Thursday 13 December 2012

Theme Days

The children had the opportunity to study our local village of Shavington.  Each class looked at significant buildings and the surrounding area.


Reception class had a lovely time exploring the local environment and visiting the village park.  They created and designed their own park using recycled materials. The children also focused on the church which led them to creating a spectacular stained glass window.

 
Year 1 focused on Shavington past and present.  Mr Astbury took the children around the village and they were history detectives; looking at old houses and comparing them to new houses.  As part of their detective work, they found out that Chester zoo was originally started in Shavington.   They wrote a recount of their walk through the village.  Thet were very lucky to have the WI ladies come in to school to talk about the history of their club and showed photographs of Shavington through the years. 


Year 2 went pond dipping and found snails, frogs, waterboatman and baby newts.  They produced fact files and sketched some of the creatures they had found. After a walk around Shavington village they returned to school and painted a canvas of the Post Office.  On the computer they used a paint programme to create replicas of the buildings in the village and School.


Year 3 invited Mr Weston, Shavington Primary's past Headteacher, to take their class on a tour of our old primary school.  He talked about the similarities and differences between the old and new school and his experience as a head teacher there.  After a tour of the village with Mr Astbury, they returned to school to collage a building of choice.


Year 4 also became nature detectives, looking around the grounds of the school, focusing on sketching trees and labelling the different parts of a tree.  They also had the opportunity to look around our old Primary school with Tom Weston.  Their final day they built a brick wall and wrote poems about Shavington to pin to the wall.


Year 5 were introduced to our Shavington topic by looking at photographs of significant buildings, listing features of old and new houses.  A walk around the village and they were able to sketch and watercolour a building of choice.
The following day they had great fun making plaques out of clay of the buildings, ensuring they incorporated all the detail.  Using their notes that they had taken during their walk around the village, they produced a piece of writing; imagining they were a child from Shavington Hall many years ago, they wrote about a typical day as either a working child or a member of the family.
The week was finished off with them making bread rolls, using ingredients donated by the Co-op in the village.


Year 6 also took a tour around Shavington village, taking photos and drawing any significant buildings.  The tour took them up to Dodd's Bank, on to Shavington Hall and Shavington Farm, down Chestnut Avenue and on to look at the scout hut which used to be a chapel.  We looked at the churches, the old mill which is now the Social Club, past Sugarloaf Cottage and back to school.
Year 6 also did some cookery in their classroom.  They made gingerbread tiles of a significant building in Shavington.  When they were baked they decorated them with coloured icing.  Many were eaten before they left the school gates!..
Finally they created a jingle and dance to promote Shavington.  They used instruments, some had an accompanying dance, others rapped or just sang.  Alot of fun was had by all.