The day the dinosaurs came to

St James

It’s all you could hear echoing down the corridor…the gasps and shrieks of joy and excitement as the Year 1 children glimpsed the wide range of dinosaurs bought in by the Dino experts.

The children were shown many fossils: the vertebrae, teeth, toe bones and even a dinosaur egg with a baby dinosaurs bones inside (Thanks to an X-ray) and they heard what experts thought were the actual sounds of the T-Rex, so much different to what we believe.

The children fully enjoyed being able to walk amongst the dinosaurs and learn lots more interesting facts about them.  The children learned new names, new group names of dinosaurs but also showed off their amazing knowledge that they have learned so far in this new topic.

We even had a special visit from the famous Mary Anning.  She spoke about her life, her nicknames and her struggle in becoming recognised for her amazing findings.

A brilliant way for our children to experience a bit of the dinosaur age and a magnificent start to our ‘Dinosaur Planet’ topic.

The day Year 1 went into Space

For our new topic ‘Moon Zoom’, Year 1 had the opportunity to visit Thinktank in Birmingham City Centre.  The excitement of it all began on the coach journey there.  Their cheers and roars could be heard all the way down Soho Road.

We walked into the Thinktank and were greeted with a huge globe to which the children instantly shouted ‘That’s Earth!’

We explored different sections of the Thinktank, from Wildlife to All about me and the NASA experience.  The children got to watch a replica rocket being launched across the theatre, experience the toileting side of being in Space, how it would feel to be in an atmosphere with microgravity and choosing the appropriate materials and equipment for an astronaut on a mission on the International Space Station.

But…the best experience from the whole day was the Planetarium.  A theatre under a dome which transformed into the night sky where the children were able to explore the outer reaches of space, get up close to constellations, journey through the night-sky and adventure through the solar system!  The theatre was filled with constant ‘ooohhhhs’ and ‘awwwws’.

All in all, a great day with great experiences.

Remember that time when Anansi the Spider visited St James C of E

Following National Storytelling Week, we had the pleasure of spending time in the jungle with the African folk storyteller, Anansi the Spider and spent time learning all about his adventures.

Anansi told the children a variety of stories from around the world.  Tales that taught us the importance of storytelling and how important it is to make good choices.

The children thoroughly enjoyed the interactions with Anansi and the other animals in the stories, they enjoyed joining in with the stories through puppetry and rhymes and loved learning the Caribbean version of Incy Wincy Spider.

A storytelling workshop that they will remember for months to come.