Thursday 30 April 2020

Musical Beats and rhythms!


Good morning all!

Today we have a musical blog so you can imagine me singing this to you if you would like! Although, with my singing that could be pretty awful for you so maybe not!

Don’t worry, it is not a singing blog but it is all about beat boxing and rhythms! I you enjoyed the coding website then you will definitely enjoy these!

I have found two great websites for you to use where you can create your own beats and beat boxing crew. First up we have Incredibox – on here you can select between 7 different musical styles to create your own rhythm. Once you have selected a theme, you will then assign each of the 7 members of your crew with an item of clothing and this will allow them to create a certain beat. I have had great fun dancing along to the rhythms that I have created. Perhaps you could create some lyrics to go along with your beats.


Secondly, we have Chrome Music Lab. There are lots of different activities on here where you can have a go at making your own beats, rhythms, chords and songs. Have a play and see what you can come up with.


Hopefully you won’t give your parents too much of a headache with today’s activities!

Miss Parker

Wednesday 29 April 2020

Work Out Wednesday Yoga Style!


It is Wednesday! We are halfway through the week!

Today it is all about taking some time to relax! With families spending 24 hours together all day everyday there is no doubt going to be times when things are a little tense in your homes but today’s activity will hopefully guarantee that it is calm and peaceful for at least 30 minutes!

I am hoping that all family members will join in with today’s activity and it can be quite fun trying to get into some of the poses!

My idea for you today is to hold a yoga session! I find these sessions work best in the mornings and really prepare me for the day ahead. I have included some images below with some yoga poses that you can try but also I would recommend following along to the Cosmic Kids Yoga videos on YouTube. This channel allows you to complete yoga moves alongside a particular theme including the Wizard of Oz, Star Wars and Harry Potter!







I hope you all find your inner zen while completing today’s activity!

Miss Parker

Tuesday 28 April 2020

Daily Art Therapy


Morning everyone!


I hope you are all safe and well even though it appears the weather has taken a turn for the worse.

Today’s blog idea has actually come from the number one fan of the blog and who I know reads it daily – Mr Knight’s Dad! I actually really like this idea and it has helped me to relax me over the last few days.

If you have access to YouTube then he has found some excellent Daily Art Therapy videos for you to follow along to. Now, my class know I am not the best artist but these are actually really simple to do but with impressive results. Click on the links below to have a go.






Until tomorrow,

Miss Parker

Monday 27 April 2020

Around the World


Hello everyone!

Anyone got that Monday morning feeling? Well I have lots of things to keep you busy today and get you travelling all over the world!

Firstly, parents, some of you may already be aware of this, but BBC Bitesize are releasing daily lessons to support you while you are home learning with your children. There are three lessons added each day for each individual year group, focusing on English and maths however there will also be some with a science, geography and history focus as well as other subject areas. I’m looking forward to seeing what is released each day! Every lesson contains they key information, videos and activities to consolidate learning. You are even able to access previous day’s lessons if you missed them. There has already been a year 6 history lesson on ‘Who were the Ancient Egyptians?’ which goes well with our topic this half term. You can access these lessons on the following link:

Secondly, children, we know it is not very fun being stuck at home all day everyday but many places are now offering virtual tours even of some places I will probably never get to experience in real life. Now, because there are so many virtual tours, I am just going to focus on the Wonders of the World as it links nicely to our year 6 topic this half term but other year groups you may find these places interesting to explore as well. Parents, you may also enjoy these tours; I know I did and am now planning a round the world trip so if I am not back at school when it opens, I’ll be at one of the Wonders of the World! Enjoy travelling all over the world with the links below!

Christ the Redeemer, Brazil: https://www.youvisit.com/tour/brazil
All 7 New Wonders of the World: https://poly.google.com/view/8v-I0wldO1r

And somewhere I have always wanted to go and visit:

I would also like to wish Miss Eccles a very Happy Birthday today!

I hope you enjoy your free holiday experience around the world! Make sure you land back in time for tomorrow’s blog!

Miss Parker

Friday 24 April 2020

Year 5 WOW wall picture

Here is the WOW wall picture for the 1st week of Year 5. We look forward to seeing what work is created next week.




Take care


The Year 5 Team


Year 3 Wow Wall

Hello Year 3,

We hope you all had a lovely Easter and ate lots of yummy chocolate, had a go at baking, did some Joe Wicks or just relaxed either at home or in your gardens. We are all missing you a lot but we hope you are enjoying all of the tasks and challenges we have sent home in the learning packs. I know a lot of children really enjoyed making their own Roman chariots and even had a go at weaving! It has been lovely hearing from you and your parents so please continue to keep in touch via our new email:
year3@alderwood.hants.sch.uk

In addition, we are constantly updating our facebook page for the Juniors and twitter. You can see our tweets even if you don't have a twitter account! Alternatively, go onto the junior school website and the tweets are also posted on there at the bottom right hand corner.

This week's blog focuses on all of the amazing work you have been doing. If you haven't sent us a picture yet, then please do as we will be doing a wow wall every week on here. Can you spot your own work either on here or on the school wow wall via twitter?

Finally, keep up all of your hard work. We know this is a tricky time but we can get through this together! Remember, you are all superstars!

Miss Cooke, Mrs Slater, Mrs Jones and Miss Weir














Year 5 WOW Wall

Hello Year 5,


We hope you are feeling well rested after your Easter break and are enjoying the learning pack we sent out to you on Monday. You will have a new pack sent to you each week via parent mail.  The front cover will contain an overview of the tasks that have been set for the week by your teachers, as well as your new spellings for the week. Don’t forget that if you need any help, your parents can email year5@alderwood.hants.sch.uk.  They can also use this email to send us some photographs of your fabulous work or the activities you are doing at home and we will put some of them on this blog as part of a WOW wall every week. It will be lovely to see what you are all getting up to at home. 


While we will post a blog every week, Miss Parker is posting a daily one for the whole school on the year 6 blog page. She has some fabulous ideas for activities that you can do at home that are not school related – there are hours of fun things there already including making a time capsule! Have a look and send us your pictures when you try them out! We have already started to receive some photographs of children’s work and fun activities. Here are some of them.


Image preview






































Keep an eye on the school Facebook and Twitter pages too. There are many ways to keep in touch and we would love to see what fabulous things you are doing! Will you be the next Mary Berry, Harry Kane, Daniel Radcliffe or Banksy? Will we see you on the Great British Sewing Bee, Portrait Artist Of The Year or The Great British Bake Off in years to come?! 


Next week, in English, we will be starting a new text, Treasure Island. Hopefully, some of you have managed find the eBook on www.oxfordowl.co.uk  where you will be able to hear the book being read to you. It is an adaptation of the original book and is a great adventure! Remember not to listen to it until we tell you to in your pack! Spoilers!! 


We hope you have a lovely weekend,
Mr Davies, Mrs McWilliam and Mrs Paish 

Making Weekend Plans!


Morning all!

We have nearly made it through another week of home working which means it is time to start thinking about our weekend plans. Obviously, at the moment, this means plans at home!

Now, like me, I know some of you will be missing socialising with your friends, especially if you like to chat like Kaiya in my class (I hope your mum is coping with your chattiness!). As a lot of you are advanced for your age and have a more modern phone than me (or use your parent’s hopefully with their permission!), I have no doubt you have been video chatting and messaging your friends but it is not quite the same as a play date! Therefore it is time to organise yourself some virtual play dates and make those video calls more fun! First of all, here are some apps or online websites that you can use to host virtual chats and playdates if you haven’t already:

·         Caribu: Caribu is like Zoom for kids and currently it’s free to use!  Caribu is an video-calling app integrating children’s books and activities together.   Kids can read books from the 1,000-plus titles together, play games and colour during a video call.  

·         Messenger KidsFacebook’s Messenger Kids allows kids 6-12 to video chat and message friends and family with challenges, drawings and filters.  Plus, they can use it to collaborate on homework with a study group or talk about group projects.

·         Google Hangouts: GoogleHangouts allow you to keep in touch at the click of a button!  You can set up a conversation with one person or a group up to 150 people (not that you’ll want that many on a virtual playdate!)

·         Zoom: Zoom is really easy to use!  All you have to do is set up a meeting and share the link with the other parents.  With a time limit of 40 minutes per video call, Zoom makes it a great option for kids with a limited amount of screen time.


Once you have your app sorted, you then need to work out what you are going to do as your virtual playdate. Here are some ideas below of what you could do or you may have your own that you want to try. My top three have to be the dance party, karaoke and charades! Any ideas which ones I should try with the rest of the year 6 team?!



Parents, I am hoping these will keep the children busy for a little while so you can get a well-earned break!

Finally, we have an incredible Ancient Civilisation presentation sent in to us by Alyssa and Lilly which we would like to share with you. I hope the link works: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NYeCtiQ63aLOMyPjQZ87Vcyzw331GTtDfa43JOWi4tg/edit?usp=sharing

We have also had a fantastic self-portrait sent in from Chloe as part of last half terms Pop Art home learning pack.

And have been sent in some incredible videos of Elwyn practising his gym. Please don't try these moves at home unless you are trained! I know I won't be otherwise I may injure myself!




Keep up the hard work everyone!

Have a lovely weekend and I will be back next week with more ideas!

Miss Parker

Thursday 23 April 2020

Time Capsule Thursday


Hello again everyone,

I have been very excited about today’s blog and it is something that I plan on doing myself!

Since we are living through a key moment in history at the moment, what better idea than creating a time capsule to bury in your garden! Imagine someone or you digging it up in years to come and discovering or remembering what life was like during this time! A bit like Anne Frank and her diary.

Below is some ideas of pages that you could include but you may have your own ideas. You may even want to include some items or objects that remind you of this time (but, obviously, nothing that you are going to want in the future if you are going to bury it underground!).
















If you do not have a printer like me, then you can steal the ideas from on screen and make your own versions of the pages on plain paper!

Once you have decided and gathered together everything you want to put in your time capsule find a tin that will keep your objects safe in the British weather (it could even be an old quality street or roses tin from Christmas) and place all your objects inside before burying it in the garden. If you prefer, you could just place it somewhere in your home, perhaps your loft, to discover in years to come.

Children, please ask permission before you go digging up your garden to plant it underground! I do not want complaints when your Mum’s favourite rose bush is hacked to pieces or your Dad’s perfect lawn is destroyed! Luckily for me, having just moved house before Christmas, we have just cleared our very overgrown garden so I have lots of choices of where I can place mine without getting into trouble!

Again, like yesterday’s post, please email the year 6 team on year6@alderwood.hants.sch.uk if you would like the printable version of this idea or it can also be found on the following link: https://wellbeinginfo.org/list/covid19-time-capsule/

Have fun with this and get creative!

Miss Parker

Wednesday 22 April 2020

Monopoly Sports Edition


Hello everyone!

As I did a blog for Mrs Woodward yesterday, I feel it is only fair that I do one for Mr Knight today! Obviously, it is PE based as Mr Knight is our junior school PE leader so I hope you and your families are ready to get active!

This is actually something that Mr Knight sent me from the Hampshire School Games Team and would like to share with you so welcome to your Monopoly fitness board!





You can play this with your family and the instructions are simple:

·         Choose a piece of equipment to represent your character on the board! (This could be anything you have lying around the house)


·         Take turns in rolling the dice and move your piece the correct number of squares


·         Make sure you complete the activity on the square before the next person can take their turn


·         If you aren’t sure what an activity is then make it up!  


·         Keep playing for 20 minutes or however long you want to!


·         Each time you pass start get yourself a drink of water and give yourself 1 point!


·         The winner is the person who has the most points at the end of your time frame




If anyone would like a printable copy of the board then please do email the year 6 team (year6@alderwood.hants.sch.uk ) and I will email it out to you, unfortunately I cannot attach documents to the blog.

I plan on taking on Mr Knight next week when we are in school! Wish me luck!

Good luck and have fun! Children see if you can get more points than your parents! Parents no cheating!
Also, I have become aware that parents across the country have been placing OFSTED grading signs, like the ones below, in their home-school windows this did make me chuckle. Just know that we would rate you all as outstanding, you had 2 days to prepare for a job that I trained for 4 years for so I take my hats off to you. Get displaying your OFSTED sign in your window now! 


Have a good day.

Miss Parker

Tuesday 21 April 2020

The World of Geography!


Good morning all,

Today I have decided to have a bit of change of scenery with my home learning and am now working next to the tiger enclosure at Port Lympne! Although, later I may move to the lion enclosure!




Okay, so I am not really but I feel like I am! And the tigers are a lot less chatty than my class but they also seem to do less work!

So today’s blog is one for Mrs Woodward as our geography subject leader at the junior school! I have discovered some online geography game websites that I have already learnt quite a lot from! I am not going to lie, I did find them quite challenging at first, sorry Mrs Woodward! You can test what your knowledge is like on countries, flags, capitals, rivers and lots more. Parents, if any of you are competing in virtual quizzes at the moment and struggling on the Geography rounds these may also be useful to you! I am going to be a geography expert in the next quiz that I take part in!


Lizard Point Geography Quizzes: https://lizardpoint.com/geography/index.php


Seterra https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3459 (includes maps of Ancient Civilisations for our year 6 history topic)

Zoomtastic: https://zoomtasticgame.com/ (work out the country from a zoomed in map)



Have fun on them and when we get back to school be sure to test Mrs Woodward on what you have learnt; I am sure she is up to the challenge!

Monday 20 April 2020

The Start of Summer Home Learning!


Good Morning All,

Welcome to another half term of home learning!

We hope you all had a lovely Easter and managed to get up to some fun activities at home! I am sure you will be pleased to know that I managed to finish my jigsaw puzzle and have now started a paint by numbers, however I feel it is going to take me a long time to complete!



For however long the schools remain closed for, you will now be receiving a weekly home learning pack sent via parentmail. This pack will include a cover sheet that outlines your tasks for the week, along with three English, three maths and three topic tasks. In this week’s year 6 pack, we have also included some other educational activities that you may wish to try but these are optional and we know that some of you have been creating your own learning experiences at home, which is great and we encourage you to keep doing this. If you have access to a computer and internet, there is also a list of educational websites that you may wish to use to support learning at home. Finally, we have included an example timetable for how you could structure your week but this is only a guide and we know that some of you will have your own ways of organising your weeks and that is completely fine. If you would like to have a go at creating your own home learning schedule, whether that be children or parents for children, here are some other examples plus a blank template for you to have a go:




Parents:

We recognise that as you are temporally your child’s primary educator it can seem a rather daunting experience but you can make the most of it and the year 6 team are contactable via email should you need our support or even if your child wants to reach out to us and just hear (read) a familiar voice, although, who am I kidding, they do not think we exist outside of the school building and run the other way when they see us in supermarkets! (year6@alderwood.hants.sch.uk).

We have sent home learning packs home for your children to complete but we also understand the battle you may have with some children in getting these finished! That is why we want you to understand that now is a great opportunity for the children to be children. While it is important that they are completing some school work and reading daily also let them bake, play with Lego, dance like no one is watching (because no one will be as we are all on lockdown although people may still hear your singing!), play video games etc. These are all learning experiences too.

Please do not feel guilty because your child is having fun instead of learning their spellings. Yours and their mental health is extremely important at this time. Spend some quality time with your incredible children to distress the situation and enjoy it!

There is lots of talk about whether this will hold children back in their learning but what if it actually advanced them? The experiences they have at home, whether that be cooking, working with money, gardening etc. are all essential life skills that they will need to have for the future and now is the perfect time to develop these skills. Have fun with your home learning and enjoy it. With that said, why not try some of the ideas on the stay at home bucket list below. My personal favourite is the hula hoop contest: I have some tricks up my sleeve with that one!




You can find a printable version on this website: https://www.mamacheaps.com/ultimate-family-bucket-list/

And on another note, if any of our lovely year 6 children (or any other junior children) are giving you a bit of a hard time at home (which I know they wouldn’t dare!), you could always put in place a behaviour chart like the one we have at school! Sorry again children!





Finally, we have already had one of our year 6 children, Sophie, email in with a learning idea that she has been doing at home and wanted us to share it with you guys. If you have access to BBC IPlayer, she recommends you watch Operation Ouch which is a science based show with some interesting experiments and facts. A great watch for any future scientist out there!

If you do have any ideas that you have discovered and think are worth a mention on the blog or if you would like a shout out for your child because it is their birthday please do email in to year6@Alderwood.hants.sch.uk – any year group welcome!

Until tomorrow,

Miss Parker

Friday 17 April 2020

Easter Art

This week, the juniors have been busy creating two large murals which will eventually be displayed at Alderwood Junior School. The children have been amazing and have had so much fun showing off their art skills! Take a look at our masterpieces ...



Friday 3 April 2020

Update from the Year 5 Teachers


Hello Year 5,

Just a quick message before the Easter holidays. We hope that you are all well and enjoying the home learning packs and activities that were sent home.

We have all found the past two weeks very strange and are missing seeing you.  Mr Davies spent time in school last week with some Year 5 and 6 children and has said how hard they are working. We have had the same message from some of your parents. It is fabulous to hear!

As well as working, we have been finding ways at home to keep ourselves busy. Mr Davies has been watching lots of old football highlights and has been sending Mr Cahill golf challenges for them both to try!  Mrs McWilliam has been looking after her dog, Frankie, and reading her favourite books and Mrs Paish has been trying out new recipes and spending a lot of time in the garden with her dog, Mac. 



We have been making sure we get some exercise too. How many of you have been doing the same? You might have been playing in the garden, walking with your family or joining in with Joe Wicks during his morning PE lessons. If you haven’t seen them yet, you can find them on his You Tube channel, The Body Coach TV.



We have seen many other activities that you might like to try at home over the holiday. Here are a few of our favourites.

J K Rowling has created a new wizarding hub for all keen wizards. Find it at: https://www.wizardingworld.com/collections/harry-potter-at-home

David Walliams is reading a story every day for 30 days. Listen, or catch up, here: https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses/

Take a virtual tour of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History here: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour


On their site, they also show you how to make a volcano. Natural disasters are our topic for next term! Find out how here: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/how-to-make-a-volcano.html You may want to explore their site further as there are many other activities on there.

You might want to start your own Nature Journal. See how here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EnmiuKqBXI&list=PL6w4ihPqk5_LcpNpSpAoEVwsCRdUb9y-z  How many plants, insects and other exciting things can you see in your garden or on any walk you go on?

If you’re as good at art as Mrs Paish (stop laughing 5P) you might want to use your time to brush up on your skills. Try this T Rex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey_I7cP6jNw&list=PL6w4ihPqk5_LcpNpSpAoEVwsCRdUb9y-z&index=11

Finally, Mrs Hulme had a lovely email from Kerry Gibb, the author who visited school recently. She has written a short story spin-off from her ‘It’s a Kid’s Life’ series and is inviting children to write their own ending. Her message to you is: “You may be stuck inside, but your imagination is as free as a bird, so let it fly!”  You can find the story here: http://kerrygibb.com/its-a-kids-life/kids-life-lockdown/

We hope you have a good holiday. We will be in touch after Easter.

Mr Davies, Mrs McWilliam and Mrs Paish

Congratulations You Made it to Easter Break!

Good morning everyone!

Firstly I would like to say a massive well done to you all, parents and children, as you have almost made it to the Easter holidays - only one day to go!

I would also like to give a shout out to Mr Knight's Mum as I found out yesterday that she has been reading the blog! She only just found out that Mr Knight's favourite musical is Wind in the Willows! Her and Mr Knight's Dad have both been taking part in the PE with Joe morning sessions; I wonder if they dressed up for fancy dress Friday today?!

By the way, I only realised yesterday that on the coding website, I blogged about earlier in the week, if you click on more tutorials there are Star Wars, Frozen and Sports themed coding activities! That is my day sorted!

If you enjoyed your virtual day at Chester Zoo last week (I certainly did, as did my Dad!) then they have a second virtual school trip today live from their Facebook and YouTube pages! I will definitely be watching today as the eastern black rhinos are on at 11am!  Here is what they have to say about it:

A little birdie told us you quite enjoyed your last virtual trip to the zoo…

So, as you're not able to come and see us in person right now, we’re once again bringing the zoo to you!

Join us LIVE on our Facebook or YouTube pages from 10am when we'll be throwing open our 'virtual gates.'

Enjoy a whole day of animal antics, live from your sofa! 🙌

We'll be featuring many of your favourites...

10:00 👉 Meerkats (WARNING: There may be new babies!) 😍
11:00 👉 Eastern black rhinos 🦏 - Miss Parker's favourite!!
12:00 👉 Beautiful birds 🐦
13:00 👉 Poison dart frogs 🐸
14:00 👉 Jaguars 😺
15:00 👉 Okapi ⚪️⚫️

Come and join the fun. The animals are waiting...

(*Running order may be subject to ever so slight changes... and there may be more surprises throughout the day!)

The link to their YouTube Channel is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ9UagJLiMdBIFOHYwT7eLA?fbclid=IwAR0lwfYQkSfGRStvByXB51vQXPg6WPdAW8r46iP0EwTCnCKVtXDXEpky

Also they have many activities to download on their website for some extra learning (I might give some a go myself - the colouring looks quite relaxing!) found here: https://www.chesterzoo.org/schools/resources/

Honey, I know you are reading this so I hope you tune in for the rhinos and please tell your sister, Lola, that the giraffes were on the virtual zoo tour last week, if you missed them you should be able to find the video on either of their Facebook or YouTube pages to catch up!


Right, now on to the real idea for my blog today - got a little distracted by the animals again! So you have made it to the Easter Holidays and we know that you have been working hard at home so do make sure you take some time to have some fun and relax at home this Easter break! I am going to be putting some links and photographs of some Easter crafts you could do over your time off below. From Easter wreaths to complete Easter trees there should be something to keep you busy!

Firstly, I put my own Easter wreath on my door on Wednesday (it was April the 1st so I figured this was allowed!). I thought it may be nice for you guys to make your own that you can hang up on your doors inside or out! There are a couple of ideas below including a picture of my one (obviously not home made - my artistic skills are not that good!) but there are many other ideas online.

My little Easter Wreath


https://mamapapabubba.com/2015/05/15/cupcake-liner-flower-wreath/

https://www.theresourcefulmama.com/easy-paper-easter-wreath/

If you have any spare socks lying around and some rice (although that is in short supply at the moment!) you could have a go at making these sock bunnies:

https://dynamicdad.uk/activities-craft/how-to-make-a-no-sew-sock-bunny/

You could also paint your own cardboard Easter eggs to hide around your house and garden to make your own Easter egg hunt:


If you prefer a more science based challenge, then see if you can transport an egg down a zip wire without dropping and breaking it! 

https://www.science-sparks.com/egg-stem-challenge/

Or you might like to imagine it is like Christmas again and make decorations for your own Easter tree! If you have an artificial Christmas tree, why not get it back out and decorate it with Easter themed items! 





These are only a few ideas of Easter themed activities that you can be taking part in over your holiday; there are many more ideas online should you wish to look yourselves. Whatever you do at home this Easter, we hope you have a wonderful and relaxing time. 

I will be back after the Easter break even in the classroom or with more blog updates!

Enjoy watching the rhinos!

Happy Easter!

Miss Parker