8 September 2023

Starfish
Our first beach school back and we had a fabulous day.  The new children did brilliantly we were so proud of them.  Our story at the beach was ‘This is Me!’ by Claire Taylor and Tim Budgen.  In the story we meet George. His eyes are sparkly, just like his mum. Like his dad, he’s determined and brave, and like his sister, he’s full of fun!  The story celebrates our differences and talks about how our differences make us special.

 After the story we drew a picture of ourselves and wrote our name.

 In the story, George tells us that everyone is different just like the pebbles at the seaside.  We collected some pebbles and then sorted them in different ways, big one and small ones, flat ones and round ones and dark coloured ones and light coloured ones.  In the story George throws his pebbles in the sea and says that together we make bigger splash.  We had great fun carefully throwing our pebbles in the water making a big splash.

 We then looked at some of the things in the book and made them in the sand.  We made sofas, cars and televisions!

After lunch we listened to the story again and spoke about what George could do now that he is bigger that he couldn’t do when we was younger.  We discussed all the things that we can do now.  We all enjoyed crawling on the sand like babies!

We did some yoga poses as part of our PE.  It was quite tricky standing on one leg on the sand for the tree pose.  We are going to practise each week to get better. We also had great fun chasing bubbles today.

 As part of thinking about ourselves we made some self-portraits using things we found at the beach.  We worked hard to create some amazing faces.  It was a warm walk back up the hill but no one complained, we all showed  perseverance and kept going.  Well done Starfish! 

 

Puffin
It was a very foggy day which made our writing about what we could see quite difficult.  The Year 2s used some good similes to describe the fog though! In PE this half term we are focussing on throwing and catching at the beach.  Today it was all about accurate throwing towards a target.  We warmed up by rushing across the beach to collect shells, then worked in teams to try and get closest to a target.  We investigated what happened if we did not point our throwing arm towards the target.  Our music this half term is looking at pulse and rhythm.  We started off by singing and clapping our names - we even used our middle names.  Then we clapped the pulse and the rhythm of different nursery rhymes.
After a delicious lunch at the golf club we did some science.  This half term we are learning about how the properties of materials help with different products.  We discussed what we already knew about different materials and objects, and what the difference between man-made and natural was.  We then helped out the golf club by starting a litter pick of some of the man-made rubbish that had blown off tables there.  Then we took the litter pickers down to the beach to find more rubbish.  After science we did some art.  We are exploring how to make different effects with different types of lines.  We looked at horizontal, vertical, diagonal, wavy, cross-hatched and broken lines.  We looked at the work of Bridget Riley, and then did our own line pictures in the sand.  We found some thin pieces of seaweed and used that to enhance our designs.
As we started to come up the hill we emerged from the fog - it was very warm coming up the hill and back to school!
Seals
We had an incredible start to the new year at beach school! Our day began with a serene and peaceful worship session by the waves, allowing us to connect with nature and appreciate its beauty. Afterward, we embarked on a delightful walk towards the wall. However, the weather had a surprise in store for us as the mist rolled in, shrouding Dunstanburgh Castle from sight as we gazed from atop the magnificent dunes.

Once we reached the wall, the children eagerly took turns descending it. But before they could start, we took a moment to revisit the crucial rules of descending the wall safely. Safety is always our top priority, and it's essential to refresh our memories to ensure everyone remains secure during their exciting descent.

To stimulate our imaginations and immerse ourselves in captivating narratives, we delved into our new class book, the Land of Roar. During our discussion, we explored the roles of an author and an illustrator, gaining a deeper understanding of their respective contributions in creating captivating stories. It was fascinating to recognize the different skills and talents required for each role.

In physical education, we embarked on our Yoga Unit, exploring a variety of poses including the rejuvenating sun salutation, the graceful cobra, the comforting child's pose, and the energizing downward-facing dog. It was a fantastic opportunity to enhance our flexibility, balance, and mindfulness through these ancient exercises.

After our lunch, we were ready to delve into the world of drama and imaginary story creation. Within this creative space, we unleashed our imaginations, combining elements of drama and storytelling to construct captivating tales. It was incredible to witness the children's enthusiasm and creativity as they crafted their own narratives.