Viking Battle! 

To celebrate the end of half term, Purple Class took part in an epic Viking Battle! Each pupil used their shield that they created a few weeks ago and instead of bow and arrows we used javelins. For our PE lesson we also played tag rugby which was the main part of our battle, if you lost your tags you were sadly a victim on the battle field! The children really enjoyed this activity and were very enthusiastic - even doing the traditional Viking roar to scare away enemies! Fortunately there were not many casualties and all survived in the end to tell the tale of the Polebrook Viking Battle. 

SPAG Relay Races 

Purple Class were using a new way to learn word classes this week by competing against one another in relay races! The class were split up into teams and each team needed to decide together a word class for each word for example: she = pronoun. 

The children really enjoyed this energetic SPAG lesson and can't wait to do it again! 

Museum Open Now! 

This week Purple Class was transformed into a Viking museum where each pupil’s work was put on display for the rest of the school to come and look at.

The children wrote a caption to explain their artefact and used their experiences of looking round museums to set out the classroom appropriately. The children also created: posters, directing visitors to our classroom; signs, that say DO NOT TOUCH and we even had tour guides showing each class around the artefacts.

The whole school very much enjoyed this activity and all were keen to ask questions about models that were made and other pieces of work too. Purple Class were very proud to show off their work and can’t wait to do it again!

A bird's paradise! 

Purple Class have been preparing for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this week by making our own bird feeders to put out in our school garden! 

We used recycled plastic bottles as the actual feeder and twigs from our quiet area for the perch where the birds land. After putting holes in to the plastic (with help from Miss McBlain) we wrapped each one with sellotape so that the sharp edges didn't injure the birds. We then created our own funnels and filled them with seeds. Next, we needed to choose suitable spots in the garden for the feeders, so some have been hung in the corner where our large tree is, some have been hidden for the shy birds and some near our plastic bottle green house.  

We are so excited to spend time looking out our classroom windows to see if any birds are using them - fingers crossed they do! 

Who was the greatest king of them all? 

Our new topic this term is all about the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons and their battle over the thrown of England, so we decided to start this fiery topic with some role play and a debate! 
Purple Class have been learning about the Saxon kings of England and needed to decide which of the kings were the greatest - Alfred the Great or his grandson, King Athelstan. Therefore half of the class were chosen to be Alfred while the other half became Athelstan. Each of the children created a speech, explaining why they were the greatest Saxon king while also revealing some facts about why the other king wasn't. Then each king went head to head with eachother in a debate and the rest of the class voted on who they thought won. The children thoroughly enjoyed getting into the character of a Saxon king and debating was a fantastic way to get the children to learn historical facts while boosting their confidence in public speaking. 

Ancient Egyptian Calendars 

Purple Class recently made some Ancient Egyptian themed calendars to take home at Christmas. We were inspired by their use of hieroglyphics and the look and texture of papyrus - used often in ancient Egyptian times and made by reeds. In order to get the look and feel of papyrus we wrapped some coffee grains in kitchen roll and tied it up with string. Next, we dabbed the kitchen roll gently in water and painted a piece of thick paper, creating a coffee stained look. We wanted the photos of our Egypt day to look old and have effects on them so we used lots of different editing tools on Microsoft Word so they were suitable for our calendars. 

Ancient Egypt Topic Homework 

Over half term, Purple Class were very busy creating amazing pieces of homework as part of our Egypt topic. The children had the opportunity to choose 2 pieces of homework to do from a list of creative options. Some of the options included: designing a boardgame, creating a quiz, making Egyptian food and writing instructions and creating a new Egyptian god. 

Each child worked hard to create  great pieces of homework and in class, children evaluated each other's work and discovered lots of interesting facts.