the animals that make up the Chinese zodiac. We held our own race and placed the animals in order just like in the story. Finally he taught us how to write the character Fu in Chinese which means good fortune or happiness.

            

Fu                                                                upside down Fu

 

In Chinese houses the character is usually displayed upside down on red squared paper or fabric on the door for New Year. It was a bit tricky but we all had a good go.

We all had a lovely day.

 

Our topic this term is The Wonders of Winter, with a focus on weather and day and night. We already have an icy igloo in the classroom and are making a sparkly snowy display. We have been reading lots of wintry stories and a particular favourite is The Big Fuzzy by Caroline Castle; a story set in Greenland about an Inuit girl called Sira and her little brother Ivik. Last week Hugo brought in a real Inuit coat which looked just like the one Ivik wears in the story! If you have any books at home about cold, snowy climates, polar bears and penguins then we would love to read them in class.

 

The story that we are learning this term is Can’t You Sleep Little Bear? by Martin Waddell.   We have talked about what it is like in the dark and how where light comes from.  Mrs Saeed is impressed with how quickly we have all learnt to retell the story. Have a look at the video of some of our children acting it out in the classroom. Ask your child to retell the story at home and even teach you some of the actions.

Happy new year to you all and we look forward to seeing the children in school, bright and breezy, on Monday 6th January.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. Well done all of those who have had a go on the mathletics maths website so far. If you have yet to log on then you will find your child’s username and password at the back of their yellow reading record and access the site at this address www.mathletics.co.uk (there is also a link on the left side of the blog).