Infants (20-21)

Welcome to Willow Class!

Welcome to Willow Class! We have a ‘can do’ attitude and love learning in lots of different ways. Our class has children from Reception to Year Two and we all help each other to be happy learners. Our lessons promote our creativity and independence; often learning through investigation and problem solving.

Kings, Queens and Castles!

This half term we will be learning all about Kings, Queens and Castles. We will be learning about their features, how to defend them, make catapults and print banners in the style of Andy Warhol. We are also going to be learning Queen Victoria and comparing her to Queen Elizabeth. So, get ready to explore and defend your castle!

Super Science Morning!

Wow! What a morning! We had brilliant fun investigating and exploring lots of different science experiments today.

The children made their own slime using cornflour and water, explored magnets, forces, made pulleys to see if we can lift Thor's hammer and freed Scrat from the ice.

We then used special glitter bug powder and a UV torch to see how far germs would spread around the classroom. It went a long way and showed the children just how well they need to wash their hands.

Crazy Catapults

We have had a brilliant week exploring forces. We learnt that a force is a push and a pull and investigated lots of different activities in the classroom and hall. We made domino runs, bounced balls, whizzed around on the scooters and made ball runs with large pipes.

Today we learnt how a castle was attacked using a catapult to launch rocks to smash down the thick walls. We then made one using marshmallows. It was amazing and we had such a great time trying to score as many points as we could in the targets! We had to use push and pull forces to fire the mini marshmallows into the target.

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Queen Victoria

Today we had a royal visitor in Willow Class.

Queen Victoria spoke to the class about her life at Buckingham Palace, her beloved husband Prince Albert, and her nine children. We learnt that her greatest achievement as Queen was starting schools with Charles Dickens so children didn't have to work in factories or clean chimneys any more. Did you know she has a Pug dog!

Down at the Bottom of the Garden

This half term we will be building on last terms learning about plants by exploring the wonderful insects and creatures that live in our gardens.

We will be learning about habitats, food chains, naming insects and being mini beast hunters. We are going to explore how bees make honey and why they are so important to our environment as well as watching caterpillars turn into butterflies. In art this term we will be learning how to draw insects, mix colours, name primary and secondary colours and use Matisse's 'The Snail' as inspiration for our own work. So, get your wellington boots, magnifying glass and lets get ready to explore!

We have some special additions to Willow Class. Our Caterpillars have arrived! We will be watching them change from Caterpillar to Butterflies and then setting them free. Keep popping back to see photographs of them.

Caterpillar Watch

Captain Tom 100 challenge

This term our school value focus is service. We have been thinking about how we can serve others, our talents, and the people who serve us.
We learned about Captain Tom and how he served his country in war but also his amazing service to the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100 birthday to raise money. Today we completed our own 100 challenge. The children skipped, hopped, jumped, or side-stepped while counting to 100.

Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!

This half term we are going to be using the story of Jack and the Beanstalk to learn about traditional tales and plants. We will be learning the names of plants, similarities and differences between seeds and bulbs as well as investigating what plants need to grow. We will be planting bean seeds and watching them change and grow. Keep popping back to see how they develop. In art, we will be looking at the artist Van Gogh and using his painting of the 'Sunflowers' as a stimulus for our own paintings of flowers.

We have been learning about Palm Sunday and why Christians have Palm crosses. We made crosses and joined in with a song shouting 'Hosanna' to the King.

Hosanna - Jumping up and Down

On the Moon!

Our topic for this half term is going to see us blasting into space. We will be learning about the planets, Neil Armstrong and Tim Peake as well as exploring Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. We have loved building a space rocket together and reading lots of fantastic space themed stories together. We hope you enjoy looking at some highlights in our photographs below.

Amazing Lego planets!

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

We have had a great start to the year learning about out wonderful bodies, how to keep them healthy and exploring our environment using our senses. We have tasted foods and explored the wonders of autumn writing some great poems.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Food, Glorious Food!

Take a look at our photos from all our hard work this half term. We've done everything from fruit tasting, sandwich making to making our party decorations! Of course we ended our topic on a high with our very successful tea party! Thank you for the adults who were able to attend.

Food, Glorious, Food!

Stay Safe with Thomas!

Willow class took part in a live read of 'Stay Safe with Thomas'. The children heard and followed the story which was even read by a real train engineer. We learnt how to stay safe near railway tracks - ask us to test our knowledge! Then we took part in quiz alongside all the other schools watching from around the UK. Matlock Bath came 2nd - well done Willow Class! We even got a shout out from Network Rail, we were all very excited (have a look at the picture!)

Stay Safe with Thomas!

Cromford Mill

Willow Class visited Cromford Mill as part of our topic 'Marvellous Matlock Bath'. We became mill workers for the day and were put to work! The children signed their contracts agreeing to work and then we learnt to card cotton. It's harder than it looks! After a well deserved lunch, we went for a walk around Cromford Mill and the village. Dressed as workers we saw the houses where they would have lived and the allotment where their vegetables would grow. We even got to see 'the lock up' where children would go if they didn't make the right choice...

A fun-filled day had by all!

Valentine's Treats-Homemade with Love❤️

The Time Machine

This half term we are travelling through time to find out about famous explorers, exciting events and what childhood was like in the past. The children have been super researchers so far and today we even had some special visitors in school to talk about their school experiences and childhoods. We are excited to share what we learnt and also to talk about the objects and questionnaires that families have very kindly shared from home. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped!

Here are some pictures from today's interviews...

Jayson's poem recital!

Sparkle and Shine!

In our topic this half term we have enjoyed learning about different celebrations from around the World. We have acted out traditional stories; produced wonderful artwork; written poetry; made sweets and even danced! Who knows what we will find out about in the final three weeks?...

Number lines in Magic Maths!

Autumn 1 'Who's been eating my porridge?'

In Willow Class this half term we are enjoying exploring traditional tales. We are developing our love of reading and writing skills to write our own, fun-filled version of a traditional tale. Also in our topic sessions we have been learning about moving pictures and their mechanisms. We can't wait to apply this new learning to design and make our own moving picture for part of a traditional tale.

Families are welcome to join us at the beginning of our school day until 9:15am on 24/10/18 to share the finished outcomes!

See below photos of some of the mechanisms we've practiced making so far....

Sometimes the older children come to help us in our classroom! We made some Challah bread when we were learning about Shabbat and Judaism.

Andy Goldsworthy inspired artwork for Father's Day

Dance Festival

I was incredibly proud of the fantastic performance Willow Class gave in front of a huge audience at Anthony Gell! The children worked hard to learn, practice and perform a routine which the lovely Mrs Forrester from Anthony Gell taught them. It was so nice to see the children not only enjoying their performance, but also watching dances from other children, all the way up to year 11. Once again their enthusiasm was fabulous- well done!
Here is a video of the rehearsal...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

A Day in the Life of a Mill Worker

Willow Class enjoyed a fantastic trip to Cromford Mills where they played the parts of child mill workers. They were super stars; getting stuck into the activities and impressing the adults with their beautiful manners and hard work.

Thank you to all the staff at Cromford Mill as well as Mrs Gostick and Mr Holt for all your help and enthusiasm.

Take a look at some of the action from a thoroughly enjoyable day...