The year 3 children have enjoyed exploring a range of techniques and media to create some wonderful pieces of work. They used different pencils to develop their sketching skills and experimented with hatching, cross-hatching, light and dark lines. They then combined chalk and charcoal to create a smoke effect background for their London skyline. Don’t they look effective?
As part of our ‘Animal including humans’ unit of work, we have been learning all about muscles and how they work. We now know that we need our muscles to be able to move our skeleton. We discovered that our muscles are attached to our bones by tendons and that most muscles work in pairs. As one muscle contracts, the other relaxes and vice versa. We had a great time making a model arm with a bicep and tricep! We could see that as the arm bent, the bicep contracted and as it straightened, the bicep relaxed.
The children in the year 3/4 STEM club were very excited for the first session! They had a great time working in teams to create bridges using only newspaper and masking tape. They loved testing the strength of their bridge with a model car. Some were more successful than others but everyone contributed brilliantly and most importantly they all thoroughly enjoyed the task.
As part of Child Mental Health Week, the children in year 3 have been discussing bravery and what it means to be brave. They loved reading and discussing the story of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark. They talked about Plop’s journey of personal discovery from a shy, timed and frightened owl to a brave and courageous one. They then began to design their own
characters which will all overcome a 
challenge by being brave. By the end of the session, the children were able to say that bravery comes in different shapes and sizes. Being brave means different things to different people. For some it may be asking for help in class, for others’ perhaps learning to swim. Everyone is different and we ALL NEED TO BE BRAVE SOMETIMES!
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The season of Remembrance may be over but this stunning display will ensure that we never forget. As part of a project with the Humber Education Trust, the year 3 children created various pieces of art work, including the beautiful ‘sea of poppies’ made from recycled plastic bottles. They also exchanged a piece of art work with the other HET schools. In a solemn Remembrance service, they placed poppies in the shape of the number 100 to commemorate 100 years since the end of WWI. The service was followed by the whole school forming a giant poppy in the playground.
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This week in year 5/6, we have been looking at the chemical reaction that occurs when bicarbonate of soda reacts with vinegar. The children used their prior knowledge of this reaction to create an investigation to inflate a balloon using carbon dioxide. They loved seeing the balloon inflate as the chemical reaction took place! They were able to explain that the reaction between bicarbonate of soda and vinegar resulted in a new substance(carbon dioxide) being formed.
Last Friday saw Ellie, Kitana and AJ travel to ABP to see the unveiling of their art work on a brand new shipping container. They won the competition, in association with Hull Children’s University, after attending a Digital Art module at the KCOM learning zone. They took photographs in and around Hull Maritime Museum and learnt how to manipulate and edit their images using a variety of apps. They were thrilled to see their finished piece represented on a brand new shipping container. The container has been fitted with a tracking device to enable the children to follow its journey around the world for a whole year!
Here at Christopher Pickering Primary School we are very proud to have achieved the Primary Science Quality Mark.
“High quality displays and thoughtful evaluations show a shared and demonstrated understanding of the importance of science”.
“The portfolio demonstrates a range of teaching and learning approaches, including drama, the use of practical materials, modelling and children planning their own investigations”.
“Differentiated learning has been carefully evaluated to ensure that children are accessing at their own level, supporting LA and challenging the HA”.
