Strange Sightings in the Sky at Earl Soham

What is it? That was the question on everyone's lips on Monday morning. Bemused children racked their brains...

A slow moving, bright object was visible in the sky...

Strange patterns were visible on the playground...Memories were cast back to the Roswell incident and strange sightings in Rendlesham Forest. Fortunately, a passer by (who wished to remain anonymous) was on hand to put our minds at rest. "What you can see is the star at the centre of our solar system which is approximately 149.6 million kilometres away from Earth. Most people call it the Sun."

Well, it hasn't been seen for quite some time!

World Maths Day

Blue and Yellow classes started by warming up with the traditional logic problem of the farmer needing to get his chicken, grain and a fox across a river. The farmer is only able to ferry one item at a time to the other side, but needs to ensure that none of the items are left unattended which may eat another item! The children wrote down their ideas for how this could work and then acted them out.

They then undertook the 'Only Smarties Have the Answer' challenge. This involved the children working in groups of 3 or 4 investigating the contents of a fun-size box of smarties.

The children started by counting the contents of their own box.

Then they added the totals of the contents in their group together. This enabled them to work out the mean average per box within their group.

The different colours in each box and group were then sorted and this information was then transferred into a graph which could then be interpreted. This information was then shared with everyone else in large tables. The children also measured Smarties and then worked out the total length if they were placed side by side. The three most effective leaders were then awarded with a rather 'funky' calculator each for their sterling efforts. It had been a great morning for everyone.

Rotary Club Assembly - Shelter Boxes

This morning Rotarians Chris Sharp, Arthur Dorsett and Susan Hansen led our assembly on the theme of Shelter Boxes.

They spoke about the current plight of people in Haiti following on from the recent devastating earthquake.

The children got to see the contents of a Shelter Box which can provide everything that a family of ten people would need to survive should disaster strike. A Shelter Box costs £490 and can save lives and make a real difference. The School Council are going to discuss which fundraising events we could hold to put money towards buying one.Some of the equipment was passed around - here are some children feeling the warmth of one of the blankets.It was an extremely interesting and eye-opening assembly which left the children thinking that they could make a real difference to the lives of many.

Small Schools' Basketball Tournament - Friday 26th February

Seven children from Years 5 & 6 travelled to Stradbroke Business and Enterprise College, alongside 11 other schools, for the annual basketball tournament.

Earl Soham started strongly with a 10 - 2 victory over Thorndon. However, they were brought back down to earth with a defeat (8 - 0) to Wetheringsett. This was followed by a closely fought match against Wilby which resulted in a 2 - 2 draw. The next match was Earl Soham's performance of the day when they came back from 4 - 0 down to beat Occold 6 - 4. Tired legs were a telling factor in the last match when they were beaten 4 - 0 by Charsfield.

So, Earl Soham finished the tournament with the record of: Played 5, Won 2, Drew 1, Lost 2, For 18, Against 20. But, more importantly, they also finished with big smiles and the knowledge that they'd done their best in an extremely sporting manner.

The Iron Man - Dancing the Text

As part of our focus on Literacy, Years 4, 5 & 6 spent last half term using 'The Iron Giant' by Ted Hughes as a stimulus for dance in PE.
The children started by recreating the way that the Iron Man started to piece himself together, using the idea of magnets, following his fall over the cliffs.
Week by week, a different part of the text was looked at with a focus on expression, working at different levels and dynamics of movement. Work was created at individual, paired, small group and whole class levels. Below is a selection of photographs taken over the five sessions.

The Romans

Blue Class have been working hard on their latest topic, the Romans. Set a piece of homework over half a term, the children were asked to research an area of particular interest to them and produce a booklet of work.
There were some tremendous pieces produced and Mr Mansell was delighted with the care effort and attention to detail in the work produced. Below are the three prize winners holding aloft their projects and their prize. Well done to everyone, your work was a delight to read.

Meanwhile, Blue Class have also created this fantastic mosaic (nearly 2metres high) of our school emblem.

Wake and Shake

Children returned from a well-deserved half term break to be met with more incredible weather as we inch closer towards the elusive season of 'spring'.
In a bid to get the children off to a 'flying start', Wake & Shake took place in the hall to get the heart rate going and the concentration levels increased. Apologies for the blurred photos, they were too quick for me!