Month: October 2009

Silver Class Jungle Fun

Turney

Silver Class

The children in Silver Class have had great fun reading and exploring Walking Through the Jungle, our main class-reading book for this term. We have been learning about the different animals that live in the jungle, describing what they look like, as well as the different sounds each animal makes. Silver Class has its very own mini-jungle, with some brilliant class puppets helping us to explore how the animals in the jungle play with each other. We have also been dressing up in animal costumes, and singing plenty of animal songs.

Orange Class Body Work

Turney

Orange Class

We have been learning about our different body parts in Orange Class. The children have been naming the different parts of the body, and counting how many legs, arms and fingers we have. Using one of our class members as a guide, the children have made a life-size cut out of a Turney School pupil! We have had great fun listening and singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes – all in preparation for the Orange Class assembly next month.

Purple Class Podcast

Turney

Purple Class

Our class book time in Purple Class has been spent reading our favourite Funnybones book. The illustrations in the story have been getting a great response from the children, helping them to identify with each character. We have been teaching the children how to sign different parts of the story. We have also been using our own skeleton puppets to help retell the Funnybones book. You can listen to our Purple Class children singing in the podcast below.

Listen!

Red Class Singing Podcast

Turney

Red Class

With only seven weeks remaining before the Turney School Christmas Carol Concert, the children have been busy rehearsing the songs that they will sing this year. Under the expert musical guidance of Louie, Red Class have had great fun singing Silent Night, Starry Night and Gloria, Gloria. We have helped the children with their songs, by teaching them the signs for each action. 11th December is the date for the grand Christmas Concert – Red Class can’t wait! You can listen to a short recording of one our rehearsals in the podcast below.

Listen!

Green Class Growth

Turney

Green Class

Our main theme in Green Class for this term is the highly appropriate plant world! We have been looking at different plants and natural growth, describing the colours we see and talking about the features different plants have. Some wonderful plant pictures have been produced in the class. We are all looking forward to having an exploration trip to the park next week, where we hope to see as many different types of plant as possible.

Happy Birthday Blue Class!

Turney

Blue Class

There has been a wonderful celebratory mood around Blue Class this week as we wished three of our class members a very happy birthday! The children held their own party on Monday afternoon, enjoying the time with their class friends, and celebrating by eating some special party food. No party is complete with music and games, and we had plenty of these as well! We have discussed in class why our birthdays are important, and how and why we like to celebrate them. You can listen to Blue Class wishing their friends happy birthday in the podcast below.

Listen!

Yellow Class Assembly

Turney

Yellow Class

We have been working extremely hard in Yellow Class, preparing for our school assembly next week. The children are going to be telling their friends throughout the school all about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.

“A healthy lifestyle means that we eat all the right food, and are careful about what we eat,” Jonathan told us.”

The children have been practising their songs to sing in the assembly, as well as learning suitable signs to help put across their healthy eating message.

Gold Class Podcast

Turney

Gold class

History lessons in Gold Class have focussed on Ancient Greek civilisation. The children have been researching how our lives differ from those of the people living in Ancient Greek times. We have looked at the clothes worn, the food eaten by the Ancient Greeks and what type of transport was used. You can listen to a podcast with a couple of our keen Gold Class historians explaining more below.

Listen!

Class 7 Swimming

Turney

Class 7

Friday swimming sessions at Crystal Palace are proving to be extremely popular in Class 7.

“This is my favourite part of the week,” Joseph told us. “I look forward to going to Crystal Palace with all of my class friends. We have been learning how to use floats to help us to swim.”

A healthy lifestyle seems to be the main message around Class 7. As well as the weekly swims, we are happy to report that a new class record has been set with eleven lunchtime skippers!

Class 8 P.E.

Turney

Class 8

We have added an extra activity to our ball coordination skills during Class 8 P.E. sessions. As well as throwing and catching, we have been concentrating on movement and anticipating when to catch the ball.

Working with our partners, we threw our ball back and forth, trying to manage at least six catches per pair. We then added in a short running route, helping the children to think about where they need to be standing in order to take a clean catch.

Class 9 Black History Art

Turney

Class 9

As part of our work for Black History Month, we have been learning and researching the history of slavery in the UK. We have discussed with the pupils the origins of slavery, and then how and why it was abolished in the UK. All of our Class 9 pupils have produced some thoughtful and striking posters, putting across a strong anti-racism and anti-slavery message. We are proud to display a selection of these posters below.

Class 9

Class 9

Class 10 Reading Video

Turney

Class 10 have been making the most of their weekly sessions spent reading in the Turney School library. We encourage our pupils to treat this as an independent time, where they can choose which type of books they would like to read, and then explore the text on their own. We offer dedicated support for any of our pupils who may require some reading assistance.

Our library sessions are sometimes spent together as a group, with shared, class reading. We also talk about the ideas that have interested us in different books, and what we thinks helps to make a good story. You can watch a short video of one of our pupils sharing her reading with a member of staff in the video above.

Class 11 D & T

Turney

Class 11

Class 11 are building their own cityscape as part of their Deign & Technology lessons. We talked first about what features we can find in a city, and what role an architect has in helping to shape the look and feel of where we live. Working in pairs we then started to model our own buildings using a variety of materials.

Once all of the construction is complete, we are going to put together a Turney School city landscape. We will then add a skyline using our artistic talent. The final stage of our project is to photograph our work, and then use digital editing skills in the ICT suite to proudly present the Turney School city landscape!

Class 12 City & Guilds Video

Turney

As part of our City and Guilds qualification in Leisure, Class 12 pupils have had an extremely practical Food Technology session this week. We started off this unit by growing our own cress in the classroom. We talked about what plants need to help them grow, taking care to water our cress seeds regularly, and then placing them in a bright spot close to a window.

Once we had grown some of our ingredients, the fun started as we made our own sandwiches. Our pupils each had the choice of making either an egg and cress or a cheese and cress sandwich. We discussed the sequence of events we need to follow to make as a sandwich, as well as planning what equipment we may need.

This is a highly important life skill that we are learning as part of our City and Guilds. It helps us to become more independent, as well as increasing our confidence in the kitchen. You can watch a short video featuring our Class 12 cooks above.

Class 12 City & Guilds Video

Turney

As part of our City and Guilds qualification in Leisure, Class 12 pupils have had an extremely practical Food Technology session this week. We started off this unit by growing our own cress in the classroom. We talked about what plants need to help them grow, taking care to water our cress seeds regularly, and then placing them in a bright spot close to a window.

Once we had grown some of our ingredients, the fun started as we made our own sandwiches. Our pupils each had the choice of making either an egg and cress or a cheese and cress sandwich. We discussed the sequence of events we need to follow to make as a sandwich, as well as planning what equipment we may need.

This is a highly important life skill that we are learning as part of our City and Guilds. It helps us to become more independent, as well as increasing our confidence in the kitchen. You can watch a short video featuring our Class 12 cooks above.

Class 9 Black History Artwork

Turney

Class 9

As part of our work for Black History Month, we have been learning and researching the history of slavery in the UK. We have discussed with the pupils the origins of slavery, and then how and why it was abolished in the UK. All of our Class 9 pupils have produced some thoughtful and striking posters, putting across a strong anti-racism and anti-slavery message. We are proud to display a selection of these posters below.

Class 9

Class 9