Autumn

Autumn is a time
when leaves fall down.
They make a crunching noise
on the ground.
The leaves turn different colours,
yellow, brown and red.
And conkers fall down
and bang me on the head.
Squirrels collecting acorns
for the winter feed.
Plants have grown very tall
from such a tiny seed.

Hannah 5B

Winter

Winter is the time when Christmas is near,
Winter is the time when it's nearly a new year.
Winter is the time when snow flakes fall,
Winter is the time when I grow tall.
Winter is the time when there's no more sun,
Winter is the time to have some fun.
Winter is the time to give love,
Winter is the time to look more above.
Winter is the time to celebrate,
Winter is the time to open a new gate.

The whole of Year 3 went to Sainsburys Supermarket in Alton. We went there because in science we are learning about healthy eating. When we got there, Debby and Anne took us up the meeting room. We had to go through the warehouse to get up there! In the meeting room we tried six different fruits; they were mango, melon, strawberry, grape, pineapple and kiwi. My favourite was the red grape. The we went to see John at the meet counter and looked at the meat. After that we went to look at the fish. I held the fish: I stuck my finger in its mouth - its tongue felt like sandpaper! The we did a quiz and got to take a banana.

Members of Early Years enjoyed our investigation afternoon, and were encouraged to explore a variety of different activities in order to find out more about the world around them, and how it works. The children loved feeling, moulding and manipulating different types of "gloop" with Mrs Love, and were not afraid to explore the endless possibilities that this offered. Mrs Spooner's Ice Mountain was another favourite with the children, and they were amazed to see the creation gradually melt and changed shape. The children in my own class were keen to investigate light and shadows using an OHP, and made a range of patterns, drawings and designs on the walls and even the ceiling! It was nice to see the children mix freely between the year groups and experiment with the resources available - as well as their own ideas.

Science Week here in the Prep School has been an undoubted triumph. As a mathematician, and thus almost a scientist, it has been a real delight to me to see the way the week’s events and activities have captured the imagination and enthusiasm of our children. A deep and abiding interest in the world around them is something I’m keen to see all our pupils develop, and an understanding of scientific method and ideas is going to be crucial for the children as they grow up in an increasingly technological society.It’s been a particular pleasure to welcome a number of senior school scientists into prep school classrooms over the course of the week, with Dr Gate talking on numbers in nature and scuba diving, Mrs Dell introducing Years 3 and 4 to psychology, Mrs Jakubowski speaking on volcanoes to Year 5, Mr Hicks explaining the inner workings of computers, Dr Otter and Mrs Duffy running a biology quiz and Mr Pluck’s chemistry experiments with Year 4 and 5. Being able to draw on expertise like this is a great strength of the close relationship between the prep and senior schools. We were also delighted to welcome one of our governors, Mr Charles, to talk to Year 5 on sound, and sixth formers Alice and Emily to lead electricity experiments.

On Monday early years enjoyed a visit from the Ivydale Science and Technology Workshop. The sessions were led by Paul Newham, who was accompanied by all sorts of spikey, scaley and crawly creatures.

The children in reception enjoyed a design technology workshop, where they learnt how to make and create wind up toys. The theme was creepy crawlies, and great fun was had by all! The children developed their own “scuttlebugs”, through a particularly hands on and practical approach, and they were all very proud of their newly created species! Cardboard, cotton reels, pipe cleaners and elastic bands were all put to good use, as the bugs gradually came to life. The session culminated in a “scuttlebug” race across the classroom, and we were surprised to see how quickly the models moved! The bugs then enjoyed a well earned rest, before being taken home at the end of the day!

After play, the children in nursery and Pre prep, joined in with the activities, as the whole department enjoyed an animal and insect show. The snakes, stick insects, millipedes, lizards, and even spiders were an unusual but very much welcome sight in our classrooms, with nearly all the children volunteering to hold and look after the creepy crawly visitors. We learned all about where they came from, and how to look after them, as well as some of their more disgusting habits! All the children had a wonderful time, and even some of the staff overcame their fears!

Today I went to INTECH with Years 4 and 5. We were put into groups of 7; I was in Mrs Matthew's group. First we went to an activity that had a chair camera and a dark room. When Hannah went and sat on the chair, I went into the dark room: I saw a screen where there was a picture of Hannah upsidedown. We also went to a big machine that blew out air. We put the ball on top so it stayed in the air. Another activity we went to was a grey platform with lots of wooden blocks. Using the blocks we built a bridge. After we had put the pieces together we pulled a leaver which made the platform go down, leaving the bridge standing with no support. After that we went to a big wheely bin, to test how much we recycled: I got a scanner and went into the 'shop', scanning the objects I wanted before going back to the screen - I got full marks!

Linking the weekly ‘show and tell' to the curriculum has proved to be a great success in Years One and Two. Subjects have included places the children have visited, something to give thanks for and favourite story characters when items brought in varied from Peter Rabbit to a football shirt!
This term we asked parents to support our work in science by designing and making a musical instrument. Parents and children have been very imaginative using bottles, tissue boxes, sticks and paper plates to create a variety of sounds by plucking, shaking and banging. The children eagerly played their instruments to create background sound effects to a story and have really enjoyed experimenting with loud and soft sounds, and thinking about how different sounds are created. We would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to parents for the support given each week, which has enabled this venture to become so successful and enhances work done across the curriculum.

Prep School Environment Prefect, Tilly, started the term by launching an initiative to encourage prep school pupils to recycle their Christmas cards. After explaining the scheme in assembly, a number of posters have appeared around the prep school as reminders of this excellent scheme, and Tilly has already passed on a number of prep school cards to be recycled.

We hadn’t realized the shape of the DNA inside our cells until we saw Crick and Watson’ original model. After looking inside ourselves, we looked at the outside world: taking time to look at cars, boats, planes, engines and rockets, as well as washing machines, cookers and refrigerators. What better way of ending our trip than by tracking children and zapping tornadoes in the Future Zone. Great!

Josh R, Josh P and Matthew, 5B