Hello Everyone!

There was a lot of excitement this week in Penhallow as some mysterious spotty egg shells and dinosaur shaped footprints were discovered in the outside area. We also found a note from the cleaner, who had spotted a large creature running away from the classroom. We therefore used our English lessons to create some  'missing dinosaur' posters, just in case anyone in the school had spotted them. So far, there have been no dinosaur sightings.

During our computing lesson this week, we learnt about coding, by creating mazes for a robotic mouse. Each team gave the mouse precise instructions, so that they could reach the cheese via a series of tunnels and steps. There was some fantastic collaboration and team work throughout the lesson.

In Geography, Year 1 continued to learn about the countries of the UK. We learnt about the capital cities and sang a song to help us to remember the 4 countries. We have also been enjoying singing the 'Spring Chicken' song which linked with our learning about Easter and seasonal changes.

In maths, we have been comparing length and height. We made use of the school garden and found sticks and objects to make comparisons using mathematical language. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

From The Penhallow Team.

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Hello Everyone!

This week Penhallow have enjoyed a dinosaur themed music lesson, where they were able to use a range of percussion instruments to make different accompaniments to a song.

In Geography, we learnt about the location of the 4 countries of the British Isles and found out some of the key characteristics of these countries. 

In our science lesson this week, we learnt about which animals are herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. We looked at the different types of teeth that these animals have, and compared them with our own teeth. 

During our RE lesson, we found out about Palm Sunday, made some palm leaves and learnt a song with actions, which Year 1 taught to Reception.

Our English lessons this week, have been focused on Quentin Blake’s story of Mrs Armitage on Wheels. We really enjoyed the story and the characters. So far, we have labelled Mrs Armitage’s bike, and drawn a story map to explain what happened in the story.

We hope you enjoy your weekend!

From the Penhallow Team

Hello Everyone!

Penhallow have had a very eventful week.

Tuesday was shrove Tuesday/pancake day, so we learnt about the origins of pancake day. We then made our own pancakes and enjoyed eating them with a selection of toppings. Year 1 wrote instructions for how to make pancakes, while Reception sequenced pictures of how they were made. In the afternoon, as you can see from the picture, we enjoyed some pancake races, which then turned into designing our own obstacle race/pancake races.

World Book Day on Thursday was was a lot of fun. We spent some time with Landaviddy choosing books and reading together. We also learnt about 2 different authors; David McKee and Neil Gaiman. Both authors have written stories about animals. We read the story of Elmer, by David McKee, and talked about how sometimes we try to be like everybody else, instead of being happy with our differences. In the story, Elmer tries to camouflage himself. We finished the day with some time in the school garden, where we tried to camouflage objects, so that our friends couldn't find them. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow Team

Hello Everyone!

We have really enjoyed our first week of our enquiry question; 'Can I travel by dinosaur?' 

In English we have learnt the story 'Gigantosaurus' by Jonny Duddle. We have been using adjectives to describe dinosaurs, using different verbs to explain how dinosaurs move, and using actions to retell the story as a group.

During our maths lessons, Reception have been learning about capacity, while Year 1 have been finding out more about place value. We have been using tens frames, bead strings and tens and ones to represent different 2 digit numbers.

Year 1 have been finding out about the countries and Capital cities in the UK, during their Geography lessons. This week, we focussed on London. Some children were keen to tell us all about trips to London that they have been on. We found out about some famous London landmarks and then located them on a map.

Reception have created a wonderful land for dinosaurs to explore, and they were inspired to add more details and to act out stories in this land, after reading 'Tom and the Dinosaurs' during our daily story time at the end of every day.

I look forward to seeing you next week at our Parent/Teacher meetings.

Have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow Team

Hello Everyone!

We have enjoyed a great final week of learning based around our enquiry question; ‘Why aren’t Space Ships made of jelly?’

In science, we have enjoyed investigating and sorting magnetic and non-magnetic materials. 

We have been developing our speaking and listening skills in our space rocket role play area, after listening to conversations held by astronauts and technicians at NASA. Using our weekly ‘I see, I think, I wonder’ activity, we have also discussed the surface of the moon.

In maths this week, reception have been comparing weight and mass, while Year 1 have been busy refining their place value skills,  by representing numbers in different ways. 

Our art topic finished with some amazing outside sculptures using different natural materials. We used the knowledge, ideas and techniques of Andy Goldsworthy that we have built up throughout this half term. The results were both amazing and unique. The children thoroughly enjoyed their time in the school garden, collaborating with each other to collect, sort and present the natural materials that they found. Well done everybody. It was lovely to see such brilliant collaboration and creativity. 

We hope you have a lovely half term.

From The Penhallow Team.

Hello Everyone,

We have enjoyed working with clay this week in Penhallow, as part of our learning about the artist and sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. We chose objects to make imprints into clay, and then used them to make patterns on finger pots that we had made. We are looking forward to finding out how they have dried next week, so that we can paint them.

During our English lessons we continued to use the text; ‘Field Trip to the Moon’ by John Hare to inspire our writing. Year 1 have written some superb recounts, all about their trip to the Moon, while Reception have been busy writing labels, captions and even some onomatopoeia words, after watching a clip of a rocket taking off. They thought of some fantastic vocabulary and used their knowledge of phonics to write their own words.

We have been enjoying our new rocket role play area, and have been busy writing space log books, painting different planets and preparing for journeys into space. We have also used different construction materials to make additions and inventions for the rocket. 

It is now the Chinese New Year, so this week, we have also learnt about the story of the great race, as well as finding out about some of the traditions involved in Chinese New Year. Reception have managed to write a list of some of the animals that were involved in the race.

Have a lovely weekend! 

From the Penhallow team.

Happy New Year!

This week, we welcome Mrs Lister to Penhallow class. She will be working with us every Friday. She also teaches at Trenode school and has experience at teaching all Primary age groups, and brings with her lots of experience and enthusiasm. Please feel free to come in and meet her, or to ask any questions that you might have. 

This week, we have launched our new enquiry question: ‘Why aren’t space ship’s made of jelly?’ The focus of the topic, is based around different materials and their properties. 

This week, we explored the story of The Three Little Pigs during our English lessons. We learnt the story and practiced reciting our own version of the story with actions. We also sequenced the story with pictures, and built models of the pig’s houses in our construction area. We practiced our phonics writing skills by drawing plans, writing lists and labelling our models. 

In art, Year 1 began to learn about the sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. We watched videos about how he creates his work, and found out about the natural materials and techniques that he uses. We sketched the shapes that his sculptures make, so that next week, we can create our own designs and sculptures outside, using natural materials. Reception enjoyed making collages of the three pig’s houses, mixing colours to paint pig masks, and using junk modelling to build models of the houses. 

Have a lovely weekend!

From the Penhallow team

Hello Everyone!

There has been plenty of fun and festive activity in Penhallow this week.

Our Christmas Art Day took place on Tuesday, where we worked with our school house groups to make Christmas cards, crowns for our Christmas dinner, Christmas decorations and bags. We have also made some of our own decorations and cards in Penhallow this week, during our art and design technology lessons.

During our Christmas party on Friday, we enjoyed playing some old fashioned party games such as musical statues, musical chairs and pin the nose on Rudolph. Thank you so much for the party food that was supplied. Great fun was had by all.

As well as all the festive fun this week, we have also been busy writing some amazing stories, based on the story of 'The Snowman' by Raymond Briggs. Reception have enjoyed sequencing the story, and retelling the events, while Year 1 have really shown off their learning this term, by including some fantastic vocabulary and sentences in writing their own version on the stories. Well done everybody!

We hope you all have a lovely Christmas.  We will see you on Tuesday 7th January.

From The Penhallow Team.