Dragons in the Classroom!
Have you heard we found dragon's eggs in the school garden? It was so exciting! We discovered the eggs and while observing them noticed some strange words and markings. These clues have led us to believe that these eggs once belonged to the Anglo-Saxons. We have been busy learning about why the Anglo-Saxons came to England and will continue to share our discoveries with you here!
Well, it is possible that the Anglo-Saxons did leave their homelands and sail to England. We have been using a range of clues to explore the possible reasons for their invasion.
We have also been exploring how some local place names have Anglo-Saxon links. Some examples we have discovered are:
- Peterborough links to the Anglo-Saxon word 'burh' meaning town;
- Nottingham links with 'ham' meaning village;
- Boston links to the Anglo-Saxon word 'ton' meaning enclosed village.
Using the book 'Tell Me a Dragon' as our inspiration, we have each created our own dragon that represents our personality. Please take a look at the children's amazing work!
In order to call and summon our dragons, we have made pan-pipes. We have been exploring how the pitch is altered by the length of the pipe, so we can create the perfect notes to make our dragons appear!
The Honey Bee class have been busy writing their non-chronological reports about their own unique dragons, in addition to this we have been exploring how loud a dragon's roar is using the dataloggers.
In addition to our work investigating the dragons in our classroom, we have been busy exploring the themes of celebrations in R.E. and how to say no to dares or pressure from peers or adults. We added a message to our wristbands to help us to remember to say no when we feel uncomfortable or when we know something is wrong to do.
Within our place value work in Maths, we have been exploring rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. This is an example of the brilliant progress the children are making - they were so confident they were able to spot the mistakes I had made! Well done Honey Bees.
The Honey Bee Class were very lucky to visit the Anglo-Saxon village at West Stow. The children explored artefacts and learnt how historians 'read' objects they find in order to infer and learn from them. The children had a go at this themselves and also explored the village to see what life would have been like for people then. You can see some of our discoveries by looking at the photos below - the full range of photos can be seen in the classroom windows so please take a moment to have a look.
Thank you to the parent helpers who also supported us on this trip.
The children have been focusing their English skills on creating their own non-chronological report to inform the reader all about the their dragon. It has been lovely to see the children apply their knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons and their understanding of how sound travels within their writing. All the work has been collated for a class book to share information about all of the dragons the children have created.
To complete our learning this term, the Honey Bee class have celebrated with an Anglo-Saxon campfire feast. The children had to research which vegetables were grown in England at that time and then find out which are currently in season or not. This led the children to plan their Anglo-Saxon vegetable cakes which we made to eat by our campfire. Although marshmallows weren't eaten during the Anglo-Saxon time period, we couldn't resist toasting some this afternoon!
Thank you to to all the family members who joined us for this event; it was lovely to read your feedback.
