Blackfell Primary School

Music - My Story - Lesson 1

For our new theme 'My Story' we first listened to a song by Bellowhead called 'Roll Alabama Roll'. We talked about how we could hear a man's voice in the song and how the song was loud and fast. We then found the beat to the song by clapping our hands and then stomping our feet. We talked about whether we liked the song or not. Some of us thought it was exciting whilst others said it was too loud or they did not like the words. 
After listening to this song we sang 'I'm a little teapot.' We all pretended to be teapots and sang as we done the actions. We made very good teapots!
Lastly we listened to a new song called 'it's not too difficult' and tried to remember the words. We then tried to copy some of the actions. We will practice this song every week in music and will perform it as a class at the end of term.  

PSHE- Golden Rules

We have been learning about rules and why we have them. We looked at our schools golden rules and talked about why they were important. We discussed how they kept us safe. We then worked together to think of rules that we think are important for us. We then thought about our rules when we played Jenga with our friends. We took turns, supported our friends and used kind words.

Maths- Comparing Mass

In maths, we have been comparing mass. We have been using the terms ‘heavier’ and ‘lighter’. We have been weighing different fruits and spoke about what we could see. We would say ‘the apple is heavier because the balance is low.’ Or ‘the pear is lighter because the balance is higher.’ Well done Reception, super maths.

PSHE Resilience

We have been working on resilience and working together in our PSHE learning. Together we had a challenge to create a building using large construction. We worked together to select the correct resources, problem solved when it fell down and shared our ides. Well done reception! You created some fantastic structures.

Safer Internet Day

In Reception we have been exploring Safer Internet Day. The theme for safer internet day this year was 'inspiring change'. We begun by talking about how we access the internet at home and in school. We then looked at the story of “Mo and Jaz”. We talked about how they would of being feeling when something popped up on a video they were watching. We looked explored how changes online might make us feel and who could we talk to if we felt these feelings. We then wrote down some advice for Mo and Jaz what they could do if they felt worried again.

Gingerbread Men Boats

This week we have been reading the story "The Gingerbread Man". We talked about different ways that he could get across the river and not be eaten by the fox. We then got creative and used junk modelling to create some fantastic boats for The Gingerbread Man to sail across the river. The boats were fantastic. Well done Reception.

Music - Our World - Lesson 3

The Planets by Gustav Holst

We listened and appraised The Planets by Gustav Holst. We learnt that he was an English composer and music teacher. We learnt that the music was written to describe the character of each of the planets in the Solar System. We listened to the music and most of the class thought the music was loud and a bit scary. We were able to decide which parts of the music were high and low pitch and we all thought the tempo was both fast and slow. We thought about how the music made us feel and discussed emotions. We talked about how colours can represent different feelings and moods.  Finally we drew our faces and chose the colour that best described how we felt when listening to The Planets. Well done Everyone!

Wellbeing Wednesday

Reception and Nursery have enjoyed their Wellbeing Wednesday. We have been taking part in lots of different activities. We have been doing some yoga, talking about people and activities that make us happy and even had time for a dance class with Gemma Newton from Little Movers. It was a fantastic day!

History-Past and Present

In our History learning, we have been looking at what the past and present mean. We looked at different toys and decided if they were from the past or the present. We then looked at different adverts for toys and talked about how adverts from the past were in black and white or they had "funny clothes" on. We then worked in small groups to look at toys and sort them into toys from the past and the present.

Design and Technology Hibernation Plan

This week we have been have been learning about animals who hibernate we talked about what they needed over winter. We then planned a hibernation house for them. We can’t wait to create them.

RE- Somebody Special

Today we have been learning about why Christians think Jesus is special to them. We learnt how he was just like us but carried out miracles and helped sick people. We then thought about people who helped us. We drew them and attempted to write their name. Well done Reception.

Geography- Outside Environment 

In our Geography learning we have been exploring the environment outside of our classroom. We have been looking at the different areas around school. We located the entrance to our classroom, found a car park, explored the field and even found the nature garden. We are looking forward to creating our own maps of outside the school building. 

Music - Everyone - Performing our Favourite Nursery Rhymes.

To end our music in reception for this term we performed our favourite 'rhymes' to the children in Nursery. To begin our music lesson we sang all of the nursery rhymes we have been learning over the term. We knew all of the actions to each rhyme. We then voted to determine which two rhymes we were going to perform to our audience.

We decided ‘Five Little Monkeys’ and ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ were our favourite songs. We really enjoyed pretending to be monkeys, counting down from '5' and falling off the bed. We also enjoyed doing some freestyle dancing in the middle of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Well done to Reception children for their enthusiasm and brilliant singing voices and not forgetting their great dance moves. A big thank you to all the Nursery children for being a fantastic audience and joining in with the actions! 

Music - Our World - Lesson 2

Robbie Williams - Beyond the Sea

We listened and appraised the song Beyond the sea by Robbie Williams. We discussed how the song made us feel, what the song makes us think about, what instruments we could hear and found the pulse by moving our bodies in different ways. We were able to name instruments like a triangle, piano, drums and  tambourine. We also tried really hard to remember the two new musical words we were introduced to 'tempo' and 'pitch'. Miss Brooks reminded us of their meanings. The song divided the class some of us really liked it and others thought it was to slow and hard to dance to. Finally we sang our nursery rhymes, did the actions. Well done Everyone!

British Science Week:

Exploring Shadows and Changing Seasons

For British Science Week, we have been exploring the season spring and the changed we could see outside. We enjoyed going on a walk outside and we found many signs. We found:
Daffodils
Leaves on tree and bushes
Grass growing
Flowers
Bird’s cheeping
We also found a snail.

We then began investigating how we create shadows. We talked about how a shadow is made when light is blocked by and object. We then created our very own shadow puppet. With friends, we enjoyed exploring how we created shadows with our puppet. We then explored how we could make our shadow longer and shorter by moving the light source. Excellent investigation!

Music - Everyone - Lesson 5

Conga by Miami Sound Machine.

Reception really enjoyed getting up and moving in their music lesson today. We listened to the song 'Conga' by Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. We talked about how the song made us feel, which instruments we could hear, and discussed if we liked the song  or didn't like the song and gave reasons why. We found the heartbeat of the song and tapped out the rhythm using different parts of our bodies. We then practiced our 'focus' nursery rhymes along with the actions and showed good listening skills.

Well done everyone!

History- Morning and Night

For our history learning we have been looking at different events we do in the morning and on the night. Together we all picked a different event. We then took it in turns to place it on our time line and talked about if it was a morning or night time event.

Maths Balance

Today in maths we have been weighing items from our classroom. We then used cubes to balance the scales. Next we counted the cubes and said “The mass of the glue stick is 14 cubes.” Well done reception.

Music - Everyone - Lesson 6

Horn Concerto No 4 by Mozart

Today we listened and appraised Horn Concerto No 4 by Mozart. First we listened to the music then discussed what we could hear. We were surprised to find out that only instruments were played in this piece of music. We discussed if we liked the music or not and gave reasons why. Miss Brooks introduced the word 'tempo' and that it meant fast or slow. We decided that some parts of the song were slow then other parts fast. We also learnt another new musical word 'pitch'. We moved our bodies to represent high and low sounds. We shared our thoughts on how the music made us feel... some of us said it made us feel scared or angry because of the horns. Finally we got up to find the pulse. Everyone agreed that they found it much harder to dance to than other songs. We chose our favourite nursery rhymes and sang them with confidence along with the actions at the end of the session. Well done Reception!!

Music - Our World - Lesson 1

Lovely Day by Bill Withers

Our music topic this term is 'our world'. We listened and appraised the song 'Lovely Day' by Bill Withers. We were asked the questions: How does the song make you feel and can you say why? What could you hear? Did you like the song or not and can you explain why? Is the song fast or slow? We gave some great answers then it was time to dance and find the beat to the song. We enjoyed tapping different parts of our bodies to find a steady beat. Finally we sang Old MacDonald and did the actions for all of the animals that lived on the farm. Well done!

World Book Day

All of Reception had a fantastic day celebrating World Book Day. Their costumes were excellent and they enjoyed a range of activities through the day. Together we shared stories, drew our costume, create book covers and we even had time to put together book cover and character jigsaws. We all enjoyed celebrating World Book Day.

Music - Our World - Lesson 4

Frog's Legs and Dragon's Teeth

by Bellowhead

We listened and appraised the song Frog's Legs and Dragon's Teeth by Bellowhead. To begin the lesson we discussed what we thought of the title. The children thought it was funny and made some predictions about what the song would be about. They thought people would be singing about frog's legs and dragon's teeth. We were so surprised after listening to the song. We learnt that it was a folk song. We heard lots of instruments but no voices this time. We danced and found the heartbeat of the song using lots of different actions. We discussed the tempo and revisited the word pitch. Most of us liked the song and it made us feel happy. A few children thought it was too loud and fast and made them feel a bit sad. Well done Everyone!