Exploring Tints, Tones and Shades

20th September 2023Mrs Storey

In Art, Sycamores have been learning all about how to make tints, tones and shades using paints.  We have added white to a base colour to create a tint, exploring what happens as we add a small amount of white paint each time.  We then looked at shades and added a small amount of black each time to our base colour.  As we added the black, we realised we didn’t need to add that much!  Finally, we learnt about tones and added grey by mixing black and white together to our base colour.  It created a muter colour palette.  Well done Sycamores!

The Yellow Emperor and the Xia Dynasty

20th September 2023Mrs Storey

Sycamores began our new History topic by taking part in some drama.  We acted out the story of the Yellow Emperor and the Xia Dynasty; finding out information about it whilst remaining in role.  Did you know that the Yellow Emperor of the Xia Dynasty may not have even existed?  There may be truth in the stories but people often question parts such as the Yellow Emperor being taken to heaven by a dragon.  Great drama work around a historical idea Sycamores.

Great North Run- Mini Fun Run

8th September 2023S Graham

Some children from Oaks, Sycamores and Birches were extremely excited to take part in the first Mini Fun Run! We enjoyed the atmosphere at the starting line and began by warming up our bodies for the run ahead.

We got to meet running legend Sir Mo Farah before the race  and he gave us some expert advice about the run ahead: Enjoy the moment.

The children were terrific and ran the entire 1.44km from the starting line, down towards the seafront, along the coast and finally back up to Gypsie’s Green.

We collected out medals, posed for photos with Sir Mo and Taylor even got to ask him a question.

We cooled down by taking part in a dance-a-thon with all of the other schools before heading back.

It was a great experience and something we all will not forget!

 

Balanced Arguments in Blossoms

11th June 2023Mrs Storey

In English this week, Blossoms have been learning about the features of a balanced argument.  Today, they used those features to have an oral debate about whether school uniform should be worn in school.  The children worked in groups and were either for or against the argument.  As a team, they came up with reasons for or against, supported them with evidence and then held a debate; sharing both viewpoints.  Next week, we will be drafting our own written balanced arguments.

Investigating Solubles

26th May 2023Mrs Storey

This half term in Science, we are learning all about the properties of materials.  This week, we have been investigating which materials are soluble in water.  This means that they dissolve and create a solution.  We tested six different materials and were surprised by some of our results.  For example, the tea leaves did not dissolve and we expected them too.  We discussed this and thought that maybe the water needed to be hot for this to happen.  We also found that some of our group’s sugar and water did not dissolve fully even though sugar is a solute.  We decided that this was because there wasn’t enough water for the amount of substance and showed the importance of a fair test as different groups used different amounts of water and material.  Excellent scientific enquiry Blossoms!

 

 

 

Chemistry 4 Change

8th May 2023Mrs Storey

As part of our Science work, Blossoms took part in an online workshop called Chemistry 4 Change.  They had the opportunity to speak with two real life Scientists who talked about their jobs within Chemistry and found out things like how long they’d been in their jobs for, how they trained for their jobs and what caused them to want to be Scientists.  The children then had to think about world environmental issues that can be impacted by Science and how they can be changed/prevented (for example, reducing the amount of plastic in the ocean or climate change).  Blossoms had to draw themselves as Chemists along with the environmental issue they were trying to solve.  Great work everyone!

Paper Traditions

23rd April 2023Mrs Storey

In Art this week, Blossoms have been learning about traditional techniques that use paper.  We have been practising quilling where you need to cut paper into strips, coil it and then glue it down into a pattern.  We have also been working on paper folding (origami) and for this we used paper squares and folded them into butterflies.  Super work Blossoms!

 

 

An Eggsellent Time in Blossoms

31st March 2023Mrs Storey

Blossoms had a fantastic time creating some masterpieces for our whole school ‘smelly egg’ competition.  The children had some wonderful, carefully thought out ideas and brought them to life through using paste eggs, polystyrene eggs and a collection of resources.  As well as some super designs from Pokémon to an Arsenal player, every member of Blossoms worked extremely well as a team and shared the resources as well as helping each other out with their designs.  Well done Blossoms – it was extremely difficult for Helen to choose a winner!

World Maths Day

26th March 2023Mrs Storey

Blossoms had a fantastic time celebrating World Maths Day.  We linked Maths with English by solving Maths puzzles involving Roald Dahl characters and then we created some of our own.  In Maths, we budgeted the price of different items by working out which chores we’d need to do for a specific cost to be able to buy the items.  This is an excellent real life skill.  Finally, we completed some Art through Maths by using our measuring skills to create Celtic knots and Curves of Pursuit.  Excellent enthusiasm and resilience from all of Blossoms.  Well done!