In a recent Crew session, 6SO voiced their concerns about the amount of litter in the local area so they decided to do something about it! On Thursday, we went out armed with bin bags and litter pickers and did out bit for the community by collecting litter in nearby woodland. What a wonderful group of young people!
Friends of Crew Chadwick
At NJS, we try to make maths as engaging as possible: exciting maths, real life maths, active maths and challenging maths. However, sometimes, children just like to pit their collaborative wits against a good-old-fashioned year 4 SATâs paper (hard to believe I know). Here, we wheeled out the 2006 optional test paper – largely regarded as an âabsolute classicâ featuring SATâs stalwarts Lauren, Zak and Jade (see image above). Coincidently, it came to light recently that a member of our own staff team models his haircut, ârelaxed stanceâ and casual dress sense on one of the characters featured in the test (Iâll let you decide the character and teacher in question). Anyway, as part of our Crewâs challenge, each pair were given three counters that they could âcash inâ at any time and in doing so, ask a question to a staff member when the subject matter was just too difficult to navigate. Of course, most pairs opted against this and used the power of annotations, jottings and âmathâs talkâ to help them arrive at the answer.
Following the activity, children swapped papers with another pair and pupils used the critique protocol to give each other praises and wonders regarding the effectiveness of their jottings. Of course, their feedback was sharp, at times bold and certainly tailored to meet the demands of the situation – just like Mr Wilkinsonâs dress sense.
Have a great weekend everyone
Exploring the work of Quentin Blake
This week, we are excited to reveal some of the wonderful art work we are creating for our walking guide. We have taken our inspiration from the magnificent and extremely talented artist Quentin Blake – the author of countless Roald Dahl and David Walliams books.
Our crew used peer assessment and critique to improve they’re first draft and I am exceptionally impressed with the progress so far!
Out of this world!
Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed learning about all things space related during the first case study of our ‘Big Bangs’ expedition and have worked hard to produce these beautifully eye-catching pictures of their own solar systems! This work links to their English lessons where they have been writing a report about an imaginary planet. To create these fantastic pictures, they used oil pastels and had to develop the skill of blend using this tricky media.
Teamwork makes the dream work!
This week has been all about collaboration in Year 6 and receiving critique from our peers in order to ensure our work is the very best that it can be. Pupils used writing assessment rubrics to assess each other’s space non-chronological reports and engaged in peer coaching when completing maths challenges. Pupils have really demonstrated our ‘Be kind’ habit of work and learning speaking to each other in a respectful manner and giving constructive feedback.
Beautiful work
This week, the children have been working hard producing some work for the end product of this expedition. (A walking guide related to the walks the children have been on within the local area.) The children have really demonstrated their HOWLS and are excited of the prospect of having their work published in a book. By looking at just some of the work the children have produced so far, I think the content of the book is going to be nothing short of beautiful.
The Water Cycle
This week, we have spent time investigating how water moves around the water cycle. 3HJ thoroughly enjoyed creating their very own ‘water cycles’ but adding food colouring to water. The children drew the different stages onto clear plastics which we hung on the windows in our classroom.
We can’t wait to see the results!
Who’s the teacher? You’re the teacher!
After writing a non-chronological report about their very own imaginary planet (inspired by the fictional planet of Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar), 6CC put on their teacher heads and assessed their partner’s writing using teacher’s assessment tools. With an emphasis on critique, writers praised features in each others writing whilst also providing their peer with constructive feedback to help make their non-chron. more immersive, captivating and fact-filled.
‘Who’s that trip trapping over my bridge’
Yesterday saw the third walk in a series of jaunts that our children are doing as part of our summer expedition: Take a Walk on the Wild side. This journey boasted a length of 3.8 miles and took our Crew to the periphery of Walden Stubbs, trekking on bridleways, narrow footpaths, over railway crossings and even across the River Went by virtue of a narrow wooden bridge. Of course, our children coped ‘manfully’ with this and called upon our core values of ‘aspiration’ and ‘resilience’ to get them through. Indeed, the culmination of our Expedition will be a walking guide that will include this and all the other walks that our children embark on. Stay posted for the date of our celebration of learning where these nifty guides will be on sale.
Onwards!
This morning, Year 3 and 4 set off on their third walk around the local area. So far, the children have shown great commitment and effort whilst out and represented the school extremely well whilst out and about in the local community. The class have been a true definition of a ‘CREW’ and I know that this will no doubt continue over the coming walks over the next few weeks. Keep on trekin’ 3MW!
