…for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Children are busy creating bunting, flags and paper chains for the Jubilee Street Party to mark the special occasion. Elsewhere, biscuits are being iced in red, white and blue and Chuzzlewit Class are making special red, white and blue treats in their own Union Flag inspired boxes. There is an even a new and patriotic member of staff working at Mrs Buchanan’s desk!
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Fingers crossed for good weather on Friday!
This Friday (1st June) the children can come to school wearing Red, White and Blue as part of our Diamond Jubilee celebration. Over lunchtime, the children will be enjoying sandwiches, cake, jelly and ice cream at a ‘Street Party’ in Lant Street to mark this upcoming historic occasion.
Watch this space for photos of the event and we hope that you enjoy more celebrations over the long Bank Holiday weekend!
Congratulations to all the key stage 2 winners of the Design a Scientist competition. All the winning designs were highly creative and build on the experiences of science week! Well done to everyone who entered and thank you to Ms Chapleo for organising the competition.
This year the Mayor of London, in association with London 2012 Olympic Games, launched a poetry competition called ‘Winning Words’. Winning Words is a national initiative conceived by William Sieghart, founder of National Poetry Day, that aims to celebrate, inspire and promote poetry in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
All the children had to do was write a poem describing what they think is the best thing about the Olympic Games. In Charles Dickens Poetry Club we read Olympic based poetry and came up with words inspired by the Olympic Games. We used this to help us write our own Olympic poems which we enetered into the competition. Below is a selection of Olympic poems performed by the children.
Although we did not win the overall competition the organisers were so impressed they sent the children some prizes. The prizes were handed out to the children by a guest poet, Anthony Anaxagorou, in a special poetry assembly on World Poetry Day (21/03/2012).
Thank you to Mr Vanson for organising our World Poetry Day celebrations and for nurturing our enthusiastic poets!
We are not sure what the collective noun for a group of scientists should be ( ‘a bunsen’? ‘A quantum’? ‘A study’? ) but what we do know is that we were extremely lucky that lots and lots of scientists gave up their time this week to come and share their experiences and knowledge with the pupils at Charles Dickens Primary School. We are extremely grateful to each and every one of you.
Today, we welcomed Dr Giovanna Lalli and Dr David Chambers ( both neuroscientists at Kings College London). We also welcomed Dr Kier Shiel, a paediatrician and Ms Ami Sawran, a vet at the Royal Vetrinary College – Mixie, the Shitz- Zu, whilst not a scientist was also a welcome guest and demonstrated how science can improve the lives of animals.
From the photographs, you can see the sessions were both enthralling and interactive. With Dr Shiel, Pickwick class learnt about germs and bugs and how to diagnose illnesses from blood tests, using a stethoscope and from X-Rays. Ms Sawran talked about the job of a vet with Nursery and Reception classes – we met Mixie and learnt how the vets saved her sight in one eye after she suffered from Glaucoma. Dr Chambers taught us all about neurones and how the different parts of the body send messages to each other – our favourite part was seeing how the brain develops in embryos – the human body is a very clever thing!
We held a Q and A session with all the scientists in the afternoon. Here are some of the questions the School Council asked them – can you remember the answers?
1. Can you describe your typical day?
2. What are most proud of about your job?
3. When you were in school, what subjects did you study?
4. What would you like to work on next?
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the school was visited by The Birdman and 4 of his birds of prey, from The Eagle Heights Wildlife Park in Eynesford , Kent. A ‘Barn Owl’, an ‘American Bald Eagle’, a ‘Harris Hawk’ and a ‘Peregrine Falcon’ all flew around the school hall, and taught the children about food chains, adaptation, flight, habitat and sustainability.
The children were particularly impressed with the American bald eagle whose wingspan nearly filled the hall and the way she confidently walked across the hall but we also loved the barn owl who decided to explore the roof of the hall and would not come back the birdman, even when tempted with ‘mouse’ treats.
Mark Miodownik is a Professor of Materials and Society at UCL. Years 3 and 4 felt extremely lucky to spend an hour with Mark this morning as he told the children about the amazing inner world of different materials, as can be seen through a microscope. Mark showed the children their skin, hair and their clothes, all up close on his microscope . Year 3 and 4 learnt about the different structures that materials have, when seen up close – everyone was fascinated!
According the Year 3 and 4, their favourite part was when they were all given a small chocolate egg and were told to suck but not chew it. Mark revealed that the egg should feel cool and this is a result of the cocoa butter which is made up of crystals which then release the sugars in the chocolate. Later on, Mark showed how properties of materials can change by heating up a brick with blow torch and showing everyone how it changed colour. So many children were excited by this science and were overheard saying they wanted to have a job like Mark ‘when they grow up’ .
Thank you so much Mark – you have been really inspiring!
Have a look at Mark’s website and especially his Royal Institution Christmas Lectures
Dr John MacKinnon, Mr MacKinnon’s father, is a Biologist who has spent the last 45 years of his life studying wildlife in Africa and Asia. He spoke to Years 5 and 6 about about Evolution, Ethology (the study of animal behaviour), the Environment and his time spent studying apes.
John MacKinnon told the children about his career as an Orangutan specialist in Indonesia, setting up the Panda Project in China, writing over 20 books (including bird books for China and Java and Bali) and, more recently, advising governments on environmental policy. The children particularly enjoyed his impressions of Orangutan and Gibbon calls and his gruesome story about how a wild boar bit his finger off when it was attacking Mr MacKinnon’s elder brother (then aged 4)!
He politely refused to answer questions about whether or not Mr MacKinnon was naughty as a child…
A little robin, eating his breakfast of bird seed in Mrs Buchanan’s garden this morning!
It is still very cold outside and lots of the ground is frozen. Children at Charles Dickens Primary School have been feeding the birds in the school garden, spurred on by our participation in the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch. During half term, remember to feed the birds in your garden, your balcony or your window sills. You can put out bird seed or you could try to make them this delicious (according to the birds) cake!
Feeding the birds at home – the speedy bird cake
Make this quick and easy cake to keep the birds happy.
Important notes : Not suitable for children with nut allergies.
1. Carefully make a small hole in the bottom of a yoghurt pot. Thread string through the hole and tie a knot on the inside. Leave enough string so that you can tie the pot to a tree or your bird table.
2. Allow the lard to warm up to room temperature, but don’t melt it. Then cut it up into small pieces and put it in the mixing bowl.
3. Add the other ingredients to the bowl and mix them together with your finger tips. Keep adding the seed/raisin/cheese mixture and squidging it until the fat holds it all together.
4. Fill your yoghurt pots with bird cake mixture and put them in the fridge to set for an hour or so.
5. Hang your speedy bird cakes from trees or your bird table or from your window. Watch for robins, blackbirds, greenfinches and tits.
We’ve found some Victorian-style footage of our celebration of Charles Dickens’ 200th Birthday!