Year 5 Science - Leapfrog Game: Facts about Frogs
This week, our Science lesson hopped into the fascinating world of amphibian life cycles, specifically focusing on frogs. Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed discovering diverse frog life cycles, including the intriguing South American tree frog, which uniquely lays its eggs on leaves rather than in water! To consolidate our learning, we then took our studies to the playground for a lively game of 'Leapfrog Life Cycle'. Students answered questions about frog development on their whiteboards; a correct answer meant a fun leap, with the number of jumps determined by a dice roll! This highly engaging and active session led to much correct recall and, consequently, a lot of enthusiastic jumping!
Year 5 Music - Responding to Music with Art
This week in Music, Year 5 engaged in a wonderfully creative exercise, listening intently to various pieces and translating their auditory experiences into abstract drawings. Their artwork beautifully captured both the sounds they heard and the emotions the music evoked, resulting in a collection of truly interesting and unique interpretations.
School Games Gold Award Winners!
We’re proud to announce that Darwen St James has been awarded the GOLD School Games Mark! This brilliant achievement is a reflection of the perseverance, courage, and hope shown by our pupils—and the dedication of our PE and Extra-Curricular Sports Team, who work tirelessly to promote sport and physical activity across our school. This year we have participated in netball, football, cross country and cricket to name a few! The School Games Mark is a national award that celebrates a school’s commitment to PE, school sport, and competition, both within and beyond the school gates. It also supports schools in reviewing and strengthening their provision. A huge thank you and well done to Mrs Cookson and all the staff for making sport such an exciting and important part of life at Darwen St James. We’re incredibly proud of our pupils for stepping up to every challenge with determination and team spirit. Keep going, keep growing! ???? #TeamDSJ #DSJFamily
Year 2 - Computing - Making Music
We have had fun this week composing digital music and learning all about tone, beats and volume.
Year 2 - Maths - Time
Year 2 have been learning more about time and have looked specifically at o clock, quarter past, half past and quater to. They have been exploring drawing on clocks and labelling them.
Year 2 - Music - Pitch
Children are engaged in learning about music, specifically exploring the concept of pitch. They are shown using various instruments, using hands-on musical exploration and discovery.
Pre-School- UTW-Life Cycle Of A Caterpillar
Over the last few weeks the children have been observing caterpillars and watching what happens next. We introduced the eggs to the children and explained what is in the jar. As the weeks went on we started to see the caterpillars pop out of the eggs and start to grow. The caterpillars got bigger and bigger and then needed to go home with Mrs Corbally to be looked after in the holidays. At this time the caterpillars went into their cocoons and we waited and waited to see what happened next. On the first day back into nursery we had butterflies! The children helped to feed the butterflies sugar water and oranges before letting them go.
Nursery - Phonics - Identifying Animal Sounds
Today, the nursery class actively engaged in a Phase 1 Phonics activity, focusing on listening and identifying wild animal sounds. The children displayed excellent listening skills, showing focused attention as different animal noises were played. They enthusiastically participated, attempting to identify each sound and often trying to imitate them. It was noted that some of the sounds were familiar, like the lion, while others, such as the elephant or monkey, introduced them to new animals, directly linking with our current story, Dear Zoo. This activity was excellent for developing their auditory discrimination, a key pre-reading skill, and also supported their language development and cognitive abilities through sound-matching and recall. The children's high level of engagement showed it was a fun and effective learning experience.
Pre-School- PSHE- Changing As We Grow
The children have been learning how we change over time and what things we need to make this happen. The children discussed that babies need food and sleep to grow. To help us grow the children talked about looking after our bodies, we spoke about losing our baby teeth and getting our adult teeth and this is a sign of growing up. We talked about the different stages of growing up from a baby to an adult looking at pictures and using each other to measure our growth.
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Year 3 D.T. - To Recognise How Multiple Shapes Are Combined To Form A Strong And Stable Structure.
Year 3 DT students have been exploring the fascinating world of castles! Their recent lesson covered a range of topics, including: Purpose of Castles: Discussions revolved around why castles were built, understanding their defensive and strategic roles. Inhabitants of Castles: Students learned about the people who lived within castle walls, from lords and ladies to soldiers and servants. Castle Locations: The class explored where castles can be found today, both locally and further afield, understanding their historical significance. Castles in Stories: They delved into various stories and fairy tales that feature castles, connecting their learning to literature and imagination. To consolidate their understanding, the students then put their knowledge into practice by drawing their own castles. They successfully identified and labelled key features such as: Towers: Tall structures for defense and observation. Turrets: Small, ornamental towers often found at corners or along walls. Battlements: The protective, notched parapets along the top of castle walls. Gatehouse: The fortified entrance to the castle. Drawbridge: A movable bridge that could be raised or lowered to control access. Curtain Walls: The main defensive walls enclosing the castle courtyard.
Year 1 - English - Analysing Vocabulary Used In Poetry
This week, our Year 1 poets became word detectives! We've been diving into some fantastic poems, not just to enjoy them, but to hunt for amazing vocabulary. The children loved discovering new words and talking about what they mean. We explored how different words make us feel and how they paint pictures in our minds. It was so exciting to see their eyes light up as they unlocked the secrets hidden within the lines of poetry!
Year 3 English - Playscripts
Year 3 has been exploring playscripts. They've learned about the structure and layout of playscripts and even performed "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" for the class.
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