Longstone C of E School
The Cross, Great Longstone, Derbyshire, DE45 1TZ

​Tel: 01629 640377
  • Home
  • Parent Info
    • Coronavirus
    • News
    • Letters
    • Calendar
    • Early Years >
      • New Starters
    • Clubs
    • Uniform
    • Attendance
    • Free School Meals
    • Useful links
  • Curriculum
    • Curriculum Drivers & Planning
    • Learning Expectations
    • Mental Health and Wellbeing
    • PSHE
    • English >
      • Reading >
        • Accelerated Reader
      • Handwriting
    • Maths
    • Music & Concerts
  • Class Pages
    • Donaldson 2020-21
    • Dahl 2020-21
    • Morpurgo 2020-21
    • Rowling 2020-21
    • Sports News & Events
    • Useful Websites for Children
  • Policies & Documents
    • Safeguarding
    • School information
    • Ofsted report
    • Curriculum information
    • Sports Premium
    • Pupil Premium
    • Special Needs and Disabilities
    • SATs results
    • Policies & Statements
  • Our School Community
    • Staff
    • Pupils >
      • Digital Leaders
    • Governors
    • FOLS >
      • Egg decorating comp
    • Church
  • Contact

Morpurgo Class

Picture

Welcome back to the second half term of Summer and the last half term of 2018-2019! 

Summer 2 - Europe

This half term, Morpurgo will be learning about Europe and they will be particularly looking at the difference between Europe and the European Union! We will also be looking forward to Sport's Day, The Gala Concert and the Summer Sizzle. 
Picture
Maths
We collected data about sweets and then used it to create tables and bar charts. Some of us were able to interpret the data! 
Taste Testing
After all the glorious sunshine and the much needed rain, our improved garden has grown well and we managed to do some taste testing of the lovely produce. We tasted chives, mint, lettuce, spinach and nasturtium leaves. Yummy! 
Science
We acted out the movement of the Earth in relation to the Sun and the Moon. We then learnt about the Moon's movement in relation to the Earth. 
Enjoying the Glorious Weather
Morpurgo have finally had chance to enjoy the garden they redesigned. They have especially enjoyed using the seating to read during guided reading sessions. 
Summer 1 - Seeds of Change - Our Class Garden
Picture
Summer 1, our topic was Seeds of Change. We made a change to our own class garden, focusing on using recycled products as much as possible. Children from Morpurgo designed their own garden and they worked in teams to create and implement designs for different areas.
Science
We have been learning about plants, which we kick-started by investigating how water is transported in plants. We then dissected flowers to label the different parts and learn about what each part does. Morpurgo also planted flowers, herbs and vegetables during our gardening project. 
Maths
We have been exploring money this half term. The children started by making different amounts in different ways. 
Second Half of Spring Term
RE Week (Easter)
Morpurgo created symbols linked to the biblical Easter story. These have now been displayed in church and we were lucky enough to visit church to look for other signs of Easter. 
Picture
Spring 2, our topic was Heroes and Villains. We learnt about the heroine,  Florence Nightingale due to her connection with Derbyshire. We took a closer look at her life and her legacy.
Maths
We used salt dough to create equivalent fractions. Can you see which equivalent fractions we have made?
Science
We explored creating shadows, along with measuring shadows over the day.
PE
We have been joining movements together to create sequences in gymnastics. Here are some of the sequences we made. 
History
As part of our topic, we explored using different evidence to answer questions about Scutari Hospital (the hospital where Florence Nightingale helped during the Crimean War). We used a soldier's letter and a drawing of the hospital to describe sight, touch, sound, taste and smell. 
A Giant Wasp Nest 
This half term, Jensen's mum came in to show us a gigantic wasp nest, that they had found. The children (and staff) were amazed at the size of it! Thank you so much for this experience; it really created a buzz of excitement in the classroom. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Red Nose Day (Comic Relief) 2019
Morpurgo had lots of fun dancing the day away at the dance-a-thon, as well as making laugh-out-loud biscuits. 
World Book Day 2019
We had a fantastic day exploring a range of activities linked to books. We started the day by reading the classic picture book, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. We then linked ingredients to the features of the Gruffalo, such as raisins for the black tongue and smarties for the purple prickles before making Gruffalo Crumble. Yummy!

​The children also had the option to decorate a potato as a book character with paint and collage. The whole school had the opportunity to visit different areas of school on a book trail - one trail was based on looking for book characters and the other was looking for clues and answers linked to books. 

In the afternoon, we made our own character bookmarks and read a range of different picture books and we finally finished 'The Firework Maker's Daughter', which has been our class reading book. 
Maths
The children in Morpurgo have been learning all about measurement and perimeter. The photos below showcase them building shapes with a given perimeter. 
Maths
This half term, we have moved on to fractions. Morpurgo started by representing fractions in different ways to familiarise ourselves with fractions. We are creating our own fraction walls, as well as using these to learn about equivalent fractions. Morpurgo have also started finding fractions of amounts. 
Comic Club
Children in Morpurgo are very excited about the comic club that has started during break times. It has been set up by one of the children from the class and the children are currently creating a range of comics. 
Picture
Picture
Dance Festival - February 2019
On Thursday, 28th February, Morpurgo took part in a dance festival at the Arc in Matlock. We showcased our dragon dance from our China topic and we also learnt a lindy hop dance, which the children really enjoyed.  Thank you to all the parents who came to support the class. 

First Half of Spring Term 2019

Autumn 2 RE Week
This half term's RE week was focussed around 'The Fall.' This is the story of Adam and Eve disobeying God in the Garden of Eden. As part of this, Morpurgo looked at rules and the 10 commandments - we even made our own class commandments to help us get along more effectively as a class. Morpurgo also completed team games and we discussed how they reacted when presented with temptation. 
Picture
Morpurgo's Chinese New Year Festival

Thank you to everyone who came to support their child or grandchild in the Chinese Fesitval on Tuesday 12th February. The children were fabulous and we hope you enjoyed it!
Picture

We also had a fantastic visit from Lucas' great uncle, who teaches in China. He came to share Chinese culture with Morpurgo and the children were fascinated by the images he brought with him. It also gave the children a chance to learn some Mandarin from a fluent speaker.

Picture
Picture

Homework

Homework is handed out on a Friday and due in by the following Thursday.
Purple mash
spellings
Spellings (orange words) WB:040319
strange
strength
suppose
surprise
therefore
thought
through
various
weight
woman
Spellings  (suffix -ian) WB:110319
politics
politician
music
musician
mathematics
mathematician
optics
optician
magic
magician
Spellings  (Orange Words) WB:180319
certain
incapable
continue
independent
disconnected
describe
courageous
mountain
library
February
Spellings  (Prefix anti-) WB:080419
anticlockwise
antifreeze
antiseptic
antisocial
antibiotic
anticlimax
knot
not
whether
weather
Spellings  (Prefix super-) WB:290419
supermarket
superpower
superglue
superhuman
superwoman
superman
supertanker
superhero
supersonic
supersize
The Great Race
The children in Morpurgo learnt the story of how the Chinese zodiacs were created. Here is our version of this legend. 
Art - Decorating the dragon heads
We decorated the dragon heads ready for using in our dragon dance. The children chose the design and resources. They worked hard in teams.  
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Sprinkling of Snow - 29th January 2019
As a sprinkling of snow fell to the ground this afternoon, Morpurgo were so excited that we took this opportunity to use our descriptive skills to describe the picture outside our classroom window. 
Picture
Picture
Exciting Snowfall
Snow fell like sugar crystals landing gently on the crisp ground. The floor was a blanket, thick and fluffy. White flakes, as white as a polar bear, floated elegantly through the chilly air. Slowly, it coated the grassy field, as well as the bare trees. 
Spring 1 - China!

Picture
Spring 1, our topic was China. We were looking at Chinese New Year in particularly due to Chinese New Year taking place on Tuesday 5th February 2019. We took a closer look at the facts of the tradition, the Dragon Dance, pentatonic scales and we culminated our learning by holding our own mini festival.
Science
We learnt about grouping and classifying living things this half term. See our sorting activity below.
Geography
We learnt about physical features of geography, focusing on earthquakes and how they affect China. We built structures and tested their strength against movement. 
Talk For Writing
This half term we started by reading and writing information texts about Chinese New Year. Here are some photos and a video showcasing our hot task. The hot task involved the children creating their own information text. 
Music
This half term, we learnt about pentatonic scales (scales with five notes) and we have been composing our own pieces. A range of pentatonic scales occur in Asian music. 

Christmas 2018 in Morpurgo!

 On Decoration Day we had such a fun day decorating the classroom and getting in the Christmas spirit. Thank you to all of the parents who came to join in and help.

The Digestive System

In science we had lots of messy fun exploring how the human digestive system works.  We  used various objects to represent the different body parts involved in digestion. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Remembrance
100 Years

Picture
We all made a Poppy to remember those who bravely gave their lives for our future. The whole school laid their poppies on the Village green underneath the memorial.
​
​Have you seen them?
Picture
Picture

Viking Invasion!

Our first topic of the new school year is Invasion. During our first day back,we made viking portraits, learnt how to play Viking board games, wrote secret messages in Rune and did some research to create our own class fact book. Have a look at us in action below:

There's a Monster on the Loose!

We've had quite an exciting start to the year! On Monday, we arrived at school to find enormous, monster-like foot prints.  What could they be from?! Even the older children came to Morpurgo find out what was going on!
Picture
Picture
Picture

Performance Poetry

In preparation for our poetry 'Hot Task', we've been exploring rhyme, rhythm and other features of poetry. We also had lots of fun reciting some monster themed poetry. 

Long Ship Art Prjoect

In art this half term we have been working on a multi-media collage. 
Picture
Next, we created our sea by splattering paint, using cling film and adding salt too. We then ripped the paper to create a collage of waves.
Picture
Firstly, we used wax crayons and watercolours to create our sky.
Picture
Picture

​Then we focused on our dragon ship. We carefully sketched out the ship in pencil, designing our own dragon for the prow and tail for the stern. We used patterns and colour to decorate our ship. We then  finished off the wood with water colour.


​Sails coming soon!



Active Maths

We've been learning about place value this half term, we've enjoyed playing  active maths games using the knowledge we have learnt so far. 
Picture
Picture

Dahl Day

Picture
We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating Roald Dahl Day. Have a look at our fantastic 'Dahl-ian' drink designs.
Picture
Picture

States of Matter

We had a fun first lesson learning about states of matter, we even pretended to be particles!

Solids

Picture

Liquids

Gases


Which drink is the fizziest?

We've been busy investigating how much carbon dioxide is in fizzy drinks. In small groups we carried out an open investigation. 
Picture
Picture
Each group was given four different cans of pop,  a stop watch and  a set of digital weighing scales. Some groups decided to shake their pop and leave it to rest and some left it rest overnight. Each group worked out the difference in weight before and after.

​Which fizzy drink you think is the fizziest?
Picture
Who discovered carbon dioxide?
Click on the button to watch a short video and find out!
Forever learning new things together
Proudly powered by Weebly