Whitehouse Common Primary -

Autumn Term Spanish exploits!

At the end of the Autumn Term it seems right to look back and share some of the highlights of our Spanish learning.

Year 3 have begun their formal learning of Spanish with great enthusiasm, demonstrating that they already know some Spanish and that they are ready to learn more. They're brilliant at answering questions about themselves,  love speaking games including Find your partner, and our catching skills are improving as the squishy ball comes out most lessons to help us take turns! Taking part in rhymes and stories has also been a hit, and in the lad up to Christmas they enjoyed acting out the story of El Pequeño Petirrojo as you can see below!

Year 4 began the year comparing the days of the week in other languages and using the story La Oruga Muy Hambrienta to learn the days of the week and revise opinions. They then changed the caterpillar to a monster and wrote the story of El Monstruo Hambriento using a bilingual dictionary to find out suitable vocabulary for a mosnter to eat - very imaginative ideas they had too! They are now confident to write the date in Spanish and Señora Stevens will be looking for this in their books from now onwards!

Year 5 have focussed on talking about families, imaginary and real, and wrote some wonderful descriptions of families using singular and plural verb forms. They also enjoyed the story of El Nabo Enorme, using Talk for Writing to memorise it and then rewriting it with their own vegetable and characters. They also enjoyed acting it out with props - some budding thespians were certainly discovered!

Year 6 have worked on talking about sports this term and they concluded the term by writing a letter about their sporting likes and dislikes as well as those of friends and family, presenting it on a Lego person. Photos of that to follow as they're not quite finished..

And we mustn't forget KS1 where the chidlren ahve also been learning some Spanish, and it's not just the children who have been learning as you can see below!

Looking forward the Spring Term, we're very excited that we will be having visitors from Spain in March and will have an opportunity to show off our Spanish skills!

Newsletter 17th December 2019

Please [click here] to read the newsletter

Stamp Collection

Stamps

The Eco Team need your help! Their mission is to recycle as many used stamps as possible. These stamps are going to be used to help the RNIB. By collecting stamps, you’re helping to break down the barriers that stop people with sight loss living life to the full. Stamps are sold by weight and they raise £20 per kilogram so it is one of the easiest ways to raise money!

Please tear any used stamps off the envelope, leaving a 1cm border around the edge. There will be a stamp box outside the Oaks and Acorns office to post the used stamps in.

Please help us in this endeavour. Not only does recycling help to support a wonderful charity but Whitehouse Common will also be competing against Hollyfield again to see which school can collect the most. We want to claim back our crown!

An Christmas Message From The Eco-Team

Here are our top tips to be eco-friendly this Christmas!

• Wrapping - lots of wrapping paper contains non-recyclable elements like foil, glitter or plastic. An easy way to know if you’re wrapping paper can be recycled or not is to use the scrunch test. Scrunch up the paper in your hands and then let it go. If the paper stays scrunched up, then it can be recycled but if it unfolds by itself then it is likely to be non-recyclable.
• If you’re looking for an eco-friendly wrapping alternative, opt for the brown paper, recycled wrapping paper or tissue paper. You could even try knot wraps, colourful fabric squares that can be used again and again!
• Avoid ribbons, tinsel or sticky tape on presents as they’re not recyclable. Instead, try cord or twine or washi tape.

• Cards – look for cards with the FSC mark. This guarantees that the paper has been produced sustainably and ethically. Some Christmas cards can even be planted, for a super eco touch! Recycle or compost your cards in January or turn them into decorations for next year. Remember, glitter is a microplastic and can’t be recycled!
• Lights – switch to LED Christmas lights. LEDs are much more environmentally friendly than traditional twinkling incandescent lights, because they use up to 80% less energy. If everybody did this, we could save more than 29,000 tonnes of CO2 just over the 12 days of Christmas!
• Decorations – reuse Christmas decorations or go second hand for a sustainable Christmas. If adding to your decoration collection, think about using deigns made from metal, wool, glass or wood. Natural decorations such as berries, pinecones, holly, orange and cinnamon look great on the Christmas tree.
• Switch to eco-friendly Christmas crackers. Many stores are now supplying plastic-free crackers or even reusable ones!
• Resist the temptation to splash out on sequins, they’re made from PVC and there are no biodegradable substitutes.
• Gifting – give a handmade gift. Whether you love baking, sewing or painting, why not get creative this season?

Merry Christmas from the Eco-Team

Year Brass Concert

We are extremely proud of all the year 4 pupils (and the year 5 and 6 children who also joined the concert) for putting on an outstanding performance this week. The year 4children have onnly been learning to play their brass instrument for 12 weeks. The progress made and musical understanding they are now demonstrating is fantastic. 

Well done children, a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon had by all who attended!

Green Trees Award Success!

Fabulous news! Whitehouse Common Primary School has achieved the Green Trees Schools Bronze Award! 

As part of the Green Trees Schools Award and our Eco-Schools work, we have been taking part in environmental projects such as tree planting, recycling, reducing CO2 emissions and visiting woods! Our hard work has been recognised and we have been presented with the Bronze Award.

We have been working hard on more environmental projects recently and are hoping to achieve the Silver Award soon. Watch this space...

Excellent Work (Week Beginning 2/12/19)

Erasmus+ logo competition - winner announced!

Prior to the project meeting in Spain, pupils at all five schools were invited to some create a logo for the project. Each school then had to choose 5 from which to choose their winner. Each school's winner went forward to the final that took place during the project meeting to decide the ultimate winner that will appear on all the project publicity and documentation. 

We had lots of brilliant entries from our pupils, many using the flags of the countries as their theme. The brief was to celebrate the culture of the five participating countries and there were entries that did this by identifying iconic buildings, people and other indicators of culture and incorporating those into their design. Some were incredibly intricate and detailed, others bold and bright. As many designs as we can will be displayed on the Erasmus+ noticeboard, but below is a video that showcases all of them. 

All those who participated will receive a certificate and 5 house points! The top five received a special pen and the winner, a gift from Spain!

To help Señora Stevens in the task of choosing, 6AB gave their opinion, and then the Language Leaders had a secret vote that narrowed it down to the top 5 (below).

Some of the staff including Mrs Edwards then decided on a winner: congratulations to Jesnu whose design went forward to the final. 

The five finalists are featured below, representing Austria (top left) Greece (top right) Spain (centre) UK (bottom left) and Turkey (bottom right). 

Some really lovely ideas including the Sutton Coldfield Town Hall clock on the Greek entry! Señora Stevens particularly liked the Spanish entry with a Spanish sevillanas dress, Austrian leiderhosen, a Greek toga, an English monocle and a Turkish fez - but ti wasn't just up to her!  After a tight vote by all the project partners attending the meeting, the final choice was...

Austria!

And, after a little edit, here's the final logo!

PS a couple of logo designs didn't quite fit the brief for the Erasmus+ project but caught Señora Stevens' eye so will be used in future for our international projects. Watch out for them in future posts!