Totemic Presentations at Claypole School

The final 2 groups from the 3 schools met at Claypole School on Tuesday to present to the Dragons.Jane met us and took us through to the hall where the Dragons ( plus a huge dragon and balloons) were waiting.
Groups presented in front of a full hall.
              The Autistic Fighters were our first group-they were brilliant-some did not even need cue cards.

Each member had something to say-and did so clearly and without nerves( well non showed even though they said they were shaking!)

Isabella answered questions from the Dragons.

The last group to present were Celvat-the initials from each group member and a play on words for Sell That!

Unfortunately the laptop had died and the groups PowerPoint could not be shown-pity as it was really good. However 'Celvat' had a backup plan-they had printed notes for all the Dragons and they had their cue cards- so all in all they did fantastically despite the technical hitch.

Whilst the final decisions were being discussed, juice and cup cakes were enjoyed by all.

Groups also received a special pen holder and a Goodie bag.

Final discussions....

Allington- Ice Ice Baby won...and received their Dragon Trophy.

I am really proud of our 2 teams- our first year and we did not know what to expect so I am extremely proud of our children who presented to a hall full of children and adults without showing any signs of nerves.

Fabulous.

Maths starters- the children take control!

Our maths starters are lead by  year 6. The activity is "What's my number?" Children work in pairs, 1 selects a number and writes it on a white board, then the class has to ask questions in order to work out what the number is. They cannot ask the same style question twice so have to think carefully about the questions and in what order to ask them. The second one in the pair uses the interactive white board to give a visual of what numbers it cannot be. They ask the class what to get rid of and then click to show this. eg Is it even?No-what do I get rid of? Is it a multiple of 3? Yes. What do I do-why?

patterns- we love spotting patterns -they help so much in maths

Those in control of the board can ask anyone what to do -just to make sure everyone is still participating!

is it less than...?

Is it a multiple of 3...?

Is it a prime...?

Is the Tens digit even...?

Is it palindromic?

We also looked at patterns in our main maths lessons-the Fibonacci sequence...

we then shared some of the patterns we identified.

 We found out that Fibonacci is everywhere in nature...plants, spirals, constellations, rabbit population,pineapples....

Our visit to a Sikh Temple

On Tuesday June 30th we visited the Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara and Sikh Temple in Leicester.
We covered our heads, removed our shoes, washed our hands and were ready to be shown round the temple.
We saw morning prayers and on Tuesdays there are singers and musicians playing whilst people give their offerings to the Guru Granth Sahib.The Guru Granth Sahib is kept under a special canopy in the Gurdwara.
As the scriptures are being read, the reader or an attendant will periodically wave a chauri over the scriptures. This is a sign of respect for the authority of the Guru Granth Sahib which is treated like a living Guru or teacher.

 Prashad, the sacred pudding of Sikhism, is made from equal parts of butter, sugar and flour. This delicacy is served as a sacramental offering during Sikh worship services. Here those who wanted to try some are collecting the offering.

Most enjoyed it, if we did not like it then it was collected from us to be fed to the birds and the fishes- so nothing was wasted.

We then explored the museum and saw lots of rather gory paintings- depicting the battles that happened to the Guru's over the years.

Ethans head covering came undone so he was shown how to turn it into a turban-this then lasted the rest of our visit.

Looking at the 5 K's -the Sikh Symbols.

Some models of Sikh  temples from around the world.

                                             Learning more about the Sikh religion and beliefs.

asking and answering any questions

The 5 K's - we knew them all.

• Kesh (uncut hair)
• Kara (a steel bracelet)
• Kanga (a wooden comb)
• Kaccha - also spelt, Kachh, Kachera (cotton underwear)
• Kirpan (steel sword)

Being shown the  Kirpan

Looking ( but not inside as it was a sacred place) where the Guru Granth Sahib 

 rests-its like a 5 star bedroom complete with air conditioning.

Refreshemnst served in the Langar Hall.Food is cooked by the members of the community and served by members of the community, to all people at the Gurdwara. The idea is to demonstrate equality of all people, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or race.

sitting on the floor and sampling the curries

rice - sweet like a pudding as we found out

water to drink

everyone tried something

some rather liked the rice 

We were made to feel very welcome .

Rachel Hamilton- Author visit

Rachel Hamilton returned to school to tell us all about her new book-The Case of the Exploding Brains.
She reminded us first about how important imagination is,set us tasks to think up settings, characters and scenarios for stories...

Time for some volunteers to take on the characters from her new book...

Rachel and the characters reading from The Case of the Exploding Brains.

Rachel ,The Glamorous Assistant...Porter...The Museum Curator Gnome...

Rachel signed books for children who are now looking forward to reading her book.