November has been a fun filled month. 

In art we have been experimenting with different watercolour techniques.
Then we learnt about Guy Fawkes in history and created some beautiful wax resist watercolour firework pictures.

In literacy we have been learning the poem 'Tell Me a Dragon' which was very exciting because we found a real dragon egg in our classroom!
After some discussion about the best way to look after it, we wrote some instructions. After a few days we were amazed to find that it had hatched and the dragon had escaped! 
We are still hunting for it and there have been many potential sightings. We have imagined what it might look like and written some amazing poems.

We have also learnt about the Hindu festival Diwali and made 'mango lassi' in DT. We have also been designing and making some beautiful diva lamps out of clay ready for our exhibition.

In geography we have been exploring our lovely new atlases and also learning a new song to help us learn the name of the continents and oceans. 

In maths we have been mainly focussing on developing our addition and subtraction skills this month.

This month we have been focusing on addition, subtraction and shapes in maths. The children have enjoyed lots of practical activities to deepen their knowledge and understanding of common 2D and 3D shapes. We have introduced the number bonds to 10 this month. We will continue to practise and recall these as they are such an important step to being able to complete so many calculations throughout school and beyond.

We concluded our materials unit with an investigation 'Which material will you choose to build a house for the three little pigs?'. They children choose materials and made homes then the big bad wolf (AKA Mrs Tomkins' hairdryer) came to try to blow them down. 

In our sketch books we have been practising drawing from observation and drawing from imagination. 

We have introduced two new literacy activities to our weekly timetable. We now do something called 'Talk through stories' each day. This is a set time each day when we read the same story over a week and learn to use some of the most interesting vocabulary from it. The children loves the 'Click clack moo' story and have enjoyed making cow faces in the craft area and using the vocabulary 'I demand...'.

In history we have compared old and modern toys. We watched a film about Victorian toys and then sorted images of Victorian toys into ones we still make and play with today and ones that are no longer seen.

In November we marked anti-bullying week with a number of activities including creating a kindness tree with a class kindness pledge. 

We are just one week away from the Key Stage One Christmas performance so have been very busy practising lines, songs and actions ready to show the other children in the school and our families. 

This month we have been working hard to prepare for the DT fair.  We are linking our topic question of 'What are volcanoes?' to this and intend to create volcano style hats.  We've been learning how to greet each other in French and in PSHE been talking lots about bullying and how we can be positive bystanders by helping those around us.  In Science we've been learning not only about volcanoes but about the soil beneath our feet and in RE we've been finding out about the five pillars of Islam.  In Geography we've been finding out where in the world volcanoes are and seeing how topographers draw things of different heights on maps.

 November

This has been another busy month. We  celebrated Bonfire Night at the beginning of the month and created fantastic firework pictures. We have also celebrated Anti-Bullying week. The children learnt about what bullying is. They thought about how they could help a friend that might be bullied; Joe suggested being extra kind to them. David said that they should tell someone. We created odd sock designs, wore odd socks and made odd socks biscuits. They tasted delicious. 

This term we have been learning about writing letters. The children have written letters to fairy tale characters, marked letters saying what could be improved. Jake read 'Dear Dinosaur' and has been exchanging letters with his own Stegasaurus. 

This month we celebrated David's birthday. He is now 11! The boys all posed together so that we could get a photo of nearly all of them together. 

Another packed week at both bases. I was privileged to watch our girl's football team play on Tuesday. They were one player short and put up a fantastic defensive performance against Callington. They didn't let up the whole match and I was super proud to watch them. Thank you once again to Mrs Hannaford for coaching them and parents who transported and supported them. On Thursday Mrs Hannaford and I took 2 teams of 6 Year 5 and Year 6 pupils to a Trust wide handball tournament which was held at Callywith College in Bodmin.All of the children were amazingly sporting and they worked really well as a team. They were brilliant ambassadors for the schools. Thank you Kody, Bettsie, Sam, Elsie, Josh, Eleanor, Lowri, Karena, Isabelle, Mikey, Freddie and Alfie!

Lots of learning in October.  We took part in the Tesco Halloween drawing competition.  Have learned how to count in French.  Have been thinking about being kind to one another and how to feel included.  We've continued with our magnet work and made magnetic board games.  We've also played and sang a short song using an ostinato...
Phew...things are busy in Year 3!

The past few weeks have been as busy as ever in school. On Friday 10th November we had lovely assemblies at both bases where we wore poppies and thought about the people and animals who lost their lives in wars over the years. At 11 o'clock we observed a 2 minute silence and all of the children were really thoughtful and respectful.
This week we have been celebrating anti- bullying week- thinking about how we are all different and how we can celebrate these differences. One of the key messages has been that no-one should be teased or bullied for being different to others- a powerful message to carry through into adulthood.

On Tuesday of this week Mrs Hannaford took our first ever girl's football team to a tournament held at Callington College. Mrs Hannaford reported that they played with determination, spirit and great resilience. Even though they didn't win their matches on this occasion, they grew in confidence throughout the games. Well done girls and a huge thank you to Mrs Hannford for organising and accompanying the team.
On Friday we wore pyjamas/spots and raised money for Children in Need. Thank you for supporting us with your donations.
This week also saw the first signs of Christmas with the arrival of Christmas trees in both bases. Thank you to Mole Valley in Tavistock for donating 3 trees and to Mr Symons for collecting them. The children were extremely excited to see their arrival! Have a lovely weekend.
 

October was a short month in school with half term at the end but well deserved after all our hard work.

In science we were learning all about materials and why some are better suited to certain jobs. We had fun exploring different materials to see which we could bend, stretch, twist and squash. We also built houses made from different materials to see which was the strongest. We decided Lego was strongest but had the best fun making dens from sticks in our outdoor learning area.

In music we have been learning to sing in rounds and we have also learnt a few different songs about the Great Fire of London. We then chose our favourite song and appraised it, listening to see which instrument we could hear, drawing pictures that we imagine when listening to it and discussing how the music makes us feel.

We enjoyed coming to school dressed up on 'Big Me Day' and thinking about what we would like to be when we grow up.

In computing we have been using a drawing programme to learn how to use different sized brushes and tools and also different colours. Then we used what we had learnt to try and draw a picture of a Tudor house.

The highlight  of this month was a visit from Callington fire brigade who brought in their fire engine to teach us about fire safety. They showed us around the appliance and taught us what all the different equipment is for. We even had a go at using the hose, it was brilliant!

Finally on the last day we gathered with our friends and families for our annual Harvest assembly.

Thank you to all of the families who joined us for our Harvest Festival just before half term. I was delighted to be able to drop off several bags of donations for the Callington Foodbank. I hope that you enjoyed out assembly. The children really enjoyed singing all of the Harvest songs, I hope that you enjoyed listening to them. 
Half term went by in the blink of an eye and it has been another packed week since we have returned. It was great fun to see all of the children in their Halloween costumes on Tuesday- we had very excited children all day. We were pleased to be able to stay open during storm Ciaran in Thursday and were pleased that everyone was safe.I hope that you all received an email with a copy of the latest school newsletter- there are also paper copies in the foyer.
Have a good weekend.

October in the ARC has been a busy month. This week we celebrated Halloween. We created these spooky collages of pumpkins. We have also carved pumpkins and used the flesh to bake cheesy pumpkin puffs! 

In literacy we have worked on comic strips. They also enjoyed working on their discussion texts - Should Animals be kept in Zoos?   What do you think? 

We had a great visit from the fire brigade this month. We got to hold a fire hose, try on a fire-man's equipment and look inside a fire engine. 

We are settling in well to our new school year and routines and looking forward to some winter learning. 

This month we have continued learning the story of the Three Little Pigs. We have learnt to write labels, lists and captions using the story as our theme. 
In art we have continued to use our sketchbooks and have found out that we can create lots of tones using just a normal grey pencil. 
In maths we have been learning more about number and have recently started to use part-whole models to help us to find number bonds within 10.
We have been learning about the season of Autumn with a walk around the school woods and lots of stories and poems themed on the season. The children have been developing their description skills in literacy by describing things they would sense on an Autumn walk.
We have continued our geography unit on 'Where in the world are we?' by looking at maps and aerial photograph of the school. We have used our labeling skills from literacy to label an aerial photograph. We have also drawn plans of the classroom. 
In science, we have been learning about materials and learning which materials things are made from and describing their properties. 

Big Me Day and Ice Cream with the Head!

Another busy couple of weeks has passed at Delaware and Gunnislake.The school council from the Gunnislake base have had their first meeting and are busily deciding how to fundraise for Children in Need in November.

Today (13th October) was 'Big Me' day. The children dressed up in outfits which showed what they wanted to be when they are grown up and have jobs.
We had an array of potential future careers on show including: police officers, ballerinas, astronauts, artists, gamers, farmers, formula one drivers, superheroes and even Princesses. We raised funds for Action Aid during the day.
Next Thursday 19th October is our Harvest Festival Assembly. It will be held at the Delaware base from 2.00pm. Doors will be open at 1.45pm. Families are welcome to join us. We will be collecting dried and tinned items for the Callington food bank from next Monday. Any donations will be much appreciated.
Refreshments will be available-thanks to the Friends.
I look forward to seeing lots of you there!
I hope that you like the pictures of the children enjoying one of their scratch card prizes of 'Ice cream with the head!'

We have a had a great start to Year One. The children have settled into their classrooms well and have enjoyed exploring the learning areas and resources on offer.

We have also settled into new phonics and guided reading groups and our enjoying using our new 'Letterjoin' handwriting resources to re-cap correct letter formation.
Our class text at the moment is The Three Little Pigs. We have learnt actions to the story and used it as a stimulus for label and list writing. The children have enjoyed acting the story out in the puppet theatre too. 

In maths we have been securing our mastery of numbers 1-10. We have been learning to read, write and spell the numbers as well as to order and compare them.

Our 'Big Question' this half term is 'Where in the world am I?'. We have used globes and maps to locate our country, county and some local landmarks. 

Welcome to Fistral Class Year 2.

In the first week we discussed the school rules, rewards and consequences every day to make sure we are all very clear with them.
The children have settled really well and are already enjoying earning gems in the jar, certificates, stickers, Headteacher awards and our very special 'Friday Phone-call'.

Our big question this half term is 'What Happened in the Great Fire of London?'
We have enjoyed listening to the story of the Great Fire and we watched the Magic Grandad episode to teach us all about it. We found out who Samuel Pepys was and why he was important. Our history and literacy work have both been linked to this question. We now know why the fire spread so quickly and how people tried to tackle it. We have compared and contrasted fire equipment from Tudor times to modern day and we also enjoyed looking at old maps from the time of the Great Fire.

In art we have created some wonderful collages using warm colours for the background and bold black lines in the shape of Tudor houses on top to create effect.
We have also looked closely at the features of Tudor houses and used cereal boxes to make our own, copying the features carefully.

Maths has been all about place value so far.