UK Blog Awards 2016!

On Friday evening, Mrs Parrott went to the UK Blog Awards to represent St. Clare's Class Blog. Sadly, we didn't win, but we were congratulated on reaching the final and being officially one of the ten best education blogs in the UK! Well done! Here are some photos (as promised after many requests from the children in St. Clare's!!):

A Fascinating Day Out!

On Friday, we went on an adventure! We went with the charity Thames Explorer, to investigate the foreshore of the River Thames at Bankside, in front of the Globe Theatre.

 We learned about how the quality of the water in the Thames has changed over time and did some experiments ourselves.

 Also, we had the opportunity to be 'mudlarks'! In the 18th and 19th centuries, some people (usually children) in London would scavenge in the river mud to look for anything they could sell. We had a chance at being mudlarks on Friday, during low tide.

After searching the river foreshore, we discovered all sorts of treasure! What was the most interesting thing you found?

Finally, we sorted the items we had discovered into groups and discussed what they might be and when they might be from.

A fascinating day! Huge thanks from everyone in St. Clare's to Miss Bower, Mrs Cook and Mr Gibson!

A Very Exciting Day!

On Friday, we received a very exciting royal message at St. Anthony's. We were all surprised to find many mysterious keys around the school, however we were astonished that Her Royal Highness the Queen had heard about it! She had been told about our mystery at her 90th birthday party on Thursday.

Her Majesty requested that we investigate this mystery for her (and her Royal Keeper of the Keys). Each child needed to write to her, to let her know where we thought the keys had come from and what they might unlock.

Lots of pictures to follow on the blog this week!

Marathon Superstars!

 

Source: Virgin Money London Marathon

Congratulations to Mr. O'Neill and Ms Yuill for the wonderful achievement of participating in the London Marathon today! Good luck!

Source: Virgin Money London Marathon 

Frost Fairs

Source: bbc.co.uk

Today, as part of our Thames topic, you learned about some rather fascinating historical events! We found out about the Frost Fairs, which were held on the River Thames itself. 

The worst cold spells in Britain occurred between 1550 and 1750. The climate during this time was known as the Little Ice Age, when winters were so cold that the Thames froze over each year. It was not uncommon for the freeze to last over three months, as it did in the winters of 1683 - 1684 and 1715 - 1716.

Source: Telegraph

The first recorded Frost Fair was held on the frozen river Thames in London in 1608. It had tents, sideshows, food stalls and even included ice bowling! The last Frost Fair was held in February 1814.

Why doesn't the Thames freeze any longer?

Source: walklondon

Here is the interesting video from the Museum of London that you saw today:

Source: YouTube, Museum of London

You made some posters advertising a Frost Fair, showing all of the activities and foods on offer. We'll share some on the blog soon!

Homework Help!

Source: picsaboutspace

This week for your homework, you need to research and create a poster about one of the planets in our solar system.

Remember to include key facts about:

• How far your planet is from the Sun,
• Its diameter,
• Its temperature,
• How long it takes to rotate and to orbit the Sun,
• How many moons it has.

Include any other interesting facts you find! Perhaps you could find out where your planet's name comes from?

Here are some websites that you might find helpful:

 Source: http://kids.nineplanets.org/intro.htm

Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/kids/

Source: http://mrnussbaum.com/space/planetprofiles/

Hawking News!

 Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36025706

This week you began your Space topic in Science with Mrs Hopkins. On Wednesday we were very excited to see the news that Stephen Hawking (one of St. Clare's Class' favourite people) has backed a project to send a space craft to another star system, within our lifetime! We watched an exciting news clip on the BBC website.

Here is the link, if you would like to watch it again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-36025706

Space Race and Thames Exploration!

Source: cntraveller

Next week, we will be beginning our new topics- hooray! We have lots of fun activities planned to learn about the River Thames and about Space for Science.

Get a head start by playing this fantastic activity from NASA. The Solar System mission contains lots of mini games and loads of information to help you with your new topic:

Source: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/solar-system-explorer/en/#/review/solar-system-explorer/game.swf

Take a look at the other awesome activities for kids on the NASA website (click the picture below)- there is so much to see and play!

Source: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/menu/play/

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Today is Easter Sunday. Have a wonderful day!

Source: Easter Sayings

Good Friday

 Source: holycrossnyc

Today is Good Friday.

Today we remember the day that Jesus was crucified. It is a sad and serious day when we do not have special treats; some families might fast or avoid meat and the church will have no flowers and the statues might be covered. Today we observe the Stations of the Cross and we will hear the story of the Passion.

 Source: googlinggod

This website has the Stations of the Cross for children:

http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/child/stations/index.html