Elephants Class were well and truely ready for the Easter break after enjoying their topic on Dragons and Mythical Creatures! This topic really inspired everyone. We began learning about Dragons and Castles which led to the creation of a Medieval Castle in our classroom. The children were fantastic in adding to the area by lending the class some fetching outfits. We had so much fun in this area which led to learning through role play, acting out stories and some very creative storytelling!
Learning about Dragons and other Mythical creatures made us begin to think about fire, from its origins to good and bad fires. In particular the greatest fire of them all… The Great Fire of London. We were so excited about this part of the topic! We even borrowed an ELFS (Early Years Fire Service) resource box from the local fire service. We had so much fun dressing up and pretending to be ‘real’ fire fighters and learning about fire safety.
One of the most exciting events this term was our recreation of the Great Fire of London! We learnt about Tudor houses and why the design of these houses were one of the reasons why the fire spread so quickly. We then made our own houses with boxes, painted them in a ‘Tudor’ style and stuffed them with hay and straw.
On the day of the ‘Great Fire of Gorran’ we had to make sure that the weather conditions were safe enough for us to go ahead. So once we got the go ahead from Mevagissey Fire Brigade and Mr Sleep it was with mixed emotions when we walked our houses up to the field for the fire. The whole school and lots of parents came to watch. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop when the Mevagissey Fire Fighters set fire to the Pudding Lane Bakery first.
We couldn’t believe how quickly the fire took hold! Just as at the time of the real fire it was quite windy so this made the fire burn even faster. With baited breath and with the chants of ‘London’s burning’ we watched as our Tudor houses burnt to nothing. We made sure that the fire was completely extinguished before returning to class.
To end our work on the Great Fire of London we decided to open a Pudding Lane Bakery in our classroom! We made our own bread and invited parents into buy some! We worked so hard and our bread smelt delicious. To make the afternoon even more authentic we dressed in clothes that they may have worn in the year 1666. We raised £16.33 from our bakery sale so Mrs Sampson added 33p to make the total up to £16.66… a fitting end to the topic. This money was added to the whole school Sport Relief collection. Well Done Elephants.
It really has been an exciting half term, in addition to the Great Fire of Gorran we have had the Sport Relief Mile, Eco Week which included days out at Cardinham Woods, Sita (The Recycling Centre at Bodmin) and Gorran Haven Beach, den building, seed bomb making, the start of long awaited footpath and the end of term recycled fashion show our feet haven’t touched the ground which is just how we like it………. I wonder what the Summer Term will bring?
It is hard to believe that we are about to enter the Summer Term. Time to say goodbye to our Elephant year 2 children and time for our year 1 children to take the helm as responsible year 2 children.
Our topic after Easter will be Healthy Me! Lets hope for some warm and sunny weather so we can be learning outdoors as much as possible!
Thanks for reading from Elephants Class, Mrs Sampson and Mrs Wheeley.