Jacob and Esau – Being Fair and Just

Class Work, RE

Today, Bluebirds heard the Bible story of Esau and Jacob to understand more about fairness and found out that God’s view of fairness and justness is greater and longer lasting than our view as humans. Throughout the story, children identified aspects that did not seem fair.

Millie – It’s not fair that only Jacob got the blessing.
Havana – It was unfair that Esau paid for his food.
Jessica – It was not fair that each parent favoured one of their children over the other.
Pippa – It was not fair that the eldest child was in charge over everything.
Dylan – It wasn’t fair to trick the Dad because he was blind. Also I don’t think it was fair one had to be born hairy!

Mrs Parry explained that Esau had disappointed God by choosing food over his birthright and did not see the importance of his special gift he would get later on. She asked the children to think about the brothers making bad choices that they couldn’t change. They should have been careful with their choices as they didn’t realise how it would change their lives later on.

Where in the world is Egypt?

Class Work, Geography

Bluebirds were very excited to begin their new topic about Ancient Egyptians this afternoon. The class soon got to work using atlases to discover where in the world Egypt is in relation to the UK and then located the countries and seas of Africa.

Mrs Parry asked the children what they already knew about Egyptians.

Jacob – They had mummies.
Seth – They wrapped the body in bandages. They had lots of different Gods.
Dewha – They built pyramids.
Dylan – They may have had traps inside the pyramids to protect treasure.
Lexi – The River Nile is the longest river in the world.

Analysing a music track

Class Work, Music

Today, Bluebirds listened to a very famous song written by Bob Marley. They discovered this genre of music was called reggae and is played “off the beat.” Out of 26 children, only 5 did not like the track. It was very catchy and lots of people couldn’t help but jig along to the beat!

Bluebirds asked lots of questions about Bob Marley and wanted to know if he was still alive. We calculated he was only 36 when he died (1945 – 1981).

Bluebirds tried to listen out for which instruments were being played too.

Charlie – I think there’s a saxophone
Millie – Something sounds a bit like a violin
Jessica – There are some drums in it
Seth – May be a guitar is being used.

The Christmas Story

Class Work, RE

This week, Bluebirds watched a video telling the story of the Nativity. Afterwards, Bluebirds enjoyed making cartoon strips to retell the story.

Kenzie – There was no room at the inn.
Pippa – The baby was born in a manger.
Ava – Angel Gabriel told Mary she would have a baby and should call it Jesus.

Making pencil cases

Class Work, D&T

Bluebirds have been busily learning and practising their running stitch, back stitch and over stitch recently. This week they have measured and cut out their material carefully. Yesterday, everyone decided which stitch to use and began sewing the sides up of their pencil case. Lots of perseverance and patience was needed. It was busier than Santa’s workshop! Next, Bluebirds will be attaching their button and decorating them.

Computing unplugged!

Class Work, Computing

This week, Bluebirds enjoyed an interesting “unplugged” computing lesson, to understand the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet. After learning about this, the class completed a close activity to check their understanding. Lots of children learnt new information so it was a really worthwhile lesson!

What to do in an emergency

Class Work, PSHE

Bluebirds have been learning about what to do in an emergency and also discussing what is classed as a real emergency. This was an important lesson, as many children quote the USA emergency telephone number. Everyone now knows it is 999.

The children watched a video to see what questions are asked when someone dials 999 in a real emergency. We discussed why you should never ring this as a joke.

Finally, the children write a play script of a typical conversation. Mrs Parry has challenged Bluebirds to all make sure they know their home address as not everyone does.

Learning about counties

Class Work, Geography

Bluebirds learnt that counties are smaller areas within the UK, containing lots of towns and villages. They are the top level of local government and look after education, libraries, transport, waste management, social care, fire and public safety. Bluebirds used a map to find out which county Birmingham is in (West Midlands) and then locate neighbouring counties.