Whitehouse Common Primary -

WCPS pupils in Primary languages writing showcase.

Pupils in Years 3 and 5 have recently had some of their Spanish work published in an online compilation called Write Away. This termly e-zine contains writing done by pupils at UK schools in languages other than English. Each edition has a guest language - in this edition, Romanian - and features only the best work that exemplifies good primary language learning. 

Competition to be included is fierce and submitting work is no guarantee that your work will be published. We are very proud to say that work by Dihen, Martha and Phoebe in Y3  about Mi familia imaginaria and Harris, Thomas and Maisie in Y5 about Un animal extraño/Mi monstruo was picked for inclusion. You can see an online interactive version of the magazine here or download a PDF to download and read (or keep for posterity!) 

Well done too to Zack, Elliott, Aarav and Jessica in Y3 and Marcus in Y5 who also had work submitted but missed out this time.

The next issue will be published just before the end of term so we have a month to produce some more excellent work to submit and who knows? 

#30DaysWildMultilingual - linking the outdoors with language learning

When Señora Stevens asked children recently what they enjoyed about language learning and what they'd like to do more of, two answers that came back were challenges, and learning more languages. So here's a challenge that can be done in any language or languages! What's more, it's a quick and easy challenge that gets you outdoors appreciating the beauty of our world so perfect for a sunny half term and going forward into early summer!

Every year in June, The Wildlife Trusts run the 30 Days Wild challenge – a challenge to do an activity linked to nature, every day, for the whole month, and Multilingualism in Schools decided, in conjunction with their local Wildlife Trust in Sheffield, that they would like to create a language based challenge aimed both at those learning a language at school and those who are growing up multilingual. Each day of June there is a simple challenge linking languages and the natural world that can be completed by children (and adults!) of all ages. They include finding the names for flowers in other languages, counting hops, litter picking and eating outside. Some can even be linked to our topics (likes and dislikes, weather and colours) You choose the language that you want to explore. It could be Spanish, it could be a language you speak at home, it could be a language you've always wanted to learn, or a different language each day. 

Señora Stevens is really excited by this and will be sharing the challenges each day via our Twitter account @whcps. You can also find them by following the Multilingualism in Schools Twitter account @LostWor_l_ds or the hashtag #30DaysWild and #30DaysWildMultilingual However, if you want to pick and choose the order in which you do them, or want to do several at once, you can download all 30 challenges from their website and complete as many as you want, whenever you want!

We'd love to see your challenge posts on Twitter, or on the #30DaysWildMultilingual at Whitehouse Common Padlet. No need for a log in - just click on the page and post your pictures and comments. Posts will be moderated so may not appear immediately. 

Once we're back to school, Señora Stevens will explain more and launch it properly but why miss out on the fun this week?

The first challenge is to do with clouds! Which might be a problem as there are currently no clouds...

Newsletter 30th April 2021

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Lo que aprendimos - Spanish in Spring 2

As we are enjoying a well earned rest from learning - online and in person - it's good to spend a moment reflecting on what we've been learning in Spanish this half term.

Year 4 have been talkiing about food and can now tell you that they are hungry or thirsty, and that they would like to eat or drink a selection of food and drink, as well as asking you if you're hungry, and reporting on someone else's needs! They favourite game at the moment is Secret Sentence where they have to predict whether Sra Stevens is hungry or thirsty and what she wants to eat/drink.  

Year 3 have been getting to grips with nouns in Spanish, learning that they are split into two groups in Spanish called masculine and feminine, and that there is a differnet word for the indefinite article 'a' depending on which group the noun belongs to. Year 3 can identify the gender of nouns (which group they belong to) using un/una and also know that the last letter of the noun can be a clue. They used this new knowledge to write some minibooks of things that they could see. 

Year 5 have come to the end of a unit on descriptions and have well and truly grappled with Spanish nouns and adjectives which behave very differently to the way they do in English. The lesson series concluded with the design and description of some very odd hybrid animals! You can have a go yourself by going to the website https://switchzoo.com/

Year 6 have started their final unit of KS2 which will ultimately bring together all their previous learning but starts out thinking about languages. Year 6 can tell you what languages they can and can't speak, and also which countries speak certain languages. 

Señora Stevens has also been teaching Year 2 for the last few weeks and they've been learning the names of fruit. They have been listening to a song that Rida shared with us (at the bottom of the post) and also responding to a story La Sorpresa de Handa [Y1 looked at this story before half term too!] Here's Avi's amazing picture of Handa and her fruit.

Next term we're hoping to all in school learning together and looking forward to learning about our families, sports we like and more food!

In the meantime, ¡disfrutéis de las vacaciones!

Our Greek partners go on a Bear Hunt!

Our Greek partners in Elefsina have sent us a message and a video!

"On 2nd April we celebrated the Children's book day in the Greek school with a book suggested by our British partner Señora Lisa Stevens at Whitehouse Common Primary.

We worked online on this activity due to COVID-19 restrictions. Our 2nd grade students got really engaged in the plot and were attracted by its echomimetic language. Here is a video where they "retell" the story through their drawings!"

They also thought about how THEY would like the story to end. Some lovely ideas - they thought that the bear probably just wanted to play with them!

A dance challenge from our Austrian partners!

Our Austrian partners have been joining in with a worldwide dance craze. 

They sent us this message: 

“Dear  partners! 

Our school has taken part in the Jerusalema Dance Challenge! We would like to share the result of our project with you! Have fun!! 

Please share our video so we can send the massage of "being strong together" into the world!

Stay healthy and happy!

Yours VS WILDBACH”

The Jerusalema dance has been recorded by people all over the world and, with the help of a drone, the staff and children at VS Wildbach have recorded a video of their version. You can see it below.  

It’s amazing - they’ve even got a dancing dog!

Has anyone in our school community had a go at the dance?

I’m sure our partners would love to know if you have so let Señora Stevens know.  

Newsletter 1st April 2021

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The Apple of Discord - a Greek myth

During the Erasmus+ project meeting at Whitehouse Common last March, the Greek teachers were going to share a Greek myth with Reception. Not to be defeated by Covid19, they shared the lesson and materials with us and, almost a year to the week, Reception completed one of the planned activities. 

The apple of discord/ goddess Eris «ΤομήλοτηςΈριδας» tells the story of a wedding on Mount Olympus between Pileas and Thetis. Eris wasn't invited and was angry. She decided to scause trouble, leaving a golden apple onto a wedding table with a note: “To the prettiest goddess.” Three of the goddesses, Aphrodite, Athene and Ira started to fight as they all thought that they were the prettiest.Zeus asked paris to decide, and Aphrodite offered to help him marry Helen of Troy if she was given the apple. He gave it to her, and they kidnapped Helen. Unfortuanyely she was already married to King Menelaos who was very angry. And that, as the myth says, is how the Trojan war began.

Having read and listened to the story, Reception responded by drawing in an apple. Some of them drew their favourite parts from the myth whilst others summarised the whole myth with an drawing. 

Here's a video that showcases their work.