Whitehouse Common Primary -

Lo que aprendimos en español (Primavera 1 y 2 2017)

Over the first two weeks of term, there's been lots going on in Spanish lessons. Let's find out what two year groups have been learning.

Year 3 have been practising asking and answering questions in Spanish about their name, age and health. They used prompt cards then tried to adapt the conversations to talk about themselves. Some of them tried to do it without the prompt cards, and there were lost of volunteers to perform their role plays in front of the class.

Year 4 conducted a survey, asking the question ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? (When is your birthday?) to practise the months of the year. The next lesson they used their collaboration skills to complete a Tarsia activity reviewing the days of the week and months of the year. They enjoyed the competitive element, all trying to be the first to discover the shape of the puzzle as well as completing it. And then, in preparation for writing the date in Spanish, they played Tesoro o Basura (Trash or Treasure) to sort vocabulary into categories.

Lo que aprendimos en español (Navidad)

Christmas is a busy time in a school, and there was a lot going on with productions, concerts and end of term activities. However, Year 3 were working hard in their Spanish lessons.

They made Christmas bauble cards to send to our eTwinning partners, wriitng vocabulary in Spanish and English on strips that were joined with a split pin at either end so that, when they arrived at their destination, they could be fanned out into a bauble and hung on a tree.

And they enjoyed a Christmas themed story in Spanish about a tiny robin - el pequeño petirrojo - who embodied the true spirit of Christmas, giving away all his vests to other animals in need and ending up with no vests to keep himself warm.
They listened to the story, joining in with the repeated sections in which the animals said "Tengo frío" and the petirrojo replied "Aquí tiene" They then took on the roles of the characters in the story including Papá and Mamá Noel, using the cuddly toys and knitted vests to support them, and enjoyed acting out the story. They even had a special guest star in the form of Beef our visiting mascot from the Ukraine.

William Henry visits Poland

William Henry left Madrid, Spain towards the end of November and travelled to Zary in Poland to spend time finding about school and life in Poland.

It sounds like he had lots of fun with the children there, teaching them about England and having another tea party with English/Scottish biscuits! You can watch a video here of the English class.

He also went out exploring the lcoal area, and the school in Zary have posted a lovely video of his adventures that you might like to watch here,

William Henry has now moved on to the next country on his tour... I wonder where it will be?

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William Henry visits Spain.

william school

Following on from the post on Thursday about Beef, the panda, vsiiting our school as part of the Magic Mascots eTwinning project, you may be wondering how our mascot, William, is getting on.

William visited Spain first of all and had an amazing time, visiting children's homes, going on a tour of the local area and spending time at school. The children of 5th Grade B went on a school trip to the Natural History Museum in Madrid and then a Lego exhibition - and William went too. They even made him wear a seatbelt. And then they had a special English tea party for him! By the pictures that have been uploaded to the Twinspace, it looks as though he has been spoilt, being fed tortilla and galletas at everywhere he went, being lent pyjamas and a special bed, being taken to all sorts of wonderful places, and been loved very much!

Tomorrow, find out what William Henry did in Poland!

Excellent Work (Week Beginning 16/1/17)

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http://whitehousecommon.bham.sch.uk/index.php?limitstart=63#sigFreeIdb698bb2c18

We're a Global Learning Partnership Expert Centre!

GLP Expert Centre Badge opt Following on from our recent International School Award Reaccreditation from the British Council, Whitehouse Common is contuning to lead the way in promoting the international dimension and global learning by becoming an Expert Centre or Hub for a Global Learning Partnership (GLP) network.

The GLP is a funded programme of support that is helping teachers in Primary, Secondary and Special schools to deliver effective teaching and learning about development and global issues at Key Stages 2 and 3. We will be leading a hub of around 15 schools in exploring and developing actvities across the curriculum that promote knowledge, skills and values to equip our pupils as world citizens.

Señora Stevens recently attended training at Warwick University to prepare for this new challenge and we are very excited to see our hub develop and grow over the next year. FullSizeRender opt

Beef visits Whitehouse Common

As part of the Magic Mascots eTwinning project, Whitehouse Common has recently been visited by a second mascot. Beef comes from Kyiv (Kiev) in the Ukraine and is a small big eyed panda.When he arrived, Year 5 enjoyed looking at the gifts that we had been sent including a bag, a pen and some Ukrainian dolls, and were very interested in the writing on the box in which Beef arrives as it was written in Cyrillic script.

Beef enjoyed time in Year 5, attending assembly, taking part in lessons, making Christmas decorations and even attending 5MM's Space Camp. He joined in Guided Reading with 4JM, joined in the acting out of El Pequeño Petirrojo in Year 3 and was taken all over the school by various children who looked after him well. Beef even found a long lost brother who we named Steak. They both enjoyed numerous play dates and had lots of fun taking part in Christmas dinner and Christmas Toy Day.

Beef has now waved goodbye to Steak and started his journey to the next school he will visit in Spain. However, we still have Steak, and a new mascot will soon arrive to explore Whitehouse Common. I wonder who it will be?