Who did it? The Great Fire of London 'hook day'!

Monday 30^th September 2019

Year 1 and 2 from both Sutton and Catfield joined together to immerse themselves into learning all about The Great Fire of London. When the children arrived at school a fire had just been started on the playground. The children were shocked to see the fire and to understand that somebody must have started the fire! The children were quickly called into the hall following a recent Police report. The report from Norfolk Police was shared with the children. The report clearly explained what was expected of the children in order for the suspect to be identified.

The children identified several clues to suggest which suspect out of three it could be. The clues included: finger prints, footprints, notes, pieces of clothing and food crumbs. The children used a variety of scientific equipment to help them find as much evidence as possible. After all the possible evidence was collected, the children were required to update the police with their finding. A vote took place to identify which suspect the children believed was guilty. The guilty suspect, Thomas Farriner explained that he was sorry he started the fire and that it was an accident.

This afternoon we were joined by Stalham Fire Brigade who spent some time talking about their job with the children. The children learnt what to do if they ever experienced a fire in their own home. Afterwards, we went outside and had a look at the fire engine, the fire fighters explained to us about the equipment that is on board the fire engine and why they use it. The children ALL had the opportunity to sit in the fire engine too! Some children even dressed up in the uniform!

We all had a FANTASTIC day and we now ready to learn lots about the Great Fire of London in the coming weeks.

Drop scone making!

Year 1 had the opportunity to taste some drop scones from some supermarkets and local bakeries. They used their senses to evaluate the drop scones and vote on their favourite. 

The following day, Year 1 had the opportunity to make their own drop scones! They worked in small groups to weigh out the ingredients and mix the mixture before cooking (observing from a distance!) them on the hob using a frying pan. 

After that we evaluated our own drop scones! 

Wednesday 18th September - Gressenhall

On Wednesday, Year 1 and 2 visited Gressenhall Rural Life Museum. They were joined by the Year 1 and Year 2 children from Catfield. 

We left for Gressenhall at 9am and arrived just before 10am. We were welcomed by the staff at Gressenhall who were dress up in clothes from 1777. 

We were welcomed by the staff and shown where the toilets were. We then split off into our different groups, Year 1 stayed together.

Our first activity was washing, the lady showed us how people who lived in 1777 would've washed their clothes, not using a washing machine that's for sure! We pumped water from the well, heated it up on the range, poured it into a large container and then used a washing door to move the clothes around, not forgetting to add the carbolic soap! The clothes then went through a mangle to squeeze all the water out. We looked for a tumble drier but couldn't find one! Instead we hung the clothes on the washing line using dolly pegs!

Activity number 2 was in the cottage; we had an opportunity to clean the kitchen table as it would have been done in the Victorian times, using salt and stiff brushes. 'Window to door' the children chanted as they were scrubbing. This referred to the direction in which the brush needed to be travelling. After we had cleaned to a high enough standard, we were allowed to explore and play with the wooden toys that children in 1777 would've had. This was a shock to us all! 

The final activity was Miss Blake's favourite. We went into the cottage and helped the lady make drop scones. The recipe was very simple. Once the drop scones had been cooked we were allowed to try them. Some of us liked them while others didn't!

Before it was time to get on the bus we had a few minutes to explore the other parts of Gressenhall and go on the park!  We even went into the old school room, very different to our classroom today! We took a picture to compare the difference once we got back to school! 

Year 1 had a fantastic day, thank you to everyone who came to help too! 

Week 1!

Year 1 have had a fantastic start to the academic year. We spent the first few days exploring both the inside and outside learning environment. The children enjoyed investigated the maths area, using the lego wall, exploring the sand pit and making the most of the reading area.

On the Friday we ventured into the local area where we began our topic, ‘Through the door’. The children were engaged in the activity as we explored the village where our school is. On Friday afternoon the children began writing a story linked to the walk they had been on that morning. The following week we introduce the book ‘Door’ to the children. ‘Door’ has no words, this therefore gave the children the opportunity to use their imagination in regard to the story line. The children are currently learning a variety of skills to write a successful introduction to the story. These skills are: opening sentences, adjectives and verbs.

Our maths over the last week has been all about numbers. We have begun learning to recognise the digits and words of numbers as well as identify odd and even numbers.

We had our first gymnastics lesson last week, the children really enjoyed using the apparatus to move in different ways. The children worked by independently and in small groups. Next week’s lesson will build on from this one.

The children are exceptionally lucky to access our enrichment day on a Thursday. The children received an introductory session to Yoga as well has having a Spanish lesson, PE and a Forest School session.

Year 1 LOVED having their families in for Drop and Read on Wednesday. In Year 1 we love reading and can see the real benefits. We look forward to welcoming you all in again soon.