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Dunkirk Primary School

Dunkirk Primary School

Olive Class Showcase

We love celebrating the amazing work that Olive class do! Take a look at the pages below and join us in celebrating how awesome they are! 

Page 1

  • Ramadan Mubarak

    Published 17/03/24, by Nichola Bowen

    Our weekly RE lessons provide the children in Year 1 with lots of interesting things to think about and the children are beginning to develop their questioning and debating skills in a simple way. 

    This week we talked about Muslims and why they are fasting and praying during the time of Ramadan. We compared this to the other times that we have discussed fasting. Such as Jesus fasting in the desert and how fasting can help us to understand how it might feel to be hungry all the time. The children are learning that although lots of people have a religious belief, we do not have to be religious to show care and charity to others. Many Muslim people will be giving money during the time of Ramadan, but other people also gave lots of money to charity for Red Nose Day (Comic Relief). 

    We combined R.E and D.T to create woven prayer mats. The patterned strips showed geometric Islamic patterns and the children added their own drawings and doodles, including some of Spiderman!

     

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  • Making like Matisse!

    Published 16/02/24, by Nichola Bowen

    Year 1 have been learning about the Artist Henri Matisse and in particular his abstract drawings and cutouts.  In larger groups the children have been creating a large frieze, demonstarting their drawing and cutting skills as they have been producing their own cutouts to look just like those of Matisse. 

                          

     

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  • Learning about religious and non-religious festivals in Year 1

    Published 08/12/23, by Nichola Bowen

    The autumn term is rich with religious festivals such as Diwali. In Year 1 we have encouraged the children to think back to a time of personal celebration. They suggested birthdays, weddings and the festival of Eid.

    We have engaged in class discussions about big issues, like remembering people who died in World War 1 and 2, poverty and what Christians do to address this at the time of Harvest. Our class contribution to Harvest was to donate items to our school food bank.

    In keeping with our school promise to ensure that diversity is taught, we have focussed on the Jewish festivals of Rosh Hashanah and Hanukah, as well as talking about non- religious festivals, like music festivals and what we might wear on our heads if we attended one.

    To keep the learning fun and creative, the children have taken part in singing, creative crafts and simple drama, and we showcase photographs of this in our class floor book!

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  • We will remember them!

    Published 28/11/23, by Nichola Bowen

    Recently, Olive Class went for a walk around the local community of Lenton. Lenton is an area full of history and interest. One of the things that caught the children's attention was the war memorial and Albert Ball Alms houses. The children looked at poppies and stones laid by people and when we returned to school, we created our own poppies, using a fixing and fastening method. If you ask the children, they may be able to tell you why poppies are different colours for Remembrance day, and who was Albert Ball?

       

        

     

     

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  • Important visitors!

    Published 30/10/23, by Nichola Bowen

    Part of our Year 1 curriculum is learning about people that help us and raising the children's awareness of people such as NHS workers, emergency services and especially the Police. We are lucky to be visited by our named community Police officer, Lucy. This is the second time she has visited Dunkirk and some of the children in Olive Class remembered her name and aspects of her job. Today we were able to have some special time with her and her colleague, asking questions and trying on different Police hats! 

                                                         

            

       

      

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  • Investigative Science

    Published 04/10/23, by Nichola Bowen

    During the first part of the autumn term, Olive class have been learning all about how amazing our bodies are. How they work, move and what our 5 senses help us to do. We have used these senses to investigate things, such as discovering smelly plants in the school garden and what happens to our taste buds when we eat lemons!

                  

     

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  • RE learning

    Published 23/03/23, by Rachael Jurkiw

    During our recent work on Myself and Caring for others from the Nottingham RE Syllabus, pupils have been building on their sense of individuality learnt in reception. They have been thinking about how they can care for others within the community by taking inspiration from religious stories. Pupils have been understanding; the significance of Shrove Tuesday and learning about how Jesus helped and cared for the sick; Mother's Day and how this relates to Lent; fasting during Lent and Ramadan and why people fast; the significance of Ramadan and how Muslims show care to their wider community; and the significance of Easter and why Christians celebrate Easter. 

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  • Making Time Machines!

    Published 15/03/23, by Nichola Bowen

    Making a Time Machine takes time itself! Time to think about what it will look like. Time to draw that plan and label the important features. Then time to investigate the best shape to use for a possible dial. Learning about 2D and 3D and how to create a 3D machine from 2D net. Wow, this was a complex process with oodles of learning taking place, involving DT, art and problem-solving skills. 

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  • How can we keep Teddy dry?

    Published 15/03/23, by Nichola Bowen

    Science is great fun in Year 1! This lesson was all about the exploration of different materials to investigate their waterproof qualities and absorbency. What would happen if Teddy found himself out in a shower? What material could we use to make him a coat, that would keep him dry? We made our predictions and then got to work, testing and investigating and then recorded our results. 

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  • Making our own Stone-age paint!

    Published 31/01/23, by Nichola Bowen

      This term we are learning about history and time and part of our focus is on the Stone-age period and how the Stone-age people may have lived their lives. 

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  • Autumn Artists!

    Published 31/01/23, by Nichola Bowen

     Art and creative work produced throughout the Autumn term. Some of the inspiration came from looking   at the work produced by artist Andy Goldsworthy. 

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  • Tennis stars!

    Published 25/01/23, by Nichola Bowen

    In September a visiting coach from the Nottingham Tennis centre came to teach us some specific tennis skills. Just look at the size of the tennis rachet he brought with him! It was such great fun and it got our hearts pumping, all at the same time.

                                                                                                   

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