Week Ending 22nd November 2019

On Tuesday, Badgers Class children were lucky enough to have a tour of our local Amazon Fulfilment Centre, in Dunstable. They were fascinated to learn all about how all the orders are picked and packaged ready for distribution, and enjoyed watching the Amazon robots at work. At the end of the tour, all the children received a free gift of a water bottle and a toy.

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Since September, PTA volunteers have been working hard to clear an area of brambles and overgrown bushes from the school field, to create more playing field space. This week, they organised tree planting along the perimeter of the field, and the children had a lovely muddy time on Wednesday helping out.

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Amidst great excitement, children in Hedgehogs, Otters, Squirrels and Rabbits Classes have started rehearsals for their Christmas play! This year they are performing "The Landlord's Cat", and this week, roles were assigned, and scripts distributed. The performances will be on Thursday 12th and Friday 13th December.

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On Wednesday, a group of Year Four children attended a fottball tournament at All Saints Academy in Dunstable. This was the first time this particular team have taken part in an event - all had a great time, played well and were proud to represent Eaton Bray Academy.

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In Hedgehogs this week, the children have been learning about India. On Friday they discovered how tea is grown and produced and looked at photographs of India and tea production.  They pretended to be tea producers and created their own imaginary journey, then watched a film showing afternoon tea in The Ritz Hotel in London. The teachers turned Hedgehogs classroom into a tearoom and the children ate an afternoon tea served by their teachers.

Otter Class have also been learning about India, and Diwali, the Festival of Light, which they have celebrated by making Indian sweets.

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Deer Class children have been very excited this week, as on Friday evening, their Italian restaurant Mount Foodius opens, for one night only, to parents, family members and school staff. There is a fantasic menu of pasta and pizza dishes to choose from, as well as delicious Italian desserts, all prepared, cooked and served by the children, who have been working extremely hard to get everything ready, and to make the School Hall look like a real Italian bistro.

Watch this space for a full report of the evening next week, or head over to the school website, where we have set up a "Trip Advisor" style review page, for patrons of Mount Foodius to leave their comments on what we are sure will be a lovely evening.

             

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Week Ending 15th November 2019

What a very busy week at Eaton Bray Academy!

On Monday, at 11.00am, the whole school observed Remembrance Day by joining the rest of the country in standing in silence for two minutes.

The Year Six children have been selling poppies, and managed to raise almost £300 for the British Legion, which is an impressive sum. Meanwhile, the youngest children, in Hamsters Class made poppies as part of their learning about Remembrance Day.

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It was Anti-Bullying Week this week, and in recognition of this, on Tuesday, everyone was invited to wear odd socks, to celebrate individuality. Throughout the week, each class thought about kindness and took part in activities to promote friendship and understanding. On Thursday, everyone joined in with an anti-bullying assembly, where they reported back on all that they had done.

Deers Class reflected upon the slogan "Say No to Bullying", and discussed how saying rude things can affect a person's self-esteem. In Foxes Class the children started a new challenge that they will be continuing every week. On Mondays, the children will pick the name of one of their friends in the class, and they have to be really nice to them for the whole week. Then, on Friday, the children have to guess who was being nice to them - a bit like a Secret Santa, but more like a Secret Kindness. To make it harder to guess who was being nice to who, the children have to hide their kindness by doing nice things for everyone else as well!

Badgers Class looked at solutions to bullying, and what steps to take if someone is being unkind to you. This could be to talk to family members or teachers. Rabbits created a "50 Acts of Kindness" board. Every time one of the children noticed someone being kind to another child, they wrote this on a post-it note and stuck it on the board. The aim was to have at least fifty post-its by the end of the week.

Hedgehogs Class spoke about Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, and how he looked different to his friends. Elmer learns that his unique colourful appearance is what makes him special and that differences should be celebrated.

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Tuesday was an exciting day for Squirrels Class children, who went on a really wonderful trip to London, to see the famous sights that they have been learning about as part of their London topic work. Amidst blues skies and sunshine they boarded a boat for a cruise down the River Thames, passing London Bridge, The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (the children learnt that the bell is called Big Ben and that the tower is called the Elizabeth Tower), Tower Bridge and many more places of interest. 

Following a picnic lunch in the park surrounded by lots of birds, the children had a ride on the London Eye, where they got to view the whole of the city spread out beneath them as far as they could see. The weather had turned at this point, but the grey skies didn't spoil the impressive view, or the children's excitement and enthusiam - some of the children were a little nervous beforehand, but loved it in the end!

Afterwards the children enjoyed the London Eye 4D Cinema experience, where they watched New Year fireworks while snow fell, and then went to the shop to buy souvenirs.

What a fantastic school trip! In the words of the children:

"It was really awesome"

"We had a fantastic day"

"It was very exciting"

"It was so good my head nearly burst!"

 

 

 

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Back in school, Rabbits Class children have been really enjoying learning about the Stone Age, and this week have done some magnificent homework. Their tasks included weaving, drawing, cooking and creating models of Stone Age villages. The children were clearly very inspired by all they have learnt this term.

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On Wednesday afternoon, we were visited by the Full House Theatre Company, who came in to perform "By the Light of the Moon" to children in Reception and Key Stage One. This was a play about friendships and celebrating our differences, which tied in nicely with the message of anti-bullying week. It was a lovely story, beautifuly performed and pitched just right for the younger members of the audience, who thoroughly enjoyed the show. 

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On Thursday it was Foxes Class Assembly. The children presented parents and the rest of the school with a round up of all that they have been learning about this term, including their water melon experiment and their dance routine. They sang in French and recited some poetry (in English). After the assembly, parents were invited to stay for a cup of tea or coffee and cake.

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On Friday it was Badgers Class' turn to have a wonderful day out. They went to St Albans to visit the Verulamium Museum. In the museum they watched a DVD and viewed various exhibits depicting life in Roman Britain, learning all sorts of fascinating facts about Ancient Roman culture.

After lunch, the children visited the ruins of the Roman Theatre, and found out about the events that would have taken place there, including music and drama, wrestling, armed combat, and wild beast shows. This was followed by a visit to the remains of a Roman House and Hypocaust with huge mosaic. Next, the children walked across the park to investigate the Roman Wall and the lake, stopping on the way to have a play  in the fresh air!

The final stop was the gift shop, before getting on the coach to return to school, tired but happy!

 

 

 

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Week Ending 8th November 2019

It's been a wonderful week of work at Eaton Bray Academy!

On Tuesday, we were visited by a local children's author, Susie Davids, who visited the younger children to read one of her books to them. The children loved the story and enjoyed talking to Susie about their favourite parts of the book.

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Foxes Class children have been looking at the forces involved in machines and the way we can use force to obtain a goal. Their goal was to ring a bell, which sounds simple, but their "machines" had to have three stages that would use "cause and effect', and the transference of energy, to achieve the goal. These types of machines are called Rube Goldberg Machines; a complicated machine designed to do a simple job.

From their initial concept drawings through to design and building, students drew on their knowledge of Art, Maths, Science, and Literacy to achieve their goal. In the coming weeks, skills will be honed and the children will build machines of greater and greater complexity.

During their History and Geography lesson, the children learned that the Anglo Saxons left lots of evidence of their settlement in the local place names that we take for granted. They learnt some Anglo Saxon language and were amazed that these words appear in place names that they knew only too well. For example, 'ton' means 'farm' and 'ea' is derived from 'eau', meaning water. 'Eaton', therefore means 'farm near water'. Looking at a local map, students found many local place names and deciphered their meanings.

In Music and dance, they have mixed five songs together and are now learning some dance moves that they will put to the music. The songs the children have chosen are from the 1980s to today and they are having fun trying to dance to them.

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There was more Science excitement in Badgers Class, when they took their volcanoes out onto the school field to watch them erupt. They poured water, washing-up liquid, vinegar and baking soda into the mouth of the volcano, and watched as the ingredients reacted together to create a froth of "lava". They then repeated the experiment using Coke and Mentos for a second "explosion."

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In Hedgehogs Class this week, the children have been celebrating Bonfire Week. They found out about the origins of Bonfire Night by acting out the story of Guy Fawkes, and shared their own experiences of firework displays in news time. There were lots of art activities for the children to choose to complete, with some children turning the small outdoor area in front of the classroom into a firework display by creating chalk patterns, whilst others created chalk firework pictures. Some children painted pictures of fireworks in free painting time and created their own model rockets. During their fine motor sessions, the children had to carefully draw a trail to find a rocket. They also wrote their names in glue and covered them in glitter to look like a firework display. 

Mrs Matthews lit a bonfire in the Hedgehogs outdoor play area, and the children watched from a safe distance.

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On Thursday, Otters Class enjoyed a wonderful trip to London to the Natural History Museum. They travelled by coach, and enjoyed spotting all the exciting sights of London en route to South Kensington.  In the museum they looked at fossils and dinosaur exhibits, which tied in nicely with their topic work for this term about these prehistoric creatures.

After a picnic lunch, the children took part in a stegosaurus workshop, where they met Sophie the Stegoaurus, and learnt lots of interesting facts about her. They were fascinated to learn that the stegosaurus' brain was only the size of a lime, and that consequently Sophie wasn't terribly bright!

Finally, following a visit to the gift shop, the children returned to school tired, but full of enthusiasm for all that they had seen and learnt.

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