The Great Fire of London has come to Maple Class.
We have already created fire artwork using oil pastels and today we used a different medium, paper. We put the scissors to one side and ripped red, yellow and orange paper into different sized strips before layering them to get the effect of flames. Some children used a pencil to curl the strips of paper.
We have been learning about the events of The Great Fire in 1666 and know that the diary of Samuel Pepys provided lots of information. If you follow the link below, you can learn more about the events and play a few Fire of London games along the way.
Some of the Year 6 pupils have created their own news report:
This morning Year 5 unlocked their imagination and dived into a world of Secret Gardens. They pushed down the heavy wooden door and discovered walled gardens, golden fruit trees and a variety of plants and flowers. Year 5 will be writing stories around what they saw and hopefully it will have set pathways in their imaginations for a spectacular, creative narrative.
The PTA are delighted to have funded the new play boat in the Year 1 playground.
The funds raised at the Christmas Fayre are being used to purchase it.
We asked each class for a suggestion for the name of the boat and the PTA chose Apple classes name ADVENTURER.
We hope all the children of Hazeldown School, now and in the future, have many fabulous adventures in it!
We have been using oil pastels today to create a fiery background. Some of us drew swirls, some lines, some chose triangular shapes to create flames. We then blended the colours together using our fingers. It was messy work, but a lot of fun.
We looked at a variety of pieces of art depicting flames to get ideas. We also cut out silhouettes of buildings which we will stick to our backgrounds. We worked really hard to carefully cut out the buildings.
We are looking forward to building model houses soon in preparation for our Celebration event.
This afternoon Year 5 had a visit from the local fire brigade to discuss their safety around fire. They were shown things such as what could happen if you left electrical devices on charge and how serious the consequences could be. Year 5 were also told about the importance of calling 999 in an emergency and how hoax calls can be detrimental to others who are in danger. They may be coming home tonight showing you the ‘stop, drop & roll’ and asking you to test your smoke alarms!
Year 2 had a very interesting and very informative talk this afternoon by a friendly Fire Officer called John. The children learnt all about safety in the home and school and what to do in the event of a fire. They learnt about various risks and how to avoid them. They also were asked to remind parent/carers to test their smoke alarms at home. A great presentation from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Services. Thank you.
On Tuesday this week, a group of Year 6 girls went to Exeter to take part in a STEM activity. STEM is a grouping of subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), that is under represented by girls.
At the session we learnt how to use minecraft to code. We wrote a series of instructions that trained an in game character to help stop fires by recognising what was a fire source and what was not.
We also learnt to use Paint3D. This piece of software enables you to create a 2-D object, transform it into 3-D and then see that object in the room with you – this is called Mixed Reality.
Yesterday, a team of 8 footballers went to TCS to compete in the annual learning community football tournament. Out of 7 games, they won 6 and drew 1, conceding no goals along the way. They demonstrated all of our school learning values, with all of them putting in 100% effort, which made them a group to be proud of! Congratulations Team Hazeldown!
We were very lucky today to have a visitor come and see us. Mr Wade spoke to us about renting an allotment, the types of vegetables you can grow and the history of the allotment. Did you know, allotments first came around in the 16th century? Our favourite story involved some naughty sweetcorn-loving badgers!
We are very excited to see what else we will learn in our new topic.
Monkey Puzzle were lucky enough to have a talk today from a gentleman who has vast experience in renting allotments. He spoke to the children about produce he grew, how it made him feel and also he spoke about the history of allotments as well.
Monkey Puzzle cam up with some great questions about crops and were really interested in the answers the speaker gave.
Year 2 had great fun experimenting with bubbles outside. We used a range of bubble blowers to create bubbles of different sizes. How big could we make our bubbles? How many could we catch? Could we catch one and try and make it bounce? It was a really windy day which was even better.
In Phonics today, we were looking at different ai sounds. We focused on ai, ay and the split a-e digraph. In pairs, we acted as sound detectives and circled the ai sounds in a story. Some of us even spotted other alternatives, such as eight, great and grey.
We noticed that ai usually comes in the middle of a word and ay usually comes at the end of a word.
We care about our spellings. Getting them right helps us to communicate. Have a look at some of the ways we can show that we are taking pride in our spellings. What can you do to improve your spellings?
Today in Year 6 we were learning some new words as a part of our Literacy unit. For our lesson, we had to write the word (spelling it correctly), find and write the definition and use the word in context.
We discussed why we should use these words and one of the main reasons is to make our writing as exciting as possible for the reader.
Do you know what all these words mean?
Today Monkey Puzzle had chance to prepare a vegetable soup using ingredients that can be grown in an allotment – our current learning journey.
They had the opportunity to peel, chop and taste the ingredients. they made some vegetable stock for the liquid and added mixed herbs for flavour. Miss Franks has taken the soup home and she will cook and blend it. Tomorrow the children will get a chance to taste their home made vegetable soup.
In Year 1, we have been looking at how members of the Royal Family might speak, walk and sit.
We discussed how we could improve our etiquette, posture and manners to be more like The Queen!
We had to walk and sit with straight backs, ensuring we spoke with correct pronunciation for every word. We even played a game trying to keep bean bags on our heads for as long as possible.
Hopefully all the children were able to come home and show you everything they had learnt!
Look at our fantastic models. Because we wrote labels to say what they are, we are able to display them in the classroom until ‘Friday tidy’! Look at our amazing writing!
We had great fun today as we bounced around today. We also showed some great risk taking as we tackled the death slide and jumped off a platform on to an air bag.
It was wonderful to see the children supporting and encouraging each other. They had wonderful manners and did Hazeldown proud. iBounce said we were wonderful and asked if we could come back! Of course we want to. It was brilliant.
How did your body change after exercising?
What risks did you take today?
Did you bounce like any animals?
This week we have started our new topic in year 5; Allotment. Today, we were researching where different regions of the UK are located and the types of farming they are responsible for. We are very excited to start our new topic and finding out where our food comes from!
Today in the Nurture Room we introduced the topic ‘Romans’.
The pupils were fully engaged and enjoyed finding out about the Romans. The pupils were also keen to find out more …. What will we find out next time?
Year 2 had an amazing trip today to iBounce as our memorable experience for the new topic Bounce.
We had great fun bouncing , jumping and balancing. A great start to our new exciting topic.
To start our new topic ‘Blood Heart’ we were able to explore the human body using AR (augmented reality).
Using a ‘super QR code’ we were able to see the internal systems of the human body over the top of our actual body. We were able to travel down arteries, move around the lungs and much more.
Even Mr Goodenough come and explored with us.
Celebrating 100 acts of kindness with a movie and popcorn!
The Nurture Room pupils have been collaborating to achieve 100 acts of kindness over the last half term.
This included, good manners, kindness towards others, and recognising the impact it has.
What a positive experience, which will be on going!
When we arrived at school this morning, we found a very official looking invitation to a Queen’s tea party. We spent the morning preparing for it. Preparations included making our own sandwiches.
We learnt some facts about Her Majesty and watched a slideshow of London. In the afternoon, we continued preparations by laying the tables with tablecloths and cutlery. We learnt from the Lord Chamberlain himself how to correctly curtsey and bow.
We then had a wonderful tea party, listening to classical music, chatting politely amongst ourselves and occasionally coming over to bow or curtsey before the Queen.
We hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas. Just a reminder that we are holding our memorable experience tomorrow, a tea party fit for the Queen, so children are invited to come in smart attire.
Yummy! Thank you for our fabulous treat this afternoon! 😃
The Nurture Room pupils designed and made their very own Christmas board games to play with their friends. They have also decided to take them home to play with family over Christmas.
They demonstrated fantastic resilience, turn taking and good use of their Maths skills whilst playing their games.
Monkey Puzzle used their knowledge of angles to become RAF Pilots and navigate their way across Europe. The children had to be collaborative and work together to understand the map and the task in hand. As well as finding all the bearings using a 360 degree protractor the children had to match up the city with a letter to unlock the code to rescue the troops.
As part of the Potions topic, the children have been learning about reversible and irreversible reactions.
To show this, the children had the opportunity to design and produce their own chocolates, which they made into a gift to take home.
The children made 3 chocolates each with different toppings. They then made an origami box to present their chocolates in.
As part of guided reading this week, we have been researching about the author, Lewis Carroll. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is one of the books we have been looking at for our topic. We found out many interesting facts about Lewis Carroll, including his real name which was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. As a class, we looking are looking forward to finding out what else will happen in Wonderland.
After performing so well in our final Christmas performance, the children in Maple Class loved being set this challenge. Using only letters that appear in the word Christmas, how many other words can you find?
They used their phonic knowledge to great effect and soon realised there were two s, meaning they could turn some words into plurals. We came together at the end to share each other’s lists of words. They had managed to find some words I hadn’t even considered.
I wonder if there are many more?
Today the Nurture room pupils explored different textures, and used their imagination to create some amazing models.
Bonsai class spent the afternoon making bird feeders for our Forest School area. Using old coconut shells and pine cones, they squished in lard, mixed with seeds, fruit, grated cheese, breadcrumbs and raisins. Other groups made Christmas wreaths and stars and practised their knot tying using an animated knot website. Next week, we will take the bird feeders out to the Forest School area and hang them up for the birds to feast on over the Christmas holiday!
Ebony class started Forest School with a stick tower challenge – which group could build the tallest tower using only small sticks and natural materials found in the woods. There were some interesting results! The winning tower was made by slotting small, hollow sticks into one another, making it look like one long stick! After that, a group re-located some old tyres from the garden behind the bungalow … and found some interesting wildlife – huge frogs! The bug hunt proved popular, especially using the magnifying pots, as some of the bugs were very tiny. After some whittling of hazel sticks and some fire-making with a flint and steel, a welcome cup of hot chocolate was enjoyed by all – the wind was chilly today!
Monkey Puzzle have been creating their own board games this afternoon based around Alchemy Island. They have had to work collaboratively to create a board game from scratch. They started by thinking of their ideas and then creating everything from the actual board games down to any resources they needed to be able to play. Some children created the characters, other magpied ideas and others were resourceful by using pieces from other games. Everyone had a great afternoon playing each others games – what a great way to end a Friday!
We have been working so hard preparing our Christmas play. It was great fun putting our costumes on. Here are some sneak previews!!
Cherry class have been working really hard over the Autumn term learning to play the plastic trombones. 
The children were so proud of their achievements that they invited their parents in for a full performance to see their progress. The class performed amazingly!! The parents were then invited to have a go…… it’s not as easy as it looks is it?!!!
Special thanks to Mrs Price.
Year 3 have been working really hard on their fantastic learning journey “SCRUMDIDDLYUMPTIOUS”. 
All the children were invited to their celebration event with a special golden ticket inside a chocolate bar wrapper. The year group (including the teachers) then came dressed as their favourite characters from the class reading book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, to show-case their learning to their parents. All involved had an amazing time creating their own smoothies, making peppermint creams and decorating various Christmas gingerbread shapes, amongst other activities!!!!! Mmmmmmm delicious!!
Please return your bags by 9.00am to school. Additional bags are available from the school office or use any suitable bags you have at home.
They can be filled with unwanted clothes, paired shoes (tied together), handbags, hats, bags, scarves, ties, jewellery, lingerie and belts.
Bags are weighed in exchange for money – a great way to raise funds for school, two great charities (Meningitis Now and bibic) and to have a clear out!
♻♻ Happy recycling!!! ♻♻
Holly class got into some serious whittling at Forest School, with some great hazel sticks. They used potato peelers and worked methodically to create some lovely carved pencil points. Other groups spent time in the school grounds orienteering and developed some fantastic map reading skills. The clock was against them so they had to be quick to find all 12 flags! Read more
In Monkey Puzzle class, the children learnt how to tie a range of knots using a great website called ‘Animated Step by Step Knotting’. They discovered that there are a number of expert knotters in the class who soon started teaching others to tie some tricky knots. Ms Elliot is very talented at plaiting, so she taught some complicated plaiting skills. Outside, the children played Bat and Moth, a game that taught them about how bats use echo location.
FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2019
Children can wear non-school uniform in exchange for £1 contribution or donations of:
Refreshments and tombola items (good quality, in-date items only please)
Everyone – homemade cakes, Jingle Jars and/or
Foundation – chocolates / sweets
Year 1 – cakes
Year 2 – bottles (toiletries)
Year 3 – tins / packet food
Year 4 – mince pies / biscuits
Year 5 – bottles (drinks including alcohol)
Year 6 – cakes
Year 6 Ebony class spent the morning at Forest School making miniature homes for animals in the woods… and then creating a mud slide! Thanks to the waterproofs provided by the PTA, they could get as muddy as they liked! We ended the morning with a delicious and warming cup of hot chocolate – what a morning! In the afternoon, groups played Bat and Moth, while others completed a Forest School quiz or wrote a Forest School rap!
Today the children used their knowledge to piece together a poem. The children looked out for punctuation and rhyming words to work out the correct order.
As part of our maths learning, we had to mark some of Miss Tapp’s work.
It was quite tricky for us to see where she had gone wrong – and explain how she had gone wrong.
Here is an example:
Don’t forget to bring your Jingle Jars in this Friday when it is Donation Day for the Fayre.
We also look forward to seeing all your homemade Christmas Hats at the Fayre.
There are prizes for the best hats so get your creative skills flowing!
We have been working collaboratively today as we have started to create word webs. To begin with, we made sure we could use a dictionary correctly by finding chosen words and their definitions. After this, we wrote a word in the middle of our paper, and then we found its definition. Next, we split the word into its prefix and root word and found out what they meant. Our next step will be to find other words containing our chosen prefix and root word.
