WELCOME TO COROMORANTS

The class teacher for this year is Mr Shaun Wingrove and the LSAs who work in this class are; Mrs Way and Mrs Kay. 

The theme for the Summer term is 'To Infinity... and Beyond - Space!'. We asked the children what their interests were and what they would like to learn about and space was a very popular suggestion! We have already 'kicked off' our theme with a Space Day full of different space related activities. We will continue to inspire the children and explore the subject of space in many different ways within school as well as having the opportunity to take part in a variety of trips! 

For more information on our curriculum please look at our Summer Term Curriculum Plan below.​​

The theme for the Spring term was a whole school theme called 'We are Seven Billion Stars'. We used this Video  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmcRa70LHe8) as our hook and an initial talking point to discuss what the term community meant to the children. During the term, we had a visit from Occombe Farm which gave the children a first hand experience of how to care for chickens. We also spent time fundraising throughout the term to enable us to purchase and raise our own flock of chickens!

The theme for Autumn term was 'Explore'. Initially we explored 'Under the Sea' and the next area of children's interest was the Rainforests. Some of the exciting learning opportunities that have happened have included; a trip to Brixham Fish Market and a tour of the Golden Hind, as well as a beach trip where we will be exploring rock pools and creating team sand art! In the first half term the focus was History, beginning with Sir Francis Drake and history of pirates. For more information on our curriculum, click on the Autumn Term 1 Curriculum Plan.

During the second half of the term, the children have been exploring the Rainforests. During this half term the children have been to the zoo and explored Rainforest animals. They have become 'Deadly 60 experts' for an animal of their choice and have created non-fiction animal leaflets. The children looked at the different layers of the rainforest and it's inhabitants. As well as looking into Fair Trade and making some homemade fair trade products to share with their parents

P.E. days: Wednesday and Thursday

Our PE days in Cormorants are Wednesday and Friday, please make sure children's PE kit is available for these days. 

Home Learning: Handed out on a Friday and in on a Wednesday. This will give you the opportunity to explore your child's learning if you wish.

Team Leader: Mrs Sarah Jarrett.

If there are any issues or concerns, please feel free to come in and see the teacher (Mr Wingrove) or contact the Team Leader.

sjarrett@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

swingrove@white-rock-primary.torbay.sch.uk

UPCOMING EVENTS

2nd July 'Transition Day' meet our new teacher. 

4th July Summer Fayre

Rocket Day

Thanks for your donations of recyclable materials. We used these to design and make own own rockets. We learnt how to join materials together the best materials to use for a purpose. The childrens' finished rockets are hanging up in the classroom. 

Science Forces

This term the children have been learning about the different forces in Science. They have been using teamwork skills to work in small groups to investigate the impact of forces such as Friction, Air resistance and Gravity. The children have been explaining this impact in their cross-curricular writing. 

This week in maths we have been learning how to use the appropriate vocabulary to give a set of directions or identify a position. This was involved learning how to use co-ordinates and directional language such as left and right as well as North, South, East and West. In literacy, we have been learning how to write riddles using descriptive language. 

Space Day 

As an initial hook for our summer term theme, the children came into school dressed as aliens. The children then experience a range of science related activities conducted by 4 astronauts and Commander Wingrove from NASA. These Activites included: 

Making our own rocket explosion using Diet Coke and Mentos mints.

Naming and remembering a rhyme for the planets.

Constructing a Space Dance.

Making our own Space music.

Designing our own space Art. 

As part of World Book Week we were able to visit Paignton Book Shop. Here the children were given a voucher and were able to use this to purchase a new book. Here are some quotes the children responded with...

"I loved to look at all the different covers of the books, it was really exciting"

"I really liked being able to buy my own book"

"I loved looking at all the David Walliams books and choosing which one to read next."

Day 11 in the White Rock chicken incubator! We candled our eggs in a dark room using a bright torch. Have a look at the pictures below to see what is happening...

 ..

FARMER DAY

The children in Year 1 and 2 had a day of 'immersion' in our topic. They spent the day dressed up as farm characters. We had one of our Grandmas who is a farmer come to visit us and talk to us about different types of chickens and how to care for our eggs.

The activities the children experienced were:

Making a chicken collage 

Making chocolate crispy nests

Six Little Chicks Quiz

Labeling and setting up the incubator

Using map skills around the school grounds looking for the best place for our Chicken Coop

CHICKEN CAKE SALE

The children in KS1 decided to do a 'chicken cake sale' to raise money for our own Chicken Coop. For home learning they designed and made their cakes and then sold them to the rest of the school.

We will let you know how much we raised ASAP

Our Trip to the Zoo

Year 2 went on a trip to Paignton zoo. We had a really informative talk about the Rainforest, where we learnt lots more facts. Then we had a Rainforest quiz to complete in out groups and we all choose an animal to focus on and describe, ready for writing animal poems back at school.

PaddleBoat Theatre came to visit

PaddleBoat Theatre Company came to perform ‘A Little Man’s Holiday’ to the children last week. They enjoyed the experience immensely. The children were a fantastic audience and really engaged during the workshop after. All the children found the performance enriching and entertaining.

Some of the children's quotes:

' I liked it when he lifted the small treasure chest and couldn't lift the big one'

'It was funny when the little man was asleep after he had been swimming and his mum tried to wake him up and he spat water at her'

'I liked it when little man was swimming and he swam around all of us in the audience'

Questions some of our children asked the actors after their workshop:

Was the story real?

Where do you come from?

Where was the story set?

This week we have been focusing on the text 'Dougal's Deep Sea Diary'. We thought of questions we wanted to ask Dougal. On Tuesday he came to our school and we hot-seated him. He parked his submarine in Paignton's harbour whilst he was in our school. This week we are also learning to describe a setting in the book 'Atlantis' which is a city under the sea. 

Some of the questions we asked him were:

'How long can you stay under the water for?'

'Did you see any sharks?'

'Who was the ghost pirate?'

'Why did you choose the old rickety boat to dive from?'