At last…back to school! How long had you waited for the moment that you could put on your school uniform, prepare your school bag, rush out of the door and meet up with your friends on the walk to school or at the school gate? The return to school was one of the most anticipated days in 2020 so far.
How good was it to see your friends, catch up with your teachers, to sit in your classroom, and charge around the playground at lunchtime? Even though some of you would have been nervous, wearing masks and unsure of what to do and even though your movement around the school would have been limited slightly, it was still great to be back.
All of the teachers we know were so looking forward to you all going back. Your presence in the classroom has been eagerly awaited. Teachers have spent time over the summer months preparing lessons, tidying their classrooms and working on ways to help you all acclimatise to being back in school during Covid – 19. And what a great job they have done!
We had to start the new academic year off with a few suggestions on how to get back into the rhythm of school. This is one of our favourite terms, not only because we have missed our friends and colleagues over the summer break but because some of the best activities take place this term.
Enjoy this weeks blog and have fun over the week ahead.
Sam
New School
For some of you this September will be a new start at a brand new school. This can be a nervous time, getting to know your classmates, learning where your classroom is and where you will be going for lunch. You have no need to fear at all, school is full of kind faces. Your class teacher will make sure that you go to the right place at the right time, they will help you with all of the things you might struggle with like finding your left shoe after PE, sharpening your pencil or remembering the names of the children in your class.
A good way to get to know other children is to join an after school club so that you can enjoy an activity with friends outside of the classroom, or perhaps invite a few children to your house on a play date. You will soon feel part of your group. Your Mum and Dad or older siblings will definitely be able to help you with all of the new things you will be learning.
Good luck and remember to have fun.
What changes might you notice at school this term?
You may have noticed some changes when you returned to school last week, you may have a different start or finish time at school. This is to help the school limit the number of students in school at any one time. It will be very important that your parent or carer collects you and drops you off at the correct time. You will certainly see a change in the set up of your classroom, your teacher will have rearranged the desks in your classroom so that there is space between them and each classroom will have hand sanitisers for you to use throughout the day. You will probably have to take all of your own equipment into school so that you are not sharing. Lunchtimes and break times may be held at different times, so ask your teacher so that you know when you should be going to lunch. Do not worry if you forget, your teacher will remind you.
You will most likely be separated into large bubbles with either your year group or class which means that your timetable will run with the same group of children most of the time. You may even have just one or two teachers. Performances with large audiences will be reduced, so you may see assemblies run with smaller groups or not at all for now.
Your teacher will stand at the front of the class for most of your lessons so that they are not moving among students too much but you should still feel able to ask your teacher anything. For those of you that were looking forward to school trips this term it looks as though those trips, in most cases, will be able to go ahead but you should check with your school. All residential trips have been cancelled until further notice by the government.
But, of course, your teacher will want to put a smile on your face so may have some fun activities for you to get involved in too!
Get Excited About Learning
Here are some cool tricks that our teachers use to get you learning without you even knowing it! Why not ask your teacher if you can try some of these activities in your lesson?
Emoji codes
Write a code using emoji’s. It is really simple, write out the alphabet and above it draw an emoji. Then write a note just using the emoji’s – see which of your classmates can decipher your code.
Beach Ball Brain
Take one small inflatable beach ball and write questions on each section of the ball. You can use the following questions as ideas to get you started if you like?
Q: Where were you born?
Q: Tell us about your Mum/Dad/Brother/sister.
Q: What is your favourite food?
Q: Who is your favourite sportsperson?
Q: Tell us about your pet?
Then throw the ball around the classroom and whoever catches the ball answers the question from the section their hand has landed on. Then they throw the ball on to someone else.
Brainstorming Session
How about the whole class thinking up the rules of your classroom? You can all come up with ideas that will help to make your classroom a nice place to be.
Use post-it notes to write down your ideas and stick them on the wall.
Scavenger Hunt
This is a great orientation game. Each child is given a list of items they need to go and find. You will end up moving all around the classroom or playground or school to locate the items on your list. You will know your way around in no time at all!
First Day Snaps
Each child could take a prop into school and have their photo taken by the teacher to add to your First Day Gallery. Stick the photographs up on a wall in your classroom, at the end of the year you can look back at these and have a giggle.
Katie Jayne’s Interesting Facts
It was thought that the human brain had carried out all of its growth by the age of nineteen, but scientists and experts with very big brains, have discovered that our brain continues its growth into our mid-twenties or early thirties. The teenage brain is a complex thing. Next time we shall look at what changes you can expect to take place in your brain when you reach thirteen.
Thought For The Week
This is a really interesting time in history, so why not write your experiences down in a journal that you can keep forever. You may even be able to show your grandchildren so that they can learn what it was like to live through the pandemic.
Cook’s Corner
Don’t forget to tie back any long hair, wash your hands and put on your aprons. Make sure you have a nice clean work surface and that you can reach the kitchen top. When you are cooking you can learn where your different ingredients have come from, just ask your cooking partner, they will be able to tell you all about the food and you can read the food packets together to talk about how much salt, fats, vitamins, etc are in your food.
Chicken Fajita
4 chicken breasts, cut into chunksolive oil, for frying
For the marinade
4 limes, juice only
2 tsp fajita seasoning
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
For the salsa
1 red pepper
½ jar roasted pepper
1 small apple, peeled
4 ripe tomatoes
½ lime, juice only
small bunch coriander, leaves picked
chilli sauce, to taste (optional)
For the guacamole
2 very ripe avocados, halved and stone removed
½ lime, juice only
grated cheese, to serve
To serve
6 – 8 tortillas (you can now get mini tortillas the perfect size for kids)
soured cream (optional)
Method
Ask your cooking partner to put the chicken and marinade ingredients in a bowl and cover. Put in the fridge for at least two hours.
Roughly chop the pepper, roasted pepper, apple and tomatoes for the salsa.
Tip the salsa ingredients into a food processor with the help of your cooking partner, along with the lime juice and a little seasoning and pulse until finely chopped. If you don’t like chilli leave this out.
Squeeze or spoon the avocado into a bowl and use a potato masher to mash it. Stir in the lime juice and some black pepper with a spoon.
Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and pour the contents of the chicken bowl into the pan. Cook for 5- 8 minutes or until the chicken chunks are cooked through. Your cooking partner may want to guide you with this step.
Put the grated cheese, salsa, guacamole and sour cream in separate colourful bowls to put on the table.
Heat the tortillas according to the pack instructions and put the cooked chicken in a bowl. Now fill and roll the tortilla. Ask your cooking partner to give you a quick lesson on how to do this.
Lay out your tortilla, choose your toppings, roll them up and eat!
Walk On The Wild Side
Now that you are back to school your weekly WOWs may be less frequent, especially if you are going along to after school clubs and weekend football, netball, cricket, swimming or dancing practices. So we shall turn our WOWs into Outdoor Delights. Every few weeks we shall let you know about something that is happening outdoors that you can try. It might be a nice way for the whole family to relax and enjoy a fun time together after a busy week at work and at school.
This week we wanted to highlight this brilliant outdoor activity: Llama Trekking….. Yes, you did read that correctly. Sound like fun? Then read on.
Llamas love a walk, they are bred for trekking and are very happy to peacefully walk along with you, managing to follow your commands without making too much fuss. Enjoy the wonderful scenery and forest environment as you lead your own llama along a 45-minute trek. Longer sessions can be booked. Priorities are to dress appropriately for the weather and to wear comfortable sturdy shoes.
Try contacting The Llama Park at Ashdown Forest or Alpaca Walking at Hensting Alpacas.
If you do manage to give this a try send us some photographs, you know we love to see what you have been up to.
Educational Activities
History
Dan Snow tells the story of what soldiers in World War One ate on the front line.
Reading
My Monster – The Bully Buster. Written by Kaz Campbell for children aged 4-8 years old. Kindle edition free of charge. Don’t forget you can download the Kindle app onto an iPAD, just ask your Mum or Dad to do this for you. Then you will be able to download lots of free books from Amazon.
English
Grammar – What is a verb?
Maths
How to multiply and divide by 0, 1, 10 & 100.
