Leopards@taddy

 As a special treat and because we have been reading The BFG, this morning we have watched the film with a little popcorn treat 

 We have had fun this afternoon learning about sign language as part of our Sound topic 

  In our   collective reflective   today, we were thinking about keeping our selves health -not just physically, but mentally too.  As well as all our caring staff, at  Taddington, we have 3   Mental health and Well-being Ambassadors , who are always on the lookout for ways to help us. Listening to some calming music  is one strategy we can use. We also thought of: Spending time outside in nature - growing something Physical exercise - running, cycling or skateboarding. Hobbies and interests - reading a book, dancing, riding, art. Sharing worries with others, a friend, adult or God. Good quality sleep is important too .  On our lovely school field, we had a think about what would help our emotional well-being today: some of us had a close look at some signs of new growth, some had a chat with friends, while others kicked a ball around.  

 This afternoon as part of our Science topic we have been designing and making musical instruments. We had to plan how to make our instruments make high and low sounds and loud and quiet sounds. We have been having lots of fun designing them and although they are not quite finished yet we can’t wait to play them for you. 

 What a musical bunch! I was really excited for the Leopards to tell me all about the new topic they're are getting stuck into. They were keen to tell me about the performance they'd done earlier in the week and decided to put the skills they've learnt in forest schools to have a go at making some new instruments.  Some children made frog sticks or 'guiros'. They started by choosing a suitable piece of green wood, sawed it to size then whittled the shape (some making animals such as crocodiles, frogs etc) and adding the spikes that they'd run a stick across to make the 'ribbit' sound. In order to make the spikes they used a mallet to hit the sheath knife at an angle in two places to chop out a triangle shape. This technique is similar to how they use the bill hook so they picked it up easily and taught one another once they were shown.    Some children decided to make instruments from the materials they found in the woods, exploring the different sounds ...

 We have started a new topic this week and as part of it we went outside and made musical instruments from natural materials. We then rehearsed part of a hymn on them and all played together . Here is the video of us singing and playing our instruments. 

 On Wednesday afternoon, Tigers, Leopards and Giraffes had a special opportunity to interview Dan Markham, a Producer at BBC Radio 2. The children had so many questions and were excited to find out about the world of radio and how to get into a career in that area. Dan showed us around the radio studio, talked about the different jobs that people do there and demonstrated some of the technology that they use.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2018/20/oj-borg

 We have been making and adapting flatbread recipes like the Stone Age people would have eaten then this afternoon we cooked the bread over the fire like they would have done. It was delicious and we enjoyed cooking our own bread over the fire. 

 Yesterday we made simple flatbread like early Hunter gatherers would have done. Next week we are going to make the flatbread again but add some other natural ingredients to see if we can improve the recipe