Welcome to Mrs Gage and Mrs Harvey's Class. Our Teaching Assistant is Mrs English
Year 4s Visit to the Mosque.
We had a great morning visiting Derby Jamia Mosque and the Derby Open Centre. These first few pictures are based outside and inside the mosque. We learnt about where Muslims go to pray and what they do before they pray. The times you can see on the wall are the times for prayer.
Next we took a short walk back to the Open Centre. We learnt about how Muslims pray and what they need to do before they start praying. They perform Wudu before praying which involves: -
- Wudu Steps: Washing hands, rinsing the mouth and nose, washing the face and arms (up to elbows), wiping the head and ears, and washing the feet (up to ankles).
These are the prayer positions
We had lots of fun trying on traditional Muslim girls' and boys' clothes. Muslim girls make sure they are dressed modestly, covering their bodies, arms and legs. If they wear a full length black dress it is called an Abaya. They wear a hijab or headscarf to cover their hair. They also wear a Kameez, a long tunic or shirt which reaches the knees. They also wear Shalwar which are loose fitting pyjama like trousers that are wide at the waist and narrow at the ankle. Muslim boys also wear shalwar kameez, which are loose fitting and comfortable. The boys also wear a little prayer hat called a 'kufi'.
Anglo-Saxon Baking
We started our new Topic about the Anglo- Saxons by hearing the legend of King Alfred and the cakes. We used a Saxon recipe and tried to make sure we didn’t burn our cakes! We worked in teams to follow the recipe, measuring out the ingredients and taking turns to mix them together. The classroom smelled amazing while they were cooking!
Our visit to Waingroves Chapel
On Friday afternoon, we visited Waingroves Chapel. We met Helen, the minister, John and Marina. They told us all about what the Nativity symbols mean to them as Christians. We each had a symbol of the nativity to put onto the Christmas tree. John and Helen also told us about their visit to Bethlehem. It was a lovely afternoon. Thank you to all of the chapel members for making us feel so welcome and for the juice and biscuits. The children loved visiting and learning more about the Christmas story and it's symbols.
Forest School Week 4
Firestarters!
This week we were Firestarters (well, we tried to be!) We tried to light our piece of cotton wool with sparks but it was very windy and damp so only had one success. We then lit the fire and toasted some bread over the fire (very yummy with some margarine and jam). In the mean time, while one group were in the Wonderhut, the other group used clay and natural materials to make a Christmas decoration. We had lots of time to explore... and dig!
Forest School Week 3
This week we used a saw-horse to make and festively decorate wood cookies. We made pine cone animals and had lots of fun exploring. It was so lovely to see the class work as a team, without any adult instruction, to create dens, a gym, play equipment and even decorate a Christmas Tree.
Forest School Week 2
More autumnal fun was had today. We acknowledged Remembrance Day by making Remembrance bracelets in poppy colours. This involved team work, helping each other with our wool twisting. We also made some wooden elves. First we had to practice knot tying, then used a vegetable peeler to scrape our stick and then draw a face and wrap (& tie a knot) wool around our stick. We also had lots of time to do our exploring which included den building, digging area, pond dipping and playing games. Think we'll all sleep well tonight!
Forest School Week 1
We had lots of autumnal fun in our first Forest School session. We made natural water filters to see how we could produce (fairly) clean water. We did some pond dipping and bulb planting too.
River Walk
We had a great morning for our walk along the River Derwent as part of our Topic work. We identified different river features, saw it being used in different ways and spotted some local wildlife. Unfortunately, we were unable to go for a paddle this year. The area was fenced off but a geologist came and explained to use that they were doing some work to install a type of big screw (?) in the river to use the power for the city of Derby. There were archaeologists there too, who were unearthing relics from the past. Very interesting - but disappointing as we couldn't have a paddle. We just spent some time at the park instead!
