Silver Birch

American Football Experience

Mr. Setters took us for a PE lesson focusing on American Football to link with our North American theme. He taught us some key vocabulary for different 'lines' - making us run them while catching a ball. It was lots of fun and a challenge to remember all of the names!

Get Medieval Day

We were taught how to fight using foam swords. There were two types of shield: heat and round. In the afternoon, we played a game called 'Anarchy'. Two of us were invited to be the king or queen and led teams. Over the course of the game, we had to collect coins to form castles and gain points. This reenacted a real life battle from the medieval times.

No Electric Day

The eco-council organised a day where the school wasn't allowed to use any electricity. We dressed up as Anglo-Saxons and completed lots of activities throughout the day based on this period of time. It was really fun! One of the activities was to write a diary as an Anglo-Saxon and then we rubbed it in mud to give it an old look.

An Eggciting Investigation

We wanted to find out which drink had the greatest impact on the enamel of our teeth. We used egg because the shell has enamel. We used five different liquids: water, apple juice, orange juice, cola and milk. We also kept one in a cup with no liquid, this was our control. We found out that apple juice and orange juice both cause the enamel to come away from the egg and had the greatest impact. This wasn't what we expected as the majority of the class thought the cola would have the largest impact.

'Publishing' a Story

In English, we wrote emotion stories based on the short film 'Feast' by Disney. We were given two lessons to write our own narrative. We then had time to type it into word. Mr Fiddy is then going to put them together into a book for us to share.

Zoom with Hannah Gold

We were really excited to have the oppotunity to join the author Hannah Gold on zoom as she spoke about her new book Finding Bear, which is the sequal to The Last Bear. We are very excited to read Finding Bear when we finish Charlotte's Web and discover what happens to April and Bear. Hannah was very interesting and gave us some advice on how to become famous authors.

Art - Soft Pastels

In our Art, we have been looking at the work of Tony Hudson. He has created some pieces of art which include warm colours and silhouettes of people. We used soft pastels to create these warm colours and had a go at blending them together. We then used charcoal to create dark silhouettes of people, trees and distant mountains. It was a lot of fun and a little messy!

Science Experiment - Weighing Gas

We wanted to investigate if gasses weighed anything. We were given  a cup or coke and lemonade. Mr Fiddy helped us to weigh them to see how much the liquid weighed with the Carbon Dioxide. We stirred it for three minutes each, totaling 18 minutes. After that, we weighed it again to see the new weight. We could then work out the weight of Carbon Dioxide. We discovered that gasses do have a weight and that coke contained more Carbon Dioxide than lemonade. 

Victorian Day at Gressenhall

We had a great day at Gressenhall. We had to untangle oakum, which was picking rope apart into a fiber. We were also given a tour of the workhouse and got to see the dungeon. We were taught in a Victorian classroom, where the teacher was strict. In the afternoon, we visited a house where a lady cooked drop scones and we helped washing clothes. There was a farm too, where we helped pick stones out of the field.

Visit to Lotus Training Centre

We have been completing a project with the Norwich City Community Sports Foundation where we revamped the outdoor area of our school. We are growing vegetables to use in our kitchen. We were inspired by the Norwich City training ground, which has its own area for growing vegetables. We were lucky enough to be given a tour around the facilities and even met the manager an a couple of players!

Wonderdome Planetarium

We were visited by a Planetarium. After a brief safety talk, we entered the dome which was very dark! The lady put on some videos and pictures about space. We learnt a lot! It was very immersive and, at times, felt like we were on a roller-coaster. It was amazing. 

Canopic Jars

First, we molded out canopic jar out of buff clay. We made the base and the lid to look like an animal's head. Once they had dried out, Mr Fiddy put them into the kiln. The next day, he took them out and discovered that some of them had exploded! The ones that survived their time in the kiln were then painted.

Model Phone

We first got some resources, such as: string of varying lengths and paper cups. We carefully poked a hole into each cup to feed the string through. (We had to tie a big knot to ensure the string didn't fall out.) We tested them outside. They work because the sound energy vibrates down the string and into the other cup.

Mummifying!

First we cut a slit in the tomato with a knife. We then scooped out the insides and the seeds with a spoon. The challenging part was to not split the tomato completely in half! Once all of the insides were out, we rubbed hand sanitiser all over the tomato, inside and out. Next, we placed salt inside the tomato. We placed the tomato into a air-tight bag and filled with salt. We will see in a few weeks time what has happened to the tomato.

Norwich Castle Museum Trip

We went on a trip to the Castle Museum in Norwich. We completed a scavenger hunt around the museum, finding our favourite item, scariest item and other tasks. We looked at the artefacts around the museum's galleries. There were lots of stuffed animals to see! We got to handle some real objects from Ancient Egypt and learnt about their Gods. After that, we helped to mummify an Egyptian priest Ankh Hor; learning the process and why it was important to the Egyptian People.

Outdoor Learning and Science

In our outdoor learning session, we filtered water. We used tights and filled them with natural resources that we thought would filter the water well. We created some dirty water and poured it through. We recorded what we used and how effective we thought it was. We found that putting sand in the tights was very effective. 

Map and Atlas study

In Geography, we have been learning about the rivers of the UK and the World. We had to find the rivers in an atlas to find its source, mouth and key locations along its course. Some of them were tricky to find so we had to use the index to find the page and grid reference. We also used computers to research the river's length and discharge, in an attempt to find the world's biggest river.

Author Visit

We were visited by an Author called Baz. He did a drama activity with us all about his book, None of Them Can Ever Copy Me. He taught us a song that followed the words of the book, along with some actions for each animal. We also designed our own animal masks from the book. We had lots of FUN!

Our Environment

During outdoor learning with Mr Tooms, we inflated a balloon and wrapped it using papier-mâché. After that, we allowed them to dry. We separated toilet roll to make it single ply and added that to the balloons. Under the single ply toilet roll were leaves, twigs and other Autumnal resources we found in our gardens and local areas. Through this activity, we learnt more about the things growing in our environments and how to enjoy nature in a new way, by using it in our art work.