On Monday, we watched some interesting video clips about different features of a castle. The children learnt lots of new vocabulary such as battlements, drawbridge, keep moat, portcullis and bailey. The children also learnt about what life was like as a knight and a noblewoman. It was exciting to learn how different life was then and what a castle would have looked like inside. We all decided that it would be quite fun to live in a castle but that we much prefer the toilets that we have now!

During literacy this week we read the book SHHH! by Sally Grindley and Peter Utton. This is a really fun lift-the-flap book all about an adventure through a giant’s castle. The children loved the exciting story and so we decided to make our own version of the book.

Everyone wrote their own page for the book and drew a character to accompany their sentences. Then the children made a flap to hide their character under. Form 1’s story had cats, dogs, mice and plenty of giants in it! We enjoyed reading our book during snack time.

This week in maths, we learnt all about odd and even numbers. Through sharing some magical biscuits between two hungry dragons, we learnt that not all amounts can be shared equally between 2. The children learnt that if there was an odd one left, that means the number is odd, if it can be shared equally, then the number is even.

The children took it in turns to share different amounts between the dragons and we recorded if they were odd or even. The children have also been learning how to count in 2’s and this came in very handy when discussing odd and even numbers. It was noticed that we say all the even numbers when we count on in 2’s.

As always, the children have loved being creative this week and have enjoyed learning how to draw castles. By following a step-by-step video, the children learnt how to create a simple picture of a castle. Using black pen, the children drew their own castles and then used pastels to add colour. We experimented with adding water to the pastels and discovered it created a really interesting effect and made our castles look like watercolours. Some children loved learning how to draw castles so much that they continued to draw them all afternoon! They are now proudly displayed in our classroom.

Form 1 have had fun constructing their own castle using lots of cardboard boxes and other packaging. With a little bit of help from Mrs Leigh, the children created battlements, turrets, a portcullis and a drawbridge. They then started to think about what they should add to the inside of the castle. The children added a great hall, a bedroom, a kitchen and, of course, the toilet. There were lots of conversations about how to go about making things for the castle and they enjoyed adding little wooden people to bring their castle to life!

We have also thought about how daily life in a castle would have been different from life today. Using an information book, we learnt how people cooked their food, how they bathed and even what the toilet looked like! We discussed why and how things have changed and tried to imagine what it would have been like to live all that time ago. The children then sorted pictures of items from the past and pictures from the present. We compared beds, toilets, entertainment, transport, money and baths.