We hope that you all had a lovely Spring Break and were able to enjoy some of the good weather. We are still missing all of you and hope that we can all see each other again soon.
During the Summer term we will offer some home learning suggestions based on farming, growing and animals, this should fit nicely with the assemblies that we had just before the spring break too. We will be learning about plant life cycles and where our food comes from, typical farm animals and the names of their young. For our maths learning we will be exploring pattern, shape and doubles.
Let’s kick off our new topic with this wonderful story by Eric Carle called ‘The Tiny Seed’. If you have a copy of this at home please read it today, if not please watch it here.
Today we would love you to be seed investigators. Why not take a pad and pen with you on a walk and try to find as many things as you can that have grown from a seed. You or your grown up could write the names of the things that you find down or draw some pictures.
You could also take a look at the food you have in your house to see which foods have seeds in them or which foods may have grown on a plant or tree from a seed.
Happy seed hunting friends!
Don’t forget to check back daily for more learning ideas. We would love to hear what you have been up to so comment on the blog or post a picture on EExAT. 🙂
Goodness me I have missed you during the Easter break but I am delighted that we have a chance to get all the blogs up and running today and to start our week together again – Good Morning everybody!
As always, your grown-ups have an email to help with the assembly this week and I’ve included a few extra clips in the notes if you would like to learn more.
It has been great to hear about all the growing that has been happening in homes and gardens over the last few weeks and I have loved hearing about the awe and wonder that many of you have experienced when seeing green shoots appear for the very first time.
This leads us beautifully on to this week’s assembly theme which is all about the outcome of this focus on health and growing – food.
Think about all the special times that you have shared with family and friends and how often food has played an important role in this.
These images may help but I know that you will have thoughts of your own too. Maybe it will be the times that you’ve had tea at a friend’s house, grandma’s spaghetti bolognese, the smell of baking bread at Cranborne, the awe and wonder of seeing lots of varieties of carrots in our school garden … all show us the importance of food in our lives but also the way that it often makes us feel great. Some of these things are still happening, but some may be on pause for a while or may be happening in a different way now as we discover new ways to keep in touch.
You will know that the adults that work with you in school are usually smiling, but I’m not sure if you know that one of the main things that helps them to do this (apart from all of you obviously) is food!
Did you know that whenever Mrs Smith has a really tricky job to do, Mrs Baillie often knows and bakes the most delicious Northern Irish fridge cake called ‘15s’ to keep her smiling? Did you also know that Mr Misun sometimes orders in pizza to keep meetings running smoothly, Mrs Bracey keeps everyone planning creatively with her tasty cheese scones, Miss Barnes livens up many a staff lunch with her homemade falafel and houmous, Mrs Watts and Mr Stone often make Mrs Smith pancakes for breakfast, Mr Oram invests in expensive crackers to accompany cheese and to keep the grown-ups going long after you’ve all gone home, Miss Hudson has a great recipe for vegan cheese, Mr Tims loves baking and Mrs Smith has sometimes arrived home to a most beautiful parcel waiting on her doorstep, filled with her favourite foods and edible love from our carrot cake making expert Miss Nesbitt?!
Food plays such a special role in our lives and while many of us are now in lockdown, we are being given the chance to think about its importance, to grow our own, to celebrate our favourite foods, to cook meals together with our families and to think about love and how it sometimes appears in edible form when sharing food.
There is a lovely campaign at the moment, led by one of our supermarkets (other supermarkets are available and are doing an equally amazing job of supporting us all!) which is designed to celebrate how we pass on much loved recipes through generations of families and within our community.
I know that many of you are doing similar things, cooking a favourite family meal and eating with much missed friends and family virtually where you can.
Hopefully this will provide the inspiration for our community activity this week – a chance to share images of your best loved dishes / favourite meals / treats. Your grown up will help you to share images of your cooking and favourite dishes with me but I would also love it if you could share some of your favourite recipes, maybe decorating them and giving them a catchy title such as ‘Uncle Pete’s Pumpkin Pie’.
Alongside this activity this week, I thought it might be good to revisit a project that I shared with some of you in assembly a while ago …
Newquay’s Community Orchard. You may remember me telling you about Luke Berkeley and how he had turned his life around with a positive focus on nature, community and the joy in growing and sharing food. The clip below shows the community’s Harvest celebration and the amazing way that food can bring everyone together.
And finally, I know that Mr Moore will be sending you information this week linked with the Earth Day celebrations that are planned for Wednesday 22 April. You may want to link some of the activities that are suggested by Mr Moore with our assembly this week in your quest to support ‘Climate Action’ too.
I can’t wait to hear from you (your grown-up will help you to share pictures and recipes with me). I will reply to any messages that come in and I will share all the highlights in our Celebration Assembly on Friday.
Let’s get cooking together this week Team Damers, I can’t wait to dine with you and look forward to the day when we are all back in school sharing a meal together again.
Find some links below to other activities you could try over the break!
Take part in a daily challenge using photography as medium for learning, exploring and recording. No hi-tech gear needed, you can use a camera phone or tablet …
You could always try joining in with one of Andy’s Wild Workouts! Learn how to move like lots of amazing animals. Remember to warm up and stretch! Think about stretching from your fingertips all the way down to your toes.
The PTA invites you to join their Easter Bingo live on Thursday 9th April at 4pm.
This is just for fun and a chance for families to join in something together from home!
There will be 3 games each with an Easter egg prize and you can request your bingo cards by emailing damerspta@gmail.com There is no charge and to keep it manageable we are limiting it to one set per family. Please request your cards by Wednesday at the latest.
On the day you will need to go to the Damers PTA Facebook Page and be ready with your dabber when we go live at 4pm.
Play along and comment ‘Bingo’ when you get a full house. We will only be playing for a full house – no lines, sorry! Then send a picture of your winning card so we can double check before proceeding with the next game.
Please bear with us; we’ve never done this before and there may well be some technical hitches!
We’d love you to make an Easter bonnet and send us a photo of you wearing it.
Easter parades began about 150 years ago in America.Originally the hats would have used lots of flowers and natural materials but these days some of them are crazy. We just want you to be as creative as you can using things you can find at home, in the garden or on your daily walk.
Please no live animals though!
Email your photo marked ‘Easter bonnet’ and your name to easter@damers.dorset.sch.uk before Thursday 9th April for the chance to win an Easter egg.
To keep your family busy over the start of the Easter ‘break’ we’ve put together a quiz for you. Hopefully everyone will learn something new – I have!
For the chance to win an Easter egg, please email your answers to easter@damers.dorset.sch.uk before Thursday 9th April with the title ‘quiz’ and your child’s name.
When was the first chocolate Easter egg made?
How many chickens are there at Damers?
What are the names of the Damers chickens?
How many days of lent are there (excluding Sundays)?
How do you say ‘Happy Easter’ in French?
How long does it take for a chicken egg to hatch?
From which country did the Easter Bunny originate?
Where did the Easter Rising take place?
List these eggs in size from smallest to biggest: chicken, frog, emu, fish.
On which street in New York does an Easter parade take place?
What Easter event have the White House cancelled due to coronavirus?
Name five ingredients that are used to make hot cross buns
When were hot cross buns invented?
What is the shell colour of an emu egg?
The eggs of which creature are used to make caviar?
What % of parents have admitted to eating their children’s Easter chocolate?
The Easter bunny has been busy hiding an egg in each classroom at Damers.
You have one guess as to where it might be so have a think about the different areas in your classroom and leave a comment on this post before Thursday 9th April for the chance to win an Easter egg.
