The adults in Excalibur Class are:
Mrs Trusson - Class Teacher Monday-Wednesday
Mrs Hegarty - Class Teacher Thursday-Friday
Mrs Elsworth - TA Monday - Wednesday
Mrs Feierabend - HLTA Wednesday- Friday

Christingle

We were joined by helpers from the church to make our Christingles in readiness for our  church service.  The children really enjoyed creating their Christingle and were confident to tell others what each of the parts of the Christingle represented.

Later in the week, we attended our church service where we lit the Christingles...

 

Then some of Excalibur class read extracts from the Bible which linked to the Christingle...

Whilst other members of Excalibur class helped Julie in her address to the congregation.

Decorating the Christmas tree

Excalibur class helped to decorate the school Christmas tree.  The children had to describe their bauble in French before placing it on the tree. 

Ancient Greek Day

We had an amazing day experiencing first-hand what life may have been like during the Ancient Greek civilisation....

We learnt about the Greek alphabet and attempted to write our name and Greek gods using Greek symbols.   We sampled foods which would typically be part of an ancient Greek diet.  The children really challenged themselves to taste and explore those foods, which were sometimes new experiences.

 

We created our own Ancient Greek designs for a vase...

 

After spending some time during the day comparing the modern Olympics to that of the Ancient Greek Olympics, we held our own 'Mini Olympics', including the events discus, javelin and sprinting.

 

Children in Need

We had a very special visitor at our school, after our successful fundraising for Children in Need...have you guessed who?  As you can see by the children's faces, they were very excited to spend time with Pudsey and were particularly keen to get a 'high-five' from him before he left!

Circuit Training (PE)

This term we are having a focus on circuit training in our PE lessons.  During these sessions we complete a range of exercises to support and improve our muscular strength and endurance.  We are really enjoying the challenge!

 

Harvest Festival

To celebrate Harvest this year, we gathered at our local church and shared a range of readings, poems, artwork and prayers.  Excalibur class shared how Harvest is celebrated around the world including information about The Fruit Fair, Lammas Day, Portuguese Flower Festival and the Moon Festival.

 

This week for our carnival project, we added fins and tails to our fish using our willow. Additionally, we added LED lights across the centre and around the outside. Some of us even started to add tissue paper to our structures to form the fish's body.

Conducting Materials

We have been testing materials to discover which materials conduct electricity and which were insulating material and did not allow electricity to pass through it.  We used a simple electrical circuit to insert materials to see if the bulb lit up.  If it did, we knew the material conducted electricity.

 

On Friday, we celebrated International Day of Languages. This year our focus country was Greece due to its link with our topic work. We studied Greece on Google Maps, wore the colours of the Greek flag and listened to Greek music and spoken words. For our project, we even created some amazing posters all about Greece using fact files and the iPads to research the country. 

Continuing our carnival project this week, we strengthened our structures using willow as support. We made willow rings to go on the interior of our fish to help them keep their shape. 

Insulating Materials

Whilst the Year 5s were swimming, the Year 4s conducted an experiment on
insulating materials. In intervals of 2 minutes, the children took temperature
readings from thermometers which had been placed in containers of hot water.
Each container was made from a different material including tin, plastic, steel,
glass and cardboard.

 

This week, we began our carnival project work. As a class, we were taught how to work with our willow and how to bend and attach it together. Following this, we worked in groups to begin to create a structure for our fish.