Little Acorns- Sunshine and Sunflowers
The children have really enjoyed our most recent topic- Sunshine and Sunflowers. They have explored their whole school environment and noticed how it has changed throughout the year. They have grown a range of flowers from seeds and learnt how to care for them. Some of the children have had a really close look at flowers and drawn their own masterpieces. They have also taken part in outdoor learning activities and practiced how to stay safe in the sun.
The children have been learning about ‘life cycles’ in Little Acorns as part of our topic ‘Sunshine and Sunflowers.’
We closely observed the caterpillars as they grew in size, and once they’d formed their chrysalides, we safely moved them to their hatching net. We waited patiently for the magic to happen and eventually we had beautiful ‘Painted Lady’ butterflies. We cared for the butterflies for a few days by offering fruit and sugar water until the day came when we set them free in the garden.
As a hook for our ‘Blood Heart’ topic, we were lucky enough to visit the Science Department at TCS; we went down to take part in a session about the heart.
We heard all about the heart, how it works, why it is shaped like it is and the different parts of it. We watched someone disect a cow heart on the large screen and then we got to go and touch some animal hearts that had already been disected.
It was amazing to see how engaged the whole year group were – you could have heard a pin drop!
Ash Class had the most amazing time visiting Shaldon Zoo. We thoroughly enjoyed it, even the bus journey to get there! On the bus, we sang songs, which was great fun and got us in the mood for our adventure!
We loved being explorers as we looked carefully to spot the amazing animals. Some of the monkeys even did a little gymnastics display for us, which was so funny! We showed great empathy to the needs of the animals by trying our best to be quiet, so that we did not frighten them.
When we got back to school, we looked at photographs of animals from around the world, some of which we had seen at the zoo. We learnt that in the past, before cameras were invented, explorers would have recorded the new animals they had discovered, by drawing pictures of them. We had a go at doing our own observational drawings. We showed our amazing Growth Mindset with this activity. When we weren’t happy with our pictures, we had another try. We found out that you have to pay attention to the detailed features of the animal you are drawing, and draw what you see. Look at our amazing artwork.
What was your favourite part of the day?
Palm Class had a fantastic day at Occombe Farm this week. Our trip started with a nature trail, learning about plants and trees on the farm. We then enjoyed learning about how to make pizza and picking our own fresh herbs from the garden. We even planted our own sunflower seeds and have been caring for them in class, making sure they have everything they need to grow. Our favourite part of the day was feeding the goats!
Apple Class enjoyed the glorious weather at Occombe Farm today. We learned all about how to make pizza and the plants used to make it. We even got to pick our own fresh toppings from the garden. While it was cooking, we went to visit the animals. After lunch, we planted some seeds and headed off into the nature trail to learn more about the plants on the farm.
The Little Acorns have had so much fun exploring our new topic ‘Dangerous Dinosaurs!’ We have learnt about prehistoric animals that lived on Earth before our time. We have learnt facts about dinosaurs and realised how big some of these giant creatures actually were! We have investigated the difference between herbivores and carnivores. We became palaeontologists for the day and discovered ‘dinosaur bones’ in the sand. We then compared the sizes and put them in size order from shortest to longest. We wrote our names in the dinosaur ‘swamp’ and produced our own ammonite art on the playground!
We have had some very exciting visitors in Foundation. Last week, an incubator arrived with 10 chicken eggs. The incubator kept the eggs warm and we watched as the chicks started to hatch from their eggs. The chicks started off looking rather soggy but soon warmed up and got very fluffy! We learnt all about the life cycle of a chicken and shared our own knowledge with our friends. We learnt that the orange/brown chicks are females (hens) and the yellow chicks are males (cockerels). We linked this with our learning in our new topic ‘Ready Steady Grow’.
When the chicks were dry and strong, we moved them to the brooder box with a special heat lamp to keep them warm. The chicks huddle together to keep warm.
9 of our eggs hatched and we loved watching them grow. The chicks have grown feathers and are now flapping their wings!
We made a ‘chick pen’ and allowed the chicks to run around on the carpet, we found it so exciting, especially when the chicks chased each other! We observed the chicks and discussed the way they moved. We also looked at the chicks feet and compared them to dinosaurs!
We also got to have chick cuddles! We were very careful and patient with the chicks and loved holding them.
This afternoon, Year 3 have been investigating magnets. We started by discussing the meanings of key words: magnet, attract and repel. Then we found out about the north and south poles. Finally, we investigated the strength of magnets using force meters. We did this by hooking a paper clip onto the end of a force meter and attracted it to a magnet. We then slowly pulled the paper clip and force meter away from the magnet and recorded the force (in newtons).
In our recent Starry Night project, the children in Little Acorns have been exploring the differences between the world at night time compared with daytime, through a range of exciting and creative activities. They have learnt about nocturnal animals and how they find food when it is dark. We have looked at people who work at night and the different jobs that people do when we are asleep. We have discussed bedtime routines and the importance of a good night’s sleep. We have explored the night sky and found out about the moon and stars and even had a go at painting pictures of the moon and the night sky.
What an exciting topic!
Today in Little Acorns we have been learning why it is dark at night time, and also how the sun provides us with light in the day time. We also spoke about other sources of light and how we can make it light again at night time in order for us to be able to see. We then explored this concept by allowing the children to investigate in the black-out tent with torches.
Today year 5 started a science investigation to explore if reaction times change as we age. By making card rulers children were able to measure their own reaction distance and understand how to test others reactions. We did this by holding the ruler while another person aimed to catch it, we then measured the distance they were able to catch it at. Due to Covid restrictions we could not test adults of different ages around school so the children have been asked to perform the experiment on a carer or family member at home.
The children were able to write a hypothesis, predicting whether age would affect reaction times. Many of the children thought that as you get older your reaction time might be slower. However we also had a discussion about whether a child might be faster to catch the ruler than a toddler. Some children thought that ‘older people will be quicker because they have done it before’ and some thought that ‘good hand eye coordination’ might mean that younger people will be faster.
Later in the week pupils will present their findings on a line graph so we can find out how our reactions change as we age.
Yesterday Redwood class had a wonderful time making their own poo. As our hook for the new learning journey – Burps, Bottoms and Bile – They all created the digestive system to see how their food travelled from one organ to the next.
We began our investigation by using our incisor and canine teeth (disguised as scissors) to cut up food. The food then made its way to the back of the mouth where our molars took over. Once our molars had got to work the saliva glands (syringe filled with water) secreted moisture into the mouth to create a soft mushy substance. The food made its way through our oesophagus to the stomach, it was met with a strong acidic liquid (vinegar) where it was broken down. Once this stage was finished, it was moved to our small intestine (tights). The children had to remove all the goodness at this stage so we dipped this into water and red food colouring where we were able to see all the nutrients leaving the substance. Once through the small intestine, it was onto the large intestine, this meant squeezing all the water out!! The now semi-dry substance was delivered through the rectum and into the cup where the children could see the final stage of the digestive system. The children observed the final product replicated faeces.
Fir Class caused a right stink this afternoon when they spent time making poo!
As our hook for our new learning journey – Burps, Bottoms and Bile – the recreated the digestive system to seen
how food becomes poo.
First we cut up the food using scissor to represent our incisors, the used a cup and our fists to do the work of the molars – crushing the food. Syringes acted as our saliva glands and added some moisture to the mix. We then moved the mixture into the stomach which added acid (vinegar) and continued to squash the food.
Once it looked ready, we moved it into the small intestine, we dipped this into our pot of ‘blood’ which showed out the nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream.
Finally, we squeezed out the excess liquid just like the large intestine and then we released what was left from the rectum.
Foundation had a fantastic afternoon exploring shadows. We have been learning all about puppets during our topic, ‘Puppets and Pop-ups’ and watched an interesting video all about shadow puppets. We followed some tutorials on how to create shadows and found it so interesting that we could make shadow puppets by moving our hands.
We also discussed how shadows are made and discovered that shadows are created when “an object blocks the sun”. We went into our outdoor area and made our own shadow shapes!
This afternoon, Year 3 received a very special letter. Waiting for them after lunch was a brown envelope which contained a letter from Iron Man. The letter told them that he had also sent a special email to the Year 3 teachers: this contained a video detailing a challenge. The challenge involved exploring and investigating the fit trail – finding out how the equipment works, what makes it move and how they stay on the equipment.
It was a great afternoon to start our new topic ‘Mighty Metals’!
There are also some special stickers from Iron Man waiting for Year 3 on Monday…
Today in Year 2, we were learning about how easily germs can spread through direct and indirect contact. To investigate this, we put glitter on our hands to replicate invisible germs, and then played a game of ‘Stuck in the mud’ to help us observe what happens to germs. We concluded that germs spread very easily and that’s why it is so important that we wash our hands regularly and well. 
Today in Fir Class, we have written persuasive letters to the general public, as well as companies, to persuade them to take action regarding plastic pollution. In literacy, we have been learning why and how we write persuasive letters. We used our prior knowledge from our learning journey of Blue Abyss, along with devastating plastic pollution facts that we learned by visiting Plymouth Aquarium.
We used the metacognition cycle to plan, monitor and evaluate our persuasive letters. You can see from the pictures that we used our plans effectively to support our writing, as well as monitoring them by using our purple pen to edit and improve. This demonstrated our learning value of being reflective. We have shown our resourcefulness learning value by making sure we have all our helpful resources in front of us. Great learning Fir Class!
On Monday 18th October, Fir Class visited the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. This trip was part of our learning journey as we have been learning about the Blue Abyss.
We started the day by curiously exploring artefacts from the ocean. We were very keen to share our thoughts with the staff at the aquarium and find out more about the fascinating artefacts! Collaboration was also very important during our activities as we ‘dissected’ a sperm whale to find out about their diet. Although, we discovered that lots of plastic had been ‘consumed’, which led to interesting discussions about plastic pollution. We were able to dive into the depths of the ocean through using virtual reality headsets, it was an amazing experience!
We even gave the fantastic staff our very own book ‘Anthology of Sea Creatures’ to share with them all the wonderful learning we have been doing in literacy through writing a non-fiction text.
On Monday 18th October, Year 4 visited the National Marine Aquarium as part of their Blue Abyss learning journey. It was a brilliant day, all the children represented Hazeldown brilliantly. We were treated to a dedicated tour of the Aquarium with a member of staff. After lunch, we were then able to take part in a workshop which meant the children had the opportunity to classify different materials from the stomach of a deep sea animal. This meant sifting through fish guts, eaten squid and devastatingly plastic. Everyone worked collaboratively throughout the day, but most importantly, the workshop made some us have to be more resilient as the smell was not pleasant!
In our learning journey ‘Frozen Kingdom’, we have been learning about animals that live in the Polar regions and how they are adapted to their environment.
As a part of this, we have planned and carried out an experiment to see how some animals – such as Polar bears – insulate themselves against the cold. We learnt that Polar bears, and other animals, have a layer of blubber (which is also known as fat) which helps to minimise the impact of the cold.
In our experiment, we had to put our hand in a bucket of ice and water. We did this with just our hand, a single glove, two gloves and finally, two gloves and a layer of air trapped between the two gloves.
We found that, the more layers of insulation (including air) we had between our hand and the ice-cold water, the longer it was before we felt the cold.
Willow class really enjoyed designing rockets. We used the metacognition cycle to plan, monitor and evaluate our rocket designs.
We planned our designs and what materials we would use. Have a look at some of our superb designs.
We made our designs ready to test them.
We tested our rockets using straws. We evaluated which went the furtherest and why.
Some of us used this evaluation to make changes to our rockets.
Today, Apple Class began a science investigation to answer the question ‘Where do snails go?’ We rounded up, measured, identified and marked different snails before putting them all in one spot. Later in the week, will predict what we think the snails will do, before hunting them down again and marking their movements on a map.
For the next six weeks, Year 6 are learning about the Arctic and Antarctic. To inspire us and tell us a bit more about the polar regions, James Moore came to talk to us about his experiences.
James helps to make sure that expeditions to extreme places are safe from a medical point of view. He spoke to us about a specific expedition he had planned and attended as the medic. He showed us where he went, how far he had to travel and some of the equipment he had to take with him.
Both classes found it an inspiring start to our learning journey. We could not believe that the expedition toilet blew away in a storm!
Some of us got to try on his equipment – it was very bulky!
James also made us think about some of the big questions related to the polar regions. These included: Is all polar tourism bad? Who owns the polar regions? What can I do to have an impact on global warming?
We hope you enjoy looking at some of the pictures.
What a fantastic start to Year Two Apple Class had.
We spent a large portion of the day hunting for minibeasts high and low. We found them when we shook trees, we found them under logs and we even found them in the pond.
Can you remember the names of any of the creatures you found?
Can you remember the names given to the equipment we were using and how to use it?
This morning Cherry dissected owl pellets. We learnt where the pellets came from. They are regurgitated by an owl between meals.
First, we had to soak the pellet in warm water for 10 minutes to soften them.
Then, we pulled the pellet apart to see what the owl had eaten. Some of us were fascinated and some of us were less than pleased by what we found. We found all sorts of bones including feet and skulls. We used a bone identification chart to identify the animal skeletons.
Can you remember which bones you found?
Year 3 have been busy learning all about their favourite creatures since our first trip to Paignton Zoo. In school today, we finished writing up our leaflets which we are sending to Matt at the Zoo. Other visitors from the Zoo can then learn more about these fascinating creatures like we have been.
@Paigntonzoo
Today, Year 4 had an amazing day at Plymouth Aquarium. This was to celebrate the end of the learning journeys Predator and Blue Abyss that the children had been learning about during , and after, Lockdown.
A great big thank you should go to all 62 pupils who were a credit to our school! They showed great respect towards the aquarium staff and general public and were able to showcase their new learning effectively!
Well done Year 4! 
Today we went to Plymouth Aquarium on a coach. In the first room we visited there were 38 Starfish and we used our maths skills to work out how many Starfish legs there were. There were 190 in total! We saw a Catshark and learnt they take 9 months to hatch from their purses. We also met Friday the Turtle, he swam over our heads. We found him in the Atlantic Ocean zone. The largest Jellyfish is called a Lion’s Mane Jellyfish, we learnt that the their tentacles can wrap around the walls of the aquarium. We learnt that Jellyfish don’t actually swim, but they drift on the currents. There was a species of fish called Humphead wrasse the first was called Cooper and the second was called Mini. In the Great Barrier Reef zone we found there were 3 types of coral: Cabbage Lever coral, Mushroom coral and Staghorn coral.
Year 5 continued their learning journey, Stargazers, by visiting outer space in the amazing Space Odyssey mobile planetarium. Simon from Space Odyssey was very impressed with the knowledge that year 5 were able to display. The children were able to experience simulations on the Moon and Mars and inside a space station. We discussed black holes, phases of the Moon, star constellations, the size of our solar system, day and night and so much more.
We have had a busy and exciting start to our predator topic so far.
Over the last few weeks, we have been carrying out a science investigation to test the conditions that plants need to grow. We have looked at no air, no water, no light and no soil. From the photos below which plant has continued to grow the best? Why do you think that is?
We have also looked at seed dispersal. Can you tell how the seeds in the photo below disperse?
In computing, we had to create programmes for our cars to avoid the predators. If we made a mistake we had to adjust our programme and try again.
The most smelly learning so far came from investigating owl pellets. We had to use our careful observation skills to identify the animals that the owls had been eating. We were also able to identify some of the different types of bones. Which bones can you see?
Our butterflies were ready to be released today into our garden. We hope they will come back to visit us one day.
All of the children enjoy Special Weeks in Foundation. We follow the children’s interests, and create some really engaging experiences. Our children are very passionate about saving the planet. We think this is fabulous at only 4 and 5 years old! The children were discussing how important it is to rid the sea of plastic. The children brainstormed ideas to fix this problem. They created some excellent drawings of their ideas and products.
Some children thought a magnet could get all the rubbish from the sea. We created an experiment to test whether a magnet would work under water. We discovered that it will work under water. However, it didn’t pick up non-magnetic objects. The children decided we might need a new solution.
We will keep working on different ideas. Well done Foundation!
At the start of the week, Oak Class set up a trail camera in the forest school area to see if we could capture any predators in our local area.
Take a look at what we captured.
Which of these do you think is a predator? Can see see any after their prey?
Over in Little Acorns, we have been planting sunflowers, sweet peas, marigolds and lobelia in the hope to make it look beautiful and bright, and to try and entice the butterflies.
The sunflower shoots that they planted, were grown from seed. The children have been really interested to learn all about the life cycle of a sunflower.
Year three spent the day monkeying around at Paignton Zoo. We went in search of the fiercest predators. At crocodile swap, we found out and drew on a map where the different species of crocodiles live in the world. We also used our map skills to locate the different animals enclosures using a 4 figure grid reference. There was time for a little play too.
The Little Acorns have been caring for 5 caterpillars over the last 2 weeks. We have observed them carefully and watched them grow. During this incredible period of growth, they have shed their exoskeletons four times and have grow more than ten times their original size!
The caterpillars have now changed into chrysalides, so have been safely transferred to their hatching net whilst they harden. This is a very delicate time so we will let them rest peacefully whilst the amazing process takes place!
We can not wait to see them soon emerge as beautiful butterflies!
This afternoon, Oak Class spent some time investigating the predators that could be found in the pond. We had lots of fun! We found many creatures we’d never heard of or seen before. The leaches, newts, frogs and blood worms were some of our favourites. We used identification keys to help us name some of the animals we found. Do you recognise any of the creatures in the pictures below?
Year Three have been having fun with mirrors and exploring their reflective properties.
We had to decipher Mrs Jeffery’s secret message and then created some of our own. We needed a bit of resilience for this task. We used our mirrors go guide us around a path on the playground. It was very hard not to cheat and look at the floor. We also used them to shine light in different places around the room, see things that were on our backs and look what was on the table when we were under it.
The Little Acorns children have been enjoying our new water-based mini topic- Splash! They have been exploring different types of water play and learning about the different forms of water. They have learnt about freezing and melting, they have investigated with objects to see whether they float or sink, they made their own waterfalls, and they have even made their own scented water by squeezing sliced citrus fruits.
The children enjoyed blowing bubbles in watery paint to make their own bubble paintings, and had great fun being graffiti artists by flicking and spraying coloured paint onto a large sheet of paper!
In science today, we discussed the importance of sun safety. We talked about why it’s important not to look at the sun and different ways we can keep safe. We then had some special beads that we needed to keep safe from the sun. We would know if the sun’s light energy had reached them because they would change colour.
We thought about different ways of doing this such as:
- suncream
- under sunglasses
- in the shade
- covering them up (in different ways)
- in water
This led us to other questions as well. We wondered if covering them in shiny paper would be better as it might reflect the sun away. We wondered why the suncream didn’t work as well as we expected.
What would you try?
What a busy week in Ebony Class!
This week we have been #geographers. As a part of our topic – ‘Hola Mexico’, we researched the similarities and differences between their physical and human geography and ours in the UK. We then presented this information in fact files.
We have also been #scientists. As a part of our topic, we looked at the way the Mayans built the Temple of Kukulcan. They observed the sun and built the temple so that it looked like a snake was climbing down the temple. We then reminded ourselves how shadows were made and experimented with how shadows change when we change the angle and distance of the light source. We observed and measured the changes.
Finally, we have been continuing to develop as atheletes. We have been working on key skills including: shot putt, discus, hop, skip and jump. This week we were developing our hurdling skills – in very heavy wind!
I hope you enjoyed reading about our week.
Big Wide World!
Today in Little Acorns, the children created their own ‘Planet Earth’ picture.
After studying pictures, we filled a circular dish with shaving foam. Then very carefully, the children used pipettes to slowly drip blue and green food colouring onto the foam. Next they lay a piece of paper over the foam and gently tapped their fingers around the circle. They were amazed at the prints that had formed! They look just like Planet Earth!
In Apple class, we explored plants and did some observational drawings of them. Firstly, we watched ‘Austin’s Butterfly’ and talked about how we can plan, monitor and evaluate (metacognition) our work and improve it through several attempts. We had to look carefully at the size, shape and texture of the plants and work together to give each other effective feedback. We had lots of fun and enjoyed using colouring pencils, wax crayons and art pencils to complete our drawings! 
Palm Class were learning all about the parts of a plant yesterday. What better way to learn than taking apart the plants themselves and investigating what they can see under a microscope. Palm Class were amazed at what plants and flowers looked like under the microscope and how different types of flowers varied. The children were fantastic investigators and showcased some excellent scientific discoveries.
As part of our learning topic “The Scented Garden’, Apple Class brought in lots of flowers, herbs and plants to recreate our very own Hazeldown Garden centre. We talked about the properties of the plants, how they grow and how we can look after them, asking plenty of scientific questions. We enjoyed discovering the enchanting fragrances of flowers and herbs too, using our 5 senses to explore the plants in different ways. Some of us did some observational drawings, smelt the plants, take close up pictures, look through a magnifying glass and dissect some flowers. We found it fascinating and we are excited to continue our learning topic! 
Our new learning journey is called ‘The Scented Garden’ and today we went on a walk around the school to discover what flowers we ready have growing in school. We found daffodils, daisies and buttercups but we couldn’t find geraniums or hydrangeas. We had a conversation about why this would be. It was so lovely to be in the sunshine and we now can’t wait to create our very own garden centre later this week.
The children at Little Acorns have really enjoyed our most recent topic- Dangerous Dinosaurs! We have discovered interesting facts about herbivores and carnivores! Became palaeontologists as we dug for dinosaur fossils in the sand! We have explored frozen dinosaur eggs! We have built our own dinosaurs from junk modelling! What an exciting topic!
The children at Little Acorns have been making their own rainbow potions made from coloured water, glitter and flower petals. They have also been planting cucumbers, sunflowers, primroses and pansies to make our garden look pretty. We hope the cucumbers will grow to be nice and juicy so we can enjoy them at snack time!
The children in Foundation had a fantastic afternoon learning all about capacity. We had a ‘capacity race’ and moved the liquid from one container to the other. We collaborated and supported our team mates. We used key vocabulary such as ‘full’, ‘half full’ and ’empty’.
Well done Foundation! 🙂
