Janet Marshall came in to speak to the children about lent in their assembly. She was accompanied by her naughty assistant Patch, and the children really enjoyed his sneaky appearance.
Janet had two helpers to show what happens on Ash Wednesday, whereby burnt palm leave ashes are drawn into a cross on people’s heads in church. Isaac said that it was “very interesting and exciting”.
Janet also showed some different objects that are important to Christians over lent. For example a book of prayers, the bible, Easter eggs and sweets; both of which they are not allowed to eat during the 40 days of lent.
Janet Marshall came in to speak to the children about the importance of friendship in their assembly. She told the story of Little Beaver and the Echo and the children enjoyed listening to and watching her re-enactment of the familiar story. She talked about the importance of looking for, and finding friends, and how important it is to be kind to others. Janet also brought along her cheeky toy dog in the hat and his new-found frog friend which the children enjoyed.
During this term, the children in Reception have been learning about Chinese New Year and enjoyed their online lesson from Miss Helens from Music and Movement. The children experienced dancing with ribbons, listening to instruments they like to use in China and pretending to feed a Chinese dragon wanting to eat cabbages!
The children have also enjoyed our topic this half term called ‘Fantasy’, having the opportunity to listen and dance to sea shanties during Pirate week and ‘Heroes Unite’ during superhero week!
Music in Year 1
In Year 1 the children have enjoyed introducing Tempo and Dynamics into their lessons and celebrating a wide range of musical styles. They have enjoyed listening, singing, playing, composing and performing to a variety of music, which has included familiar songs like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well as new songs like Sparkle. The children loved performing music using the chime bars. The children also enjoyed incorporating their English work into their music lessons by creating a ‘jingle’ for their own weather reports that they have been writing and performing. Please see the video below.
Music in Year 2
In Year 2 this half term the children have been focusing on the theme ‘How Does Music Make the World a Better Place?’ We learnt to sing and perform the songs ‘Rainbows’, ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’ and ‘All Around the World.’ The children also learnt how to play the notes for these songs on the chime bars, focusing on learning A minor. The children enjoyed finding out about a steady beat, and following rhythmic and melodic patterns. They enjoyed listening to a range of songs from different genres and we discussed our opinions about these songs.
Ian Gardner came in to speak to the children about friendship. He told the story of The Good Samaritan and some children helped Ian to act out the story. He talked about how it is important to be kind always, to everyone. We continue to reiterate this in our PATHs lessons and assemblies, and being kind is one of our Golden Rules too.
Reception had a Bon fire night week and made their own firework music. The children learnt what it meant to be in an orchestra and have a go at lots of different percussion instruments. The children played along to Igor Stravinsky, The Firebird – Finale and watched their teachers closely, who were the composers to give them a sign to play loudly or quietly, exploring different pitches.
On the 14th November Reception, children enjoyed taking part in Nursery Week. Every day for a week everyone got to listen to, discuss and enjoy different nursery rhymes and well known songs such as, ‘Twinkle Twinkle little star’, ‘5 Little speckle frogs’ and ‘BINGO’.
For Christmas, the children practised singing and signing ‘Santa Shark’, ‘I’m a Little Snow Man’ and ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and developed their performance skills.
In Music this half term the year 1 children focused on finding the beat in different types of music styles, whilst continuing to find the about pulse and rhythm in songs that they had learnt in Autumn 1. The children also concentrated on their listening and singing skills also performing such songs as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Daisy Bells and Dancing Dinosaurs.
Year 1 have also mastered the signs and lyrics to ‘Sing up it’s Christmas’, which they then performed during their activity morning to their grown-ups.
In Year 2, the children have been focusing on dynamics and tempo. They have been thinking about the question, ‘How does music teach us about the past?’ whilst listening, singing, composing and performing. The children have learnt several different songs including, ‘Sparkle In The Sun’ and ‘The Orchestra Song’.
They have started to use the chime bars to play the notes in these songs too.
As part of our Christmas celebrations the children have learnt the songs ‘Sing Up It’s Christmas’ and ‘Must Be Santa’ to perform to their parents during our Christmas Activity Morning. All the children enjoyed learning these songs along with the actions for the different lines
At the very end of term, the whole Federation was able to be part of the audience for a pantomime performed for us and other schools across Norfolk. This musical version of Peter Pan was thoroughly enjoyable and a wonderful way to end the term. Children from Reception right through to Year 6 enjoyed being part of this event and demonstrated their listening, singing and signing skills whilst enjoying the traditional and quite silly jokes!
Here are some of the comments children made after seeing the panto!
Aubree – “I like hook singing the Moana song!”
Herbie –“I like the crocodile song. It was funny.”
Arabella – “I like the sound of the crocodile.Tick tock, tick tock.”
Chole – “I enjoyed when they sang the songs”
Georgia – “I enjoyed when the crocodile kept coming”
Archie – “I liked when they said “I think it’s an imposter”
In RE this term, the children in Reception have been learning about the celebration of Diwali; the Hindu Festival of Light.
They have designed their own Mehndi’s, rangoli patterns and made Diva lamps from clay.
The children took part in a dance workshop with Miss Helen; she taught them some dance moves and some children helped to retell the story of Diwali. They learnt all about Rama and Sita, Ravana the ten headed demon and Hanuman the Monkey King!
Year 1
In RE this term, the children have been exploring religion using their senses. They looked at important symbols, music and foods from the Christian, Jewish and Hindu faiths.
In Autumn 2 the children discussed important celebrations that bring our communities together. The children shared their own personal experiences such as decorating their house, spending time with loved ones and visiting special places. The children learnt about the celebrations of Christmas and Hanukkah.
They could confidently retell the Christmas story and we were amazed at the facts they could recall about Hanukkah at the end of the session.
The children created Christmas cards as a gift for their families and played with the dreidels as they would if they celebrated Hanukkah.
Year 2
This term, the children in Year 2 have been thinking about the symbol of light. They thought about why light is used, and why it is important to Christians, Jews and Hindus. The children looked at the Christingle, and learnt about the significance of each part. The children were able to look at different artefacts from the religions too.
The children used the outline of their hand and some decorations to create their own Menorah.
Also this term, the children have looked at the importance of the Nativity Story. They made their own stained glass windows, and created a stop animation to retell the Nativity Story.
During the first half term back, the children in Years 1 and 2 have enjoyed our ‘Singing Assembies’. The children have enjoyed singing to song such as ‘Big Blue Tractor’, and ‘Harvest Tango.’ They also have been enjoying listening to a different piece of music every week that can range from modern pop to classical, movie soundtracks and music from different parts of the world. After listening to the music children spend ‘reflective time’ thinking about how the song made them feel.
Reception
In Reception classes, the children have enjoyed listening to and singing along to many songs with their class peers.
A variety of music has also been experienced in the classrooms, as well as created in the outdoor classroom. Children have been observed making music independently, singing and moving to the music experiences throughout this half term.
We have also been learning about songs from Black history month, such as ‘3 little birds’ and ‘Dancing in the Street’, discussing what the children enjoyed about the music.
If you wish to watch the other episodes, here is the link :-
In year 1 the children have explored wide range of musical styles and have had an introduction to learning about the beat of a song. They have experienced listening, singing, playing as well as performing their ability to find the beat. The children enjoyed learning the songs, ‘Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ and ‘Shapes’.
Year 2
This half term the children in Year 2 have been exploring simple patterns in music. They have listened and appraised different genres of music as well as learning about different musical styles. They have learnt different songs and performed these in class. At the end of the half term the children explored playing the chime bars alongside one of the songs they have learnt to sing ‘Music is in my Soul’. They learnt the notes C, D and E and performed these together as a group.
This term reception have been learning about different continents and during our learning of Africa, Reception got to listen to lots of African instruments and listen to how music in different area of Africa music changed. The children really enjoyed the South African music and used percussion instruments to play along to the beat. We also discussed what instruments we could hear and talked about pitch and tempo of the different music.
Year 1
In music this half term, the children have continued to learn to find the beat and pulse. They have enjoyed moving their bodies to the music and have learned new songs. The children especially enjoyed singing along to ‘Alice the Camel’ and ‘Ten Green Bottles’. They were able to use percussion instruments to play along to the beat of the music.
Year 2
This half term in music, year 2 haven been learning about music that makes you dance and thinking about the question, ‘How does music make us happy?’ The children listened to a wide range of musical styles, including funk, hip-hop and calypso, which they listened and responded to, commenting on what they liked and what they didn’t like. The children also learnt the songs ‘I wanna play in a band’, ‘Music is all around’ and ‘Saying sorry’.
We all enjoyed the ‘Virtual Big Sing’ where children have been practising during assembles and in their classrooms songs from musicals, such as “The circle of life” from Lion King or “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2. On 21st June, the children got to join in with singing with celebrities such as Claire Sweeny and Mark Feehily from Westlife! Year 2 really enjoyed taking part in the ‘Big Sing’. They sang along to all of the songs and particularly enjoyed singing ‘A million dreams’. In Year 1 the children also enjoyed watching and excited to hear the songs that were familiar to them.
In Reception, the children all enjoyed it and here is a few things they said after the performances:-
Mia – ‘I liked it when both ladies sang’
Leo – ‘I liked the man; he did good actions for the elephant and giraffes.’
Daisy – ‘When we sang let it go and into the unknown. ‘
Clara – ‘I liked the Lion King. He was a good singer.’
Ian Gardner from the Baptist Church paid us another exciting visit to talk to KS1 about harvest time and how the people of his faith celebrate. Ian showed the children four different types of soil, one with stones, one that was very thinly spread, one that was covered in thorns and one that was well cared for. With the help of some of the children, Ian explained how the seeds would grow and develop on the different soils. He related this to the teachings of God and his faith. The children loved acting out the different seeds and deciding how well they would grow. To close the assembly, Ian took a moment to remember Queen Elizabeth and spoke to the children about how important the Queen’s faith had been to her throughout her life. He explained how the Queen would always smile when she met new people and how that made people feel. He also spoke about how she dedicated her life to helping her country.
This term we have been looking at the continents of the world and learnt about many of the animals that live there. In RE we have listened to the story of ‘A special promise’ from the Bible and talked about how Noah was able to save the animals from a flood because God had instructed him to make a boat. We also linked this to our SAW activities and experimented with how much salt we needed to make something float, just like Noah’s boat did.
Year 1
This term the children had been exploring how Christians belong to their faith family. The children were able to recall their prior learning in RE, and remembered some facts they already knew about Christianity, for example where they worship and what their holy book is called.
The children learnt all about Christian celebrations that take place in a Church, and sought to understand how these celebrations made them belong to their faith family. We looked at Baptisms, and some children spoke about their own, or their siblings baptisms’.
The children then learnt about weddings, and they even participated in their own wedding in the classroom, with a bride, groom, bridesmaids, page-boys and vicars! They really enjoyed this and making their own aisle in the classroom!
Year 2
This term, the children have recapped their previous RE learning by retrieving facts and ideas from their previous enquiry questions. They have also looked at a variety of religions as part of a philosophy focus, listening to videos from Ian Gardner and Marsha Parker about why people have different ideas of God. The children thought about morals, and if different scenarios were right or wrong, and thought about how they could be nice to each other in different ways. They ended their RE learning this year by drawing their own Rangoli patterns on the playground!
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