Bonfire Night With Room 5

Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot….

This week in school Room 5 have been learning about Guy Fawkes.

To mark this celebration we watched a short animated video about Guy Fawkes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGJ5G4UNFJI

We also created our own firework pictures. We think our night sky guy Fawkes picture are really effective.

Why do we learn about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot?

In England, in 1605 during the reign of James I, an act of treason was planned that could have changed the course of our history. At the last moment, the Gunpowder Plot was foiled, and now we commemorate the traitors – and in particular, the scapegoat Guy Fawkes – every year with Bonfire Night!

Who was Guy Fawkes?

Guy Fawkes (1570 to 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes, was one of a group of Catholic plotters who planned, but failed, to blow up Parliament – now known as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

What was the Gunpowder Plot?

At the time, King James I was on the throne. England had broken away from the Catholic faith and the Church of Rome in Henry VIII’s reign (by 1536), but there were still many Catholics in the country. Guy Fawkes joined up with a group of thirteen Catholic plotters, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to overthrow the King and put a Catholic monarch back on the throne.

The plotters rented space in the cellars of the House of Lords and filled it with gunpowder. Guy Fawkes was put in charge. They planned to set off the gunpowder during the opening of Parliament, on 5th November 1605. One or more of the plotters, however, were worried that some of their fellow Catholics and friends would be at the opening and get caught in the explosion, and wrote to warn them not to be there that day. We know that a certain Lord Monteagle received a letter warning him to go to the country because Paliament would “receive a terrible blow”. Lord Monteagle showed the letter to the King, and the cellars were thoroughly searched and Guy Fawkes caught.

After several days of horrible torture, Guy Fawkes gave up the names of his fellow plotters and eight of them went to trial in January 1606. All were found guilty and executed in the terrible fashion of the times.

On 5th November 1605 Londoners were encouraged to celebrate the King’s escape from assassination by lighting bonfires, provided that “this testemonye of joy be carefull done without any danger or disorder” – and indeed an Act of Parliament soon followed, declaring 5th November as a day of thanksgiving throughout the country for “the joyful day of deliverance“.

Modern Celebrations

When we celebrate Bonfire Night now, it seems very far removed from the events of four hundred years ago! For centuries since then, communities have come together to build a big bonfire and make an effigy – a model – of Guy Fawkes using old clothes stuffed with newspaper, to burn on the bonfire (see Penny for the Guy).

Fun fact: When you use the word “guy” in your sentences, have you thought where it comes from? The “guy” tradition of Bonfire Night gradually found it’s way into our language, and by the 19th century the word “guy” was used to refer to a strangely dressed man. From there it was adopted into American English to refer to any man, and is of course still commonly used today!

Making Play Doh In Room 5

Room 5 have been very busy making their own play doh.

As a class we measured out all the dry ingredients before mixing it with water and oil. Then we took time choosing our favourite smells from a selection of essential oils and colours from a range of food colourings.

Using play doh in class has many benefits including –

  • Moulding playdough is excellent for developing a child’s fine motor skills.
  • As children work on their creations they form new ideas and concepts. They will learn new words such as roll, squeeze, flatten etc, as well as words describing what they are making.
  • When a child works with playdough, they basically have a blank canvas waiting to be moulded into something unique.
  • This activity works on creativity as a child has to mould from an image they hold mentally. Even if they try to reproduce something they have already seen, theirs will always look different.
  • As children get older and more experienced at moulding playdough, their creations will show more detail and creativity.
  • Following a basic recipe for playdough is a great opportunity to teach your child some maths by learning about measurement. They also learn about reading information for meaning, such as recipe instructions.

Playdough is a quiet activity that requires a child to sit still for periods of time. This is great for lengthening a child’s concentration span over time.

We are having fun exploring play doh in room 5 and creating some interesting sculptures.

World First Aid Day

Today is World First Aid Day and the pupils in Room 5 have been very busy learning about first aid and helping others.

We are very boisterous and full of fun at Orchard Brae and sometimes we have bumps and falls when we are playing.  We had fun learning some first aid to treat our bumps.  We also celebrated World First Aid Day and found a free British Red cross App that our Mums and Dads can download so they know what to do if we have an accident. 

Here’s the link for the app: https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/first-aid-apps

We also made a video showing some of the First Aid skills we learned. We hope you like it

Aberdeen Reads: Join the Summer Reading Challenge

Aberdeen City Libraries have announced an exciting new reading challenge for the summer. Starting tomorrow (27th June) and running until 29th August, everyone is welcome to register as an individual or family / group. Register for the challenge online: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=aw-pJD2_E02ip4k2nOs16xSlCSTRm75Nn6t-EpSexzdUN0kySlJWRlpJUEdRSEdZUlhLRTczUDZDTSQlQCN0PWcu

There are 9 reading related challenges and you can choose those that appeal. Full details of all the challenges are on the Aberdeen Reads website:

Click to access Aberdeen%20Reads%20final%20form.pdf

 

There is something for everyone!

 

Some ideas of how you might use the challenge are:

 

Places

Read some of your favourite stories that are set in other countries (real or imaginary). Two of my personal favourites are:

Where The Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak), a lovely picture book for younger readers, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C S Lewis) for older readers.

 

Get Creative

Across the school we’ve seen lovely photos of our children and young people engaging in Life Skills and Arts & Crafts during our period of remote learning. Why not challenge yourself to bake or cook something new? You might find a no-cook recipe that will encourage even greater independence. Try a new craft project and make something useful, or use some of your old junk to create something inspired by a book. Lots of exciting crafty projects can be done using recycled materials and this helps our environment.

 

Ec0-Friendly

Use recycled materials to create a favourite character or a scene from one of your books. One young man from Room 14 did this previously, creating his favourite scene from Harry Potter.

 

Cover Versions

Some of our Secondary pupils enjoy the Harry Potter books. These are magical stories to escape into and are very enjoyable to read aloud. Why not compare the film and the book to find out which you like best? Horrid Henry is always a favourite and episodes can be watched on TV. Do you like the TV episode or the story best? Popular with many of our younger pupils is Disney Cars or any other Disney movie. Again, see what you like best – the film or the book. There are also lots of E-comics on the library website, including Disney.

 

Favourite Place

Try reading in different places and find out what your favourite place to read is. I like to read in the garden, particularly on a fine day.

 

Let us know how you get on and feel free to share with your teachers the stories that you have enjoyed.

 

 

 

Online Learning Survey

We’ve now been learning remotely for more weeks than we care to remember! This week is particularly exciting with the launch of our Google Classrooms (GSuite) and it’s great to see so many families getting involved with this.

As always, our aim is to support our children and young people as best we can, and we have a Leadership Group working together to focus on how do this as we move towards ‘blending learning’ from August. In order to support their work we’d really appreciate your thoughts on what we have offered so far, any issues or difficulties you’ve experienced, and what you would like to see as we move forward.

All feedback is welcome so please take a few minutes to share your views if you have not already done so. Thank you.

https://forms.gle/oparbBDTDzYbex8Z7

 

Google Classroom Survey

Thank you to everyone that has completed our Google Classroom survey for their child to date. If you have not already done so, we would be grateful if you would complete the form on Survey Monkey. This is to ensure that you have access to the necessary IT to enable your child to access it. Please click on the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/GLX5LM5

Please note this applies to Primary and Secondary pupils only.

POSTPONED: Friends of Orchard Brae 5k Fun Run

Due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19 our planned Fun Run is postponed until further notice. We will maintain contact with the City Events Team at Aberdeen City Council and hope that we can have our event at some time in the future. For now, our priority is to keep our school and wider community safe and well.

 

Sport Relief 2020

Many thanks to Amanda, Salvi, Sam and Scott for organising fun activities for us all to join in with to support Sport Relief 2020. We kicked off the morning with a select band signing up to Run a Mile. Thanks to Room 19 for braving the cold throughout our challenge, the spectators that cheered us on from the warmth of the classrooms and those that came out for playtime, supporting with cheers as we ran our loops. Each of us did 5 loops of the playground in total.

At lunchtime we enjoyed dance sessions with Sam. We all had lots of fun!

Finally, the whole school joined in for the afternoon to Walk a Mile with a Smile. We were grateful that the sun came out and warmed up the playground nicely for us. We also had some special visitors – the sumos!

Our day was just for fun, but we also received generous donations towards Sport Relief, raising a total of £165! Well done to everyone for taking part!

Bucky Bear Hosts A Picnic

On Wednesday all the boys in room 5, were invited to a picnic in Duthie Park. The picnic was hosted by the class bear Bucky! Bucky has been going home with the boys at the weekend to meet their family and have adventures with them. To say thank you he decided to host a picnic were all the boys could bring their favourite stuffed toys (even the staff brought theirs). Bucky and the boys all had an amazing time eating lots of different food and getting to meet their friend’s teddies. Bucky Bear had the best time ever as he loves getting to meet new people and go and lots of different adventures! He will remember this picnic forever and can’t wait to plan another one!

Clothing Exchange

Room 16 have been doing a great job, supporting the Clothing Exchange scheme. Pupils are regularly tidying up the area, washing, sorting and folding new clothing. It’s good to see an increase in sizes available too. Please keep sending items in if they’re in good condition and no longer of use to your child. Do also feel free to pop in and browse any time or let us know via the home school diary if you’d like the class team to have a look on your behalf.